It’s All About the Bike

Spent much of the day today getting gear sorted. Made two small repairs to the KTM 640 Adventure:

1. Adjusted steering bearing. First I had to lift the bike up on a crate to get the front wheel elevated. Then had to loosen five bolts on the upper double clamp of the fork, then adjust a tightening nut (very much like the process on a mountain bike!), then check for play, then finally tighten everything back up to spec.

2. Replace bent clutch lever. This was a little dicey, as the KTM dealer didn’t have an OEM prelacement lever in stock when I was there, but had one “they thought would work.” So precise, these guys at motorcycle shops. It fit just fine, and it seems to eliminate the leak of mineral oil from the seal on my clutch master cylinder.

Now for the bad news. Rode the bike into Park City to run some errands and make sure everything was running tops. Came out from the post office and when I saddled up and pressed the starter, nothing. Definitely electrical. Called Bartman, he said try to get it rolling down Swede Alley and pop start it by letting the clutch out while in gear. Nothing. I scurried off into a parking lot and tried to kick start it. Nothing. Called Bartman again to bail me out with his trailer. While waiting a few minutes, I tried the ignition button again just for the hell of it and it started right up. When I got it home, I turned it off in the driveway, then tried to start with the button and got denied again. A few hours later, I cycled it on and off and it started every time.

You can imagine this is putting a serious damper on my enthusiasm to depart on a 10-day slog westward, through some remote road and trail on the way to Oregon. Bartman says definitely don’t go unless you know what the problem is. Darth Nater says what’s the worst that can happen? He always says that.