2007 CVO Rally in the Canadian Rockies
Phase I
1-14 JUL 2007

We started on July 1 by going to the Cape to take a picture of the bike on the Atlantic ocean.  We then went to work for two days before heading out on Jul 4.  We made it to Toledo , OH by evening.  The next day, while in South Bend , IN , we hit a pothole that really jarred the bike.  We developed a squeal every time we hit a bump after that, but the real problems occurred around St. Paul , MN.  The bike started sputtering so we took it back to the dealer but they found nothing wrong so we continued to St. Cloud for the night.

In the morning, the bike was revving at 2K at idle so there was still a problem.  We made it to Fargo, ND where the dealer did not want to look at it because of the Power Commander.  So we continued to Jamestown, ND where after 5+ hours, the dealer replaced the Engine Air Temp and the MAP Sensors.  While there, I found my seat screw missing so I replaced it and hoped it would fix the squeal, it didn't.  We could still make Billings, MT by 10pm.  Around 7 we were in middle of nowhere, ND (near the beautiful Roosevelt National Park) when the bike started sputtering again.  Not wanting to ride at risk at night we rode another 60 miles and got a room in eastern MT.  Saturday morning, we limped to Billings (we couldn't go faster than 62 MPH or the bike would sputter.  The dealer, after a lot of pleading, took the bike in...he also did not want to work on it because of the Power Commander...so I removed it and showed him that it was not the problem.  He found that there was an intake leak (caused by the bump) creating a lean condition and the Throttle Position Sensor shot and none available in MT.  There was also a nice new groove in the tread of my tire from that new seat screw I installed.  The dealer felt we were overloaded, causing the tire to wear out the seat nut under the fender.  They replaced this also and said that the tire should get us to WA where we had a scheduled 5K service.  Now we had to wait for a part from Harley which would not arrive until Tuesday Morning, it was early afternoon on Saturday.  So we rented a car and for the next couple of days doing Yellowstone and Grand Teton, NPs by car staying in Gardiner, MT Saturday and Jackson Hole, WY Sunday, returning to Billings Monday Night.

On Tuesday, the bike was repaired by mid-afternoon and we continued west, the squeal over bumps was still there but the engine was running fine.  We made it to Great Falls and the next morning rode up to Glacier NP and the Going to the Sun Highway ending the day in Spokane , WA.  Thursday we made our way to Portland , OR and on Friday, Jul 13, we made it to the west coast and took a picture at the Pacific Ocean .  We continued up the coast to the Olympic National Park and Hurricane Ridge.  From there we took a ferry across Puget Sound and stayed the night in Burlington , WA.  On Saturday, we took the bike up to Bellingham for it's scheduled service.  After delays longer than needed, the bike was ready but not before the dealer pointing out that my rear wiring harness under the fender was all worn and shorting out, unfortunately they did not have a spare in stock.  He also blamed it on being overloaded.  We skipped the afternoon trip to Vancouver, BC and returned to the same hotel we were in last night where we met up with a couple of riders that were going to Canada with us.