... Splitting the wind on a Motorcycle... Feeding my soul with the Healing power of the Open Road... following that twisting, Ribbon of Highway that leads me on...
I've returned, early in the season to Fort Collins. A good friend of mine has a small farm over on the east side. She's off on Active Duty with the Army so having someone just being here is a worry off her mind, and it gives me a place to do the work I need to do.
The bike is now in one of her garages to be shined up and made ready for the lucky bugger that gets to be carried on her into the future.
I've spent a couple of days just lining out what I need to do and where to get the "Stuff" to do that.
I'll start in today pulling the saddlebags and pipes that need to be refinished. The paint in one spot on the bags got spiderwebbed a bit and you all know of my issues with Hard Chrome's ceramic coating on the pipes.
I've found some 2000 degree Header paint as well as 2000 degree clear coat to refinish those... as well as some words about preparation and Proper Curing so the finish is reasonably durable...
I also found a kit to try taking out a hail dent on the tank... and I'm going to try my hand at an Artistic treatment of a scratch on the rear fender... from waaaaay back when that first backrest parted ways with the bike at 70 mph!
Then there's replacing the tweaked shift lever from that U-turn didoe up on San Juan Island a couple years ago... and also on a tangent... I'm going to repaint the Black Widow 12' folding ramp... as that will be sold as well.
It's not a happy thing to have to do... and maybe if the Leather shop I'm putting back together does well enough... fast enough... I'll be able to get back between a pair of wheels before I'm too old to keep 'em from falling over...
But... right now I can't dwell on the potholes... just the slope ahead that I've got to climb.
Grab Your Handles and Ride (you never know when you're gonna loose your wheels)
Brian
Late in September or early in October where ever we are... we load up face west ~ do a left face and start our migration south.
Sonja is ready to go. She carried me through much of our last Colorado winter but she still don't care for the snow and ice any more than I do. She prefers to keep her own tires on the asphalt, but, with the promise of goin' south and many miles in the Arizona Desert while the storms rage up here... she's willin' to accept the indignity of a motorcycle gettin' carried for the southbound journey.
*Sonja ready to go*
Seems like with Grandkids in Denver now, this is where we are makin' the habit of comin' through each fall. We'll haul off from here today or tomorrow. This year we're gonna roll straight down I-25 for a bit to Trinidad. The next sunrise, in the morning sun we'll climb over Raton Pass and then cut west across the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation and likely drop into Chaco Canyon for a couple of days.
Then it's on to Goosenecks camp for at least an overnight before moving onl. The goal is to rendevous with a friend in Zion, mid month.
Gotta be honest. That Arizona Desert might have cooled off from the blazing summer inferno of just a few weeks ago... buuuut... I'm willin' to let 'er cool down a few more before we drop down out of the high desert just a few hundred miles to the north.
We don't need to be in the Valley of the Sun until our NASCAR duties commence in Avondale on the 7th of November... so, no need to hurry.
Then it'll simply be the difficult task to live hard through the winter; enjoyin' the quiet desert living with no blizzards and soft desert sunsets.
It's a hard life for a pussgut Ol' Buster like me. Come the Spring, we'll swing our noses around and be rolling back north, followin' the Wild Geese.
You know, this life could be easier for sure. I could be blessed with a few more dollars and my worries would be nigh on to nuthin'! But, no matter what... whether I'm livin' "Fat Cow or Poor Bull" ... my gypsy drifting ways are Glorious Shining Times!
... for the winter anyhoo... and the views from my front yard aren't too bad. I think I can handle it... I just need to be a lil' quicker 'bout gettin' the scooter unloaded when we pull in.
*Not a bad view from our "yard"*
The nice thing about this place, that beats riding back in Colorado in January... is... You don't see no snow do you? ;) ... yeah, I don't mind, not even a lil' bit NOT riding at 11 degrees! I can do it. I did it all winter for a few years... but... that still don't make it any fun!
Though I gotta admit it... made me giggle when I'd see the looks on peoples faces through their windshields... when a bike passed 'em with the thermometers in their cars claiming 10!!! :)
I rolled the Raider off the truck yesterday and ran into Q for fuel. That's what folks call Quartizsite, for the un-initiated refugees from the frozen North. After a year and a half of loading and unloading the bike on that Black Widow, 12' ramp, it's still doin' the job in fine form...
*12' Black Widow Ramp in the Arizona Desert*
... that time in Escalante when I almost rode it off the other side loading... don't really count! ;) at least it wasn't the ramps fault... it got me on top of the truck! :)
Twas a nice ride into Q across the desert in the sun and WARM of a Desert January.
Sorry all you northern boys. I escaped that chilly stuff and don't mind gloating! ;)
So... today we rolled back in two up to do some prospecting of future rigs.
The old fiver we're draggin' and that Ol' Dodge doin' the draggin' are NOT in their prime, so we're collecting intel to figure out what sort of a rig we want to house us for the Next ten years or so.
I expect, 'bout the time I'm bangin' on 70 years, they'll be tryin' to get me to QUIT runnin' that Yamaha Raider down Plomosa Road to Bouse at, Oh... the needle said it could see 130 gettin' close! ;)
Yeah, I know... Bad Cowboy Biker! No Beer! But, hey... when you can see for a mile or three 'cross the desert... and all that's on the road is me, my Raider... and the paint stripes... the only thing I threaten is me and maybe some bugs... so... shame on me! :)
Did find some real interesting rigs to cogitate on... as well as some good Blue Moon Brew and some fine Scallops of some sort at the Grubstake Saloon in Quartzsite. Then it was split the windy afternoon and bring us on home...
*Our home might not amount to much... but with that Bike, I'll Keep it!*
Planning on making a ride up to Wickenburg and then another over to the river at Havasu. It's a good life. Just write and ride and soak in the sun... Shining Times!
I should have learned to "write" a lot sooner so I could be where I am now... just a Biker... Free on the Earth! HooYa!
A couple of posts back I mentioned that I'd changed how I load the bike a bit... I have to load it, 'cause I live/travel full time in a fifth wheel. Either I load my Raider or leave it... and Leaving the Raider behind... ain't an Option!!!
Though it's been on my You tube channel for a short while I hadn't linked the loading update video here... OOPS! Bad Biker Cowboy! No Beer!
If you look at the first video and this latest one you can see the changes I've made on the truck bed as well that have things quite a bit snugger and more crowded, which doesn't simplify anything. ;)
Everything I thought of to "fix" the problem seemed expensive and to tell the truth, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that money on more mods to this old truck...
As it turned out... very few dollars for a couple of planks and a bit of cheap hardware and my problem loading the Raider is all fixed!
We live on the road in a fifth wheel trailer. My Raider rides between camps on the truck, sitting crossways behind the cab.
Almost every time we stop somewhere, while the Bike is riding, I get asked; "How do you get it up there?
Sometimes, if I'm not feeling much like talking, I just point at the ramp folded up on the tail of the truck. Other times I'll explain; "Aw, I just get a good firm grip an' lift that sucker!"
Truth is, it got to where loading the bike was getting to be an unpleasant task. Loading it one time, back in the spring, in a camp on the Escalante in Utah, I damn near rode the bike off the other side.
You might not be going very fast climbing that ramp... but at just a couple of miles an hour, it don't take no time at all to cross that eight foot bed... so an old guy, having a "senior moment", or a young guy, who ain't found out yet... that he AIN'T bullet proof, can see things get ugly in a rushin' hurry! Yup. A slight bobble along the way, and the old lady inside is gonna hear bone crunching sounds followed by bad words, dirty names and plenty of blue smoke!
Because of the configuration of my truck, (it's a little extra tall) the ramp and my motorcycle, the routine required that I ride the bike up the ramp, onto the truck, without stopping.
Though my Black Widow ramp is 12 feet long to give me an easier break over at the top so the Raider doesn't high center; it still hits the ground at an angle steep enough, that when the front wheel of that raked out Raider starts up the ramp, my feet can't reach the ground any longer. So, I can't just ease it up the ramp, I have to go for it... which is a bit of a problem 'cause the hole I have to hit at the top, only allows a couple inches of room for error.
I've changed things a bit since this last video was made. Where that aluminum box was, is now Two larger Cargo boxes... It's not as open as in this video. The space I have to hit has a pretty narrow margin for error... Maybe an inch or so on either side.
And since I can't put my feet down, I gotta go for it, fast enough for the bike to stabilize, without stopping... or so I thought.
I don't know why it took me so long to come up with such a simple idea, but now, loading is an easy, pretty much stress free deal.
I took two 2X6 planks and attached two 1 1/2" angle braces to one end of each plank.
Now, I hang the ramp on the truck. Then hook the planks on a couple of feet up from the bottom of the ramp, one on each side. I use the attached angles to hook onto the ramp and keep them from slipping.
That gives me raised "Footboards" to span that transition from the ground, up onto the ramp. As soon as the back wheel gets close to the ramp, I can get my feet back down again.
Now, rather than worryin' what's gonna happen if I miss the target a touch, or do some other dumb thing :) I can just walk the bike up the ramp slow and easy. I can stop half way up if needs be. My feet can always reach... so no need to just push on up without stopping... Just a couple of cheap boards and a couple bucks of hardware and that bit of stress, loading the bike is wiped away.
Now that I've got things figured out, I'll get a fresh video made as soon as I catch up on all my other chores... Busting the Pin Box on the trailer, right in the middle of finishing up, and working to get my second novel published has kinda got me a lil' distracted for a bit... That and having an accelerating case of Early Onset Old Timers Syndrome ain't helping any!
In the mean time I'm also getting ready to continue heading South for the Desert, before winter gets any closer!
Or... How NOT to load a Motorcycle with a Motorcycle Ramp! :)
Had a little bit of excitement loading the Raider in Utah. We'd been camped in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument for more than a week and we're getting ready to roll on up by Moab to meet some friends.
The wind was blowing, and to tell the truth, I wasn't really feeling on top of the world...
If you've looked around the site at all, you likely already know I live full time in a fifth wheel and that I use a Black Widow Ramp, to load and carry my Raider behind the cab when we move camp. I moved the hitch back toward the rear of the truck to make room for that...
Now... loading with a ramp, by itself is no big deal... you run up the ramp and badda bing! You're loaded... right?
Well... sometimes, not so much! :)
The thing is... if you load in-line... and you misjudge or goof a bit... the worst that happens is you thump the back of the cab... UH... if you're loading cross ways... and you make an UH OH... there ain't a whole lot of room... or time... for absorbing the error!
An uh oh... can get to be an Aw Crap! ... reeeeeal damn quick! :)
So... I climb on the Raider, twist the throttle and roll up the ramp, just like I have a Whole Bunch of times... with nary a bobble... until... Escalante...
Goin' up that 12' Black Widow Ramp, something caught my attention and pulled it left... and we all know what happens when you look somewhere...
Yup... the bike goes where you're lookin'...
When you have about a 4" hole to hit on the chock... and a foot or two later... nothing but air if you miss... you Don't want to miss! :)
Well... uh ... I missed! ... so... no problem, just grab the brake right?
again... not quite... my feet were down in preparation to land the bike in the chock... which left ONLY my right hand... Now... a thinking person would have had the brake lever Covered... right? :)
Normally, I'm a thinking person... but NOT this morning... nope... my hand was around the throttle... and when I flipped it up to grab the break... THIS TIME... and never before! It just hit under the bottom of the Brake Lever...
So... here's the bike moving across an 8' bed... NOT aimed at the Chock... with me sittin' on top of it... tap tap tappin' my fingers, UNDER the brake lever... Not Good!
Now, have your fingers stutter on the brake lever two or three times and in the whole scmeme of things, that's enough time to use up a whole lot of an 8' bed!
Luckily for my silly kiester... that chock is built with something like 1 1/2" support legs that run out to the sides. About the time the tire hit the end of the left side leg, my hand finally found the brake and stopped the bike, with the front tire on the precipice!
OK... so the 40" or so deck of my truck isn't really much of a precipice... but... it would sure ruin my day! :)
In the end... all I had to do was call for the old lady to come out and pull that custom seat on my Raider... out of where it had got sucked up in to ... so I could climb off the bike! :)
The moral of the story is... 1. Keep your eyes on the chock! no matter what! and 2. go back to the drawing board and create some sort of a safety bar that can be set in place if you're gonna load cross ways (which I am in the process of doing!)... for those times that you fail to keep #1 in mind! :)
The misty rain finally cleared out this morning and I went back to work getting things put together so we can leave and start south...
Here's how easy it was to Load that big Cruiser on a Tall Flatbed (42" tall) using a 12', extra long Black Widow Motorcycle Ramp from Discount Ramps...
You may have noticed a lil' BANG! as the bike goes into the chock?... Uh... I missed the guide a lil' a bit wide to the right... and she rode up over it a touch... but... BANG! she went where she was supposed to be! :o)
It's darn near as easy coming off. Like I said, down at the bottom, 'cause the truck bed sits so tall, the angle that the ramp meets the ground is still a little too great for me to reach the ground... so I just walk down beside the bike, with it in first gear. Between the front brake and the clutch, I have complete control... No Worries!
I'll do up a video showing where I'll lash down the ramps, and... loading the V Star on the Tail Rack! Never done that one!
After I got the bike loaded this time, I hooked up the fiver on the New Hitch... I've got enough turning radius to work... though I can't go completely jack knife... unless I pull the left hand saddlebag off first! :o)
I Plan to place a lil' verticle slice of tape on the mirrors... to give me a reference point... just before the front end of the trailer would start to make contact... I can use the vertical line of the main body of the trailer as the Guide point...
That way... as I make turns, I can just look in the mirrors and know exactly how much room I've got to turn... without running into things...
I was pretty impressed with the Black Widow Ramps... very little flex... most of the movement I saw was in the truck suspension... the ramp just did what it was supposed to do... at least one thing worked correctly this week!
The Motorcycle Ramp got here day before yesterday, but I didn't get time to put it together and do a test load till late yesterday afternoon...
The ramp is actually three ramps, connected by several brackets welded to the wider, center section. This one is 12' long when it's unfolded.
... and... it worked just like it's supposed to...
If you haven't loaded a motorcycle up a ramp... in a while, I can tell you... it kind of gets your attention... especially when you're NOT loading lengthwise... but crossways on a flatbed! With No cab to stop you if you... uh ... misjudge your speed? :o)
*Loading a Raider Crossways on a Flatbed with a Black Widow Ramp*
I'm pretty happy with the Ramp. They aren't cheap...at $669 for the 12' ramp... to buy it and get it shipped to me. But... you gotta do what ya gotta do!
The Black Widow ramp uses welded on brackets to lock the three ramps together... and transfer weight across all three. Then it uses a pair of straps to keep them from spreading any... along with three more straps, to hold the ramp to the truck. (click the pics to see the larger size for details)
With a hundred horsepower... give or take... depending on who you talk to... and what the dyno read that day... a Raider has the grunt to kick that ramp out from under you, if you twisted the throttle a lil' too sudden... so ya better make sure those security straps are pulled snug! :o)
Anyhoo... I managed to do a test load without any unpleasant surprises... all that worryin'... 'bout just ridin' off the other side was all for nuthin'. The Raider just rolled right on up... just as it was supposed to.
The only, very small issue, is at the bottom, just starting up. Even though the ramp is 12' long, and that cruisers seat is pretty low... the angle is still steep enough, that once the front wheel starts up, my feet won't reach the ground until the back wheel gets on the ramp...
So... there's no Walkin' it up under power, sittin' on the seat with your feet down... A fella has to just commit and roll on up the ramp... But No worries. A big cruiser has the torque to just roll on up pretty slow an' easy... no need to Get a Run at It... Like you might feel the need to do with some smaller bikes.
I'd planned on just riding it back down too... but... without bein' able to put my feet down, at the bottom... that didn't seem especially sensible to me... so I just walked it down, in gear, with hands on the clutch and brake... and again... no worries!
The cross bars of the Black Widow Motorcycle ramp are serrated... and closer together than you see on ATV ramps... so you don't have to worry 'bout where you put your feet... or slipping... I had good traction all the way... as I inched that bike back down the ramp...
I'm hopin' I get a lil' quicker as I gain a lil' confidence in my athletic ability! :o)
Well... we've got most things just about buttoned up... and are hoping to be able to pull out and start wandering... by the end of the week...
Most of you already know, this part of my Motorcycle Carrier setup is going on the truck.
The V Star will ride in its Cowboy II Motorcycle Carrier, where it has for 10,000+ miles out on the tail end of the Fiver...
The Raider is slated to ride, cross bed, just behind the cab of the truck.
I'm using another Wheel Dock Motorcycle Chock for that job... special built to fit that 21" Wheel on my Raider....
But, Sitting there behind the cab, there wasn't enough room with the hitch in the standard position... so we're moving it back approximately 18".
You can see it here... the trap door for the original hitch location is just in front of where the gooseneck is sitting on the bed... and in this pic, the full pin weight is on the truck, with it NOT quite coming level...
I figure quite a bit of weight gets taken off the pin when the V Star gets up on the back... so... when I load the Raider... I've got my fingers crossed that I won't need to be adding anything like the Firestone air suspension boosters... We shall See!
Also, you can see the weld in turn over ball gooseneck hitch setup I found... Now all we gotta do is burn some steel, do some wrenchin' and go to haulin'! ... Uh ... as soon as the 12' ramp that's long enough to get that low clearance cruiser motorcycle up on a Tall flabed... gets here!
Another Wheel Dock Chock is ordered and on the way to hold the Raider on the truck bed, along with a weld in turnover ball setup to modify the gooseneck hitch location to allow sufficient turning space with the bike loaded.
If you hadn't already known, I use a gooseneck style hitch rather than a fifth wheel hitch. Every mile our 30' Jayco has moved, it was pulled with a gooseneck. Far superior in my opinion... especially when you pull off the pavement in an RV Boondocking situation. I've pulled this trailer 50,000+ miles with the gooseneck... and 10,000 of those with the 525+lb. V Star sitting in it's carrier on the tail.
Well, I've scrapped the idea of building the ramp I need. Once you calculate out the steel cost... opposed to factory built price... all the work involved... and the final weight of a long, steel ramp... I've decided to just suck it up and find a way to squeeze a 10' factory aluminum ramp into our shrinking budget...
I decided that my ambition just didn't fit the requirements of the job... I want to Ride my Raider... not burn steel! :o) same reason my chrome don't shine as bright as that on some other bikes... I'd rather be riding than polishing!
So... we're finishing up the rest of what few preps we need to make while I wait on the arrival of the ordered parts. As soon as those get here, we'll get 'em bolted on... get loaded... and get gone! RV Boondocking and Motorcycle Touring! HooYa!
and, while we wait, I'm working up several pages about different parts of my 25 day Alaskan Highway ride... Just so much to talk 'bout, they keep rambling... hard to get 'em cut down to something readable! :o)
OK... Carrying Two Cruisers on a Truck and Fifth Wheel setup might not be what others think of when the word simplification is mentioned... but then... I've always had a mite peculiar perspective when it comes to a lot of things...
So... on my Motorcycle Carrier redesign... I think this makes it number three? :o)
... I'm scrapping the "Dovetail" idea... and going with just a ramp... that will run up onto the right side of the truck bed... with a Wheel Dock motorcycle chock set in place on the road side... just behind the cab; and I'll stay with my gooseneck type hitch...
... with the hitch moved to a position just behind the axle... rather than the standard position... just in front. This is necessary to give enough swing room, for clearance for turning. It would be a really bad day... should the trailer run into the bike... as many folks run the trailer into the cab itself, when they hook up fifth wheel trailers on short bed trucks... OOPS!
The possibility is big, that I'll also need to add a Firestone airbag suspension system to the truck, to level things back out proper... but that's been kind of expected... and I'll wait to see how things shake out, to see if it's needed. Airbag suspension can be added any time.
Now... about that ramp...
A ramp length calculator I found figures that I need a 10.2 foot motorcycle ramp, to yield the attack angle necessary to clear my low ground clearance Yamaha Cruiser, over the edge of the bed... and NOT high center.
OK...
My problem with that is dollars! or rather... the lack of dollars in my wallet... The price of those extra long motorcycle ramps... with sufficient quality... and the shippin' to get one here... is shoving hard on $600 and more...
So... being the genuine, unadulterated, Redneck, do-it-yourself sort... and my son-in-law having a welder... next week... we're gonna burn together the steel tubing to create a cowboy engineered and built, 12' ramp, in four bolt together sections... to run that Raider up onto my tall flatbed Dodge!
Yeah... 12 foot... if a straight 10 foot motorcycle ramp would do... a longer ramp, with a bit of a curve built in may even allow me to ride the bike up... and allow me to NOT have to install a winch... saving a few more dollars...
... and dollar wise... unless my cipherin' is way off... the cost for building my own bike ramp... is gonna be about 1/3 of a factory built... maybe a little more... but still... if it keeps a few hundred in my pocket... that's a big deal just now! :o)
So... check back... and see how many trips to the emergency room it takes Josh an' me to get the ramp built! :o) ... and... there are a couple pages on my Alaska ride in the works for the main site... just not enough of me to go 'round and get all the my list of chores done as quick as I'd like.
