Nothing Like a Last Minute Problem to Tie My Stomach Into Knots

Today before work, I rode Hester to the Harley dealer for a quick look over and servicing before I leave. On the way, she went into "limp home mode" wherein the motor won't rev above 2000RPM and the bike won't exceed 20MPH.  The motor kept running, but my heart stopped.

After pissing off all the morning rush hour cagers behind me, I limped into the dealership with emergency flashers blinking and explained what happened.  Modern Harleys have many sensors, one of which monitors the engine and triggers codes when faults occur.  A severe enough fault will trigger a code that forces the bike into limp home mode so as to do as little damage as possible.  The service technicians can read the code history, determine what caused them, and take corrective action.  The good news is Hester is under warranty and there's pretty much nothing they can't accomplish before I depart this Saturday at 5:00am.


The problem fixed now.  Still, as I was writing this, I was sitting in the dealer lounge like an expectant father.

The tech said I had a faulty voltage regulator and the fault codes it generated caused an avalanche of other codes.  They exchanged the regulator, cleared the codes, rode and re-tested Hester and gave her a clean bill of health.


I'm back to being stoked for my trip.  I got the relief the expectant dad gets without the 18 years of turmoil that typically follows!


Counting down the hours...