Was on an amazing loop in PERFECT conditions. Ground saturated and tacky, sun out, mild temps... PERFECT. Got to the top of a big climb and water was spewing from the corner of my radiator!!! NOOOOO not today of all perfect days Tried to patch it with water weld epoxy I had. No go. So as we were out a long ways with no clear way to get back EZ I did the next best thing. I took a socket and used it as a collar to shortcut the offending radiator. Unfortunately it was the side without the cap that was good so I had to improvise as blow off system. I whittled a stick out and crammed it in the crossover tube It all worked and got me 20 miles back to the rig and I still had a great day riding. Sometime you gotta do what you gotta do. nope that puddy did not hold or we did not get on on the spot. so... Remove hose and use socket as collar hook hose to other hose eliminating right rad. take crossover hose off and jam a hunk of branch in there. Worked fine. Bike ran great and did not get hot. Took it EZ on the hills. Got the bike back to the truck 20 miles away, bike ran fine, enjoyed the rest of my day.
Improvising skills of a legend! Brilliant answer to a sticky situation (see what i did there?) how did you get a hole in the rad? Thought rad guards were supposed to eliminate that issue?.
Bike is a 2002, no ideas what abuse it suffered before me. Had a crack in the corner of the tank you could see from the inside through the fill hole. Looks like simple fatigue. No rock or other damage and rad is straight. Been chasing this leak fior a few rides and finally popped open this ride and exposed itself. BTW rad guards help a lot but there is no such thing as eliminating issues 100% IMHO. Buddy of mine stuck his foot through the back side of his rad on a ride. thanks, there was no way I was going to miss this ride day and spend all day trying to figure how to get my bike out of the woods.
McGiver would be proud. Great thinking using the socket as a coupling. Thanks for sharing that trick.
Good job Kelly The kind of stuff that gets us home. I once used water as front brake fluid when a rock undid my banjo bolt. We had 2stroke oil with us but knew that it would wreck the seals. I have NEVER internationaly put water in brakes before but it got me home through 30 km of hills. I spent maybe an hour rebleeding it at home to be sure it all came out. Come on guys. What other fixes have you all done??
