Roaming Rally TCAT trail ride

Boy, am I looking forward to the last weekend of May. Big ride planned. Essentially, some local guys are heading up a giant project to map out a dual-sport riding trail that will cross Canada from coast-to-coast without using any paved roads. The project is called the Trans-Canada Adventure Trail, or TCAT. On the weekend of May 27-29, a large group (60 dual sport bikes) will ride the section from Richmond to Bancroft. This would normally be a 3 1/2 hour drive by car on the highway, but taking trails through the woods, gravel and logging roads, we will ride the entire weekend. We'll be camping Friday and Saturday nights, and people will head home on Sunday.

For this awesome 3-day weekend of riding, there's is much prep work to be done.

A bunch of stuff is on order for the bike: Wolfman side racks -- onto which I will mount my indesctructible and waterproof Pelican 1430 top-loading cases. I've recently installed a Pat Walsh rear luggage rack for mounting either my Givi E37 top case, or possibly the Pelican 1450 case (not sure yet).

Pelican 1430 cases.

I also bought a new tent: an Alps Mountaineering Neptune 2 from REI.com. It was being sold in their Outlet Store, marked down 60% because it's been discontinued. Sleeps 2, floor space is 90" x 60" (37 sq. ft.), 46" high, weighs 6 lbs.  It was normally priced at $199 but I got it for just $89. I also bought the matching footprint ground sheet at 50% off, for just $12. The fly is not shown in this photo, but it covers the entire tent. It seems to have very positive reviews for a $200 tent.

Alps Mountaineering Neptune 2

And today was the annual Mountain Equipment Co-op Gear Swap. There are always plenty of deals to be had for those who go early... so I did... and I scored a major bargain on a sleeping bag. Well, actually, it's considered an overbag. It is meant to provide extra warmth for sleeping bags that are not rated for really cold temps. It was brand new. They guy selling it had purchased it for use on a particular camping trip but it apparently never got cold enough, so he never used it. And I got it for just $40. He told me he paid well over $100, and I just saw on the MEC website that the long version (this guy was 6' 6" tall) retails for $148. It's super compact, and weighs only a little under 900 grams (2 lbs).

MEC Emperor Penguin Windstopper Overbag

"Cut wide to fit over modern mummies, and adds 5 to 10°C to the bag's rating. It provides an extra layer of insulation against the cold, and more importantly, the WINDSTOPPER® shell protects the bag from external moisture. The overbag also reduces built-up condensation from frost and the sleeper's own perspiration. The result is your sleeping bag's insulation stays drier and more effective."

I've got a brand new Michelin T63 rear tire with a new heavy duty tube mounted on my spare rear rim. And my new front tire should be here in a few days.

Also picked up 2 spare lithium-ion batteries for my GoPro 960 camera. $25 each from Best Buy. So now I have a total of 3 batteries. I've got two 8GB and a 16GB memory cards, but I'm planning to get a 32GB card later this week.

 

And while in New Zealand last month, I picked up this awesome backpacker's stove from Kathmandu. It's ultra compact and lightweight. Made of titanium, it burns standard propane/butane blend canisters. It, too was 50% off, costing me just under $50 CDN.

While at MEC today, I grabbed some storm-proof matches and a waterproof match case, plus a glow-in-the-dark Nalgene water bottle (1 Litre), Musquol insect repellent, and a few other little doo-dads. 

This rally ride / camping trip is still 2 weeks away but I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully the weather will be dry.

New EBC front brake pads

Feeling somewhat disappointed with the brakes on the new RMZ front end, I've been considering an oversized brake rotor kit. The RMZ wheel has a slightly smaller rotor than the original DR rotor, which translates to less stopping power. But before spending $250 for a 320mm big brake kit, I thought a new set of brake pads would be worth a try. The pads that were on there seem to have lots of material left on them but the material looks like shit... cracked bits, dirt and grime, rough at the edges.  I took them off and cleaned them thoroughly, and sanded them down a bit with some 220 grit sandpaper. I even sanded the rotor. Didn't help much.

So, a quick call to a couple of local shops. Other than OEM, they only seem to sell EBC brand pads, by far the most popular. But the local shops want $50 plus taxes. Suzuki dealer wanted $75 for OEM pads. Screw that. Ten minutes of seaching on eBay found lots of vendors selling the same EBC pads for $30-$40.  So, I bought some from peakmoto-powersports and they arrived just 6 days later. Not bad at all, as none of the local shops had them in stock anyway.

$37 shipped to my door.

Gotta love eBay for its great selection,

competitive pricing, and convenience.

So today I pulled the caliper off, removed the old pads. I gave the caliper a very thorough scrubbing with brake cleaner and a very hard bristled brush. Re-greased the pins, installed the new pads and went for a 20-minute test ride around the city. By the time I made made it through 3 or 4 intersections, I could feel how much better these new pads were. And by the time I finished my ride -- with lots of stop-and-go riding in traffic -- it felt much like the old DR front brake setup used to. Now I'm happy. Even happier that I didn't spend a lot.

The old pads. Still plenty of material,

but they're in pretty rough shape.

These were cleaned and sanded a few days ago.

Incidentally, EBC lists the same part number for use on both the '96 and new DR650 and the '07-'08 RMZ 250.  Good to know that DR brake pads will fit an RMZ and vice versa (I already knew the caliper was the same, so I figured the pads would also be identical. However, Suzuki's parts fiche lists different part numbers for the two bikes, but I expect it's because they are different compound materials because the RMZ is made for hig performance offroad use only, while the DR brakes are probably made to last longer and see use in all types of riding conditions (more of a general purpose pad).

LED turn signals relocated

I relocated my Watsen Design's LED turn signals. I bought these a couple of years ago for my SV650. They are actually made to fit the turn signal slots of the front fairing on a V-Strom, but they have a pretty generic mounting system, they can be adapted to fit almost anything. They were quite expensive but I do like the fact they are made with top quality craftsmanship, and they're small and extremely bright.

I decided to relocate them because I recently swapped my OEM luggage rack for a Pat Walsh Design rack. Rather than drill holes in the new rack I tried to come up with a more creative mounting solution that would be practical. This is what I ended up with:

Drill a couple of small pilot holes.

Enlarge the pilot holes and drill 2 more small ones for the lock pins.

Use a glue gun to seal the wiring.

Cover it all up with heat shrink tubing for added protection.

Right side installed.

Both installed. Clean and out of the way.

While these suckers may be small, they are extremely

bright... insanely bright.  They are easily visible

on a sunny afternoon.

Here's the link to a previous blog entry which shows how they were mounted with the OEM luggage rack

http://www.fy-yff.com/2010/03/led-lighting.html

First ride, and leaky upside-down fork seals.

Got out for a real ride yesterday, even if it was just an "all-asphalt" ride.  Dave still has his DRZ400E for dirt riding, but he recently picked up a mint-condition 2007 Kawasaki Versys for when he doesn't want to get muddy. He invited me to join him, along with a couple of his street buddies for a ~200 Km ride that took us to Almonte, then over to Merrickville, and back home again. We stopped for lunch at a pub on the water in Almonte.

Anyway, it was the first real ride for me on my newly upgraded DR since it came out of winter storage a few days ago. The bike ran great and the new RMZ forks and the rebuilt and upgraded rear shock were awesome... except that I noticed both fork legs were leaking oil even before I arrived at Dave's house. Oh well, I went along for the ride anyway -- hoping that oil wouldn't find its way onto my front brake rotor.

When I got home I was curious and just had to take a better look. When I took the RMZ forks apart over the winter and put new seals in them, I had my doubts that I was installing the new seals properly. What? Was I installing the seals upside-down in my new upside-down forks? 

The aftermarket All-Balls seals looked almost the same from both sides, so it was hard to determine which side was up.  And, as it happened, when I ordered the All-Balls seals from my local dealer over the phone, I mistakenly ordered both the aftermarket and OEM seals at the same time. I inquired about returning one set and they told me about their silly re-stocking charge policy so I decided to keep them.  Anyway, once home from my ride yesterday, I pulled them apart and installed the new OEM seals (far more obvious which way goes up).  Went for a good ride when I finished at bed time, and so far, no leaks.

The All-Balls seals. Which way is up? I dunno.

Throw those away and stick with OEM seals.

Back home, just in time for riding season

Got home from my month-long business trip around the world. Whew.  Was a great trip, but I sure worked many long days.  I even had a bit of free time in Auckland, New Zealand and decided to rent a bike.

The rental was from this place:  http://www.motorcycle-hire.co.nz/.  Aiden was great to deal with and he set me up with a nice Suzuki DL650 V-Strom. I rode about 400 Kms from Auckland down around the Coromandel Penisula. Spectacular vistas, stunning scenery, and terrificly twisty tarmac.

Aiden, of Te Waipounamu Motorcycle Tours

 

Somewhere along the Coromandel Forest Park

 

 

View of the Auckland city scape from the bridge, 

shot from the back seat of a taxi after returning the rental bike.

The sunset was great - a perfect end to a perfect day.

Winter upgrades almost done

The RMZ front end is now bolted on, as are the bar riser clamps, top clamp, handle bars and hand guards from Highway Dirt Bikes, and the Vapor computer is bolted into the HDB billet Vapor protector dash, Corbin seat, DRZ tail light (and a yellow rear fender I found on ADV Rider). My new Alps Mountaineering Neptune 2 tent arrived today. Just waiting for my Pat Walsh luggage rack to arrive. Then I just need to figure out how I will mount my Pelican 1430 top-loading cases for use as panniers. Looking forward to some dirt bike camping this summer.


Good news, bad news...

Good news: the snow is melting fast and riding season is about to start (it was nice enough that I'd have ridden to work today if the bike was ready). Bad news: tomorrow I leave on another trip for work. This time I'll be gone for just over a month, so it seems I will miss the first few weeks of riding season. That's a hard  pill to swallow after not being able to ride for 3 months now because of winter. I'm dying to ride, the weather is finally cooperating, but I'll be away for a month. On the other hand, I am looking forward to this trip. It's a true round-the-world trip: Ottawa > London > Mumbai > Singapore > Bandar Seri Begawan >  Perth > Melbourne > Auckland > Vancouver > Ottawa. Unfortunately, it's not a tourist trip... it will mostly be long work days, with very little time for seeing the sights.

2 weeks in Africa

Went to Africa for work recently. One week in Bamako, Mali, followed by another week in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Both are former French colonies, and located in the North Western part of the continent. Hot and dry climate. Had a great time, even if I did spend long hours at work every day.

Took photos of some of the motorcycles I saw. Interesting to see all the different bikes people ride in other parts of the world.

Hotel in Bamako

 

Bananas just outside my hotel room.

 

Typical Bamako side-street

 

Typical woman on the main drag in Bamako, selling carrots.

 

Beer time.

 

Soccer is very popular

Yamaha DT175

Honda CG125

Yamaha 100cc 2-stroke (these are very common)

 

Baotian - never heard of these things.

Not the same KTM as most westerners would think.

Check out the KTM !

 

View from my hotel room in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

 Some type of air-cooled Honda v-twin in Ouagadougou --

the largest dispacement bike I saw.

 

 

 

 Honda TransAlp -- in Frankfurt 

(where I spent a night on my return trip)

Rear shock upgrade - completed

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about my plan to have Cogent Dynamics rebuild and upgrade the rear shock. Well, I just got back from a 2-week long business trip and the newly upgraded shock was waiting for me when I got home.

The "before" photo: the OEM shock with a 7.5 Kg/mm spring from ProCycle

The "after" photo: the same OEM shock with the full Cogent treatment.

So the shock was rebuilt and upgraded by Cogent Dynamics in North Carolina. Here's a rundown of the work they did:

• new longer and thicker shaft (Yikes! Sounds like a penis enlargment scam!)
• new lower mounting clevis
• added a compression adjustment clicker knob, the red thingy (previously, there was compression damping adjustment)
• new 8.1 Kg/mm Eibach spring
• anodized the shock body exterior
• ceramic-coated the body interior for better heat dissipation
• new seal head assembly with with bushing seals and O-rings
• new piston with a custom-made shim stack for me (a 200 lb. rider)
• new needle and needle jet
• new spring clip

By the time it was done, and round-trip shipping paid from Canada to North Carolina, the whole thing worked out to $601 on my Visa card. A lot of money, yes, but others who have done it all agree it's worth every penny. They were also kind enough to return the aftermarket spring I had installed last summer (a 7.5 Kg/mm spring from ProCycle). I've already sold the ProCycle spring for $100.  The original spring from the factory was a soft and squishy 6.5 Kg/mm. Can't wait to install this thing and go for a ride. Just gotta wait for the snow to melt.

Also waiting for me was a spare front wheel I bought on eBay. With the new RMZ front end, I have a wheel already but I found a deal on a front RMZ wheel in very good condition. So, now I have 2 full sets of wheels. I intend to have a set of knobbies mounted on one set, and a pair of more street worthy rubber mounted on the other set.

'07 RMZ250 front wheel found on eBay for $100.

Very nice condition, will make a nice spare.