Colorado Day 2026

Colorado, as a state, turns 150 years old today.  Funny how the state doesn't make a big deal of this....oh well.

Here's a compilation of pics taken in the state while riding/camping.

New Tires for Uma

 I've got to be more thorough when it comes to examination of my tires on the VRRV.

Last week, I'd noticed an unusual wear pattern on the RV's front tires:

Notice the tire thread portions that are darker?  I did too. 

So today I took the RV over to the tire alignment shop early to have them look to see if I needed to remove the cargo rack for the motorcycle.  Yes, it would have to come off but before it came to that, I asked to look at the strange wear pattern.

The tech said nope, a front end alignment won't fix that.

So at least I was saved the trouble of removing the front rack!  I then drove over to my mechanic in Parker and he pronounced the problem as "cupping".  The wear I saw happens when the shocks involved are getting weak and not maintaining full contact with the ground for the tires, allowing them to "skip".  

Sigh, I got an estimate from the mech and headed home.

Once I got home I went to get better pics of the cupping and discovered this:

I wonder how long that had been there, hence my statement that I have to be more thorough!

Yep, not good and definitely unsafe!  A quick call to the nearby Discount Tires and they arranged for six new Michelin 225/75R16 tires for a decent price.  Not only that, they were in stock and said to bring the RV over!

I hurriedly removed the TPMS sensors and drove over.  Less than 2 hours later, it was done and I was a bit poorer but now safer.  I'll have the two front shocks replaced with beefier shocks next week, then Uma should be fully ready again.

New tires were out on at 127,780 Miles, the odometer read 89,900 the last Uma got new tires back in Feb 02, 2023, so I got 37,800 miles out of the Toyo Open Country A/T tires that I got from Discount tires in Tucson, AZ before going to Baja, Mexico later that month!

6000 miles from now, I'll have Discount Tires rotate the 3 yr old spare tire into the mix.  That's another thing I had failed to do, regular rotation of the tires, no more!   Especially since Discount Tires will do it for free since I bought the tires from them.

So, I got lucky, in having spotted the problem before it became a blowout.  Don't be like me, check your tires thoroughly.

Yagi gets New Clutch Pack

I'd been suspecting slight slippage on the clutch of my TW200.  I'd been putting off, looking into it due to my ongoing malaise towards motorcycling.  

This has been going on for a while with Yagi, it was brought to the fore most recently when Yagi was briefly ridden by Steve of ScooterintheSticks. while showing me around his neck of the woods.

He experienced noticeable "lag" when upshifting gears on the hills and inclines of middle Pennsylvania and commented to me about it.  I'd been experiencing < 1 sec "lags" at times when upshifting and had been wondering if a new clutch pack was in order.

Fast forward to the present, I'd tried several times to get rid of the lag through repeated adjustments of the clutch cable.  The lag would start soon after the engine was warmed up, just not initially during the test rides I did.

So, with time on my hands and no significant riding/camping plans at present, it was time to try a new clutch pack.  

I got these via Amazon:

What showed up seemed OK, this was my first clutch pack replacement on the TW200 so what did I know, right?  

One error was not ordering the kit that included the paper gasket that lines the clutch cover but it turned out OK anyways.  (I reused the old one and so far, no leaks.)

The friction material on the above pads felt slightly rough to the touch, as expected.

The same pads on the old clutch disks felt smooth.  So even though they were at spec: min of 2.8mm, I wonder if they were glazed or worn down.

I soaked the new clutch disks in new engine oil overnight and this morning took about 3 hours to do the swap.  First time, frequent consulting of the youtube videos listed at the end and some puzzling re the pushrod adjustment.

You'll note the kit came with new springs.  They new ones were 37mm in length.  The old ones were at most 36mm in length.  The spec from Yamaha is 35.3mm.

Nope, not a single picture taken of Yagi's clutch bits.  The videos below show things quite clearly.

I got things put back together and once I refilled the engine with fresh oil I took her out for a 15 mile test ride.  Nothing blew up and there's no "lag" anymore!  We'll see how things go with some more test riding but am happy to report I didn't make things worse.

So, no clear "smoking gun" as to the slippage experienced before.  It's gone now so I'm moving on.  (I'm betting it was worn clutch disks).

YouTube videos consulted:

ProCycle

Rocky Mountain ATV MC

Sunrise Ride with Yagi

I was awake at 5AM, previous experience said it was probably not worth it to try and get more sleep, so up I went for some coffee.

It was a mere 75°F this early here in the Colorado Front Range so I sat outside on the driveway watching the eastern horizon begin to light up.

The coolness got me thinking, once minimally caffeinated, that this was probably a good time of the day for a short ride.  It was another torridly sunny hot day in the weather forecast (but at least not as humid as in the lower elevations in the rest of the country).

Coffee consumed, geared up, and off I went in my latest effort to reestablish trust in Yagi, my Yamaha TW200 with its sporadic charging issue.

I rode through the quiet neighborhoods and then proceeded east on Quincy Road, past the county fairgrounds and onto Sage Ridge road to pose Yagi.

The air was nice and cool as it was let in by the riding jacket provided by Steve of Scooterinthesticks and for a little while my mind was pleasantly in neutral.

Something to be said for riding a motion the cool of the day, along a low traffic county road, nothing intruding in one's thoughts but the act of riding.

Photos collected, I rode back in now warming temperatures.  Yep, it was going to be another one today.  Some clouds in the forecast for the rest of the week so perhaps some relief from the sun's heat.

The same sun, which warms one when riding in winter's cold conditions isn't quite as welcomed in summer.  Yep, there's ways to deal with heat and riding gear, but nowadays my mind just doesn't see the return on investment of effort.  

Still, it was a nice ride and Yagi's charging system was working....guess I shouldn't ask for much more eh?