What a beautiful day for a ride and honing riding skills. I hope everyone had a great day and you are now at or close to the goal in Joetsu.

Firstly, apologies. I’m sorry for being late and keeping you all waiting this morning. Thank you for waiting and the cheers on arrival. It made my year!

Secondly, I won’t have seen any of you most of the day or be able to see you tonight and say congratulations as the MighTy10 refused to gallop beyond Yamanakako.

Right, the first. As you likely know, I was out scouting for the Coast to Coast and returned yesterday. Heading back, it was initially gusty and drizzling through Nagano and then torrential rain from Kofu to Yokohama. Distracted by the rain, I neglected to watch the fuel gauge until I’d passed the last fuel stop on the Chuo before swinging onto the Ken-O Doro. So, pouring rain, fuel warning light on and showing 15km already used, I stabbed away at the Garmin in sopping wet cold gloves for the distance to Ebina. 45 odd kilometres. 45 + 15-16-17 = 60 something divided by 4.5 Litres equals… about 14km/litre…adjusting for the 15km I’d already done with complete disregard for economy… = DO YOUR BEST! Yup, tired and fighting through the Weather Gods’ road cleaning, I crawled along at max economy mode which seemed to be 85-100km/h in top gear. The econometer was showing 18-23km/L and things were looking good until hitting the stop start traffic several kilometres before entering the Tomei. I had to get creative there and rolling down the entry to the Tomei with a clear road ahead, I gave the MT a pat on the tank and begged for just a little bit more. We made it. Crawling into Ebina, after 263km in the saddle, I dashed off for an epically long pee then went to fill the MighTy10‘s tank and run the final 25km home. That was a long winded way to say that the ride home was stressful and I neglected to check my bike when I got home.

And that was important why? Well, The auxiliary power cord that ran from the power distribution block to the pannier head escaped it’s wet weather hiding place under the seat and managed to get chewed on by the chain and sprocket for I have no idea how many kilometres. Anyway, shrapnel and remnants needed removing along with the cord itself. And all this at the twelfth hour. Thus my tardiness.

Now the second. Climbing up to Mikuni Touge and the transition from Kanagawa to Tokyo, the MighTy10‘s throttle felt limp and lethargic, not unlike most of us the day after a C2C. Except it still had spurts of full energy and over 7000rpm definitely had all the beans. Something was up and descending toward the lake, it got progressively worse.

The 2015-2022 MT10 is known for crank failure, self-inflicted valve damage and gearboxes de-gearing themselves. I was dreading symptoms of any of them. If a crank failure, I’d likely have slid off the road on a puddle of engine oil. If a gearbox implosion, a few gears would have likely been reluctant to engage resulting in a lot of momentumless revving. If valve damage, it would be noisy and sending smoke signals to Greta. It was sounding odd but no smoke. On further observation, it seemed to be running on three cylinders or misfiring…or both and they weren’t regular. What was regular was that the higher rpm power was still there, sometimes with a cough and a lurch beforehand. And the erratic rpm and power low down was getting worse. The pops and bangs on overrun were greater too. I couldn’t help thinking of those three common failure points though and it really wasn’t safely rideable.

So, instead, we hobbled 14km over to YSP Fujiyoshida where much teeth sucking and postulating commenced after first saying they were too busy to even look at it today. Asking if they thought it safe to ride home, some spirited banter ensued. Was the oil changed recently, yes @1500km ago. Was the oil filter and air cleaner also changed recently. Yes, again around 1500km ago. Then the teeth suckin…by a quick rev of the throttle and seeing that it’s done 60,000km it was postulated that it should have had a full rebuild at 40,000km and that it at least needs the head off and is probably going to need internal engine work. I scoffed at the 40,000km rebuild and after looking around and realising I was standing in front of the fanciest YSP I’ve ever seen, I decided this was likely not the place for the MighTy10 and I. So, agreeing, apologising for the waste of his time and retreating to the far end of the carpark, I called the MighTy10‘s insurer for a pick-up and delivery to a YSP nearer home that I could trust.

40 minutes later a flatbed arrived with a gruff but friendly truck driver who also rode Yamahas. He had it loaded quick smart, he offered me a ride to stave off his boredom and save me a 3-4hr public transport hopscotch home, I said my summimasens and sayonaras to the YSP staff and we were off, homeward bound and truckin!

On the truck-ride home, I got to thinking it felt a lot like when an ignition coil failed on my old FZ1. Later, requesting the boss at my localer YSP take it for a ride, he donned a helmet and gloves and came back suggesting a DI unit was on the fritz. In YSP speak, DI unit = Direct Ignition unit which translates to ignition coil. We are on the same page and I’m glad the MighTy10 had someone care enough to at least check the symptoms before postulating. It will be staying there until fixed.

So, as your beer has warmed and food got cold reading through my tale of unluckiness on the 13th Coast to Coast Twistybutt, I apologise again for not being there and yet taking more of your time.

If I was there, I’d be holding up a beer in congratulations and glad to see my fellow Twisty adventurers there as elated and exhausted as I. Well done gents. Have a great evening.

It would be great to hear how your day went, feel free to comment below today or later and share a few words, or more, of your day running coast to coast.