The Epic One

 

A couple of friends of mine Scott and Stan laid out a 22 mile course up at place called Chalk Bluff, or Burlington Ridge or a couple of other names it’s known by. It’s about 20 miles up Hwy 20 from Nevada City at about 5000 foot elevation and is known for its tight switch back, back and forth trails. There are numerous places where you can actually see the rider behind you because of the trail layout. It’s primarily a 2^nd and 3^rd gear riding area, no real pushing and shoving kind of ride just some nice moderate elevation changes. There’s one section that has many names, I’ve heard it called 14 turns, 16 turns and this day I heard it being called 19 turns. Depending on if you’re going up it or down it, it’s either up, 14, 16, or 19 turns or down 14,16 or 19 turns. I never have counted them, always too busy trying to ride it not count them.

Scott and Stan know the area very well. They both have helped layout and maintain the trails in that area for years. Scott’s idea was to layout a course and invite a bunch of his riding buddies and their families up for a day’s riding a pot luck dinner and cap it off with a night ride over the same course. I don’t know how many riders were there my guess would be somewhere around fifty. I heard there were 25 riders who were going to ride the night course.

I didn’t get up there until around noon and hit the trail about 1PM, by that time most of the riders were starting to arrive back at camp finishing up their ride. It was an epic ride, the weather was just about perfect, no jacket needed and the trails were about as perfect as they can get. The area had been soaked with quite a few inches of rain a few days prior, but steady sunshine had dried it out enough that there were very few water puddles. In fact I didn’t really need to wash my bike maybe under the fenders, but that’s all.

By the time Barry my riding partner and I started the trails had some nice berms and it was easy to follow the trail. Well we did get lost a couple of times, no big deal though and found our way back on to the course. Barry and I stopped several times mostly so I could adjust something on my bike. This was the first ride on it since I had taken it apart and gone through just about everything. We had big grins and kept telling each other, it doesn’t get much better than this. It’s interesting I had just met Barry before we took off and here we are sharing this ride and grinning from ear to ear, goes to show you, you don’t need to know some forever to enjoy the moment, just a shared passion.

I ended up riding 31 miles because I missed the left hand turn back to the camping area. I was in a grove and at the time was riding by myself having left Barry behind and had no one to key off in front of me, so I just kept going until I came up on the back of a few riders who were just starting out on the loop. Oops, I had to turn around and backtrack. Very slowly, I averaged 13mph and had a top speed of 38mph which isn’t too bad believe it or not for that kind of riding. By the time I got back to camp the majority of riders were sitting around with a beverage in hand re-hashing the day’s ride.

Not long after I got back, around 4pm, everyone started cooking, heating up whatever they had brought then began setting their offerings down on some folding tables. All this magically appeared no one was in charge barking out orders it just happened. One minute there was nothing and the next the tables were full of pot luck food. The food was excellent. That usually happens when people bring pot luck, you end up with someone’s specialty. The deserts were also great. I had eaten a plate full and was going back for seconds on desert table and noticed there was now twice as much variety of foods as when I had first gone through the line, amazing.

My wife Chris and I had to leave just before dark, we had to get back to take care of all the critters we have. But the big bond fire was roaring to life and people were beginning to gather around it, the sun was going down and the temperature was dropping. And the night ride lay ahead. 

It just doesn’t get any better than that.

Thank you Scott, Stan and all the other people there who made this a truly epic day.

21J

Sure Can...A New Idea!

Sure Can

A friend of mine gave me this can to try, because I have a weed whacker, a leaf blower, two riding lawn mowers, a small tractor with a front loader and several rear attachments for it. I also have a power washer, oh and four motorcycles. So it seems as though I’m always pouring fuel into something and my friend Art thought I’d be the perfect guinea pig to try this new design. Someone is forever trying to invent a new improved mouse trap. If we never tried something new how would we know if it’s better than what we’ve been using?

The first thing you notice about the can is where the spout/drain is located. Instead of being on top which requires you to lift and tilt a can in order to drain it, it’s on the bottom at the side of the can (And totally tucked out of the way) which means no lifting and tilting, I kind of like that idea. But how will it work in a practical application?

As I said I have lots different kinds of equipment to try it on. First of all the quality is very good. It has big markings showing liters and gallons on the end making it easy to read and it has some nice hand holds especially on the bottom making it very easy to grab the bottom. The other thing I noticed was when holding the container by the handle it felt very comfortable and balanced. I only put two gallons in it at first, my thought was it would be much easier to handle for the first time, which it was. My concern was how easy it would be to fill things essentially from one side at the bottom, turns out it was pretty darn easy. I had no problems filling my power washer and the two riding lawn mowers I have, each of the mowers has a different type of filler. I also filled one on my motorcycles which also worked well. Not having to tip a can and dealing with weight is a huge plus. 

So what are the negatives and questions? When you tip the can and pour you can tip the can back when you’re almost full and avoid overflowing. Not so easy this new way, you’ll need to anticipate this and release handle to stop the flow, as the fuel will continue to flow until the nozzle has drained. Not a big deal but will require a little getting used to. The release handle on top for safety purposes has a release mechanism that must be pushed forward in order to depress the handle allowing fuel to flow through the nozzle, releasing that safety is difficult to do with only one hand. You can take your index finger and release it, again just takes a little while to figure that out and with practice will become second nature. The fuel flow is great and begs the question is it legal in California. If it is that is a huge advantage as anything else you can purchase in this State is made to be very awkward and flow like molasses. For those who only have the one gas can and must fill it up, I’d say dealing with a full five gallons won’t be a big problem since you don’t have to tip it to use it.

I must admit I was skeptical when I first looked at the can, but now that I’ve use it I like it and I’m not going to give it back.

Doug 21J

2016 International Old timers MX event in Boise

 

We we’re off to the land of the big potato for round # 9 in impressive fashion we caravanned. Carmen Ogino, Derek Currie, Kevin Stewart and me followed each other nose to tail. Carmen in his big ass motor home with his 2016.5 KTM 250SXF FE hanging at an odd angle from the back of his motor home, Kevin rode with Carmen having rented himself out for the weekend as Carmen’s pit bitch. Derek in his Chevy diesel pickup with two 450 Honda’s in the back, his logic for bringing two bikes was in case he needed to use one for parts, he didn’t. And me in my Ford diesel pickup with my 1987 Lance camper setting in the bed slightly at an angle because my wife had hit one of those speed at speed when she used it, lifting it just enough, even with tie downs so when it landed back in the bed it was slightly askew. And towing behind hiding the slightly angled camper was my enclosed motorcycle trailer. 

I hope there aren’t any cops reading this because we flew across the Sierra’s and desert at speeds well above the posted limits, especially me towing a trailer. We spent the night along the side of the road in Jordan Valley some seven hours into our journey.

Arriving at the gate entrance to the track around 11:15AM the next morning our caravan joined a long line of others stretching out to the highway waiting for the gates to open at 12:00. The parking at the track is flat along with rows of terraced parking. We set up on the top terrace and had a great view below us and of the freshly mown hay fields across the way and with our Sierra Old Timers pop-ups proudly on display. Practice started at 1:00 and for many of us the first disappointment of the weekend. The track had been plowed deep and lots of water put down, so it was sloppy, wet and ended up very rutted.

However Friday evening is the clubs traditional Idaho baked potato fest with a wide variety of toppings, which sort of made you forget about the track conditions and remember one of the many reasons you show up for this event, good food and the comrade.  I forgot to mention the weather was just about perfect as well.

Since I’m retired I don’t roll out of the sack until well after the sun has risen.  With practice at 8:00 and my group the second practice and the one hour time change I was up way too early for me. It was going to be another beautiful day and when we got out on to the track we discovered a well groomed track that offered the prospect of a fun days racing. At the riders meeting there were many smiles all around from those of us who had experienced Friday’s track. Riders who had showed up for Saturday’s practice and race were puzzled by our dire report on Friday’s practice track. 

Kevin (Carmen’s pit bitch) took a boat load of pictures which we will have up on our Facebook and the club web site soon. Kevin concentrated mostly on club members of which there were quite a few; it’s interesting because we now have a number of members who live in other states. He followed Carmen in the 50+ Intermediate class, Paul Park and Brad Peters 40+ intermediates, Mark Kastner and Craig Christian in the 50+ master class, Duane Quick and Bart Kellogg in the 70+ expert class, Derek a 60+ intermediate, and me all alone in my class. 

First and foremost everyone had a great day; we were all safe and had good races. Someone at the parts counter at Carmen’s local bike shop gave him mineral oil for his clutch instead of brake fluid (oops) so needless to say he struggled a little with some clutch problems and on a sandy loamy track you need a good clutch when ridding a 250. Carmen’s wife called to tell him a rattle snake was in their backyard. They called a snake guy who found a total of three rattlers. Paul and Brad had by far the best racing of the day. They swapped the lead back and forth for most of both moto’s, Paul admitted to being a little whipped at the end of the moto’s Brad won both. Mark and Craig both started on the same gate in the 50+ masters. Mark who just gets faster as the weekend goes along won the 50+ class easily but was a fair distanced behind the forty year olds, the second and third moto’s saw Mark closing the distance. 

I didn’t get to see much of Duane and Bart’s races because I was on the line with my race next. It looked like they pretty much held the same distance between them each moto with Bart having the edge. Derek suffered from poor starts and a crash in the first corner of the first moto, but kept the smile on his face and had good scraps with a fellow 60+ intermediate. I had a mixed bag a poor start in race one and a hole shot in race two. I reversed the order on Sunday, but it didn’t make any difference I had no competition in my class and was probably half to three quarters a lap ahead of the second place rider each race. (I still took the trophy home)

Saturday evening is the clubs dinner and as usual was excellent. I was disappointed because there wasn’t any desert this year something happened to the dessert maker, but I was saved, Carmen’s wife had sent him along with some carrot cake that Carmen shared.  Saturday evening’s weather was awesome and it doesn’t get any better when renewing friendships and hashing over the day’s racing. Everybody I talked with enjoyed the track, wait that’s not true Don Tocker from BC liked the old course layout. But he never unloaded his bike all weekend, as he was driving into Boise he remembered he hadn’t purchase medical insurance. (Remember he’s from Canada) Last time he was here he knocked himself out and ended up in the hospital. The evening ended with a hint of rain during the night.

It sprinkled a little Saturday the night but only enough to turn the dust on the vehicles into a mess. The morning was cloudy but the temperature was perfect. Sunday’s track and racing was as good as it was on Saturday. Carmen struggled a little more on Sunday with the clutch and stamina. Brad and Paul picked up right where they left off on Saturday swapping the lead. As I said before Mark just gets faster as the weekend rolls on and actually beat one of the 40+ masters and was much, much closer to the others. Again it looked like Bart and Duane were the same distance apart as Saturday. Gary Chase who rode Saturday on a borrowed bike figured it out Sunday and was the class of the 70+ expert field. Interesting side note, Bart, Ed Perrington, Gary and one other rider who all rode in the master’s class for years decided they wanted to ride in the 70+ expert class because they only wanted to race two moto’s on Saturday instead of three. Gary is the one who lobbied for a 70+ masters class so they could still ride three moto’s on Saturday, interesting how a little age can change your perspective.  Derek faired a little better on Sunday amazing what better starts can do. We all ended the day safe again, some of us took home awards and some didn’t but we all had a very enjoyable weekend.

Coming back we caravanned again, Carmen and Kevin, Derek, me and Paul in his brothers borrowed 4x4 ford towing an enclosed trailer. We stopped in Winnemucca for dinner and stayed the night in Fernley. Sitting around the table at dinner that night we all recounted our races and commented on others and talked about how sometimes it just doesn’t get any better than this.

 

Doug 21J  

PS We were all jealous of Carmen and Kevin his pit bitch for the weekend.

21J's New Project!

2016 Husky FC350 Part 1

I sold the 2016 Yamaha YX450FX I had. Yeah I know why would I do that? Sell a perfectly good bike that I had just gotten set up. Well I finally figured it out, it’s just who I am, this is my hobby my release if you will and yes it does cost some money to do this. I don’t know anybody that makes money on their hobby, if they do it’s a business.

So I’m on to the next thing, which happens to be a 2016 Husky FC350. So why this bike, well I wanted a light weight four stroke and nobody currently builds them any lighter than KTM/Husky. I also wanted to try a 350 again. I had a 2011 KTM 350SXF, the first year they built that model. I did lots to it and wrote many articles on it that appeared here in mx43.com. I rode the bike for three plus years and had virtually no trouble with it. The increase in low to mid torque, improved handling and light weight is what intrigued me about the new KTM’s.

So why not a 2017 instead of the 2016, first of all there’s a huge difference in the cost between a new/used 2016 and a brand new 2017. Thousands of dollars, in the case of the 350 I didn’t see a lot of differences in the two bikes other than the air forks. Three plus pounds lighter and something other than the 4CS forks is certainly worth considering but for the difference in cost I decided to take a chance on being able to make the 4CS forks work for me.

So why the Husky, well a friend of mine bought this one and has at times thought it was great and at other times didn’t.  It was always about the suspension. To a point he even thought there could be something wrong with it, like parts. I even rode it a couple of times and I couldn’t get along with it. So why buy it, well he sold it to me at a price I couldn’t pass up. And I’m just dumb enough to think I could figure out why it wasn’t working the way I thought it should and fix it.

The first thing I did was reset all the suspension components. I’ve been guilty of turning the clickers here and there and the next thing I know it’s not working right and end up resetting everything. The settings and sag were way off and the bike was not balanced between the front and rear suspension. The front suspension had a very expensive after market kit installed that basically turns the forks back into open cartridge units. I know some people who have had great success with this set up. After resetting everything I rode the bike at Mammoth Bar, which if you remember has a small MX track and a very gnarly up and down cross country trail section. The first thing I noticed was the bike was now rideable, it was better balanced and wanted to turn but the front forks were a bit harsh over the small to medium stuff for me. A familiar complaint with these forks, but it was rideable. Next I went up on the trails and the whole suspension beat the crap out of me. It was one and done, normally on my Yamaha YZ250/290FX I do two to three loops,each loop is about 10 miles.  On top of that the next few days I was really sore.

I decided to send the suspension to a company that has lots of experience working with KTM 4CS forks. While I’m waiting for the suspension I decided to take the bike apart, not the motor and clean and inspect everything. I talked the friend I bought the bike from into including the all titanium FMF exhaust system, about $800 worth. I’m going to take it off and put the stock system back on. With my old 2011 KTM 350SXF I had the opportunity to try a number of exhaust systems and I liked the stock one the best. After all it is made by Akrapovic. I’m going to put it on Craigslist at some point, but I’m talking with my friend,the guy I bought the Husky from who will probably buy a 2017 KTM 350 or Husky primarily because of the air forks. So I says to him, hey I’ll sell the FMF exhaust back to you and he says that’s a great idea, hang on to it for me. Hey, sometimes the gods just smile right down on you.

The other thing I did while waiting was change the bars and grips for ones I like.  The stock gearing is 14/50 and feels way too high in low gear for me. For a five speed it has lots of top end. I changed the gearing to a 14/52 we’ll see how that feels. I can see changing the seat cover at some point maybe sooner than later, the stock seat is very, very grippe and I’ve heard it will chap your ass.

Well it’s been a few weeks now and quite frankly I’ve been struggling with the suspension, a lot in fact. I’m spoiled, the suspension on my 2015 Yamaha YZ250FX is so good that it’s making the Husky look and feel really bad, no sense talking about it until I figure it out.

Well obviously the suspension I sent out did not work for me. The same problem I had before I sent it out was still there, namely the forks were too harsh in the beginning of the stroke and again the shock felt dead and the bike wasn’t balanced. I was very frustrated, the time lost sending them back and forth plus eating the freight so instead of sending them back knowing they would be willing to work with me, I decided to give the suspension to Bucky at SBB because he’s local and I knew he would work with me to get it right.

Which he did, first he revalved the forks and that greatly improved the front end but it still wasn’t right. Next he revalved the shock and that balanced everything out. I next went to the Hangtown track, the track was a super busy very technical track with much faster riders on it. I went out and rode the piece of shit rock strewn trails that make up a lot of Prairie City and the bike worked very well. If your bike works well in that stuff it will pretty much work anywhere. When I did get on the track it worked well. I did clank the forks a few times which had more to do with me landing wrong on the technical track than the forks. I’m going to ride it for awhile and continue to play with the set up.

But that ride proved to me the bike will work for me. So I went down to Roseville Yamaha and ordered, a Rekluse, Scots steering damper mounting kit and a set of FastWay foot pegs that I can mount in the back and down position. These are things I’ve gotten used to on all my other bikes, that make me feel comfortable.

I’m going to a family reunion so by the time I get back all my parts should be here. I’ll stick them on and ride and report back.

Doug 21J

Doug's Ongoing YZ 290FX Story

Yamaha 2015 YZ250FX Part 9

Thought I would bring you up to date on the 250/290.

 

At 81 hrs Thumper Racing installed the 290cc kit and since then I’ve put 24.5 hrs on the new kit without any problems. The only thing I’ve done is richened up the very top of the RPM range just a little. I talked to Thumper about when they thought I should check the top end, they advised “At whatever interval Yamaha recommends” At this juncture I’m going to tear it down when it reaches 50 hrs on the 290 kit.

So at 105.5 hrs I decided to have the suspension serviced and basically go through the whole bike. Did things like greasing the steering head bearings and the swing arm and suspension linkage to my surprise everything was in excellent condition and it didn’t really need it?

The Rekluse clutch has been in the bike from the very first and I hadn’t even checked it. I decided to tear it apart and check it out, the last time I rode it and for the first since I installed the Rekluse the end play gain was not in spec. 105.5 hours is a lot without checking it and 24.5 hrs of that was with the new 290 power.

I talked with Rekluse and they asked if I would send pictures of everything they were interested at looking at certain wear parts. They responded with the “clutch looked great” even the Teflon blocks. (See pictures) They recommended I put in three stiffer clutch springs, for greater clamping force (Because of the 290 kit) readjust the settings and reinstall the clutch. That says a lot for their product and my changing the oil and checking the end play gain all the time.  I ordered the parts and decided to replace all the friction plates, Yamaha OEM plates aren’t that expensive.

I had to replace a bearing in the Scotts steering Damper but other than that the bike was in amazing condition.

Eric #33 has a 2013 KTM 500EXC and has 560 hrs on it without touching the motor other than checking the valve clearances (three times) Now Eric does not rev the motor to the moon, he doesn’t need to with all that torque. My point is my bike has never seen the rev limiter and with the new low mid range never will. There’s no need. So I see no reason why the bottom end in my bike won’t last maybe not as long as Eric’s but a long, long time.

This bike is so much fun to ride, it was before but since the 290 kit was installed the fun factor has been raised a lot.

I’ve got all the parts now so it’s time to put it back together and go ride.

Doug 21J