DR650 SOLD

With my upcoming move to Berlin planned for July/August, I decided a while ago that both bikes would have to go. I spent the winter months stripping off the upgrade farkles from the DR and returning it to stock. I made good coin selling parts on eBay, ADV Rider, and on local classified websites. Raked in $3,000 for the farkles, and I sold the bike last weekend for $2,500. It was quick and painless. It's gone and I will miss that bike. However, I had as much fun building,  wrenching, and tinkering with the big DR as I had riding it.

The WR will be sold at a later date, some time in late June, probably. Already have a buyer lined up.

Here's the DR on the day I bought it in June '09

This photo is from Aug '11, after extensive mods and upgrades

And here's what it looked like the day I sold it in March '13

Pretty much back to stock condition.

RockyMountainATV.com -- Above and Beyond

I've shopped at rockymountainatv.com for a while now, and I've always had positive experiences with them. They have a great website, great selection of goodies, great prices, and great service. But they did something today that went above and beyond in providing exemplary customer service. I am very impressed, and thought I should take a moment to tell others what happened.

About 6 weeks ago, I was ordering a few little things for my bikes: chains, oil filters, etc. As I was adding a few things to my shopping cart, I noticed they had some rediculously low prices on motorcycle batteries. Of course, they were some kind of generic no-name brand, and I was very suspicious that these were probably junk batteries. What the hell, I figured... at $20 for a replacement battery for my WR250X, and $25 for my DR650, that's two bike batteries for $45.  I figured even if they only last one season, they'd be worth it.

Well, when my stuff arrived, I immediately unpacked the new batteries and checked them on my voltmeter. Rather disappointed to find the first battery read about 9.1 volts. The other battery read 11.5 volts. A little better but not great.  Over the next day or two, I fully charged both of them on my Battery Tender Junior.

Taking another voltage reading after charging was complete, one of them was reading 12.2 volts. Not great, as a good battery should read about 13.5V if it's fully charged. The second battery showed a reading of 13 volts after charging. hmmm.

Not expecting much, I installed battery #1 in my DR650.  I wanted to give it a real world test, so once installed in the bike, I unplugged the spark plug wires. This would allow the battery to crank the engine over, but the engine won't start. I wanted to see how long it would take for the battery to crap out.  I was not very impressed when it failed in about 9 or 10 seconds.  Not much cranking power there.

The test on battery #2 was almost the same. I installed battery #2 in my WR250, disconnected the spark plug wire, and hit the starter button. The engine cranked over for about 10 seconds, then the battery gave out.  Not very impressive, but what did I expect from a $20 battery?

Oh well, I just accepted the fact that I tossed $45 down the toilet for these 2 batteries. Lesson learned.

But after thinking about it for a while now, I decided it was my duty as a customer to let the good folks at RockyMountainATV know that these cheapo batteries are not worth their weight in salt. I didn't really expect them to do anything. At most, I figured they might offer to refund, or exchange the batteries, but I fully expected they would want me to ship them back. Of course, if I have to pay shipping fees, it wouldn't make it worth my while. I was fully prepared to just accept the fact I bought some junk, but it wasn't a ton of money. I had no hard feelings against RockyMountain. It's not their product.

However, when I emailed them my story, they replied with an offer to give me a store credit for the full amount and they don't want me to ship the junk batteries back to them.

Wow. Is that great customer service, or what?  Way more than I ever expected. Especially since I wasn't going to bother even telling them about the crappy batteries in the first place.

I wrote back and expressed my thanks, and told them I'd like to put the credit toward a new high power AntiGravity 8-cell Lithium Phosphate battery

I do have confidence that the AntiGravity will be a solid product. Expensive, yes, but definitely a quality product based on all the reading I've done. I might have gone with an Earth-X brand LiFePo4 battery, but sadly, they don't carry that brand at RockyMountain.

For what it's worth, the junk batteries I bought were manufactured under the name brand Moto Power, and they are apparently AGM technology (Absorbed Glass Material), which is known to be a good replacement for tried and true liquid-filled lead acid batteries, similar to gel batteries. However, these particular batteries sold under this name brand are just pure crap, made from second rate materials. Probably factory rejects. They're cheap, and you get what you pay for.

This is them..... I bought a CTZ7S for my WR250X, and a CBTX9 for my DR650

http://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/p/43/53/160/730/-/31685/Motor-Power-AGM-No-Maintenance-Battery

It will cost me $5 each to dispose of these batteries (the have an environmental / recycling fee for old batteries at the scrap yard). But I'm very happy with the outcome.

I'll post an update when the new AntiGravity battery arrives.

This is junk.

I expect this will be a quality battery.

DR650 disassembly

I know I'll come to regret it, but the trusty DR650 will be up for sale once the snow clears in the spring. Circumstances are about to change, and in fact, both the DR and the WR250 will be up for sale this spring/summer. The reason: I'll be heading off to work in Europe for the next 4 years. While taking one or both bikes with me is a possibility, or even putting them into storage while I'm gone is another possibility, the reality is that I will need the cash to purchase a new European bike when I get there. I'll be in Berlin, where I don't expect to do much dual sport riding, so I'll most likely be shopping for a BMW F800R or similar for commuting and taking weekend road trips. I have no idea yet, but I plan to get some type of European 2-wheel machine that is more "street oriented" for some road trips. 

In any event, the DR will be the first to go, as I plan to ride the WR for the spring and part of the summer. I won't be leaving for Berlin until August.

So, with 2 feet of snow on the ground, I decided I would get busy and begin stripping some of the upgrade parts from the DR. As tricked out as my DR is, none of the upgrade bits really do much for adding value when it comes to re-sale, and I've kept all of the original parts for just this reason. A few weeks ago when I put the bike into the shed for the winter, I removed the Wolfman side racks, and the Pat Walsh Designs rear luggage rack, and also the GSXR1000 Titaninium muffler & Two Brothers polished mid-pipe. I bolted the OEM muffler back onto the bike and tweaked the jetting a wee bit on the Mukuni TM40 pumper carb to lean things out accordingly. I no longer have the OEM carb, so the buyer of the DR will get the magic pumper carb.

Today, I removed the entire RMZ250 front end (2007 model, forks, wheel assembly, and triple clamps). In the process, I also pulled the Highway Dirt Bikes hand guards, bar risers and top clamp, the Tusk 1 1/8" oversize handlebars, and the bar end mirrors. 

I finished off by bringing the front end components into the basement and will give everything a good cleaning because I intend to sell the RMZ front end as a bolt-on kit to a fellow DR rider who has expressed interest. 

I'll bolt up the OEM front end and re-mount as many of the original parts as possible. The OEM forks and triples have been wrapped in a blanket for 2 years after I cleaned them up and changed the fork oil. 

This is what the DR looked like in the last week or so of the riding season, late November 2012. This was a test ride after putting the original exhaust system back on, and re-jetting the carb to suit the OEM exhaust.

Here she is sitting in the winter hybernation shed.

Disassembly begins

Complete front end removed.

It's November 22nd and the weather forecast for today was calling for sunny skies and 12 Celcuis. That's definitely not "seasonal" weather, rather, I call it a bonus riding day.  For most people in Eastern Ontario, the dualsport riding season ended about a month ago, and two months ago for pussies. 

I was out with John, Jason, and Dave about 10 days ago (another great weather treat for mid-November) and we all thought it was likely the last good ride of the season. John has since put his bike away for the winter, Dave has already begun his big winter maintenance projects, and Jason was just not able to make it today. However, fellow ADV'er James was down with it. We hooked up for coffee at Starbucks in the morning, and hit some fun dirt roads and a few trails in the Calabogie area for a very nice day of riding. A real treat for this time of year. 

It took a while for the sun to warm things up. The morning was rather cool, barely above freezing with lots of fog. I was scrambling at the last minute and made some poor wardrobe decisions: I went with full body protection, and wore simply my "Kemptville dinner jacket" over my pressure suit.... To put it mildly, I was very chilled for the first 3 hours.  And by the end of the day as the sun was low in the sky, I was getting quite cold on the way home. 

Here I am posing with my "Kemptville dinner jacket"

This photo was taken just after my low-side slide 

in the frozen grass, as capture in the video below.

Here's the video of my low-side slide in the frozen grass.

Tweaked the right hand guard a little bit, and my hip and 

kidney are sore this evening, but no real damage 

to the bike or my body.

And here's a collection of video clips from the day.

Last ride of the season

It was a miserable, wet, and cold start to the day: 1 degree Celcius (that's about 34 Fahrenheit) and rain. We met at 8:30am for bacon, eggs, and terrible coffee. We took our time to see if the shitty weather would improve. By 9:30am, it was the same. Let's ride, kids. It's November 11th, Remembrance Day. This will most likely be the last dual sport ride of the season for this gang.

The rain was actually beginning to slow down by 

the time breakfast was over.

We rode the trails along the power lines for a couple of hours

The sun was out by afternoon and temps were in the low teens (Celcius)

Chewing a piece of ice

This beaver dam created a massive flood, easily 2 feet deep.

...and at least 150 feet across.

The water was quite cold.

We ended the day at the Neat Café in Burnstown.

The roast their own coffee beans. Here is a bucket of raw beans.

This is the roasting machine.

And this is the machine used to cool the roasted beans.

The finished product. This was a medium roast 

of a Nicaraguan bean

And the video highlights from the ride.

Flat tires -

Today at lunch time, I was heading home to swap the bike for the car (needed the car to run an errand later in the day).  As I got to the first traffic light just a few hundred meters from my office, I noticed a slight increase in rolling resistance as I came to a stop. I looked down and sure enough, the front tire was flat. Shit... I just wanted to get the rest of the season out of this old tire. Just a couple more weeks! Fuck it, I moved my ass to the back of the seat and rode the remaining 3 or 4 Kms across town to get home. 

I had a few minutes, so I quickly put the bike on the stand and pulled the wheel off. I put it in the basement where it could warm up a bit (it's been a few degrees below freezing around here this week).  After work, I removed the tire and tube from the rim. It was pretty easy to spot the problem: the valve stem had ripped free of the tube. Colder temps are definitely tough on tires and tubes. I've been running 15-18 psi lately, and it probably began to tear away when I left the house this morning in the minus 8 Celcius frost. 

Oh well, I happened to have two brand new front tires sitting in the basement: a Pirelli Scorpion Rally and a Dunlop D606.  I bought both because I figured I would use one on the WR, and the other on the DR.  For no particular reason, I decided to mount the Pirelli. There were still a few miles left on the old D606, but as long as I had it apart, and as long as I was using a new heavy duty Fly Racing tube, I figured I might as well use a new tire. The old tire was more or less finished. Would have been nice to ride out the rest of the season and mount the new tire over the winter as I had been planning.

Valve stem separated from the MSR ultra heavy duty tube

The new 90/90-21 Pirelli Scopion Rally. This rubber is supposed to be a little softer compound than the Dunlop D606. 

I do like the 606 a lot, and it looks like a more aggressive tread pattern than the Pirelli, but lots of people have had lots of good things to say about the Pirelli. It's a popular choice among Dakar racers apparently.

Just a month ago, I had a flat rear tire. Here you can 

see a rusty nail sticking out. When that happened, I 

pulled the tire off and used a new Kenda Tuff-Tube 

size 110/100x18. The tire was a less than 1/2 worn Dunlop D606, size 120/90-18.  At the time of this photo, this rear tire probably had 4,000 Kms on it.  Still 1,500 left, maybe more.

I like the meaty look of the D606. It's a serious 

grass shredder yet is remarkably stable on paved roads.

Sensational fall weather riding

The weather was just too nice to be at work-- sunny and 20 degrees Celcius is unseasonably warm for the end of October so I arranged for a day off.

John had confirmed he'd be riding with me and whoever else we could con into coming with us. I conned Steve, and Dave, but Dave had a legitimate excuse to bail at the last minute. Then, John announced he was going to ride his Honda street bike with some others from the Manypause gang instead of some offroad riding with us . You see, John really doesn't like to get his KTM dirty. He pretends that it doesn't bother him, but we all know it really does. 

All in all, it was a very nice ride. Some gravel roads, some double track, some fairly easy single track, some mud, some water. A little bit of everything. We even ran into John and his large entourage of street riders at Munford's Restaurant in Calabogie.

We ran into a group of more than a dozen Manypause
road riders, who were also enjoying the nice weather.

Steve and I stopped to check out 

this old shell of a log building

At this spot, we got off the bikes to investigate 

the water. Quite a swampy area with a 

beaver dam, and lots of soft, deep mud.

Here's some video from the day. If you watch 

through 'till the end, you'll see me ride off into 

the rhubarb... careless riding because I was 

focussed on my GPS instead of watching the 

road ahead. I ultimately decided to just skid 

straight into the run-off because it was open 

and flat, having been recently bush-whacked. 

Sunday worship

While many people attend church services on Sundays, true dualsport enthusiasts prefer to worship double-track pathways, dirt roads, water crossings, and forest trails. And some pussies just stay home.

Yes, as always, there were a few no-shows --- you know, the usual cowardly, wimpy-wuss girlies who like to sleep in, spending a lazy Sunday morning doing the crossword puzzle in bed with their decaf soy latté and a lemon scone. One whiner even claimed he couldn't ride because he was on antibiotics....oh, puh--leeze. The others --too cowardly to respond to their emails-- knew they'd be subject to relentless public ridicule -- choosing instead to just not show up.

And then, there are the regulars... the reliable, dedicated, hardcore dualsport pundits who truly enjoy riding, and who won't let weather, poor health, old age, arthritis, or even antibiotics keep them from going for a nice Sunday ride in gorgeous fall weather. Amen.

We gathered for shitty coffee at Tim Horton's

...then we stopped to get rid of the coffee

lunch consisted of sausages and fries in Merrickville

Stopped to chat with some dirt bikers who were riding in circles in a gravel pit. 

Since their bikes aren't road legal, they are confined to riding in small, closed off areas 

like this. Fun, but only for a few minutes. With a street legal dualsport bike, the big 

advantage is that you can connect unlimited trails using paved roads.

Check out the dog that was chasing the bikes around the 25 second mark. 

He appeared from the swamp and ran after Dave and Steve for at least 

a quarter mile, with John following him for some time. Finally, John 

blasted by, scaring him with the roar from the big KTM's muffler.

And while we had a terrific ride, here's a photo for the pussies who didn't come. 

This is what  a real dualsport rider looks like, taking real antibiotics. 

Silly intravenous pumps only keep pussies from riding. 

Oral antibiotics? I push those tiny pills into my bike's valve stems to use as Dynabeads

pumps, tubes, antibiotics... makes a stronger rider.

OMG !!!  Look at that crazy dude! He's like the Incredible Hulk!

We're not worthy! We're not worthy!