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unclecameron

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Posts posted by unclecameron

  2. Posted

    Been trying to keep the wife from freezing solid as a passenger on cold rides, heard that Widder makes good stuff, anyone have any experience with something they liked? Also, the stuff looks complicated to get all the widgets neccesary (besides jacket and pants) to hook it up to the accessory outlet on the pig. I mean, do I need a switch, thermostat, hardwired, dual plug capable, etc?

  3. Posted

    Yeah, I was thinking about Doc Marten's with a steel toe and high calf too, but I don't think they'd breathe, the BMW ones look like you could ride with them partially opened to get airflow in desert heat, though I'm not sure it really works like that. Also wondering if the Gore-Tex liners do anything except raise the price :lol:

  4. Posted

    Not sure the Icon boots go up high enough, I have serious leg damage from a skiing accident where I almost lost my left leg, so I need a little more protection up the calf...right where I kick those dang cylinders on the pig :lol: I looked at the SIDI Discovery a little bit, not too thrilled with the big white logo on the heel and the weird grey soles, would prefer to wear something more subtle into restaurants. Looking at the BMW Santiago, which was comfy, anyone had any experience with those? Bit pricey, those :lol:

  5. Posted

    Had a strange situation with an intermittent flat front tire, which went like this.

    I was riding back from the dirt track day and my tire went flat after 15 miles of street, then when I looked there was nothing wrong with the tire, and the valve stem wasn't leaking. It was flat enough that the gas station pump wouldn't get it to seat (tubeless pig), so I called the sag wagon and got a ride back home.

    Pumped it up at home and it was fine (after I removed/reinstalled the valve stem to check for debris). Next day rode back up to Ramona, 20+ miles of street, and then all of a sudden it went flat again coming into Ramona, same situation. Found a guy with a compressor, aired it back up and headed home, not wanting to try my luck. The next day and thereafter it's stayed inflated. We wiggled the rubber valve stem all around and it doesn't leak, even bending if over quite a bit.

    Anyone have any idea what could cause that? It's been inflated riding street now for 3 days.

  6. Posted

    Looking for a decent set of dualsport riding boots that have the following:

    1. Breathable

    2. Cover at least mid-calf (the area I kick my cylinders with)

    3. Work on street and mud/sand

    4. Don't look like astronaut gear, in case I want to go somewhere respectable (it could happen)

    5. Flexible so I don't have to walk like a robot

    Anyone had any good experiences?

  9. Posted

    Yeah, I had a lot of fun...just not with the CHP/Caltrans :blink:

    We (Sean from SDBMW and I) drove the shop truck up Friday night to stage out the area, and were stopped by a roadblock by Rincon Casino, so then we turned around and went to Escondido, Ramona, Santa Ysabel and then up past Lake Henshaw where the road was closed AGAIN, we told them we were going to Amago, but got stopped anyway. so we pulled over to the side of the road, figuring it would be open shortly, and took a nap, starting at 1:00a.m., then went back at 3:30 and they said it was still closed, then when we went back around 6a.m. and told them we just wanted to go to Palomar, they said "oh, that's open, it's always been open, how long you been waiting there..." yeeeah. So we took the long way up Palomar and came down the tight side (covered with mud, but passable) then headed south toward Amago, and found that the mudslide was on the north end, and was cleared, and it was a straight clear shot to Amago from the South where we were originally trying to approach from. Big hugs to the highway department :(

    Then we tried to notify the other trucks bringing the bikes up, but intermittent cell coverage had us standing saying a lot of "what, what?" but we eventually got through and got the bikes headed up from the south. Sorry we didn't have internet access to let the rest of you know, I know several of you got turned around from the north.

    For those of you who made it, we had a mud bath divine! Sean took a shovel out and tuned up the tracks, emptied pools and generally made it nicer. I took the pig out on the track first to get a feel for where the mud pits may be, not necessarily a mud scout, that 1200, but it did the trick. Drowned a bit in a couple sections, but never a slouch on power, I just feathered the throttle and tried to stay ahead of the bike, with the skinny end forward...mostly. After 3 laps, totally imersed the pig in mud....niiiice :) Caught some air on the jumps, but not that much, mostly because the front end was highly squirrely on the approach to the jumps, and I was pretty sure I didn't want to herd an R1200GS down out of the air if it got there sideways...Sunday would've been much nicer for this, sans mud pits :)

    Stayed around all day and had a blast with those brave enough to show up, hey, it's an adventure, right ? :) Managed to avoid dropping the pig all day, through a series of close calls. Anyway, decided to ride home Saturday night and get some new DRY clothes for Sunday, and made it all the way to Santa Ysabel gas station, and then...a flat! The front tire, for no good reason, just went flat, it didn't go flat riding all day, only after 15 miles on the street. No holes or anything, just broke the bead and went flat. Truly strange. Called wife unit and she drove the Toyota up and hauled my muddy carcass home, where it indeed was warm, dry and populated by warm wife...nice :P

    Went to air up the tire the next a.m. and it held air fine....hmm, so I took off again and made all the way to Ramona, then it did the same thing again....wow. Rode into town and looked at the tire, nothing wrong with it. Found an air compressor and aired it up, then headed back home, didn't want to press my luck.

    Haven't washed the bike yet, nice reminder of the fun we had on Saturday, glad to see all of you that made it. Next time we'll schedule it when there's no fires OR floods. Next locusts maybe :P

  11. Posted

    uh, yeeeeahh, that situation with the CHP/caltrans was hard to love <_< They were turning people around that came in from the north side, and then if you came around from the south by Lake Henshaw there was a road closed sign :D The good news is if you tell the guy by Lake Henshaw you're going to Amago they'll let you through. Plus today is MUCH sunnier, we has a blast yesterday, but the blast included copious amounts of mud :D Today should be much more pleasant, and the bikes are still there waiting to be ridden, though now they're a little dirty unless Sean cleaned them off last night at the track :D

    Nobody even wrecked and broke anything significant yesterday...that in itself was impressive :)

    I'm trying to fix a flat that happened last night on the way riding home, so that may delay me being up there today (tubeless donchaknow) but I'll try to make it up there later.

  12. Posted

    We're planning to be there all day Saturday into the evening, and we may have some unscathed bikes to ride by then...maybe :) I think at last count we have 6 or 8 of them (new or very close), so should be enough to go around. Anyway, if some of the night owls won't even be awake until noon, still plenty of time :)

    Here's a link in Google maps, Amago track is on the west side of the road, just North of the little tiny store on the La Jolla Indian Reservation...which is nowhere near La Jolla :D

  13. Posted

    I've been to Baja plenty, and have never had trouble...except for the police. The people are great, relaxed, open, friendly and are a joy. The last time I went through Rosarito Beach the cops said I ran a red light that either was impossible to see, or didn't exist. Then they made me come to the Police station and threatened to take my truck if I didn't pay them. I refused, being there enough to know the game, and then let me go. This is the second time I've been threatened by Police because of either minor or non-existent infractions. I was pissed more than anything, because I know this border mentality, and unfortunately you have to get through it to get to the real Mexican people. Even the military checkpoints are armed with wonderful people...it's just the Police, who presumably are ill-paid, but they have to know how much "business" er, tourism they're driving away, which would reduce the likelihood they ever will be well-paid. Ah well, it's just frustrating they give the country a bad name, which I'm sure the locals resent as well :)

  15. Posted

    Actually the 950 tends to do fine in the sand, just lean back a bit to keep the front tire floating a little higher, keep a nice steady pace to keep your momentum and STAY OFF THE FRONT BRAKE, at least in corners...you'll be able to tell why :angry: You use the power to turn the bike, it has all you'll ever need, and then some. If it starts to sink in or stick, feather the clutch in second more than using the throttle, the throttle is too punchy on those bikes, and it quickly gets out of control unless you have amazing throttle control, especially in first, difficult to keep pointed in a straight line :blink: Once you get it though, the 950's do pretty well in sand, the key is to learn the finesse, otherwise the bike will beat you to death with it's weight, and then scare you with power :huh:

    I'm mounting up the knobbies tonight and will be riding the pig at the X-650 demo day this Saturday at Amago, there's some sand on the small track if you want to get your feet wet with bailout options, plus you can see me attempt the doubles on the pig :lol:

  18. Posted

    I did the squeeze and dropoff with a 950 like yours. I think you'd be okay, at least you did okay when we went riding last, just feather the clutch in 2nd gear so you can keep your momentum up without grabbing too much power, and then just ease along and keep your elbows up, you should do okay, stand in the sand more, and let the bike shift. Just take your time and find your line and then ride and don't get intimidated, the bike will be fine. I should have knobbies on the pig soonish, then we can do those sections if you want, the pig likes sand :D

  19. Posted

    I have a 6 foot bed in my Toyota, and I can get my R1200GS in it if I put it diagonally with the tailgate closed, but barely. If I put it straight, it sticks out about 6 inches, so I think if you had anything the same size or smaller (wheelbase) it would fit in a 6.5 foot bed, anyone else had experience? I'm going to upgrade the Toyota to a full size pickup soon, so it would be good to hear from others :D

  21. Posted

    So the fires are under control and/or out, so we're going to try this again:

    I'll just refer you to the earlier post here for the details, basically we're just going to do the same thing, but on this Saturday instead of on a Sunday. The interesting twist is that we are going to get the bikes for the whole weekend so we'll actually be up there somewhat less formally on Sunday as well, but we're targeting Saturday for the food, etc.

    Get ahold of me via PM or on this post to let me know if you're planning on coming, or get ahold of Sean or Joe at SDBMW or the guys at BMW Motorcycles of North County so we can plan food.

    I'll be headed up the night before along with the bikes if anyone wants to camp out Friday night let me know too, you're most welcome :D

  25. Posted

    I have had a Kilimanjaro for 4 years and have given it more abuse than anyone should claim, from VERY freezing to VERY heat stroke, and can't think of a better jacket out there, especially for the money, though I hear the Aerostich's are quite tasty. I fit a 44 oz Big Gulp in the front pocket and drank it through a long straw while crossing the USA, and yet have hammered it offroad as well. Not sure about the "Air" model, looked a little flimsy to me, but that's not really based on any kind of hard data, just like the non-mesh one, personal preference :D

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