Winterized

Here are the last pictures I took before putting the bike away for the winter. I finally got my license plate and mounted it to the right side shock absorber. I did notice some carbon buildup on the back of it, looks like I'm running a bit rich.

Well, it looks like Blogger doesn't want to upload my pictures. Oh well. I went ahead and zip-tied plastic bags over the intake pods and stuffed plastic bags up the mufflers. I put fuel stabilizer in the gas tank and filled it to the brim, then ran the carbs dry. It's still outside, but there's a tarp securely over it. I pulled the battery and it is now sitting inside on the tender.

Fiiiiiinally

The DOT inspector came today and signed the form I needed to finally title the bike. I ran over to Boone to get my title and registration, then to the Ames Driver's License place to take my written test. Afterwards I made some calls and got insurance for $75/year. I now have my motorcycle permit with a full titled, registered, and insured bike. I'll head over Monday morning to take my driving test and be completely legal.

And more waiting

I got the correct papers back and submitted them to the DMV. Now I'm waiting for the inspector, then I can finally get the bike titled.

Insurance company...grr

And after finally getting the bond papers from the DMV, submitting them to my insurance company to complete the bond, the papers I got back had the VIN mis-typed, meaning I have to have them do it again. This is taking foreverrrrr.

DMV...grr.

After submitting my bond request a second time (I forgot to include the bill of sale the first time) the DMV claims to have sent out my bond on the 16th of October, but no mail has been received yet. I finally called today and found this out, so they're re-sending the bond for me. And to think I should have had this road legal a week and a half ago...

Update

Well, I have been having trouble lately with the right cylinder dying after about 10 minutes of riding around. It turns out the float bowl would be completely empty when the cylinder would go out, so after a lot of troubleshooting, it turns out the internals of the petcock were clogged, and I had to pull it off of the tank and give it a good cleaning. The bike is running like a champ now. I'm still waiting for official documentation, though, and appropriate riding weather is rapidly disappearing. This coming Saturday, it will have been two weeks since submitting the forms for a bonded title, hopefully this goes through soon.

I recently discovered that the left side spark plug boot was loose. Well, the plug wire actually goes inside the ignition coil, so I feel like it's a matter of buying a whole new coil. I do have a spare coil I got with a box of stuff on eBay, but it has the exact same plug boot problem...oops.

I think I figured it out though - I pulled off the left side float bowl and turn the gas back on to see it just dripping out of the carb, not pouring out like it should. The fuel line going to the right carb is more twisted than the one going to the left, so if the left carb is barely getting any gas, I'm assuming the right carb is getting almost none. That's why the bike would run great after sitting for a while, but after a couple minutes of riding the right side would run out of fuel. The spark plug was dry, telling me that it just wasn't getting any gas, so I just really need to clean and seal the gas tank.

On a side note, I pulled both plugs while working on this any they were both a beautiful tan color, I think the CL200 jets helped. I think the issue that was causing a loss of power in the high RPMs is that the choke was sliiightly on, so it would go a tad rich up top. With the choke fully off, it pulls smoothly up to the redline.

I'm still waiting for a title at this point. I believe to get a bonded title I have to give them 1.5 times the value of the vehicle for a few years and then get it back, or I can just pay my insurance company $75 and they'll cover it all.

Speaking of insurance, my car insurance is through Progressive. The quote my agent gave me for just liability was $141/year. Online, I got $99 from Geico and $75 from Esurance. I think I'll just end up going with Esurance.