RE: Travels With Connie #67 Climbing to the Sun
I have good news and bad :) Connie has an incredible electronic architecture that is just absolutely seamless. Not a ripple, ever. The only one I know of is the cold idle fuel flow. It we are at 10,000 ft when we start up in the morning and the next day we start at say 2000 ft it can be way too rich. It remembers the last setting. All I have to do is turn it off and back on to reset.
The bad news is that if that system goes away you are stuck with an inert lump of junk :)
A few years ago I did Mt. Evans to Death Valley. I was on my Honda (4 carbs in the valley of the V=4). I had to adjust the mixtures twice on that ride. But I really had my biggest problem getting the saddle bags open. They are air tight so the inside air was at 14k and the outside air was -200. I had to wiggle and wobble quite a while and they both 'wooshed' when I did get them open.
Those saddle bags sound like a really airtight opportunity for a design improvement and possible patented idea. I wonder if that situation happens to many other people? If you want the idea I can share it with you through a DM on discord.
Good thing you are mechanically inclined when it comes to carbs and that Honda.
Connie has a release valve built into the handle. Unlock the handle and equalize the air. The Honda didn't have that. My Honda was a '93. Good as Honda engineers are they can't think of everything. Everybody has some sort of release, now.
Okay, that is good to know they have it corrected. My suggestion would have been to drill and tap the bottom side of the bag and but a little quarter inch , quarter turn ball valve to let the pressure out. It would still be water tight and if the saddle bag wasn't lined it would also make a nice little cooler for water on day trips and then drain it using the ball valve at the end of the day.
That would work really good, in fact I like the idea a lot. As a matter of practicality I only had the problem once, and it took 13,000 feet of elevation change to trigger it. After that happened, if I thought I was losing too much elevation I'd merely open the bags once or twice.
I did 'electrify' the RH bag sometime after that. Put a bulkhead connector in it so I could still remove it but also charge my laptop as I rode.
I like the idea of a 'day ride cooler'. I'm looking at Connie as we speak.
Sounds like the saddle bags are not lined if you are looking at the girl in that way right now. Should be an easy installation if you decided to do it.