By Rob Lentini, 41985

Following the euphoria of the successful finish of our 50CC Quest, I experienced an engine failure returning home.

Steve and I had enjoyed a very pleasant overnight stay in the French Quarter section of New Orleans (my first visit: Wow! What a place and food!) Leaving N’Orleans the next morning, Thursday, 12 October and bound for Clovis, New Mexico, we stopped for fuel at Natchitoches, Louisiana. Steve had been curious about the handling of my newly mounted Bridgestone Battlax BT-020s (what a confusing name for a tire!) and he wanted to test ride them for a brief period. Swapping bikes at the stop, we headed out on Interstate 49 towards Shreveport. Surprisingly only 11 miles from gas, Steve signaled, slowed, then pulled over on the Interstate shoulder. I was worried by his brevity of the "test" and somewhat alarmed that we had to pull over just ahead of closely following traffic, including an 18-wheeler. Were the tires that bad? (They’re good!)

Dismounting in front, Steve immediately informed me that my bike’s engine had failed, that he had immediately pulled in the clutch, turned off the engine cutoff switch and had coasted to a stop. He was also deeply regretful that this had happened with he on the bike, a feeling I would have also felt had his machine failed with me riding it. No matter, we’re friends, and things had to be done!

We had spark, fuel delivery, but no compression. An object was even seen emitted from the right cylinder spark plug hole on cranking. In short, my bike was toast. I would not be riding my RS home to Tucson. What to do? (to see what happened, visit: www.nmpcs.com/50CC/)

First order of battle was to get the dead RS off of the Interstate. Steve grabbed his tow straps, chopped off the hook end and wreapped it around my triple tree and we slowly plodded to the next off-ramp. From there, Steve went on a scouting trip to find a place for this dead bike. He was already thinking ahead about the best solution for a lousy situation. In short order, he found a local rural resident, a VERY nice lady named Laura Anderson, who was willing to let us "park" my RS on her property until phase two of the rescue could be implemented. Thanks Laura!

Phase two was awesome: Steve’s "The Woman" Becky Nufer, was enlisted (over cell phone) to drag their motorcycle trailer all the way from Clovis New Mexico to Nachitoches, where Steve and I had made our unanticipated overnight stop. Becky pulled in around sun-up, after a 704 mile drive at night (certified by Delorme Street Atlas 8.0!)! Thanks Becky! Now I understand why Steve says she is "THE Woman."

Long story short, we pulled my bike to Clovis, then Steve and "The Woman" loaned their car/trailer combo to me so I could continue to pull my bike back to Tucson, fix it myself, and save huge bucks!

Laura, Steve, Becky "The Woman": What can I say? Thank you SO much!