Mostly done

Happy to report that I was able to ride my Wing this week after being in pieces scattered around the garage for close to a month. I reported on my air filter predicament and after that I thought I was done. I cranked the engine and it was wonderful to hear that purr again. My driveway out of the basement is steep enough that I usually just coast down to the street with the clutch in till I’m over the curb then release the clutch and off I go. I followed this normal routine but this time when I released the clutch, nothing! I went through the gears and nothing, no banging, clanging, grinding, not a hint of movement. Getting 900 lbs of motorcycle back up that driveway is a story in itself that involves a zero turn, my wife and a passerby and it was not without some teeth grinding.

I was able to do something that I didn’t know was possible that caused my no go situation. I had replaced my final drive with the replacement Henry’s final drive and when I reinstalled the driveshaft into the swing arm I totally missed the output shaft. The idea that I could miss the output shaft was easy to accept but the fact that the output shaft made zero noise with the engine running and the clutch out was just to much for me to wrap my head around at that moment so I started looking for other possibilities. Since the reverse mechanism was working properly, I convinced my self I had some electronic issue even though I believed in my head that the clutch, transmission, final drive was all a mechanical operation. Some guys on the gl1800 riders site convinced me that the driveshaft was almost assuredly the problem. So I got to do two final drive R&R’s this time around. I will say the second time was much faster!

This could be of interest to Valkyrie 1800 riders since the Henry’s final drive will work with those as well. So I got around 50 miles of a shake down run Tuesday and I am very pleased with the change. First gear was really too low with the factory final drive gearing making engagement in some conditions a little jerky and in larger intersections turning left you always felt the need to shift mid turn. That’s all gone and you can smoothly engage first and winding it out in first gives you all the acceleration you want or need without feeling the need to shift early.

I was riding around and turned onto a rural four lane and went through the gears to a leisurely 55 or or (speedometer correction not been made yet) but when I looked down the OD light wasn’t on. I still had another gear to go! I spent about 25 miles on a very winding, hilly road that allowed me to get a feel for the other gears. On this section I found 3rd and 4th to be an ideal match for the lower speeds I was traveling being a new section of road for me with blind curves, blind hills, and although a good surface width was lacking so caution was exercised.

The Spring Fling will probably be the first real test of cruising long distances. So even though it was a budget buster to do this, there is no buyers remorse as yet.