Too bad my second job decided to take 10 more hours of my time than it should have this weekend.
Misadventures in wrenching and riding
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Skier
- Site Supporter - Platinum
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- Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2004 10:44 am
- Sex: Male
- Location: Pullman, WA, USA
I present to you... Frostbite in Four States.
I finally got fed up with all my riding buddies bailing on going to Yellowstone with me, so I scheduled some time off work and had at it. Last Thursday.
I got back in late last night. Here's my story:
The faithful steed is loaded up and ready to roll:
I headed off to my buddy's place on Flathead Lake in Montana. I saw him once in the past four years on the return leg from Red Lodge, about four months ago. I only had time to visit for an hour before having to zip back to Seattle.
Mountains are pretty:
We arrive at Flathead Lake with little difficulty, other than pouring rain, standing water and at least 25 MPH headwinds the whole way:
I leap back on my bike only to have the pantleg of my Roadcrafter hook on the footpeg. Over we go, gently and slowly. I pick the bike back up and nothing is broken or hurt, just my pride and false sense of superiority. Those will heal in no time, though. Always a first time for everything.
I meet with my buddy and we apply liberal amounts of pizza and beer:
Daybreak from his living room, the next day:
We get on the road to get as close to Yellowstone as possible before camping for the evening. At a fuel/food stop, disaster strikes! The once-faithful backpack, servant for the past seven years, commits seppuku on my exhaust. Did you know a backpack covering the exhaust will melt everything in the vicinity?
It fused my shoes and first aid kit together in my backpack:
I added some 100 MPH tape and all was better:
Made it!
Come to Yellowstone, stay inside and watch movies:
Here, I turn on my cell phone to get a message my buddy from Denver couldn't meet me as planned. His BMW shredded a fuel line and he was limping it back home to Denver instead of joining me. This was good, since he loves hiking and it would be tough for me to go with my melted shoes. He made it back without a hitch with the help of duct tape.
Fireshot or Firehole or Firesomething falls:
Those walking burgers are awfully close!
They look so warm and inviting from a distance!
I was checking out the long boardwalk around some of the interesting geothermal activity, such as:
I get back to my bike and a "bloody"' crow had undone all the zippers on my tank bag and backpack. The joke was on him - all he found was my chain lube and one pair of dirty underwear.
... he got back at me by pulling said underwear out and leaving it next to my bike. To the fatty in the SUV who spent at least two minutes pointing and laughing, I appreciate a good joke, too, but I hope you get a heart attack from your next quarter pounder. "dog".
Mud pots! They are exactly what would expect, hearing that name.
Old Faithful goes off, right on cue:
Been there, done that:
Chillin' at West Thumb on Yellowstone Lake:
Lewis Falls. I think. Forty feet of fury:
Oooh.... Ahhh....
Haha, the cleaning "dog" has to ride the "poo poo"-mobile:
Camp in the Grand Teton for the last night:
Sunday morning:
Animals!
Mountains!
I arrive in Boise to meet up with another friend I haven't seen in at least a year. We decide where to get some grub and his car promptly gives up the ghost. No warning, ran fine until he parked it, then it wouldn't work again. I get to push his car out of the fire lane he parked in and into a parking spot. What a welcome! I stay with him until his roomie shows up and they take off. I "enjoy" a breakfast at Taco Time and head back off on the road.
I ride the additional 300 miles back into Pullman after that and get in around 9 PM. That's about 14 hours in the saddle, with the time change.
The trip's milage total was just over 1,600. Nice and easy first three days with the 600+ mile monster for the last day.
Highlights of the trip:
* Freezing fog outside of Jackson, Wyoming. Having to scrape your faceshield off every 30 seconds isn't a whole lot of fun.
* Having my gas milage almost double when I'm not fighting a headwind and rain in Montana. I should NOT be getting 35 MPG even if I am doing 95 MPH!
* Those heated gloves were worth their weight in gold. They easily increase the range of ridable temps by about 20*. I could ride in 15* weather all night without a problem.
* Aerostich sells "cold weather" pads for their Roadcrafter suits. I thought it was just an excuse for them to sell you more crap until I tried to put on my suit Sunday morning, after a high teens to low twenties evening. The normally pliable pads were as hard as concrete and didn't warm up from my body heat for hours. Pretty uncomfortable.
All's well that ends well. I bootjacked an indicator from the Katana that happened to be a Honda indicator, so I was back in action Monday evening:
I finally got fed up with all my riding buddies bailing on going to Yellowstone with me, so I scheduled some time off work and had at it. Last Thursday.
I got back in late last night. Here's my story:
The faithful steed is loaded up and ready to roll:
I headed off to my buddy's place on Flathead Lake in Montana. I saw him once in the past four years on the return leg from Red Lodge, about four months ago. I only had time to visit for an hour before having to zip back to Seattle.
Mountains are pretty:
We arrive at Flathead Lake with little difficulty, other than pouring rain, standing water and at least 25 MPH headwinds the whole way:
I leap back on my bike only to have the pantleg of my Roadcrafter hook on the footpeg. Over we go, gently and slowly. I pick the bike back up and nothing is broken or hurt, just my pride and false sense of superiority. Those will heal in no time, though. Always a first time for everything.
I meet with my buddy and we apply liberal amounts of pizza and beer:
Daybreak from his living room, the next day:
We get on the road to get as close to Yellowstone as possible before camping for the evening. At a fuel/food stop, disaster strikes! The once-faithful backpack, servant for the past seven years, commits seppuku on my exhaust. Did you know a backpack covering the exhaust will melt everything in the vicinity?
It fused my shoes and first aid kit together in my backpack:
I added some 100 MPH tape and all was better:
Made it!
Come to Yellowstone, stay inside and watch movies:
Here, I turn on my cell phone to get a message my buddy from Denver couldn't meet me as planned. His BMW shredded a fuel line and he was limping it back home to Denver instead of joining me. This was good, since he loves hiking and it would be tough for me to go with my melted shoes. He made it back without a hitch with the help of duct tape.
Fireshot or Firehole or Firesomething falls:
Those walking burgers are awfully close!
They look so warm and inviting from a distance!
I was checking out the long boardwalk around some of the interesting geothermal activity, such as:
I get back to my bike and a "bloody"' crow had undone all the zippers on my tank bag and backpack. The joke was on him - all he found was my chain lube and one pair of dirty underwear.
... he got back at me by pulling said underwear out and leaving it next to my bike. To the fatty in the SUV who spent at least two minutes pointing and laughing, I appreciate a good joke, too, but I hope you get a heart attack from your next quarter pounder. "dog".
Mud pots! They are exactly what would expect, hearing that name.
Old Faithful goes off, right on cue:
Been there, done that:
Chillin' at West Thumb on Yellowstone Lake:
Lewis Falls. I think. Forty feet of fury:
Oooh.... Ahhh....
Haha, the cleaning "dog" has to ride the "poo poo"-mobile:
Camp in the Grand Teton for the last night:
Sunday morning:
Animals!
Mountains!
I arrive in Boise to meet up with another friend I haven't seen in at least a year. We decide where to get some grub and his car promptly gives up the ghost. No warning, ran fine until he parked it, then it wouldn't work again. I get to push his car out of the fire lane he parked in and into a parking spot. What a welcome! I stay with him until his roomie shows up and they take off. I "enjoy" a breakfast at Taco Time and head back off on the road.
I ride the additional 300 miles back into Pullman after that and get in around 9 PM. That's about 14 hours in the saddle, with the time change.
The trip's milage total was just over 1,600. Nice and easy first three days with the 600+ mile monster for the last day.
Highlights of the trip:
* Freezing fog outside of Jackson, Wyoming. Having to scrape your faceshield off every 30 seconds isn't a whole lot of fun.
* Having my gas milage almost double when I'm not fighting a headwind and rain in Montana. I should NOT be getting 35 MPG even if I am doing 95 MPH!
* Those heated gloves were worth their weight in gold. They easily increase the range of ridable temps by about 20*. I could ride in 15* weather all night without a problem.
* Aerostich sells "cold weather" pads for their Roadcrafter suits. I thought it was just an excuse for them to sell you more crap until I tried to put on my suit Sunday morning, after a high teens to low twenties evening. The normally pliable pads were as hard as concrete and didn't warm up from my body heat for hours. Pretty uncomfortable.
All's well that ends well. I bootjacked an indicator from the Katana that happened to be a Honda indicator, so I was back in action Monday evening:
[url=http://www.motoblag.com/blag/]Practicing the dark and forgotten art of using turn signals since '98.[/url]
-
Skier
- Site Supporter - Platinum
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- Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2004 10:44 am
- Sex: Male
- Location: Pullman, WA, USA
I've haven't been spending as much time as I wanted to on either of my bikes. I do have some plans, though.
For the Katana, I want to get it all bolted back together in the near future. I think my second job should be slowing down a bit, so I might have some free time again! I'm a bit weary of spending three or four hours a day on the weekend trying to make sure everything's gravy.
The 599 should get that rear hugger as soon as I can, though. Things are pretty messy at the rear tire and the amount of gravel and dirt riding the bike sees almost mandates it. I don't want to see how much it would cost to replace or rebuild my rear shock.
I do want to look into improving the front end's suspension. Honda CBR F2 forks slide right in and give me compression dampening adjustability. The F4 forks provide rebound and compression dampening adjustment, but require the triple clamps to be bored out a little bit (a MM or two). With either swap, I'm not sure if my front wheel will transfer over, along with the brakes. It may be the case I need to get the wheel and brakes from the same model of bike the forks came from, which increases the price significantly.
Some other things of note: the front tire of my 599 is wearing significantly faster than the rear. I've never seen that happen before, but I would guess it's from the huge (180) rear and the fact I do a lot of hard braking when I'm pushing the bike. I think the suspension is so much stiffer than what I'm used to, which causes me to not be afraid to use that front brake with significant force.
I'm still looking into becoming an Idaho STAR riding coach. Once my second job ends I will certainly have time to do it. There has been a lot of incentive for me to do this. In the past two months or so, there have been a lot of motorcycle fatalities in the area. If I can make just one of those not happen, it will be worth all of the time commitment required for becoming a coach.
For the Katana, I want to get it all bolted back together in the near future. I think my second job should be slowing down a bit, so I might have some free time again! I'm a bit weary of spending three or four hours a day on the weekend trying to make sure everything's gravy.
The 599 should get that rear hugger as soon as I can, though. Things are pretty messy at the rear tire and the amount of gravel and dirt riding the bike sees almost mandates it. I don't want to see how much it would cost to replace or rebuild my rear shock.
I do want to look into improving the front end's suspension. Honda CBR F2 forks slide right in and give me compression dampening adjustability. The F4 forks provide rebound and compression dampening adjustment, but require the triple clamps to be bored out a little bit (a MM or two). With either swap, I'm not sure if my front wheel will transfer over, along with the brakes. It may be the case I need to get the wheel and brakes from the same model of bike the forks came from, which increases the price significantly.
Some other things of note: the front tire of my 599 is wearing significantly faster than the rear. I've never seen that happen before, but I would guess it's from the huge (180) rear and the fact I do a lot of hard braking when I'm pushing the bike. I think the suspension is so much stiffer than what I'm used to, which causes me to not be afraid to use that front brake with significant force.
I'm still looking into becoming an Idaho STAR riding coach. Once my second job ends I will certainly have time to do it. There has been a lot of incentive for me to do this. In the past two months or so, there have been a lot of motorcycle fatalities in the area. If I can make just one of those not happen, it will be worth all of the time commitment required for becoming a coach.
[url=http://www.motoblag.com/blag/]Practicing the dark and forgotten art of using turn signals since '98.[/url]
-
Skier
- Site Supporter - Platinum
- Posts: 2242
- Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2004 10:44 am
- Sex: Male
- Location: Pullman, WA, USA
Made some progress on the Katana tonight. It's bolted together enough to run the starter to make sure nothing is horribly out of whack (yes I spun the motor by hand, first 
). The thing may be running, or at least trying to run, tomorrow night.
I don't think I put up pictures of my wiring block on the 599. I installed it just before my trip to Yellowstone, since I needed a way to organize my Battery Tender, heated gloves and cigarette lighter leads, all from the battery. So I stopped by Radio Shack and picked up the required items for a power distribution block:
Quite clean, right?
Here's a better shot, showing the output of the wiring mess:
It worked wonderfully on my Yellowstone trip and I can now keep my cell charged on those longer trips.
I think the total cost of the project was $30 or $35. That cigarette lighter adapter was $10 or $15 or so. Crazy, but it's still cheaper than one of those pre-made jobbers at $50 to $70.
). The thing may be running, or at least trying to run, tomorrow night.I don't think I put up pictures of my wiring block on the 599. I installed it just before my trip to Yellowstone, since I needed a way to organize my Battery Tender, heated gloves and cigarette lighter leads, all from the battery. So I stopped by Radio Shack and picked up the required items for a power distribution block:
Quite clean, right?
Here's a better shot, showing the output of the wiring mess:
It worked wonderfully on my Yellowstone trip and I can now keep my cell charged on those longer trips.
I think the total cost of the project was $30 or $35. That cigarette lighter adapter was $10 or $15 or so. Crazy, but it's still cheaper than one of those pre-made jobbers at $50 to $70.
[url=http://www.motoblag.com/blag/]Practicing the dark and forgotten art of using turn signals since '98.[/url]
-
Skier
- Site Supporter - Platinum
- Posts: 2242
- Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2004 10:44 am
- Sex: Male
- Location: Pullman, WA, USA
More oil analysis shennanigans. This time I'll compare Mobil 1 SUV 10W30 (non energy conserving) to Honda's standard GN4 20W-50. Both oils were in my bike for 2,500 miles with a SuperTech (Walmart) oil filter.
First off, wear was almost identical. There was negligable difference in wear.
Viscocity at 210 degrees F showed the synthetic Mobil 1 ahead of Honda's oil. However, there was 1% fuel dilution in the Honda oil sample, probably from the idling it does when it's warming up the cold mornings it had. One item to note is both oils were below the viscocity they should be at, even after 2,500 miles. Bike motors and transmissions are hard on oil.
The additive packages vary a bit, but not as much as I would have thought. Honda's oil had about 70% of the molybdenum additive in it that the Mobil 1 had. That's the stuff that's rough on your motorcycle clutch. The Mobil 1 oil had 79 parts per million (PPM) while Honda's oil had 56. For reference, Castrol GTX 20W-50 has 27 PPM.
Mobil 1 had an awful lot of Calcium, a cleaning additive. 2275 PPM, Honda had 1829. Castrol GTX 20W-50 has a bunch, as well: 2286 PPM.
So what am I getting at? I suppose my oil samples reinforce my belief of it's not what oil you run, it's how often you change it. You could probably run the cheapest oil at Walmart in your bike and be just fine as long as you change it every 2,500 miles. You may be safer running the oil for longer, or 2,500 might cause the oil to come out coked up and nasty. The only way to truly tell what works for your bike and your riding habits is to have the oil analyzed.
A parting note: the energy conserving Castol GTX 5W-30 my Civic uses has less anti-wear, slippery additives than either the Honda GN4 oil tested or the Mobil 1. Interesting!
First off, wear was almost identical. There was negligable difference in wear.
Viscocity at 210 degrees F showed the synthetic Mobil 1 ahead of Honda's oil. However, there was 1% fuel dilution in the Honda oil sample, probably from the idling it does when it's warming up the cold mornings it had. One item to note is both oils were below the viscocity they should be at, even after 2,500 miles. Bike motors and transmissions are hard on oil.
The additive packages vary a bit, but not as much as I would have thought. Honda's oil had about 70% of the molybdenum additive in it that the Mobil 1 had. That's the stuff that's rough on your motorcycle clutch. The Mobil 1 oil had 79 parts per million (PPM) while Honda's oil had 56. For reference, Castrol GTX 20W-50 has 27 PPM.
Mobil 1 had an awful lot of Calcium, a cleaning additive. 2275 PPM, Honda had 1829. Castrol GTX 20W-50 has a bunch, as well: 2286 PPM.
So what am I getting at? I suppose my oil samples reinforce my belief of it's not what oil you run, it's how often you change it. You could probably run the cheapest oil at Walmart in your bike and be just fine as long as you change it every 2,500 miles. You may be safer running the oil for longer, or 2,500 might cause the oil to come out coked up and nasty. The only way to truly tell what works for your bike and your riding habits is to have the oil analyzed.
A parting note: the energy conserving Castol GTX 5W-30 my Civic uses has less anti-wear, slippery additives than either the Honda GN4 oil tested or the Mobil 1. Interesting!
[url=http://www.motoblag.com/blag/]Practicing the dark and forgotten art of using turn signals since '98.[/url]
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Skier
- Site Supporter - Platinum
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- Joined: Sat Aug 07, 2004 10:44 am
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- Location: Pullman, WA, USA
I made a big order of junk for my bike. I snagged a tire repair kit, for the longer trips I have planned, a first aid kit, some special sealant for my boots and a "stopper" brake light.
The sealant is to go over a repair on my boots. My Oxtar Explorers were a bit worn out over the past 20,000 miles I've put on them and all the walking I did with them. As a student, that was a lot. Anyways, my shifting boot started working some stitching loose, so I had that repaired ($6.75). The problem was the threads had to go through the Gore-Tex liner, so the waterproofness may have been compromised. I hit it with some Scotchguard, but to be sure I'll coat it with a more permanent solution.
The extra brake light is just a row of red LEDs that attach to the license plate frame. I haven't been too enthuased about the brake light on my 599, so this should liven things up a bit back there. More visibility is always a good thing!
I'm also looking into getting another headlight relay kit from Eastern Beaver. The one on my Katana did a flat-out amazing job in improving the amount of light thrown from the stock bulb. If you're looking to get more light, buy one of the headlight relay kits first. You will be surprised how much light your current equipment can shoot out with the right wiring.
The sealant is to go over a repair on my boots. My Oxtar Explorers were a bit worn out over the past 20,000 miles I've put on them and all the walking I did with them. As a student, that was a lot. Anyways, my shifting boot started working some stitching loose, so I had that repaired ($6.75). The problem was the threads had to go through the Gore-Tex liner, so the waterproofness may have been compromised. I hit it with some Scotchguard, but to be sure I'll coat it with a more permanent solution.
The extra brake light is just a row of red LEDs that attach to the license plate frame. I haven't been too enthuased about the brake light on my 599, so this should liven things up a bit back there. More visibility is always a good thing!
I'm also looking into getting another headlight relay kit from Eastern Beaver. The one on my Katana did a flat-out amazing job in improving the amount of light thrown from the stock bulb. If you're looking to get more light, buy one of the headlight relay kits first. You will be surprised how much light your current equipment can shoot out with the right wiring.
[url=http://www.motoblag.com/blag/]Practicing the dark and forgotten art of using turn signals since '98.[/url]