I walk down the street, melodies dancing their way out of my headphones. It's nighttime. A light dust of water covers the city - too light to be considered proper rain, too wet to be fog alone. There's something surreal about midnight in the big cities - activity becomes localized. Nightclubs and bars are centers of frenzied energy, while the rest of the city slows down and pauses, like a small lull in a techno-symphonatic orchestra.
I learned something about the motorcycle.
Stylo is apparently a semi-mythical version of the Honda Shadow that officially doesn't exist according to some. Legends once spoke, of a secret variety of the Shadow, possessed of proprietary electronic fuel injection techniques and an aura of badass rarely seen in the realms of men ...
... At least, in the United States.
All seriousness, the VIN label on this cycle is designated a Honda Shadow VT750C4. This confused me - there shouldn't be any such thing as a C4. 2007 Shadow models include the 750C and C2, as well as the C-C2, DC, and S models.
I thought it was probably nothing. C4 could be an unspecified subvariety of the 750C. However, after doing some forums searches, I find that the VT750C4 apparently is a very specific variety of the Shadow, but only in Australian markets.
Not only that, but the VT750C4 was the first Honda Shadow ever equipped with electronic fuel injectors (EFI), rather than the carbureators standard to United States markets.
"What does this matter?" you ask. Well ... it complicates things. Hopefully not by much. Most service manuals for models prior to 2010 are for carbureator versions, so a learning experience.
I'm thinking I'm going to spend another few days in town. I really, really want to make sure the motorcycle works before moving on.
It died in the same manner at an intersection yesterday - not at high speed this time, just neutral. Sometimes, the bike fires right up afterwards - but sometimes, such as this time, it takes a lot of revving and muttered cmon, cmons to get it going again. This feels like it may be a fuel problem.
That's where my intuition lies.
But intuition is an infamous liar.
I'd like to thoroughly understand the bike's fuel and electrical systems before working through it - I'll record what I learn here.
Hoping to talk about more than motorcycles soon, promise - trust me, I'm very ready to move on to more important subjects.
I just finished the Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, and am reading through The Testaments and Left Hand of Darkness by U. K. L.
Powerful, fascinating, interesting and thoughtful books.
