What did you do to your RT today?
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It took me quite a while to do mine too, not as easy as they make in look in the YouTube videos.... :lol
Some of them are probably here. 😏Got in a short ride to beat the rain. Limited canyon/mountain roads available due to flooding and mud/rockslides.
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Where are all the other ride share stories?
What did you do WITH your RT today.
Plus, some of us don't like riding on snow and ice. We're just winter lightweights. 🤣🤣
Finished up the valve job last night. I adjusted 5 out of the 8 valve shims to reach a desired target clearance of 0.12mm on the intakes and 0.36mm on the exhausts. I also set the cam timing on both sides, which was slightly off from the factory.
Started it up for the first time since completing my 20,000km service. It was a little bit nerve-racking but the engine is running very smoothly now!
Picture of the cylinder head stripped down to change the valve shims:
![Motor vehicle Automotive tire Auto part Rim Automotive design]()
Hopefully just a couple more months until the snow and ice melts and I can get it out for a ride.
Up next: replacing a leaky fork seal.
Started it up for the first time since completing my 20,000km service. It was a little bit nerve-racking but the engine is running very smoothly now!
Picture of the cylinder head stripped down to change the valve shims:
Hopefully just a couple more months until the snow and ice melts and I can get it out for a ride.
Up next: replacing a leaky fork seal.
Whaaaat? Fork seal gone on your '19??? Already?
He was using it for moto-cross, riding it hard in the dirt. 🤣🤣
Yeah, it was seeping the entire 2022 riding season. I tried one of those Seal Mate tools, but it didn't fix it. I have bad luck with fork seals
Nah, I wish that was the case.
When you get a 60+ degree day in January in the PNW...you give your motor a proper washing.
![Automotive parking light Wheel Tire Vehicle Automotive tire]()
I wish we could wash our vehicles on the streets here!
LOL, yup, that's EXACTLY what my bike would look at right now, if I washed it outside in Northern Idaho. Except all that white stuff wouldn't be soap. (Actually, it's above freezing during the day time now, but I could certainly accomplish the "ice machine" look later in the evening. 😏)
At least you're still riding your motor daily, however. Those Seattle and Oregon roads can be pretty slick when wet (which is, uh, just about all the time). Stay safe. No fast starts or stops, eh? 😁🍻
I'll say.. even late June they are, near Mt. St. Helens on NFD25
Well worth the effort though.. was gorgeous riding and only saw one 4x4 truck during my ride there..
More power to ya. I just can't do it. My front wheel drive car, with probably the best snow tires made, was squirrelling back and forth, and sideways down our one lane road. The road's around the lake, have been equally icy over the past couple of weeks, maybe 2 to 4 inches of compacted snow and ice in most areas. The sunny areas where sufficient deicer has been applied may be ice free, but as soon as the sun begins to set, there's black ice all over the roads. I have no idea how I'd be able to correct a sideways skid on two wheels, with REAR wheel drive train traction, without going down in a heap.
I know some folks on this and other forums back east (Michigan and Ohio) say that they ride year round. It's not even the fear of going down, as much as I just technically don't know how I'd be able to keep the bike upright running over solid ice, or black ice. Looks like a lot of fun, though, for younger men. 😁
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Forty 50 years ago, I spent years riding year round... now, I occasionally travel in the mountains visiting friends during the winter, but I prefer not having to deal with black ice and snow. I rode to my friend's house in Big Bear in Southern California and I could not get into his driveway due to the ice and snow, so I had to park as close as I could get so as not to worry about snow plows passing by. Sheesh.
I hit a bit of black ice in the shadows along the road, but it was not too bad overall on this ride.
Locally, all the mountain roads were closed on my last attempt to ride in the mountains.
Locally, I usually ride my Harley, not my LT. I tried several different roads to get into the mountains, but no such luck!
At least there is no snow locally... and, I can ride year round!
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I hope you didn't take my comment the wrong way. There is no way I'd condone riding in those elements with that large of moto. I wasn't planning on getting into snow on my ride and just did near the pass. My point was really to emphasize that the weather in WA is unpredictable and how it can change at high elevations even in late June.
This is the worst bind I've been in while in snow but on a light weight dirt moto.. sketchy stuff. My friend was pretty excited but we still had his moto 100 yards down the slope and had to get it up to the pass.
Lol, if I was on a lightweight dirt bike with good tires, I'd probably have ripped that up, as long as I was pretty sure that there WAS a dirt bottom under the snow, i.e. not crossing some crevice packed with snow and ice. I regularly rode some of the California deserts where the dirt was like Talcum powder; can't be all that much different.
In fact, one my more painful dirt riding spills was when I was riding in a group of six, three youngsters maybe 9 to 12 years old, along with their dad's (all neighbors on our block). I was bringing up the rear, we were running through a wadi, and the lead rider decided to turn and go up and over the berm. Right before I went over the top, talc sand was kicked up and I was blinded, riding into nothingness. Just as I crested the berm and about to come down, I saw thru the dust one of the kids and his bike sprawled perpendicular to me. He had fallen, and was up against the berm. I was just about to crush him. I reacted instinctively, blipped the gas, and prepared to lay the bike down just ahead of him, again, in absolute blind-darkness. Well, the drop was a little more than I had expected, dunno, maybe 15 feet, so I essentially dropped from a jump down into dead air, hitting the ground hard on my left side. The air was knocked out of me, and was on the ground for a couple of minutes before I could move. I (probably) broke a couple of ribs and jammed my left shoulder badly enough that I later couldn't lift my left arm. I rode back to the camp with one arm, fortunately, my throttle side.
Of course, rather than being a hero, my (then) young son said he was deeply embarrassed. I guess from the other side of the berm, with clear visibility, I looked like a clown. The other dad's didn't try to help me, the father of the boy didn't bother apologizing or thanking me for not killing his son, and ... we never road with those guys again.
But anyhow, as long as I have good traction and can muscle the bike out of any trouble I get into, I'm not too worried about sand or snow (though I also, wouldn't go out of my way to find either - I like trail riding actually). On the 700 lb Beemer, ahh... yeah, no thank you. I've already done my "stunt riding" on dirt bikes, and I usually hurt for 6 weeks afterwards. 😏 That's a young man's gig. I hurt for 6 weeks last spring when I was practicing slow speed maneuvering on the RT, and (I think) accidently stuck the clutch in the corner, resulting in an authentic looking "rookie tip over". I bounced down, landing of course, on my right elbow, jamming my OTHER (right) shoulder and ribs. Fun times! I can't wait to go out and do it all over again, next spring. 🙄😖
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This reminds me of the young lady that I have been following on YouTube for the past few months: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEIs9nkveW9WmYtsOcJBwTg
I came across her video as she was starting to make her way through Colorado. Quite a gutsy young lady with great demeanor and a fairly light dirt bike.
I came across her video as she was starting to make her way through Colorado. Quite a gutsy young lady with great demeanor and a fairly light dirt bike.
Yes, Itchy Boots! She even used a Beta dirt bike and rode a rally down in the Baja peninsula after riding from down in South America to Prudhoe Bay in AK this year.
We were going over Imogene pass in the San Juans (near million dollar Hwy) from Telluride to Silverton late in the year and hit this snowpack. After we made it to Imogene pass we found out what challenge was on the other side at 13,000' elevation ... We had to clear a narrow track and avoid from going off the edge which would have been game over. I had just had an ACL reconstructive surgery 6 months previous so I was already compromised physically. This was 10+ years ago and we borrowed a Gopro that we attempted to use with little to no knowledge. These were not light dirt bikes.. 330lbs w/o fuel. Remember a Gopro flattens out terrain.
First one to get their RT over this pass with good weather gets my nod as "skilled".
Took a short ride over to the local H-D dealership to check out the '23 models on the showroom floor. Love new bikes but saw nothing that I would trade my 1200RT for. Seemed to be a lot of '22s still on the floor. The Pan America often tempts me, but I picked up a salvage '22 V-Strom for 1/2 the price. H-D is scheduled to announce new models on Wednesday.
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