Day 5 was a total fiasco. Jen made an awesome breakfast that I promptly dumped on my lap. After having just washed my pants for the first time, I’d have to ride with sauce all over my lap for the next leg of the trip.
Breakfast Results
Then we head out to the parking lot, load the bikes go to start the bike and the KLR is dead. I peel my gear off in the 40C (100F) heat and begin to check what is going on. There is no power so I pull the battery. It is completely dead and I open it up to notice it is completely dry. Not sure if it was the heat, but I fill the battery up and give it a quick boost to get the bike going. As I load the bike back up I notice there is no oil in my sightglass and there is oil all over the left side of my bike.
ARGH! just as we are heading out the bike fails. It looks to be leaking from the countershaft seal so I call around and find a shop with the part, but too busy to do the work. I ride down and pickup the part then call around to find a shop to replace it. I talk to a guy at Carter Motorsport who said to bring it in. They were great, realized I was on a trip and got me right in. Said it would take a couple hours so Ry and I head out to kill some time.
Red bike was a guy from Quebec on his way around North America
Killing some time racing shopping carts in Safeway. The lady who worked there was totally unimpressed.
One last rip down the strip.
When I got to pick the bike up the service guy tells me that they took the seal out and it was fine. He said the bike was likely burning oil due to the heat and highway speeds (more about burning oil later). The ‘oil’ all over my sprocket and bike was actually coagulated chain wax that liquifies due to the heat and splatters everywhere. I’m begging to realize motorcycles really hate this heat. He doesnt charge me anything and tells us to have a good trip. I can not say enough good things about these guys. I top off the bike out and buy an extra liter of oil for the road. Little did I know at the time, but KLRs are oil pigs.
It was nice to have a day of light riding and Jen and Griff were nice enough to let us crash again at their place before we hit the road the next morning.
Viva Las Vegas.