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Stuck in Lodi

4K views 28 replies 16 participants last post by  Ohio Rider 
#1 · (Edited)
It had to happen sometime. Stuck in Lodi...well actually Ojai. My trusty Versys turned into a Ford this week. Found On Road Dead.

Monday I launched from Fresno on a 3 day ride. The plan was to stay with my buddy Dave in Goleta for a couple of days of riding in the area. Day one was to head to Santa Barbara via 41 south to interstate 5 south and connect with state route 33 and up over the coast range into Ojai, then on to Santa Barbara and Goleta. All was good on day one. Snapped a few pics starting at the Ozena Fire Station at the base of the 33. Snagged a few more pics at the top of the 33 looking North. Then going down the south side looking south towards the ocean.

The pics of the little creek was the major area of the terrible flood/mudslide in Montecito of a few years ago. Prior to the mudslide that entire area was full of trees and vegetation so you could not even see the creek. Now it is about a 50 yard wide area that was scoured out down to bed rock. Many houses and lives were lost. Really sad.

Tuesday day 2 was a fun run south on the 101 to ride all the cool canyon roads in the Malibu area, including the world famous "Snake." We stopped at the old Paramount Ranch to see if it had been rebuilt after the 2018 Woolsey fire. Unfortunately it had not been rebuilt yet. The little white church was the only structure that survived...hum perhaps God really was looking down on one of his houses?

After lunch in the Bu we headed north on the 1 to Latigo Canyon. One of my favorite roads in the area. So many turns it will make you dizzy. Dave and I both got passed by a hot rod Camero that was really putting down some lap times. We headed north winding our way thru the Simi Valley thru Santa Paula and then took the back way into Ojai via the 150. This is where the trouble began. The BIG RED light on the dash suddenly came on for an oh crap moment. Stopped for a quick assessment. Oil and water levels were ok. Nothing was overly hot or noisey so off we go into Ojai where she totally quit running. See pic of my F O R D in front of the Home Kitchen.

Shot down by the....wait for it... drum roll please... the good o'l STATOR failure. She ran till the battery went flat. Discovered that you are good for about 10 miles on battery power only when the charging system goes off line. Thank God it happened in Ojai cuz my buddy Chris (the guy working on my bike in the pic. I told him to smile but instead he grabbed his torch and puts on his attitude face) owns the local motorcycle shop in Goleta and lives in Ojai. I call Chris and he comes to my rescue with his truck. He has his commuter bike in the back, so we unload his bike and load up mine. He goes home and I take the truck and my bike to Dave's for the night. The next morning at Chris's shop we determine that the stator had failed. So instead of ordering the parts and waiting a couple of days, Chris steals the stator off a bike on the show room floor and I am up and running is a couple of hours. Boy howdy let me tell you it's not what you know but who you know. I told him he is very lucky he is not a girl cuz I would give you a big kiss!

After taking him to lunch, on my dime of course, me and Dave did a short shake down ride up on East Camino where we shot some pics of the views and of us sitting on couch rock. I discovered the rock back when I lived in the area. It's just like a big couch with a foot stool rock in front. It looks down on Santa Barbara and the Channel islands to the south and north you see the Santa Ynez mountains and valley. On a super clear off shore wind day you can see south almost all the way to Catalina Island. It's super quiet up there with views to die for. I used to go up there to think and pray and chill.

Thursday was the ride home. Total miles for 4 days was 720. And I am happy to report my old tired decrepit broken down back did just fine the entire time.
 

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#3 ·
I was based in SBA for Fidelity. Flew the G-200 and Beechjet. The arrival from the east was the tool box 1 arrival. Cross Palmdale at 240 then flight idle and 4000 fpm (coming down like a tool box) to finally connect with a 3 degree profile to the runway.

Definitely a magical place to live and fly out of.

And yes rather be lucky than good....and I would add "Will probably never be good so might as well be lucky!":wink2:
 
#4 ·
Your break down was better than my last vacation.....:grin2::grin2::grin2:
 
#7 ·
Wow, a 2015 with stator failure. I had a few set backs over the last week, but have 3 Polaris regulators ( 4012941) I intend to post For Sale Saturday or Sunday, one is already spoken for. This will be my last at selling these,I now recommend buying directly from Polaris using the 4016868 Polaris which works best on the MK-3 due to a larger footprint, one member posted installing one on a MK-2. I will have more detail in the For Sale
 
#9 · (Edited by Moderator)
Shot down by the....wait for it... drum roll please... the good o'l STATOR failure.
Superman had kryptonite and us Versys folks have crappy voltage regulators. Other than that the system appears to be trouble-free. Scared me enough to put in the series-style regulator. Onewizard sentences you to 25 push-ups and one Polaris!
 
#10 ·
Series regulator Why Bother

I am going to ask again, anyone with a 2017 or newer V1000 contact me, I suspect Kawasaki has a series regulator but need someone to prove it for me, the hardest part is getting at the 3 phase plug, in my 2015 Versys 650, it is near impossible to access, better to take the plastic off and go to the regulator.
What is needed is a voltmeter that can measure volts AC . The regulator should have two plugs and look similar to the Polaris

https://www.shindengen.com/products/electro/motorcycle/reg/
 
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#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Beautiful roads. I don't know if I could get used to the lack of lush green we get here in the east....
Lush green requires lots of water :smile2: and we go for months with little to no rain. Which also means you can ride pretty much year round.

It will green up considerably over the next few months as we get our seasonal rains. Throughout the warm summer months the green rolling hills turn golden again.
 
#16 ·
I am not completely uneducated on the stator problem on the versys BUT I have not educated myself enough on the subject.I own a 2008, Love the bike and am preparing things for a week or two ride from Washington state to arizona then back across to California and up the 101 to Wash.My bike has 16000 miles on it and thus far have had no problem.At what mileage does it seem that stator failure seems to occur or is it just random.Should I pack one and take it with me?I would like to upgrade to a polaris but would not feel comfortable doing it myself.Any advise? I am 68 years old in great health and I figure if I am ever going to take this long of a ride I better do it NOW.Should I be concerned?Thank you,
 
#22 · (Edited)
I am not completely uneducated on the stator problem on the versys BUT I have not educated myself enough on the subject.
As far as I know theres nothing wrong with the stators on our bikes. Its just that the OEM regulator/rectifier is a very blunt instrument compared to a series regulator as far as letting the stator do its job efficiently in the charging system. So some of us have changed them out as a precaution. The stator takes time to burn out from overwork , maybe it will,maybe it wont. If youre on the road your screwed. So thats why some of us do the mod....
 
#17 ·
For us east coasters CA seasons are wrong. Green in the winter spring and brown (golden) in the summer fall. The lack of rain and moderate temps. do make for a long riding season.

Riding in CA and be a tale of two days. 1987 I left the bay area at 0 dark thirty and froze my butt off on the way to Reno. In Sac I stopped for breakfast and thought OK the sun is coming up it will be warmer. Nope as you go up in elevation the temp went down. And this was in August. Day 2 coming back from Reno down the mountains into the central valley. The temp keeps going up as I come down. It was the hottest I had ever ridden in. I didn't have enough clothing to put on the first day and couldn't take enough off on day two.

Great pic by the way, and good to have friends to help.
 
#21 ·
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