Mic's Adventure

The Motorcycle Adventures and Projects of Mic

Posts Tagged KLR650

Weekend Wrap-Up: Zoom Zoom Edition

Jun 2

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | No Comments

This weekend was WMRRA Round 3 in Spokane Washington.

I decided that I was going to ride the KLR over and camp at the track for the round, and take the opportunity to pack up the KLR with everything I would take with me on the trip.

This proved to be a seriously great idea. It has given me even more insight into what I need to adjust for my packing.

The clock is ticking, and it is ticking fast. I have a lot to accomplish in the next 2 weeks.

For starters, I need to start making jerky and dried fruit.

I also need to start getting all of my breakfast and dinners made, which is going to require me to stop off at Healthy Harvest again at the end of this week on my way down to Oregon. One item I picked up when I first was down there was some compressed towels. These have proven to be very useful, and I plan on picking up several packs for the trip. They are perfect for cleaning up after meals, and washing up with.  I will pack a few in each meal bag, as well as carry a couple pouches of them.

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Weekend Wrap-Up: Speed Edition

May 13

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | No Comments

Although work has been getting the best of me lately, this weekend was another WMRRA round at Pacific Raceways.

I took on managing the PNW Riders Racing Team this year to help them around the pits, critique them, as well as work at getting better exposure for them.

I love going to the track, and I miss being out on it even more.  It is a feeling I can never really describe, except for 10 to 20 minutes of heart pumping adrenaline infused ecstasy.

The reason I stepped up from just doing Track Day’s, to racing is for one thing, and one thing only. That moment when the light goes out, and all hell breaks loose as a flock of bikes scream into turn 1 as fast as they can go.

I race for the starts.  It is by far, one of the most fun aspects of racing, and to this day I never grow tired of it.

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Happy Trails T2 Luggage Platform Installation – 2008 KLR650

Mar 30

Posted by Mic in How-To | 2 Comments

I am posting this up, in hopes that it will save some aggravation for others who mount the T2 Luggage Platform on their 2008 and newer KLR650.

It also serves as a guide for you to double check your installation, if you have already performed it, especially if you used the included hardware.

I want to start off by saying that this write-up is partly motivated by my pet peeve of manufactures of products not providing sufficient installation material.  Regardless of how easy it may seem, sometimes simple tasks get the best of us.

Also, improper instruction can compound this confusion, resulting in some serious head scratching, as is what happened in this instance.

As a mechanic for several years, fabricator, road racer, crew chief, and team manager, I am no stranger when it comes to the workings of motorcycles.

This is not meant to take away from the quality of product that Happy Trails produces or the service that you receive. I am very happy with the quality of the panniers that came on my bike from the previous owner, and I am happy with the quality of the top box I purchased.

This is merely a individual’s take on an area they could use some help on, and hopefully they will improve upon it with the advice this consumer is providing.

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Weekend Wrap-Up: End of March Edition

Mar 29

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | 1 Comment

Heading out on an impromptu overnight camping trip.

Heading out on an impromptu overnight camping trip.

Well March sure came and went like a breeze.

Last week of course I ordered my new Adventure Riding Gear. I am super excited to start getting it in. The first of it should show up tomorrow (Jacket and Pants).

I also ordered a top box from Happy Trails. I am hoping (fingers crossed), that with this top box, I will be able to pack all the essential items I will need for my trip without having to purchase larger panniers.  I see no reason that it would not work out, as I have now successfully done 2 camping trips (more on that later) with what I have.

The one draw back is I ordered some Roto Pax jugs to originally mount to the rear of the new panniers I was going to buy. Because I was going to originally purchase the 10.5 inch Panniers from Happy Trails, they would have fit perfectly and protected on the very back of them, allowing me to keep an extra gallon of gas on one side, while using the other side for a gallon of water.

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Border Hopping: Destination – An Afternoon with Adventure Sidecar

Mar 23

Posted by Mic in Border Hopping | 1 Comment

Mt. Hood

Mt. Hood

This last weekend, I was fortunate enough to take off a couple of extra days and enjoy the wonderful weather that they were having in the Columbia River Gorge.  With the highs in the mid 60′s and above, it was looking up to be a perfect weekend to spend riding the near by forest roads surrounding Hood River.

And while I did get to spend some amazing time exploring on my own, I’d like to take some time to first write about Adventure Sidecar, located in Odell, Oregon just south of Hood River.

While my original intentions were to meet-up with Vernon Wade, owner of Adventure Sidecar to do some riding up in the mountains earlier in the day, I was caught up in a visit from my Cousin, a large brisket being smoked for afternoon supper. And it is pretty hard to resist a slow cooked beef brisket.

So when the food was down, and everyone seemed to be in their lumbering after supper state, I decided it was best to see if Vernon was up for that ride.

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Crossing County Lines: Destination – Camping the Mountain Loop Highway

Mar 16

Posted by Mic in Crossing County Lines | No Comments

Sarah all packed up, ready to go camping!

Sarah all packed up, ready to go camping!

A few weeks ago in my articled titled “Weekend Wrap-up: High’s, Low’s, and Somewhere In Between” I had mentioned a ride up around the Mountain Loop Highway.

The main purpose of this ride, was to scout for a camping spot for us to pick out for a later date to come back to and camp at.

After we had all gotten home, later that week we all decided that we would head up to go camping on March 12th.

The main purpose of this camping trip, was a shake down trip. We all needed the time spent not only packing our bikes, but organizing them, deciding what could and couldn’t go, and give us all an idea of what was needed to actually do a camping trip on our bikes.

This trip was extremely important to me, as I knew it was going to finally give me a chance to not only learn how to pack my bike, but it was going to give me a chance to use all of my gear in the field, which would give me invaluable information on what I will need to eventually make changes to for my Arctic Expedition this summer.

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Suffering from MRD (Motorcycle Related Depression)

Mar 16

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | 1 Comment

It should come as no surprise to anyone, when something goes wrong, it kind of sets a mood that continues to cascade, bringing everything around it down to a level of misery that can’t be enjoyed at the value in which it is worth.

That kind of sums of the last few weeks for me.

As mentioned in “High’s, Low’s, and Somewhere In Between”, the KLR ended up with a leaky mechanical seal.  This in itself isn’t a huge problem. It is an easy fix, rather cheap (for the part itself), and the mechanical skill needed is somewhere around the 7 out of 10 range due to pressing seals out and back in. So nothing too entirely difficult for me.

So with the parts ordered, I waited patiently for them to show up.

And I waited

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Weekend Wrap-up: High’s, Low’s, and Somewhere In Between

Feb 22

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | 3 Comments

As February gets closer to its end, mother nature decided to throw us a curve ball. Instead of the typical rainy weeks of misery we tend to get around here this time of year, she gave us one beautiful week, and an absolutely gorgeous weekend.

Mid 50 temperatures, clear, cloudless skies, and beautiful snow capped mountains surrounding us. It really has been a wonderful time so far this year with our weather.

My weekend started early, due to putting in my 40 hours earlier in the week, and getting Friday off because of this.

Friday ended up being a great day.

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Weekend Wrap-Up: My First 500 Miles with Sara

Feb 17

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | 2 Comments

Breakfast in Napavine. Sarah waits outside.

Breakfast in Napavine. Sara waits outside.

So I am a few days late writing my weekend wrap-up, due to being overwhelmed with work.

The weekend was mixed with some parts of joy and some parts of frustration.

It ended up being a beautiful ride down on Saturday, minus the monsoon I rode through in Olympia. All I can say is thank god for my TourMaster Defender 2-piece Rainsuit!  It kept me completely dry through the whole ordeal.

After stopping in Napavine to top off the fuel tank, and grab some breakfast at BK, I pushed on down to Vancouver to meet up with GusGus, my co-rider for our Arctic Expedition Trip.

After Vancouver, I pushed on down the Columbia River Gorge towards Hood River.  The one thing I absolutely hate about The Gorge, is the wind.  Fighting wind gusts of over 40mph really can fatigue you, especially the neck.

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And I call her “Sara”

Feb 10

Posted by Mic in The Breeze | 3 Comments

My 2008 KLR650 that I call Sara

Yesterday I picked up the bike that will carry me to the Arctic Circle and beyond this summer.

I call her Sara, as it is a name that is adventurous, and so it fits well with her intentions.

This bike, I have been interested in since last fall when a buddy of mine told me about it. It belonged to a friend of his, and I had always thought it was a pretty dang nice setup.  I really didn’t know how good of a setup it was until I went and took a peek at it on Sunday.

I have to say, that I am happy that I purchased it.  Not only was it an excellent deal, but the fact is, after I test rode a couple different KLR’s over the weekend, and got a feel for how well they handle, and how well balanced they actually feel underneath you, I was hooked.

Not to mention, the KLR has a huge fan base, with an extremely large selection of aftermarket bits and pieces.  It really surprise’s me just how much time and dedication is put into these bikes.  The loyalty that the community that rides these, have into the bikes is pretty amazing.  It reminds me a lot of the XT225 community which has very little aftermarket manufacture support, so the community stepped up and fabricated for it.

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