Gas, 3.866 gal/87 oct @ $3.099/gal @ Royal Farms. $11.98. That’s about 33.8 MPG. Not that great if you ask me!
End @ 64,679 (70 miles)
Total mileage for January: 213
I had to go into the city today to check out my kid’s car. She called me yesterday morning, saying it kept trying to stall at stoplights. If she put the transmission in neutral at the lights, then the engine would race. My guess is there’s some water that’s come out of solution in the fuel system, likely because she doesn’t drive as much as she used to before she had a boyfriend and it only takes her about five minutes to get from her apartment to work. The engine isn’t getting enough time to heat up properly, and the fuel isn’t being agitated enough to keep the water in solution. I added a can of Sea Foam to her fuel tank and put in a fresh air filter (the old one was dirty, but not terrible). I checked her oil and coolant levels—both OK. No obvious vacuum lines disconnected or anything else untoward that would obviously cause the near-stall issue. I counseled her about driving her car for 20-30 minutes once a week.
At a stoplight on one of the US highways in the city, I’m just sitting there in neutral, minding my own business. Some dude in a giant SUV, maybe an Escalade, starts honking like crazy. When I looked over to see what was going on, he was beaming broadly and waving at me. Once he had my attention, he shouted, “Nice bike, brother!” I said thanks and waved; the light turned green and we both drove off all warm and fuzzy inside.
I went across the James River to visit the new MotoRichmond location, which hasn’t been new for almost five years. What can I say? I don’t get across the river much! I’d planned to ask the owner if she might know of a person, place or business with space where I might set up my lift, store my tools, parts and bikes, and do my content creation tasks. Turns out she’s in New Zealand until next month some time, so I’ll have to come back to that. The sales lead at the shop suggested I email her, but I’m not sure I want to bother somebody while they’re on an adventure vacation on the other side of the world.
On the way home, I needed gas and knew I could work my way past a Royal Farms, which meant I could also get some spicy chicken to take home for dinner. I hit the new location near the I 64 interchange and ended up waiting around for about 45 minutes because they were down a fryer, which of course I didn’t know when I placed my order. The upside was after about 20 minutes, this dude wearing turnout gear came in, walked right over to me and asked, “Is that your R 90 outside?” Jake is a firefighter and has his father’s 1974 R 90/6. He wants to restore it and said it has something like 250,000 miles on it due to his dad riding a lot all over the world, wherever they were stationed at the time. Jake also has an R 1200 GS and a middleweight Yamaha Ténéré. I happened to have a business card in my pocket, so I gave it to him. We had a nice chat.
Forgot to check the oil AGAIN before I left home. I really need to develop that habit! I tried to check it while I was working on the car—the engine was hot, and I’m not sure that was the best way to do it. It registered a tiny bit of oil on the end of the dipstick and manipulating the hot dipstick was not pleasant. I need to remember to do that when the engine is cold.
It’ll be a couple of weeks at least before I can ride again, tomorrow is foot surgery day for my wife. The bike is safe in the shed and on the battery tender for the first time in a week. I did remember to add two ounces of my fuel treatment blend to the fresh tank of gas.
ONE YEAR LATER: No further difficulty with the car after the fuel treatment and advice to drive the car at least 20-30 minutes once a week.