EDBDRs: PRE-RAMBLE: HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

My setup is just as perfect as it could be. I’m ready to roll. I’m locked and loaded. I look at my Royal Enfield Himalayan (Caledonia Blockhead) with a mixture of pride and anticipation. I can not wait to ride her to the Canadian border.

Then she died. Mid-ride. Right there on the road. We were on an errand to West Asheville, and suddenly it felt like she was out of fuel. Just sputtered and quit. I got her running and took off. It happened again. It happened four times total. But I got her home. The tank was full. There were no hoses kinked under the tank. The fuel pump primed when I turned the key. I checked and readjusted the TPS and the idle. I checked the spark plug. I could find nothing wrong.

 I did the deep dive on google and everything I read pointed toward an intermittent fuel pump problem. Even though I could hear it prime, apparently some folks were having problems with it dying while riding. So I looked into ordering a new one. Then I remembered that the bike was under warranty so I called the dealer and told them I was bringing her in the next day. The closest dealer is in Charlotte two hours away. I had to rent a trailer. It’s a hassle. But I dropped her off. The service department was helpful and I felt like she was in good hands. I told them when I planned on leaving for my big trip. They were backed up and short-staffed like everyone is these days, but it sounded like they’d get her fixed up with plenty of time to spare. No problem.

I spent the next week riding Little Ugly Homefry. Honestly, this was the most I’d ridden her since the TAT. I started to remember how much I love that little dumb bike. It’s a ton of fun. And I thought to myself, “maybe I should take this bike on the east coast trip…” It’s a bit like having kids. When you have that first kid and you start dealing with the sleep deprivation and the complete hell that is an infant, you make an oath to yourself that you will never, under any circumstances, ever have another kid. Then they get a bit older, they start smiling and jabbering. They start to form their personality and start learning how to wield their cuteness. By this time you’ve forgotten the hellishness of the infant-dom. And you think to yourself, “we should have another kid.” This is the same. I’ve forgotten all of the things that I HATED about riding that CT125 long distances and long hours. Mostly I’d forgotten the beating it put on my delicate ass. But still - I thought to myself, “maybe I should have another kid…”

But no. The Himalayan is set up too well. I have all that expensive luggage that I want to use. I want to be comfortable and I want to be able to go fast (relatively). I’m not taking the god damned Honda. There’s enough time. I’ll get the Himalayan back no problem. Calm down. Just calm the fuck down. It’s all good.