[Tomflhrci98]

Well, it’s that time again. Do I stay or do I go? Screw it, I’m going. I’ll have to air out the tent soon cause Sturgis is on my mind. If anyone’s headed to Sturgis for the 65th annual it would be great to run into anyone from this forum either on the way or at Sturgis.

I will be leaving South California Saturday (8/5/06) morning early so I can get as much of the desert behind me in the morning. I’ll probably take the 15 up past Salt Lake City the first day. The next few days are whatever happens. I just hope to ride around Wyoming and Montana for a while.

The only thing that is certain is that I will end up at the Hogs Heaven Campground Tuesday night or Wednesday. Probably the later.

I usually stay at Sturgis doing the local rides and then hi-tail it outta there Friday morning. Friday morning I like to go to the breakfast buffet at the Four Aces in Deadwood and then ride south thru the Black Hills in the morning. Unfortunately I, only get a week off so I have to get back to So. Cal. for work on Monday.

Anyone else have plans for Sturgis this year?? If so, what route are ya takin and where are ya stayin.

Maybe we could all get together at the Broken Spoke.

[bikerjim1]

Toss a ride report when ya get back bro! Love to hear about it.

[Tomflhrci98]

I only got as far as Vegas which is about 230 miles from my house. I pulled over for gas and heard knock! knock! knock!. I thought something was not right when I as cruising but I thought maybe it was the head wind and I was into the throttle a little more than usual.

I got it over to the world famous Las Vegas HD dealership to have them take a listen. They checked the cam and pulled apart the primary but did not find anything. Six hours later I was blasting back home praying I won't breakdown. Went past in Baker, CA (114 F).

I can't blame the dealership too much since they realy would have had to tear the whole thing apart to find that the rod bearings where bad. Funny thing was that the Service Manager told me, during my 6 hour wait, that they don't get any Evo's any more. I quess the old timers are gone too.

Oh well, it's rebuild or replace. Leaning towards the rebuild idea since I don't think I can come up with 6 grand for an S&S.

There's always next year for the Sturgis Report. I hope everyone else makes it there and back safe.

[SK]

Glad you made it back home ok. I live in Vegas, wish I'd known you were in town. That's a pretty big dealership over on Eastern..ain't it?

I gather you saw the temp in Baker on the worlds largest thermometer right off I15. That's too hot for me to ride any distance. Let us know what you do with the bike.

[Tomflhrci98]

Thanks SK. The bike ran great all the way back except for the knocking when I came to an idle. It ran great under load but vibrated on decels.

Sunday I pulled the jugs off and there is definite metal impregnation in the piston skirts. Something is falling apart, I’m just not sure what. I was like a kid digging for gold. I just had to know what the problem was.

I got a local V-twin drag race shop looking into the bottom end. Those guys told me all about the weaknesses of the EVO and what they can do to make it better. So I decided to let them rebuild the whole engine. We're going to go with 10:1 pistons to give it a little bit more after the rebuild is done and a dyno it for the PC 111 which I got to order from DP.

The worlds largest thermometer. I wonder how tall that thing is. When I pulled in it read 110. I pulled into a gas station close to this thermometer to cool the bike down in the shade and get some water. When I pulled out it read 114. This was at 6:00pm. Funny thing is by the time I got just west of Victorville I had to put on a jacket.