A little 2-smoke humor

[motomech]

Wildfire and the Runaway Spree.
(or taking it to the wall)

..It was an honest and fair shop, consequently when spring rolled around, a busy shop. Some bikes had to be turned away.
That was one of the unfortunate aspects of being a service writer.
The kid, still panting from pushing his rather beat and hacked up RD 350, looked so dejected that I didn't have the heart to just turn heel and walk back in.
"OK, pop the seat up and lets have a look." Yikes, a "rats nest" of wires. So I started untaping, re-twisting and re-taping till I got to the point where I thought it might have some spark.
A quick glance at the service manager to see if he was looking at me. He wasn't and I knew he was indulging me. He too, was a lover of all things Yamaha and two stroke.
Betting that the evil demon, Mung the Merciless(also known as Spouge)was lurking in the crankcases(one look at the end of the pipes confirmed this), I went thru the two-stroke, "been-sitting", start-up drill, choke off, gas off, throttle wide open. Stabbed the kicker several times, it slowly started ka-chunking to life, first one cyl., then the other. Once I figured it would stay running, I switched the fuel on and handed it over to the elated owner, "hold the throttle open for a minute" I yelled over the ever increasing din.
Back in the shop I paused to watch.
The engine, so loaded up, was still struggling to build revs as smoke now started to bellow out of the exhausts. After a minute of so of this, the engine started to take off and I thought to myself, "OK, let go of the throttle now". He must have read my mind, for his hand came off the grip. But the revs continued to build in crescendo. "He has the carb slides in back wards, allowing air to keep passing though", I thought to myself.
A little panicky, he quickly reaches down and flips the key off. Revs still building, like staging a drag bike.
Wildfire!(a hot spot, usually carbon, being the ign. source)
What happened next will be forever etched in my memory. He looks at the screaming engine, then pulls the key out and looks at it, then at the engine again. I could see his perplexed look though his helmet!
I sprinted out though the clouds of smoke(hope no one calls the fire dept.)and yell, "give it to me". Relieved to be away from this screaming demon, he gladly handed it over. I pulled the clutch, snicked into second and holding the frt. brk. released the clutch. It surprised me a bit and I couldn't hold it and it slammed into the alley wall. The now silent and still smoldering RD lay forlornly on it's side.
"What did you do that for", he said.

In the early '80's, Honda was practically giving away their smallest scooter, the Spree. The "Iowa" Sprees, restricted by it's muffler to meet moped laws in Iowa(they must ride a lot of scooters in Iowa, I thought to myself at the time)were only $299. This was akin to putting the proverbial potato up the exh. and combined with 7-11's finest two-stroke oil, they quickly became "loaded-up" and lethargic.
My drill was to put them on their center stand near the shop exh. fan, and bungee the throttle grip wide open. Then I could walk away from it.
As I was talking to someone, I absent mindedly stepped back and knocked the now fast reving scooter off its stand.
With a quick leap, I caught it at the same time we both arrived at the shop wall. Pulling back on the grips to minimize the impact, all I did was to loft the frt. wheel. Thinking it was a billy goat, it kept trying to climb the wall, the rear tire smoking as it left deposits of rubber at the wall base.
Eventually, I managed to hit the kill switch and let it roll back down, only to receive a round of applause from the shop personal.
It took a long time to live that one down.

┬╗

Motomech

[sanjuro]

Motomech, which part of the country are you in now?

[motomech]

Maryland.
Near Washington DC.

[sanjuro]

I drove from Brooklyn to Houston a few months ago, and got to see the U.S. Capitol building along my drive. I bet you guys are getting some serious snow right about now.

[eliteguy50]

Great stories and amazing how those Iowa sprees appreciate with the 20+ years of use

[motomech]

The Dealers were supposed to paint a large red dot on the underside of all Iowa Spree seats, but not all did.
I think Honda made way too many of them because they could be had for $299 and I even saw a few that went for $199.
As far as I know, the only different between the Iowa Spree and the 49 State Spree was the header pipe, it was a single diameter with no step and the way the carb was set up.
I think there might have been something else, because when I installed a reg. pipe and larger main jet, it still wasn't quite as fast as the reg. Spree.

[motomech]

Oh, and I see you have a Gyro. I'm not sure which model is the S, but I remember riding one once, and forgetting to lock the steering colum as I stepped off. It sort of toppled over in slow motion like the tricycle on Laugh-In:)

To see a good picture of a Gyro, look in the dictionary under "under-steer".

[eliteguy50]

I see you have a Gyro. I'm not sure which model is the S

It is the USA model sold in '85 & '86 (the chopper-looking one, http://www.motorscooterguide.net/Pictures/GyroBlack.JPG )

forgetting to lock the steering colum as I stepped off.

Very common and humorous, but I have never had mine tip over with out help. It just leans about 40 degrees.

To see a good picture of a Gyro, look in the dictionary under "under-steer".

So true but I'll let you in on a secret (ever race dirt bikes?) put your weight forward on the bike and a lot through your legs (because of the gyro's foot peg position) to acheive the most forward weight possible. Then it will turn in nice with great lean angles and you don't have to worry about sliding on loose dirt (one of the few times a 'third wheel' is good ).