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danrider

Poncho & Lefty Have a Plan

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Diego and I have been tossing around South America for sometime and we cut our teeth on rides in between but both of us are long for big adventures.  When I mention big adventures that means more than 10,000 miles and a places where only hand full a year will make the time to do, or have wives that will let them be gone for more than a month at a time.  We are lucky because both of our wives let us follow are dreams while praying for us daily and attending church on Sunday for our safe return.  Believe me I know because my wife when I got airlifted out from my last ride with broken ribs was not happy but still lets me ride today. 

I have always mentioned in my retirement seminars that if your are not doing what you always wanted to do while you are working you most likely will not be doing it during your retirement.  What I mean by this is If whatever your hobby is while you are working will carry into retirement but at a grander scale.  That said....  I met Diego  along with his wife at one of our favorite conference center AK TOM CATS BAR & GRILL.  It was nice to see Diego and his wife and knowing Diego is doing well after his surgery.  

We talked a lot about bikes and trips and we came to the conclusion that we both are nearing retirement and we want to do a grand trip.  That trip is South America to the tip of Argentina.  We have two years to plan for this trip and make a pre-run on a smaller trip.  Copper Canyon over to Mazatlan then ferry boat over to LaPaz then back to San Diego. That will be the warmup for the big trip.  Doing these rides get me excited because it makes me stay in shape and stay young.  This is one of the reasons I have coached High School Football over the years because being around young kids helps keep me young at heart.  I have always been asked by the parents of the kids I coach, why!  And my answer is ......When you age and cannot compete as you once did , it is a great benefit of being a coach when you can coach the kids who can and watch them soar.   Which make me say this.... I plan on staying in shape so I can do these rides above because I cannot watch someone compete for me on motorcycle it is something I must do all by myself with the  experience that comes with this adventure, then share these memories before I go to my resting place.  

As time draws closer to the rides above... we both will be sharing our plans on the rides  and the bikes we are choosing to do the ride for our trip.  Diego has been talking about another kind of bike which I am going to try.  I made him sell his KLR when we did Alaska so he could keep up with me on the ride.  I am considering another kind of bike for this ride instead of my GSA 800, so I can go as slow as Diego.  HaHaHa.   Look for more to come!!!!

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I am looking forward in the planning of this trip and I could not be going with a better person to do this ride than Diego. This time we do not have to be back at a certain date because of work.  Who knows we might run into KTMRad and Doc on our travels down to South America!

Wierdrider would you like to do a camp ride to Picacho State Park?

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Man, I'm just getting excited to hear what bike set up you guys are talking about....

BTW, I'll be retired by then too.... ;-)

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And I will be retiring next year as well.

Sounds fun.  I enjoy solo travels, but having a good wingman is a solid plan. 

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This ride has been on my mind for some time; I'll soon be in a prime position to make it happen.

In preparation, I've pored over ADV RRs, read books on it (just finished Odyssey to Ushuaia) and met up with those who've actually done it (thanks to our very own Fargoin!). 

Here's my very, very rough plan for the Ultimate Road Trip: Riding to Ushuaia: http://ineverfinishanyth.blogspot.com/2016/10/the-ultimate-road-trip-riding-to-ushuaia.html

It's constantly being amended and improved so I'm interested in your thoughts.

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Hopefully I'll see u guys in South America in a few years !

Awesome that you're planning this.

Live your dreams !

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9 hours ago, KTMrad said:

Hopefully I'll see u guys in South America in a few years !

Awesome that you're planning this.

Live your dreams !

I think you told me that you will start your travels south next year sometime,  it would be cool to hookup with you..  I will be following you.

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"Wierdrider would you like to do a camp ride to Picacho State Park?"

Would it be feasible on my 525? If so, then yes please. ?

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58 minutes ago, Wierdrider said:

"Wierdrider would you like to do a camp ride to Picacho State Park?"

Would it be feasible on my 525? If so, then yes please. ?

Sure!  we will just have to go the back way to it, so we will not have to get on I-8

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Sounds like an awesome trip.  I have been dreaming of a South American adventure myself.  I will be keeping a close eye on this thread.

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We will be talking about this ride on our ride/camp this weekend.  I am of sound mind when I say I want to do this ride very badly!

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Well I did it!  I found the bike I am going to take to South America! I bought and picked it up this weekend in La Vegas.  Diego has told me over the years that the KLR is a very dependable bike and easy to fix anywhere with pliers and a screwdriver.  Since our trip will take us over 25,000 miles on the Pan American Highway all the way down to Ushuala, Tierra Del Fuego, I better have something that I can fix on my own.  I am sure over this year I will get to know all about Eagle Mike's store, Doohickey, and other stuff he sells for this bike.  I found this bike an jumped on it, the bike came with a lot of goodies already for a good price. The bike has low miles and in excellent shape. I plan on going over this bike in the next several months and preparing it for our trip with some important mods that are not that expensive to do.  The one expensive mod for the bike will be the rear suspension,  around 4 to 5 hundred for that improvement.  I really think that I can get this bike in top shape for around a 1k for my trip.  One thing that is nice we both will have Generation One KLR's for our trip so we will not have to duplicate what we are taking for the bike because we can swap out stuff.  We are in the early process now of planning our four to Five month trip to South America.  I am sure Diego and I will keep all of you posted as we go along and get ready for this adventure. 

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Congrats! I saw a gaggle of KLR's in Zion on Friday - from Oklahoma. Great group. The reliability and ease of maintenance - good choice.

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Very cool of you to say that.  We were talking about you this weekend, mainly about the mighty, mighty DR650. 

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DR 650 is my choise. And I will be watching this now. See you on tuesday?

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If that's for me - nope. Getting 3000 miles of windshield therapy.  As for D&D, dunno. :)

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3 hours ago, Mr.JAJA said:

DR 650 is my choise. And I will be watching this now. See you on tuesday?

Welcome back JAJA, cannot wait to talk with you Tuesday!

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IMG_1204.movWell I have been working on this thing they call the KLR,  what other bike in the world has aftermarket parts made for it called the Doohickey  and a ThermoBob.  I am really starting to believe that this is some sort of a Redneck a-cult adventure bike.  I have not come up with a name for it but when I do I will share it with all.  I have been doing the mods that I think will be best suited for our trip.  I have striped the old brake lines for braided ones and put on a bigger rotor up front, new chain and sprockets, and the latest mod was a big one I installed the 685 kit from Eagle Mike's which really smooths out the bike big time.  Mike told me that the bike was originally a 600 and Kawasaki never rebalance the motor when they increased the CC to a 650.  His piston in his kit is a 100 grams lighter than the factory one which in turn balances the motor out.  I started this past Friday with the teardown and got my head an cylinder back this morning.  I started to resemble the bike this morning and finished around 2 in the afternoon.  This improvement I could tell instantly ( kinda like when you put new suspension on a bike)  took it for a small ride with all smiles.  Next comes my suspension. 

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Cool stuff interesting about the piston big bore thingy

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8 hours ago, danrider said:

Well I have been working on this thing they call the KLR. I started to resemble the bike this morning... 

That's about how it happens, right there!

I blame AFry and BikeSlut and the other SDAR folks who had KLRs before us. I know quite a few of you did.

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I would like to thank JAJA who wired my lights up and also cleaned up all of my wiring on my KLR.  He set me up with a new fuse box, soldered all connections, put a switch on so I can shut down all axillary power, lights , and insulated all the wires.  Thank you JAJA.  I have never been much of a wire guy and you did a great job

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