Hot German Babe in Austria

So it has been a very busy few weeks. Work has been totally all consuming and Lizzy hasn't seen any action. In my defense, I did spend the last week in Austria (no not for fun - for work). One evening, we pulled into the garage and found 6 enduro bikes (5 BMW and 1KTM) that were parked all together. They were covered with awesome stickers from past rides - Transylvania, the Arctic Circle, Chernobyl... I got to talk to the Brits who owned them the next day and turns out they were on their way to Greece. I was really excited because I would LOVE to do that with hubby at some point - get two bikes and go around the world.

I tried to engage them in conversation about Lizzy (hoping to get some advice) but one of the guys said "When my bike has problems it just goes into the garage." .... OKaaaaay. Maybe I would do the same thing if I were riding a +20K machine. But I hope not.

Got to go past KTM (which is an Austrian company) and see a bunch of crossbows stacked on top of one another. Weird car. I like their motorcycles much more.
On our last day there, I ran in a race in Graz through the woods. It was a relay race and it was quite last minute that I joined in. It was mostly populated with thousands of students that dress up in crazy kit. It was my first race and I finished, but that is the most I can boast. Now if I dressed up as a Smurf and ran the course while chased by some dude in black with a net, then I could say something about how awesome I was. Sadly, this honor goes to 6 guys, that I didn't even know.


But I can down the Wiener Schnitzel and Almdudler well enough to kick it in an Austrian beer garden while watching the world cup. Now that, I can handle.
On the way home I kicked back and read the new Nook that Gabriel got me (huge surprise present before I left!) And you know what??? My coworker didn't have a clue I that I was reading some seriously steamy stuff - 8 hours of seriously steamy stuff. Most excellent. Put me in the right mood for a homecoming with hubby. Nice move, my man. Well done indeed...

It's not the size that counts

Me and the Viking - Rock...Rock...On!

Tune Up Miscellany

A few Saturdays ago Chrissy's man, Newton, came by to help me out. I prefer to call Newton the Viking because he is a huge man of Scandinavian decent that should be wearing a horned helmet and conquering parts of Europe. Anyway - besides being a beast, he is a motorcycle wiz and he also owns a KTM that makes me seriously jealous. Sorry Lizzy, it is true.

The viking came equipped with tons of tools, which was very nice. And yes they do make bent feeler gauges! Imagine my excitement!

I cleaned my first petcock (restraining myself from making dirty jokes here) - the thing that turns the fuel on or off on the base of the tank and slightly filters it. It had a huge booger in it. Nasty. I replaced the gaskets while I was at it.

Then it was time to adjust the breaker gap. It was hard to decide when it was open to its greatest extent, but I just winged it. Turns out it was *way* too big. So that was dialed down. I need to check the timing now... another thing on the "to do" list. Changed another gasket. Keeping this girl in gaskets isn't cheap!

Next I got to play with the compression tester Gabriel bought me. Thanks honey! Big sloppy kiss for you... I did a compression test with the engine cold (yeah I know it should be hot - maybe next time I will do it right) and got 150psi which is a bit lower than the allowed range 153-187psi. That's not bad, right? She is old. And I really, really want to ride this summer and not hone my cylinder and piss with my rings. Am I lazy?
At long last - the carb was in, the engine kind-of tuned, and the tank and seat put back on. Took a few kicks and she turned over. Beautiful sound! That is me sliding my motorcycle license into my back pocket.
The Viking and the Ox followed me down the street and watched me zip around and blaze up and down the block. Lightning quick. Gabe took the best picture ever of me and the Viking - it is so good, it is getting its own post. The tune up worked wonders, but Lizzy is still having some problems. If everything worked the first time, I wouldn't have anything to blog about, right?

carb take 2

Yeah - so I am a little behind on the blogs. Had a hellish week at work followed by a heavenly vacation. Back to the real world now, which means not nearly as much time to read smutty books. Which by the way, Nalini Singh is my top paranormal romance author right now. Hot stuff - the covers, however, make me hang my head and blush like a fire-engine when I go up to the counter to buy them (sometimes you just cant wait on the mail!). Hostage to Pleasure - yes please!

Besides being well read - I finished my carb before I left for the beautiful South. The ultrasonic cleaning did wonders for the jets. The slow jet was completely clogged, and it looks nice and clear when held to the light.

I was already to plop everything back where it belongs and measure the float height and call it a day when I realized one of the float balls was wicked lower than the other. Hubby assures me this is ... natural. But I have trouble accepting anything less than the best from Lizzy. Look at how much it is torqued! I think this was done when someone tried to adjust the float tang previously. Shame on you!

I lovingly bent it back to where it should be. Now that's better.

Lastly I spent a shameful amount of time adjusting the float height. It took me a long time to realize that the tiny little nub you see touching the tang is springy! Who knew? You want to set the height when the two are just touching and you are not depressing the spring. Lots of bending and rechecking height, all the while making sure I didn't torque the floats out of whack again.
I was a little unsure of how much to put in the air set screw and the idle adjust screw, so I just did the former flush with the carb body and the other somewhere in the mid range of its travel. I put the float bowl on and called it done. The carb looked great! Then on the bike it went.