Walter picks a course

I had a funny thing happen. In our second hour of riding, I found that my bike was acting funny – hesitating at more than half throttle at high rpms. Out of gas? Bad gas? I topped off the tank. No real improvement. Over time, it got a bit better, but not much. I had visions of piston ring replacement, or hunting down a intake leak. What could it be?

The post ride bike wash revealed a blocked spark arrestor – more than 70% was caked in mud. No wonder it didn’t run right!

Husqvarna TC449 is fun at the MX park

I worried out loud, about 30 minutes from our destination that I grabbed a helmet when I was packing that I thought was mine, but I didn’t check it; I realized that Helen’s helmet is stored in an identical bag. “Wouldn’t that be awful if I brought Helen’s helmet instead of mine?” I said.

After paying gate fees at Lincoln Trail, we unpacked and quickly found my fear to be true! No helmet for me! Auuuughh! I was so angry at myself. My brother consoled me. We would take turns riding, and I could use his helmet and goggles. It wasn’t ideal, but it was at least a way for both of us to enjoy the day to some degree.

So we took turns. And we had a great time. I enjoyed watching John ride, and he was happy to watch me. Neither of us has any real endurance for motocross, so our riding time wasn’t diminished much.

Then the second bad thing happened.

The newly rebuilt motor on the YZ gave out.

I distinctly recall being alarmed at the sound the Yamaha was making as John went by on his last lap. It was wheezy, with a kind of dull clatter instead of the deep thump of a healthy MX motor. “Ugh” I thought. And as he came by, right in front of me, over a low tabletop jump, the motor seized in mid air. John saved it somehow, landing with the rear wheel locked, he was up over the bars, feet off the pegs, but he didn’t crash. Thank God, I thought. What a total disaster this day had become.

I probably messed up the wristpin clips or something during the piston installation. Only a teardown will reveal it. No sense speculating. The next step is to pull it all apart.

On the way home, I tried hard not to be morose. We had actually had a very good day. Lincoln Trail is an excellent facility. I wish I lived closer. If it was half an hour away, I’d be there twice a week, I’m pretty sure. The Husky was fabulous, easy to ride, confidence inspiring, and fun. John enjoyed his first taste of motocross immensely. It’s all overwhelmingly positive stuff.

Now if I could just remember my helmet, and not botch my bike builds, we’d be sitting pretty…

Daughter and father enjoy excellent New Years Day riding weather

In our family, we try our hardest to get at least a short ride in on New Year’s Day. Today, it was easy – temps in the mid 40′s, only spoiled by wind over 20 mph. Helen, and Henry, and I started off the celebrations by riding around the back yard on our off-road equipment – I on my TT-R 230, Helen on her TT-R 50e, and Henry on his Kawasaki branded Fisher Price PowerWheels KFX quad.

After a half hour of circulating the back yard, we all had lunch. Then Helen and I rode the Kawasaki Z1000 over to her cousins’ house to wish them happy new year. Road speeds and the wind proved more uncomfortable than our suburban trail ride in the back yard. But that’s all part of the New Year’s tradition – ride the ride, even if it’s a little uncomfortable.

Nice new preload adjuster (red) for my Husqvarna

I ordered a remote preload adjuster for the shock on my Husqvarna TC 449 from the Husqvarna performance parts catalog. It arrived yesterday. What a pretty piece of equipment it is!

A beautiful piece of kit

The point of the adjuster is to replace the lock rings that come on the shock so one could adjust the rear sag of the bike with a 8mm t-handle wrench after only removing the seat. The rings that come stock on the shock are only accessible after the right side plastics are removed, and then to adjust the sag, one must use a drift, as there still isn’t enough clearance to use a shock spanner.

Lock rings? What are we, cavemen?

Shock removal went exactly as the Husqvarna service manual said it would, pretty simple. Removing the spring was harder than I expected. The shock body isn’t long enough to allow the clevis to be removed even with the lock rings moved all the way up the threads – I had to use a spring compressor to get the requisite clearance.

The adjuster threaded on easily, and adjustment pin loosened up nicely just from the installation.

Installed!

Putting the shock back on the bike was a chore – the adjuster fits nicely in the space provided, but doesn’t allow enough clearance to the gas tank to fit the top eye of the shock into its space on the frame. I had to loosen up the muffler clamp and the bottom bolts of the subframe, and then remove the top subframe bolts completely so I could tip the gas tank back far enough to install the shock. That worked, and isn’t too much of a hassle for future servicing.

The adjustment collar fits nicely and works very well. It should make trackside sag adjustments a snap.

Bling!

The plan was to replace the stock piston with a Wiseco standard compression unit, replace the timing chain, and check the head. All the parts arrived a week or two ago.

We started with a valve inspection. Everything was spot on. That’s great, because it saved us a trip to the dealership to get new shims, and because it means the valves haven’t moved at all since the last time I did the top end.

Then we pulled the head, cylinder, piston, flywheel and stator. John did all the work on cleaning up the gasket surfaces on the cylinder while I threaded the new timing chain onto the crankshaft. We had lunch and a beer, and then took the cylinder to Elli’s Cycles for a quick hone.

Back home, everything went together easily. Assembly is harder than disassembly; you have to clean everything before you reassemble it, many parts need to be lubricated before you install them, and everything needs to be torqued carefully in sequence.

Once it was all together, I filled it with fresh coolant and oil, and let John start it up.

It fired right up and ran at a nice idle, with no funny noises, smells, or leaks. Yay! Another oil change, and it will be time for a break-in ride!

Busted!

I planned to go riding with my buddy Walter last weekend, but had to cancel at the last minute. Just as I was about to load my trail bike onto the trailer, I found that I had multiple broken spokes from my last outing. Drat!

I bought a full rear wheel spoke kit from Yamaha last year for my TT-R 230 because, frankly, it breaks a lot of spokes. I don’t know whether to be mad… Dang Brazilian dirt bikes! What are the spokes made out of? Candy? Cheese?

…or be circumspect about it. Since so many have broken, I went through the rear wheel last year and replaced every spoke that couldn’t be adjusted. Now, when another original spoke breaks, it’s a bit like when your kid loses a baby tooth… inevitable, and mildly inconvenient, but just a part of life.

Anyway, today was the first day of “Garagemas” for me… a festival of fixing things. I pulled the wheel off, removed the tire and tube, forced two new spokes in, and put it all back together. About 2 hours of work, I’d guess.

Let’s hope it doesn’t break any more rear spokes for a few rides, eh?

full frontal filth

Today, the high temperature was 53 degrees F – pretty darn hot for late December! I decided to celebrate the great weather with an afternoon of riding at Coyote Trails.

The only problem with Coyote trails is that it’s all clay. When it’s been wet (and it has been) that clay turns into snotty, slippery, sticky mud that cakes everything and makes motorcycling hard. But I only had the afternoon free, and Coyote trails is close at hand, so that’s where I went.

I was worried on the way there, because I could see standing water in the fields along the way. That’s usually a sign that the trails are going to be snotty and rutted. When I arrived, every ATV and bike I saw was brown and drippy. And my new Husky was so clean! Oh well.

I took the bike out on the trails, and was immediately impressed with its handling, traction, easy clutch, and super tractable motor. As crazy tall as the Husky TC 449 is, it was the easiest ride through deep mud I’ve ever experienced. This Husky plain WORKS in ugly situations – no fuss, no drama, just stability and traction, and controlled grunt from the motor. It’s like having one of those “easy buttons” from the Staples commercials.

I met a pair of dads and a pair of sons out on the trail on their bikes. They had spent the whole day riding, and were all pretty dirty. We chatted for a nice while at the end of the day. That’s one of the things that I like best about dirt riding – you meet some really nice people, out there, in the mud.