If It Burns Use It

by John Reblin

It seems I was sitting at my laptop deciding what to write about just yesterday. What topic can I expound upon adding my own thoughts and make it related to motorcycling? Now it is the beginning of September and I am thinking, where did the summer go? It seems the year is flying by faster and faster and that list I gave myself to have done around the house and garage is at about the same place as it was the day after I wrote it in my mind.

My son Charlie and his girlfriend Angie live out in Phoenix and they decided to get married. It was going to be one of those, well we are just going to run down to the courthouse and get this done and we will do something next year to celebrate. It seems those plans changed to, Hey, do you want to fly down on the 28th and join us at our wedding? So, we have that to look forward to at the end of September.

This got me to do some thinking about how time has really flown. I remember the year Charlie was born 35 years ago. It was the same year that my dad decided to retire, sell the farm we grew up, on and downsize the house to something smaller and on one level, with much less maintenance. First step was to have an auction of equipment, cattle, feed, everything collected over his 63 years of life.

One of his prize possessions was going on the auction block. It was the 1949 D2 Caterpillar that he bought new, while he was partnered up with his dad farming together, until the elder decided to retire. He loved to tell us and anyone that wanted to hear the story, of how at the end of WW2 he decided that this piece of equipment was needed to make life a little easier on the farm. A small bulldozer by the standards of today, was to me large, noisy and powerful. When using it I felt I could move the biggest pile of dirt, or level the earth smooth as glass. He told us how he placed the order with the required down payment in 1945 just as the war was winding down. With production tied up producing military gear it took until 1949 to change back to pre-war work and get caught up with demands. As he was waiting for his prized “Cat”, people would stop over and offer to buy his spot in line for the order, or they offered to trade a John Deere Bulldozer of the same size for his order. But he kept his tractor on the way. He finally got it delivered and while the salesman was explaining the starting procedure of starting the small gas engine that spun the diesel, building oil pressure and heat until it had enough heat built up in the cylinders to ignite the fuel on its own. He asked the salesman what he was needing to use as a fuel, kerosene, fuel oil, or diesel fuel and the response was, cleaned up here, if urine burns run it. From that day until that time in April 35 years later it was a dependable piece of equipment. It was also one of the very few times I saw tears rolling down his face as the gavel came down on his sold “Cat”.

Fast forward to today. I attended the hearings on the single line fuel dispenser pumps for E-15 fuel. This got me thinking about how we really have made changes in engines, fuel delivery systems and fuel. We went from a system that could just about run anything without having to worry, to a day now that we have to be very careful what we dispense into our fuel system.

We need to worry what damage will be done to our fuel hoses, lines and other fuel related parts from the corrosive nature of the product. How many times did I have to free up the needle and seat in my lawn tractor, or other small engine because it was stuck from sitting a few weeks? Now we have to drain the fuels if they are sitting too long or take a chance with additives to keep this from happening.

We ride our motorcycles, watching for gas stations that have no ethanol blended into the fuel, noticing improved fuel mileage and performance from the “good” gas. We hear reports on the TV and radio that the cost of producing this ethanol comes at a higher cost with increased pollution along with energy costs to plant, raise, and process the corn into ethanol. We go to the gas station to fuel up and get confused on which lever or button to push. The little flower is always asking me which fuel goes in her car? It is all too confusing, looking at the pump. We all do this for a fuel that collects moisture from the air, adds maintenance costs to our equipment and gives us poor performance. And remember any use of anything higher than E10 is illegal to use in a motorcycle.

Now, they want us to use a fuel delivery system that could cause us to add ethanol at an unacceptable level in our motorcycle fuel tanks. This increase could cause motor repair costs not covered by any warranty.

What can you do? Make sure you call your State Senator and Representative to oppose this bill when it comes up. Sign up for our legislative alerts at abatewis.org and make sure you discuss what to do at your regional meeting. If you have any questions or ideas reach out to Steve Panten or your District Director, or any other board member for answers.

John