Modern Buddy

One of the (young) Harley guys at work approached me the other day and asked if I, the butt of much old-man-on-a-scooter-based ribbing, could help him find a rattle somewhere down in the bowels of his year-old Road Glide. I told him to go find a long screwdriver and meet me out by the bike. He looked a little perplexed and I had to explain to him how, back in the stone age, we used them as a poor man's engine stethoscope. You'd think that I'd just revealed the secret of eternal youth.

Anyways, after about 10 minutes of poking and listening, I traced it down to a loose O2 sensor on the rear pipe. We hand-tightened it after the pipe cooled down for a temporary fix, but I advised him to remove it, dope the threads with anti-sieze compound, and tighten it to spec for a more permanent fix. Second blank stare of the day, second lesson imparted.

Getting old does, on occasion, have its benefits.

Nicely done. Those Harley guys are so smart and macho.

Hahaha! good one! You should see the blank stares I get when I tell tales of the ancient scooter repair method - JB WELD. It's like, is there an app for that?

And if he really wants to fix it even better, there is an aftermarket device that fits into the O2 sensor that gets rid of the jerky lean idle mixture the Harley fuel injection bikes have.

The knees high riding position on Harleys can't easily be fixed though.

That's why my riding is on mostly scooters now, or old Triumphs

fried okra

His bike already came with one of those Dynojet Power Commanders installed, so I don't know if he could use that to smooth out the idle. I'm strictly a carburetor guy and not the least bit savvy about those kinds of things.

In reality, he's not a Harley snob at all, and we swap war stories about our riding experiences a lot. Only difference is that his occur at 80 MPH on the Garden State Parkway and mine are mostly about sub-50MPH encounters with seagull poop down the shore.

Although I tend to kid the younger guys a lot, I think that a large portion of the blame for their limited mechanical ability rests with the vehicles they've grown up with - tons of computerized doodads, miles of electrical linguine, and ominously-worded warranties that make one hesitate to do anything more than fill the tank and check the oil. Growing up when a hammer and continuity tester were enough to fix almost anything was sort of an advantage.

I've imparted whatever mechanical knowledge I have to my oldest daughter. As a result, she can throw a socket wrench with great accuracy and has acquired a vocabulary that would make a longshoreman proud.

Just passing the torch.....