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 :)

Riding ATV trails

The latest adventure I finally tipped the bike over! It's nice to have a bike that doesn't break when you do that. Dave came down for a Saturday adventure and we took off in attempt to make it from A to B. Well all the gravel roads had been freshly graded and were scary as hell, and once we hit around 3500' in elevation there was 6" of packed unpassable snow.

Lookout:

Eventually we headed back to another area that had some "off highway vehicle" trails. By OHV they simply mean 4 wheelers. They had carved tracks with 2' high berms in some places, and 2-4" rocks in the trail too. Simply put...there is nothing like trying to wrestle a 400 lb bike while floating on gravel and trying to maintain your line :)

This was my first trip after putting the stock exhaust back on too. The prior one was light, but way too loud. Guess i'm getting old as the crisp silence at 60mph was very enjoyable. I also found out that the KLR can cruise at 75-80 comfortably pending you have at least 30psi in the tires! For the prior 400 miles going anything over 53 was sketchy! Air pressure makes the bike rather enjoyable on the highway.



More modifications coming up:
1. Dash Display Plate (for heated grip switch, accessory switch and Multimeter reading)
2. Happy Trails panniers: 9" wide beauties!!! Can't wait to mount them and drink some beer...Should be next week when they arrive.

Day Trip

Went on a ride with Dave through part of the Oregon coast range Saturday. I got to try out the new Arai XD helmet and my rain gear in 1/4" of rain on gravel roads almost entirely. It was one heck of a slick, but fun day. I also chocked down/realized that one shall never eat at Blimbies sub shops also - opt for subway!

The KLRs didn't like that intense of rain as the carburetor vent runs near the shock and gets plugged with water - that causes them to hesitate enough to think you are running out of fuel. The solution : T valve the vent line and run one underneath your seat...Gotta love those forums!

Also installed 15 dollar pegs on Friday that are steel with some teeth for traction. The stock ones are rubber and turn quite similar to skating on ice when they get wet. I think I will turn the old ones into some type of highway peg.

Enjoy that splendid weather :)

Route:
View Larger Map
I didn't post anything on another day trip that was taken a few weekends ago...
Did roughly 50 miles of mostly gravel roads with some mud, very loose freshly graded gravel, snow and a bit of off road (no trip is complete without any). The photos are from that trip with the exception of the helmet. This was with Dave again and his bike is the turquoise one.

He had roughly 3 unplanned exits on the off road section :) Score is 7-0 on the KLR or so...who is keeping count?

1st posting & already slacking

It's another wonderful Oregon weather day - literally raining sideways and blowing wind at probably 25mph. I'm locked inside and am going to began studying for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for green buildings.

I suppose I started the blog to document nearly anything, but priority is focused on adventures in the making, past, etc. Until now I had no way to document anything with pictures as I go. That will be great because then you don't even have to read the text!

Anyway my intentions are to post up the story of my motorcycle trip over the summer in a shortened matter. I recently purchased a 2002 Kawasaki KLR 650 that has already proven itself in off road capabilities and I'm still a newbie in that realm. Below or somewhere is a photo of the beast. I had such a blast on my last trip that it seems all I can do is think of my next one...

Which will be many weekend camping trips around in Oregon, and later an Alaska through Northern Canada trip and then or before perhaps a South America trip. Arranging my time off will be the most difficult part pending I do not get laid off. Until then I am getting to learn the bike and figuring out which gear to buy or make.


I post actual photography on another site - http://sparten.deviantart.com and have many of my trip photos up.

Enjoy the read. Dexter