Sailor's Plea: To ride his machine 1 more time, his story!

[Big Daddy Funk]

Righteous XS 1100 Members

Sorry to hear of your situation, I'm sure those guys will get you out for a ride sailor. Real bikers never leave another biker stranded. The brotherhood of bikers is still in effect. A pat on the back for those members that jumped in to help.
Rick

[foreda]

Ride

SlowMo
I wish I lived in you're neighborhood, if we couldn't get get her running, I'd let you take mine for that special ride.
Good luck!

[Cobia]

How did it go????

The suspense is driving me nuts!!
Sorry about your situation Sailor, I hope the very kind gentlemen who went to help got it going for you.
I'd like to know how it went guys?????!!!!!!

[TopCatGr58]

Hopefully they've gone for a nice long ride. Being on the West Coast, nice weather usually, it's only 5pm now, so they haven't gotten back yet, had dinner, etc.! But yeah, I would like to see the FIX and subsequent ride report!
T.C.

[latexeses]

Project success!

DirverRay and 3Phase Wrapped it up at about 3pm this afternoon!!!
Sailor has one strong little scooter!! I don't want to jump the story from Ray or Scott but the Readers Digest version is.....
The bike,a SF, had XJ carbs a Bad battery, Wrong plugs, Bad Primary and a really foul fuse box.
Flogged the fuse box most of the first day along with changing the carbs. With some manual support of the fusebox the bike Finally fired up and ran. Poorly. Read KICK STARTER. It was dark thirty so we packed it up for the night.
Headed into Lodi to pick up a fuse box and some blades. Remembered that I still had T.C.'s fuse box after we picked up a box at Pep Boys. Remembering that was a break because the PB box looked like trouble. Stopped at Wal-Mart for a battery and charged it up overnight.
Forgot to mention a stop for some mexican food at my favorite watering hole.
Everyone spent the night at "Debbies House of Cats". I'll let them explain that one away.
3Phase got some badly needed rest. Headed off for some breakfast and took off for the bike project.
As soon as the fuse box and battery were installed the bike fired up like it was waiting to run. After adjustments to timing, carb balancing and carb sticks 3Phase straped on a helmet and took the bike for a quick ride to the end of the marina and back. Boy did it sound good. You could tell by the smile on Phase's face that it was OK. Bike was low on fuel so Diver, Phase and Sailor took the bike a couple miles into Rio Vista for some fuel. Sailor rode a Kawasaki v-twin that he had. Got back just before dark and everyone was late getting in their direction home. So we took some final photos and said goodbye's. Left the bike ready for sailor and a mornig ride.
Wish you could have seen the look in sailor eyes... He is very happy.
I said this was the Reader's Digest version but I could write forever about the spirit and passion of that man. He is starring death right in the eye but there is no doubt about his love of riding.
Sailor is having a hard time eating and keeping food down. He knows what is coming and is just waiting. I talked to his wife Kat before he left. She said he has been wanting so badly for so long to be able to ride the XS again. He is very excited about having it run. He has to tell you that by writing, as he can not speak in much more than a whisper. A whisper that is hard to understand because the cancer has his vocal cords.
It is tough to write about. Don't think that I am tough enough not to have tears as I get this out. Sailor is quite a guy.
I will work on getting pictures on here tomorrow. Diver has some as well and he may beat me to it.
Wanted to let you all know the trip was a big success.

Rodger

[petejw]

what a great story, well done.
you guys should be proud of yourselves,
lookin 4ward to the pics.

[tarzan]

What a great act of compassion.
And a very uplifting story.I hope Sailor gets a good ride or two in.
You guys are to be commended.
Rick

[GARTHXS]

ride into the sunset

Blessing and prayers are with you!

[skipt]

Wonderful report. Just what we were all hoping to hear.

Skip

[Rasputin]

Big hand

A big hand for all involved. It is an emotional thing to see people go out of their way to help another person. Too little of that in this world today. It is also very emotional to hear about your plight Sailor. God bless and keep you.

[Wildkat]

Thanks for the report...


Soooooo glad to read that things went well!
Most awesome job, guys!

Hopefully, Sailor will get lots of miles in on this one...

(his wife has a great name)

[latexeses]

Just went back and looked at my earlier post. Bad pick-up coil not primary. Didn't make much difference I guess, either will keep it from running.
DiverRay and 3phase know better the exact order of problems Sailors scoot had.
I was the intern at a heart transplant.

Rodger

[oldyam80sg]

Good job guys!

[3Phase]

Pray for Sailor and Kat, please. God bless both of them.


Sailor: you and your wife both have heart, and thank you very much for the nice, warm, face cover for the ride home. That worked really well!


Folks, Sailor and his wife made a huge impression on me and, I believe, LateXS and DiverRay, too. Sailor's staring death in the face and giving it the requisite one-finger salute with a positive spirit and a never-give-up-and-don't-ever-quit attitude that makes men tremble and women weep.

Thank you all for the moral support and the good wishes on this trip. We needed every bit of it. There's nothing wrong with Sailor's XS now, it's a runnin' machine and it looks really good, too. He did a nice job on his bike. The brakes are a little sticky from sitting and the handlebars are a tad out of kilter but its Jardine headers with turnout pipes give it a deep, throaty, rumble that could shake the fish right out of the marina and it flys faster than a goose through an Airbus.

After we got Sailor's bike running he wrote some stories for us about the times he had riding it. For instance: he raced a Jaguar XKE. That poor Jag quit and gave up at 135mph but Sailor? Well, Sailor pushed on up to 160mph on that bike! Oh, by the way <innocent look>, did anyone mention that the engine was rebuilt?

LateXS: I thank you and your wife for the hospitality -- greatly appreciated, and you wrote a very nice summary of the weekend indeed!


Well, that's it for me for tonight... this morning. I have some pictures and video - later! I just got home around 2:00 AM and it's been a long weekend.

Regards,

Scott (Tired, but it's a happy kind of tired)

[Dragonrider]

You guys rock, no doubt about it. Prayers and best wishes to Sailor and his wife.