Not really a big adventure by most standards, but it was a good time.
5 miles out of Potosi WI, my friend (Nik) and I are taking one of the fantastic WI Scenic Roads. He spies a trail, and decides to take his KLR650 of the hill. 5 minutes go by, and I start wondering how my V11 Sport is going to make it up the trail to find him, but luckily that wasn't the case as I finally saw him coming back down the hill whilst staring at his shift lever.
I notice his shift pedal is barely hanging on for it's life. Nik gets off the bike, and the shift lever pulls right off. My first question is "what gear are you in"?, which is followed by "first" and then a "f*ck" by me. Time to assess the situation.
No cell phone service
No replacement shift lever
5 miles back to Potosi Brewery where they have land lines
stuck in first gear
Potosi Brewery has plenty of beer there
We're of legal drinking age
We still have bad hangovers from the previous night
It's Saturday morning about 11:45AM
The shifter is die cast material. No chance of welding it back on.
Not the worst situation, as we don't have to be back home until Sunday afternoon. Only 175 miles away. I decide we should head back to Potosi and find out where the nearest shop is, and somebody should know. The five mile trip in the KLR's first gear was slow and painful, but we made it. I think the hangover added to the pain.
Potosi Brewpub was busy as all hell, now that it was noon on a Saturday, and I'm sure there's not many other quality restaurants in the middle of nowhere, WI. We're finally able to talk to the bartender, and he recommends Midwest Motor Sports, and that we could use the land line if we had to. I didn't want to as it was way too loud inside the restaurant. I was in my extended network on my phone, and decided to make the best of it, so we stepped outside and I called them and asked for the parts department, and I got Joe. I tell him we're stuck at Potosi Brewery, and his reply is "You're never stuck in Potosi". Touche'. After I tell him the story, he says he doesn't have a direct replacement , but he does have others in stock, but can't guaranty that they'll fit. I told him if they're steel, and not die cast, we should be able to make one work, and he tells me that they are steel.
We decide to head to Midwest Motor Sports, as calling a tow truck, or Nik's wife to pick up up isn't an option either. Nik mentions that the highest gear he can start his bike from a stop is second. No, we're not riding back to Milwaukee in second gear. Luckily, Nik also found an adjustable spanner on a table outside the brewery, so we borrow it to put the bike in second gear and drive 12 miles to the new shop. This is our one time effort, as we won't have time to get anywhere else before 3pm if this fails.
Luckily, the roads on the way to the shop were beautiful, and I did get to ride them at cruising speeds of 15 MPH. Sometimes we were able to go a little faster down hill if Nik pulled in his clutch. Fall in WI is amazing this time of year, if you've never been there. Oddly enough, I also noticed a huge amount of giant fuzzy caterpillars on the tarmac along the way.
Arriving at the shop, it was a giant building with an attached restaurant. I feel a little more relieved, since if we were stranded there, we only had a few beers left in our travel trunks, and they were already warm. We enter the shop, to find that they were having some kind of huge event, and it was overrun with customers stuffing their faces with free hot dogs and chips. It really stunk in there. We made our way to the parts counter were Joe brought out 2 Moose Racing replacement shifter for some kind of Yamahas or something. We strike up a bargain that we buy one first, and if it doesn't fit, we can use their vice in the shop to make it work. First we had to determine if the splines would align, and that the mounting hole would be the same size diameter. I asked Joe if he had a digital caliper or micrometer, and he said he had taken it home because he bought a new scope for his rifle. I don't know much about that stuff, but it seems like Joe does. I also didn't want to anger him, as I assume he's a fairly good shot with that new scope.
Nik pays for the shifter, and we decide to have a go at it. With the shift lever being way too long, and the tranny pivot being recessed in the frame, we still couldn't determine if the shifter splines would even fit. So we went into the shop, and Nik started to bend the shifter. The first bend was enough to have clearance just to make sure the lever would fit on the splines. It did! Huge sigh of relief. It probably to us about 6-8 trips from the bike to the shop in order to get the shifter to where it was useable. Good thing that lever was too long, as it shortened up quite a bit as more severe bends were put into it. I really thought that lever was going to snap, but it turned out as close to perfect as you can get. Nik also noted that the bike shifts much better now.
With that all done, we decided to return back to Potosi for a victory beverage and determine where we were off to next. Gold Old Potosi!
The shop:
It takes a giant lever to bend a lever:
Finished product:
