A Rideabout Along the River...

Well... sort of. The way I went you know the river's there, and I crossed it twice, but mostly you're just rolling through the desert.

I cut west from Quartzsite on I-10 to catch 78 south at Blythe and roll toward Ripley and Palo Verde. For a ranch kid, running through dry, desolate desert and breaking into irrigated farm ground with the scent of fresh cut hay on the morning of the last day of January is just... Fine.

Especially when back home they're doing another bout with Al's global warming "Polar Vortex".

It's mostly straight runs. There's nothing through there to test your technical skills. But for me, just the same, it was an excellent morning.

Hay and crops growing on both sides of the asphalt.

Pleasant weather and the open road. I'll take it.

Well... right up until... I go where I wasn't supposed to...

Ha! I'm running down the road and know I'm supposed to turn off again... somewhere...

A narrow looking road comes along... but my map is buried in my jacket... and there just up that bit of pavement a hundred feet sits a highway patrol...

Natural urges being what they are... I run on by because for some reason, my head tells me I don't want to turn there and rumble past that LEO... what a liar! ;)

Then along come Algodones Dunes... ATV's... and a huge yard of stored RV's... all sitting amidst a sea of sand... and look at the map or no... I'm pretty sure this ain't the way.

 

Yeah... cuz that little tickle from my brain and the Hwy Patrol kept me runnin' straight I went on down past Glamis... when I was supposed to lean over left and make the cut off onto S34...

So NOW I had to back track and turn down where I should have gone in the first place, only it's now maybe twenty miles farther. :) and since I was... um... pushing it a bit here and there... and my fuel consumption was down a bit... it was fun to watch Yuma and that lil' fuel gauge needle racing to see who'd get there first... Cuz there ain't no fuel out that-a-way.

Buuuuut I made it with miles to spare... and linked up with Steve and Tina of Road Pickle fame.

They rode in from San Diego while I was finding my way through the sand dunes... We linked up for a craft beer in a local pub and to sort out all the troubles of soh-sigh-uh-tee, relationships and all the evils of the world from the beginning of time to date!

Well... Tina and I did... Steve... he mostly hangs back... kinda quiet and watchful while Tina and Me cut and slashed and got it all sorted out! Ha ha... don't I wish!

But... all good times must come to an end... or they'd just be average. So, after five hours or so of excellent  beer and conversation, the road pickle crew climbed on their scooters... and the ribbon of asphalt guy pointed his nose north. They rode the couple miles to their lodging for the night...

... and I rode through the chilly Arizona desert... stopping at the border patrol check station so their drug dog could make sure I'd no midgets without documents concealed in my saddle bags... and then finished that 90 mile run some time after midnight in the cold desert back north of Quartzsite.

One day. Two Friends and 250 miles on a ribbon of asphalt. A good day.

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

Hard Chrome ain't so Hard... OR... Rusty Pipes in the Desert

Moved my camp down to the Quartzsite area. It's just plain easier down here. Water, dumps, and somehow... the "atmosphere" is better...

*Back on the Desert between Quartzsite and Parker*

Put Sonja back on the ground and cleaned up a bit. We rode quite a little bit there around Wickenburg. Up the hill above Congress that climbs to Yarnell and beyond. That's a nice lil' peg scraper.

Here on the desert I am more and more unhappy with the performance of a fairly big "Brand Name" of Motorcycle exhaust... ie. Hard Chrome Motorcycle exhaust.

I put their 3" Big Straights on in July of 2012... and was really happy with the look, sound and performance...

all about the same time I changed out the chrome backrest for Yamaha's newer design and went black.

Powder coated backrest from Yamaha and powder coated pipes from Hard Chrome...

Then... time rolled along...

But only a bit over a year... and the finish on the pipes began failing.

Now, what, a year and a half later? They are getting damned ugly.

*in the Quartzsite desert*

The "pattern" of the finish failure hints to me of some sort of failure in the preparation before powder coating...

... Some might say it's the "conditions" the machine has lived and been run in...

Buuuut... That steel, powder coated Yamaha backrest was installed in the same time period and has endured the same conditions the rest of the bike has... not a blemish...

 A big company like Hard Chrome you'd sorta expect to be a bit concerned about such poor performance of their product... wouldn't you?

But the Hard Chrome Manufacturer... has failed to even respond to my attempts at contact... so... I won't be buying any more of their product. What you do is up to you...

What am I going to do? Well, I gotta do something... those pipes are just gettin' fugly.

I'm not about to be replacing pipes every two years and I sure don't want to have to refinish every few months.

Been doing some reading. I just can't bring myself to trust another powder coating... I'm thinking strongly of going through the rig-a-ma-role of pulling the pipes. Stripping the shrouds to bare metal. Proper 2000 degree primer and 2000 degree paint... and then a proper high temp clear coat... and then carefully following the correct curing procedure. (Be a good project for this summer when conditions and temperature are compatible)

At least... with a paint finish... I'd have the hope of being able to maybe do a touch up...

I've had good success with equipment paint in the past... with careful preparation I think it could be a serviceable option...

Some point in the future I'll likely replace them with another brand... If I can find one that has the reputation of standing behind it's product and as soon as I sell enough novels to pay the freight! :)

Till then I'll likely just try and keep her complexion looking decent with paint.

Warming on the Desert
Brian