The Day the Honda ST Died

Honda motorcycles are generally reliable and the ST 1300 had legendary reliability.  Given this reputation you can imagine how surprised Dave was when on the first sunny morning in 5 days the ST refused to start.  It was dead, it would not turn over.  Bev valiantly pushed it up and down the motel parking lot in an effort to bump start it to no avail. Dave checked every fuse and shortened out the solenoid.  It cranked but it would NOT start.  So Bev said "hey, remember my HOG membership....HD loves to keep their bikers on the road, I will be able to get a tow for you!"  Dave said no way, I have a Honda.  But Bev KNEW the truth. The first step was to find a Honda dealership in the area, so in true Honda dealer fashion the local Honda dealer in New Philadelphia offered to look at the bike in a week's time (whaaaatt!!!).  Bev added that HD dealerships always give travellers priority and will solve problems quickly without delays.  We finally found Treadway Honda Suzuki dealership in Zanesville, Ohio, about 100 clicks south of our hotel provided we could get the bike to them.  Bev called her HOG roadside assistance program and they arranged for a tow truck to pick up Dave's Honda and deliver it to the Honda dealer.  HD paid for the first $100 and Dave paid the rest.  Here is the funny thing....as soon as the tow truck arrived, it started raining and so Bev donned her rain gear and followed the tow truck (with Dave dry in the truck) 100 clicks to the Honda place. When the dealer was unloading the Honda, it started................whaaaaat???  The tow truck driver said he had often seen that happen with the vibration of the long haul shaking the vehicle (Dave figured he was just being charitable.)  When the story was relayed to the dealer he figured the problem was probably with the "kill switch" so he took it apart, cleaned it up and put it back together. While this was going on one of the salesman loaned us his truck to drive to a restaurant up the road for lunch. How's that for service, we were duly impressed.  With the bike working again and of course the rain starting again, we took off.  Bev said we have to at least get past where we were last night. So we ended the day with a net gain of about 50 clicks on Interstate 77.  Bev insisted that Dave cover his Kill Switch in duct tape just in case and he was to NEVER touch it.