Riding the Red Line vs. the Brown Line for downtown commutes - night and day difference

After 6 months of taking the Red Line from Rogers Park, I switched to the Brown Line and saved myself 15 minutes each way because the Brown Line rarely gets those sudden signal delays. Anyone else find a faster CTA route by switching lines?

3 comments

3 Comments

ivanl763mo agoMost Upvoted

Are you sure it's not just the time of day you're riding?

davis.casey3mo ago

Oh dude, my buddy Mike got a dual sport last spring and was having the exact same issue. He'd ride after work around 5pm and the bike would just feel dead, no power going up the hills near his place. He kept blaming the time of day for weeks, thinking maybe it was hotter or something. Then one weekend he woke up early, took it out at 7am on a Saturday and it rode like a completely different machine, all that power was just there. Turned out his carb was slightly clogged and the cooler morning air made the fuel mix just right enough to hide the problem. He spent forever tearing that thing apart before he finally found a tiny piece of gunk stuck in the main jet.

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oliver_ward141mo agoTop Commenter

Wait, have you tried cleaning the carb yet? I had a similar thing with my old XR250. I was chasing the problem forever, thinking it was some electrical gremlin or the valves were out of whack. But after I pulled the carb and hit the jets with some cleaner and compressed air, it was like a whole new bike. The power came back smooth and it started first kick even after sitting for a week. The tiny clog was probably in the pilot jet on mine, which made it run lean at lower speeds. Definitely worth a shot before you go swapping out parts or anything drastic.