A Mighty Fine Dual Sport Ride 12/28/08

[dirt dame 561]

Haven't been out trail riding much lately. Spent more time track riding and I needed to get some plain old trail dirt and maybe some pavement, under my knobbies. What could be better than a nice day of dual sporting on my freshly serviced TE450 with a couple of my favorite riding buddies? Well, nothing actually (except a suitcase stuffed with nice crisp 100 dollar bills, maybe....).

So as usual Jeff and I made up a plan late yesterday evening, and our plan was to go to the desert and wander about somewhat aimlessly just enjoying the somewhat damp sand, fresh air and sunshine. This morning I gave Christi20 a call to see if she was up for a little meandering in the dez and she decided to join us. We met in front of the pay campground on Yaqui Pass road around 10:30, geared up and headed out to Grapevine road on Yaqui Wells road. From there it was up Jasper trail to Montezuma Valley road (wheee, fun twisties) and down to Borrego Springs for a snack stop. We went out and visited Coyote Canyon, but opted out on the water crossing, as the day was pretty crisp, especially when we were riding the pavement. Wet clothes would have been a little too crisp for my taste anyway.

We had gotten a late start and were thinking about going on out to Fonts Point, but after stopping to visit the critter sculptures it was 2:00 (there are all kinds of critters; elephants, turtles, camels, dinosaurs,and on another stretch of highway, we found big birds and horses cavorting around) and I wanted to get back to the trucks by three so I could get home early enough to get some chores and dinner done. We decided to go back on a nice jeep trail that would take us across the desert and dump us out on 79 about 4 or 5 miles from the truck. I led the way across the rock strewn hills amongst the cactus. There weren't a lot of big rocks on the trail, but a multitude of small rocks covered many portions of the road. I blasted over them, blissfully unaffected by their presence. It was close to 3:00 when we reached the highway and I could smell the faint fragrance of....coolant at the roads edge.

We cruised up the road to our trucks and dismounted. Christi looked at my feet and said "You have oil all over your boot!" I looked down at my left foot and then looked at the Husqvarna, but there was no oil on the motor anywhere. We both walked over and stared. There was a few little drips of something under the front of the motor on the pavement. Christi pointed out coolant pooled on a ridge at the bottom of the left radiator. I started the bike while Jeff removed the deflector fins, and when I revved the engine, a fine jet of green shot out of the front of the radiator right near one of the frame mounts. I hadn't crashed the bike, bumped into anything....the only thing I can think of, is that one of those little rocks came up off my front tire on that last trail, and bounced perfectly into the deflector shroud and hit the radiator. It was almost an impossible hit, but somehow it happened. So now I gotta get my radiator fixed.$$$$$

Here on some pix of our otherwise fine day of squirreling around out in the cool air and sunshine.

Christi20 on Jasper trail.

Yours truly, in a rare shot of me actually wearing armor on a trail ride.

Our cast of trail machines.

A view of the Salton Sea in the distance. Well you can almost see it in the photo.

Christi20 is a big rock fan, too.

Coming into Borrego Springs off of Montezuma Valley road. I love that road.

At the park in Borrego Springs.

Coming back from the little "adventure riders" room.

Bleh....deep cold water.

And rocky, too.

Mugging with the tin critters.

Halp, I iz bein' attacked by elefink sculpture!

Stupid radiator leaking for the camera.

So thanks to my fine riding partners, Jeff and Christi for joining me for an almost perfect day of laid back adventures. I hope I can find a cheap radiator repair place soon, so I can get the machine back into commission as quickly-like-a-bunny as possible.

[roostingu 0]

right at 70miles, kool, sunshine, 2chicks, nice ride!

[TrophyHunter 15]

Great ride! Chest protector....good choice.

[DigDug 0]

Looks like a good ride... One of these days I'm going to run away from home so I can go play with you kids too!!!

As for your radiator - Mickey TOASTED his on the Superstition ride a few weeks ago. Completely punched a hole in one tube and bent another pretty badly. We tried a few radiator shops and none would touch it.

I finally sent it off to Mylers: http://www.motorcycleradiators.com/ on a Monday afternoon (they're in Utah), they received it Wednesday - fixed it that day and had it back to me by Friday. It cost something like $65 plus shipping two ways and his was in BAD SHAPE!!! I'd highly recommend them if you can't find a place locally.

[Joliet 0]

Take it over to ExQB in Escondido, he will fix it in a jif. Thanks for the post. Ken

[Spaugh 1]

Yours look the same as the ktm. You will have to verify but here:

radiators on CL

[dirt dame 561]

Take it over to ExQB in Escondido, he will fix it in a jif. Thanks for the post. Ken

You mean over at Ronnies Radiators? Thanks for the tip. And thanks Digdug for your tip, too.

[robertaccio 410]

fyi, 3 manufacturers for Husky radiators and KTM is one of them,

for the fix do as other have said local fix it shops, they will solder it for the effective repair

[Redrider 0]

Radiator? What's that?

[dirt dame 561]

Radiator? What's that?

Hey Bub, watch it! I used to think watercooled bikes were bad, but I've owned them for about 9 years now and have crashed, mashed and poked the radiators on all of them enough to know that this first leak was a result of really very bad luck.

[DigDug 0]

Radiator? What's that?

It's a magical device that removes heat from your motor (much more efficiently than cooling fins), thereby allowing higher compression ratios and, in-turn, more power and longer life out of the motor. They've only been using them for a few years now...

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qi...11075938AAvmHVv

[dirt dame 561]

The radiator has been removed from the TE and is at the shop right now. I'm supposed to get it back tomorrow afternoon. The funny thing is that the radiator is squished and bent on the outside edge and after carefully inspecting it, the tube that's leaking has no damage marks on it where the crack is. It's like the metal had a flaw there or something.