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unclecameron

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Posts posted by unclecameron

  4. Posted

    I used to have an R1100GS and rode it down Diablo Dropoff and up to Ocotillo Wells, and then up through the sand washes to Borrego Springs with KTMRad, the 1150's a much better bike for it, the 1100GS is basically impossible to ride in sand 2-up, trust me. In the end, the diet BMW went on for the 1200 makes it much easier, not bottoming the suspension all the time like the 1100, which made loud crunchy sounds often when dropped off some ledge or something.

    training tip: Never forget to turn off the ABS BEFORE you go down Diablo Dropoff, there's some soiled shorts after I couldn't stop and dropped off about a 6 foot ledge, somehow managing to keep it together and continue.

  6. Posted

    I rode a CRF450X and it seemed a bit, um, well, some bikes you date, some you marry, anyhoo seems like a more long term relationship. Does the 450EXC work on pavement, or is it really twitchy and basically a 100 miles or less bike on flat slab, also is the 525/530 series any better?

  7. Posted

    I have a great setup, I have my wife on her knees...begging me to crawl out from under the bed and "fight like a man" :ph34r:

    Hey, I married an engineer, so the formula is simple: unclecameron leaves and comes back = less irritable, oh, and I give her anything she wants, that might help (though she says I"m a workaholic, so really she poked me to put down this danged laptop and leave)

  8. Posted

    I borrowed my brother's crf450r and went flogging the mud and hillclimbs with a friend who just bought a WR450...definitely different than the piggie I'm used to. I don't like small bikes generally, but they tend to lose fewer parts if you drop them down a canyon, unlike the pig, and they're much easier to flick around. But it seems to me like the crf450r is a bit high strung, are the 450exc/530exc's any more tame or do they have light flywheel and punchy power bands like the crf's? The cool news is you have an "instant power switch" to get over whatever's in front of you, but feathering the clutch and wailing hijinx over big brush piles and steep precipices seems like it gives me a little more confidence than I should have that what I'm doing won't end badly, are the KTM's tamer, or just as edgy? I need to stop hooliganing, I like the idea of Wyle E. Coyote style hop-off's less and less these days, but the crf makes you think you could climb a wall of cactus...or at least try :ph34r: Gravity, what gravity?

    Incidently, my friend who just traded his quad for the WR decided that might have been a bad idea, he spent a lot of time on the ground covered in mud near evil mud ruts, apparently he thought hooliganism on a high strung bike was as easily achieved as, say, sitting on a bench...there might be a cheap WR for sale soon unless I can get him back on it and convince him that the bike won't beat him to death or chase him to his demise somewhere :lol: Either way next time I'll get pictures.

  10. Posted

    Best: This crazy site we homebrewed awhile ago still lives on, and more importantly seems to attract real, genuine people, not really rock star showoffs, but people with Toyota payments and mortgages, who just want to get away for awhile without breaking the bank and focus on the basics of discovering things while they ride, whether it's on a "beater" or "new hotness" doesn't matter, and I think that's cool :unsure:

    Also good to move north (though I still contract in SD, so I go there every couple months, last time to schmooze KTMRad's LC-4 and get it sandy with him :o ) where there's piles of dirt aplenty, an extra room if any of you head up to Southern Oregon to ride.

    Worst: Watching the economic death spiral of a few friends, though my gigs seem to be holding out, really hurts to see the pain it causes decent people who were working their butts off to stay even with the Toyota payments and mortgages, who now are working their butts off to stay "only" a month or 2 late :(

  11. Posted

    I was out trying rather unsuccessfully to get a Jeep to go through 2.5 feet of snow today, I might have time tomorrow to screw with the colors :unsure:

    Your machine should be able to remember your login, that's done with cookies (not chocolate chip) and it seems to be working for a few users, we'll see if your machine "takes" the new cookie and remembers you in the next couple days, let me know if that's otherwise.

    I don't really care if we post larger pictures, it's a function of a board setting, let me know if anyone's still having troubles with that and I'll screw with it.

  12. Posted

    depends on your monitor, it's one of those "every TV in the store looks slightly different on the same channel" things, but yeah, pink isn't as cool as possible.

    I ran for the hills because I can work remotely and pretty much be anywhere, and if I saved the rest of my life I couldn't buy enough land in SD to ride a single wheelie on, but up here land to ride on is a little more available :) Plust I miss the rain, snow and other nastiness that keep nasty people away.

  14. Posted

    I've just figured out this new "wheel" concept and one called "fire" :huh: Oh, also it's a snowy drive from here to downtown :lol:

    Next week, since the flooding up here, I'm going to try to use my friend's ultralight to video and GPS map the flooding damage in the valley where we live (with him flying so I can pay attention), so I actually have to figure out the waypoint feature on my Garmin eTrex HC doo-dad prior to then, which is probably a good thing to know how to do.

  18. Posted

    Hey Chief, can you get me one of those? I have $2.46 in my pocket, would that be enough :) Maybe I'll stick to my .40, I can still afford that, though its only accurate enough to hit a car if you're sitting inside...with the windows shut :D Working on getting my concealed carry permit up here, never could figure out how to do it legally in CA.

  20. Posted

    Occupation: Head idiot. Also I built this site, which is sadly in need of my time for a redesign :) Linux evangelist, and everything that runs on Linux, built software research labs running 100% Linux/BSD, own a bunch of servers, one of them is where this forum lives. Yaddah, Yaddah, Yaddah.

    Riding: still learning how. Obviously not very good at math, usually can be seen riding precipitous areas on a 1200gs, like a super smart guy. This weekend I'll be back in SD (live in Oregon now) and possibly borrowing KTMRad's "small bike" (KTM640) and seeing what life in the sand is like on a big diet from my current pig. I'm guessing it's not 28 degrees there like it is here...on the other hand I can shoot off the back porch and not hit anything (including the target on the tree), and I can walk to riding areas...come to think of it, if the 1200 doesn't make it, I can walk back :lol:

    The area up here is beautiful, but there's no work except growing pot and being on welfare, or retirement and death, so I'm the oddball overworked propellerhead with most all my gigs in SD still, which is where my servers still live. And I have a dog who sneaks out at night and drinks a gallon of speed mixed with sugar...if you meet her, you'll understand. And no, with no opposable thumbs, she can't ride a KTM, though I'm thinking about making a backseat mount for her, the 1200 should be able to handle the weight :lol: Oh, and I'm designing and launching an internet TV station up here to take away the controlled media and give it back to the community...power to the people and stuff, and no, I wasn't smoking local product when I decided to do that :lol: Actually I lead music at church, they frown on bongs as a generalization.

  22. Posted

    no, it didn't make it, yes it took a long time to get through, no, I'm not planning on skiing with the piggie anytime soon. the pisser is around the next corner there was a bigger one, so we had to go back, yeeeeaah, bad decision.

    stuck-r1200gs.jpg

  23. Posted

    you guys are welcome to crash (hopefully not literally) at casa de unclecameron if you're ever near N42°14.9733, W123°32.3154 (selma, Oregon, 30 miles south of Grants Pass on the Redwood highway), the current stable where the uberpig lives. Randy stayed here and loved it...tasty rides around here by the droves, but all this involves getting the time and hall passes :lol: PM me if it's gonna work into your plans.

  24. Posted

    1 UberPig...and about 5 friends to pick it up if you run off the downhill side of a trail :) I've been doing more single track up here in Oregon, but keepin' the helo guy's # handy if I drop it in a canyon. I'm probably the oddball (no comments Kevin) but this thing does most everything I need, and it doesn't break. So it's a little slower than a sport bike on the road, and slower than a DRZ for sure offroad, but it'll get you there, most anywhere, albeit slower, and you can still commute on it and do 1000 mile rides. Now if I could lose weight myself, I'll bet she'd handle better :( Definitely not for everyone, but does what I want to do...though I never see many of them on the trail...could be some sort of indicator. Only dropped it once offroad in about 5 thousand miles offroad, and that was riding snowy sidehill on a switchback which had ice underneath the snow, not sure how I got up that ok, but going down was another story...bike did snow angel doughnuts on the left cylinder until I caught it and stood it up, didn't even die. Did 2-up through Corral Canyon ok. On second thought, after reading my own post, be safe...get something lighter, oh, and don't try to go through a snowbank that's thigh deep, you WON"T make it, though you will make it to the middle, and no further, ask me how I know.

  25. Posted

    the only problem living here (besides it's miles to EVERYWHERE, like need a spark plug - drive an hour) is there's really no place to go to "Get away from it all", we ARE "Away from it all" :lol: Just took missus unclecameron to dinner, and on the way back found a nice single track down to a deserted swimming hole with no one around...try that in Coral Canyon :D

    Nice to have the KTM around to share dirt duties, I think the Piggie was getting lonely, y'all stop by if'n yer' comin' this-a-way, we got an empty spot in the garage and a LOT of nice riding...now back to work.

    P.S. I got some video of Randy throwing himself underneath his bike to save it from getting damaged when it fell with him on it in a rocky section...nudge him and maybe he'll throw up a link :huh:

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