Black Friday Ride

Winter is upon us, but that does not mean we have to stop riding. There is nothing like the fresh air to clear your head after spending your Thanksgiving with in-laws, turkey, and all the trimmings. Oh yeah, shedding the pounds gained does not hurt either.

Next time, I'll have to put some screws in the knobs. The ice is awful for traction :)

The day started out okay, even though I dumped it in the first frozen puddle. Aside from hurt pride and wet toes, it was all good. The challenge started with the hill above. It only got worse. I have no pictures from most of the ride (too busy trying to stay the right side up), but I did have a few minutes to record this crossing.

As a true scout, I went first, walking the bike across the ice. The guys had a different idea.

Contemplating how to cross:

Oh, that's how:

But, while the idea was good, some bikes climb better than others:

And stop abruptly:

But then there are riders who do not follow. Instead, they make their own way:

O

Overall, as tired as I am, I have to give a round of applause to my two fellow riders for keeping the spirits up, riding along (with and without brakes), and, most importantly, for making it out of the woods without injuries.

Lack of posting

Sorry about the lack of posting this fall.

The short story is that I'm trying to sell my BMW G650GS and invest some of the money into my WR250R to make it a better long distance bike.

Since I got the WR, the BMW has been hardly used. The WR is so much fun, and it does everything. It's funny how, after twenty years of riding, I find myself having more fun on smaller bikes. I no longer feel the need for a 1200 or even the 650.

Once the sale happens, I'll be modifying the WR.

All I need is a fairing (Thinking Britannia Lynx or a custom made rally fairing with an adjustable windshield)
Some luggage
More lights
Better seat
A second set of rims

I'll be posting if and when this starts happening.

My bike restorations have dried up as well.

Taking time off

I'm sure you've noticed by now that I rarely post anything new here. Well, not to disappoint my devoted readers/followers, but the truth is, I've been busy with my other blog and actually started devoting more time to writing again. So, for the time being this blog may appear stagnant (until the next big adventure). I will still post any new maintenance or upgrades, the occasional trip, or a few pics. Nevertheless, the restoration business is over, for now, as I need the free time to write.

If you are curious, check out my page at Goodreads , or just click on the link to the left (on main page) to see this other side of me.

Thanks for your readership for all these years, and Keep the Shiny Side UP!

WR250R Headlight cover

After reading a couple of posts about how expensive the glass is in my WR250R, I decided to do something about protecting the light from rocks thrown by the riders in front of me. After looking online, I found a Moose Racing headlight guard I did not care for, and vinyl guards I did not care for either. The Moose piece looks too bulky, while the vinyl (or plexiglass) covers would scratch quite easily. And then, looking at what i had laying around on the bench, an idea was born. I spotted an old stainless steel dish rack that I've been using for parts washing. A few quick measurements later confirmed that the handle piece was just the right size. Yes, I did own a KLR in the past :)

 So, after cutting the handle out, I was left with this. At this point, all the welds in the wire rack part were redone to ensure they could take a hit if it came to be.

 A little bit of work with the torch and a hammer, and I flattened the ends enough to accommodate a 5mm bolt. I also heated and bent the piece so it would wrap around the headlight housing.

 While the metal was cooling off, I drilled a couple of holes in the fairing to acts as an anchor point for the headlight guard. 

Since I did not want metal rattling in the plastic, I used some rubber tubing as a sleeve. Of course, the holes in the fairing are the right size to fit to rubber.

 Once the metal cooled, I filed the ends to a nice radius, drilled 5mm holes, and glued an O-ring to the side that contacts the plastic fairing. Again, this is just to dampen vibrations.

 And voila, headlight guard installed. It anchors securely in the lower holes and all I needed to do is to drill two holes behind the headlight. A Nylock nut on the inside and a buttonhead allen screw from the outside. The hardware and the wire are both stainless.

 A closer look.

 It should serve the purpose quite well, and it is not an in-you-face headlight guard that screams at you from fifty feet away.

G650GS pics

Charity Ride 2013

Every year I throw together a little ride to benefit a local charity. This year I chose Helping Hands Center as the recipient, and I asked riders participating in the ride to donate non-perishable food items. As in the past, this year's ride was a success in both participation ad donations. We had nine riders on dualsport bikes (all of us met on ADV) and the food donations totaled three large cardboard boxes. So, a big THANK YOU to all the participants.

To lure riders over, I scouted about 60 miles of local trails, abandoned class VI roads, and as little paved connectors as possible. Thanks to my trusted sidekick CJ for helping me scout the area for some challenging terrain.

The day started out nice but the weather soon turned warm. This has not stopped us from completing 95% of the route, but by 03:00 pm we were pretty beat and decided to call it a day. Although there was enough enthusiasm to do a second ride in the fall, so I take it the guys liked what I had planned for them.

Despite all the rain we've been having, the terrain was surprisingly dry. We started easy, on a few class VI roads so everyone could warm up. Once we knew the riding ability was there, we had a quick lunch and headed deeper into the woods and off the beaten track. Overall, there was not a lot of mud or water, but we still had sand, rocks, ledges, gravel, and everything in between.

 Starting easy on a grassy path.

 An old class VI road through the woods.

 A happy DR350.

 URNUTS showing us that KTMs, as submersible vehicles,  are way overrated.

 Is this deep enough?

 Junyah showing the KTM how it is done. Go WR!

 Mrs. M slipping to the side...

 ...and coming out after a short pause.

 Ross proving that speed is your friend.

ADVRich testing the depth and seeing whether the sweet Britannia fairing on his WR has a built-in periscope

 Lunch break. At this point, there were eight of us left.

 Mrs. M no longer concerned about riding in the sand seems to be having fun.

 ADVRich playing in the sand.

Just a shot to show you how large the sand pit really is.

And Junyah showing us how to park a WR when you only have a limited space. After a careful consideration of his argument and style, no other rider decided to try his unconventional parking method.

It was a great day of riding in a good company.

Anakee 2 problems

Last year, on 06/20/2012, I purchased a set of Anakee 2 tires for my BMW G650GS at a local dealer. While I enjoy the savings one can find on the Internet, I firmly believe in supporting local businesses, so I try to make as many purchases as possible locally. This particular dealer in question, American Trikes and Motorsports in Keene, NH has always been good to me.

Well, being a dual-sport rider, I tend to save the Anakees for the occasional long-distance trip, and I run TKC80 most of the year instead. After taking one trip cut-short on the Anakees (less than 500 miles), I returned to the dealer and had them switch to TKC80. At that time, I mentioned that the front Anakee has a weird wobble and appears to go up and down at certain speeds. This was mostly an issue at speeds around 40 MPH with the throttle fully closed. I mentioned that I suspected the tire was out of round. Needless to say, with a fresh set of TKCs on the rims, I did not worry about the Anakees much. After all, the dealer said that if the tire was out of round, they would talk to the distributor.

Fast forward to last week. With a long trip planned for mid-July, I returned to the dealer and asked them to remount the Anakees and check the front for being out of round. The dealer mounted and balanced the tire (probably did not check for out of round) and I drove home. When I installed the wheels on the bike and went for a ride, I noticed a wobble. In fact, the wobble was bad enough that when I let go of the handlebars, the front would shake violently. The most aggressive wobble occurs at speeds between 35 and 55mph, but is still noticeable at speeds above 55mph. The wobble is hardly perceptible at speeds lower than 30mph, but the front again feels as if it is rising and falling with each rotation of the tire.

I rode home, again cutting my ride short, took the front wheel off, and brought it back to the dealer. Once again, the dealer check for balance and tire was balanced properly. I mentioned that it was out of round, and reminded the dealer of our conversation when we first took the tires off. He then called Parts Unlimited (his supplier) and was told that Parts Unlimited would not stand behind the product because the warranty period was out. The dealer, to my knowledge, informed them that the tire has less than 500 miles, still has all original mold "nipples" and is not worn at all. Parts Unlimited again declined to replace the tire.

The dealer than told me to contact Parts Unlimited myself, which I did via their website. It has been two business days and I have not received any response from parts Unlimited. I hope that the company will stand behind the product and offer to replace the tire. After all, 90% of the parts and gear I purchase comes from their warehouses.

Measuring the tire, I have found that the tire has a high spot, which is about 10" long and rises 4.6mm above the rest of the tire. The tire is out of warranty by three weeks.

Do you think Parts Unlimited should replace the tire or at least offer a partial credit towards a replacement tire?  

Dangerous puddles

Last weekend, my riding buddy hit a hidden danger lurking under the mucky water of a mud puddle. The danger I speak of happens when a 4x4 vehicle gets stuck in the mud, and the driver spins the tires way too much, digging deeper into the soft layer. I, myself, have gotten stuck in puddles that did not appear deep enough to worry, and one time I even managed to swamp my bike entirely. This time, my buddy managed to save it, and came out of a potentially dangerous situation unscathed.

The puddle in question was about 3-4 inches deep on both ends. As he rode into it, his front wheel suddenly dropped about 30 inches, his front suspension bottomed-out, and he slammed his chests in to the handlebars. Had he been going faster, he would have been thrown off the bike. Fortunately his speed was prudent and his reaction quick.

Here is a crappy photo of the moment of impact:

So, what is the point of this story? Watch out for water, you never knows what hides in there. We had ridden in this area many times, and crossed the very same puddle a few times without any issues. Maintaining speed  appropriate to conditions is one thing out in the open, but please slow down before any water crossings, especially if you cannot see what lies beneath the surface.

Scouting

Every year I throw together a little adventure ride to benefit a local charity. Last year, we stayed mostly on unpaved, but maintained roads. This year, I figured to do something a little more adventurous.

Scouting for some nice water crossings yesterday, my ridding buddy managed to get stuck in one of those crossings. This is not what you want to do:

We also found some cool rock sections with challenging elevation changes. 

Riding class VI Roads in SW NH.

WR longer distance touring

This past weekend, I finally got to test my WR250R on a longer ride. Up till then, I mostly took the bike off-road and did not cover much distance. This time around, we went from NH to VT on an overnight camping trip. The majority of the ride consisted of unpaved roads, although on the way back we did hot about 20 miles of pavement (I screwed up a turn somewhere). Anyway, the trip was a rather interesting mix of roads, from trails to class VI unmaintained roads to maintained unpaved roads. The WR excelled on all of them, especially when running over sweeping hills.

With the bike fully loaded with tools, camping gear, and some extra clothes, I noticed how differently it behaved. The extra 30 or so pounds on the tail end changed the handling completely. Bike wanted to stand up more often then not, and the ride was more plush. But it still behaved rather well and carried all the extra weight without any issues.

For luggage, I mounted Oxford Sports Humpback side bags. I bought these almost 11 years ago for a Bandit 1200 I owned back then, and the bags are so well made that I'm still using them today. I did turn them around the 'wrong' way, so the hump was towards the front, which helped bring the weight down closer toward the center. On the left side, the bag rested nicely against my new too tube (which carries a 0.8L fuel bottle), and on the right it rested against the stock heat shield. This made me somewhat uncomfortable, so I quickly manufactured a bar from some old tubing (pics and writeup in a separate post soon) that moved the bag about 1/2" above the heat shield. No melting issues whatsoever and the bag didn't even get hot.

Even with my new gearing 14F and 52R, the bike did great on long, open roads. One downfall from the gearing change (I guess) was increased fuel consumption. The fuel light came on at about 70 miles each time.
Nevertheless, the gearing change made the bike much more fun off-road, where it would climb and descend anything (short of a bridge at a swamp).

 

Tool Tube WR250R

I finally got around to mounting a tool tube on the WR250R. Just like on my other bike, I went with the AgriSupply tube, as the other ones I have proved to be rugged enough for serious DS rides.

At first, I thought finding a location would be difficult. This bike is really a dirt bike and not having racks on it like I have on my BMW, there aren't many suitable mounting options. Personally, I don't like mounting tool tubes with hose clamps. Nevertheless, once I removed the useless factory installed helmet lock, it all became clear.

First step was to remove the helmet lock and the useless tiny tool kit that came with the bike. Once removed, the helmet lock has a 6mm nut welded from behind, and the little tab where the factory tool kit rests has two small holes.

Next, I made a small, simple bracket from some 1/4" angle aluminum I had in the junk pile. I drilled three holes in it: two to mount it to the tab on the subframe, and one to attach the tool tube. The only challenge here was that the holes are so close apart that there is no way to get two 6mm nuts next to one another. To rectify this, I filed one side of the two 6mm bolts so these would actually fit in the limited space, then used a straight nut on one bolt, and a small spacer over the other bolt, which allowed the nut on the second bolt to stop above the nut of the first bolt. Sounds complicated? No, it's really simple. Trying to fit two bolts side by side would have been impossible.

Next, I cut a piece of flat 3/16" aluminum stock to reinforce the plastic tab on the tool tube itself. Again, there are two bolts. One simply mounts the plate to the tube, the second attaches the tube to the subframe at the helmet lock location. This way, the weight is spread over a larger area, and it also limits flexing of the plastic tab. Remember, it's a bike for the rough terrain. The bottom tab only got a fender washer.

And here it is, all mounted.

  

This setup is not going to be used for heavy tools, but a tube repair kit, tire irons, and some screwdrivers/wrenches will fit in just fine.