Clegg78

Hey guys, So yeah the road was 99.999999% smooth and paved and brand new as of 2013 (reason it isnt on all the maps, which complicated things). there were 2 20ft sections where the dug up the road and left some dirt patches there. No warnings on the road about the damage/work, no anything... I saw the dirt and slowed down, but had no indication of how rough it would be. It wasn't smooth but wasn't too bad either. That phucking rock got me. So about the plate - it did fail, because I think we all believe they will not crease like that, but if you look at the supports for it, it was always going to crush in one way or another in a hard hit... these are for very very minor protection. I will put one on again, but... just in this instance, it didn't help. Being made out of a strong aluminum or steel would improve its performance a long way though. But knowing how expensive 7075 alloy can be... I doubt anyone is making them out of that. A nice thin but strong steel plate would be very nice. Attached is a better pic of the damage. you can see the rock seems to roll under the bike and damage on the way. But then you need to look at the energy transfer path... it would all go into the actual block... that's not optimal. I used to work on stage rally cars, and for their crash plates/skid plates, we'd put a layer of high density aluminum honeycomb between the aluminum plate and the engine or rear diff... to help bleed more energy before anything contacts the engine. The bike is packed up in the Uhaul, and I haul it home tomorrow. Its still bleeding oil like a stuck pig.

Yeah... I;ve never needed roadside assistance and now that I did... it turns out its only good if you essentially break down at a tow yard. Otherwise, tow yards dont want to work with insurance companies. I actually heard that Progressive secured a tow operator to help me earlier in the deal, but the operator wanted $900 to do the recovery. So Progressive told them no and left me high and dry. I called a few places and got picked up for $550. I believe I have a Budget 12' truck reserved (its been a complete shit show securing a truck), I have the cash for the tow place in hand, and I need to run to Harbor Freight to get some loading ramps and some straps on my way to the tow yard. then I should be good to go. Staying another night in Rio Rancho and leaving for Denver early in the morning Saturday.

So... the ride is over in the most dramatic of ways. I was cruising down one of the tribal roads in new mexico, after ~300 miles of just sublime riding.... hit some broken road work which on its own was not bad at all, but one dip had a rock in it that destroyed the sump protector and the "oil pan" on the bike. I didn't see the rock until too late, and even so I didn't think it was as big as it was I guess or it would just go off to the side. I didn't notice for probably 1/2-3/4 mile when I went to upshift and my boot slid off the shifter cause my boot was covered in oil. Killed the engine before the CEL/Oil Pressure light came on so its probably fine. But my ride is clearly done. I am SUPER lucky I noticed before any corners as the rear tire was covered in oil. I have a picture of the offending rock from the dash cam setup on the bike... the rear catches it flying in the air behind the bike after the hit. I spent 5 hours on the side of the road arguing with tow services, and insurance (my wife handled the insurance side but was having a phuck of a time getting them to do anything even though we have really full coverage plans with roadside assistance). I ended up using some sketch tow yard who came to get me in the dark of night. I am in Rio Rancho in a hotel and tomorrow I work on getting a Uhaul to get the bike back to CO so I can fix the damage (which should just be the "oil pan" part which is pretty cheap. Pending nothing else got damaged. In the end besides for cutting my trip short in the most dramatic and quite frankly 2020 ways possible... Before fixing the bike this is about $1200 in new expenses for the tow company + Uhaul. Fun!

I almost did on the ride back, but there was a truck blocking the driveway and I was hungry (and thirsty for a beer) so i skipped it. I'll be back to flagstaff, I love this area. Also I brought like 10K$ in camera gear, and the grand canyon was covered in smoke... so I need to return when its not Smokey

Fairly quick day today going up to the grand canyon from Flagstaff and back. Smoke rolled in today and filled the canyon, it was way worse by the time I left. I tested the wheels/bike with some high speed "test" and its a new bike. I am pretty sure the OE wheels/tires were unbalanced from the factory! There was a vibration I had from day 1, are gone. A nice shorter day, but still a bit sore from back to back riding, 3 days in, 1000+ miles done, and another close to 400 miles tomorrow.

Update: Bike has been fixed, thanks to GO AZ Motorsports, they got me in right at opening, and balanced both wheels for cheap. Front was out of balance 60gm, rear 40gm!

Yeah, the installer said he balanced them... but I am guessing he did not, or didnt do them properly. I am going to buy tools to do my own tire installs, and balancing coming up, but I've been holding off a bit

Could the tank be aluminum? Also yeah as Duhg said, the upper section is all a plastic cover. But I didnt know if the tank itself was Aluminum or not.

Yep I have one... I drank it all early in the ride on day 1 and forgot to refill it at one of my stops. Today I kept good track, pretty sure I drank close to 5L of water.. which was needed, it was hoooot.

Day 2 is in the books, 450 miles, 10 hours of riding. Silverton, CO to Flagstaff, NM. It was a long and pretty damn hot day. Hit the Petrified Forest National Park, and some beautiful scenery on the way. even found some time to enjoy one of my favorite burgers anywhere - Blakes Lottaburger in Gallup, NM. The ride wasn't without issue... this was my first long cruise at high speeds on the new tires (high speeds being 85+Mph sustained). I noticed some vibration/resonance that would come and go every second or so. Right before I got to Flagstaff, I called a Yamaha shop to reserve a spot to come in when they open to get them to check the balance of the tires. It only manifests itself at 75+ but on any kind of rough road you wouldn't notice it. The pool table flat aspect of I-40 made it easy to detect these things. To the point I didn't want to go above 85Mph as it really gets noticeable and unnerving at that point. I probably felt it before but figured it was a bad patch of asphalt not the bike. Because of this I am changing up my plans and instead of Los Alamos NM tomorrow, I may stick around Flagstaff, and ride up to the grand Canyon and back once the bike is finished. Its only 80 Miles north.

Day one in the bag, ~ 380 miles, and so far so good. A little rain over Red Mountain Pass (which makes it 3 for 3 for me riding over that pass and getting rained on), but overall a great day. Taking me a little bit to shake the dust off doing long distance riding on trips like this, and I need to remember to drink more water, and snack a bit more. (ohh and stop to take pictures more... I was 280 miles in before I took my first picture (The Innovv K2 took 115GB of video though!) Tomorrow down to Flagstaff and stop at the Petrified Forest National Park.

Going to post updates and stuff from my trip here: and on my blog.

Bike is all loaded up, and ready to rock. Its got dat Tracer lean going on I'll share some updates over the next 7 or 8 days on the ride here and on my blog @ Motorcycle Travel – Interwebs of Joe

This is the final plate I made. (Yes I already have the larger aluminum foot on the stand, but for soft dirt, with the bike fully loaded it makes me concerned for how that would work out.) So a quick 2 hr print and its good to go Weird the picture didn't capture the "Tracer" text better, it came out very nice.

Nice! that ride sounds fun! I also bought my Tracer new, 650 miles from home, and rode it home from the dealer, it is a nice familiarization ride and the engine is broken in by the time you get home. I had some soft luggage (Motofizz seat bag) and still have some dry sacks (twisted throttle) but in general I want to keep stuff in hard cases. I like keeping my camera stuff largely in the tail case for easy access. This will be my first ride with my Sony gear, I used Canon gear in the past. I don't like large tank bags (I dont like any tank bag, but it is handy to keep small things in and out of the weather). Once COVID concerns are passed, it will be easy to keep all my camera gear in one side case and all my other gear in the other and leave the tail just for some bulky insulating layers or an empty backpack. I've done a bunch of spirited test rides in the last 2 days fully loaded (today with 100% of the gear I will be wearing as well), and I have been impressed with the current loadout how happy the bike is. The Pirelli Scorpion Trail II tires made a world of difference when the bike is loaded. I do ride pretty aggressively in canyons and mountain roads, but as this is the first loaded long distance ride on this bike I will probably be a bit reserved. ... also its phucking 2020... if something can go wrong it will. No need to tempt fate. I also have an InReach mini with me, I instruct backpacking in Colorado in the summers and use it quite a bit for that already.

Just realized I don't know where my kickstand plate is for the bike... So I spent 15 minutes designing one quick to print in blue nylon. Not at all sure how 3D printed parts will work in this situation (putting 500LB on it when sitting on an uneven surface... ) But it worth a try.

Yeah, I think the main issue with the Tracer stock OE bags is they are weird odd shapes, where my Givi 40L cases I used to have were super easy to fill. They were also gigantic I do like the sleek nature of the OE Cases. And really if I wasn't carrying camera gear, and COVID gear, I could get all this in the 2 side cases alone with no issue. I am using waterproof compression sacks for the quilt and my clothes. And some roll up vacuum bags for the base layers. New loadout arrangement is below. Yeah the weather out here either requires you to be hard as nails, or have gear accessible This is why I carry 3 sets of gloves, one super comfortable "warm weather" gloves (Reax Superfly I think), and a set of rain gloves with good grip and dexterity, and a set of leather insulated riding gloves. I really don't like cold hands The heated Aerostitch bib I have is a life saver as well... just enough heat so I can skip packing the heavy insulating layers for the jacket and get by with a base layer or some light long sleeve shirt even in sub 40 riding.

I posted an update to my blog on this trip. The weather last week kind of concerned me. But new tires on on the bike and packing is almost done. I leave in 36 hours or so. Final Plans and Packing the bike – Interwebs of Joe In the last week or so I’ve been doing more passive planning than anything...

I posted a blog post tonight about plans, packing and things I 3D printed for the bike: https://joekelly.co/moto/final-plans-and-packing-the-bike/

I did some repacking, thinning out and thinking of what I may actually need. It has been 5 years since I did a big ride and in the past I just threw anything I wanted on the bike If I was riding all in the same climate, this would be easy, but accommodating for traveling in 90F weather, and 40F weather makes things kind of fun. Removed the insulating layer for the jacket as I have a heated bib, and I have a pair of wool base layers packed instead, removed a few tools I probably dont need, changed the packing method for clothes and removed a few things from that set, removed the tarp (...not sure I am all in on removing that, but its probably a good call), Moved a couple things from the top case to the bottom. Dropped ~ 8# total, but stuff fits a little better. If I didnt need to worry about COVID this would be easy. I also threw some lightweight shoes in a drysack I have on the back of the bike seat, I hate hiking in my riding boots. And yes over winter the entire suspension is going to be redone - going to pull the fork and shock off and mail it all to Norwest suspension. Terry there is a genius.

8 days, doing laundry, I am checking now on potential hotels (not booking anything until the day before everywhere) for laundry availability, I could get down to 2 days + what I am wearing. the camera gear takes up the most space. The 100-400mm lens on its own takes up 1/3 of a Yamaha sock side bag. I could leave my laptop at home, but its pretty damn light and its 8 days during COVID so Its not like I am going to be hanging out with people to burn time. The pillow cases/down quilt(Backpacking quilt) to use in hotel rooms is also extra stuff I would normally never bring. But #covid. Also I've been stranded before in the middle of nowhere, and I've had to make emergency repairs on a bike that would otherwise leave me stranded unable to ride out. So the tools I carry are minimal but still comprehensive. I could drop a few small things. The big weight concern is the tail. Because I know I will add more stuff in there along the way. Its really only carrying an insulating layer, and my camera/Laptop. Given the case itself is 7# almost and the max weight is 11#, its pretty silly I just did a ride and the bike was fine, handled good at 90Mph in buffeting winds, handled uneven broken roads well, so I may be over thinking it. But I still may go through and reorg some things.

On the topic of 3D printing, I also designed in a few hours a Hide-A Key for my bike. Now I am obviously not going to say where I found a place to hide it, but I wanted a case to hold it and velcro to the location I placed it. Its held stable in the block and the cover and can snap out by putting some pressure on the exposed end. I'll post it to Thingiverse when I get back from my trip.

Its an awesome road, I've been on it a number of times! Its one of the reasons I am going down to Silverton. I know this is WAY off topic, but this is my thread so... My current struggle is getting weight down on the bags/bike. I found I can stuff my 12v air pump (aerostitch that I've had for ages) in the nook under the seat. But my luggage is pretty maxed. All together I have the 2 side cases at 21# each, or around that. Which is good. The rear though is a real problem. The rear case itself weighs half the load rating!! I have my backpack with my HP Spectre Laptop, Sony A7RIII camera (using the same USBC charger), and 2 lenses (Sony 24-105, 12-24), and some other minor things in a backpack I will take when I do some small hikes. The backpack loaded 100% is 11# itself. The trunk all up is 20#. Since the suspension is already kind of unhappy on the bike as is to keep it in sag range, its a bit frustrating. I remember my Triumph Sprint where I would have 100 - 125# in gear in the big 40L Givi side cases, and the 37L trunk, and a big dry bag on the seat! This load out is half that and its making me nervous. For my side cases is: (in the pic Right to Left) Right Case: 4x days of clothes, Toiletries, and a sack with other riding gloves in it. Left Case: Sony 100-400mm GM lens, Sack of tools/repair bits/tire repair stuff, First aid kit, USB charger, disinfectant wipes, down quilt (I am not going to use the hotels quilts for COVID reasons), extra pillow cases (Same as the last item), small Tripod, Small emergency tarp (its .5# I use it as a tarp backpacking, made it myself), and probably a few other things. Tank bag : Snacks, Charging cables and such, USB Battery, Individual cleaning wipes, tissues, lens cleaning wipes.

Silverton, CO Meteor Crater,AZ (Winslow or Flagstaff for that leg, leaning toward Flagstaff cause from what I understand the majority of Winslow thinks COVID is a hoax), Los Alamos, NM to check out the area ( I am a big geek for nuclear history, I cant go into any place/museums or anything because they are all closed still and NM has a 14 day quarantine before you technically are able to do anything like that so just scoping out the area, taking some fun routes to get there) Delores, CO Grand Mesa, CO Aspen/Leadville, CO Should be ~ 1980 miles when I am done, probably more since I have a day built in to just meander around Grand Mesa and such. I delayed an extra day to let the 23" of snow in Silverton melt a bit before I head out there

Yeah I started catalogging my planning here: Motorcycle Travel – Interwebs of Joe ( the most recent post) I have another post ready to put up later today or tomorrow once I finish getting the initial pack done on the bike. I am in the middle of getting stuff packed upright now!