Ah, motorcycle odors. Experienced riders can diagnose a problem with their bike depending upon whether its exuding
eau du exhaust, oil, coolant, or that "should've-left-that-job-to-the-professionals" smell of wire insulation burning. It was this last olfactory assault to which I was subjected during my ride to work last Friday, confusing because it seemed a tad too "plastic-y" and I hadn't touched any wiring in ages. At every stop light I looked around and saw no smoke emanating from either motorcycle or my gear (
please don't let it be my Aerostich or my riding buddies will forever call me The Melty Man), so I pressed on to work, where I parked up and immediately discovered the problem.
A metal bracket had broken, and it with its attached reflector had managed to balance for on top of a header pipe for 45 minutes. Once cooled, the offending piece popped off the pipe easily, but left behind a large black glob of baked-to-perfection "stuff", which of course got even more baked-on during my ride home that evening.
I know its fairly common so how I'd managed to not melt anything on an exhaust pipe for so many years is a mystery; usually I'd experience only small clumps of dried-up Amish horse exhaust smoldering away on my pipes for hours like a potpourri burner. Googling uncovered myriad methods for removing melted nylon gear/rubber boot soles/plastic rain suits, etc. from exhaust pipes. After due consideration of the various methods, I chose to use Acetone and grade #0000 steel wool because I happened to have both in my garage. Surprisingly, only 10-15 minutes later, my pipe was polished to like-new condition (OK, not nearly like-new; but all trace of the burned blob was gone and the pipe looked pretty damn good for having accumulated 50K miles of road crud). Being a chronic sufferer of CBS (Clean Bike Syndrome: please give generously), I was compelled to continue on and clean and polish the entire pipe...which of course led to cleaning the remaining three, and a sore forearm.
I haven't figured out exactly why the metal bracket broke -- it wasn't corroded and it's not in an area subject to stress or fatigue.
Unless, it shared the
bird-strike my left knee took back in June. The reflector
was on same side and not far forward of where my knee was. Hmmmm, Beaky's revenge!?
 |
| These are your friends if you've melted something on your exhaust! |
Labels: Commuting, Ride Reports, Tips
