Tuesday, May 19, 2009

What a QT

Nixon has been behaving pretty well lately, besides the growing oil leak from the points housing, so I rode her into work again this past Friday. It was a really nice ride into work in the morning. Kind of cool and the traffic wasn't too bad. She died right as I was pulling into my parking spot. So at lunch I went out to check the spark plugs. I could only get the left one out with my mini plug wrench I keep in the toolbox on the bike. It was black and sooty. I know it blows some smoke when it is running, so I think it is burning oil. Sometime in the next few weeks I will do a compression check to see just how bad the piston rings are. I am guessing that low compression is the reason she is not running as well as she could.

The ride home started out pretty nice. I took the long way home through some of the nice neighborhoods of East Cobb. Track my route on Google Maps! I went over across Paper Mill and then up Johnson's Ferry. I rode by my friend Shawn's house to check out is yard (the roses are in bloom) even though I knew he wasn't home. On the way up JF, with all of the stop lights, I started getting pretty hot. I had my leather jacket on for protection. Sitting atop a running air cooled engine in 80° weather at a light with a heavy leather jacket on can sure heat you up. I headed over across Shallowford Rd and end up in downtown Roswell (where the pic below was taken). I decided to stop at a gas station there to get a drink and try and cool off. I had $1.05 and the cheapest drink they had was $1.06. I got back on the bike, thirstier than ever and continued home, rolling slowly through historic downtown Roswell. When I got to the next major intersection, I found what I was looking for, the QT! They have a huge selection of fountain drinks, slushies and coffee that are really cheap. I got myself a cold beverage and hung out in the parking lot like a hoodlum until I was done. I cruised the rest of the way home feeling much better.

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