No Natasha yet and a ride in the DTC

Rotten news today from Linden Engineering where Natasha has languished since Oct 23, waiting for parts.  The Ural factory itself didn't have the part needed in stock (mind you, this is the factory for crying out loud!), so Linden had ordered it from a dealer.  They managed to send the wrong part (the part in question, part of the rocker arm assembly, is "handed").  In fact, I've my doubts at this point the part is available, though Linden continues to try.

I had work to do in the Denver Tech Center or DTC, its part time work that I do on the side to support my motorcycling "habit".  My loving wife gets a bit weird when I even think about spending money from the kid's college funds for motorcycle stuff.  : )

The work involved backups and there was a brief 30 minute interval where I could leave things running and get some photos of the mountains, from the perspective of the DTC.  I hope you like them.

Here's Brigitta facing the entrance to a park in the DTC

A closeup of the Arch, with the Rocky Mountains in the background

A view of the front range mountains from a parking lot in the DTC

When I got back to the job site, there was still 20 minutes of backups to go so I timed things just right.  After a total of three hours on the job, it was time to put things away and ride home.  Not much riding today, had to work on financing the habit you know.  I hope to get a longer ride in tomorrow, depends on how much snow is reported in the mountains.

Coldest ride yet and no heated grips.....

Yesterday's commute in to work was in the coldest temperatures so far this Fall riding season.

The thermometer on Brigitta, my '87 R80 Beemer read 25.7 °F and at the fastest portion of my commute, Colfax Avenue, I am usually going about 65-70 MPH.

The windchill calculator I use, tells me I was at 2.84 °F during this time, and I must admit it felt pretty cold on my hands.

You see, even though I had my deerskin, thinsulate lined, gauntlet gloves on....I had discovered my heated grips weren't working that morning.  (Turned out to be a loose connection at the switch).

Easy fix and I am glad the ride to work is only 12 miles or so.

And yet, it beats driving a cage, oh and the ride in today was in the low 40s but those heated grips felt really nice.  : )

A late October ride on the Peak to Peak Highway

The sometimes unnervingly strong and gusty winds that had been hitting the Denver Metro Area the last three days finally eased and temperatures were predicted warmer for today.

I rode out of the house at 9:45 AM seeking to find some snow-capped mountain peaks along the Peak to Peak Highway.  Here was my route:

I made my way out of town using US285 as usual, taking C-470 up towards the intersection with US6 and Golden.  From Golden it was US6 or Clear Creek Canyon Road towards the gambling towns of Central City and Blackhawk where I would pick CO119 and the Peak to Peak Highway.  Though the roads were clear up to this point, traffic was a bit heavier than expected so it was slow going along US6's rocky canyon walls.

Once past the gambling towns, traffic eased up considerably and I was able to ride smartly along the Peak to Peak Highway northwards towards Rollinsville.

My first view of snow-capped mountain peaks, just south of Rollinsville on CO119

A short detour at Rollinsville, heading along the Moffat Tunnel Road didn't pay off in terms of pictures as I ran into snow early on and had to turn around.

Proceeding again north on CO119 from Rollinsville, it was continued smooth roads with the occasional patch of wet pavement where snowmelt had flowed across the road.  I tended to slow at these wet patches, since I didn't want to chance hitting some ice, even though the temperatures were in the low to mid 40s by this time.

I continued on CO119, now heading towards Nederland where I would pick up CO72 towards Estes Park.
Just before Nederland however, once comes upon the Los Lagos Reservoir area:

I turned Brigitta to point southwards for this picture, I was still heading North

Soon I was on the outskirts of Nederland, traffic remained light even in town and chose to take a quick break near the town's main traffic circle where their mining museum is located.  Here's a picture of Bucyrus, one of the last remaining steam shovels that helped dig out the Panama Canal:

Proceeding North out of Nederland, now on CO72, I kept making stops to catch the different views of Mount Meeker that are visible from the Peak to Peak Highway.

Approaching Allenspark

                                    

Getting closer to Mount Meeker and Allenspark

Getting closer to Allenspark, now on CO7

 Mount Meeker from Allenspark

The sun was in the wrong position for the rest of the ride to Estes Park so I just kept riding past Longs Peak View.  I'd catch it on the way back.  I made it to Estes Park and debauched onto the valley it sits in with pretty light traffic conditions.  I wandered about for a bit but then decided to get back on CO7 and head out of town.  

I got stopped by one of the police officer on CO7 but squeaked my way out of a ticket as I was going 14 miles over the limit (I swear I missed the dang speed limit sign that said it was a 35 mph area); and fortunately for me, the officer's policy was to write for 15+ above the limit.  

A view of Long's Peak

I slowly left Estes Park and got back into the Peak to Peak Highway to make my way down to Lyon and from there get on US36 to Boulder.  I was feeling a bit tired and cold by the time I went past the junction of CO72 and CO7 so didn't get much enjoyment from the twisty turns provided by the St. Vrain Canyon Rd which leads one to Lyons.

The rest of the ride was slab riding in ever increasing traffic.  I hit Boulder at 3:00PM and I guess that's when their rush hour starts since it was pretty much stop and go traffic through the town.  Finally clear of it, I made good time on southbound US36 which got me to US270 to the I-70 Super Slab heading east.  I got off at the Tower Rd exit and from there it was my regular work commute home.

237 miles in about 7 hrs of saddle time, my butt's out of shape for touring apparently, must ride more!  Temperatures had soared in the afternoon into the mid 60s for the Denver Metro area and felt quite nice as I neared my home.  It was a good day to ride, hope you got some riding in.

A windy ride to visit Natasha

Yesterday and today proved quite windy in terms of riding a motorcycle. I thought it was bad yesterday afternoon when I went for a short ride, I was mistaken.  Today as I rode to Golden, CO to visit Natasha while she's partly dismantled, would prove to be a day of stronger winds with temperatures in the low 40s.

I was riding Brigitta, my '87 R80 Beemer and there were times when the wind tried to toss us around in our lane as we slabbed it to Linden Engineering for pictures.

I got to Golden with no issues, just a few adrenalin-generating moments due to the wind but that's it.

I met Anthony, a Colorado School of Mines student who works as a mechanic for Dennis at Linden Engineering.  He seemed quite enthusiastic to be working on Natasha and he looked forward to getting her fixed so he could take her out for a test run.

Here's Natasha with Anthony working on mounting the seal on the final drive unit

We chatted for a bit as I took pictures, and he showed me the valve guide which had failed:

It appears the metallurgical quality of the Russian made valve guide was "lacking"

I can readily believe now that the failure of valve guides is apparently as common as Dennis had alluded to

As Anthony described it to me, the valve guide above had broken and come loose from the channel in the head of the right side jug.  This allowed compression to escape resulting in the loss of power I experienced along with oil seeping past multiple seals in the engine.  Not only that but now the valve was "loose" within the head and caused some damage to the rocker arm assembly:

Overhead view of the right jug, the two rocker arm assemblies are in the lower middle

That's the replacement cylinder head with good valve guides.

A closeup of the intake side rocker arm assembly, the circled area is where the damage is.

The damage was caused by the valve being "loose" within the channel

Here's a view of the old cylinder head of the right side jug and the valve cover.  Note the burnt coloration on one half of the valve cover itself.

To the right of the above picture, are parts of the Russian 35amp alternator that Dennis is trying to resuscitate,  he believes he can do it anyways.  Long run, I do see a need for an alternator and Dennis assures me he can mount it not only correctly, but mark it so I can check on it periodically.

Anthony also showed me the rubber seal for the final drive which turned out to be fine.  However, he'd found the screws on the retaining plate for the seal to be loose!  He could turn them with his fingers!  So, the old seal is going back on and they'll be applying some loctite to the screws.

Here Anthony demo's where the seal goes, and the mounting plate that holds it there.

You have to make sure to line up the holes correctly, there's one specifically for drainage.

I spotted this poor old Ural tug, with what appears to be a 650cc engine on it.  Anthony told me they were not going to repair it, just use it for parts apparently.

 Note the older 14 Amp Generator mounted on top of the engine.

So, I came away from Linden's with the conviction that things are well in hand for Natasha.  The cost estimate is a bit higher than I expected but hobbies have their prices don't they?

I also learned that I had been right, they had to disconnect the upper sidecar supports and loosen the forward mounting point to enable them to push the sidecar away from the engine to unmount the right side cylinder head.  I'll know next time that it's not necessary to remove the whole sidecar.  Note: ensure you don't remove the cotter pin, it's apparently a pain to put back in, just loosen the bolt which allows the parts of the ball joint to "spread".

I made my way back home, still riding in pretty strong winds though temperatures had soared into the upper 40s.  I even spotted two other motorcycle riders on the way, one was a motor cop on the job and the other rider just out enjoying a day without snow in the front range.

As I write this, there's reports of 1-2 feet of snow over the mountain passes.  I am feeling much better about having not taken the option of riding Brigitta over the passes somehow and try and make the Utah trip work out.