Sold Yagi, the Yamaha TW200

 2026, it's turning out to be a year for many changes as forks in the road of life have become evident.

The TW200 had become unreliable to me for quite a while now.  Yesterday,  she started to have charging issues again and it looks like the replacement stator has failed.

One of the forks in the road I mentioned above is whether to keep a motorcycle-centric blog going.  It hasn't really been one for the last couple of years or more with RV camping and non-motorcycle exploration and travel being more the norm.

So, I sold her to a guy in the neighborhood who likes to work on cars/motors and then resell them.  

Sure, I could pay a dealership to fix her but I wouldn't trust her for solo riding, which is what I do.  Also, being at least 20 years old, the dealer wouldn't even look at her without a $330 deposit due to her age.

Due to age and miles, not much money to be had but oh well, I think I got my money's worth over the last 7 years or so.  Had I not found a buyer, I would have been donating her to the Gary Sinise Foundation I think.

Turns out, the previous post's pics of Yagi will be the last for the blog, only fitting I suppose.

Here's some that show some of the awesome places Yagi took me to:

Note:

Got her in 2019 with 7500 miles on the odometer, sold her with 24,500 miles.

Boondocking near Grand Lake, CO

August 16

Martha and I left home for a short 4-5 camping trip in the Arapahoe National Forest National Recreation Area near the town of Grand Lake.

We were barely starting to climb the foothills west of Denver on I-70 when the decision was made to unhook the towed Honda CRV as the RV was struggling to maintain 40 mph!

We didn't want to strain the engine/transmission and it had been the plan to unhook before Berthoud Pass Rd further on anyways.

Thus, we drove separate vehicles all the way up to the junction with US40 and from there North to Winter park, Fraser, Tabernash and Grandby.  We were shooting for this first camping along county Road 4 AKA Stillwater Pass Road.

We met up at the junction of US40 and US34 which takes you to Grand Lake and thence to the western entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park.  (Our primary goal this trip).

After a bit of driving around with the CRV, we found ourselves a site damn close to where we had left the RV parked!  There were more campers that we had expected so we had kept going further and further in, in the end ending up less than a quarter mile from where we left the RV. 

All's well that ends well.

It's a nice, single rig site and no possibility of someone thinking there's room for more as opposed to a couple of group sites we'd seen before.

August 17

We spent most of the morning touring the Western half of the Trail Ridge Road parkway. Stopping at the Alpine Visitor Center for Martha to get her stamp in the Parks Passport book. 

It's the highest visitor center in the US Park System 

We managed to climb to the top of this incline:

Yep, that's the visitor center down there:

A little further east from the visitor center there's another good spot for pictures, it was quite popular: 

Here's a view of Mt. Baker from Coyote Valley:

We toured the Village of Grand Lake in the afternoon, nothing significant to report, just another tourists trap town in the mountains.  Nice, but meh.

I rode Yagi, my tw200, a couple of times up and down Forest Road 120, The longest Ride being about 17 miles round trip. The charging system kept working as hoped for, so perhaps the latest round of fixes will do the trick in terms of the sporadic no charging conditions. 

As you can see, the area is barely starting to recover from the massive fire that hit the Granby area years ago. 

August 18

Mostly overcast skies basically convince us to return home a day early. Martha left in the CRV a few hours before I did as I was doing some chores on the RV. 

More Boondocking...and now back home

Saturday, August 8

Saturdays are definitely the busy time here on Rampart Range Road. I stopped counting the number of vehicles passing by after 20 or so. The only annoying bits were the idiots on dirt bikes growing up and down the trails raising up dust and disturbing the peace with their seemingly unmufflered bikes. 

Did a little bit of exercise at camp, nothing major. Just trying to strengthen my core and lower back muscles mostly.

It's definitely a cooling trend this weekend, pretty cloudy most of the day and the breeze cool things off almost to the uncomfortable level. 

Sunday, August 9

A quieter day, less cars/trucks and the Motorcycle I saw had mufflers on them, go figure. 

Relaxed all day, did some light hiking, but mostly read books.  I also started work on the posts that'll celebrate this blogs upcoming 20th anniversary, stay tuned.

I'm presently leaning towards selling Yagi, my 2006 TW200.  Since she's 20 years old and with over 24,000 miles on the clock, Google AI did not estimate more than say 1500 for a pristine condition model. 

I've ridden the stuffing out of Yagi over the years, pristine she is not!

Sundays sunset was meh, post-processing was required.

Monday, August 10

Overcast, mostly, with brief periods of sunshine in cool temperatures while the I-25 corridor baked with temperatures in the high 80s almost 90 I think. 

Since Yagi, the Tw200 is deadlined, again, I did some exercising and I went for an almost 2 mile brisk walk.

The local chipmunks have grown comfortable with the RV and my presence it seems.  I count at least six of them running and darting about the site.

This one popped out of a hole next to my chair:

3x optical zoom

This one watched me from underneath the RV rear bumper:

Digital zoom 10x

It rained overnight, cleansing the haze/smoke particles from the air allowing this morning view of 18 mile away Pikes Peak.

No post-processing 

With post-processing 

Tuesday, there's a cooling trend inbound and so I decided to come home a day early. 

Boondocking along Rampart Range Road - Pike NF

 It's been quite hazy here in the stoner state, due to wildfires both in state and without. The mountains of the Front Range have barely been visible most days from my home neighborhood or anywhere on the Front Range really. 

To give you an idea, here's the view of pikes peak from my campsite. The first picture is without any post processing to eliminate the haze, the second picture that dehaze function was used and still you can barely see the mountain.

About 18 miles away

Same pic but dehazed

This morning, thanks to RichardM, I gained further insight and knowledge about the function of a accumulator. Suffice to say, that I had completely misunderstood the leaking reading I had gotten from it. 

You see, I thought it was air leaking through a failed diaphragm or seal. It was in fact a leak caused by water getting by somewhere in the system!

Now that I understood, and with guidance from RichardM, I set about finding this small leak. Fortunately, it was not any of the Pex fittings, nor any of the faucets leaking a little bit. 

I noticed, while shining the light about the compartment that housed the water pump that the valve that one has to open to allow city water into the tank didn't seem quite fully closed. 

It turned very slightly as I applied more pressure to close the valve. The periodic (every minute or so) mystery cycling of the water pump stopped. I waited for 30 minutes, no spurious cycling! 

After 1 hour of silence, I refilled the air reservoir and the accumulator and it seemed to be holding pressure!  Dare I hope? 

So far everything seems to be working, so it's not a failed accumulator diaphragm it was a very slow leaking or rather not fully closed valve. 

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and reading books, time well spent.

Campsite altitude: 9288 ft.

Humidity: 9%

Temperature at 1300 hrs: 84° F.

Saturday, August 8

I woke to 62°F outside, nice and cool.

Here's my view of Pikes Peak in the early morning before the heat haze and current wildfire smoke hides it.

Pre-dehazing

Post-dehazing

Sunrise, through the pine trees was briefly "OK".

I went riding, mid-morning , just checking out the trails nearby and verifying that Yagi,  my TW200, was charging its battery as it rode along. At first, it was looking good,  I was seeing 13.1 volts on the meter that I had installed recently to verify charging. 

However a couple of miles later, I noticed that she was at 12.4 volts and it would not climb higher even that higher rpms.  Dammit.

I got her back to the campsite, checked the wiring once again and thought I had found a loose connection on the charging circuit.  Went out on a test ride and she would not climb past 12.6 volts while riding, ergo she wasn't charging.  Dammit.

Some more fiddling with the wiring, another test ride, and this time she died on me while riding along the trail!  In disgust,  I pulled over and looked things over again.  Finding nothing, she did start again and I rode her home and put her back on the cargo rack.

As the 20th anniversary of this blog approaches, my feelings toward motorcycling have been winding down in terms of enthusiasm and will to put up with mechanical issues. 

Not only is Scarlett, the Ural Patrol sidecar rig, down for the foreseeable future due to parts availability from Ural (major issue found while Final Drive was taken apart for what I thought would be just replacement of worn components); but now the TW 200 continues to fail me with electric issues. 

Electric issues which are intermittent at times and very frustrating not to mention not building any kind of trust in her to get me back home each and every time.

So I am not sure what will happen with my remaining motorcycles as the 20th anniversary of this blog approaches. Stay tuned.

Back Again to Rampart Range Road's Dispersed Camping

Finally got Uma, the VRRV's most pressing issues repaired.  The last repair was replacing the front shock absorbers as they were toast according to the mechanic!

Being almost 20 years old, it's not surprising stuff is wearing out.  After all, we have put more than 105,000 MI on the motorhome since we got it.  The new shocks had been replaced sometime ago, but the tire cupping issue I saw on the old one tires dictated new shocks.

Anyways, I decided to do some short term camping, to test everything out again.  Probably just for a week unless I find it more enjoyable than expected.  I left the cesspool that is the Metro Denver area just before 8:00 a.m. and by 10:30 a.m. I was at the site and setting up. 

I have used this side many times before, it works for me and so far there has not been a lot of vehicle traffic. I expect that to change as the weekend approaches. 

As you can see in the pictures, sunny with very little clouds if at all.  The temperature is 82° f as I write this, but there is a nice cool breeze blowing through once in awhile.  The humidity is a nice 18%, quite the change from the eastern half of the country. 

Encountered a minor issue in the afternoon, the accumulator for the water pump had failed.  I kept hearing the water pump cycle on and off without the water being run. After some troubleshooting I saw that the accumulator was not holding air pressure. 

The particular model I have requires operating PSI of 30, but repeated attempts to air it up with an air compressor failed.  That condition, the manual says, to replace the unit. So one is on order and will be brought out by Martha on Tuesday.

In the meantime, water still flows when required. But the water pump cycles a lot more than normal since the accumulator is not online. I have to shut off the water pump when not using water to not hear the pump cycle on and off.

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.

Spring Fling 2026: The Fling is Flung - Home Again

June 29

The last day of this last trip by us via motorhome to the eastern half of the country!

We left the Sylvan Park COE campground at 0645 CDT and arrived home at 1247 MDT.

We're very glad Uma, the VRRV gave us no further issues since the small scare involving the air filter in Wentzville, MO. 

We unloaded Uma and started in on the post-camping trip chores 

Some of the lessons learned:

Anything east of the Rockies is hot and humid in late Spring/Summer.  Sure, it's hot here in Colorado but way lower in humidity!

When you buy cheap parts, you may come to regret it.

You can get oversaturated with history and museums.  16 museums (including battlefield parks and attractions).

You can never go back to the friendships you remember.  

Just because it's grass covered, doesn't mean you shouldn't walk it before driving onto a spot in wetter climates.

Good family will always come through for you.

Don't trust a dealership to buy the right house battery for an RV, provide it to them yourself.  To be fair, they trusted the AutoZone guy.

Getting medical care at a non-VA facility but paid for by the VA is doable, getting prescriptions paid for by the VA can be problematical, self pay if possible.

Last but not least, a saying from Martha's dad: There's always a tuition for life's education.

Here's a compilation of stats, then and now both for record and consideration

I'd mentioned before we'd made a somewhat similar trip to the East Coast back in the summer of 2021.  

2021

74 days trip, 11 as guests of friends 

4887 miles driven by the VRRV.

Assuming $3/gal gas spent almost $2100

$630 camping fees

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2026

62 day trip, 19 as guests of friends 

4866 miles driven by VRRV 

Gas avg cost $4.05/gal.  $2635.25 spent on gas by VRRV.  $429.77 in gas for the Honda CR-V and Yagi, the TW200.

$665.63 in camping fees

---------

Back in 2021 I hadn't started using a gas/mileage tracking app to log such costs.

For the Spring Fling the app reports: (just for VRRV)

May 2026: 

Fuel price avg: $4.12/gal. Low: $3.89 High:$4.39

Fuel Purchased 222.948 gallons

Fuel Cost $918.40. Miles driven 1606 ($0.572 per mile)

June 2026

Fuel Price (avg) $3.92 per gallon.  Low: $3.35  High:$4.53

Fuel Purchased 368.442 gallons

Fuel Cost $1,444.88.  Miles driven 2587 ($0.559 per mile)

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Overall costs:

Counting fuel, lodging, food, entertainment and misc: $96.61/day.

The above overall costs don't include the repairs to the VRRV due to the short-circuiting incident.

Hot Days at the Prewitt Reservoir

Tuesday, April 21

I woke to a temperature of 42°F at 7:30am so I knew it was going to be a warm day as forecasted by the weather guessers. 

The plan wants to hang out at the campsite, enjoying the warm weather, and doing some minor cleanup on electrical contacts on Yagi. 

The high temperature would end up being 96° F reported in the nearest town though my RV thermometer reported 82°F/87°F inside the RV.

In the morning, I was visited by locals: 

Canada Goose

Red-winged Raven....in flight, they're distinctive red circles with yellow 

trim reminded me of Japanese aircraft insignia during WW2.

Blue-winged Teal Ducks, male+female 

Around 3PM, a fisherman showed up and parked his car lakeside across the inlet from me....it was quite warm but he felt a need to sit by a fire he started.  You have to wonder.  

Seen but not able to photograph:  a Bald Eagle soaring overhead and later on what appeared to be a snake swimming on top of the water!  Quite fast too as it left a visible wake behind it.  Google Gemini said it was probably a Northern Water Snake, not venomous.

This YouTube video shows the type of snake I saw, except the one I saw must have been much bigger since I saw its body doing the S turns from at least 200 feet away!

Wednesday, April 22

I woke to an outside temperature of 57°F.  The forecasted high was 90°F.  It was going to be a hot one.

I watched a couple of small ducks fly up onto the higher branches of a nearby Cottonwood tree and perch there.  I didn't realize they did that, figured them for ground level waddlers when not afloat.

Some more test riding with the TW200, it was failing to start again but I think I narrowed it down to a loose connection after thoroughly cleaning the positive terminal on the battery.  6 miles of testing, stopping and restarting the engine every .2 miles.  That's 30 starts in a row with no issues.  

I had to make do with misc nut/bolt for the POS terminal as I managed to lose the nut while cleaning things up.  The replacement bolt had a narrower width and it required a lock washer to keep the battery cable tight to the battery terminal.

I'll get proper sized bolt/nut once I get home, no hardware store near me here at the SWA.

The place really emptied out today, which was great for me. I think there are only two van campers and myself in the area.  There are no campers within line of sight of camp!

True to the forecast, it started getting very windy here which precluded the u. se of the awning!  The winds are supposed to last now till noon tomorrow.  Red Flag Warning conditions: strong gusty winds and low humidity, a fire can quickly grow and get out of control in these conditions.

On the plus side, the winds kept the hovering clouds of gnats away!

Wednesday's sunset concluding a pretty good day.

The high temperature reached only 82°F, warm enough but not even close to the forecasted 90°F.