Five Days On My Loop

[cappisj1]

Leaving in the morning from central Illinois on my 73 Eldorado for 5 days. Meeting 3 others at pikes peak state park in Iowa as a base camp. I will send pics as we go. Looking for someplace called bathtub springs and a place that a river runs through a rock.

Good thing I am leaving cause I keep adding stuff. The Norge gives me tons of room. I have a trunk for the Eldorado but I like the look without better.

Really looking forward to doing this on the Eldo.

[Guzzistajohn]

That's a beautiful part of Iowa, the Indian mounds nearby are spectacular. There was a German place in Guttenburg that was good too. I sat and watched a barge pass through the lock & dam there one evening. 

[guzzisteve]

Shakedown run for IA rally. Don't forget to go to the boat, might even win some. There's a nice ferry around there too. Nice riding.

[fotoguzzi]

Cassville ferry

[chuck peterson]

Jealous

[cappisj1]

Day one and 304 trouble free miles. Got this bike in September. It’s got lots of “patina” but mechanically the last owner kept up with it. I did put new piston and cylinders on because the right side was flaking. All the time to set and reset points, timing, valves and breaking it back in really paid off. So happy tonight.

Big thanks to everyone that helped with my questions up to this point!!

[oldbike54]

 

 Dusty

[Chuck in Indiana]

 

 Dusty

What Dusty said.  The Kid just traded his Grease O for an Eldo and some money. He said he's liking the old girl..

[cappisj1]

Supper and my new buddies. That deer could care less that I was walking past her.

[cappisj1]

Day two. 280 miles. Lots of stops checking things out and some gravel roads in the morning. Elkader sure is quite when it’s not rally time.

[bigbikerrick]

Awesome ride! Its cool that these old loops are still up to the task of doing  serious touring duty. I would ride my 73 anywhere! Keep the photos coming, they are really cool.
Rick

[cappisj1]

Just over 200 miles today. Thought I was in trouble and it was gona be bad. I had just left a park and the bike started missing and backfiring on me. 100 things ran through me head. Still on the road with it running rough, start with the easy stuff. First thing was fuel. Yup forgot to turn the fuel on...

[cappisj1]

1,333 miles in all. Not a hint of trouble until.... leaving a stop sign in the middle of nowhere I hear a pop and the bike lurched forward on its own and died. Yup the clutch cable from 1973 broke. I tried a couple things and decided the heck with it. Another guy stopped to help me. So I looked at the map and found the most direct way to the interstate. I had the guy push me as I had the bike in second and hit the starter. Between the starter pulling and the guy pushing it started. I did have to do 4-5 little circles at one intersection to find a break in traffic. I had to make one fuel stop and got another push to start again. So I rode around 200 miles and only put my feet down once.




upload images
 

[jhem68]

https://www.mgcycle.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=135&products_id=2209

I carried something very similar to this back in the late 70's early 80's when I was running a Harley 80" FLH which would break the clutch cable every 10,000 miles or yearly, which ever came first. It usually gave a one pull warning and would break on the next pull of the clutch, and so a roadside repair would get me home without the calisthenics. Put one in the windshield bag and it will probably never happen again.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Always a good idea to carry spare cables...

[Moparnut72]

I had something similar happen to me. I was in the Army on my way back to post in Denver at the end of a two week leave. I was riding my R75/5 and was in Ohio when I stopped for gas. As I pulled back out it felt like the bike had a hinge in the middle as it was shaking quite badly. I looked it over real well and foung nothing wrong but it did it again and everytime I started up from a start. But once I got going it smoothed out. So I decided I would stop only for gas. I had the 6.3 gallon tank so I could go 300 miles without stopping. I had my doubts but I made it back to Denver. After the ordeal I pulled the trans to check the clutch. It turned out the the cage holding ball bearings in the input shaft bearing was gone allowing the balls to spin around loosely. Thus the input shaft would wooble around causing the horrible vibration until it could self center itself during upshifts. What caused the failure is another story but was caused by me as well as BMW.
kk

[Guzzistajohn]

I like to keep a spare wire tied to my clutch cable I'm using. You'll never break one if you do this