House and new puppy

I mentioned the house and new puppy in my last post, but never posted anything more...

Photo time!

Here is Bella at about 3 months old - and the later is a recent photo at 8mts or so.



Now for some house photos! It was owned by a bachelor old man - note the color choices...Gotta wait until this summer to do some touchup on that!
Inside hasn't been updated since 1984... I'll try to post some inside renovation work once I find the photos.

Update in general...

Life has been busy these days, of course it's the case for everyone :)

Last post was in July - wow, well there has been lots of motorcycle riding since then. Most importantly though I purchased my first home and have been very busy tending to it. Also ended up getting a Weimerener puppy and that has been an adventure!

Talk about getting my hands full...
I've got a set of aggressive tires on my porch when I get back home from the holidays. I can't wait to use those and should have a ride update after that. Next big adventure is possibly Alaska with my friend Dave. It will be amazing!

Long way back home - 115 miles vs 65 :)

Went through the foothills of the cascades instead of going the shorter route last weekend. It was fun to see mountains and go a route that I hadn't before. The only scary part about the ordeal was running out of daylight and the last section was 18 miles of gravel. It became dark 4 miles in...pitch dark 6 miles in. The only close call was really having no clue which direction to go (down and to roads that head left right?) and a very frightening 25 mph near antler in the stomach from a rather large buck deer.

Nonetheless it was fun, but later in the weekend was even better. More to come :)

Pannier Painting the inside

To keep the black dust away...
1st coat primer
2nd coat hammerhead
Both by Rustoleum




Last photos are only about 4 miles from where I fish. Huge rock - although i'm not sure of the name I am suprised people weren't climbing the face...

Life as usual

For those still lurking around the site...I have been up to this home purchasing thing. Buying a home is somewhat of a royal pain in the ass, but I can't wait until I have a garage :)

Lately if I do any motorcycle adventure it's going fishing up the river for some rainbow trout. It's about a 35 mile ride with some gravel and so far, knock on wood...I've cought my daily limit each time. Makes for a great dinner, but honestly there is nothing better than a cold beer and fishing.

Yesterday I went on a 53.5 mile bicycle ride that was strangely tougher than I recall. Couldn't have asked for better roads as they were so smooth it was beautiful no matter how tired you were. Today I am going to prime the inside (possibly top coat as well) of my aluminum panniers. Reason? To stop the black dust that forms when something rubs against plain aluminum!

I should have pictures up to follow. My next assignment is to replace my fork seals as one is leaking. Dave and I are going to change the cam chain tensioner to an upgraded unit next weekend. That should be rather fun. While we are at it we are upgrading the subframe bolts to something Kawasaki should have done years ago...stronger metal :)

Someday soon I'm going on a weekend camping trip to get away from the city life. Too many things to do and not enough time to relax like you should!

Motorcycle Fishing and Camping

Went camping and fishing in the Umpqua National forest outside my hometown. This was the first trip with the newly installed happy trails panniers! They worked fantastic even on pretty rough roads and lots of brush. I was amazed at how much i could pack inside of them - even my tent :)

Here is a photo of my old setup which took me to the Gran Tetons, Yellowstone and Glacier National parks - with speed though! I think I averaged 85 on all roads lightly traveled. I can't even think of 85 on the KLR...


Went fishing for a few hours and caught quite a few little trout (all <8" in length). It was a blast and we landed a killer camping spot right next to a creek - not another group of campers for a mile at least. Here is a picture of the creek - it even keeps beer nearly ice cold :)

The next trip will be a 3 day weekend - eastern Oregon! On a side note I copied drill holes from one pannier to another and the left side copied ended up cricked. This will be an entertaining project that I'm glad I have some time to figure out...

Gravel to night photo ops:



Now get out there and enjoy some trips!

KLR 650 Dash Plate

Yesterdays project was making a Dash Plate to hold my accessory switch and heated grip switch. I also am going to wire in a voltmeter here soon. I purchased a cheap 4 dollar one to modify by moving the screen, but the screen isn't connected by wires...only touch contact with the board!

The primary reason I wanted the dash was due to having the accessory ran directly off the battery with only an inline fuse. I have left my grips on twice, both leaving the bike dead. I purchased a light up toggle switch so I have to turn it on to run any accessories (voltmeter soon, 12v socket) and heated grips. It is more dumb proof so I don't find myself stranded some day to push start on gravel...

The project started as follows:
Headed to hardware store to purchase up to 3" wide aluminum (they only had 2 which is good anyway), some 1/8" x 3/4" strip aluminum, and 4 washers, 2-1/4" bolts, 2 - 1/6" bolts (or so) for side to side control, and 4 nuts with nylon for vibration.

Here is before:

I cut the 1/4" strip in around 8" lengths and cut channels into them to bend accordingly. The faceplate I traced the form on some cardboard and then cut out the 1/8" x 2" material. I then had to modify the bottom so the speedometer wouldn't hit it (here is where I wish I had more tools!). I had a hack saw and a 1/2" wide file to work with so the cutout turned out wierd shaped, but I will work on that someother day. (it rains alot in oregon)...


Then came the fun of mounting:


And for the toggle switches: there is nothing like drilling 7/8" holes in 1/8" aluminum with a 6v drill and only a 1/2" drill bit :) Nothing can be made easy right? For the future diy'er I would purchase the taper drill bits that can be found at Sears or such...

Finished product:


Notes and tips:
1. Solder all connections (I only soldered to the switch as I do not have a plug in outside, then wrapped the wires together, electrical taped, then zip tied the wires, and the connection firmly) I will solder when I find a good location to do so.

2. Make sure all your wires are not routed through anything related to the steering center piece, or be prepared for extra wire requirements from steering lock to lock turns.

3. Use nylon lock nuts and washers for the big bolts to have a tight fit and one that will not vibrate loose.

I used it last night and it worked great :)