Cafe Jack

Dear Diary

2012-01-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

What I've been doing since my last post.

Fixed a roof, fixed a fence, replaced a mirror and tail light lens on my pickup, visited a couple of auto junkyards multiple times, cut down a tree, dug out the roots, rode motorcycles most days, picked up and delivered a couch and chaise, got a new iPhone, talked to Siri (pretty useless but fun for a couple of minutes), worked on a lawnmower - ordered two new wheels (Snapper parts are expensive), got a free North Face 1/4 zip fleece from Moosejaw, ordered 75 dollars worth of misc. from Harbor Freight online (they sell cheap stuff - cheap), cleaned up garage, fixed a light in our bedroom, went to see the movie War Horse, made some potato soup, went to a designer clothing outlet mall a couple of days after Christmas (had to return a Wilson leather jacket that didn't fit B...don't go there unless you have to), joined Amazon Prime again for a free 1 month membership. I've been reading a variety of things as usual, watching some TV, cooking, shopping (mostly online) and trying to go to the gym on a semi-regular basis. I've been keeping busy.

I bought a copy of Pocket Ref 4th Edition with my Christmas gift card from Harbor Freight. If you've never seen that little book it's really interesting and has a wealth of information on a wide range of things, including how to give CPR to cats and dogs. It gets 5 stars from 178 reviewers on Amazon so other people think it's good too.

I'd say in summary I've been doing a lot things that are interesting to me and of no interest to anyone else.

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On the other hand - I find this adventure story from a Danish couple that rode their 650 cc motorcycles from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia very interesting. They have a lot of pictures that are great and a good writing style that emphasizes the positive aspects of travel and meeting new people - plus they like licorice pipes so we have something in common. Their travel story is in the Advrider forums at Alaska to Argentina - N69S54A - ADVrider and they have a blog N69° - S54° Americas | Going from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia on 2 motorbikes.

Seattle International Motorcycle Show

2011-12-17T08:03:00.000-08:00

Seattle International Motorcycle Show started yesterday and runs through Sunday at the Washington State Convention Center

It's a beautiful sunny morning and predicted high today is 50 degrees.

Motorcycles park for free.

RTWDoug is at the show this year. This is his signature line from ADVrider -

2011 Magadan (I hope!) (03 Harley 1200 Dirtster)
2010 Europe and the Middle East (75 Harley Bobber)
2009 Around the World ('62 Harley Chopper)
2008 Europe (TDM and Guzzi Falcone)
2007 Europe (TDM850)
2006 Around the World ('48 Indian Chief)
2005 Europe and N Africa (KLR650)
2004 Europe (KLR650)

There's lots of pictures from the show at Motorcycle Show - PNW Riders.

Bike's Looking Good

2011-12-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

Our next door neighbor Drew has his traditional bike-in-a-tree Christmas decoration up and it's looking sharp.

Black & Decker Workmate 425, Motion Sensor Light, Sawzall

2011-12-11T21:17:00.001-08:00

I picked up a Workmate 425 on Craigslist Friday for 35 bucks. It's in good condition and they go for about 100 dollars new so I think that was a fair price. I thought they were kind of a joke when they were advertised on TV years ago - a gadget they were trying to sell as a gift - but not really useful for much. I was wrong - it's really a smart idea. Even if was just a portable sturdy table with a wood top it would be handy.

The Workmate folds up small, has horizontal, vertical and irregular shape clamping ability, will hold 550 pounds and is easy to pick up and move around. I spent many years finding places to cut wood - on a deck edge, pickup tailgate, on a chair or between two chairs, and sometimes sawhorses if I had enough work to do - to justify getting those out and putting them together.

I made a sacrificial top for my Workmate with some scrap 3/4 inch plywood and a 1X2. I'm going to varnish that top just to make cleanup easier since my idea is to use that top when I'm doing mechanical work, yard work type things, painting or other jobs that would get the top of the Workmate dirty or scratched. I cut the plywood a little bigger than the OEM top and screwed/glued the 1X2 on the bottom to give the Workmate clamp something to grab onto. Now I have a sturdy table I can use to hold tools etc when I'm working in the yard, on a car or a bike outside.

I used my Workmate to hold the plywood while I cut it and two nice advantages were apparent -
1. I didn't have a bunch of sawdust to clean up because I could set the Workmate in the driveway and 2. Having the plywood firmly held in place made it a lot easier to make a clean/straight cut.

Workmate will be handy for drilling as well - the center piece of the top is removable so there's no worry about drilling into your workbench/chair/tailgate/deck.

Ron Hickman invented the Workmate in 1961 but it wasn't until 1972 that Black and Decker began to mass-market it. Ron Hickman also designed the Lotus Elan sports car.

This is a video of an British guy showing how to use a Workmate -

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I installed a new motion sensor light in the alley behind the garage yesterday. Nothing special about it other than it works and was simple to install and adjust. The old one was about 20 years old and the sensor was getting so cloudy it couldn't see anymore. I took the sensor off of it, twisted some wires together, added a switch I had laying around and now I have a dual bulb spotlight mounted in the garage to give me more light when I'm tinkering in there.

The motion sensor I installed has a 150 Watt halogen bulb and cost a little over twenty bucks. If it lasts 20 years like the old one I think it's quite a bargain. It's the Heath Zenith SL-5511-BZ from Amazon.

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I'm looking forward to getting a Milwaukee Sawzall I ordered from Amazon later this week. It's the Milwaukee 6519-31 which has a 1 1/8 inch stroke. The other model in that price range is the 6509-31 with a 3/4 inch stroke. I also bought a set of 5 Pruning Blades and a set of 9 general purpose Wood and Metal Cutting Blades.

My main goal for this saw is to cut down a Photinia shrub/tree in our backyard. You've probably seen those trees before - they are very common in landscaping around McDonalds, office complexes, malls and places like that. They have red leaves and grow pretty quick. Depending on how you prune them they can be more tree-like or bush-like. The one we have is more dead-like. It has some kind of rust/fungus/blackspot on it. I heard Ciscoe say that's pretty common for those and there's nothing you can do about it. So I'm going to dig around the bottom of it and see how close to the ground (or how far below ground) I can cut it.

Sounds fun.

Those Sawzall's are cool for demolition work too - they'll cut through nails and electrical wiring and stuff real quick. Make sure you want to demolish those things before getting too carried away.

I'm looking forward to using the Sawzall as a hacksaw for cutting pipes, bolts and other metal bits. Cutting with a hacksaw can be pretty slow - I figure I'll save about 10 minutes of sawing time every few years by having a quicker cutting method. More recliner time.

Milwaukee Electric Tool has been making the Sawzall since 1951. Some people might call the ones sold by Ryobi, Craftsman, Dewalt - a Sawzall - but they aren't the real deal. Calling a reciprocating saw a sawzall is like calling a circular saw a skil saw, plastic tape - scotch tape, adhesive strips - bandaids..etc..

Whidbey Thanksgiving 2011

2011-12-06T21:30:00.001-08:00

This a collage of the photos I took over Thanksgiving at Useless Bay on Whidbey Island. You can click on it to go to the Flickr set of photos. We had a really nice relaxing time with people, dogs, rain, wind, some sun, games, and a variety of good food. The house had lots of room for sleeping/relaxing/lounging, the kitchen was large and well stocked with all the pots, pans, and utensils we needed for cooking. It was great being so close to the water.I got to ride my motorcycle on the ferry going over and back a few times which is always fun - makes me feel like I'm going on a trip. It seems odd but it costs less to ride a motorcycle on the ferry ($3.45) than it does to walk on ($4.50). All in all a really nice Thanksgiving - very low stress with everyone pitching in and no major cleanup to do when everyone left.

Whidbey Thanksgiving 2011, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

New Vise Coming My Way

2011-11-20T18:30:00.001-08:00

I've been looking for a small vise to use for my home handy-man/manic/maniac activities. I scored this beauty advertised in the 1924 edition of Popular Mechanics.

The vise was made by Goodell-Pratt (Makers of Mr. Punch) located in Greenfield, Massachusetts. The vise I'm getting is No. 161 with the 2 inch jaws. It was $2.60 back in the 1920's and I got it for about 8 times that via eBay.

This is a page from the 1926 Goodell-Pratt catalog showing the vise.

SweeTango Apple

2011-11-19T20:21:00.000-08:00

I'd never heard of the SweeTango apple until I read the article "Crunch" by John Seabrook in this month's New Yorker. I'm looking forward to trying this apple, from what I've read they are sweet and crunchy, with maybe a hint of spice.

The SweeTango is a hybrid between the Honeycrisp and the Zestar. I don't recall seeing the Zestar apple around here - I think it's more of a local apple in Minnesota.

All three of these apples - Honeycrisp, Zestar and the SweeTango (sweet and tangy) were developed at the University of Minnesota. The picture below of some Sweetango apples on a conveyor belt is from Wikipedia.

5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do

2011-11-13T23:31:00.001-08:00

Summary - in case you don't have 9 minutes to watch the video. You should let your kids play with fire, use sharp knives, throw spears, take apart appliances and drive a car. This gives them a chance to learn how things work and how to use them safely.

Children raised in an over-protective hyper-safe environment have no chance to learn self-protection skills - increasing their chance of being seriously injured when they encounter potentially dangerous things outside the home, or growing up to be overly cautious fearful adults.

Across the Country on a Honda C70 Super Cub

2011-11-13T18:34:00.000-08:00

Across the Country on a Honda C70 Super Cub - ADVriderI love these stories where someone takes an old cheap motorbike on a long trip. This guy is 18 years old - riding an old Honda moped, that he fixed up himself, from California to New York with a budget of 600 dollars. Top speed 35 mph. Dangerous? Yes, but totally awesome. He's got some writing skills too.

This isn't his bike but this is what a Honda C70 Super Cub (also called a Passport) looks like.

It's got a 72 cubic centimeter engine (4.4 cubic inches), about 5 horsepower, and gets 115 mpg.

I've posted a link to this one before Sydney to London on a moped called Dot - ADVrider it's quite an epic moped adventure as well.

One of the nice things about being young is you don't know what you can't do. An older person creates lots of rules about what they can't do and would think of all the reasons why riding a moped for thousands of mile is impractical, foolish, unsafe - and miss out on a great adventure.

Monty Python's Spamalot

2011-11-08T06:02:00.000-08:00

I'm looking forward to seeing the play Spamalot this Thursday at the Mt. Baker Theatre in Bellingham. Spamalot has been around for awhile now - it opened on Broadway in 2005, has toured in fifteen countries. This is the third U.S. tour.

The Mt. Baker Theatre is a nice venue, built in 1927 and designed by Robert Reamer who also designed the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, Lake Quinault Lodge, the Old Faithful Inn and the Fox Theatre in Billings Montana - now known as the Alberta Bair Theater.

This is a picture of the theatre I took when we were there to see Arlo Guthrie and his family play.

iPad2 For B

2011-11-07T06:35:00.000-08:00

Betsy's iPad2 is on it's way from China.

When I got the UPS tracking notice it said the iPad shipped from EPZ, China. I thought maybe EPZ was the English name of a city in China - but it's an acronym for export processing zone - a free trade zone where items are shipped without intervention of customs.

I think she's going to like being able to access news, some email, chat, games and whatever else the iPad has to offer.

Thank you Steve Jobs. Amazing to me to think about the impact things he designed have on our lives. Point and click, touch screens, Google and Maps in your pocket (iPhone). Very cool stuff and real game/society changers in some ways.

She'll need to get the camera adapter so she can download photos and maybe one of those snazzy magnetic covers.

Best Riding Advice

2011-10-31T01:06:00.000-07:00

A good goal when riding a motorcycle is to keep the word "smooth" in mind when you stop, start, accelerate, and turn. It's not too hard to lock up the wheels when stopping or spin the tire when starting/accelerating - so the "smooth" mantra helps.

Turning is a little different. Smooth is still good but it's not enough. On dry/clean pavement it's harder to lean the bike over to the point where the tires lose traction than some riders assume. The result of this is that when a rider enters a turn too fast, some accidents happen that could be avoided.

Two things can happen that cause this - (a) the rider applies the brakes non-smoothly in the turn causing loss of traction or oscillation and subsequent low side or high side crash or (b) the rider "gives up" or panics in the turn and stands the bike up thinking if he/she leans the bike over anymore it will slide out from under them.

The goal when entering a turn is to slow before the turn and then accelerate after the apex. It's possible to brake in a turn but it must be done with care and it's not something you want to practice the first time you go into a turn hot. Try some front/rear braking in a turn at slower speeds and see what it feels like.

In some rare situations it may be possible, and your only option, to stand the bike up in a curve and apply the brakes in time to stop or at least reduce kinetic energy. Examples would be road debris, an animal or a stopped car is in your path and there is no option other than to slow as quickly as possible.

The point of this post is that I wanted to repeat what I thought was one of the best pieces of riding advice I've read/heard/practiced.

When you enter a curve too fast and aren't sure if you are going to make it - KEEP LEANING.

The first line of defense is to not enter curves too fast of course. If you happen to get into a curve where you think you are going too fast, rather than giving up and running off the road or into oncoming traffic, keep leaning.

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If you can ride on a dirt or gravel road it helps to get a feel for how the bike handles and brakes work (or don't) on a surface with less friction. When considering how to use your brakes during a turn on dirt or a slippery road it's of some interest to note that dirt flat track motorcycles originally had no brakes, since 1977 and to this day - they have only a rear brake. Those riders slide the rear wheel out to bleed speed in the turns. You probably won't be doing that on the street (and your front brake is your friend a lot of the time), but if you can get some experience riding a light bike on a dirt/gravel road or track that's great.

Growing up in Montana there were quite a few dirt roads. I never thought it was anything special to ride on a dirt or gravel road - it was just something you learned to do and put up with. I'd much rather ride on a smooth paved road, but every so often I like to ride on a gravel or dirt road to see what it feels like. The only problem is the nearest gravel road of any length is about 50 miles from my house.

To this day I remember riding my Honda 350 on a dirt road fourty years ago and coming into a corner too fast. I locked up the wheels and made a perfectly straight exit from the road and into a field - turned around and continued on to work. The part that sticks in my mind is seeing my perfectly straight skid mark through the corner and out into the weeds, and thinking - that wasn't very smart but at least I was lucky.

Now that I'm older and have used up a lot of my luck I try to ride smart most of the time - not always though. I'll do a few stupid things now and then just to keep things interesting or because it's fun. I have pretty good risk assessment skills so nothing obviously life-threatening. One of the advantages of age is you can choose your stupidity - not like when I was younger and did stupid stuff fairly regularly with no real idea why other than it seemed like a good idea at the time.

If I have to ride a motorcycle at a sedate pace all the time, I'm hoping it's when I'm 80 something, but not quite yet.

Hot Water Heater Repair

2011-10-24T21:30:00.000-07:00

I was feeling pretty good Sunday morning when I took this picture. Betsy had left me a note saying the hot water heater wasn't working and I had the parts to fix it in that plastic bag - so I thought.

Here's the long boring story...

When I tried to light the pilot light it wouldn't stay lit once I released the reset button. Most likely cause is the thermocouple (copper tube inside the plastic bag). That piece with the tubes and red wire sticking out of it is the burner assembly. The assembly is made up of - the burner (that rusty looking thing), a gas tube for the burner, another for the pilot light, a wire for the piezoelectric spark generator and another copper tube that holds the thermocouple. You have to take the burner assembly out of the hot water heater to remove the thermocouple.

I was pretty happy that Lowes had a new "universal" thermocouple for about 7 bucks - until I figured out this particular Whirlpool hot water heater has (had) a unique thermocouple.

Little did I know that this hot water heater is quite famous on the internet for it's thermocouple design.It was the subject of a Class Action, a couple of videos by a home handyman - Left Hand Thread Thermocouple Water Heaters and many web forums documenting Consumer complaints about Whirlpool Water Heaters.

Even though this water heater has quite a reputation on the internet - the people I talked to at Lowes don't know much of anything about the water heater or parts for it. I tried ever place I could think of and no one has this part. Whirlpool told me to tell Lowes I needed the "A" kit - most of the time the answer was - "what"? "You need A kit?" The Lowes in Monroe told me they had the "B", "D" and "G" kit but no "A".

It's pretty disappointing to me that two brands I've associated with quality products - Whirlpool and Maytag have ended up being not so great. This water heater has worked fine for 6 years so I can't complain too much. The Maytag Performa washing machine (another Lowes purchase) would walk across the basement since it didn't have an out of balance switch - I was glad when it quite working for good. We rolled the dice and bought a Kenmore that's working fine (fingers crossed).

This water heater has a 6 year warranty on it. The manufacturing date was the August 2005. Since I didn't have the original receipt and never registered for the warranty, the warranty runs from the manufacturing date.

Whirlpool doesn't make water heaters - they just put their brand on them. This water heater is assembled in Tennessee by US Craftmaster aka American Water Heater.I'm getting the new improved thermocouple overnight from the manufacturer in Tennessee. It should show up Tuesday afternoon. Even though I was a member of the class (for the class action suit), Whirlpool told me they won't give me the new improved thermocouple since my heater is out of warranty. If I had most any water heater than this I'd be able to fix it with a 7 dollar part - I'm paying 65 dollars for the part and overnight shipping from Tennessee. There's no local source.

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A thermocouple is a device made of two dissimilar metals that converts heat into electricity. Using this property, the water heater thermocouple senses when the pilot light is lit and sends an electrical signal to the gas controller allowing gas to flow. The thermocouple sits in the pilot light flame on a gas hot water heater and outputs a small voltage (20-30 millivolts) when it's heated by the flame.

If you've ever lit a pilot light and wondered why the directions tell you to hold the "reset" button down for a minute - it's because you need to heat up the thermocouple so it generates electricity. The reset button bypasses the thermocouple but once you release it the controller needs to see the electrical signal from the thermocouple to keep the gas valve open.

The thermocouple in the Whirlpool hot water heater is unique in that (a) it has left-hand threads (lefty tighty) and (b) it has a fusible link inside a bulb in the copper sheath. If the material in the fusible link gets hot enough it melts, interrupting the electrical signal and shutting off the gas. This is a one-time event since once the fuse melts it's not repairable or resettable.

The reason for the left hand (odd-ball) threads on this thermocouple is the engineers who designed this water heater didn't want you to install a generic thermocouple - since they don't have the fusible link.

The new improved thermocouple doesn't have the fusible link - it has a typical thermal overload switch (resettable) mounted in the burner door and it has an adapter so you can use a generic right handed thread thermocouple.

Hot water heaters built since 2003 are sealed around the bottom where the combustion chamber is except for an air vent/flame arrester under the heater that lets air in but keeps flames from jumping out if you happen to spill gasoline near the gas hot water heater. The term for this feature is - flammable vapor ignition resistant or FVIR. Suffice it to say with lots of safety features it's pretty hard to start something on fire with your gas hot water heaters nowadays.

I'm glad I like to learn how things work and fix things that are broken, but I'd like to take a hot shower without having to drive to the gym - so I'm hoping the parts show up tomorrow and the hot water heater is working by tomorrow night.

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The kit "A" showed up about 3 pm Tuesday and I had it installed an hour or so later. Taking the old burner off, installing a new burner jet, reusing the old piezo-electric starter, connecting the new pilot light pipe to gas controller, new main gas pipe to gas controller, thermo-couple adapter and it's wiring was all sort of interesting. I'd rate this job about a 2 on a difficulty scale of 1-5. It's probably about a 3 on a potential danger scale of 1-5 given the danger associated with natural gas leaks/fire/explosions.

The mercaptan (a thiol) added to natural gas makes it pretty easy to detect a leak with your nose - so if you smell that stinky rotten egg smell don't try to light the pilot light, shut off the gas supply, and find the leak. Natural gas is odorless without the mercaptan, but as a result of the New London School Explosion in Texas in the 1930's it was mandated by the Texas legislature and it's use spread around the world. The human nose is extremely sensitive to some thiols - for example the smell of a skunk can be detected at 10 parts per billion. I love Wikipedia...

If you read the directions carefully, take your time and have some experience with tools, electricity, gas, pipes and stuff it's not a big deal. If that's not your thing I'd call a repair person.

One thing I like about working with your hands and head is the immediate unambiguous feedback that lets you know if you did a good job. The desired end result of this task is easy to define and measure - (a) don't burn down the house (b) don't blow something or someone up and (c) have hot water.

No arguing, debating, speculating, guessing, just the facts - it either works or it doesn't. If only everything was so clear cut.

The Thread of AWESOME!

2011-10-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

I think the The Thread of AWESOME! at Adventure Rider has some cool, funny, weird stuff - like this awesome video about how an octopus can camouflage itself by changing it's skin color, pattern and texture.

There's a lot of different stuff people have posted on that thread; here are a few other videos that I thought were cool -

Brickies Labourering in Bangladesh
3D Printer
MikroKopter - HexaKopter.

Riding Gear

2011-10-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

I bought some replacement gloves recently. One pair is the Olympia Sports Monsoon Gloves for riding in the rain and another pair of Olympia Sports gloves that are vented for riding when it's hot.

I'm not particularly pleased with either pair. The fit of the Monsoon gloves felt good at the store, but now I realize the thumb on one is longer than the other. I bought those to replace a cheap pair of Tourmaster vented gloves I bought on Ebay - which I really like but were getting holes in them.

The lining of the Olympia Sports Monsoon gloves has a weird plastic feel that doesn't breathe and it is not sewn to the glove so when you pull your hand out the lining tends to come out of the glove, so it's hard to put the glove on again. The length of the glove is wrong too - they are a little too long to go under your jacket - but not long enough, or wide enough, to go over.

The vented gloves have bumps and lumps inside from the way they are constructed. I also saw a pair of gloves in Harbor Freight that were sold as mechanic's gloves that look very similar for 1/3 the price.

When you spend a lot of time on a bike, or ride in different weather conditions - hot/cool/cold/wet you need the right gear, so you are concentrating on riding and enjoying the ride. Little things are important. Anyone who rides on two wheels knows that a piece of clothing that feels good when you are standing/sitting around can become a big distraction while riding if you end up getting wet, blisters, chaffing, too hot or cold.

Conclusion - I won't be buying Olympia Sports riding gear in the future. They may make some great stuff but I'm not going to take the chance.

I have some Firstgear pants, jacket and gloves that are great. Same for the Tour Master rain pants I have and the Harley Davidson jacket and boots. They aren't motorcycle specific, but the Frye leather boots I have work very well. They are comfortable leather, good protection and can be relatively waterproof with application of Sno-Seal.

I've almost worn out a pair of generic elk skin gloves that I wear a pair of gel cold weather REI bicycle gloves under - those have worked well. I have some deer skin gloves I bought at the Farmer's Coop with Seirus glove liners from REI that are nice and comfy too.

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One little (or maybe not so little in the big picture) thing that bothers me about the nice Harley jacket I have is that it was not made in America. I was surprised to find that on the tag...but maybe it's too much to think leather jackets, or much of any clothing, will be made in the U.S.A. I think Frye boots are made in the U.S.A. but I don't know for sure - their website makes it seem like they would be.

The deer skin gloves I got at the Farmer's Coop have a big American flag and U.S.A. on the tag - which I was happy about when I bought them. Turning the tag over, it turns out the gloves are made in China - the deer came from America.

Riding in The Rain - Again

2011-10-05T22:30:00.000-07:00

I get to ride in the rain quite a bit this time of year. It's fine with the right clothes, traffic and light conditions.

Riding on I-5 during rush hour in the dark in the rain is right at the limit of my risk calculation strategy though. I would not do that on a regular basis. There's too much chance for someone in a car to stop short or pull into the car pool lane while your zipping by - and no matter how good a rider you are, you aren't going to be able to slow down in time. When traffic is heavy the car spray can cause a fog, you deal with the lights of oncoming traffic causing glare on the rain drops on your shield..etc. Once you get above 50 or so the wind will pretty much clear your face shield - certainly good enough for daylight, but not so much in the dark.

The main thing is to ride smoothly, slow down, ride at a pace that you are comfortable with, if possible stay off the road right after a light rain (when the oil and stuff hasn't been washed off), watch your following distance, plan ahead/look ahead, don't stop/start quick on the white slippery markings at intersections, and practice in low traffic conditions so you get a feel for the traction.

If I was planning a trip where I might be riding in the rain/cold, hot, or even a little snow I'd try and practice that riding and make sure my gear is adequate, on short hops first. If snow was sticking to the road or it's icy - I'd pull over no matter what. When I rode up from San Luis Obispo a couple of years ago in February I'd been using my gear around town and had practice riding in the rain - but I'd never been on that bike, and I've ridden when there was a little ice and snow on the road - so I don't always follow my own advice, but as a general goal it sounds good to me.

I was accelerating onto I-5 this morning going 55-60 mph - in the dark in the rain, and gunned it just a little too much - the rear tire started to spin up and I got a little weave going. Live and learn. I like the challenge/focus of that - you don't get a lot of free passes to learn so you ride with care, smoothly, taking into account your abilities and the bike. It seems very elemental? to me. It's you and the elements - the cars, rain, road - and your concentrating on surviving some times - enjoying the ride most times. It can be very relaxing in an odd way since you are going to forget about whatever else was on your mind as you focus on what's happening in the moment.

Which brings up one final point - if you find you can't focus for whatever reason, you're very tired, really stressed out to the point of not being able to let it go, intoxicated, too cold or hot, - it's best to stay off a bike. I know from experience you can survive doing that for short periods of time but over the long haul it's asking too much of your guardian angels/luck/karma or whatever you like to call it.

Good Weekend

2011-10-03T06:56:00.000-07:00

Quite a few things going on this weekend.

The painter finished the house painting earlier in the week. He did a good job and we are pleased with the quality of the work. My job was to finish the trim/fascia board on the garage which was just about the right amount of time on a ladder, prepping and painting for me. I'll paint the body of the garage next summer.

I installed a new metal screen door on the back door since the old wooden one I'd put up years ago had reached it's service life. The metal door was easier to hang than the simple wooden door, since it has a frame - making working with a non-plumb door frame easier. It still took a fair amount of fussing around to get it to swing and latch - but I'm satisfied with the end result. The only bad thing is the window is up too high for Edgar to look out - but he can keep an eye on the front door.

Becca had sent me an offer from Living Social for coupons at Lynnwood Harley Davidson which seemed like too good of a deal to pass up. You got a 100 dollar gift card for 50 dollars. The limit was two per customer. I used my first coupon to get a couple of pairs of gloves - one waterproof pair and one warm weather vented pair. They are Olympia brand gloves. H.D. gloves are good quality but the price differential for the Harley brand adds more than I wanted to pay. I got a H.D. stocking cap and a Flydanna cotton head wrap (doo rag) to get to a hundred dollars worth of merchandise. I like to wear something under my helmet that is washable since you tend to get dust/road grime inside your helmet over time - especially the open face helmets.

I think I'm going to get a nylon H.D. jacket with the other coupon. I was going to get air and oil filters but I can get a K&N filter from Amazon for a good price with free shipping so I'm going to do that.

On Saturday we took pictures of Becca and Alex at Grand Avenue Park to use for their wedding invitation - what a good looking couple. Later in the day we went to Alex's parents house for dinner - which was really nice.

On Sunday I replaced the front brake pads on the Concours with some new EBC sintered pads from Murphs that I'd bought some time ago. I was holding off replacing the pads on the bike since they had lots of pad material left, but one of them had worn at an angle which was causing some pulsing - so it seemed like false economy to take the risk of trying to completely wear out that set. The brake caliper pistons were dirty and a little corroded so it was a time consuming task to clean those up with brake cleaner and 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Everything was nice and shiny when I was done though.

I finished reading the Motorcycle Consumer News magazines I'd checked out of the library. I think that's the best motorcycle magazine available - they don't have advertisements so the reviews are unbiased and they cover a variety of topics - new bikes and products, history, safety, maintenance, and rider health.

I washed my KZ1000P, oiled the chain and took all three bikes out for rides over the weekend. I think the best thing for a motorcycle if you want to keep it running is to ride it regularly for at least 20 miles at a stretch - long enough to get the oil up to temperature and evaporate the moisture inside the engine. I also like to exercise the carburetors running them wide open for awhile and doing some engine braking.

Rachel and Kelly went to the Seahawks game on Sunday (we all got to go last weekend to see the Hawks win over the Arizona Cardinals). I hope they didn't leave early since that turned out to be a close game with the Hawks almost winning in the final seconds with a 60 yard field goal, which didn't work out. Still I think it was a lot better performance than a lot of people expected.

I'm looking forward to this week - getting my rain gear on, trying out my new waterproof gloves, watching my favorite TV shows (Project Runway and Parks and Rec), working - just the usual stuff.

Someone Tried to Kill Me - Again

2011-09-28T04:00:00.000-07:00

I was getting some pulsation from the front brake on the Connie and thought it might be due to brake pad glazing. I'd gotten some grease on the front disc when I pulled the front end off to check the stem bearing and thought that might have contributed to the problem. Pulled the brake pads out and sanded them a bit, cleaned the pads and rotors with brake cleaner. I went out to bed the pads in by doing some hard braking at 50-60 mph. Front brakes were working a lot better when I got done...which turned out to be good.

I passed a line of cars and was just about to enter an intersection with the green light when a van made a left turn in front of me from the far right lane (parking lane). There's a dedicated left turn lane at that light, plus two thru lanes and then the parking lane on the far right. I was caught off guard because it happened really fast and I wasn't anticipating that person to cut across 3 lanes to make a left. I reefed on the front brakes but also managed to lock up the rear - I think the skid started on the white cross walk/stop line paint. Once the rear wheel starts to slide it doesn't have much stopping power and the bike will start to fishtail as you try to steer. Get enough sideways motion and you'll either lowside, or let off the rear and as the bike straightens up - highside.

Just scraped by the van. My main goal was to reduce the force of impact if that happened (and steer left to avoid the impact). I was mostly curious who was driving the van. It was a young kid - he felt really bad, motorcycle rider himself and just didn't see me. I think he was late for something at the Community College and had been looking at a map or something and saw the line of cars a 1/2 block or so behind me and figured he could zip across the intersection no problem.

Reminded me once again how important it is to drive defensively, scan ahead for possible hazards, practice quick stops/swerves, concentrate on using the front brake and staged/progressive braking.

That's the third near miss I've had in the last several years. One where a guy on a cell phone ran a red light and the other when two girls stopped their car in the road on a blind spot on a curve in Mt. Rainier National Park. They were looking at something...I locked up the rear wheel on the Sportster that time too. It's a really ? sinking feeling to feel a bike start to fishtail - because you can't tell right away how bad it will get.

There are two theories on what to do if you lock up you rear wheel - one is to keep it locked up which may mean you will put the bike down but at least on a low side rather than going up and over. I think keeping the rear wheel in a skid is a bad idea unless the bike is moving in a straight line when the skid starts...and even then it doesn't make sense to me because of the decreased braking action of a skidding tire. The other is to keep your eyes focused where you want the bike to go, let the rear wheel skid if it starts and release the rear brake - assuming the front and rear wheels aren't too far out of line - if they are the natural tendency of the wheels to line up once the rear starts spinning again, may cause the bike to snap up and over and for you to go over the top.

Ideally you don't lock up either wheel and don't get into situations where you have to do emergency stops.

From HowStuffWorks "Motorcycle Riding" -

"Both brakes should be used at the same time, although the front brakes are more powerful and will typically provide 70 to 90 percent of the total braking force. New riders often fear using the front brake, but it should be applied every time a motorcycle is slowed or stopped. Many accidents are caused by riders braking incorrectly. According to the California Highway patrol, locking up the rear brakes is a factor in the majority of motorcycle crashes."

Motorcycle Braking: 15 Questions and Answers - webBikeWorld

It Feels Good To Be Out of the Rain

2011-09-26T02:34:00.000-07:00

I like the way this video, and the accompanying music, captures the rhythm of riding a motorcycle.

It comes from a ride report posted by iDave at ADVrider.

Untitled from xsquiggy on Vimeo.

Why Ride?

2011-09-14T01:24:00.000-07:00

No particular destination in mind other than the road.

Riding gives me an opportunity to focus, feel the air, the temperature changes, the road and smell the flowers/exhaust fumes/trees/rivers/moss/hay/cabbage etc.

I like waving at other people riding motorcycles and the feeling that we are both sort of getting away with having some extra fun while everyone else is inside their cars.

I like the challenge of managing risk, driving defensively, being alert. I like doing motorcycle maintenance - learning about how things work, how to fix them. I like reading about riding techniques and other peoples motorcycle journeys. I like to try and improve my own riding techniques.

The feeling of riding a motorcycle has some things in common with skiing, riding a bicycle or in a boat. I like the sense of acceleration/deceleration, leaning into curves, shifting your weight, going slow or fast - but most of all not having anything between you and the environment. Keeping focused on the road to look for traffic, people, animals, road hazards, cars ahead/beside forces you to not think about other things - very good therapy. On long trips you can start to get inside your own head but there's always something that breaks you out of that so you can't spend much time worrying or thinking about what might have happened or might happen.

There's something very appealing about being on two-wheels. It brings you back to the first time you had some independence - maybe when you were 3 or 4 and first learned to ride a bicycle. That first bicycle expanded your boundaries and that's what a motorcycle can do as well.

I could be happy and am happy just riding. I'm really glad I have a chance to try motorcycling again after a long break when I last rode in my twenties. I've managed to ride about 36K miles in the last couple of years. It hasn't gotten old.

Trip Report

2011-09-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year when school is starting and the kids have to write a report about what they did last summer. Here's my trip report for my mini-vacation/2000 mile 5.5 day motorcycle ride last week to Crater Lake National Park, Mt Lassen National Park and California Highway 1 north of San Francisco.

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Day 1 Sunday - I had some other commitments on Saturday so I ended up packing and leaving Sunday around noonish. My goal for day 1 was to ride to the Sisters City Park and camp overnight. I-5 was uneventful except for being hot and slow around Portland to Salem. There's sections of I-5 through Oregon that are two lanes in each direction. You have to practice patience when you get someone who wants to practice formation driving, or drive just at or below the speed limit in the left lane - plus the occasional semi race where one eighteen wheeler is passing another with a closing speed of several miles per hour.

I headed east at Salem onto highway 22 to go over North Santiam Pass. The more interesting route to Sisters from a motorcycling perspective is to head east from Eugene but I'd ridden that way last year and only had the afternoon to get to Sisters City Park and set up my tent.

There was a pretty impressive forest fire west of Sisters around the Hoodoo Ski Area. Lots of fire fighting equipment moving up and down the highway and a firefighter campsite set up a little outside of Sisters.

The campground in Sisters is a good deal. Nice ground for putting up a tent and within easy walking distance of downtown. It's pretty quiet and a creek runs through it as well - so for 12 dollars a night it's a pretty good camping bargain. Not sure what it would be like finding a place in the peak times of summer but I imagine if you showed up early in the day you could claim a spot.

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Day 2 Monday - My goal on Monday was to ride to, and around, Crater Lake National Park and then continue south to get fairly close to Lassen National Park for the next day's ride. Sisters to Crater Lake is only about 130 miles so it's a pretty short jaunt. Crater Lake was pretty awesome.

The only thing that bothered me a tiny bit was the park employee taking money to enter the park said "good luck" to me as I pulled away. Come on buddy you don't say "good luck" to someone riding a motorcycle - maybe "ride safe" or "keep the shiny side up" or "have a nice trip", but good luck? If I had to depend on my luck to ride I shouldn't be on a motorcycle or any vehicle for that matter.

I spent a few hours at Crater Lake riding around the rim (on the road) and then headed south on 97 to Weed, California where I caught I-5 for a short trip to get onto highway 89 south to Lassen. My stop for the night was the Hat Creek Campground. That place looked pretty good from the internet because it had showers and wifi but I wished I would of stayed at one of the national forest campgrounds nearby. The rate for a tent site was $30.80. My main reason for staying there was so I could take a shower. The national forest service campground would have been 16 bucks, so I ended up paying 14 bucks for a shower and what ended up being almost no sleep. The people at the desk were real nice and told me they gave me the "best" campsite in a private spot by the creek. Sounds good so far.

Once I drove in, the campground had a weird vibe to it - quite a few people who appeared to be permanent residents living in dilapidated RV's/vans of one sort or another, wandering about in the dust, staring at me as I entered their domain. I couldn't keep myself from imagining that if there is ever a zombie invasion in the U.S. it may very well originate in that campground.

One of them who seemed to have some official power offered to lead me to my campsite on his four wheeler - nice guy but I couldn't hardly see because of the dust he was kicking up. The wifi didn't work in the campground - it may have been accessible in the main office but not where I was staying. When I checked in I asked the check-in ladies if there was a password and they told me you just make up your own password. I think they meant it wasn't password protected but whatever.

I thought it was sort of odd that the check-in lady asked me to not give the shower combination to anyone else..? Who? The tent site was covered in a layer of crushed (sharp) gravel - not the best. It was still fairly dusty even with the attempt to make a bed of gravel. I'm wandering around looking for the shower and some nice hispanic guy sees I have a towel and says "you looking for a shower? It's right over there - the combination is 1002" Oh okay thanks.

The picnic table at my campsite was really dirty even by campground standards, it looked like someone had been working on an engine or something with a fair amount of oily greasy parts to lay out and the picnic table made a convenient work bench.

The real kicker was that I've camped beside roads before and had to deal with the noise, in this spot I felt like I was camping on the road. Yes my campsite was beside the creek which was also beside a highway used by logging trucks all night coming down a grade and using their engine braking techniques to slow down and make a heck of a lot of noise. Ear plugs helped some but the headlights shining in my tent and wondering if the sharp gravel was going to puncture my Thermarest pad or me kept me from getting much sleep at all.

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Day 3 Tuesday - I was up before the sun and headed off bright and early. It was a nice ride. Hardly any traffic at this time of year. On one isolated stretch of road I saw a guy walking and pulling a small wagon loaded with what might of been camping gear and food. I wish I would have stopped to see what the story was but I wanted to get to Lassen. Later in the trip along the coast I saw a younger guy riding a skateboard in a fairly remote area with a backpack on his back, looking like he was on an extended trip...people in the U.S. really like to get out on the road.

I think I was one of the first people at the entrance to Lassen National Park that morning because the ranger was just putting up the flag. It's 5 dollars to ride a motorcycle into Lassen (same for Crater Lake) so that's a benefit since it's twice that or more for a car.

Lassen National Park is a good place to ride - the roads are clean/smooth and there are some fun curves. There's enough to see that it's interesting and not at all like Yellowstone in the busy season with the huge traffic jams when someone stops to look at a moose/buffalo/bear.

This is a picture near the geothermal area in Lassen called the Sulphur Works where you can see the road in the distance - it's pretty and has some twists and turns to keep things interesting. The geothermal stuff isn't anywhere near as impressive as Yellowstone but it's interesting and has a real strong sulphur smell. The boiling mud in the picture below looked like it was being pumped by an aerator in a man-made fountain it was bubbling so perfectly.

In the afternoon I headed out of Lassen heading west to Red Bluff and I-5 again. I road south on I-5 to Williams California where I headed west again on 20 to Clear Lake. I camped at the Clear Lake State Park on the south side of the lake. It was great compared to the place I stayed the night before and it had showers that take quarters. Lots of squirrels and crickets to keep me company, no logging trucks or shining headlights at night. One of the other nice things is that the park employee suggested I pick a campsite and then pay. I was tired from not getting much sleep the night before so I went to bed early.

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Day 4 Wednesday - The area west of Clear Lake is nice - lots of vineyards with the harvest in swing. It took me a little while to figure out the main road but I got to see quite a bit of nice grape country. This part of the trip took me to one of the most "interesting" roads of this trip - highway 175 from Kellseyville to Hopland Ca. I hadn't planned on that route but I didn't want to hit traffic in Santa Rosa so I decided to get onto 101 by that road. Highway 175 is also called the Hopland Grade. It is steep and really curvy. I saw a few Mini-Coopers on the road which looked fun. The curves are so tightly packed together that I had the feeling of slalom skiing rather than riding a motorcycle. The road is narrow and I found out later from a barista at Starbucks that it is the site of not too few accidents where someone crosses over the centerline or goes off the edge. It was a pretty good workout.

From Hopland I headed south on 101 to Santa Rosa and then west on 12 to Bodega Bay. This turned out to be a long (fun) day. Bodega is a cool little town - especially the week after the Labor Day crowds have gone home. The school there was in Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds. It's got a surf shop, a cool market/cafe and a strange looking ramshackle casino (which I later read is not a casino but rather a pretty cool bar that serves good food). Now that I know that's not a casino it doesn't seem so strange that it would be in such a modest building. Looking at it from the outside I thought it must be one of the poorest casinos I'd ever seen. Bodega is about 60 miles north of San Francisco but it seemed like a world away from the city on this particular Wednesday.

I had a 3 seaweed salad made with hiyashi, wakame and hijiki seaweed for lunch (figured I should eat some local food and I was real close to the ocean) in Bodega and then headed north on Highway 1. The section of Highway 1 north of Bodega is beautiful and a good road for riding with it's twisty bits.

My destination for this night would be MacKerricher State Park a few miles north of Fort Bragg. This was the nicest campground I stayed in. They had showers, a pretty beach, seals and a gray whale skeleton. Some critter tried to take my bike or maybe the partially eaten Odwalla bar in the tank bag but all I saw after the fact was his paw print on the seat the next morning.

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Day 5 Thursday - Up bright and early and on the road north out of MacKerricher State Park. Lots of natural beauty and good riding on CA-1. I like the photo with the fog and the stand of stately redwoods.

There's lots of towns that seem to have a population of 492 (or so) people on highway 1. They are all the sorts of places that look interesting but I only had a week so I couldn't stop at every one. I did stop at Elk which had this funny sign.

Did I mention I saw a lot of Naked Ladies alongside the road?

You see them in the most unlikely places - all alone in some remote dried up grassy areas, bunched together in random spots beside the road or sometimes like these lined up along a fence.

The lady (not naked) in the store in Elk gave me the scoop on these pretty pink flowers. They were grown commercially at one time in some areas along the coast. They bloom twice a year. They are a type of lily known as naked ladies because they drop all their leaves and then the pretty pink flowers show up. Apparently squirrels pick up the bulbs and move around with them in their mouths and then decide they aren't good to eat so they spit them out some time later where they grow in odd random spots beside the road. They have a fragrance which people find pleasing, but apparently not deer so that keeps them from being eaten. I'm kind of wondering if part of the reason you see them beside the road by themselves is the bulbs fell off a truck at some time...but I like the idea of squirrels planting them so I'll stick with that story.

I was planning on camping near Florence Oregon on Thursday night but by the time I got there it was getting a little late and the state campground seemed like a hassle. They wanted you to pay for two nights and it was self serve and people were dallying around, so I headed to the Park Motel in Florence where I've stayed before during a torrential rain storm on my way up the coast in February 2010. It's the quintessential Mom and Pop motel - friendly, clean and relatively inexpensive. The rooms have a fridge and microwave and that knotty pine paneling that always reminds me of being on vacation. They encourage you to park your motorcycle right at your front door and on this particular morning the owner gave me a towel to dry my bike off.

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Day 6 Friday - Took a leisurely ride west from Florence to Eugene. That's a nice road too.

It follows the Siuslaw River which was filled with salmon fishers in boats. There's a cool little stop in the road somewhere along the way too for coffee and snacks.

After my leisurely ride to Eugene and looking around the city for awhile I headed back north on I-5 for home. If I had the trip to do over again I'd plan to not come into Seattle on a Friday afternoon. Traffic was terrible and added an hour or two to the trip.

All in all a really great trip though. I'm glad I got to see Crater Lake, Lassen, and ride CA-1 north of Bodega. I wanted to ride from Crescent City California to Grants Pass Oregon but it was so hot in Grants Pass that day I decided to stick to the coast. I've heard that's a good motorcycle road...also read that the road west out of Red Bluff to the coast may be the best motorcycle road in California so there's always the next trip.

I posted the pictures I took on this trip at Crater Lake, Lassen and Cali Hwy 1 - a set on Flickr

Mountain Loop Highway

2011-09-11T20:30:00.001-07:00

I took my police bike out for a ride Sunday around the mountain loop highway - Everett to Granite Falls around the loop to Darrington and back to Arlington and home. It was dusty on the 13 miles of gravel because there were a few other cars/trucks in front of me or going the other direction - but a good day for a ride.

View Mountain Loop Highway in a larger map

Motel Camping at the Park Motel in Florence Oregon

2011-09-09T08:19:00.000-07:00

Coffee in Orick Ca.

2011-09-08T13:29:00.000-07:00

Whale Skeleton

2011-09-08T13:28:00.002-07:00

Elk Ca

2011-09-08T13:28:00.000-07:00

3 Seaweed Salad - Good

2011-09-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

Bodega Ca.

2011-09-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

Finally a Starbucks

2011-09-07T10:32:00.001-07:00

Wildflowers at Lassen

2011-09-07T09:01:00.000-07:00

Mt Lassen

2011-09-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

Entrance to Mt Lassen National Park

2011-09-06T08:46:00.000-07:00

Crater Lake

2011-09-05T15:39:00.001-07:00

City Park - Sisters Oregon

2011-09-04T19:19:00.000-07:00

I'm staying here tonight. Pretty good deal for 12 bucks.

I've got my Jetboil, Pete's French Roast, coffee maker, noodles, textured vegetable protein, oatmeal and Odwalla bars - so I'm all set. Pretty much just have to buy gas, pay for camping and an occasional espresso this week.

Fire West of Sisters

2011-09-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

Big smoke plumes from the forest fire near Hoodoo Ski area, Big Lake and Shadow Lake - west of Sisters Oregon

Filling in the Blanks Ride

2011-09-04T07:35:00.000-07:00

There's three places I've been close to in Oregon and California and wanted to check out but for one reason or another (time, weather, other plans) wasn't able to -

Crater Lake National Park
Mount Lassen National Park
California Highway One North of San Francisco

I'm taking this week off to travel down that way. It's about a 2000 miles trip total. I plan to camp as much as possible. I can't think of anything more fun than riding a motorcycle, seeing some beautiful parts of the U.S. and camping out. I should probably stop writing and start packing so I can get going.

View Sisters, Crater Lake, Lassen, Highway 1 in a larger map

Overnight MC Trip to Republic Washington

2011-08-28T03:04:00.001-07:00

View Keller Ferry in a larger map

Rode about 600 miles Friday and Saturday. It was a good time to be out. Traffic was light and weather was warm and sunny. I really like the area around Republic. The forests and hills remind me of some of my favorite parts of Montana. Highway 21 from the Keller Ferry to Republic parallels the Sanpoil River with some nice rock formations. It passes through the Colville Indian Reservation and National Forest. It's more of a dry country than the forests over here on the wet side of the mountains - smells different, not so moldy.

The Northern Inn in Republic isn't a bad place to stay. My room was 75 dollars and included a refrigerator and microwave. A/C works good, owner is friendly and the deck has some comfortable chairs to sit in and take in the sunset. Anderson's Grocery and a natural foods store are just down the street.

I rode out to the Wings Over Republic fly-in on Friday evening. It looked like most people were camping under the wings of their airplanes and not much going on. I checked out Curlew Lake state park where I camped last year. That's a really nice park, with camping spots on grass, and a swimming area.

The highway was crawling with deer at dusk. Coming up from Curlew lake there was a group of deer standing in the road and one buck ignored my horn and wouldn't get off the road until I kind of aimed my motorcycle at him. There's a lot of deer killed by vehicles in that area of Washington. I wouldn't choose to do much riding at dusk, or after dark.

This is a picture I took from the Keller Ferry.

P1030030, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

That part of the Columbia (Roosevelt Lake) is called the Sanpoil arm because it's where the Sanpoil river flows into the Columbia. The lake is formed by Grand Coulee dam which is about 13 miles downstream. Grand Coulee dam was completed in 1942. Roosevelt lake is named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was president at that time.

Nice ride home on Saturday on highway 20 from Republic to Tonasket, Omak, Twisp, Winthrop, over the Cascades to Rockport and then south on 530 to Darrington, Arlington and back home. Highway 20 from Republic to Tonasket is 40 miles of mostly downhill riding through open range country, with some nice curves and almost no traffic at 10 am on Saturday. Next time I'm in the area I want to go east from Republic over Sherman Pass (5575 feet) and on to Newport Washington.

I Plan To Do A Lot of Drinking Tonight

2011-08-26T18:18:00.001-07:00

Northern Inn - Republic Wa.

2011-08-26T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is where I'm staying tonight. Republic is a pretty little town surrounded by hills and pine trees. The Northern Inn gets good reviews, has reasonable rates and I like it.

Sent from my iPhone

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Postscript - Sharp eyed viewers may wonder why that sign says Bird Motel. Okay, that isn't really where I stayed. That's a bird house that looks like the Northern Inn.

Keller Ferry

2011-08-26T15:50:00.000-07:00

It was fun to ride this little ferry. Nice and cool on the water. I wanted to ride it last year but it was shut down for repairs. It's in the high 90's and sunny. Very nice :-)

Sent from my iPhone

Looking Down on Lake Roosevelt

2011-08-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

Down there is where you catch the Keller Ferry. I came over the Cascades on Highway 2 and then went north on Highway 21, to the ferry and then on to Republic Wa. I'm spending the night at the Northern Inn here. Lucky to find a room because there's a big fly-in at the airport. Might head out to the airport and Curlew Lake a little later.

Great day for a ride, some really pretty scenery and not much traffic.

Sent from my iPhone

Valley of the Sun

2011-08-19T09:57:00.000-07:00

I've been in Phoenix since last Sunday and have been enjoying the change in weather.

Yesterday set a record high for August 18th of 112 degrees. It was hot and sunny until late in the afternoon when a dust storm blew in, followed by rain, lightning and thunder. Airplanes couldn't land or takeoff for 40 minutes at Sky Harbor Airport because of the dust, and the wind caused some damage to homes and loss of power. There were some microbursts in the area - so overall some pretty interesting weather.

Earlier this week we ate dinner at the Different Pointe of View restaurant at the Tapatio Cliffs Resort which was great. Super nice view, ambiance and excellent food. I'd stay at that resort if I was coming here for a vacation. Besides the food and view they have acres of pools, as the website says, "The Falls Water Village offers acres of pools, terraced waterfalls and an abundance of poolside lounges to soak in the sun." Looks fun.

This is a snapshot of my dessert - two types of sorbet and an artistic presentation. It was very tasty.

Since this is a business trip I'm out in a business hotel - which is fine too. There's a Greek market and cafe right next door that has good fresh hummus, falafel and pita. There's a pool, workout room and decent food so I'm not complaining.

If I had more time and maybe if it was a little cooler I'd look into renting a motorcycle and heading out into the desert and up into the mountains to Flagstaff.

Maybe next time.

Dang Gophers

2011-08-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

Rachel learned the hard way that Gopher holes can be dangerous. I'm glad it was a sprain and not a broken ankle - although I've had both and can't really say which hurts more. I suppose it depends.

That's a pretty steep hill they were on. We were riding down it years ago and Tommy's horse slipped and fell which was scary. Good times at Chico.

My Mom's cousin Buzzy used to take care of the horses there. He was a character and a really nice guy. I always liked visiting their house when I was a kid because there were over ten kids in the family, so not a lot of parental supervision. Good times.

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I remember one time the twins (there were two sets of twins in Buzzy's family) came to visit us when we lived on the hill in Columbus and set the hillside on fire with firecrackers. I always liked fire as long as it's not a house or nice trees or anything like that burning up.

Speaking of fire...

I got in a little trouble once for using gasoline to burn a C in the hill on that property. I thought it would be a nice symbol for the town. It worked fine except someone from the fire department in town saw the smoke and thought it was a brush fire and dispatched the fire truck. Mom was not pleased.

When I was younger - six/seven we were exploring a dirt cellar in an abandoned house in town. Couldn't see very well cause it was dark so we lit some newspapers on fire to use as torches. That smoke got someones attention, but we were gone by the time police/fire showed up. The town cop came to our house that night. I don't know how they knew I was involved.

Actually the only real out of control fire I was involved in was when we were clearing brush in one of the coulees near the house. I had on old car hood that we used to pull behind the pickup in the wintertime. I thought I could use that hood as sort of an outdoor fireplace to burn some of the brush we'd cut. That worked for awhile until the sparks jumped out and started the super-dry grass and sagebrush on fire. Luckily it didn't spread too far. Thank you - Columbus Volunteer Fire Department.

Trip Up The Chuckanut

2011-07-23T22:23:00.000-07:00

I rode up to Bellingham via Edison (population 133, plus 100 Harley riders on a busy weekend) and Chuckanut Drive today.

Great day for a ride. Chuckanut would be a better motorcycle road if there weren't so many cars, people, bicycles on/beside the road. Share the road for sure. Although fun it would be dangerous to try and ride that road fast.

I stopped in Edison for some iced tea at Tweets. That's a good place to eat - fresh ingredients and a cool big building with a garden. This page has some info about Greater Edison...what to do when you get here..

I had lunch at the Community Food Co-op in Bellingham. I used to think all the criminals lived in Bellingham - just kidding..someone told me years ago that criminals driving North on I-5 would end up in Bellingham because they couldn't risk crossing into Canada and Bham was the last city on the way. Now I think a lot of hippies live in Bellingham. Cool.

We (B at least) met Arlo Guthrie in Bellingham a few years ago - so in the spirit of that trip here's his Motorcycle song -

New Rear Tire on The KZ1000 Police Bike

2011-07-21T20:42:00.000-07:00

I got the new rear Shinko tire on the KZP. I brought the rear wheel to Shiny Side Up about 5 pm thinking I'd drop it off and pick it up the next day. The owner said he could have it done in 30 minutes or less. It was 25 dollars to mount the tire and 5 dollars disposal fee for the old tire.

Removing and installing the rear wheel on that bike is a bit time consuming.

You have to -

Loosen/remove the exhaust pipe/muffler assembly to get clearance to pull the axle out. The exhaust is one piece so you can't just remove the mufflers. There are 2 split rings on each of the 4 exhaust pipes where they enter the engine that are tricky to get back in right because they tend to fall off or slip out of place. The manual says to use tape to hold them in place. It would have to be some kind of heat resistant tape if you did that. It looked like whoever had those off last time used some kind of fiberglass hear wrap material.

Loosen/remove the saddle bag on the left side which is a bit tricky because the wiring for the blinker runs through the mounting tubes and there wasn't any disconnect nearby. I had to use some bungee cords to keep the saddle bag out of the way and not hanging by the electrical wiring.

Remove the chain from the sprocket, which requires you remove the chain guard (dirty job).

Loosen the swing arm.

Remove the 2 bolts that hold the brake caliper and pull it out of the way - the brake pads fall out when you do that so you have to get the 2 anti-rattle clips and 1 spring clip back into the caliper correctly during installation. You need to remove the brake line from a couple of clips and bungee cord the brake caliper out of the way.

Remove the cotter key and nut from the right side of the axle.

Push the axle out the left side of the bike. There are a couple of spacers and a washer that will fall off that need to be reinstalled.

The rear wheel won't clear the fender with the bike on the center stand. It will clear if you kick a couple of pieces of 2X4 under the center stand though.

Installation is the reverse of removal as they say. Getting the rear axle to line up with the swing arm is a little tricky.

I'd guess it took me 4 hours to get the wheel off and put it back on. It was the first time I'd done that so I could probably cut that down to 3 hours next time. I can see why a shop would charge a hundred bucks or so to mount a tire if you don't pull the wheel off yourself. They probably assume an hour and a half labor. That would be no problem on my Concours but it would be a rush on that police bike.

I got the wheel back on and everything buttoned up after dark and it was raining but I wanted to take a test spin. About a block from home I heard a ping/tinkling sound as something fell off the bike and bounced on the street. Went to look for it with a flashlight but no luck. I found it the next morning. It was one of the split rings from the exhaust that had lodged in the pipes and then bounced out. A car had run over it so it was a bit on the flat side. Luckily it's made of a malleable metal and I hammered it back into a round shape and put it back where it belonged. I ordered a new one from Ron Ayers before I found the old one so I'll have a spare to sell on eBay or decorate my garage.

Those split rings are crazy hard to get back in. There's 8 of them. Not all of them came off since I didn't pull the exhaust off the bike - just removed the 2 nuts on each pipe holder that connects to the engine, loosened various other clamps underneath the bike, and removed the bolt that holds the muffler to the frame, so I could drop the muffler far enough to clear the axle. I made sure each split ring that fell on the floor was reinstalled - but I missed a couple that fell out and lodged on the exhaust pipes. I should have done that job during the daytime.

Motorcycle maintenance is good for relaxing and focusing your mind as long as you are patient. I couldn't afford to have someone else work on bikes even if I didn't like doing my own work anyway.

I've read that some motorcycle shops are reluctant to install tires you didn't buy from them. I haven't found that to be the case at the two independent shops nearest my house. They'll usually tell you they sell tires but they know they can't match internet prices. If you bring in a wheel they are happy to mount a tire for you in my experience. It's a simple job with a tire mounting machine and balancer, so they don't run the risk of losing money on labor costs - which might be the case if they remove the wheel, at least on this bike. Motorcycle Superstore, where I got these tires, has a preferred installer program - so you can look up shops that will install tires using their website.

I have a new front tire ready to install but I'm going to let the OEM front tire wear a little more before I put the new one on.

______________________________

One thing that surprised me a little during this job was how fast the organic brake pads I put on last year are wearing. I'll need to replace those before winter. I might go with a sintered pad to have a better grip in the rain. The organic pads have to heat up and dry out before they give good braking which isn't ideal in this climate. A sintered pad may wear the disk out quicker. Sintered pads on the rear might contribute to accidently locking up the wheel while braking. Some bikes use sintered pads on the front and organic pads on the rear for this reason.

The KZP OEM pads are organic front and rear so I guess people got used to pre-applying the brakes to dry them off in the rain. I'm always a little amazed law enforcement officers could put so many miles on those KZP's. The seat is comfortable, it handles nice and quick in town and the bike is built solid with good chrome - but out on the highway the frame is like a wet noodle, it gets blown around pretty good, the OEM tires are pretty hard/slippery particularly as the tread wears down, in high (5th) gear it's turning 4000 rpm at 55 mph with some buzz, and the brakes aren't that great, not as bad as the Harley Sportster though since it at least has dual disks on the front. Sportster might beat it off the line from a stoplight though.

According to EBC's website sintered pads have become standard on 99% of motorcycles...so I guess the organic pads are a hold over on the old school bikes I have. The KZP began it's production run in 1982 the Concours in 1986 and the Sportster in 1957. To be fair H.D. made a few changes since 57.

Seattle: Home of the 78 Minute Summer

2011-07-18T20:36:00.000-07:00

I've started to think of this as the summer that never was here in Everett. Very few warm, non-rainy, non-cloudy days. On the plus side it's not too hot to ride a motorcycle and we don't have dust storms, excessive heat/humidity or tornadoes.

Our summer is odd since it's really hot in parts of the U.S. I see the 10 day forecast for Austin is 100 plus every day except Friday when it cools down to 99. That's a continuing pattern there, it's been 100 or over every day of July except for a couple where it was 99.

From the KOMO News | Weather Blog - it's been above 80 degrees for 78 minutes so far this "summer"; 12 minutes on July 2, and 66 minutes on July 6.

It's usually a little warmer in Seattle than Everett so we've probably had less than the full 78 minute summer.

Super Cheap Tires

2011-07-17T20:56:00.000-07:00

My KZ1000 Police Bike is about ready for a new rear tire. The OEM run-flats that are on it now are expensive. $184 for the front and $238 for the rear.

I don't really need run-flat tires. I mainly use that bike for in-town commuting and running errands at 35 mph or less so I decided to go with some cheap Shinko tires. I got a set of Shinko 230 Tourmaster Tires for $125.98 at Motorcycle Superstore. 110/90V-18 front for $55.99 and 120/90V-18 rear for $69.99. The V rating means it's a 149 mph tire so that part sounds good enough. I talked to a motorcycle mechanic who thought Shinko's were good tires and they get good reviews for the most part from people who have bought them.

I'd buy tires locally but it's impossible for independent shops to compete with online prices. I got free shipping and no sales tax from Motorcycle Superstore.

I'll probably end up paying 20 or 30 bucks a wheel to have them mounted and balanced although I've been thinking about buying some tire irons and see what it's like to do it myself. If I do that I have to figure out a way to balance them, avoid scratching up the rims and deal with the super stiff sidewalls on those run-flats when trying to pry the old tires off. It's probably worth the money to pay someone who has the right equipment since tire changes are an every other year affair given the miles I put on bikes.

Photo Collection: MC/Ferry Trip - Alaska, B.C.,Alberta - Summer 2011

2011-07-09T22:15:00.000-07:00

I uploaded the photos I took on my motorcycle and ferry trip to Flickr at MC/Ferry Trip - Alaska, B.C.,Alberta - Summer 2011

Maybe 1 in 20 is a keeper.

Here's something you don't see everyday - a bear supervising a logging operation -

P1020429, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

This is the all natural lawnmower at Miette Hot Springs -

P1020778, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

These guys were on a road trip too -

P1020916, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

Here's some kind of 4 legged critter eating grass -

P1020810, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

And another...

P1020910, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

These newlyweds from South Dakota were spending some time at Lake Louise -

P1020913, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

And here's Lake Louise..I imagine one of the most photographed spots on earth -

P1020907, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

Wobbling Into Omak - Blowing Into Waterville

2011-07-07T20:42:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, as I was approaching the Canadian border going south the front end of the Connie started to feel a little weird - a twitch or something when I was turning. I couldn't detect anything obviously wrong so I kept pushing on south on 97. I wanted to at least get into the U.S. before the bike gave in, if that was going to happen.

Riding straight was okay but in turns the front end was starting to pulse/wobble/twitch a little bit more as I continued on. I pulled into a big parking lot in Omak and did some circling turns at low speed to see how bad it was. It was bad enough I decided to throw in the towel, stay in Omak and try to figure out a way to get some wheel bearings for a Kawasaki Concours C10 and some way to get the old ones out and the new ones in.

Luckily the Connie front wheel bearings are fairly common 6203 double-sealed industrial bearings and the local Napa Auto Parts store person knew his bearings - and was able to set me up with a pair for 10 bucks.

The original bearings are double sealed with a rubber shield on each side. The advantage of this type of bearing is you can remove the rubber shield and pack some additional grease in the bearings (and then put the rubber shield back in place). The bearings are made in Japan by NTN or Nachi -

The NAPA bearing has metal shields on each side. They come from the factory with some grease on the balls/race but you can't pack any additional grease into them -

I asked the guy at NAPA if he had any suggestions for someone who could drive the old bearings out and drive the new one's in? He suggested the Omak Marine down by the river. Went there and they were busy but the owner got on the phone and called around and found someone a block away who said he could do it but it would be about 20 minutes before he could start!

The exclamation point is because I feel super lucky to have this problem in this place. It could have just as well have happened in Northern B.C. on the road, out in the boonies, in the rain.

The place I got the new bearings installed is called Go Moto. It's right across the street from the swimming pool in Omak. I was in a little before noon, had some rice and beans at the Mexican Coach-Cafeteria beside the place, hit the adult swim at the Omak pool from noon until 1 pm...walked around downtown Omak and was back on the road about 2:30 pm. The owner/technician of Go Moto is Dennis Ayika who graduated from Everett High School (small world). He knows a lot about a lot of different kinds of motorcycles and provided great service at a reasonable rate. If you own a hard to work on bike like a Ducati it might pay to take a trip over to Omak to get some work done at his place.

The old bearings had started to rust a bit and were getting a little notchy. I knew the bearings were starting to fail because when I put the bike on the center stand the front wheel wasn't spinning as freely as it normally does, and I was getting the little twitch/wobble when the bearings hit the worn spot. Dennis thought the NAPA bearings would last the life of the bike, but I have some NTN bearings on order from Murph's just to have a spare set available. Based on my experience I'd guess replacing the bearings at 30,000 mile intervals would be prudent - since this set failed at about 39,000 miles. You really don't know how long they'll last - but you can probably extend the life by not pressure washing around the bearings and putting some new grease to keep out water when you have the front wheel off.

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Riding along the Columbia, and up unto the plateau to Waterville the winds a whippin pretty good - but it's supposed to calm down for tomorrow and Saturday in time for Waterville Days.

I'm spending the last night of my mini-odyssey in the historic Waterville Hotel. What a great place. All kinds of cool old stuff, radios, pictures, books, etc. etc.

Great meal and atmosphere at the Harvest House Art Gallery and Supper Club in "who would of guessed...Waterville." For dinner tonight it was me, the owner (who is also the head of the Chamber of Commerce, bread baker, chocolate maker, old time camera photographer, owner of local industry Bainbridge Manufacturing, Inc. and one of the main organizers of the upcoming Waterville Days celebration this Friday and Saturday), a visitor/friend of the owner from California, and the Chef Valerie.

Valerie had made some wild strawberry jam that she wanted to taste like her Grandmother's. It was great with the fresh baked bread. The salad greens came from the garden out back - pesticide free, and she was kind enough to make a vegan entree for me on short notice that was great - very fresh, seasonal, local food. They even gave me some strawberry jam and the fresh baked bread to take back to the hotel for a midnight snack.

I'd drive from Seattle to Waterville just to stay at the Hotel and eat at the Harvest House. It's all quite unique. I like the whole small town vibe where people are friendly (or maybe not..but usually), everybody knows everybody else and they aren't too wrapped up in the pressure of traffic/noise/crime to take some time to slow down. Not that small towns are Shangri-La, but I always feel a little bit like I'm at home in any small town. I really like the unique flavor of the local shops, people, scenery. I think that's what I like about big cities like Seattle, New York City, San Francisco and Austin Texas too - there's different neighborhoods, small communities within a larger city and not just a big unplanned urban sprawl with no real town or community at all.

Really glad I made this trip and looking forward to the next one - it will be good to get home tomorrow and see B, R&B and Edgar the TFT.

Blog Post 2001

2011-07-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

I've posted 2001 entries to this blog - that's something I guess :-) Maybe I'll use it to remind my self some of the things I was doing if I ever get so old I can't remember.

I'm in Revelstoke B.C. tonight. Great town - fun aquatic center, music in the street and some cool shops/cafes. Really good for just hanging around and a lot of people are doing just that.

The ride from Miette Hot Springs AB. to Revelstoke B.C. took me through Jasper, Icefields Parkway, Lake Louise, and Glacier National Park (Canada). Perfect day - warm, blue skies with just a few puffy clouds.

I saw a couple of bears up close on the way to and from the side road to Miette. One a mature black bear and the other a cub by itself (but I didn't think Mom could have been too far away and didn't want to get in between the two). I didn't stop to take a picture because it seemed sort of foolish...but I did later take a picture of some bear cubs and their mom that were munching on some grass. Saw lots of Mountain Sheep, Deer, a wolf (a few days ago in Northern B.C. on the way to Prince George, Mountain Goats...but no Moose. Lot's of signs for moose crossing the road but no moose.

Here's a picture of Mount Robson which is really stunning because coming from the West you come around a bend and all of a sudden here's a huge gorgeous mountain -

Baby Mountain Goat that was with a big herd of goats beside the Parkway -

Mama bear and her two cubs. It's hard to get a picture of a bears face, they usually turn around and head into the woods when you spot them (I guess if you're lucky) -

Prince Rupert to Prince George

2011-07-04T08:33:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a long day.

I was trying to get out of Prince Rupert as early as possible, but the Canadian Customs decided they wanted to keep me hanging around while they searched my bags and asked me the usual silly questions. When I told the guy I'd toured the state capital building in Alaska - he said Anchorage? I'm glad I don't have that job. It's a toss up when I cross the border of either basically a wave and a smile or the 3rd degree and searching my luggage. At least I wasn't strip searched. I didn't get out of Prince Rupert until almost 2 pm and I had an 8 hour drive ahead.

It was raining in Prince Rupert and rained until I got a couple of hours east on Highway 16 the Yellowhead Highway. It's a beautiful drive along the Skeena River, but it was foggy and raining so I didn't get the full effect.

It got pretty cold coming into Prince George but I was okay with my gear on.

If I was planning this trip over I'd spend a night in Smithers about halfway between Prince Rupert and Prince George. Since I had to press on to Prince George I only had time to snap this photo at a gas stop -

I managed to pick up some kind of cold bug on the ferry so it's going to be nice to soak in those hot springs at Miette later today.

Happy 4th of July!

Just Left Petersburg

2011-07-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

I've been on the ferry for 26 hours now. Juneau, Sitka, Kake, Petersburg.

We stop at Wrangell and Ketchikan - then Prince Rupert at 10:45 am Sunday.

I'm going to hop on my bike there and ride to Prince George - then Jasper, Miette
Hot Springs, Revelstoke and ?

Somewhere along the way I managed to take a picture of an eagle -

P1020609, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

Junior Engineer's Locker

2011-07-02T19:21:00.001-07:00

On the Alaska State Ferry Taku -

Alaska Map Made From a Piece of the Pipeline

2011-07-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

In the state capital -

Sitting Here in Juneau

2011-06-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

This is looking off the balcony outside my room -

That white house on the right with the 2 chimneys and plastic sheeting on the front is the governor's mansion.

I'm looking forward to walking around the area, drinking some coffee and doing my laundry.

I think I might break one of my personal rules, "no bus tours as long as I'm ambulatory", and take a tour bus tour of the city and Mendenhall Glacier based on a recommendation from the desk clerk. She's from Juneau and learned a lot about the history of the city on the tour. She also said she worked for the bus tour company for two days...I wish I would have got the details but it was late.

People Camping Out on The Alaska State Ferry

2011-06-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

Prince Rupert to Juneau

2011-06-28T23:40:00.000-07:00

Picture of Ketchikan taken from the ferry as we approached -

It was after midnight so not much going on (actually nothing). We spent 4 hours in Ketchikan.

B&B in Wrangell -

We were in Wrangell about 1/2 hour, enough time to grab an espresso and snap a few photos.

Tying up in Petersburg -

I didn't get off the ferry in Petersburg since we were only there about 15 minutes.

I've got a lot of photos that look like this -

It was misty/drizzly/rainy all the way up to Juneau. No problem though, I'm used to the rain and wasn't expecting sun anyway. Nice relaxing ride.

Port Hardy to Prince Rupert

2011-06-27T23:33:00.000-07:00

It's a 17 hour ferry trip from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. 15 hours traveling and 2 hours getting on board.

It's super.

I can't imagine anything else in the world like that inside passage. Miles and miles of water with mountains on either side and almost no people. There's an odd sail boat or fishing boat or light house here and there but pretty much just wilderness.

The B.C. Ferry I rode on is called the Northern Expedition. It was built in 2009 and cruises at 20 knots. It's like new. The people working on board were all really nice. I'm glad I had a cabin to stash my stuff in but I didn't spend much time in there.

Most people on the trip are from European countries - Germany, Denmark, Netherlands, England are near the top and interestingly enough the fewest people on board are from Canada and the U.S. (I got this info from the purser's talk about things to do in the area).

It was a sunny day and totally relaxing listening to the hum of the diesels and feeling the clean air.

I got into Prince Rupert just before 11 pm and it was still light outside. I'm kicking around here until Tuesday at 7 pm when I catch the Alaska State Ferry to Juneau. The trip up takes 26 hours, the trip back takes 33 hours because they swing out to Sitka.

On to Port Hardy

2011-06-26T09:12:00.001-07:00

It's sunny and warm this morning. I'm not in any big hurry to get going - what the heck I'm on vacation. I have to get up early tomorrow morning to be in line from the ferry to Prince Rupert at 5:30 am.

I plan to meander up to Campbell River where one of my favorite authors Roderick Haig-Brown lived and fished.

It's only a little over 200 miles up to the Bear Cove Cottages I'm staying at in Port Hardy so I have plenty time...nice.

________________________________________________

I'm hanging out at Serious Coffee in Campbell River now. I found a card reader that works for downloading photos from my camera.

I'd like to live in a place where you can burn your yard...

Inflatable Santa was out on his inflatable bike...

It's really pretty on Highway 19A going north, but I'm not taking pictures of the water and mountains, because I've found landscape shots unless they are really spectacular are usually kind of boring. Plus even though something looks spectacular when you see it - I can almost never capture the scene with a camera.

I tend to go pretty slow sometimes because I have to stop to take pictures of weird things...but I better get out of here. It's still 150 miles or so to Port Hardy and it's about 2:30 pm.

_____________________________________________

The road near Campbell River is really scenic riding along the water. Nice drive all the way to Port Hardy. You start to head inland but there's some nice snow capped peaks around you. The speed limit is 80 to 90 to 100 Kph in the isolated spots (which is most of the road once you head inland)...it should be 80 mph. The road is in great shape and hardly any traffic.

Three eagles swooped down in front of me while riding to Bear Cove. One of them had a fish in his mouth and dropped it out of surprise I guess. I waited around to see if they'd come back to retrieve it but I guess they got spooked by the near collision with my motorcycle. Here's a picture of the fish -

The road up to Bear Cove Cottages is steep and rocky. No place level to park until you figure out you have to make a hard right behind the cottages. Trying to maneuver a bike that weighs 700 some odd pounds on a steep rocky slope is challenging. I had to go up to the top of the hill and come back down to get into the parking area.

The cottages are more like luxury cabins that seem to be brand new - they have wifi (slow), satellite TV, jacuzzi, picture window overlooking the ocean and mountains, and lots of eagles.

I gotta get to bed early tonight I'm getting up at 4:30 am to be at the ferry. Luckily the terminal is about a mile down the road so not too long a drive.

Hanging Out At Qualicum Beach

2011-06-25T19:03:00.000-07:00

I rode from Sidney to Port Renfrew on the West coast of Vancouver Island. It's amazing how different some roads are when you are driving on them vs. looking at them on a map. I planned to make a loop going west on the southerly route and back east on a more northerly route. The route looked like main roads on the map. Not exactly.

Going west to Port Renfrew the road is pretty good - lots of one lane bridges as you get further west, and a fair number of frost heaves - or whatever makes the road sink/rise in that area.

There is logging in the general vicinity but on Saturday no trucks. There is gravel on some of the turns which can be interesting. It's not intended to be a gravel road but logging trucks rear wheels pull gravel off the shoulder onto the road.

The road east out of Port Renfrew was pretty much deserted - except for a guy who lost a boat off a trailer. There are signs that have what looks like a sawtooth on them - indicating the road is bumpy.

There's no centerline, no road markers and lots of one lane bridges. You can't get going too fast, especially in the corners because the gravel or bumps will throw you off line. Add in some rain and a little fog and it's a slow go.

I was wondering why the kid at the museum in Sooke told me that trip would take so long. It's because you spend a lot of time at 35 mph and below. It's a nice ride - not great and I wouldn't recommend it as a good motorcycle road. It's a road you take to get to the fishing spots, beaches, parks, surfing areas, the hotel in Port Renfrew - or if you want to get away from the traffic around Victoria and the East coast of the island.

Port Renfrew is pretty, people are nice and the hotel there is clean. Sooke has a really cool museum/visitor center with old machinery and other esoteric odds and ends. Super nice people working there. There were a couple of young backpackers hanging out in the yard from South America. One of them was playing the harmonica tunelessly - I can't understand Spanish but I think his buddy was telling him to learn to play. Looked like they were on an adventure.

I was north of Port Renfrew on a fishing trip out of Ucluelet years ago. We flew in for that. With typical fisherman optimism we planned to catch our limits and bring home some whoppers. It was the wrong week for fishing. I still remember our puny little packages of fish coming off the baggage ramp. It was fun - we caught enough rockfish to make some good fish and chips plus we got to ride in a pickup, ferry, bus and small plane.

Unfortunately any pictures I took with my camera will have to wait until I get home - unless I buy a USB cable. Forgot that darn thing. I ended up getting a memory card reader at London Drug, which does the job.

Bikes running great and I have a comfortable place to rest for the night. Plenty of time to nose around on my way to Port Hardy tomorrow.

Here's a couple of photos from the visitor center/museum at Sooke -

I'm Outta Here!

2011-06-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

Ara and Spirit

2011-06-21T03:12:00.000-07:00

All Ready to Ride Next Saturday

2011-06-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

View Summer 2011 MC Trip I in a larger map

I've got my travel booked on the BC Ferry out of Port Hardy to Prince Rupert and on the Alaska State Ferry from Prince Rupert to Juneau. Lots of interesting places to see and stop at on the way that I've never seen before. I'm leaving early Saturday June 25th and returning Thursday July 7th.

I disassembled the front end of the Concours to check the steering stem bearings on Friday - they were fine. Tightened up the slack on the bearings to get rid of a little wobble at 50 mph. That was a lot of pieces of stuff to take apart - but at least I know the bearings are fine and have fresh grease on them.

If you happen to have a C10 Concours and want to adjust the steering stem bearings you can use this wrench from McMaster-Carr.

6975A16 Fixed Hook Spanner Wrench for Slots, for 1-37/64" to 1-21/32" (40mm to 42mm) Circle Diameter

I need to ride the bike around a bit this week to see if anything falls off :-) after taking the forks, front wheel, handlebars, fender, brakes..etc. off of it to get to the bearings. I generally don't like to do anything major maintenance wise before a trip but I needed to get that shimmy squared away.

I'm getting a Fork Brace from Murph's kits this week and will install it before I go. That thing looks like a piece of cake to install.

I'm getting excited - and love the planning stages of a motorcycle trip...thinking about the ferry rides, the mom and pop motels, hot springs, mountains, roads, people...lots of fun!

Sportster Cutting Out At Wide Open Throttle

2011-06-15T05:43:00.000-07:00

I was having a problem with my Sportster cutting out at 60 - 70 mph when I opened the throttle up. I cleaned the plugs and air filter, tried some Techron, made sure the carb slide wasn't sticking and eventually put in some new NGK 3932 plugs - but that didn't do it.

There are three electronic components that could be causing the problem - MAP Sensor (inside the carb), Crank Position Sensor (on the front of the crankcase) and the ignition module (under the seat). The 2005 Sportster has some diagnostics that can be read by using the speedometer reset button but it wasn't showing any fault codes. I didn't feel like replacing electronic components based on a guess.

I thought it might be a fuel starvation issue so I pulled the gas tank and removed the petcock so I could clean the fuel filter. The filter had some sand-like crud on it so I washed it out with Dawn and then gas. The bikes running fine now.

______________________________________

The petcock is interesting on that bike. It has 3 positions - off, reserve and main. It was built backwards - so the reserve is actually main and main is reserve. It's also vacuum operated so you can't easily drain the tank without a vacuum pump. That gave me an excuse to buy a Mityvac and play with that a little bit. You could drain the tank by pulling it off the bike and then removing the petcock. That would be a little messy - but I could see doing it with a funnel and a gas can to save the gas your draining out.

HD built in protection to guard against hydrolock on that bike; the petcock with dual redundancy - off position and vacuum operated, carb overflow tubes and a built-in fuel filter to keep crud out of the carb which could cause the float or float needle to stick. The idea is you want gas to flow when the engine runs. In the event of a failure where the the petcock and float stick you want gas to run out of the overflow tubes and not into the cylinders. It's a good design. In this particular area I'd say the HD design comes out ahead compared to a Kawasaki C10 Concours or KZ1000P where there is no off position on the petcock, no fuel filter and no overflow tubes.

Riding in The Rain

2011-06-08T04:46:00.000-07:00

I like the recreational aspects of riding a motorcycle on the weekends, after work and on the occasional longer trip. That type of riding is generally the most fun if it's sunny or at least not raining - although running into rain is part of the deal too.

What I really like though is just riding a motorcycle anytime. For that reason I've become a utility rider - meaning I use a motorcycle to get to work and run errands whenever possible, which is any day when there's not snow, frost or ice on the roads. In the last couple of years I've probably driven a car to work about ten times, so I'm pretty lucky.

Living in the Pacific Northwest and wanting to ride a motorcycle as much as possible means you'll be riding in the rain. That's really not a problem as long as you have the right gear and keep in mind some basic safety rules - the main one being to adjust your speed for road and traffic conditions. In the MSF operators course they recommend not riding immediately after the rain starts. The reason for this is the oil, transmission fluid, diesel, etc. that leaks out of vehicles onto the road can combine with the water to create some extra slippery conditions.

P1010226, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

This is not usually much of an issue in this area (particularly in the fall/winter/spring) since the rain tends to last for awhile and will wash the road relatively clean. Yesterday was an exception.

There was a light mist that caused the road to be wet but not enough rain to clean it off. There's a right hand curve shortly after the parking lot where my bike had been sitting for the day. As I pulled out of the lot and accelerated to get in front of cars approaching I entered the curve. The tires started to lose traction causing a sideways slide and I ended up crossing the center line which was not catastrophic since there was no on coming traffic and the bike stayed upright.

It was a good reminder though. I'm not sure if I picked up some oil on the tires in the parking lot or if it was on that corner - but in any case it was more slippery than I anticipated. I've ridden around that corner hundreds of times and have a good idea of how fast I can ride it - except for yesterday. This is the second time fairly recently that I've learned how slick the pavement can be when it's wet. The other time was coming to a stop sign at a slow rate of speed immediately after having the bike parked on a rainy day. I was surprised that even moderate braking caused the bike to slide. This was another case where vehicles had left a nice slippery spot of oil/diesel from sitting at that stop sign.

I'm amazed sometimes when riding in urban areas to see how much oil/diesel/transmission fluid, gear oil (or whatever it is) is left on the road. I'm not sure how vehicles keep running when they are dripping fluid that leaves spots a foot or two in diameter every twenty feet or so. Whoever is driving those must be adding fluids on a regular basis.

One other consideration when riding in the rain is visibility - seeing/being seen. Riding at night in the rain is a no-no for me in general, although if I have to I will, for as short a time as necessary. I don't like to ride in heavy high speed traffic in some rain conditions - particularly when the temperature is causing ground fog, or my visor/glasses are fogging up or then there is a lot of fine spray from cars moving in adjacent lanes that tends to stay in the air and compound the difficulty of seeing/being seen.

The bottom line is there is no reason that riding in the rain can't be safe and enjoyable - just be aware of road conditions, your bike's capabilities, your riding skill and adjust your speed and following distance accordingly.

Belize and Guatamala

2011-06-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

Never been there.

But it sounds great. Spent the evening with Rachel hearing about her trip. She got to see a manatee (cool), overgrown pyramids, the inside of a huge cave that you have to swim into - with stalactites, stalagmites and bats. There were toucans, monkeys and she ate a lot of seviche. Not sure exactly where in Belize but they stayed at a resort for 20 bucks a night that included meals and access to canoes and kayaks to explore the river. Eco-tourism is big biz in that area and the locals are friendly. Sounded like an educational trip and a lot of fun.

Washington's SR 20 Opens Today at Noon

2011-05-25T05:15:00.000-07:00

From the WSDOT North Cascades Highway Update, "Nine feet of snowfall in March and a record seven-and-a-half feet in April on the western slopes of the Cascades kept avalanche control technicians and snow clearing equipment on Stevens Pass until the avalanche threat eased and allowed the team to move up to the North Cascades. There, they found SR 20 buried in snow as deep as 75 feet. This is the second latest opening of the highway surpassed only by the June 14, 1974 opening."

I think I'll skip the opening this year, since the weather forecast for today is mostly cloudy with a chance of rain this morning...then rain likely this afternoon. Not that riding in the rain bothers me but I'd rather do that particular ride on a sunny day.

Maybe I'll change my mind later - I would like to get one of Tootsie Clark's cinnamon rolls, for the first drivers at the gate.

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I got up to the gate about 11:30 but Tootsie was all out of cinnamon rolls. I did get a couple of free granola bars and a double espresso at Cascadian Farm on my way which helped make up for no free cinnamon rolls. I spent an hour or so in Winthrop and got an offer from an old guy to trade my ride for his ride (a cane). That's one thing I like about being on a motorcycle - your out in the open which tends to make human to human interaction much more likely than in a car. No rain until just outside of Twisp and then it rained all the way home. I took Highway 20 east and came back west on Highway 2. Coming off Stevens Pass on 2 was interesting because there was ground fog and rain. Nice ride and as always good to get out on the road.

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Motorcycle Maintenance - Removing Frozen Bolts

2011-05-24T06:05:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend getting my Concours ready for summer trips. I ordered new brake pads from Murphs, but after taking the old ones off and inspecting them/cleaning up the brake calipers I decided to hold off changing them since there's still plenty of pad left. One tool that was indispensable for removing the frozen bolts on the rear caliper was an impact driver.

This is a 3/8 inch drive Lisle impact driver. It's a very well made tool and simple to use. You put it on the fastener you want to remover, twist it counter-clockwise (unless you have a reverse thread...which is rare) and then start whacking it with a hammer. I sprayed some penetrating oil on the bolts first and would have tried some heat if necessary.

I changed the rear drive oil, engine oil and filter, air filter and spark plugs; so that bike is ready to roll.

The crimp-on connector on the ground wire to the left coil broke when I was tightening it so I replaced that. The engine seems to be running smoother - not sure if it's the placebo effect, the new plugs or if that ground wire wasn't making a good connection for some time.

The Connie really likes being out on the road. It's a great interstate bike. It's not the best for driving around parking lots with the top heavy 7 1/2 gallon gas tank full or weaving through traffic with it's slow response to turning inputs. I have the wider Dunlop Elite 3 tires on it so that may have something to do with the sluggish turning. The Elite 3's work fine for what I use that bike for - I've ridden it in the rain a lot with no traction issues and I can scrape the pegs in the twisties.

I'm looking forward to better weather and some time off from work so I can go check out some new roads and old familiar roads that I like. I'm still planning on taking the trip to Juneau and a trip to Minnesota this year. When I have more time off I'd really like to head south into Mexico and Central America. I'll have to research the best time of year for that trip - I'm thinking late fall or winter might be better than mid summer. I'd like to go up to New England and upstate New York in the fall too...ride across the U.S. on highway 20, around the world - etc. etc. etc..

Washington SR 20 - April 17 2010 and April 25 2011

2011-04-27T05:16:00.001-07:00

This is a photograph I took last April on opening day for the North Cascades Highway Washington State Route 20. The front end loader is clearing off a minor avalanche in the background.

P1010308, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.

This is a photograph from WA DOT taken this April. It's going to be awhile before the road opens this year.

Excavating for the blower, a photo by WSDOT on Flickr.

All the rain we are getting this spring translates into more snow up on the highway. Washington Pass is over a mile high.

Where did my tax dollars go?

2011-04-18T03:30:00.000-07:00

Where did my tax dollars go? is the Grand Award Winner of the Data Vizualization Challenge announced today - Tax Day 2011.

The challenge was sponsored by Google and Eyebeam.

The objective of the challenge was to create data visualizations that make it easier to understand how the government spends our tax money.

Interesting stuff, and a lot more intuitive than looking at the tabular source data from WhatWePayFor.com.

One of the Finalists, Budget Climb, looks like it might be more fun...I didn't listen to the audio just watched for awhile. It's about 30 seconds into the video before you see what makes the little Uncle Sam character move.

You Go Guy

2011-03-30T22:31:00.001-07:00

Quite an adventure story here from a guy with awesome video editing skills. He's riding a 1972 Suzuki 185 from Milwaukee to South America. For people not familiar with motorcycles this is a small bike with about 17 hp and a theoretical top speed of 70 mph. You can buy one on Craigslist for 200 dollars and up. I think he left Milwaukee in late January on his motorcycle which seems pretty amazing in itself to me.

I like the idea of the "innocence" of motorcycling that one guy mentions in the video. Riding a simple bike without a lot of fancy gear just for the fun of it. It's not 1972 anymore so he does have a laptop, HD-Pro video camera and a spot tracker - but that's great for us armchair adventurers to follow along.

Another thing that makes this story interesting to me is that the rider is a young guy who served six years as a Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician with deployments to the Middle East and now he's using the G.I. Bill to go to college and taking adventurous motorcycle trips having fun.

In this video he meets another rider and they spend some time playing around on their bikes in the surf and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Nice change from that cold Wisconsin winter.

I found the link to this video and some of the story at ADVrider

Kawasaki C10 Concours Spark Plug Boots and Wires

2011-03-13T21:08:00.000-07:00

If you need to replace the spark plug caps and wires on a C10 Concours, you'll need:

Spark Plug Wire 7mm Copper Core (non-resistive) - 69 cents per foot at O'Reilly Auto Parts P/N MW11 (4 feet is enough to make all four wires)

NGK Spark Plug Cap P/N SD05F - 3 bucks or so a piece at various online motorcycle supply places. I got mine from Bike Bandit since I had a 10 dollar gift card.

You'll need to re-use the wide rubber cap from the top of the old boot and the rubber piece that compresses around the wire at the coil end to hold the wire on the coil connector pin.

I have all the pieces on hand to do the job and took the tank off intending to replace the plug wires and boots today. When I inspected the existing wires/boots I decided to re-terminate them rather than replace. These pictures show what the two ends of the NGK cap look like.

The wire end of the cap has what looks like a wood screw that you twist the wire into.

This is a picture of the wire end of the NGK cap with the rubber boot removed. The OEM Kawasaki Caps have a similar screw but it's harder to see since the rubber boot is one-piece.

I unscrewed the plug wire from each cap, made sure the copper wire at the end wasn't corroded/damaged and then screwed them back together.

The OEM wire is good quality and molded specifically for this application. I decided not to replace it if I didn't have to.

The plug end of the cap has a copper dome with a piece of springy wire mounted on one side. You might be able to see it in this picture. The springy wire is what makes that zip noise when you push the cap on the spark plug terminal. All my springy wire was in place and the copper looked good to I buttoned things back up.

One thing that should be obvious from this plug wire cap construction method is that you shouldn't pull a plug wire off a spark plug by grasping the wire - you'll pull the copper wire away from that little screw in the cap. The nice thing about these are you can take them apart and clean/inspect - or make a new set if need be.

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I decided to drain the float bowls because I wanted to see if there was any sediment or water in the bowls. There wasn't so I dumped the gas into my lawn mower gas tank. I did have to make a trip to Harbor Freight to get a longer 3mm Hex Key than what I had on hand so I could reach the 2 and 3 carb float bowl drain screws.

I re-synched the carbs again while I had the tank off - since the last time I did it was in the dark and rain - wasn't sure if I'd got it as close as possible. The carbs were all pulling close to the same vacuum, but I tweaked them a little and called it good.

Next time I take off the gas tank I'll try and not do it when it has 7 gallons of fuel in it - that thing is unwieldy as heck with that weight in it. I also figured out that you can get to the rubber donuts that support the front of the tank from the front - after you've connected the fuel, vacuum and electrical connections. That's handy since one of those rubber donuts almost always falls off when you slide the tank on - and if you don't get it on right you'll have a rocking tank (not good). If I was smarter I'd probably glue or tape those rubber donuts in place.

I tried some Techron Fuel Additive this time - it's two for one at Autozone right now. Could be voodoo mechanics but it makes me feel like I'm doing something good.

The reason I've been fooling around with the plug wires, float bowls, carb synch is because there's a tendency for Connies to have a bit of a surge or flat spot around 2500 RPM. It's not a big deal - you can usually rev up or down to get out of the slight flat spot. I'm pretty much resolved to believing that getting rid of it involves changing carburetor jetting and fuel/air mixture adjustments that I don't feel are worth the effort.

I took the bike for a fairly spirited ride up I-5 and it runs good. It ran good before I took it apart too but I think it's a little smoother.

I'm really looking forward to a let up of the rainy weather here in the Pacific Northwest so I can get out on weekends and actually go somewhere.

Plans for a Summer MC Trip I

2011-03-08T22:09:00.000-08:00

View Summer 2011 MC Trip I in a larger map

Ferry from Anacortes to Sidney BC.
Ride to Port Hardy on Vancouver Island
Ferry from Port Hardy to Prince Rupert
Ferry from Prince Rupert to Juneau and back
Ride Prince Rupert to Prince George
Ride from Prince George to Jasper/Banff
Ride from Banff to Kelowna
Ride from Kelowna to Tonasket
Highway 20 home
Total trip about 3K miles

Sunny Weekend Rides

2011-02-21T02:37:00.000-08:00

View Larger Map

I like to take my bikes out for some longer rides on weekends to warm them up, evaporate the condensation and enjoy the fresh air and sights. I rode a couple of hundred miles this weekend. My main trip was to Conway, Burlington, Sedro Wooley, Concrete, Rockport, Arlington and back home. The main roads on this run are the North Cascades Highway 20 and Highway 530 that connects Highway 20 at Rockport to Arlington.

It was sunny but with a pretty steady wind and temps around 40 degrees. There was ice on the roads in a few spots up by Rockport and there's snow on the side of the road and on rooftops in Darrington. I'm really looking forward to some temperatures in the 60's and up.

Riding a motorcycle is a great antidote to being inside. It makes going to work and back home a lot more fun. It gives me a touch of the natural world to counteract the time I spend inside. I've ridden 24,000 miles in the last year and a half - somewhere around 5000 miles was commuting to work and the other 19,000 was mostly just fun.

I'm still trying to decide if my next long trip will be North, South or East. I'm thinking of riding up Vancouver Island and catching the ferry at Port Hardy to Prince Rupert. Heading South I'd like to go to Utah and Colorado. East I'd like to take a trip through the small towns along Route 20 from Newport Oregon to Boston.

Next to Normal | 5th Avenue Theatre

2011-02-15T05:29:00.000-08:00

B and I are are going to spend the night in Seattle and see Next to Normal at the 5th Avenue Theatre next week for her birthday.

One thing that complicated finding a hotel is that we are taking Crazy Eddie with us. Some places want an additional 100 dollars for a pet. We settled on the Red Lion on Fifth Avenue since it's close to the theatre and pets stay free if you are a member of the R&R club. Edgar will get to enjoy the doggie program which includes his own pillow among other things.

TFT Gone Wild
Originally uploaded by Jack Crossen

I hope we don't have a TFT Gone Wild incident at the hotel. Edgar doesn't tear things up like he did when he was a pup, so I think he'll be fine in the hotel room for the few hours we are at the play.

Speaking of Edgar, we've had a few people come to the door selling ADT Home Security systems. I can only talk to them through the screen door since Ed is barking so loud. He's also jumping a couple of feet up and down - and would love to get outside and bite them. It seems obvious to me that we already have a security system. He's a great dog, but he can be very aggressive around strangers, and he's really quick - so it's next to impossible to catch him.

History of Toy Fox Terrier

2011-02-07T06:36:00.000-08:00

Motorcycle Maintenance - Valve and Drive Chain and Gas Additives

2011-02-01T05:32:00.000-08:00

I spent Saturday adjusting the chain on the Kawasaki KZP 1000 and adjusting the valves and synching the carbs on the Kawasaki Concours.

Actually I spent about 15 minutes adjusting the chain on the KZP and most of the rest of the time disassembling and reassembling the Concours. Getting the valve cover off, and back on, that bike is a fun puzzle.

I ended up re-adjusting the chain on the KZP after I rode it. The adjustment range is 1.2 to 1.4 inches and I had it on the tight end which was causing shifting to be a little harder than I thought it should be. The slight clunk when I shift is gone now - which is what I wanted. I was a little worried that the chain might be stretched beyond it's service limit, but it wouldn't pull away from the rear sprocket at all so that wasn't a problem. That bike has a heavy 630 type chain which looks like it should last a long time.

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It had been about 10,000 miles since I adjusted the valves last summer, but none of them were out of spec. I just tweaked a few back to be in the middle of the adjustment range; which is .006 intake, .008 exhaust. The bike seems to run a little smoother, but it might just be wishful thinking on my part.

I had a new pulse cover gasket but didn't need to use it since the old one came off intact and was in good shape. I went by the book and didn't try the unofficial bump-the-starter, or turning the back wheel, methods to get the cam lobes horizontal. I did try turning the engine over with the spark plugs out by rotating the back wheel - no joy with that method. The whole point of either of those methods is to avoid taking the pulse cover off - so you save maybe 10 minutes and maybe a gasket that cost a few bucks, and risk adjusting the valves at the wrong point; and burning or bending a valve and end up spending hundreds of dollars on repairs. It probably works fine - but I like going by the manual for certain critical things.

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I put a couple of extra bolts in the top case of the Concours to hold it on if the locking latch fails. I never take the top case off anyway so I didn't need the quick removal mechanism.

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I dumped some Shell V-Power gas additive in all three MC's. Not sure why, but it was on sale and I like thinking I'm doing something good for the engine. I figured if it what made by Shell it wouldn't hurt anything. Not so sure with some of those additives - some contain solvents that react with rubber or synthetic rubber pieces used in the fuel system possibly causing them to swell or degrade. Some people say the same thing about ethanol, but I don't have any evidence that ethanol causes any problems in any of the vehicles I've owned.

Arco gas, which has ethanol in it, is about 25 cents a gallon cheaper than the Top Tier Gasoline (Chevron, Shell, etc.) in this area. The Tappet Brothers recommend buying the cheap gas and putting in an additive every so often - if you like doing that sort of thing. Gasoline and ethanol are pretty good cleaners to begin with; so it's probably a waste of money. Ethanol might not make sense from a macro-economic or overall emissions standpoint but it burns just fine in my experience.

I think people who complain about bad gas or gas causing problems in vehicles have one of three things going on - (1) some other problem that's causing the engine to run poorly, electrical, air, compression or maybe something with the fuel system (not usually the fuel itself). (2) they actually did get a batch of bad gas, which in my experience is very rare, actually never in my particular case. (3) they let a vehicle sit for a long time and the internal parts of the fuel system start to corrode/degrade/stick. I'm talking long time here...not a couple of weeks or even over a winter.

The best thing you can do, if your concerned about this, is run the engine to operating temperature for 20 to 30 minutes once a week or so and keep the gas tank topped off to keep condensation/rust to a minimum. I've left gas in lawnmowers, edgers, pressure washers, my pickup truck for long periods of time without starting them with no ill effects. I've used Arco 87 octane regular gas with 10% ethanol in my 26 year old pickup for it's lifetime, and never had a problem with the fuel injection or other parts of the fuel system, so at least I have that data point. I use that same gas in the two Kawaski's as well and no problem with the carburetors so far. Ditto for the Harley using Arco premium.

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All three motorcycles are running great. I'm really glad we have weather that allows me to ride almost every day of the year.

I really like reading about, riding and tinkering with motorcycles.

Whidbey Island Ferry

2011-01-16T05:08:00.000-08:00

I took this picture on January 15th on the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton. I think this ferry is a great deal - the fare for a motorcycle and rider is $3.15. The fare for a walk-on passenger is $4.20, and $7.20 for a car and driver. During the peak season - May 1 to Sept 30, the motorcycle fare goes up to $3.95 (a dime more than last year), but still a good deal.

I don't know who those people are but they thought my motorcycle was really shiny. I don't ride that Harley when it's sloppy out very often. Without a windshield or fairing and with an open-face helmet it's not the best setup for wet weather. Those rain drops start to sting a bit above about 50 mph.

A lot of times it's drier on Whidbey than in Everett, but it didn't work out that way on this Saturday. It started to rain a little on the ferry ride over and I had to put my rain gear on just outside of Clinton. If you stay off the main road on the island it's a pretty interesting place to ride. I stopped at Useless Bay Coffee in Langley to warm up and have a latte. That's a nice coffee shop - pretty surroundings and lots of room for a variety of people to hang out to hang out, eat, drink coffee, visit. There were quite a few little kids with families, old and young people, dogs - so it's a nice atmosphere.

I Love Getting Packages From Moosejaw.com

2011-01-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

Rocket Sidecar - Seattle International Motorcycle Show

2011-01-12T19:37:00.000-08:00

Photo from the International Motorcycle Show in Seattle December 11, 2010. I don't know what kind of motorcycle this is but the little boy in me really likes the sidecar.

I got to see Jason Britton doing some stunts at the show. The one that impressed me the most was a sliding dismount that you'd have to see to understand. He was going at a fairly good clip - started sliding his bike sideways, put the kickstand down, and jumped off - parking his bike all in one motion. I can't find any videos of it on the web - so you'll have to see it in person.

I listened to a presentation by Lee Parks author of Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques. It was interesting but there's only so much you can learn about riding techniques by listening or reading. I might check out his book to see if anything sticks.

At another spot a mechanic was talking about adjusting valves. For Ducati owners he suggested not trying to adjust desmodromic valves the first time before watching someone else do it or asking someone who knows the procedure to help you. Reading things like "when you take out the closing shim, keep in mind that once the shim comes off, the valve is free to drop into the cylinder if the piston isn't at TDC" makes that advice sound pretty good. The engineering behind those valves is pretty interesting but unless you are willing to learn to diy or pay a dealer 700 bucks or whatever every 6000 miles to do it you might want to consider the cost of ownership of that sweet looking Ducati. On the other hand - I suppose a person who buys a Ducati 1198 isn't concerned with maintenance costs.

I think the saying is fast, cheap, reliable - pick two. Not so sure there aren't some exceptions where you end up picking one - fast, expensive, unreliable or none and end up with a slow, expensive, unreliable machine.

I picked up a pair of ROK™ Adjustable Straps for Motorcycles from a vendor at the show. I'd read some good reviews for those straps in various places on the web and needed some new straps for a waterproof bag I use to carry stuff on the rear rack going to and from work. It was nice to be able to see the various sizes and pick the one that worked for that application.

Motorcycling Over The Christmas Break

2010-12-26T13:11:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging much lately - I'm a bit bored with it and have been trying to do more non-virtual activities.

I rode a motorcycle up to the top of Stevens Pass on Christmas Eve. The road was clear with a few snow flurries up near the top. There's a couple of feet of snow beside the road. The only challenge was finding a place that wasn't covered in ice or snow to turn the top-heavy Connie around. This is a poor quality iPhone photo I took up near the top

I took the Sportster out on Christmas day for a run to Snohomish and across the flats to Marysville to warm up the oil. I can get up to about 95 before the wind pushes my open-face helmet up to the point where it's annoying.

I ordered a pulse cover gasket Kawasaki PN 11061-1155 from Murph's kits for the Concours and plan to do another by-the-book valve cover adjustment before Spring is here.

There's two basic ways to adjust the valves on that bike - the by-the-book method involves removing the pickup coil (pulse) cover and using the timing marks to determine top dead center for the pistons. The other way is to leave the pulse cover on and adjust the valves with the cam lobes horizontal so the valves are closed (cam lobes not pushing on the rocker arms). I'm going to try one more by-the-book adjustment and see how the measurements compare with the looking-at-the-lobes method while I have the valve cover off.

Had the police bike out a lot since it's my everyday rider in the wet winter. I was thinking about painting it myself or having someone else do it so it looks less police-like. I decided against that since a decent paint job would cost as much as the bike and it would still end up looking like a painted police bike. It works for what I want to use it for and like any two-wheeler it's fun to ride.

Thinking About Summer

2010-12-02T22:34:00.000-08:00

Bleeding Motorcycle Brakes or Clutch

2010-11-11T04:33:00.000-08:00

I don't update this blog much anymore because I'm occupied with motorcycle maintenance, riding and reading about motorcycles. I tend to be a bit obsessive when I'm interested in something ;-)

Anyway here's a bit about motorcycle brakes and clutches that I learned from reading and some hands-on -

Hydraulic brake systems operate using a master cylinder and a slave cylinder. The master cylinder contains a piston which moves when you apply the brakes and applies pressure to the brake fluid in the brake lines. This pressure causes a piston in a slave cylinder on the brake calipers to move and compress the brake pads on the brake disc.

Hydraulic clutches work using the same basic principle using a master cylinder and a slave cylinder that extends to move a rod when you pull in the clutch which disengages the clutch. The components are spring loaded to return to the relaxed state when you release the clutch/brake.

HowStuffWorks "A Hydraulic System" shows the concept better than a lot of words.

There are a few key characteristics of the fluid that are of interest for someone doing motorcycle maintenance -

1. It should be incompressible ie. no air bubbles.

2. It shouldn't contain a lot of water since water boils at a lower temperature then brake fluid and tends to corrode metal

3. It shouldn't contain gunk - e.g. dirt that dropped into the master cylinder when you remove the cap to look at the fluid or small particles that flake off the brake lines/components as they age.

Since hydraulic brake systems are essentially sealed it's debatable whether you ever need to change the brake fluid. For example - a 2005 Harley Davidson Sportster has no recommended maintenance interval for changing brake fluid. In other words the manufacturer doesn't consider changing brake fluid to be routine maintenance - just leave it alone - like most of us do with the brake fluid in our car braking systems. For a 2000/2001 Kawasaki KZ-P/Concours the manufacturer recommends changing the brake/clutch fluid every two years.

Part of the reason for Harley being maintenance-free vs. Kawasaki every 2 years is the type of brake fluid used by Harley vs. Kawasaki. Harley uses a silicone based Dot 5 fluid which does not absorb water Kawasaki uses a glycol based Dot 3 or 4 fluid which will absorb water.

There are some other differences between Dot 5 and Dot 3 or 4.

Dot 5 has a higher boiling point than Dot 3 or 4, and will not strip off paint - but has a tendency to aerate and retain air bubbles which will make your brakes a little (or a lot) spongy depending on how much air is in the brake lines. There's a little bubble or two in my Sportster master cylinder right now and that brake system has never been opened/disturbed. Dot 3 or 4 brake fluid will strip paint but has less tendency towards aeration (ie. you can shake a bottle and it won't get all bubbly/foamy). Dot 5 costs two or three times what Dot 3 or 4 costs - not a real big deal 4 bucks vs. 12 bucks.

Dot 3 or 4 fluid starts out clear and turns black/brown as it absorbs moisture. You may wonder how moisture gets into a sealed system? The answer is that it isn't quite sealed. There's a vent near the top of the master cylinder to allow air to enter. The reason for this is that as the brake pads wear the fluid level in the master cylinder will go down since the pistons in the calipers have extended more. The vent allow the pressure to equalize when the system is at rest. It also allows air, which depending on the humidity contains some water, to enter the top of the system. Glycol based fluids absorb the water from the air.

Dot 5 fluid may start out purple and turn yellow - I don't know for sure. Currently my HD Sportster Dot 5 fluid is yellow. If I'm bored sometime I might bleed and replace it and then I'll know for sure if it changes color. The maintenance-free philosophy on the brake fluid reminds me that bike has some very nice characteristics if you like to just ride - change the oil and oil filter, primary oil, air filter spark plugs and brake pads once in awhile. All very easy. The downside it doesn't go as fast or stop as fast as a bike with more involved scheduled maintenance...but I digress - back to brakes.

If you decide to add brake fluid to the full mark on the master cylinder after your brake pads have worn a bit you will need to siphon it back out before you put new pads in - otherwise when you push the pistons back into the caliper you'll end up with brake fluid dripping/shooting our of the master cylinder (don't forget Dot 3 and 4 brake fluid is not good for paint or your eyeballs...Dot 5 probably shouldn't be used for eye drops either).

I've bled and replaced the brake fluid on a couple of Kaw's in the last weeks, as well as the clutch brake fluid on one of them - so I've gotten the bleeding procedure down pretty good. These motorcycles have dual caliper front brakes, a front master cylinder, single caliper rear brakes and a rear master cylinder (so 3 bleed points per bike). The Concours has a hydraulic clutch - so one more master cylinder and a slave cylinder with a bleed point.

Here's the basics - you don't need speed bleeders or a mity vac or some fancy shop tools to do this. You need a phillips screwdriver, 10 mm box wrench, piece of 3/8 inch clear plastic tubing, a bottle to drain the old fluid into, some rags or paper towels, a bottle of brake fluid and a sacrificial turkey baster, unless you don't mind a turkey that smells/tastes slightly like brake fluid - in which case you will use your everyday kitchen turkey baster.

Remove the cover from the master cylinder - if it's covered in dirt or the area around it is dirty clean it up before you remove the cover. The tolerances of the cylinder bore and piston are critical so you don't want dirt in there scratching things up.

Suck out the old gunky fluid with the turkey baster. Clean any sediment/gunk out of the master cylinder with a clean cloth/paper towel.

Fill the master cylinder with clean fluid. This way you are flushing new fluid through the system instead of the old stuff.

Put your 10 mm box wrench on bleed nipple for the clutch/brake.

Stick the 3/8 inch plastic tubing over the nipple making a nice tight seal

Stick the other end of the plastic tubing into your jar that has a little brake fluid in it so the bottom of the tube is submerged in fluid. You are doing this to prevent air from entering the system. I'm not so sure about this...but it's a tradition so I do it anyway.

Position the tubing so the bend is higher than the bleed nipple. This way there's a column of brake fluid that doesn't siphon into the jar and is free to return to the system (instead of air which is bad - in this case).

Here's the main sequence of what you are doing -

1. Pull and hold the brake lever.

2. Crack open the bleed nipple.

3. Pull the brake lever to it's limit and hold it there.

4. Close the bleed nipple.

5. Release the brake lever.

Repeat steps 1-5 until you see clean fluid coming out of the plastic tubing. Make sure you top off the brake fluid in the master cylinder while your doing this so you don't suck air in from the top side. Same for holding the brake until you close the bleed nipple - if you get out of sequence and release the brake before you close the nipple you'll suck in air from the bottom end.

It's not absolutely necessary since there's no spurting action like when you push the calipers back in after replacing pads - but you should probably put the master cylinder cover back on loosely while you are bleeding the brakes to help avoid spilling fluid on painted surfaces. You'll want some paper towels/rags/water to wipe up any spills that do happen.

It's easy to do this on a motorcycle. A car is harder with the four wheels plus you need an assistant. I'm guessing a motorcycle with ABS would be harder too.

A bottle of brake fluid is several dollars and the plastic tubing was 20 cents at Lowes so this is cheap maintenance. Clutch and brake master cylinders, slave cylinders, brake calipers etc. are not so cheap. Having clean fluid with no water or crud in it may help those components last a long time as well as ensuring your brakes are operating at their maximum potential.

One final note - if you end up getting spongy brakes it's because you didn't follow the simple procedure of keeping the brake master cylinder full, holding the brake, cracking the bleed nipple, closing the bleed nipple and then releasing the brake.

You can buy some speed bleeders (one-way valves) that replace the regular bleed nipple, special tools to suck fluid out the top or bottom - but I'd recommend just do it the simple way, it's cheap and it works. Shops use special tools when replacing brake fluid because it's faster - not because the special tools do a better job. Considering the fact you will be replacing this fluid every couple of years you'll have to decide for yourself if taking 15 minutes doing it the old fashioned way is worth your time or if you want to cut that down to 5 minutes using special purpose tools - which may end up taking a lot longer than 5 minutes because you are messing around with a vacuum pump, removing the bleed nipples etc.

Have fun - happy riding and may all your stops be safe and enjoyable.

New Spark Plugs and Carb Synch

2010-10-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

I thought the Kawasaki Police Bike KZ P19 was running a little rough - nothing significant just a little less smooth than what I'd like. I replaced the plugs with the recommended NGK BR8ES item number 5422 (10 dollars including tax at Napa Auto Parts).

Since I had the gas tank off, and I'd never down it on this motorcycle, I synchronized the carburetors using my Morgan Carbtune.

The plugs were okay - one was a little sooted up from running rich but they were all good enough to provide a hot spark. The carburetor synchronization was way off though. One was matched to two, and three was matched to four - but the left two and right two were off from each other significantly. To get them in synch I had to decrease the vacuum (gasoline flow) on three and four to match one and two, and then set the idle speed back up to 1000 rpm.

The spec for the vacuum is less than 20 mm Hg, ideally exactly the same - but that's not quite possible usually since the vacuum indicators are moving a bit as the engine idles. When I started three and four carbs were pulling about 80 mm Hg more than one and two - so off quite a bit.

I just used the motorcycle's gas tank while doing the carb synch, rather than fooling around with a temporary gas tank. I have a long piece of fuel line and cut a piece of metal pipe that would fit inside the fuel line so I could splice my long fuel line to the fuel line connected to the carburetors. I sat the gas tank on a step ladder cross bar with a couple of short 2x4's underneath to stabilize it and ran the engine with the petcock on prime.

It's running smoother now and there's less engine vibration.

One thing I've noticed a few times with used motorcycle ads on Craigslist is a statement something like - running rough or not running, needs carbs synchronized. You won't correct a motorcycle that won't run or is running really rough by synching the carbs. A carb synch is more of a fine tuning operation. When the carbs are out of synch the amount of fuel getting to each cylinder is not the same - that will hurt fuel economy and cause the cylinder(s) with more fuel to try and run faster which causes some vibration...but it isn't going to cause a bike to not run at all or run really rough.

There are exceptions I can think of that could cause a bike to run really rough and have the carbs not in synch - one would be that someone started twisting on the synch screws without a manometer which I suppose is a possibility, but I'd be worried what else might have been done to that bike if I was buying it.

Carbs that aren't in synch (pulling the same amount of vacuum) can be the symptoms of something else wrong - intake valves being out of adjustment, or the rubber carb boots having leaks, so you have a vacuum leak upstream of a carb. In these cases you could have a bike that's running poorly - but you need to adjust the valves or replace/repair the carb boots not just synch the carbs as the Craigslister's sometimes suggest.

Pictures From Oregon

2010-09-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

Oregon MC Trip - Fall 2010 - a set on Flickr

I didn't edit these so no guarantees on the quality - just quantity.

Here's a picture of a fat chipmunk that turned out pretty good -

___________________________________________

This trip pushed me over 10,000 miles on the Concours since I got it in California last February. Those are pretty much all road miles since I hardly ever use it for commuting. I have to say it's been a remarkable bargain considering the places it's taken me without a problem.

Dee Wright Observatory

2010-09-29T21:08:00.001-07:00

P1020218
Originally uploaded by Jack Crossen

This observatory/viewfinder is on top of McKenzie Pass. It was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and completed in 1937. Dee Wright was the Forest Service foreman in charge of the construction.

There are windows in the stone walls that line up with the various peaks in the area. There's a brass compass on top with marks for the various peaks as well. It's a really interesting place. The road up to the McKenzie Pass summit is limited to vehicles less than 35 feet because of the tight radius turns.

Oregon Fall 2010

2010-09-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed Oregon. Three days was just right to explore the area around Sisters. I rode over Santiam Pass a few times, McKenzie Pass and Tombstone Pass. I got to visit the Dee Wright Observatory on top of McKenzie Pass - super cool spot. Went south of Sisters until the road turned to gravel and got rough. I visited the Belknap Hot Springs Lodge on the McKenzie River - very nice person at the front desk gave me a map and invited me to tour the gardens. Went to Camp Sherman which is on the Metolius River. Cool store and nice clerk. Looks like a good spot for flyfishing.

Iron Bike

2010-09-29T11:55:00.001-07:00

Home

2010-09-29T10:50:00.001-07:00

Sweet Home.

It's foggy up ahead which is weird after coming from the sunny side. The ride over Tombstone Pass coming down here is great. Lots of twisties, good road, nice river and fall colors.

I'm just going to head on to I-5 and super-slab it home to Everett.

Perfect time of year to be here, very few people and not much traffic in the places you'd see lots of tourists in the summer.

Belknap Hotsprings

2010-09-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

Nice place on the McKenzie River

Highway to The Stars

2010-09-28T11:25:00.000-07:00

Missed These

2010-09-28T11:24:00.001-07:00

Lots of art galleries, espresso, bakeries, and shops in Sisters.

Three Sisters

2010-09-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

North, Middle and South

Mill City Oregon

2010-09-27T15:44:00.001-07:00

I'm taking a break at Papa Al's.

Beautiful drive from Silverton to Sublimity. It's the Christmas tree capital of the world and smells great.

I'm east of Salem and about 60 miles from Suttle Lake. I love this country!

We Ride At Dawn

2010-09-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

At least I might ride at dawn if I get off the computer. This is a picture of one of my favorite bandanas. It's a rare one now - it came from Harlowtown, Montana and was a special offer that came with Cream of the West Cereal. B got it for me. I had two of them but one of them blew off my neck somewhere on the road.

I'm all packed for my trip to Suttle Lake and the Sisters, Oregon area. Changed the oil and filter on the Concours Saturday so she's ready to go. I'm bringing my own food - Odwalla Bars, nuts, oatmeal, noodles, and tofu. I can heat up water with my Jetboil for breakfast oatmeal and dinner noodle/tofu.

I'd like to go to Crater Lake but I don't think that's going to happen on this trip since it's a day ride round trip from Sisters, Oregon on the route I'd like to take and I don't want to be in a hurry.

It will be a good trip to Suttle Lake, Sisters, Santiam Pass, McKenzie Pass, Dee Wright Observatory and whatever other new sights are on the way.

I'm looking forward to getting some wind in my face and oxygen in my lungs.

Oyster Run - 2010

2010-09-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I went up to the Oyster run in Anacortes. There were thousands of bikes, riders and onlookers. I was expecting to see lines of motorcycles on the roads going up there but I think I saw more police/sheriff vehicles than bikes on some of the back-roads. It was foggy and drizzling and I didn't get on the road until after noon - but there were still lots of people and motorcycles in Anacortes.

There was live music, snacks, vendors selling motorcycle stuff, food, drinks and even a Bandido booth selling T-shirts to support the Bandidos? There were some nice looking oyster shooters on ice. They shut down main street to cars and let you ride your bike and park it in the middle of the street. There's maybe 10 blocks of motorcycles on both sides of the street, down the middle and on the side streets. The majority are Harleys but there's plenty of other types too - so it isn't a Harley only event by any means. There were quite a few families with little kids and older folks (like me) walking around just taking in the atmosphere.

I only saw one accident - an Electra Glide missed a corner on Highway 20 going out of town and ended up in the ditch - they were putting it on a wrecker when I passed by.

I didn't see anyone acting stupid or causing trouble. The only wheelies I saw were some kids riding mini-bikes and one guy riding an ATV in a vacant lot.

I imagine the shop owners in Anacortes are pretty happy to have so many people in town spending money. I saw plates from California, Oregon, B.C. and Montana.

I took the Pioneer Highway up and I-5 back. There were a variety of stands and things going on for motorcycles on the way up there. Food/drink/music type stuff. I'm looking forward to going next year when hopefully the weather will be a little better - although I kind of like cool and some rain, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

I didn't bring a camera and only took a few pics with my iPhone but here's a oyster run 2010 - Flickr: Search that has some nice photographs.

57 Chevy Bike

2010-09-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Ninja Line

2010-09-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

Runnin With The Oysters - On a Motorized Bar Stool

2010-09-26T14:18:00.000-07:00

Taking the Old Three Wheeler For a Spin

2010-09-26T14:17:00.000-07:00