MX Skills meet the Real Off Road World!

We all know that the military uses Humvee’s and Tanks as part of their arsenal of vehicles. What I never knew was how many different types of vehicles were included that we never hear about.

I recently had the opportunity to observe some of our Special Forces attending a school on proper use and driver training for the side by side vehicle we know as the Kawasaki Teryx. I was allowed to take a few pictures as long as I didn’t show any faces or identifying features, or they said they would come back to hunt me down and kill me!

It was a pleasure to watch some of our troops participate in training. They were truly eager to learn and practice what they were exposed to by the instructors.

I learned from watching and really enjoyed listening to some of the stories that were shared concerning field experiences in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq. I was both amused and appalled at some of the things I learned about what takes place in those countries that we never hear about. I am so thankful that these guys are willing to return and do the things they do in places that I have absolutely no desire to visit in this lifetime! They will never receive enough credit for the situations they participate in on a regular basis.

I know from now on whenever I have the chance I will give them a quick wave, salute or a simple thumbs up to let them know how much I appreciate them and the U.S.A.

Thanks guys and God Bless you,

#33

CRF 450 Sputtering?

2009-2010 Honda CRF 450 cutting out on acceleration or intermittently?

I encountered this problem on my bike and was ready to purchase a new fuel pump at a cost of well over $200. Fortunately I had a sharp parts guy (Thanks Jody) that asked if I had replaced the fuel filter yet. You may need to find a good parts guy that is willing to look it up, but it is available, I bought and installed it.

There is a small fuel filter inside the fuel pump that looks like it would be used to filter coffee grounds. It is very small and has a plastic connector attached to it. When I removed and disassembled my fuel pump, being very careful not to break any tabs I found my filter to be almost black in color. I tried to blow through it and it seemed to be restricted. The new one flowed air with no resistance and was white in color.

The cost of the new filter was around $18, my time and labor and it cured my cutting out during acceleration problem.

Pay attention to how the two wires in the fuel pump are connected in case you disconnect them by accident. This is easy to do but easy to put back as long as you know which order to put them.

Good luck and Happy Wrenching,

#33

Pilot Jet Riding

Recently, I had the opportunity to go trail riding with a guy named Dave up in Idaho. Dave has been riding all over the state of Idaho for over 20 years and is an encyclopedia of trail knowledge. We spent a week riding trails that I have never seen before and would have taken a lifetime to explore. I experienced some of the most incredible trails I have ever been fortunate enough to ride on. The riding was awesome, the views spectacular and the week seemed to fly by before I knew it.

I believe I have now been to Disneyland on a motorcycle!

We rode a wide range of trails from challenging to moderately easy, all of which provided some of the most beautiful views you can imagine. One of the most memorable days on this week long extravaganza included another rider. His name was Cecil and he rode a GAS GAS with a rekluse clutch. Cecil amazed me during our day long adventure simply because he was not as fast on the trail as Dave and I, but never complained or asked anyone to slow down or wait. On this day we covered 91 miles and encountered some difficult sections that were very technical and rocky.

A few places had trails that used just the side of the mountain as a place to put your tire. We encountered several creek crossings from short and shallow to fairly wide and engine cases deep. Cecil fell in one of the deeper creek crossings and submerged his bike. I never heard him cuss, or complain once. He just picked it up, pushed it out of the water and proceeded to remove the air filter to dry it out. We tipped the bike up to make sure there was no water in the exhaust. He put everything back in place and fired the bike up, all the time smiling and talking as if this were another day on the trail.

Oh, I may have forgotten to mention that Cecil is a retired engineer and is 71 years old! This guy is an off road hero! Especially since during our conversations he was discussing his next new bike. So obviously he has no intention of giving it up any time soon.

By the end of the day we had ridden 91 miles of mostly single track, with some dirt road commutes to link trails together. We passed by staging areas on a couple of trailheads that had us encounter hikers, horses, mountain bikers, plus a dad and his son on motorcycles out for a ride to the local fishing hole. We also passed several areas that had natural Hot Springs that had been channeled by local users into pools made of rocks at the edge of some of the creeks. So here are these natural hot tubs on our trail ride that are always open! I think next time I will carry a towel in my backpack and visit one of these stops. Can you remember the last time you soaked in a hot tub during the middle of your off road ride? Me neither, but I will be more prepared next time!

I never thought I could have so much fun riding on the pilot jet!

Get out there and explore,

Or if you have a good local guide take advantage of it!

#33

See more great pictures of our ride in our Gallery



Update on Monday, August 16, 2010 at 11:23PM by mx43

Hold on and enjoy this 4 part video of the Pilot Jet Ride.

Exploring by Dirt Bike

When was the last time you went out riding alone or with some friends without having a “plan”?

Maybe, either a track you were going to ride, or a loop in an area that you probably already know or have ridden many times before.

 

I recently had the opportunity to ride a couple of areas, mostly desert, that I have only ridden once or twice. What I found was that there are some things to ride and learn in those areas we don’t go explore much that you can end up feeling like a modern day Columbus on a motorcycle.

During these “explorations”, I have come across defunct 22,000 acre ranches, old abandoned cabins that you could spend the night in, Mineshafts and Mines straight into the side of the hills, Gold Miners camps, a man made “Bat Habitat” (no kidding), Historic buildings and markers with history listed on site, panoramic views that are absolutely incredible and people living in places that make you wonder what in the heck they are thinking.

The interesting part of these places is that none of them were known to me when I started each ride. They were treasures I found somewhere along the route by just waiting to see if I should turn left or right at the next intersection. It has started to turn into such a good time riding a motorcycle and exploring that I had to get a bigger Camelbak to carry more water, food, small flashlight (for the caves) and a notebook with pen to write things down. There were so many things I was seeing I wanted to start making notes to find my way back another time!

It seems the more I look around the more there is to see. There are BLM markers in places that you would have no idea existed unless you ran across them exploring. The reason I say this is because since taking off on these adventures, I have gone to a BLM office to see if I could buy a map that would show all these places I had been to.

Lo and behold, they didn’t have any!

They have had plans to have them printed since sometime in the 90’s but it has not happened yet. The sad part is, I have come across these markers that mark trails with assigned trail number designations, but in order to find them you have to be out sometimes miles from an access road. There have been very few OHV signs pointing the way to the areas that are clearly marked as ATV/Motorcycle friendly trails. It almost seems like it is a game of hide and seek with some of our off road trails. I intend to keep seeking, to see what I can find! I have my pencil and paper and will be keeping notes since it could be several months to years before I get back to some of my “finds”.

So again, my point is………..Go Exploring!

 

Happy Trail Exploring,

#33

June 5, 2010 had one of the Closest Baja 500 races Ever!

This year the Baja 500 had a couple of entries in the class 50 motorcycle division that had a fight tooth and nail for almost 500 miles. The Margin of victory for the winning team was a slim 39 seconds!

The two  teams involved were the 500x bike and the 503x. It was Honda vs. KTM from start to finish with neither team willing to give an inch for over 10 hours of racing. In the end it was the Honda team that prevailed across the flag with the 39 seconds they needed to take the checkered flag

Check out the GPS tracking!

From the start it was close as the KTM team started 30 seconds after the Honda and took  the lead about 15 minutes into the race. The Honda team held on and wouldn’t give up, chasing through all the dust and eventually retaking the lead just about the 2 hour mark. By then a couple of rider exchanges had taken place, but each man was unwilling to concede as he took his turn piloting his respective teams bike. These apparently were some tough 50+ year  olds that decided  racing at speeds up to 100 mph in Mexico was more fun than a Saturday BBQ back in the states.

The race looked to settle in after a couple hours of racing as the gap opened a bit for the Honda team to somewhere around 9 minutes. Then the KTM boys made a push and closed up to retake the lead at about 5 ½ hours  into the race. From then on it seemed the RACE WAS ON! 

Each team took a turn taking the lead with the final 250 miles never having them more than a minute apart.  So it went back and forth seemingly taking on a NASCAR feeling with the pit stops sometimes deciding who would come back on the course with the lead.

Now you have to remember in NASCAR you don’t have to ride in the dust of the guy in front of you if your pit guys get you out behind the other rider.  Sometimes the dust is so bad you pray for windy conditions just to clear enough to see the ground you are racing over.

So it went back and forth for the final 5 hours of racing with each team having a minor crash only to recover each time to get back into the mix. Like I said, I don’t know where you could find this many 50+ year old guys willing to fight all day like this. Then assemble them on two teams unwilling to concede defeat until the last seconds run out after 10 ½ hours of racing through mountains, washes, rocks, dust, 100mph fire roads, coastal regions and small towns that turn out spectators by the thousands.

From the 6:30 am start to the checkered flag was almost unbelievable if you consider what had taken place over the course of the day. To have this be decided by 39 seconds is almost the stuff you make into movies. These guys were all certainly worthy of having a part in the movie.

Congratulations guys, all of you on both teams,

Now go home and have a BBQ!

#33