Yoshie at the Rampart Range Revival

Apparently quite the long running event, the RRR or Rampart Range Revival is set in the forested hills that border Rampart Range Road.  Rampart Range links CO67 and the town of Sedalia through portions of the Pikes National Forest, to the town of Woodland Park near Colorado Springs.

This forested area is a mecca for dirt bike riders from the Denver Metro Area and points beyond.  Easy access through Rampart Range Rd is provided to many campsites and nearby dirt bike trails.

I rode out today shortly before 8:00AM to meet with Dana, John and his wife Cookie and whomever was still around at the tail end of the event, the event spans four days you see.  I motored down CO 105, transiting through Parker and Castle Rock and eventually finding Mount Herman Road in Monument, Colorado.

The road quickly becomes a gravelly dirt road with many wasboarded sections to keep life interesting and put one's suspension to the test.  You climb up into the hills of the Pike National Forest on narrow gravel/dirt roads with many blind curves.  Keep a sharp eye out for 4x4s careening their way down the trail as you go up.

It was about 22 miles of this kind of terrain, with Yoshie pulling strongly in first and sometimes second gear when the road leveled out for a bit.  A bit on the warm side but with mostly overcast skies, it was not too hot for riding.

 A couple of the more interesting roadside rock formations 

along Rampart Range Road

Looks like a future road block to me....

I made it to the RRR site, located on Forest Rd 324, courtesy of a couple of paper signs they'd posted.  I parked Yoshie and was greeted by John S and his lovely wife Cookie, they'd brought along their white Ural Patrol sidecar rig and trailered a small Suzuki dirt bike for the festivities.

Spat's Patrol

Dana, another fellow Uralista who lives near Vail, CO was there as well and he'd brought along not only his tested Ural Patrol but also his almost unstoppable Rokon motorcycle:

 Dana's Rokon

Dana's winter ride

Sitting with Dana was this older gentleman by the name of Walt whom I next had the pleasure to meet.  He'd brought along his own 2003 Ural which as you can see, he's modified to avoid the "floating on snow" issue with the stock exhaust pipes.

The exhaust pipe had Aprilia stamped on it.

I spent the rest of the morning BS'ing with these folks, they'd tell me of past Revivals where some interesting activities had occurred.  Activities such as riding the dirt trails at night, and Dana being woken up and brought along because his motorcycle was the only one with a headlight!  Did I mention this festival occurs during the Full Moon, I guess it's bright enough to ride by at night!

Soon though, everyone finished packing up their stuff and we all departed together out of the camping area.  When we reached Rampart Range Rd again, I turned north and they went south towards Woodland Park.  

I had turned north so that I could finally say I'd ridden the length of Rampart Range Rd.  The other times I'd been on this road, I'd either been turned back due to snow or turned elsewhere and not continued all the way to the end.

The main portions of Rampart Range Rd are not bad at all, packed dirt and gravel with the occasional big hole or rut caused by running water on the road.  There were a couple of corners where you have to watch your speed or you'll slide right off the edge the small cliff.

The road is bordered on both sides by pine forests so the views of the surrounding areas were a bit hard to get at for pictures.

 The view from one of  the several parking spots right on the road

This pano shot should give you an idea of the twists and turns Rampart Range Rd 

offers to the rider.

I made it back onto pavement on CO67 where Rampart Range Rd ends and turned east towards Jarre Canyon and Sedalia.  Before going to Sedalia though, I decided to introduce Yoshie to one of my favorite nearby rock formations: Bee Rock.

 Bee Rock

I got home just fine after less than 120 miles of riding and about perhaps 4 hours of saddle time.  Nothing fell off of Yoshie and the chain appeared to be just right in terms of adjustment when I got her home.  The chain was covered in dust though so I cleaned it off and re-lubed it.

I'll be replacing the chain that came with the tug soon enough, thinking of going with type 530 chain and sprockets for their added durability.

A Sidecar Rig in the garage, once again....

She who remains to be named, though I am leaning towards Yoshie which means "Beautiful Stream" in Japanese, has been mated to the hack.

For you who don't know, Suzuki named this model motorcycle the V-Strom.  V is the V Twin Engine type and Strom is German for Stream.  Why a Japanese company elected a German name for its motorcycle, I have no idea.

I finished mating her to the Dauntless sidecar this evening, took me less time in terms of the mounting hardware, the hard part ironically was the electrical connections between the sidecar and the tug.  Note to self, if you don't have a good ground, you are going to have weird symptoms and stuff won't work right.

The present chain on the tug is an RK 525 with a tensile strength of 8800 lbs.  I ordered a Sidewinder 525 chain, their "Extreme Performance" model which has a tensile strength of 16000 lbs, it's twice the price of a regular chain but I think it'll be worth it.  It should be here at the end of the week, I'll put it on this weekend and keep the present chain as an emergency spare I guess.

I may buy new sprockets as well if the dealer has them though to my amateur drive-chain motorcycle eyes, the ones that came with the new tug look pretty good.  I am trying to find out when the previous owner last changed sprockets, if recently, then maybe I won't swap them out when I swap the chain.

Here she is, sorry but it was late when I took the picture and the light in the garage sucks for photographs.

Goodbye Vikki, Hello ???

This past Friday, I took time from work and headed down to the salvage yard where Vikki, my 2004 Suzuki V-Strom, ended up after being evaluated a "total loss" by the insurance company.

A bit sad that she was not worth repairing but it was good to get the decision from them which allowed me to move on.

Anyways, I went to the salvage yard to recover some items that didn't come with the motorcycle. Got there, got the insurance rep to clear me in with the salvage yard security folks and with tools that I brought with me I reclaimed:

The Dauntless Sub-Frame Mount hardware, the Datel Voltmeter, the mounting adapter plate for the Bestem Top Case and the custom seat, which I will replace with a stock seat.

Here's how Vikki looked, leaning on wooden blocks and looking quite forlorn. I felt quite guilty but then moved briskly to get things done so I could get back to work.

 Picture of Vikki taken Thursday afternoon when I got there without the right tools, 

I am so stupid sometimes.

 Vikki, without her subframe mounting hardware so her sidestand was usable

and with her seat removed.

She looks almost rideable, doesn't she?

 A view of the motorcycle portion of the salvage yard, it was quite the 

large operation, lots of wrecked cars and such

 Lots of wrecked bikes of all makes, a very sad scene to me

Vikki's tenure with me was unfortunately short-lived but they were great times for the most part.  She didn't deserve the fate she got but in the end, it was the decision that was made for me.

Now, as to the title of this posting.  I saw on craigslist a dealer ad for a 2006 V-Strom DL1000 with 29K miles on it being sold in Loveland, CO.  Tricity Cycles is the name of the place and all they do is resell pre-owned motorcycles and some provide repair and accessory services to the local area.

Some text messages exchanged with Stu, the salesman, and we drove up before lunch to Loveland.  It took us an hour and while Martha and the boys wandered about the store, I had my first look at this V-Strom and she looked pretty good!

Took her out for a 15 minute test ride and she ran fine and felt a bit more "planted" than Vikki had been.  Apparently one of the things Suzuki's worked on since they made the 2004 model was a stronger suspension system.

We then left the dealership, telling Stu we needed to feed the kids (which we did) but really to discuss things over some food.  We went to a local BBQ joint called Norbys and had some pretty good food.  Sorry, too wrapped up discussing the motorcycle to take food porn shots.

Martha and I concluded it was a good deal and returned me to the dealership to complete the deal.  Not much haggling involved, basically got them to throw in a year's warranty under an outside company called Edge Service Company.  It wasn't a no-cost upgrade by using the insurance money but I figured the out-of -pocket expense would have been comparable to getting Vikki repaired; had the engine casing not been compromised of course.

Rode it home in stifling humid heat (it had briefly showered rain while I completed the paperwork and called the insurance company to put the new to me V-Strom under coverage) and got her home safe and sound.

 "She who must be named" sitting on her new home driveway

So, gentle readers, what shall I name her?  She's a darker silver color than Vikki was, kind of reminds me of the color of storm clounds.  Stormy or Stromy is out, and so is Velma.  Perhaps something Japanese?  I am open to suggestions.

Vikki is toast

I got a call from the insurance rep this afternoon.  They've declared Vikki, my 2004 V-Strom a total loss and I am to meet with them tomorrow to give them her title in exchange for the value of the motorcycle.

I've decided to see about buying one of two used V-Strom DL1000s that are within reasonable distance of me.

Why continue with a V-Strom sidecar rig?

1.  Not giving up on being a sidecarist.  I like it too much and when the snow returns to Colorado.....

2.  Economics: Getting another V-Strom tug is the only option not involving more money out of pocket.  I don't want to incur more debt than what I have now.  A new Ural, with what I expect I'd get from the sale of the Dauntless sidecar rig and subframe to another V-Strom rider, would require an estimated $6000 additional out of pocket.  No used Urals that are year model 2008 or later anywhere near me right now or within foreseeable budget.

The lower-priced one of the two looks like this and is located in Pueblo, CO:

Image source: Craiglist ad

more details on above V-Strom here: LINK

The second V-Strom is located in Longmont, CO which is north of Denver.

Image source: Craiglist ad

more details on above V-Strom here: LINK

The first V-Strom has less miles on her than the one in Longmont, but has not been ridden at all this year.  The second V-Strom has double the miles that Vikki had but comes with more "stuff".

I go tomorrow afternoon, hopefully, to recover the sub-frame mount hardware from Vikki.  I'll try and remember to take a last picture of her.

What do you think?