Where To Next

My adventures with my first adventure bike.

[xr650lofohio]

RIP 43

[qwikshift]

[longshotmoto]

#xr650r

[xr650lofohio]

Pulling some overtime at the shop today. I went for a quick lunch brake. After lunch I realized my bluetooth headphones were missing. I figured they most likely fell of on the ride back to the shop and were gone for good but I retraced my steps back to the bike just to see. Surprise!

[xr650lofohio]

Iv been off for a while. I had big plans last year but with time running out to leave on a big road trip out west. The bike was not running well at all. I also realized my carburetor did not have a air fuel adjustment screw. My plans included 10,000ft elevations. In the scramble to get the bike to just run here in Ohio I replaced the cdi box after an embarrassing attempt to open and resolder it. In the process my dry rotted file line broke so I did a quick repair with some 1/4 rubber hose. I ran a tank of seafoam through and the bike has never run better. At least since I bought it. I was a little late tearing into it this winter but the leaky carb bowl had to be addressed. I got some new fuel hose and an adjustable air fuel mixture screw. Some new grips and a tank decal help the ride and the look. In hind sight the tank decals look a little crooked even after I spent an hour trying to make them look good. Now you are caught up. Hopefully I will have more success this summer. Happy riding to all.

[xr650lofohio]

The Tennessee Vally Authority was created as part of the New Deal in 1933 to help control flooding, improve navigation and provide electricity. In 1936 the TVA began construction of the Chickamauga dam. They had to purchase 61,350 askers of land and relocate 903 families to make way for the new reservoir. As a kid I remember hearing stories of ppl sitting on their front porch with guns refusing to leave. There are still roads in the area that end at the lake shore. The dam was completed in 1940 and stands 129ft tall and 5,800ft long. The name came from the Cherokee people and is also shared by a couple local creeks, a nearby civil war battle and the island the dam was built on.

[xr650lofohio]

Originally finished in 1880 just up stream from the city of Chattanooga this train bridge was owned and run by the Cincinnati Southern railroad. It went through several variations before being covered to a lift bridge in 1920. The original ridge had a budget of just $143,820 and spanned 1801ft. In 1939 the Chickamauga dam was completed just a few hundred yards up stream. 

[xr650lofohio]

I grew up in Chattanooga till I was about 13 and this is only my second time back in thirty years. It was great to have the bike to tool around the old stomping ground. To be honest I was disappointed that I didn’t recognize much of the city like I thought I would. This was taken from the Coolidge park under the Walnut street bridge facing the Hunter Museum of American Art. The Tennessee Aquarium is just visible under the bridge. The tacos at nearby Taconooga were great and a couple of scoops of ice cream from Clumpies really topped off the evening.

[xr650lofohio]

We bought a new to us 2015 Pilot (what’s up with Honda discontinuing the Odyssey and Pilot then reusing the name for passenger cars) and it handled the bike pretty well. We took a quick trip down to Tennessee to test the new rig out.

[xr650lofohio]

More winter riding.

[xr650lofohio]

More from this weeks ride.

[xr650lofohio]

We finally got a few days warm enough to melt some of the snow away. I got a nice ride in after work.

[xr650lofohio]

More playing in the snow.

[xr650lofohio]

Playing in the snow.

[xr650lofohio]

Maybe I’m still just too much of a rookie off-road rider but even with decent tires this thing is too heavy to ride in the snow. I wonder if a ski on the front would stop it from pushing so bad?

[xr650lofohio]

This is about as exited as I’ve been about anything I’ve bought for the bike so far. My but falls asleep after an hour or so on the bike making to pretty uncomfortable to go far with. The bolt hole on the left side of the seat was also ripped out causing the seat to come lose and flop during agresive ridding. I look areound online to see what my options were and it seamed like most ppl said Seat Concepts was the way to go. They come in a kit or a complete ready to go seat and have several options for color and texture. I went with the “comfort” “red carbon fiber /black low slip” completely new seat. I heard it took a lot of ppl a few months to get their seat so I was surprised when it sowed up less than twenty days after ordering it. The exhaust was till off and parts were all around the shop so I hustled around and got everything back together so I could do a quick ride. It’s been below freezing here in Ohio for a few weeks and the bike wasn’t having it. After fighting it for a while it finally started but smoked pretty bad for about five minutes. I’m hoping it was just from the new exhaust and hopefully nothing serious. First impressions of the sear are that it is very stiff. I think some ppl online said it has to break in so I’m not too worried yet. It is also cold so nice sunny afternoon may help it soften up a bit too. I rode around the barnyard for fifteen minutes or so before putting it back away. Very excited and making some big plans for this summer. Stay tuned.

[xr650lofohio]

The hand huards were a nightmare when I bought the bike but they worked fine so I left them till I had time to figure them out. They were ziptied on and as it turns out they were somehow for some reason turned inside out. The frame seamed to be decent quality so I didn’t want to replace the whole thing if I didn’t have to. I had no idea what brand they were so I looked online for anything that looked similar and found nothing. I ended up buying some Cycra repacement covers and hoped they would fit. After removing the old covers I found a Moose Racing logo. I drilled and tapped the holes and the installation went pretty well and it now looks a lot better.