CableJockey

Made my reservation for March 6 thru 9 just to hold a spot down.

Bum, You're on. I plan to arrive late Thursday and leave 1-2pm on Sunday. John

GF, The mines I was looking at are outside Tecopa. That is ONLY 124 miles away just outside the southeast corner of the park. That ain't gonna happen. According to Mapsource there are a lot of mines in the mountains around Panamint Springs. I'll do some more research. Mines by Panamint Springs.pdf Have you set the date? John

Death Valley is a must do ride. There is so much to see. I have tracks from what I rode in 2012. Someone must have a the tracks from previous rides. Personally I want to check out more of the mines. The best area for mines is in the southeast corner of the park but there is plenty scattered throughout the park in general. I'll put together a map and post it this weekend. I'm looking forward to this.

For those going up 395, stop at Fossil Falls (exit Cinder Road). Not your typical SoCal potholes. My link

Either March date works for me. With any luck we won't have the 2012 winds.

Will do!

The smile of a little girl. Our local High School collects clothes for the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation in Cibecue, Az. I towed 8,000 lbs of clothes out to the reservation where we unloaded. This little girl was so excited with a gaudy jacket 2 sizes too large it just made me smile. It made the 25 hours of driving worthwhile. Going for my third trip in April or May with (hopefully) donated laptops and bicycles.

AltRider is selling the old model Giant Loop Great Basin Bag for $310. This is the 50 liter bag vs the new model that is 60 liters. Comes with the internal bags and the new model does not. I bought one. I'm not affiliated with the company blah blah blah. http://www.altrider.com/product/detail/pid/37

Where would we be without people like these. They give up so much to do the job they most likely love. Why else would they do it? The great pay (not likely). On the good days they work like dogs to save us even when we didn't cut those bushes away from the house. I'm sure they knew we appreciated what they do but when something like this happens it makes you wonder, what have I done for them lately. I'm going to ponder that for awhile.

I put the tire pressure up to 22 f&R and got the KLR on the freeway this morning with MT43's. Not perfect, still doesn't like the first mile of heavily grooved pavement. After that it was smooth sailing at 80.

I mounted a new front tire on my KLR. Time to balance! Pulled out the Harbor Freight wheel weights. Shoot, too wide for the rim. It's 9pm, what do I have around here I can use for wheel weights? Hmmmm, think I found it ......

Those were Hornady XTP .44 240 gr, considerably less now. After all the fun of putting it together last night with the intent of doing a freeway run this morning, it was moving at 35 tops when I got there. I'll try again tomorrow. If it's good, I'll never know if it was the tire change or balancing or both that fixed the problem. I will continue to balance the KLR tires because I think it will make a difference on the highway. Just my opinion

Dirt Dame, I was anxious to get it balanced and on the road for a test ride this morning with the new tire because I have a wobble (is that the same as head shake?) that I would like to cure. I just opened the loading bench to look at what was available and I had a partial box of these. Besides, I need a good laugh every day.

Wild boar hunting is a blast (for me, not the pig). I'm all in. This would make an interesting bikepacking adventure with great stories around the campfire. DFG teaches classes on how to gut and skin wild boar (or at least they did before the budget cuts).

Goofy, If it is the clutch (unlikely), the engine oil will have a similar smell. If the oil smells ok I would run it around the block until I got the smell. Stop, put down the kickstand and tip the bike to take the load off of each wheel and see if one is binding. If everything is smooth then it points to the transmission (since the engine seems to be running ok and you didn't mention any new noises). I didn't look at the composition of the oils you are using but wet clutches should not be run in oil with friction modifiers (graphite, etc) because it can load up in the clutch plates. However, that should make your clutch slip which doesn't seem to be the problem. However unlikely you might look behind the front sprocket to see if you have something wrapped around the countershaft that is rubbing against the case. I guess the same could be true for the front or rear axles (again unlikely). Hope it is something simple. John

I would buy the MotoZ in a heartbeat if they made it in 130/80-17. I'm going to try the MEFO Explorer and we'll see what happens. I will probably buy a TKC80 as well.

I bought an 09 KLR650 to do longer and more street oriented rides that the DRZ just doesn't do well. It has street tires on it and I'm looking for "the right" 50/50 tires to put on it. I ordered a Pirelli XCMH for the front but I don't know which way to go for the rear. I would buy the MotoZ but they don't make a 130/80-17. It looks like my choices are Michelin T63, Kenda 784, Shinko 700, Metzeler Enduro 3, and Metzeler MCE Karoo. Most important is off-road performance to help make up for my lack of skill. It needs to be DOT approved and last 1500 or more miles with decent tread (a long ride without changing tires). I would prefer that they are not noisy and have decent traction on the road and in the rain. I'm more concerned with performance than price. Any advice? John

Thanks for the input. Still haven't decided what to buy but I'll order something by the weekend and give it a try. I suspect I can't really go wrong with any of them.

So true, the more searching I do the more options I have. If I search long enough I will have infinite solutions and no chance of a decision. Thinkin' about Mefo's at the moment. Great thread: The Great DualSport Tire Shootout!

I had 606's on my DRZ when I bought it some years ago. If I remember right, I didn't like the way it broke loose when braking on pavement. Reading some of the old threads on this site, I know that the skilled riders on the big bikes like the TKC80's but with that big block tread pattern I worry about traction on dirt roads in wet weather. I'm going to do a little more research on the 650 forums and pick a tire or two and try them out. Thanks for all the advice, fun times ahead. And the exhaust is not as loud as I expected.

I'm not going to use the bunkhouse I reserved for the Desert Dash. I thought I would offer it up to SDAR members rather than just cancelling my reservation. It cost me 64.80 with fees and I will lose $10 by cancelling so $55 takes it. I will cancel on Friday if there are no takers. Description Status Check-in Check-out Price Rustic Lodging , Bunk Bed , No Hookups Reserved 02/22/2013 3:00PM 02/24/2013 11:00AM $60.00 John

Randy, I'm still nursing a sore back so my riding will be minimal to none. I can help with check-in, lunch, etc. I can be there 2-3 on Friday but want to leave around noon on Sunday since I have to drive back to LA. If you can use me, size XL. John

It was a great ride and many thanks to Bikeslut for dragging my sorry a$$ along. I will post some video when I have time to do some editing. I caught two of my dirt naps.

Edited again. We'll do this another day. Feel free to use the attached route. Pipe fixed, didn't have to remove the tree. I'm ridin' tomorrow. Just walked outside to leave and found a geyser alongside the house. Guess I ain't riding, it looks like I have to remove a tree to get to the pipe. Oak Grove to Anza toToro Peak Ride gdb.txt Anyone interested in a ride from Oak Grove Campground (Hwy 79 between Aguanga and Warner Springs) to Anza then on to Toro Peak. From the peak you can see Mecca and the north end of the Salton Sea. It’s 95 miles round trip and is should be doable by Noobs that have some experience with sand and mountain dirt roads that aren’t well maintained (but not completely rutted out). Expect to see some mildly steep uphill and downhill sections. With the caveat that I have never ridden a “big bike”, I would think this ride is big bike friendly. The plan is to meet at Oak Grove Campground. I’m going to pay the $8 day (I think) use fee to grab a campsite but I think there is free parking across the street at the Oak Grove Ranger Station. Leave at 9am and the ride should take 5 – 6 hours to complete. We’ll stop in Anza for water, snacks, and gas on the way out. We ride to Toro Peak, enjoy the views, and then back to Anza for lunch. The last leg is back the same way we came. You can bail out, or bail in, at Anza by taking 371 to 79 and back to Oak Grove. I don't know what the weather is like at the top of the mountain. Cold, wet, snow, who knows, we will turn around if it gets too bad. It's 95 miles round trip. I'll be in the silver Excursion with the champagne cargo trailer. Noobs are encouraged to ride. The Oak Grove to Anza section was my first real ride in dirt. John The file is a gdb file, delete the txt extension and make it a .gdb.