First Motorcycle Overnighter

Truckee
USFS Road 06
R on Fiberboard freeway
L on Burton Creek/Bunker
L on Fairway Dr
L on SR89
R @ the "Y"
R on Lake Tahoe Blvd to North Upper Truckee Road
R on US50
L on Packsaddle Pass Rd (71)-all paved
L on Mormon Emigrant Trail (5)-super highway
R on 88
to Jackson
Meet Kemen
49 south to Mokelumne Hill
L on SR26
R on Ridge Rd
L on Railroad Flat Rd
R on Summit Level Road (144).
Made camp off a northern spur.  Murphys topo index square 11 near Touch Mill
Came out to Dorrington for a Burger and a Beer off either 144 or 6N71Y
Down to Arnold for Supplies
Back Noth on 4 to Calaveras Big Trees state park.  Not much going on in this park, trees not that big, no off road riding. Did not ride to the end.
North on SR 4 to R on 52 or 5N02
Kemen pulled over at Sourgrass rec area
R on 5N72 and 5N02-2 Didn't go were we wanted and turned around
Back on 52
L on 6N17
L at 6N17 fork
Camped on a spur to the north at Topo Index Boards Crossing 13 or 14 nears Ramsey
Back to SR4 Kemen and I split
R on SR 4 Over ebbetts Pass
L on 89 through Markleeville
L at 88/89
R at Picketts Junction SR89 Over Luther Pass
R on 89 to SLT
Around the Lake to Tahoe City
Bunker to Fiber Board to 06

Foot pegs for sure footing - passenger and driver alike

When riding a motorcycle, at any one time it is possible that your entire body weight rest on one foot peg. Thus it is important that your foot pegs make a solid connection with your foot. Traditionally the foot rest of a motorcycle was a simple metal rod covered with rubber. However these days the peg of a dirt oriented motorcycle more resembles a pedal of a bicycle or a small platform with protruding teethes. The foot pegs that came on my DR 350 were in bad shape. Not only where they small, and the teeth worn smooth, but they were bent as well. Foot pegs of dirt bikes are usually spring loaded and designed to fold up when the bike is dropped. This prevent the peg from taking too much damage. However, even with this design feature, over time the foot rest get pretty beat up.

The stock foot pegs on the DR are pretty small and I wanted an up grade. There are some really fancy foot rest out there with a very fancy price tag. The Fastways pegs for example are $130. The IMS super stock pegs are more reasonable at $75. But that was until I found the Ebay special foot pegs for $20 "buy now". Cheap bastards can bid and possible get them for $15. The ebay pegs are basically a IMS knockoff. I have seen them in other catalogs labeled as Volar Motor sports pegs.

Installation took approximately 30 seconds per side. Remove cotter pin, slide out pivot, remove old peg, insert new peg making sure the spring is properly positioned, replace pivot, replace cotter pin. Ok most people should budget 5 minutes per side for installation.

These foot pegs gave an instant boast to my riding ability. The foot contact is improved dramatically. It seems that my foot no longer needs to hunt for the peg, but is there when ever I apply downward force. The sharp biting teeth allow me to hang off the back or the side without fear of slipping off. A good rider might be able to ride fine on a greased up wooden dowel for a foot peg. But for those that lack the technical skill, any amount of mechanical help is appreciated.

The rear passenger foot pegs of the DR are in fact just rubber coated pegs. Upon one of my first rides I heard a loud clunk coming from the rear of the bike, as I landed a small jump. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the rear passenger foot peg was making contact with the swing arm, under suspension compression. The rear pegs are not spring loaded and do not fold up when pressure is applied. Instead they can be flipped down when in use or stored in the up position when not in use. The previous owner of the bike must have dropped the bike with a passenger on board, or simple left the peg down when the incident happened. The result was a bent right side passenger foot peg bracket and mounting tab. The bracket and tab were bent in such a way that it would contact the swing arm. I could have removed the bracket and peg completely, but I wanted to retain the ability to comfortably carry a passenger.

I removed the bracket in attempt to bend it back with a hammer and a vice. This did not work as the bracket and mounting tabs were very stout. I guess that is expected since it needed to support the weight of a person. So I mounted the bracket back on the bike and decided to give it a pull. I anchored the frame of the motorcycle to a large tree in my large. I then hooked up a "come-along" to the receiver hitch of my truck and to the bent foot peg bracket. Tensioning up they system took the most effort. Once everyhting was tight, it only took a few clicks of the hand winch to pull the bracket and tab straight. I was concerned that I might bend the frame of the bike in my attempts to bend the bracket back into shape. However the bracket and tab moved easily back into place with little force and no displacement of the frame itself.

Reno Ride 200 Enduro

Every year the Reno Dust Devils Motorcycle club hosts the Reno Ride 200. A 200 mile dirt bike ride over the course of two days. I found out about the event last year, but was still to much of a rookie to participate. Both in my riding ability, and in the condition of my machine. I have spent the remainder of last years riding season and this to prepare.

Though I rarely participate in organized events, they are great to help you get into a new activity. I will be participating in this years Reno Ride 200, at least the first day. The first day is the big day; 130 miles.

If anyone is interested in doing this ride, let me know.

vroom vroom

Moto Stand

There comes a time in every motorcycle riders life when you need to lift your bike off the ground. This can be accomplished in many different ways. Built in center stands, rear wheel lifts, motorcycle specific lifts, milk crates, paint buckets, lift slings, moto-jack stands http://mrpulldown.blogspot.com/search/label/DR350.

Tired of all the make shift methods, I finally got myself a real moto stand. It helped that I did not have to drop big dollars on one. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=66552 $29.99

The lift mechanism requires me to stand on the lift pedal to lift my 300lb ish DR 350. The bike is still more or less balanced on the stand, so beware of the bike shifting and falling off it you remove a large amount of weight suddenly; like removing a wheel. Before buying check that the height of the stand will work for your bike. With mine, it was a little tall. I need to rock the bike slightly up on its kick stand in order to get the lift stand to slide under.

Another method that works well is a floor jack and a piece of 2x6".

Moto Jack - a trail side work stand

Changing the tires of a motorcycle first requires the removal of the wheels. If your bike is equipped with a center stand this make the task a bit easier. If your bike did not come equipped with a center stand adding one could be difficult. I have always been told that a proper sized milk crate or a five gallon bucket is suitable to use as a work stand. I removed my wheels with the aide of a bucket. However what is one to do if you are out on the trail and suffer a flat. How would you support the bike while removing the wheels to change a flat. Five gallon buckets are difficult to ride with. Though I have seen many pictures of bikes propped up on log and rocks, there is a better option.



One clever member of ADVrider.com came up with a bucket substitute. When setting the bike onto a bucket one usually leans the bike onto its kickstand so that one of the wheels is off the ground, then inserts the bucket to rest upon. The side stand simply replaces the bucket and suspends one of the wheel off the ground. Which wheel off the ground is determined by the placement location of the the stand. Towards the back of the chassis or swing arm and the rear wheel is off the ground, toward the front and the front wheel lifts.




The addition of a strap depressing the front brake adds to the stability of the bike when the rear wheel is elevated. When the front wheel is in the air simple leave the bike in gear to lock the rear wheel.

The prototype stand was made of steel but now they are all made of Aluminum. So light and easy to store. At home however I will still use a real moto stand. Hopefully I will never have to use this product for its intended purpose, but for $20 and a pound or two of weight it is well worth owning.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=380877&highlight=stand

Shinko 244 - New Tires for the DR

It seems that I am never satisfied with the way a product comes to me from the factory. Everything I own needs to be modified. However with my new to me dual sport motorcycle I decided to take a new approach. Modify things only that need it. In other words if the stock part does the job and I do not break it then do not change it. For example, the factory skid plate provides very limited protection. It protects the engine from a direct frontal hit, however the bottom side of the motor is completely unshielded. My initial though was that I needed an after market skid plate. But based on my new philosophy, I refrained. Instead, I try to take notice how often I hit objects on the factory skid. The answer is none. Sure it is a sign that I am riding fairly easy non aggressive terrain. If I was to make contact with a rock at speeds it would be very bad. However this is a risk I am willing to take. If I start noticing stick marks on the factory skid and/or frame, then I would consider getting an after market bash plate.

S0 this motorcycle came to me with road tires. The previous owner used it to commute to work on the road. I tired riding the local trials with these tires and it was unacceptable. The first thing that I needed to modify were the tires. A dual sport bike can run the entire range of tires, from road slicks to motor cross knobbies and everything in between. Tire manufactures rate dual sport tires based on percentage of time ridden on dirt vs pavement. Typical ratios are 80/20, 50/50, 20/80. This ratio riding surface ratio, can almost be directly translated to the ratio of rubber vs voids. The more voids a tire has between the rubber blocks/tread, the more it is considered a off road tire. Though some tire manufactures might list very specific percentages 95/5, I would still categorize them as one of the major three combinations. 100% dirt or street is not listed in my three categories. 100% road tires are obvious, however the label of 100% dirt is not so. A 100% dirt and 20/80 street/dirt tire might look the same as far as how aggressive the tread is, however a 20/80 tire is DOT approved for road use. The three tires I have pictured fit the three categories I mentioned earlier.

Since my time on the bike is split 50/50 road and dirt I choose a tire with similar characteristics. Enter the Shinko tire company. Shinko is a Korean tire company that has recently entered the market. Most of their tires are copies of other companies thread pattern. However since many of these patterns are copy righted, they buy the molds of discontinued models from other companies. The second tire pictured is a Shinko Model 244. Though it looks like a fairly aggressive knobby tire the blocks are closely spaced and provides a good amount of contact for pavement pounding. Both Kenda and IRC have tires with very similar tread patterns. Several reviews of this tire were mostly positive, and above all they are CHEAP! One common complaint of the tire was that they "chunked" easily. Chunking refers to losing chunks of the rubber tread. This is usually caused by long high speed run on pavement, on heavy bikes. 2 hours +, 70 mph +, 650cc+. It is also a good idea to heat cycle the tire a few times prior to a long pavement ride. This is true for all knobby or semi knobby tires. Heat cycling a tire simply means to run them a few times prior to a long ride.

The tires performed as well as I hoped. I really do not have much to compare it to. Road manners were not much different than the slicks I have on previously, and dirt performance increased significantly. The front tire however is not the grippiest on the dirt and I might switch it out for a full knobby in the future. For the price, though I can not complain. I paid under $30 for the front and under $40 for the rear. That is cheaper than the tires I run on my mountain bike.

I changed the tires at home. The front tire was much easier to change than the rear. I did not use a rim lock on the back for the the PO did not have on in there already. I did nothing to balance the tires and do not find them to vibrate noticeably. In the future I might use balancing beads. This is one mod that I found to be worthwhile!

1994 Suzuki DR350se

Traffic seemed especially slow this particular afternoon about a month ago as I was driving home from work. In retrospect, I doubt that anything was different than the norm with regards to traffic flow, but my excitement made the world seem to spin in slow motion. Once home I jumped into my truck and was headed off to Reno. The night before I have removed my camper shell in anticipation to carry a large new purchase. If everything went right I would be hauling back home a new to me motorcycle. Though I have had several motorcycles in the past, never was I considered a full time rider. My motorcycles were always either half broken or borrowed.

I had been searching for a dual sport motorcycle to purchase for some time. A dual sport is essentially a street legal dirt bike. Aside from the obvious features that would make a motorcycle street legal: headlights, brake lights, turn signals, speedometer, etc; they usually have tuned down suspension and often, more stringent emission controls. Living in the People Republic of California, I had to either find a CARB (California air regulator board) approved bike, or a used bike (7500 miles). This limited my choices, including most of the cheap Chinese bikes that have been hitting the market. Size was another consideration. At my current elevation I lose about 20% power from the engine. A fine line is walked between power output and off road handling ability.

For several weeks prior to this evening I have been searching for a Suzuki DR 350se. The "S" was for street, and the "E" for electric start. The used dual sport market is hot. Dual sport shoppers apparently missed the memo stating that we are currently in a recession. Or they did and are trying to help the country by spending their way out of this crisis. Several of the sellers I have contacted had sold their bikes before I had a chance to take a look. The dual sport sector of the motorcycle culture is the fastest growing subdivision (unsubstantiated claim) . Due to shrinking public lands for non street legal dirt bike riding, many MXers are turning to dual sports to expand their riding range, since street legal vehicles are still required on most dirt roads. Also the fact that loading a bike into a truck to drive to a riding location is such a pain in the ass, a dual sport solves this problem by allowing the rider to simple ride to their riding location; sure makes sense to me. The ever increasing gas prices have made many people look towards cheaper two wheeled transports. The utilitarian, Swiss army knife aspect of dual sport motorcycles appeal to the adventurous nature of those who would consider using a motorcycle as transportation.

This particular evening I was traveling to Sparks Nevada to look at a 1994 DR 350Se with 8100 miles on it. The thing was in great shape. I took it for a quick spin around the block and decided that it was going to be mine. I paid $1800 cash.

The next day I spent the morning at the DMV. In 3.5 hours, I had the bike registered, a licences plate, and a motorcycle riding permit.

The next day I had gotten insurance. $45 for six months.

The bike gets 65mpg.