I had a chance to get into the 550 last night. I was told the bike ran fine the last time it was started, but no precautions were taken before letting it sit for a few years. I opened the drain valve on the carbs expecting some gunk or at least some stale fuel to come out... Nothing. At first, I thought they may have been sooo gummed up that the drains were completely clogged. I covered up the over flow tubes and blew into the center fuel line. Air came out fine. I deduced that the carbs were in fact drained before the bike sat. Please let me know if you disagree!
I had let PB blaster sit in the cylinders for about 48 hours before trying to move them manually. With the bike in the center stand, I put it in 2nd and tried to turn the back wheel... Nothing. I rolled it up the street an coasted down, popped it into gear and the wheel locked up. Tried again and a little PB shot out of the outer right cylinder (the one I was most concerned about) but the wheel was still resisting. Third time was the charm. I pushed it back up the hill and popped it in gear and a glorious shower of PB and oil shot high in the air (and all over me). A smooth whooshing sound told me the cylinders were free!! No clicks, clacks, pops, or scrapes. Finally, I checked the electrical system by connecting my car battery. Headlight, horn, and blinkers all worked. I hit the starter for a split second just to make sure it made noise. I think I will be on the road very soon. Thanks to everyone that contributes to this forum! -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Nighthawk Motorcycle Lovers!" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nighthawk_lovers. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
