Ahhh, so the story goes. Charlie and I drove up to malibu today, for the weekly Breakfast with Charlie series. Charlie drives himself and one or two other people to Malibu, we pull the peds out, rip 20 miles of amazing mountains and canyons, get breakfast at the rock store, and another 25 miles back.
We pull the bikes out of the truck, and right from the get go, my bike wasnt feeling right. Sounded weird, and wouldnt idle. My clutch was trashed, so I figured the no idling was due to that. The last time i rode the bike (about 2 weeks ago), it was shredding just fine. We start heading up the mountains and right away its not feeling good, low on power, wont hit the pipe going up hills. I decide to keep going since we headed all the way out there. I took it easy, not letting it rev out too high. We ride the first 20 miles and get to the rock store. We eat some breakfast. I check my plug, its lean for sure, but not TOO bad. I knew I shouldn't be riding it in the current condition, but continue. Make it through all the Mountains and canyons, and onto PCH headed back to out car. Wide open stretch. I thought we were only a few miles form the car, sick of dogging it, I open it up a bit more, shes cruising and finally feels like shes got some power, rode about 4 miles and.....POP. I knew what had happened. Charlie drove back to the truck, and picked me up.
Got home and opened her up. WOW.
Pulled the head off, and the head gasket had blown out. You can see from this pic where it had blown out at the bottom. Most of the seize marks are at the bottom of the cylinder, makes sense.
Now onto the weird stuff. Little hole in the piston. Doesnt go all the way through, but definitely some metal missing. What could cause this? Is timing the only possible issue? It doesnt look like other pistons I have seen with holes, where they are destroyed, with GIANT holes. This is small and not all the way through.
The biggest bummer. V-force reed cage (NOT CHEAP) destoyed. 2 of the 8 petals are broken/chipped at the tip. Dont know what could have caused this. These things are supposed to be super high quality. I dont think you can replace the reeds either. :( Any idea what would cause this?
Heres a few more pics of the cylinder. It should clean up fine. I have an extra piston, so I should be back on the rode. I am gonna port the shit out of it now. Super bummed on losing the reed cage though.
