Just got back online tonight, power has been off since Thursday night, ARG....
We had predictions of a weather front with associated winds possible, but they thought it would most likely skirt us and land up the coast in Vancouver Island, British Columbia......WRONG.

As My wife and I sit out in our hot tub, the winds increased dramatically in a matter of minutes, I mean from gusts, to a howl.
We got out, I shut and buttoned up the top to the tub.

It was getting ugly fast. As I get up at 3 AM, I thought I would just go to bed. I woke a few hours later in pitch dark, and our big evergreens bending scarily in the wind.

Ran had abated, and I was planning to ride to work on Friday, as Fridays and ferry's are a mess to get home.

I dressed by flashlight, and went and got on her.
My driveway was littered with branches, my boat was under a mess of them, but nothing too serious....

The streets were solid branches, needles and such, and I just took it slow....
I got down to the first corner, made a turn, and went a few hundred yards, then a big fir lay in my way, complete with power lines it brought down with it....

It took four different routes, attempts, before I found a passable road, and I had to skirt around some huge trees at that, but I could tell the fire department had already been there as they left cones, etc, so I knew it was safe, or as safe as it can be.

This girl was well behaved even tho I could hear crap fly up off the front wheel, trying to get into the belt, etc...
It really helped having such a low seat as I could walk/ride around, over much of the debris.

Unofficially (its not a registered weather recording station) had winds at 85 MPH, but the official site clocked 79 MPH, tho it is about 40 miles from where I live, and more sheltered than living on the south end of the island where it hit first.....

BTW, darn ethanol got my generator, even tho I drained it, it still gummed up the jets. I can run it with direct shots into the carb, but not from the tank.
Tomorrow I pull the carbs, cuz I think it is gonna be one of those winters.....snow one weekend, hurricane wind and torrential rain the next.... and no power  

I live at the end of the gorge above Troutdale, RayDog. I'm sick of this east wind also. The other day at Corbet, about 5 miles from my home they were clocking wind gusts close to the 100 mph mark. The other day our wind gauge recorded  gusts way into the high 80's. You better hang on tight to your car doors because if not, it will just rip it right off the hinges. My van's passenger door has both hinges ripped from the frame.  Try going for a ride in this crap. Altho!  If I was heading west on my bike, with the tail wind I figure I  could clock a high speed of 205 mph.  

koehlerrk wrote on 12/14/14 at 06:48:17:


Like DUH......I totally fergot all about a filter. I will get to it today as I pull the carb  

Uh..... I wish it was as simple as that  

I left a couple gallons in the tank, petcock on, oh, for a couple years  

It is running, after a complete carb clean. The gunk I got outta it looked like really good hash  

She is full now and topped off with some seafoam.....

I will drain her come spring.......maybe  

Here is my theory on the ethanol fuel issue in stored equipment.

In the equipment with fuel pumps that only allows the flow of fuel when the engine is running, or in carbs that don't have float bowls but use diaphragm  type carbs, the amount of fuel to the carb is limited to the fuel that was in the carb when the engine was shut off.  With these systems there often is little damage to the fuel system if the engine remains unused for a long period of time.  Once the fuel evaporates there is little corrosion or gumming up, as the fuel supply is limited.  However the fuel will eventually go bad in these systems as well, and it is best to run the fuel out of them for long term storage.

On equipment that uses a gravity fuel system like lawn mowers, generators, tillers, etc. - the fuel flows by gravity from the fuel tank to the carb.  When the equipment sits for a long time, the gasoline portion of the fuel in the float bowl evaporates and the fuel level in the float bowl drops - which allows the needle to let more fuel into the float bowl.  This process continues until the only thing that is in the carb is the ethanol portion of the fuel, which does not evaporate as quickly as the gasoline portion - the result is that the float bowl has a very high percentage of ethanol.  Ethanol is very corrosive to aluminum and dissolves rubber parts, and it also absorbs moisture from the air.  The result is that the float bowl becomes corroded and rusty......  Sometimes if you catch it before the corrosion has started - but the engine will not start as the ethanol content in the carb is too high - you can get it running again by dropping the float bowl draining the fuel out of it, and allowing fresh fuel to get into the carb....and then you can get the engine running again.

If you are going to store your equipment for more than a couple of months, you need to get the fuel out of the equipment and run it dry.  In my generator I keep about a gallon of Avgas 100LL in the tank - but I have shut off the fuel valve and I run the carb dry.  This way I have enough fuel in the generator that I can open the fuel valve and get an hours worth of running for those emergencies....and when the generator has to be used for long term power outages I use E10 pump gas, then drain it out and replace it with the Avgas before I put it away for storage.  All my mowers get run out of fuel at the end of the season and are stored without any fuel.

My opinion about Seafoam is that it will help to clean out varnish and fuel deposits in a running engine - but has little effect on a carb that is already corroded.  If the engine is not currently running...it is too late for Seafoam to do any good.

I have heard that paper filters don't allow the flow of water through them, but I have not seen any proof.  The theory is that the water is absorbed by the paper and the fibers swell and stop the flow through that portion of the filter element.  I still have some old fuel from the Long Term Fuel test that I did, and I have some paper inline filters.....sounds like a good research project to be done the next rainy day.       

kennemarv1 wrote on 12/16/14 at 03:23:43:


Adding a fuel stabilizer is always a good idea, you can get small packets at places that service lawn mowers - they are perfect for the size of the Savage gas tank.

It also depends a lot on where your bike is stored.  If your bike is inside where it is not exposed to the constant temperature and humidity changes, the fuel will remain stable longer.  If it is under a carport or in a garage - it still gets the daily temperature and humidity changes - and when the fuel tank "breathes" it can pull cold humid air into the tank.  If it is under a plastic cover.....take the tank off and bring it into the house!

justin_o_guy2 wrote on 12/16/14 at 13:01:08:


Well yeah.....empty it before you bring it in the house.  And maybe let it air out a bit as well.  And don't put it up on the mantle over the fireplace......down in the basement is fine.

I just can't help but believe that strapping a plastic cover on your motorcycle is just like putting your motorcycle in a terrarium.