Lunch with Uralisti Friends

It truly has been a long time since I got together with fellow Uralisti to shoot the shit over lunch and exchange tales.  Some blame was cast in my direction as I've been camping a lot over the last few years!

Still, I met up with three longtime Uralisti friends, all Ural riders of course, whom I've ridden more than a few miles over the years.

The organizer was John S.  Aka Spat.  He's one of the originals of the core group of Ural riders in the Denver area.  Then there was Tim L., photographer par excellence and architect.  Rounding out the foursome was Dan K., a fellow Class C camping enthusiast as well as a motorcycle rider.

Lunch was at a small restaurant in Littleton, the Platte River Bar and Grill.  The food was good but the conversation was best!  We got all caught up on each other's lives, future travel plans and family.  A great time for someone who is as anti-social as I am.

We said our goodbyes in the parking lot, the street in front of the restaurant was the scene of a three car accident so traffic was a bit chaotic.

Dan, Tim, John and I

We'll be trying to meet up again in June after I return from my overseas trip.  Tim will also be away with his family as well.

Weather was sunny but cool, and very windy.  Still, it made for some nice riding with Scarlett.  This ride also proved out recent repairs on Scarlett, I had to replace a leaking oil seal on the final drive where the pusher axle pushes out the right side of the drive.

I'm happy to report a $2 seal did the trick.

Leaving the laptop at home

I presently use a HP Omen laptop that I got from Thing 2 when she moved onto the Apple ecosystem.  It's quite a capable laptop but also quite heavy, especially since I use it mainly to process pictures while on the road.  Weight: 5.56 lbs!

Martha and I are leaving in a couple of weeks for a long trip overseas, more on that next month.  Logistics dictate of course that the less weight one has to schlep around, the better!

At first, I was going to share the use of Martha's IPad Air tablet.  Nice hardware but the Apple ecosystem's UI and I do not get along and trials proved it to be still true.  Very frustrating for me to use their "intuitive" interface!  

So, I thought I'd get my own tablet, a Samsung Tab perhaps.  Nice reviews but slightly pricey, not horrendous but being the cheap bastard that I am....it gave me pause.

Then, I thought, why not just an external monitor and keyboard?  After all, that's all I was trying for, a larger display than the one on my Samsung S24+ phone to process pictures on.

A little research, some shopping on Amazon and I got these for the trip and possibly for future camping trips as well.

First, a 15.6" external monitor which can be powered via a USB C cable from the phone or its own USB power cube.  It's not a touchscreen since I didn't have that functionality with the laptop and yes, I'm cheap.

I believe I can connect to it wirelessly as well but haven't explored that function yet, it would save the power drain on the smartphone I suppose.  Update: no, I can't connect wirelessly, however, you can use the power USB-C port for the power cube, connect the smartphone to the other USB-C port and it'll charge the phone at same time.  Good deal.

It proved larger than I thought but still fits in the laptop bag, and comes with its own cover to protect the screen while traveling; and serve as a stand when being used.  It weighs 1.36 lbs, a saving of 4.2 lbs.  Not bad.

The second thing was a foldable external keyboard with a track pad so I don't have to worry about using a mouse.  Note: it appears I could have used the smart phone's trackpad function somehow as well but that's for future exploration. (This turns out less useful than previously thought, in my case)

The keyboard connects via Bluetooth and so far, seems to be working fine.  I'm typing this post on it as you might be assuming.  It's something new to me to use the trackpad on the right side but I'm sure I'll get used to it.  It weighs 7.3 oz.

So both items come to just over 2 lbs.  Cost was almost $95 but using credit card points got it all for about $31.  Not bad and it warms the cockles of a cheap bastard's heart.

There's a learning curve here as well with these devices and the Android ecosystem but nothing frustrating so far.  The cat is playing with all the cables and packing materials so I'll end this post here.

Sold the Aluma Trailer

My Aluma 638 Aluminum Utility Trailer has been a steadfast aid since October of 2016.  Her purpose was to carry the Ural Sidecar Rig on camping trips primarily, though she'd end up fulfilling other roles as well over the years.

The beginning: Extending our Range

However, all that subsequent boondocking and dispersed camping caused much wear and tear on the poor trailer.  Aluminum just isn't the material to use for trailering heavy motorcycles such as the Ural Patrol over rough terrain.  All that bouncing and rough trails took its tool and there's been several patching/reinforcement repairs done.

Here's a listing of all trailer related posts, usually involving repairs:  Trailer 

This last camping trip, I'd started thinking about replacing it with a steel trailer for future trailering of the Ural Patrol.  Nearly lost the wheel fenders a couple of times, and ended up screwing on support brackets/panels when I got home.

So, at the start of this week, I put the trailer up for sale on Facebook Marketplace.  A flurry of pings ensued from several people, most of whom expressed interest but then I didn't hear back from.  

This morning, as I contemplated taking the trailer back to the storage yard; I got a ping from a buyer.  Celestino was very communicative and we met up at a nearby park for him to look at it shortly after he first reached out to me.

After a brief inspection, he and I agreed on a price and the deal was done.  I signed away the title to him and he Zell'ed the funds to Martha's account.  Easy Peasy.

I hope he gets years of use out of that trailer, he's going to use it to haul stuff for his auto body repair /restoration company.

Motorcycle Maintenance while Home

There's been several items on the to-do list for my motorcycles.  I've delayed them so I could do the work in the comfort of my garage at home rather than in some wind-swept and dusty campsite.  (That and parts had to be ordered)

Wednesday, March 10

I replaced the battery on Brigitta, my BMW R80 Airhead.  The old battery died on Monday when I tried to go for a ride.  I'd noticed via the voltmeter that the battery wasn't charging as I rode out of the neighborhood and so had turned around and started troubleshooting.

My battery tester said it was bad, but it's also not quite suitable for motorcycle batteries with their low Amp Hour ratings.  Must get a more suitable one in the future.  I also verified via an Autozone tech that the battery was bad.

I replaced it with the same battery, a maintenance-free unit from Amazon (it came full charged)

Installation was straight forward, no issues.  Brigitta started right up and now charges when the RPMs go above 2000.  The battery lasted about 4 years.

Since I was on a roll, I went ahead and swapped the stator on Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 Dual Sport.

Nothing wrong with the one that was installed.  I had recently received back from a neighborhood friend, a refurbished one.  The first swap I had done oh so many months ago had failed (something broken in the stator itself).  

So I had my neighbor who is good at soldering, transfer the good wiring harness from the failed stator and connect it to the known good stator that came with the motorcycle but who's wiring I'd damaged by not routing it correctly.  This had started the whole stator debacle.  Chronological order:

Home Early due to Lack of Spark

Yagi has spark once more ! Kinda... (now waiting for parts)

Boondocking near Westcreek, CO

A Paradigm Shift?

Maybe not so big a Paradigm Shift after all.....Yagi has Spark Again

So, I swapped in the refurbed stator and she fired right up when tested.  I'll keep the known and trusted Partzilla Stator as "known good spare" and ride Yagi with the refurbed one for a while to gain trust.