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jbw

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About jbw

  • Birthday 01/08/1987

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    SF Bay Area
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    Male
  1. jbw

    Pine Valley Bear Valley Rd

    Any idea about the condition of corral for the bikes? And is corral actually open just pine valley closed?
  2. Kennedy meadows was a great time! Found some out of the way single track (Sierreta) that was quite a fun. Kennedy meadows is one of the places you can head out on one singletrack trail and do multiple mountain passes on awesome technical singletrack.
  3. Exept the piutes look like they might be rather hot this weekend. The listed headcount over at TT looks to be around 15. Even double that should not pose any issue.
  4. Just putting in a good word about Spaugh's work. I have done a good deal of riding with Spaugh and back when I was in SD going to school at UCSD with no garage space would often be over the day before for bike work. Sometimes just as guide and for the more complicated showing me how things were done. This included most all the common maintenance items on a range of bikes including KTM 300, KTM 400 and KTM 200: Forks, shocks, jetting, top ends, adjustments, and fixing many common trouble spots. He knows about the KTM's quite well, their common weak spots and what needs to be done to make them better. Highly recommended.
  5. jbw

    DRZ400s Starting Issue

    It is almost certainly is just the pilot. The DRZs have something like a 22.5 pilot that clogs super easily. Check to see if you still have an extra to put in cleaning them is hard (but not impossible)
  6. jbw

    DRZ400s Starting Issue

    Another vote for hydrolocked. The symptoms seem to match best I can tell: It is only clicking once which is normal, that is the relay connection being made that powers the starter happens for all the bikes when you power the relay. The starter turning the first time and the battery remaining at 12.9 for this means it is likely not the battery (you also likely would hear a series of clicks for a bad battery as the voltage oscillates). If you test the voltage at the starter you likely will see it lower, you will lose voltage from the slight resistance from the battery to the starter as current will be pulled from a stalled starter this depends on how much the stalled starter pulls but a motor pulls most current when stalled (If you do see quite lower voltage at the starter then you may need to start looking for the voltage drop in the wiring between the battery and starter). The starter not turning the next time is because the system has taken all the free space up and no longer can turn anymore. Just as a test take out the dipstick and smell the oil that is in the frame, bet is smells like gas. Regardless of that test, take out the spark plug and make sure to disconnect the spark plug from the cap and turn it over by putting it in gear and rolling the bike. Do this slowly and with eye protection. Do not use the starter for this. If it is hydrolocked, then it likely is gas (the DRZ does not have an overflow on the Mikuni carb) and you do not want any electrical charged if you pump out the gas especially a spark plug right next to the hole. This can happen on bikes like this one with a manual petcock (it is a WR petcock that actually was found to work by TNTMO for the DRZs) if it is left on and the carb needle/seat/oring is going bad (common occurance) and lets gas leak into the cylinder. If it is hydrolocked you will need to drain the oil a few times to clear the gas out. It likely is fine after the oil changes. You will also want to pull out the carb and inspect the needle/seat/oring, it likely is just the oring getting hard and letting some gas pass by probably not even something that is critical for the trip but just remeber to turn of the petcock. Note: do not try to bump start it until you verify that it is not hydrolocked. Doing so while hydrolocked is not going to work and possibly be bad for the internals of the motor. I think the rear wheel would just skid.
  7. This was a great ride, a few more pics to add: You must navigate multiple mountain passes, both the passes in the distance are part of the trail. You can see the trail clearly only on the first. Jon making it up a space confined step up. Brad heading up from a small stream. The good thing about this trail is there are multiple options for refilling water, a water filter is a must for this ride. Brad making it up yet another rock field. The trails nearing the end of the rincon are rarely used and are often some pretty small ledges. Jon heading up a part of the "Hill of Doom" on the way back from the river.
  8. As bikeslut mentioned Brad and I went up the Rincon trail on day 2 of the trip. This trail is considered one of the more technical, it really does not present any single obstacle that cannot be passed without help but a relentless array of difficult rock gardens, rock step ups, hillclimbs, log crossings and off camber hill sections. It starts at the Kern river and heads up and over multiple mountain ranges and then back to an upriver portion of the Kern. A truly epic ride. Getting to the trail was a bit troublesome as there were a host of fireroads packed tightly right near the entrance, We knew the general direction and we managed to pick the right combination the first time and ended up at the trailhead. Initially you start out near some smaller tributaries with a whole lot of rocks. A decent set of the rocks are not very "clean" and they require some footwork. The first risky obstacle is just past Salmon creek there is a boulder that sticks out and an off camber climb. This is not particularly difficult but the risk factor is fairly high. Another obstacle of note is the start of a grueling hillclmib climb, up what is an incredibly steep hill, the run-up is only about 15 feet and as with many pictures it is much steeper than it appears. Yet another rock field. Rock step up. Stream crossing + limbo Continue on the way up Trail continues past many mountain passes (you can see it going up the mountain in the distance). It was getting late (started this trek too late) and gas was looking to have been used faster than usual and we were way out in the wilderness, it seemed a good idea to turn around even with only 1-2 miles left to reach the Kern. Heading back A slightly off camber section with a narrow trail to test the nerves on the way back. A seemigly simple tree to make turns out to be much harder when at such a great angle. Took three tries to make it over. I had a great time, I would even consider going back starting earlier and carrying some extra gas to make it all the way with some extra confidence. On the way back we were even getting low on gas and just hit reserve before rolling up to the truck. According to the map we had gone about 35 miles of pure singletrack which means our bikes got gas mileage much below normal as reserve is usually hit at over 50 miles. The whole trip was amazing, the variety of trails within the forest and the trek out was quite an experience.
  9. jbw

    Dirt Mulholland

    Unfortunately not much dirt is available in the area. Most of dirt Mulholland is behind a locked gate and is a state park fire road (it was open many years ago). There are a few miles that head up from the valley until the gate that is dirt and legal but hardly a destination to go out of your way for, it then turns off into a private paved road into Topanga Canyon the private road has been used for decades but never have gotten any seconds looks when passing through (I did know someone who lived there). What the area does have is twisties, great riding back when I lived there or visited the family and had a Sumo'ed DRZ.
  10. I am in for this ride also but coming down from the Bay Area, so unfortunately no carpooling. As for the Rincon that trail is a whole lot of fun and one I would like to do.
  11. That would be me. Wish I had an OHV with technical trails like corral as close to the Bay area.
  12. The two others were sdlineman and myself. Team sleepy did trail one to ranger at the end met with the early riders did the jeep trail, 911(d?), then back on ranger. After some rest at camp, I set out alone and went up 3a to 3 to the top of bronco peak and back to camp.
  13. jbw

    New Tool

    Hey josh how you doing :bye:/> Doing well, up in the Bay Area now after the transition from school to work. Riding opportunities in the immediate area are a little less diverse but still decent, but at around 3 or so hours away you can get into some really nice singletrack. Oh, and really good mountain biking, even in the heat of the summer it stays fairly cool in the Redwood forests.
  14. jbw

    New Tool

    Well I am super excited, going to head down to SD this weekend for bike pickup and some riding of the sweet technical Corral singletrack and jeep track!
  15. All 200's on this trip. Brad, Briana, Alan, myself. Temps are just about perfect, 60-75 degrees f.
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