darylhunter

I'm a maybe. Probably 70% chance at this point, but hope to make it.

Hope you all have fun. Just got back from there last night. Did Pinyon Mt. again in the jeep including squeeze, drop-off, and all that. Was camped at the Arroyo Salado campground and also got the Husky out and buzzed around some of the trails up there. Gave my daughter a ride out to 17 Palms and for the first time actually walked out to the Palms. Turns out they have a prospectors mail box out there where people leave notes and water. My daughter had a fun time writing a note.

Once you get the hang of drifting through the corners, it's really a lot of fun. You can start out doing it fairly slow, and work your way up to doing those nice 5/6 gear power slides. A little harder to do on the trials bike where there's no seat, but the same principal applies, gas it when the front end starts to slip I've saved many a front end tuck that way. In fact, that's why I bought my '00 DRZ. Got it so I could get back in the hang of dealing with the front end getting loose to help out with my road racing. Was plenty comfortable stearing with the rear tire but having the front end slip give me the willies. Won't say I'm completely cured, but picking up the throttle seems more second nature now.

Many of you may know Tom Starbuck. He rides a KLR-650 and has been a regular at Palomar mountain on Sundays for 15 years or more. He also does quite a bit of trail riding and camping with his KLR. Today he was struck from behind while stopped to make a left hand turn into the neighborhood where he lives in San Marcos. He has a broken femur near the hip and will be having surgery tomorrow at Palomar hospital to have a rod placed into his bone. The lady who struck him, apparently looked down to pick up her glasses, or take them off, or whatever, and drove right into him. He was knocked about 25 feet and his bike for 10s of feet beyond that. I'm going to try to visit tomorrow and will be doing some errands for him Saturday. Anyway, just wanted to put it out there for those of you who know him.

Just got off the phone with Tom. He had surgery last night, not today. They put a rod in his femur and already have him up doing physical therapy. He'll be in there for another 3 days or so. Has a 4-leg walker and is doing 50% weight bearing now and for the next 3 to 6 weeks, then up to 90% weight bearing. Sounds pretty chipper for having been through all that . .

Sweet!!!

I used their system to send a response letter to Fienstein and Boxer with my own polite comments urging them to support responsible off-road use.

Are .zip files directly supported? I know it's an extra step, but if they are then it's simple for most folks to zip the GPX file before uploading.

OSET makes electric trials bikes for kids. They reportedly are very good.

I've seen the new units at REI. They are considerably smaller than the original version. I'd sure like to upgrade at some point, just to save room in the pack if nothing else.

We should be getting to the staging point for Pinyon Mt. Rd around 9 to 9:15 tomorrow morning if all goes well. Here's a shared SPOT page for those interested in following our progress: Shared SPOT page If anyone is interested in riding Pinyon Mt and doing the Squeeze and HA Hill, etc, there'll be a bunch of us out there :-)

Hoping to get down there to watch and maybe ride around a bit, but won't enter this time. Riding in the event was fun, but I didn't get to see much of the expert and master class riders because we were separated by a few sections as we rode around doing the sportsman lines.

I have a Jeep with winch, so keep me in mind if the need ever arises.

Per my email to Chris earlier, I do a number of part and full throttle runs (without lugging the engine) and then let the bike or car decellerate back down to idle speed each time. I increase the upper end of the rpms over time and figure the bike's broken in after the first 200 miles or so. The notable exception was my trials bike. Put the bike together out of the crate and when I started it the first time, it went straight to max revvs even through I had the throttle closed. I was pushing the kill button but it had no effect, shut off the fuel and pulled the plug wire and the bike died. Probably ran that way for about 10 to 15 seconds. Turns out there were two issues, one, the throttle cable wasn't seated all the way in the top of the carb and even though the throttle on the grip was closed, the carb was sitting at 1/3 to 1/2 throttle. The kill switch they'd supplied was only a single wire version and wasn't grounding through the painted handle bar. I was worried for a while that I'd hurt the motor, but the thing seems to run just fine. I have since heard about 2-stroke bikes dieseling and continuing to run wide open even with the kill switch pressed or plug wire removed. The remedy is to press your hand over the tailpipe to block the exhaust gas. This apparently kills the motor - hopefully before it granades. I hope never to find out . . .

There's a guy called Frostbite over on TT that rides a GG trials bike, but also has a WR-450. He lives up above the artic circle and the only way in is to fly. Here's a like the a thread that describes how he got his 450 up there and a video - some assembly required. Check out the thread and so of the other posts by or about Frostbite, he's truely an amazing example of a dedicated and enterprising rider. http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/showthrea...ite+wr+assembly

I'd like to be there but other family plans will have my occupied. Had fun last weekend though and look forward to getting back out there again.

I read the forum from a couple different computers and on both of them I've noticed that I frequently need to re-enter my login info. This is the only website where that seems to happen so often. Is is just me, or is it something others have noticed too?

Thanks, will do

I do travel a for work, so the IP address will definitely change then. Time Warner seems to change my assigned IP address on a regular basis as well. Plus I access the site using my laptop at work and from home. That said, the site doesn't seem to ask me to login each and every time I show up from a different IP address on the same computer. Maybe it's just when I show up from a new IP address on any one of my computers. I wouldn't say it's really super annoying, more like paper cut annoying . . .

String theory . . .

That would be helpful. I even have a conforming VIN plate that the importer supplied and a MSO with both the non conforming and conforming VINs on it that shows I'm not trying to pull a fast one. But they (CHP) wouldn't let me mount the VIN plate. The non-confirming VIN is in the system but not the conforming VIN. I figured I could probably go ahead and mount the new VIN plate and try to run it through using the conforming VIN now that a couple years have passed. But since I've just been riding in areas where I haven't had to worrry about it I haven't pursued it. I did get the hall pass, though I have to be in Ramona sometime after lunch. So I'll be down there tomorrow - assuming I don't get lost.

A sticker is all you need. Its red sticker season too so bring it on. I'm planning to bring my trials bike. There are lots of places to play on the little trials machines. I'll be at Bobcat CG by 9:30 or so. Lets try and get the spots at the back like last week. How about no sticker :-) Due to the screwed up VIN they use on the GG bikes I haven't been able to get the thing registered in CA. Hopefully no one will be there busting chops for it. If I can get a hall pass I'll be down there at 9:30 (if I can figure out where Bobcat CG is)

I forgot, is this a plated or stickered area. I might bring my trials bike down there and mess around if I don't need a plate.

I knew a girl one time that had the tops come loose due to gravity. But other than being a bit embarrassed, no real harm was done. She did a much better job of tying things down after that

Yeah, that makes sense. Figure that the climbing ones need to be able to withstand the force of say 220 lbs falling 10s of feet and coming to a sudden stop, versus holding something like what, maybe 200 lbs in static tension plus a jolt here and there when the truck hits a bump. The climbing ones probably cost a fair penny more too - though maybe not 10 times more. I use a simple form of a quick release loop to tie down the loose ends. Better than just using a half hitch or other knot that you have to fiddle with to undo - especially if the tiedown straps got wet. Just a tug and you're on your way.