Natasha has gone to the "Great Lakes State"

Michael A, of Traverse City, Michigan is the soon to be new owner of my Ural Sidecar Rig, Natasha.

He used a shipping outfit called Haulbikes.com, which I'd heard of via the Internet and now I've seen them in action.

It was Monday, 16 May, 2011 when the driver had arranged to be at my home around 10:15 AM so I worked from home during the morning.

I had Natasha all prepped and packed, ready to go before the driver arrived and so was able to take pictures of the entire process.

 Here's Natasha, ready for the truck....I had to remove the clear portion of

the windshield due to height limitations, it could not be over 58 inches.  I packed

the windshield in cardboard and secured it in the hack.

 One of the larger semi-trailer trucks I've seen, 

it took up most of the length of the culdesac!

 Mike, the driver/operator was very professional and friendly,

here he is lowering the rear ramp

 As big as the cargo area was, it was packed with motorcycles!

 The two closest motorcycles would end up being moved to make room for Natasha

 The ramp system allows the operator to move bikes to the upper level with relative ease

though I imagine there's not much headroom in the upper story.

 Mike then just pushed Natasha onto the ramp, and then lifted her to the main storage level

Here Mike works to secure Natasha to the multiple anchor points, 

a relatively easy operation to my untrained eye.

I left Mike at this point as I had to get into work.  I'll miss Natasha I think, especially every time when having reverse gear would be a good thing, or when I'm fighting inertia due to the sidecar wheel not being driven.

I am sure that Michael A., who used to own an Indian made Royal Enfield will get the final drive fixed soon enough and have her running the wooded roads and trails of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.  Turns out, he knows a guy with a '97 version of the same model, so he's got a local reference for comparison and advice.

Oh, so you don't think this was all a tearful goodbye session, as a goodbye gesture from Natasha, her front brake cable broke at the brake handle as the truck operator was moving her to the truck!  Luckily, I believe there's a spare cable in the trunk.  

Riding through clouds to Loveland Pass

A pretty overcast and cool day today here in Colorado, perfect weather to introduce Vikki the V-Strom and her new sidecar to the Continental Divide at Loveland Pass.

I left the house at 10:00 AM and slabbed it all the way to the town of Morrison via the E470/C470 highways, maintaining 70mph without seemingly any strain on Vikki.  Those 1000cc sure come in handy for high speed runs with a sidecar attached!

From Morrison, I transited through the small towns of Kittredge, Idledale and Evergreen, picking up CO 74 north out of Evergreen and soon turning west onto Squaw Pass Road which is AKA CO 103, the road which leads you to CO5 or the Mount Evans Road.

The road up to the top of the mountain is closed until Memorial Day I think but the ride up CO103 would prove enjoyable as other times and a bit "cloudy".

The cloud ceiling today was pretty low, perhaps 8000-9000 feet or so.  Well below the elevations one achieves while riding on CO103 towards Echo Lake I believe.  First there was just a hint of fog and mist and then as I reached cloud level it was like riding in a thick pea soup of freezing gray fog.  It was too cold for fog, I was in fact riding inside a cloud which was traversing the mountains on the way east towards Denver.

 Riding inside the clouds

 At the parking lot for the Echo Lodge

Freezing fog, you gotta love it

There was the ever present fog/cloud covering Echo Lake so no pictures of it or Mount Evans today.  I cruised downwards towards Idaho Springs, the temperature slowly rising from freezing once I descended towards I-70 and the town itself.

I tanked up here and after checking in with my loving wife, proceeded west on the I-70 slab towards Loveland Pass.  Traffic was pretty light, and the sun was trying to break out through the thick clouds that were moving swiftly eastwards.

Here's a video of Vikki and I riding up towards the summit of Loveland Pass from the eastern end:

There's two more videos of the riding I did on Loveland Pass Road at the end of this posting
Follow this LINK to see the above video on youtube

 Vikki at the summit of Loveland Pass

 The view westward from the overlook facing the Arapahoe Basic (A-Basin) Ski Resort

 The view of the mountains from my usual turnaround spot on US6

A look at the eastern entrance to the Eisenhower Tunnel where it 

goes through the Continental Divide

After Loveland Pass, I headed homewards but made a stop at Silver Plume where the Georgetown Loop Railroad is based.  The motorcycling gods were smiling upon me today, not only had I good roads and fair weather for the entire ride, I got to the train station in time to shoot these pictures and videos of the incoming train as it returned from it's loop ride:

This one's for you Mr Riepe!

 The Georgetown Loop Locomotive, at the Silver Plume Train Station
LINK to video on youtube

 Refilling the boiler on the locomotive

I liked this "classic look" shot
Note: There's one more video of the train departing the station with new passengers
at the end of this posting.

I left Silver Plume after watching the locomotive take its new cargo of passengers on their day trip.  Even though it was cloudy and a bit cold, they seemed in high spirits and enjoying the ride.

I slab it, mostly, to Georgetown where I chose to get off the eastbound I-70 slab and took frontage roads eastwards towards Idaho Springs.  I stopped at a small bridge near Georgetown Lake and got this shot of the cloud-crowned mountain to the east of Georgetown:

Georgetown Lake

The rest of the ride was just boring slab riding, it rained quite a bit as I neared the Denver Metro area but I had my rain gear on so it was no big deal.  Vikki and the sidecar did great throughout.  Quite a change being able to easily maintain 70-75 mph for long rides with no mechanical issues ensuing.

The only issue I had was the wiring for the tail light on the sidecar coming loose, and that was an easy fix.

Quite happy with my new sidecar rig, good shakedown run in the mountains, interesting weather and scenery, what more could one ask for?

LINK to video on youtube


LINK to video on youtube


LINK to video on youtube

Friday the 13th "incident"

Yesterday, Friday the 13th, I was riding home eastbound on Arapahoe road at the peak of rush hour after another long day at work.

I was riding Brigitta, my '87 R80 Airhead Beemer which of late, had been exhibiting some climbing idle issues when warm.  I thought I'd dealt with such by turning the fuel mixture screw inwards or clock-wise 1/4 turn and things indeed had been stable.

As I crossed under the overpass for the I-25 super slab, her rpm's went into the 6000 range and her engine raced accordingly since I was only going perhaps 15 mph in the heavy traffic!  Not good.

Luckily, just letting out the clutch a bit more would settle things down enough for controllable riding.  I pulled into the Honda dealership, engine racing as I coasted to a stop.

I jiggled the throttle cables going to the carbs and the idle settled back down to normal once again.  Luckily, I'd not drawn anyone's attention with my racing engine sounds.

The engine still running, I put her on the center stand and tried jostling the splitter assembly where the throttle cable from the throttle grip enters and pulls on the two separate cables that go to each carburetor.  Voila, the problem went away, I could blip the throttle and it'd settle down nicely when released, as expected.

The ride home went fine and I took the 30 seconds or so to remove the gas tank off the motorcycle to expose her wiring/cabling/fuses and relays:

 Removing the gas tank on Brigitta is vastly simpler and faster than on Vikki, my '04 Suzuki V-Strom

Here's a shot of the splitter for the choke, I couldn't get a good angle on the one for the 

throttle cables but you get the idea.

I removed the heat damaged (after only 90,000 miles, dang Teutonic engineering) rubber covers and lubricated the cable where it enters the splitter assembly so that the cables now rotate easily within the small housing they connect to.

Did that on both ends, on both the choke and throttle cable splitters.  Replaced the rubber boots, wrapped some electrical tape around them since both were heat-cracked.  That should take care of the "sticking throttle cable" situation hopefully.

As long as I had the tank off, I decided to renew the heat sink paste one uses to transfer heat from the Ignition Control Unit to the heatsink:

 The silver plate is the heat sink, the black object is the ICU bolted onto it.

The heat sink paste that remained was still fine but enough had been used up to require more.

 Here's a view of the heat sink and the ICU, now separated, before I put more heat sink paste on.

This is the stuff I used, works fine, not expensive.

This tube has lasted me since I got the R80 back in 2008.

The above job done, I put the R80 back together.  Total time, perhaps 30 minutes or so.  

We'll see how she does on the commute next week.

Announcing the 9th Annual Old Bike Ride - 22 May 2011

Do you like to view vintage motorcycles that are beautifully restored, along with some that are not quite so restored but are beautiul nonetheless?

Then mark your calendars for the 22nd of this month, it's the 9th iteration of the Old Bike Ride, organized by the illustrious Bob Ohman, member of the Norton Colorado Motorcycle Club.

I've had the pleasure of attending both the 7th and 8th Old Bike Rides and thoroughly enjoyed myself, I am sure you will have a great time, especially if you ride your own "old bike".

Henderson Sidecar Rig I photographed during the Seventh Old Bike Ride

From the organizer's webpage:

Old Bike Ride
Sunday, May 22, 2011

Open to all riders of old motorcycles and all old motorcycle riders

The ninth edition of the Old Bike Ride, conceived and still directed by Bob Ohman, is being sponsored by Norton Colorado. The purpose of the Old Bike Ride is to encourage people to bring out their old motorcycles and ride them. The approximately 125-mile route takes us over some of the finest motorcycling roads of the Front Range. It is open to anyone riding a motorcycle made in 1980 or earlier. However, a rider over the age of 65 can ride whatever they wish.

The first 125 riders at the starting point receive a spiffy decal, whether they finish the route or not. This year's decal will be truly special, but it cannot yet be revealed!

Location and Start Time

The ride will start from the same location as last year's OBR8: The Golden Hotel, 800 11th St., Golden (corner of 11th and Washington Ave in downtown Golden, on the south side of Clear Creek). Maps will be distributed starting at 8:00 AM. Rider's Meeting at 9:15. The ride will start at 9:30 promptly.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Beer

The Golden Hotel will provide a cart selling hot coffee and breakfast burritos in the parking lot. This year we will try even harder to remind them of this fact! They also have a full restaurant for sit-down dining starting at 7 am.

There will be a stop for lunch at The Millsite Inn, near Ward on the Peak to Peak Highway, and the ride will end at the Biergarden of the Golden City Brewery, 920 12th St., Golden, three blocks from the Golden Hotel. You're responsible for paying for your own food and drink.

Further Information

Info will be available live at First Thursday, Denver Rusted Nuts, Norton Colorado & AMCA gatherings.

Here's my writeups for the previous Old Bike Rides I've attended:

Riding the Seventh Annual Old Bike Ride

Uraling to the Eight Annual Old Bike Ride