T-Minus 28 Days and Counting

The gremlins have been busy teaching me a few things. The slipping clutch is teaching me patience and faith in my abilities. The puncture is teaching me that something that could be a major failure is only millimeters from an annoyance.

And today a new lesson. One of the problems that can plague the Honda Rebel is a headlight rattle. I spent an hour working on my rattling piece of chrome but to no avail. So, riding with the rattling headlight this morning I hear a new rattle. It doesn't sound good.

To the best of my abilities this morning, I guessed something was loose on or near the engine. At lunch time I ate my bagel while poking and prodding the engine and anything I could think of checking. No luck.

After work I hop on my bike and rev the engine. The nasty little gremlin of a rattle is still eluding me. Then I lean back on my luggage rack. The rattle stops! The vibrating rear fender was causing a loose connection on my luggage rack to oscillate, causing it to hit the fender and buzz.

The lessons? Symptoms of problems like to lie. Maybe with motorcycles as with life, the problems should be diagnosed, not the symptoms.