I guess I'm not going to even pretend that winter hasn't arrived. There is a winter storm warning in place until Wednesday with 14" of snow being projected. I needed to run some errands in town this morning so it was a good opportunity to see how well my minimal studs are doing. My conclusion, not great. I only have about half of the studs in the pusher and none in the sidecar tire. And non-carbide studs in the front tire. I even needed 2WD to head up our road due to the deeper snow.
I'm also starting to have the now familiar problem with moisture clogging the air cleaner. There was a hint of this during rain storms i.e. you can tell that the engine was running rich. I guess it's time to install the plastic fence post air box and see if it makes a difference. I need to work on the bike anyway since the oil needs to be changed anyway. I have been running 20w50 full synthetic (Amsoil) and I just picked up 10w40 full synthetic. I think that this will work until the temperature drops even further. One thing I do not plan on doing this year is ride when the crankcase vent would freeze. I don't need any additional problems this year and I really am not out to prove anything.
The snow is so pretty.......from thousands of miles away........
ReplyDeleteThe snow is also pretty up close as well.
Deletethere has to be a way to heat that crankcase vent but I get your point, and no, you need not prove anything, you've done so. All the snow you've gotten so far, would lock up Denver nicely for a few days.
ReplyDeletein case you feel up to it though, what about rerouting some of the hot exhaust gases from the muffer to block on the crankcase vent? I know, weird but it popped into my head as I typed the previous stuff.
That's kind of the idea behind clamping a copper pipe to the exhaust pipe and running it up towards the crankcase vent. But, I'm in the "may not feel up to it" camp on that. After the problems that Bruce from Ketchikan had, I don't think it's worth the trouble. In spite of being made in Siberia the US spec Ural is just not designed to be used in really cold temperatures. I'll add that it's not designed to be used in snow or rain either...
DeleteYou mentioned that the 10w40 should work until the temps drop even further... Do you end up using something even lighter when the bottom really drops out?
ReplyDeleteThe Ural recommendation is for 5w30 for really cold temperatures.
DeleteSorry, Richard. I am not ready for the monochrome season yet. Like Brandy said, it is ice from afar... It is currently unusually warm and dry in the Black Forest. Looks like seasons are shifting, as we had a very late and rainy spring.
ReplyDeleteOur fall is kinda monochrome as well as all we get is yellow leaves. But now is B/W season. Very few natural colors besides the sky. Would this be "Indian summer" in the Black Forest?
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