Search Messages

 
Author:
Search Start Date:
Search End Date:
Sort Order
Sources to include:
OR Message ID:
 

Display Mesage #58037


Hannigan PC at new home - trip report - long
Written by lcshepp on 8/16/2005 at 02:42 am

Hi Coasters,

The Hannigan PC has arrived at its new home.

First of all, a million thanks to Israel Engle for all the work he did
to take a sad looking, bad smelling bike and make it into a gorgeous
bike. Thanks again, Iz.

Secondly, thanks to Israel, Sandie Rosenthal, Willie Seay, Steve Johnsen
and the other folks that either came and rode with me or expressed an
interest in doing so.

Thirdly, thanks to the folks that offered assistance along the way if I
needed it.

The trip:

Wednesday, 8/10, I flew to Baltimore, MD from Sacramento, CA. E. Buzzer
was there to greet me and drive me to Salisbury. Pretty country out in
that area. Reminded me of Minnesota farm country.

Checked in at a motel and mosied over to Israel's place. Willie and
Israel were outside when we arrived. There it was. That gorgeous thing
that Iz had done a major cleanup on. It looked better than the pictures.

We talked about the rig at some length with me trying to benefit from
Iz' experience with it. Finally, I drove it back to the motel with E.
Buzzer following. I had invited Iz and Willie to dinner but they were
already done eating when we got there. So E. Buzz and I went to a Red
Lobster and had a good meal.

After saying so long to E. Buzz, I went in and got a good nights rest.

About 8:30AM Thursday, I arrived at Israel's to find Iz, Willie, Sandie,
and two other guys whose names I cannot pull out (Bob and Don?). One of
them bought Iz' PC and was riding it that day; the other fellow had a
VStar with a Cozy sidecar attached. With two Wings, two PCs and two
sidecar rigs we made an interesting group.

Intros all around and we shot the breeze for a few minutes and then took
off about 9AM. These folks all knew where they were going and they had
a couple of ideas on which way we should go to get to I70, my main route
home.

After about an hour on US50, around Easton, MD, Iz and the two other
guys cut off; work called them. Willie and Sandie sandwiched me in and
we kept on truckin'. At Mt. Airy, MD (that's the name on the gas
receipt but I recalled something different...) we stopped for gas, said
our goodbyes and Steve Johnsen and I took off. Steve met us at this
location.

At Grantsville, MD I had to fill up again and Steve and I said our
goodbyes at this point. It was then that he mentioned that the PC he
was riding was E. Buzz' old bike - that's the one I rode at the Gap
several years ago. Small world!

My mileage was in the low 30s so I was getting between 110 and 130 miles
per tank. Pretty close to what I had guessed. And I was driving 65
because I was pretty sure (from my experience in 2001 with the '90) that
if I tried to go any faster, the mileage would drop too far for me to
get from gas station to gas station.

The weather was warm and I had only hit a minutes worth of rain just as
Steve and I were filling our tanks. I continued on to Brazil, Indiana
arriving there about 11:15PM, about 766 miles from where I started.

Friday, I started out about 8:30AM aiming for Oakley, Kansas. The rig
had been pulling to the right all day Thursday and my arms had gotten
pretty tired. The sidecar came equipped with Electric Camber Control
which Iz had hooked back up for me. I wondered to myself if the ECC
might have an affect on the pulling so I adjusted it.

Wow.

Steering neutralized.

Double wow.

No more pulling.

I also discovered that in a stiff side wind, I could adjust the ECC and
overcome that too. Either direction.

Triple wow.

I'm sure glad you got it hooked back up, Iz! What a difference.

I got as far as western Missouri, near Kansas City, before the rain
started. I got drenched and dried off the first and second times but
the third storm looked bad enough, I decided to pull over and put on the
Frogg Toggs. I bought these just for this trip because they are
breathable.

The sky in front of me was black. And it was early afternoon...

The rain storms I hit from that point until about an hour from Oakley
can only be described as deluges. Thunder, lightning, rain so thick I
could only see the taillights of the semi in front of me. We were doing
no more than 35 to 40mph at times because the visibility was so bad.
The Frogg Toggs did pretty well in spite of that. Got some water
through but only my too warm Nelson-Riggs AX-1 would have held out that
much water. The Givi, the PC trunk and the sidecar also stayed dry.
Got a little water in the sidecar trunk but not a lot.

I got to Oakley, Kansas about 11:45PM (12:45 Brazil time) about 788
miles from Brazil, Indiana. My room looked like a laundry with wet
clothing hanging everywhere. Drying out the gloves and one boot. The
Frogg Togg pants had slid up past the top of the boot so I poured water
out of it before trying to dry it out.

Saturday AM looked grungy; like more rain. I started out with my now
dry clothing, Frog Toggs, etc. already on, about 8:45AM. I quickly
realized that the reason for the lower gas mileage on the prior two
tanks was that I had been climbing. Between the rain and the fact that
it was gradual, I had had no idea that I was now over 4200 feet in
elevation.

Over the border into Colorado and toward Denver. Not much rain but
cloudy enough that until I was clear past Denver, I never did see the
city center. Over on the back side of Denver, the clouds started to
lift a little and I got one glance of the city center before heading
into the front range.

I got lucky here. The clouds parted and the sun came out. I had a
gorgeous drive from here past Vail, Breckenridge and the other ski towns
along I70. Beautiful scenery that I actually got to see.

I arrived at my destination, Salina, Utah, about 11PM (midnight Oakley
time), 701 miles from Oakley. After checking in, I had my first real,
sit-down meal since leaving Salisbury. I had been snacking at each gas
stop with crackers, cheese, peanut butter and a pint of low fat milk;
this time it was a good size breakfast at Denny's next to the motel.
Man, that tasted good!

Sunday AM, I started out from Salina about 8:50AM. Sun shining
brightly. Gorgeous day. I was now off the interstate and on US50.
Beautiful country. Me and a 2 lane road and my bike. Grin on my face
that wouldn't stop. Only it did stop shortly after that.

I had been watching the sidecar tire which was losing tread at an
alarming rate. It is a 4.80x12 tire, basically a trailer tire, and was
taking a beating. I forgot to check it again before leaving Salina. I
should have.

I got maybe a hundred miles or so from Salina and suddenly the sidecar
started moving up and down for no visible reason. Very weird. I pulled
off the road knowing it had to be the tire. It was.

Tread was mostly gone, cord was showing in spots; wore right through
that too. The poor tire just died. I pushed the bike a little farther
off the road, got the jack out of the sidecar trunk and jacked up the
sidecar wheel. Wow. That tire looked bad.

Got out my cell phone. Luckily I had reception. Got my road service
(RV Road Help) on the phone and waited. And waited. Several vehicles
had gone by.

Suddenly (I had been stopped for about 10 minutes), a flat bed tow truck
pulled up and the young fellow said, "Need some help?". I said, "I sure
do."

He pulled the rig up onto the flat bed. We tied it down. He called his
uncle to see if the uncle had a 4.80x12 at his tire shop. Tire shop?
Wow. About that time my road service picked up the phone and gave me an
authorization for billing for the tow.

He had to go on to the next town and change a tire. He had been on the
way there when he spotted me. I told the people waiting there that it
was my fault that he was late. They didn't mind. Wanted to know about
the motorcycle, where I was going, etc. Nice folks.

After their tire change, we headed for Fillmore, Utah and his uncle's
tire shop. He thought he had the right size. When we got there, we
learned that the only new tires he had were 5.30x12 which is probably
too big; I've got a question in to the Hannigan folks to verify.
However, he had a trailer that he used to haul lawn tractors and it had
a near new 4.80x12 on it. I could tell by looking and feeling it that
it was a harder compound as well.

Long story short, after only a 2 1/2 hour delay, I was back on the road
again. My first thought when I saw the tire was that I would be staying
the night. At least...

Let me say this about that: I will never win the lottery now. I used
up all of my luck on this one: I'm stopped for 10 minutes on a Sunday
morning. A tow truck drives by, picks me up and after a short delay
takes me to his uncle's tire shop. His uncle is waiting for us when we
get there. Takes but a few minutes to get the tire changed, back on the
sidecar and me unloaded from the flatbed. I pay my bills with them and
I'm on my way. Sound implausible? I agree. More like impossible...
Anyhow, that's what happened.

So now I'm out in the middle of nowhere, on the "loneliest highway in
America". I finish crossing Utah, head into Nevada where I hit
stretches of 50 to 100 miles between services. I filled up at about 80
miles on the trip meter a couple of times because I had no choice.

I was carrying a 5 gallon can of gas with me. I had used it for the
first time in Colorado when I ran out 2 miles short of my destination.
I used it twice more in Nevada. I was VERY glad I had it. It fit right
in the spacious trunk on the sidecar.

At nearly midnight, I crossed the border into California at South Lake
Tahoe on US50.

I got home to Placerville about 12:45AM, 677 miles (including a 25 mile
detour for a tire) from Salina, Utah.

The '96 PC performed like a PC. Superbly.

Does the sidecar make a difference? Big time. Am I glad I got it?
Wouldn't trade it for anything. The Hannigan sidecar is a VERY well
made unit. The owner had it painted to exactly match the Magna Red and
Karkorum (sp?) gray of the '96. The ECC on the sidecar made a huge
difference in driver fatigue for the balance of the trip after the first
day. OTOH, this PC will wear out twice as fast as a solo bike, I'm
sure. Maybe faster. It's working hard. Most of the time. I could
tell by the slower acceleration, reduced gas mileage and the temperature
gauge; it ran a lot warmer than the solo bikes do.

All in all, it was a very good trip.

Thanks for reading.

--
Leland
Placerville, California, USA

...Life is good on the Pacific Coast...

'94 Pacific Coast, "Black Beauty", 199,023.4 miles
'89 Pacific Coast, "Shadow Dancer", 89,000 miles
'90 Pacific Coast, "Red Baron", 68,000 miles
'96 Pacific Coast w/Super Sport sidecar, "Hannigan", 14,000 miles
'02 Royal Enfield Bullet w/Cozy Rocket sidecar, "Thumper", 2000 miles
'02 Ural Patrol, "Boris Blueanov", 3800 kilometers
Canyon Dancer Harness: 27,032 miles and climbing
iPCRC #72; IBA #10582; AMA #481368

PC800 Owner's Registry: http://www.pc800registry.org

Mother of all PC800 Web Site Lists: http://www.pc800links.net

2005 PC800 Pacific Coast Ride: http://www.pcpch.org

Complete PC800 Parts List: http://www.pc800parts.org

PC800 Buy/Sell Registry: http://www.pc800buysell.org

A PC800 Trailering solution:
http://www.directcon.net/lcshepp/PC800Trailering_with_CD.html

Message Thread for message #58037