My Nephews

I got them this bouncing Tigger toy for Christmas, and they love jumping and bouncing along with it. Ethan even imitates Tigger's noises!

Still have to adjust the pilot screw, but it's running.

Last night I changed the chain & sprockets, added a tailbag, and bled the rear brake. Next up is the front brake and the oil/filter change and it'll be ready for the romp in East TX this weekend!

The $4 chain plate tool (Mike's?) was PERFECT for pressing the plate on - I highly recommend it! The hardest part of the process was getting the VERY stuck bolts off the back sprocket. I had to get some Liquid Wrench and work on them for a while before they would budge.

I also realized that I'd ordered stock gearing but that's not what I took off the bike. One of the previous owners had it at 14/51, but I put on stock 15/45 - probably better for this DS ride anyway, but I'll have to hold onto the 14/51 combo for trails and such, or look into a 12 or 13 front if I want to avoid adding links to the chain when I change it.

Light Dual Sporting with 'Da Bunny

Carb Follow-Up

Ok, before turning the fuel back on this morning I took the tank back off, drained it, then got a fresh batch of gas. With the idle screw all the way out the bike fired but didn't run. Quarter turn of the choke for each kick and I knew I was getting closer.

When I finally got it running, it was idling pretty quick. Choke off, idle screw down a tad, but I can tell the pilot screw will need more adjusting.

I started getting a LOT of white smoke off the right side of the bike near the (?) exhaust header so after about three minutes of warm up I cut it off. I'll let it sit and then give it another go, hopefully it's just extra cleaner that got down there and needs to get burned off.

Thanks to all for the help and advice! Hopefully I'll be able to keep it running and get the other maintenance done for the DS ride next weekend!

(and yes, I'm kicking myself for it likely being just bad gas but at least I learned about carbs in the process so it wasn't a total loss)

Carbs 101

The XR still won't start/run. With starter fluid and almost all of the energy I could muster I got it started but it would die almost immediately. The longest it ran was about 10 or 12 seconds.

I was a little nervous about doing this kind of work myself, but I pulled the carb based on the service manual guidelines. Clean as a whistle but I went at it with some more carb cleaner anyway. Needle and jets all looked fine. Float had no irregularities and was free-moving.

Since the tank was off the bike, I tested the petcock in both the ON and RESERVE positions and the gas flowed freely. Tomorrow I'll dump it and put fresh gas in, but I doubt that's the problem.

Spark plug is good. Did the "touch it to the side of the motor" trick and got blue spark. Fuel filter is in/behind the petcock so opening the petcock while the tank was off showed no slowing of fuel there.

Air filter is a new-looking K&N that was cleaned and oiled before the last ride and shows no signs of dirt or crud.

Booth, TX

I had a great time meeting and mingling with folks down in Booth, TX for Ara & Spirit‘s visit. The food was excellent, the company outstanding, and the weather held up its end of the bargain. Thanks a million to Carl and Colette for hosting and to Ara for setting up the spread.

Saturday Ride 1/5/08

433 miles door-to-door for a Saturday jaunt from Huntsville to Colmesneil for lunch.

Some cumulative pictures from Deb and myself:

Lunch at the Texas Star Cafe in Colmesneil:

After lunch, the ladies decided that despite looming clouds and threatening skies, we'd head east in search of more twisty bits to enjoy.

As we neared 190, the rain started and we pulled over to complete the waterproofing, or as much as we could. Other than our gloves, we were sealed and ready.

After completing a wet and wild ride through 777 and 1414, we stopped in Burkeville to regroup and decide the best way home. We were soggy, to say the least. Crinkled fingertips and purple hands were discovered.

It was a great day with friends despite the weather. It was certainly a long day in the saddle, and the straight and boring highway miles sure feel like they take twice as long to traverse as they do in real-time.

My 2007 Year In Review

Year End Pie Run

College Station, TX

Two Wheeled Texans Have Been EVERYWHERE!

This was the TWT 2007 project, and has been widely viewed and praised. I hate to say that my participation was minimal, but hopefully I'll do better next year!

The 'Rents

Wandered to Taylor the not-so-direct way to meet a bunch of multi-forum folks for BBQ at Meuller's. I had a route planned, but I broke away from it more than I followed it. I tried to add some dirt here and there, but generally just picked roads that looked like they were off the beaten path. Riding alone, I just did what I wanted as it happened.

These pre-steaks blocked the roadway and then started lazily walking down the road. Every attempt to rev the engine and honk the horn only caused more confusion, not the "startled and running away" effect I was going for. It took almost ten minutes for me to get enough space to get past them.

Something about two paths in the woods comes to mind. I went right.

And it brought me here (eventually)

(Click on the pictures to see a larger version)

I followed Graeme back to Houston, but about 80 miles into the ride I realized we were only twenty or so miles from where we started. I hadn't even noticed we'd made a big loop!

The weather couldn't have been nicer!

This beastly machine was nice enough to move over a smidge so we could get by in one piece.

We stopped for a long break to talk and rest as the sun was starting to set, then headed back for home.