That 70 year old rider who fixed my carb with a paperclip

At a muddy trailhead in southern Ohio last spring, an old timer watched me struggle with my flooded quad for 20 minutes. He walked over, pulled a paperclip from his pocket, bent it into a jet tool in like 5 seconds, and had it running smooth. I asked him how he knew that trick and he just said "they don't make 'em any smarter now, just fancier." Has anyone else gotten help from a stranger that totally saved your ride?

2 comments

2 Comments

mary8364d ago

His carburetor was probably just a bit rich from the cold air (smaller jet size needed when it's that cold). A paperclip trick works on Keihin and Mikuni carbs but not on the newer electronic ones with all those sensors. One time at Hatfield-McCoy I had a guy fix my ignition coil wire with a chewed-up piece of gum wrapper, which honestly blew my mind more than the paperclip thing. My dad always said the old guys just understood the physics better because they had to fix everything with whatever they had lying around.

richardrodriguez3d ago

My buddy Dave had an old Yamaha 250 that died on a trail near Big Bear last winter. He was stuck out there for an hour before this older guy rolled up on a beat up KLR650 with duct tape holding his mirror on. The guy popped Dave's carb bowl off, pulled the main jet, and stuck a piece of wire from a twist tie through it to clear some gunk. Then he told Dave to hold the throttle wide open while he kicked it over and it fired right up. @mary836 your story about the gum wrapper reminds me of that dude. He didn't even have a proper tool set, just a Swiss army knife and some zip ties.

-1