It’s alive! Following a long dark and non-riding winter, my ST is actually up and running again. But first, some catching up:

After experiencing some tough idling symptoms late last year, the bike finally wouldn’t start at all at one point in November of 2020. I had recently returned from my big 48-10 ride and there was a lot going on in the world and life at that point that seemed higher priority – pandemic, career change, family illness – so I decided to take it as a sign to focus my attention elsewhere over the winter. Preparation for the 2021Iron Butt Rally that I’d been drawn for would have to wait until late winter.

The fates didn’t intend to provide a break however, and the mental/emotional challenges continued through the winter, facing some house remodeling work, a convalescing houseguest, the passing of my father, the onset of seizures for our beloved boxer Tango, plus studying for and finally securing a new job (at least some good news). Despite vaccination efforts rolling out across the country, things also still seemed a bit up in the air in terms of travel rules and regional restrictions, and there was just an overall feeling of inertia after being mostly at home for so many months. I’m thinking some readers might be able to relate.

All of a sudden, riding 16K+ miles this summer didn’t seem like such a big important deal after all.  By the end of March, I was four months off the bike, unexcited, and decidedly not in “the zone”. I didn’t have enough time off from the new job to make the Jacksonville party this year. The lack of our usual springtime lineup of eastern rallies like the Rock n Ride (postponed) and Mason-Dixon (retired) also didn’t help, in terms of staying motivated or in practice with rallying. Getting through this feeling of stasis would be perhaps the greatest challenge of this years rally, if in fact I ended up riding it at all.

I had continued to go through the motions of fulfilling my pre-rally obligations – payments, paperwork, etc. even though I didn’t have a running motorcycle and was unsure of what the next couple of months would bring. But when April rolled around, I’d had a couple months to settle in at work and everything else was as “stable” as it was going to get for now. Time to address the elephant in the room and at least get the bike running.

As I mentioned, for a few months last year, the ST had developed really rough idle after starting cold, sometimes dying without additional throttle. Finally, one morning in November before a local ride, it just wouldn’t turn over at all (I rode Char’s Bonny that day – ouch that seat!). At least it had happened at home.

Over the winter, I had done some due diligence on the st-owners forums along with other sources and identified the most likely known issue: a 5-way vacuum hose connector that rested deep in the guts of the machine under the tank and throttle body assembly. Since I’d also never done a valve check in 130K miles (common ST wisdom is that they rarely need adjustment in the first 100K), I decided to also tackle that scary bit of maintenance while I had everything apart. At least that would force me to reseal the right valve cover, from which oil had seeped throughout last year’s 48-10.

I considered adding in a few other long-term maintenance items for the ST, like throttle-body sync, fuel pump, radiator, and maybe thermostat while I had everything apart.

I had already replaced the spark plugs back in November, attempting a quick fix that didn’t pan out. For good measure I replaced the three year old battery as well. Now, after removing the outer plastic and the air filter box under the tank, I attacked the vacuum system, replacing most of the hoses with longer sections and cleaning out the 5-way connector with pipe cleaners (wasn’t that dirty or clogged).  None of this worked and the bike still wouldn’t start.

My friend Jim Alton “stopped by” (from northern NH) to drop off a CarbTune tool for the valve sync (once the bike could start) and helped me confirm a few basics like spark and that the fuel pump was running. He was also sharp enough to spot a broken frame bolt attaching the front sub-frame of the bike, something I’m going to just blame on the Nelsonville bonus at last year’s CO-VOID Rally!

There seemed to be a fuel delivery issue somewhere. Following advice offered from friends, I sprayed some starter fluid directly into the cylinders and was thrilled to hear the engine turn over for the first time in months! A flicker of hope! I made a test light with two wires and a taillight bulb and did some inept testing of circuits related to the fuel injectors on my own, before Jeff kindly agreed to come down in person to lend me his professional troubleshooting skills and tools. I was now confident the problem would be diagnosed, if not resolved, in fairly short order.

Sure enough, after confirming some of the diagnostics and wiring connections, he spotted that there wasn’t fuel coming from the injectors and wondered aloud if there was actually any fuel in the tank? WTF? Of course there is! I brought her home with two bars on the gauge specifically because I know that means the top tank would be empty for the maintenance I’d wanted to do last fall/winter. “Let’s take a look anyway,” says he. So we crack open the inspection bolt where my aux tanks feeds the lower tank – EMPTY! 😮 🤦‍♂️

The electronic gauge was still reading two bars, so I didn’t feel completely silly at this point, more relieved that this months-long source of stress could be solved by simply pouring in some fuel, which we proceeded to do. And she fired right up, imagine that! After reviewing the schematics for the fuel gauge and tracing the circuit, we simply disconnected the fuel pump wires, reconnected it, and the lower thermistor now correctly registered that the tank was on empty. Hijo de puta!

After that, Jeff brought his expertise (and comfort-level for possibly destroying other people’s bikes) to bear on drilling out the broken frame bolt and re-tapping the threads. Still having heart murmurs over THAT, let me tell you. I sent some Trillium craft beer home with him for his trouble – I am beyond grateful to have the support of good friends like he and Jim – they really got me past a major mental hurdle, reminding me that any problem can be solved with a bit of patience, know-how, and logic (and the right tools).

I continued with my maintenance task list, learning how to synchronize the starter valves with the Carbtune and adjusting the idle for the first time since I bought the bike. The engine was starting to sound better, even to my untrained ears.

I’m a slow mechanic. Over the course of the week, I took my time, putting in about another 30 hours in the evenings after work, to perform the various maintenance I’d lined up.

In performing my first valve checks, I discovered that ALL the exhaust valves and one intake needed to be shimmed, so I got to dig into engine disassembly for the first time, painstakingly removing the camshafts one at a time to replace the shims on both sides of the bike. I must have watched the YouTube video on this seventeen million times before and during the process! I also learned a neat trick using two zipties to hold the chain in position on the sprockets with the camshaft removed.

Not wanting a repeat of the oil leak, I had driven to two different Honda places to track down the OEM HondaBond hi-temp sealant for the covers, rather than trusting it to Permatex again.

Valves complete, I turned my attention to the fuel pump and filters in the lower tank. while they hadn’t given me any trouble to-date, the bike was at about the mileage where people had reported problems cropping up. I already had a spare pump in my kit so it was a no brainer, and much easier than shimming the valves.

I replaced the coolant and realized I’d hadn’t done so since before the last IBR – the used fluid was BLACK. I had a new radiator waiting after unsuccessful attempts to clean mine in the past, but decided to put that off until I had all the hose replacements as well.

After buttoning up all the plastic on the bike, I discovered a new issue with the throttle getting stuck and not snapping back to idle. This hadn’t been happening while I’d been working on the valve sync, so I quickly diagnosed that the cruise control cable was caught up somewhere during reassembly. I was able to remedy the issue with minimal fuss and disassembly.

Now the engine was really humming, and I hit the road today to a local RTE at Sweet Evalinas, to meet up with friends and enjoy some lunch with my first piece of pie for the riding season. There’s some motivation!