I have been busy lately with work and home. This is our busy season at work and though the rest of the country is buried under six feet of snow we are being pushed to ship grass seed. This is thanks to computers and the loss of human interaction. Buyers aren't looking out the window and basing their decisions on what the weather is doing right now or expected to be in the next few weeks but rather gazing into a computer monitor and reading what sales were last year. I know it takes time for product to ship, the transit time for an order to reach the distribution centers, then be consolidated with other orders and shipped again to individual stores. It can take two to three weeks for a store in Pennsylvania to receive an order from Oregon but it also can take weeks for snow to melt.
I laugh cause everything we do is so reliant on computers, even our bikes. Several weeks ago we had a lot of rain, it was blowing sideways wet. During that time my bike developed an ailment and has not been running at her best, experiencing hesitation, rough idle and stalling. I've had the tank, battery box, air box, filter and spark plugs out twice, replacing the spark plugs the second time and draining the fuel tank suspecting water in the fuel. It is nearly an hour job to dismantle the Tiger to get to the plugs and another hour to reassemble just to find it still runs rough. I've spent hours online reading forums learning about ECUs, IACVs, EFI, O2 sensors and all the little electrical gremlins residing in modern bikes. I've done all I can to fix the problem so now it's off to see the Wizard today to have him remap the ECU. (And maybe test ride a Street Triple).
Computers, do they really make life that much easier? When they are doing what they are supposed to do then yes, otherwise it takes another computer to fix the computer that you need. Great, now computers are a need.
-ADDENDUM: I had a great ride down to the Triumph shop and a better ride back, now that I know what the problem is. Apparently the gremlin I've been chasing is a faulty stepper motor for the Idle Air Control Valve, a $113 part. So with the part on order and an hour shop labor to disassemble, diagnose and reassemble and two new O-rings for the fuel fittings I am down $191.50. I have to tolerate the rough idle for another week until the part comes in, install it myself to save me an hour labor charge, then next time I'm at the shop they'll wipe the codes for me.
Ahhhhh, computers.
"Computers, do they really make life that much easier?"
ReplyDeleteNo, not easier. Different, definitely but not necessarily easier or better.
Every time I start thinking of a new bike I start to think of all of the complexity the new systems bring. It may be safer but it means more things to go wrong as well.
Richard
Good luck at the Wizard's.
ReplyDeleteAnd, enjoy the ride.
~k
Troubadour:
ReplyDeleteAt least the problem has been discovered and will be fixed. Imagine if they could not find the problem and it just kept running rough all summer
do they make any grass that doesn't need cutting ? "cause that's what I'm looking for
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
Yes, all these computers...it's rather scary. It's amazing how well new, computerized cars/bikes run compared with the past, but when they quit, that's it. You're lucky if you can limp it home. And nowadays they're in everything.
ReplyDeleteGlad you have it (almost) all worked out. Like how you through a test ride in there...you know, just to kill some time while waiting around...
Glad the discovery is complete and the diagnosis/fix is relatively inexpensive. Relative only to the cost of a new computer module, requiring you to give up your first born.
ReplyDeleteNo comment on computers in our life...as I sit and type on one that allows me to converse with so many people around the world, making new friends EVERYWHERE! :)
-Lori