The
Squamidian Report – May 22 / 10
Issue # 417
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Would you believe I’m on my third front tire on my new Harley already and I don’t quite have 4-thousand kilometers on her yet? That sounds pretty bad but in reality it is not. It’s more a fluke of circumstance than anything. Here’s what has transpired. When Harley came out with the 2009 touring bikes they had redesigned the frame, suspension and wheels. To go along with the new wheels they had their tire contractor, Dunlop, come up with an all new series of tires that were supposed to be the latest, greatest best tire ever. The new tires were supposed to give better handling and last longer. One problem with motorcycle tires is that they do not last very long. They must have soft tread in order to stick to the road under all conditions and soft tread wears down faster than hard tread. When you see a bike leaning steeply on a tight highway curve, that bike is depending on its rubber to stick and not slip sideways.
So Dunlop came up with the all-new 407 series, the 407F for the front and the main 407 for the rear. Very shortly after the ‘09s hit the road a problem with the 407F’s came to light. Turned out they were duds, not able to give better service life but in fact they were wearing very prematurely. They were cupping and once the cupping started they were vibrating and were noisy. Front tires that should last 30 thousand clicks were starting to wear as early as 2 or 3 thousand. I was aware of the situation because of the available information on the Internet and so I kept an eye on the front tire. I was also aware that Harley was treating its US customers very differently than its Canadian customers. The American owners of 2009 touring bikes were notified of the problem and all they needed to do was bring their notification in to a dealer and their 407F would be replaced by the new and re-engineered 408F. However, in Canada no such notification was sent to the customers. A service bulletin was instead sent to the dealers telling them that IF a customer comes in and complains AND uses words such as ‘handling problems’ and ‘safety concerns’ that they could (at their discretion) replace the tire.
By the time my bike hit about 2500 kilometers the tread was wearing and the vibrations were starting. So I had the dealer look at it and because it was definitely showing signs of wear and I said all the right things they replaced it on the spot. No hesitation or questions, just replaced it with a nice new 408F. ‘The wife’ and I had ridden the bike down to Langley to the dealer to have it done and we had a nice scenic 125-kilometer, supposedly worry free, ride home. I had declined having the dealer do the usual bike wash after a service or repair because I prefer to do it myself. I do a better job than some kid in a wash bay. When we got home I put the bike up on my jack and proceeded to give her a nice bubble bath. With the bike on the jack I can properly clean the wheels because they are up where I can rotate them. As I sat at the front of the bike cleaning the wheel I was horrified to see a deep ugly scary slash cut all the way across the running surface of the tire. It looked just like someone had used a utility knife to unpack or unwrap the tire and had cut right through everything. I had not driven over anything and the cut was definitely a crossways slash. That was last Friday afternoon. I phoned the dealer and told then about the damaged tire and that I would be back in before they opened the next morning. They expressed concern about coming in on a Saturday without an appointment because they were swamped but I repeated that I would be there waiting when they opened.
‘The wife’ and I jumped on the bike nice and early last Saturday and we were down in Langley at the dealer’s before anyone else. As soon as he got there the service manager came out to have a look. I think they figured there was a small nick or something and that I was being alarmist. He took one look and said “wow, that is serious”. He agreed that it looked like it had been damaged in shipping or unpacking, and he had the bike back in and a second, undamaged tire was installed in the time it took us to walk across the street and have a coffee at a Horton’s outlet.
The ride home was warm and sunny and scenic. Life is good again and I’m on my third front tire. Had I let them wash the bike and therefore not done it myself, or had I simply not bothered to do it myself, I would have been unwittingly riding on a damaged tire that would fail at some point. That could have been very bad. The service tech should have never mounted a damaged tire but obviously didn’t notice the damage. They need to inspect every tire very closely even though changing tires is probably a tedious and boring job for them. And they need to take away the utility knife from whoever is unpacking their parts shipments.
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For anyone who is interested but didn’t already know, Ryan is in Europe right now working a two-week Brian Adams tour. He is the monitor tech or some such thing, not really sure just what but it could lead to working with some other ‘big names’ as well. He is not working for Adams but rather for the company that puts on the big concert tours.
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And for anyone who is interested but didn’t already know, we had fresh snow up in the hills around here AGAIN! this past week.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello my fellow Squamidian/Ontarions!
Hahaha.. that’s a first! Welcome to another edition of The Ontarion Report!
While the west coast is shivering in cold wet conditions of the remnants of their unusual winter, we’ve been enjoying some very nice temperatures and sunshine over the past week or two. I’ve got the lawn in great shape and even the back yard has come along very nicely. The patchwork I did a few weeks ago is finally grown in to almost match the rest of the lawn. If I ever get my boot on those pesky moles they’ll be squished fertilizer for sure! I haven been to the garden centre yet but I will most certainly get there before next winter to see what I can do about those trench digging monsters. I don’t want the same problem next spring that I had this year. The lawn both front and back is looking magnificent if I do say so myself. In fact I’ve had several people stop and pay their compliments with regards to how nice the front lawn is looking this year. I may just have to take some pictures of it for posterity! LOL!
Yesterday I spent the afternoon cleaning up and attempting to open the pond. The cheap cover I bought from Princess Auto for $3.00 last fall to protect the pond over the winter was just that, CHEAP! After I scooped out all of the leaves and debris I pumped the water off the cover and removed the weights from the perimeter. The cover was a mass of 1” diameter holes and it looked like orange Swiss cheese! Needless to say, the pond was full of guck and the water was a dark brown mess. I took my pressure washer and blasted the bottom of the pond before dropping in my submersible pump. This tends to liquefy the leaves and other matter that’s made it into the pond over the winter. Then, the pump will further puree the mess and squirt it out onto the Hydro Right Of Way behind the house. It took me about 15 minutes to empty the pond and as it neared the empty stage, I blasted more of the guck with the pressure washer to get it as clean as I could. Then I decided to let it dry over night and do the filter and pump set up on Thursday. This afternoon Thursday, was a success and the pond is looking like a jewel in the mid day sun! I had some large chlorine pucks left over from last season so I dropped two of them into the pond at the suction end of the intake to the pump and one into the strainer basket on the pump itself. That ought to give the new water a good shock and kill any remaining bacteria from the winter mess. I tested the water for chlorination and ph level etc after about two hours of filtration and it’s almost right on the perfect mark. Now all I have to do is get my supply of summer chemicals and we’ll be all set.
It sure is nice to hear the gurgling of the spouting water once again. While the new water was being filtered, I broke out the mower and cut the lawn once again. Now all I have left to do is find my electric trimmers and trim all of the bushes in the gardens and we’ll be set for a few weeks there as well. Carole has the gardens in amazing shape and they have been fragrant for a couple of weeks already. It’s unusual to have the gardens in such an advanced stage of growth at such an early stage but it’s also nice to have them to the point where we can enjoy them and not have to be looking forward to all that work we usually do starting on the 24th of May. I guess we have Mother Nature to thank for that this year. I’ll have to break out the camera and take some pictures of the gardens and yard as they are. They sure are beautiful this year again and it’s hard to believe it’s not the May 2-4 weekend yet. Like Carole said today, “Now all we have to do is sit back and enjoy the beauty of the gardens and yard for the rest of the summer!” Yeah Sure Honey, who are you trying to kid! It ain’t over till the summer is over my dear!
Then WINTER once again!
However, I think I’ll save that story for another time, like say 6 months from now!!!!! LOL!
Guess that’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now….. Greg.
PS: Something To Think About>
“Save for retirement starting with your first pay cheque!”
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Have a good one..
the doug
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The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.