bigmo
Husqvarna
AA Class
Let's just say you were NOT watching the line the three riders in front of you took. Let's assume that it had been raining for three consecutive days. Let's also assume the perennial stream resembles a navigable river...
All of that combined on Friday to put my 449 in over-the-bars water - nothing like swimming off of one's bike!
I was able to drag it through the current enough until a couple of guys could get a hand on the front wheel. Initial prognosis was bad: she stopped under water (it all happened VERY fast), hydro locked cylinder, and we were a LONG way from a road and deep in single track. GREAT!
Getting to the plug while soaked to the bone was going to be a major trailside repair. So we tipped her to 90 degrees with the front wheel firmly in the clouds. Some gentle rocking back and forth in 4th or 5th gear and I could hear the valvetrain starts to move. A few secs of this and the exhaust valves opened up and water came gushing out of the tailpipe! Nice!
Next press of the button and she lit immediately and pumped water out the pipe like some kind of pool super soaker! I hopped on, high fived my team and confirmed I knew the way back to the cabin. It took about 14 miles of emergency bailout, but the bike ran well and I believe running it through the motions post-dunk actually helped.
I changed the oil immediately and removed the lower airbox. First dump was solid milk. Ran cheap oil at idle with lots of clutch cycles for 3-4 mins until nice and warm and dumped again. Better. Cleaned the screens, pulled the filter, and more cheap oil. Better. One last repeat and a fresh filter.
Ran the bike for 150+ more miles with zero issues. Last night, I tore her down as much as possible. Oil came out dark amber (EXCELLENT). Another fresh filter, screens and good synthetic. Pulled every connector I saw and put on light dialectic grease. Oh, I also drained my headlight - lol!
Ready for my next adventure. Anyone else go swimming yet?
All of that combined on Friday to put my 449 in over-the-bars water - nothing like swimming off of one's bike!
I was able to drag it through the current enough until a couple of guys could get a hand on the front wheel. Initial prognosis was bad: she stopped under water (it all happened VERY fast), hydro locked cylinder, and we were a LONG way from a road and deep in single track. GREAT!
Getting to the plug while soaked to the bone was going to be a major trailside repair. So we tipped her to 90 degrees with the front wheel firmly in the clouds. Some gentle rocking back and forth in 4th or 5th gear and I could hear the valvetrain starts to move. A few secs of this and the exhaust valves opened up and water came gushing out of the tailpipe! Nice!
Next press of the button and she lit immediately and pumped water out the pipe like some kind of pool super soaker! I hopped on, high fived my team and confirmed I knew the way back to the cabin. It took about 14 miles of emergency bailout, but the bike ran well and I believe running it through the motions post-dunk actually helped.
I changed the oil immediately and removed the lower airbox. First dump was solid milk. Ran cheap oil at idle with lots of clutch cycles for 3-4 mins until nice and warm and dumped again. Better. Cleaned the screens, pulled the filter, and more cheap oil. Better. One last repeat and a fresh filter.
Ran the bike for 150+ more miles with zero issues. Last night, I tore her down as much as possible. Oil came out dark amber (EXCELLENT). Another fresh filter, screens and good synthetic. Pulled every connector I saw and put on light dialectic grease. Oh, I also drained my headlight - lol!
Ready for my next adventure. Anyone else go swimming yet?
