Early last week, I took a little trip to Huddleston, Virginia. Huddleston, as some of you may know, is where Steve Reed lives and works. Finally getting to meet Steve was a treat. I’d spoken with him on the phone many times and had looked forward to meeting Steve in person and seeing where the Welsh motor head works his magic. I’ve been plagued by charging problems with my RS-200 for quite some time and due to a move with the Air Force, have no shop and very few tools. Steve offered to give me a hand with it if I could drive down.
For a Minnesotan, navigating Virginian roads has been frustrating. Road signs rarely seem to be posted with more than about 20 feet of warning (I’m surely being dramatic) making it very easy to miss a turn. I also got side-tracked by a Northern Hydraulics store in Lynchburg, where I stopped to put a call in to by little bride and where I’d hoped they had S-K tools (they didn’t). While sitting in my pickup an employee, who I found out later from Steve actually worked with him, came out and insisted on getting me off the phone with my wife so he could find out about my Bridgestone… a persistent little feller.
Anyway, my 4-hour ingress trip to Huddleston took about 6-hours but I finally made it to the Reed residence. After a brief introduction; Steve became a whirlwind! He reminded me of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon character, zooming around my bike. It was challenging just to keep up with his activity… a turn of the wrench here, an adjustment there, replace a bolt here, and apply some grease there. Interestingly, Steve likes it hot in his shop and I mean hot. I’m not someone who sweats easily but I sure did in his shop and Steve, not a drop! Maybe there’s something to be said about the red dragon on Wales’ flag. Along with the many tweaks to my bike, we (and I barely qualify) rebuilt a generator from parts from another I found on e-Bay, resolved a choke problem, and took care of some unfinished business with the wiring. The most challenging part of the day was getting the crank, gear, idler, and generator marks aligned to ensure proper timing. Steve figured it out with relative ease and the reward was a start with the first kick.
We finished the day with some pizza and soda’s with Steve and his family who so graciously allowed this greasy, sweat-stained guy into there wonderful home and a very quick trip in one of Steve’s Porsches to their marina for a look at some other bikes. The day came to a close, we loaded my Bridgestone, and I was on my way back to Alexandria. The egress trip was much shorter; however, I barely made it due to my alternator failing about 35-miles from home (not a fun experience with so many things like gauges, windows and just about everything else being electrical). I really didn’t want to leave my truck by the side of the road with my Bridgestone loaded up, so I stubbornly pressed on and limped home.
In the end, I put a bunch of miles on my vehicle, dropped the alternator, and (I almost forgot to mention) broke the Reed family computer even more than it was already. But, we got my Bridgestone running!
One side note: Since returning from Huddleston, I’ve had to make one more change to my Bridgestone. Steve helped me get the generator charging again; yet, the charging system still wasn’t getting enough AC voltage rectified. I found that the new aftermarket bridge rectifier I replaced the original with, was not properly grounded. With a little more help from Steve over the phone and another go at the wiring, it turned out to be a simple fix. The charging system is now producing 13-plus DC volts now and I’ve since put about 200-miles on my bike. It’s great to ride again!
Orion
