It's about time! Like (I hear) has been the case in many parts, the coming of Spring was really delayed this year, but I'm finally riding the Road Glide again.

It's a fantastic bike still (11 years old and about the turn the odometer to 00000 for the second time). And this year it should be even better than previous ones, the way it's looking. I thought I would post something on the subject of older bike maladies, since there are probably others whose bikes become a bit irritating as they get more miles. They start to get their own, unique sets of problems that owners of younger bikes never see.

The biggest annoyance on my bike was an increasingly loud chirping... coming from somewhere I couldn't figure out. For the past 2 years I actually had to resort to wearing ear plugs on long trips - the noise was starting to drive me batty! It was a high-pitched, very annoying noise that would only occur when I applied throttle. Let off (or ease off) the throttle and the noise would go away. The chirping often wouldn't start right away - often beginning after an hour or so of riding, but sometimes right away too.

Then, last fall, my transmission pulley spun off its shaft. As annoying as that was (having to get a buddy to come with his truck and haul it home), it was also a much-needed answer to this dilemma, I think. That pulley must have been the source of the chirp!

(view pictures of the repair by clicking here)

Having replaced the pulley over the winter and ridden the bike for awhile now, I am sure the problem has been remedied. I think the pulley had come a bit loose and had been moving back and forth over the splined, 5th gear shaft for a long time, resulting in a noise that only came when under load.

Replacing the pulley also gave me a chance to replace the transmission seal once in there. It had developed a slow leak (which is hard to differentiate from a primary leak). Probably not too serious in itself, since I suspect the fluid cannot get low enough, leaking from there, to damage the gears. But good to have that fixed now too.

The other thing that had been a bother during the last couple of years was my clutch. It seemed that, no matter how I adjusted it, I could not get the lever friction zone right. It was either not fully disengaging or the lever had to be released to 90% of the end of its travel before engaging. There was just no in-between and, engaging at 90% near the end of the clutch lever travel, it felt like the clutch would simply fail to grab enough to move the bike someday - which would then result in riding with the friction plates slipping and then wearing them out (probably in the middle of nowhere).

A check with the micrometer indicated the friction plates (still the originals) were just fine, so I went with what (had to be) the only explanation left: The damper and diaphram springs must have lost their spring to press the plates together hard enough - resulting in the tension having to be totally off the clutch cable before they would get enough clamping force to begin moving the bike.

So I replaced those springs this winter too. Immediate difference!

Now I can adjust the clutch to the way it should be. So that's one to keep in mind for anyone experiencing the same problem. It's not a big job and the parts involved aren't expensive. A lot of people might tell you that your friction plates need to be replaced when, in fact, it's just the diaphragm spring that's become weak.

So, with just a little money spent and some fairly simple do-it-yourself during the winter (when I have nothing to do anyway), I think I've got a good riding season ahead of me with the old Road Glide.

This is posted in the hope that it helps someone else get the most out of their bike. I suspect that, often, people upgrade from otherwise decent bikes due to some annoying problem beginning as their rides get more miles, but wouldn't have done so if they had been able to resolve the problems.

Cheers.