street legal 2-strokes

[breakdirt916]

Had a couple days off including Christmas and FIRED HER UP

Took like 10 kicks but she went

But...I...suck



Twerk twerk twerk

Re learning...again. I was way out of sync and could not find the central balance point

[breakdirt916]

well, I didn't change the transmission oil, I never drained/filled the radiator to make sure my water pump works and I'm not cooking coolant, I never checked the compression, never inspected the top end condition, and never checked the reeds

reading through the posts since the rebuild, I'm guessing I have 50-60ish hours on that top end

I think going on a ride will motivate me to get these done this winter...it's 28 degrees overnight in Barstow but looking to make the 3 hour drive to get some ride on.

was prepping my toolkit and found a couple spare plugs...reading up either one will do



left: BR8EG - R means resistor type (decreases electrical interference to radios...safe to run)
right: BR8ES - thicker electrode

the E is the most important part (pitch and thread)...number is the heat range...G vs. S is just the electrode. G is a racing one but may not last as long

filling up gas and gear tonight....leaving super early tomorrow morning. should be 28-30 when I arrive in Barstow, and high of 48

[breakdirt916]

looking back, I think my last desert ride was March!

yeah, yeah...I did a dozen other rides on mountain fire roads, around town, snow/beach (okay, well those were pretty cool ), but only a couple desert rides.



finally got out with the re-valved shock - it feels about the same as before it wore out, except at the limits. Before, even with the compression clickers all the way up, it would bottom out on big bumps and whoops. But now, I can literally just romp on the gas and the bike feels like it will stand up in the whoops sections...I even came into a section way too fast, not anticipating a big drop off, expecting a bottomed out rear spring launch me sideways or off like a bronco, and it tracked straight! both compression and rebound were sufficiently dampened that it didn't bottom out, and it didn't buck me off! this is what it means to improve safety through good suspension...you see it at the limits of its use.

started out covering graded desert service roads...whoops (that were SO fun...this bike saiiiiils through the whoops...I had to control myself from not going WOT the whole time)...and a paved hill climb





cruised down, and almost immediately got into a canyon - more whoops and sandy berms (with whoops mid corner) and bigger rocks, so once again the bike was soo much fun. this thing just floats over loose sand washes, and for whoops in berms, you just stand and get on the gas once you find a line. I started to feel in-sync with the power again and started holding speed much more consistently. gapped most of the guys and we all stopped by a cabin, built in 1932



saw a couple other guys and a group of quad/dirt bikes come through...maybe too many for us. we don't like too much 2-way traffic. one of the guys felt a little off after almost t-boning a kid on a quad, so we split the group and took a casual, scenic route back, stopping in tonka town





on the way back to the truck, we found this area of soft silt/sand hills


^ find my friend in the pic!

we stayed here for a bit, and it was tons of fun! fast elevation changes, and tight riding! we just did loops, jumps, ridge riding, and hill climbs



then cruised back to the truck for some sandwiches and chill...surprisingly 45-48 degrees felt PERFECT. did not feel cold at all after a few hours of good riding. I was so tired I had to actually stop at a gas station and nap for 30 mins to make the rest of the drive home safely.

destroyed all the headlight straps though...headlight was dangling and led bar doesn't work anymore...zip tied it once and it broke again...double zip tied it a 2nd time and it held up. need a better solution for holding that on there...

also tried the new boots...toes are sore and the shift lever is too low. really needed to jam my boot at the right angle to upshift. did not have a spare tube on me and forgot my gps mount

[breakdirt916]

lighting damage report:
-headlight out
-front left turn signal out
-front right turn signal lens destroyed
-rear right turn signal out

from a single ride

oh well....at least mechanically it's good and the tail/brake light works

rode over to a meetup of an "end of the year ride" and got some BBQ in the parking lot





nice day out for a quick ride

[loudbeard]

Glad the riding was nice but I wouldn't feed that "BBQ" to my dog.

[breakdirt916]

google “The Palms”, signal hill, CA

You will learn that is what we would expect from such establishments

[breakdirt916]

well, maybe I was okay with the number of hours on the piston so far...



got some carbon build up on the piston



plug a little blackish...but paul said eff it...tune to throttle response and git r dun



gonna replace the headlight plug...desert just eating everything away as usual



needs an air filter, proper headlight mount, and front LED turn signals...should be able to do that all on Monday...then desert ride next Saturday!

this year goals:
-395/mojave/barstow/NV/AZ: feb/mar/apr
-lucerne valley: may/jun
-jul/aug/sep: pismo, san bernardino national forest
-oct: ocotillo wells, jawbone canyon
-nov: LA-B2V
-dec: back to 395/mojave/barstow

2020: try to join District 37 dual sport rides, try to venture farther north (Kennedy meadows, sierras)

[breakdirt916]

braaaaap

fun day in the desert! temps were in the 30's/40's and windy...if you're standing still or doing 60mph on an open/pavement section, you get cold, otherwise it felt great!





headlight harness re-done...but it still doesn't work at all

front signals may work...but the bullet connectors on the signals themselves are too small...f-it

borrowed a giant loop mojavi - BEST DUAL SPORT BAG EVER! good construction, ties down well, and holds a lot. I stored a gallon of pre-mixed gas in a dromedary bag and carried it through the whoop sections! tried carrying my tools there later and that took so much weight off my backpack. bike averaged roughly 30mpg today, and we did around 85-90 miles, so without the extra gallon I would have cut it close...but this time around I had 2+ gallons to spare at the end of the day in case we got lost or I wanted to ride more. If I wanted to do death valley I could honestly carry a gallon on each side totaling 5.4 gallons - that's over 160 miles of range!

engine sounds like it has worsening piston slap (is that a thing?). still getting used to the wide ratio transmission in the nasty stuff (where the close ratio mx gearing would have been better), and mostly keeping it in one gear and just revving it out. 5th gear overdrive in open sections is as good as I can get (we saw 75-80mph at times) on a 250 2-stroke. bike was leaking a little bit of premix when parked...gotta find out where.

[breakdirt916]

finally got around to making a video and man...

GO PRO QUIK SOFTWARE SUCKS BALLS.



It's not user friendly, you have to dump all your gopro files onto your hard drive, then scroll through the whole clip ("scrubbing") by dragging your mouse over a preview of the clip, "click" on any part you can perceive to be a highlight which automatically adds it to your storyline, it maxes out at 60 seconds/12 clips (and you can't pick how long the clips are), and has a mandatory use of music which are limited to 5 songs under the free edition.

F-THAT

Reddit has the answer to everything and recommends DaVinci Resolve...downloaded that after fighting with Quik for 3 hours...maybe future videos will be faster than Quik