Friggin Petcock

[Dave Daniels]

Gives new meaning to the expression "step on the gas"

--- On Mon, 9/21/09, Charles Scappaticci <scapco at ecentral.com> wrote:


From: Charles Scappaticci <scapco at ecentral.com>
Subject: Friggin Petcock
To: "Kawasaki GPZ1100 Discussion" <gpzlist at micapeak.com>
Date: Monday, September 21, 2009, 12:38 AM


I haven't gotten my new petcock yet, but since Saturday was supposed to be a sunny day in the low 80's, I decided I had to go for a nice ride and offered to take my ex on a ride through Rocky Mountain National Park.  We figured this would also be a chance to finally test my Autocom intercom out as it's sat unused for the past year since I bought it.  A friends Friday night emergency made for a late night, so we decided to at least ride Mt. Evans and have lunch at our favorite cafe in the hills.  Also, I could empty the tank for the petcock swap out next week.

Since the new petcock hasn't arrived yet, I figured no sweat, I'll just hook it back up and it will be fine for the day.  I removed the bolt I'd stuck in the hose and reattached it to the filter as it dribbled all over my hands.  This turned out to be the first of several soakings of gas.  I started it to warm up, oiled the chain and started to get my coat on, only to notice it was leaking badly.  I turned it off and saw the hose had torn above the hose clamp so I cut it off and reattached it, started it back up and got dressed.

We headed out on C-470 along the foothills and enjoyed the intercom which was working very well.  A little before I got to US 285, I noticed my left foot was cold in the morning air, but warmer temps were coming so I ignored it.  About a half mile farther I felt a cylinder drop out, and since I'd left the house with a half tank I took a look at the gas gauge and saw it said empty.  I pulled over as another cylinder dropped out and saw the gas line hanging in the breeze and understood why my left foot had been cold, it was soaked with gas.  The line had broken off just above the clamp which I thought was odd, but I cut it cleanly and once again reattached it and we hit the closest gas station for a couple of bucks of gas.

We got back on the road again, but my left foot was burning from the gas soaking, so we stopped in Idaho Springs and I bought a cheap pair of socks, washed my left foot which was a bright red, changed the sock and headed up Mt. Evans.  We had a nice and uneventful ride and made it the Country Roads Cafe about 1:00 and sat down right as my friend Tim DeScala showed up on his 1200GS.   We had an excellent lunch and made plans to try to take next Friday off and he, I and my friend Bruce tow our dirt bikes down to Lake City and then ride over to Silverton and spend the night at the Bent Elbow and then try to ride over to Telluride and Ouray on Saturday and go home on Sunday.  I've been wanting to do this for a couple of years and with the aspen turning it should be an excellent ride.  We had an uneventful ride home and once the motor was cool, I drained the remaining gas from the tank and am ready for the new petcock.  I guess my one boot will spend
 winter in the garage until it stops stinking like gas so much, LOL!

Charles S.