The title refers to another attempt at posting since the Blogger generated content had a ton of feed errors in it and refused to show up anywhere. This looks like it's working.
Lessons from a Video
In a comment on an earlier post, I mentioned that the steering would feel light when you hit an icy patch on the road and I thought that this was because there weren't any studs in contact with the road surface. Yesterday evening, I put in an additional row of studs right down the center of the front tire. In hindsight, maybe I should have put them just off center and alternated them from side to side. We'll see how that goes. In addition, I added some of the screw studs that I used last year to the pusher. I think that the larger heads may be needed for the deeper snow we now have. This was after watching a couple of episodes of a Canadian motorcycle ride from Victoria to Tuktoyaktuk. They used the same carbide studs and commented that they worked great but needed to be longer for use on the packed snow.
I borrowed the DVD, The North from a friend at the last Airhead meeting on Monday evening. It is about a couple of guys riding BMW F800GS motorcycles, with a support vehicle, riding from Victoria, BC, to Tuktoyaktuk, YK, in the winter/spring of 2011. There is some discussion of their preparations but since they had a support vehicle (BMW X5 with a trailer for the motorcycles), they didn't have to carry all of their gear and can throw the bike on the trailer if there is a problem. Plus no camping. I'm only part way through the video but definitely got sucked into the story. Riding on two wheels all day at -40°C is crazy.
This morning was a little colder than the weather guessers said it would be. On the ride in, it really didn't feel much different from yesterday. I did use the heated gear for a while but turned off the jacket liner after a couple of miles since it was feeling pretty toasty. The heated gloves stayed on for a little bit longer. I did remember to throw an extension cord into the top box to plug in the oil pan heater. This would be about the normal temperature for this time of year.
On the ride in this morning as well as some errands that I needed to run, the bike handled the deeper snow just fine. I think that I may need to continue to use some of the screw studs that I used last year whenever we have fresh snow on the road.
Lessons from a Video
I borrowed the DVD, The North from a friend at the last Airhead meeting on Monday evening. It is about a couple of guys riding BMW F800GS motorcycles, with a support vehicle, riding from Victoria, BC, to Tuktoyaktuk, YK, in the winter/spring of 2011. There is some discussion of their preparations but since they had a support vehicle (BMW X5 with a trailer for the motorcycles), they didn't have to carry all of their gear and can throw the bike on the trailer if there is a problem. Plus no camping. I'm only part way through the video but definitely got sucked into the story. Riding on two wheels all day at -40°C is crazy.
On the ride in this morning as well as some errands that I needed to run, the bike handled the deeper snow just fine. I think that I may need to continue to use some of the screw studs that I used last year whenever we have fresh snow on the road.
Richard:
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what you mean ? You we posting from your iPad and the post "disappeared". Maybe they were doing maintenance. I notice that some google options don't work using Chrome on a google product, then I have to change over to Firefox. Some forums like ADVrider when you post a comment you can't insert a video because the HTML box doesn't show, but "img" works for photos
I am not sure your ride is going to be smooth on dry pavement with those centre studs
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
It took two attempts to post this. Both times using Chrome. The first time, it showed up on the site but feedburner objected as evidenced by it not showing up on the Blogger home. This has happened a couple of times in the past and had me confused. Out of frustration, I would just copy all of the HTML, create a new post and paste it all back in. And it works. Not sure why, not sure what happens. But a search indicates that this has been a recurring problem with Blogger for years.
DeleteThat's why I didn't put studs in the center of the tread before. They only stick out a fraction of an inch anyway and the gravel they use on the roads is larger than that so I don't expect it to be an issue. It is noisier (sounds like you're riding on bubble wrap)
Riding on bubble wrap, that sounds weird.
ReplyDeleteHope the studs down the center do the trick for you.
Even with a new battery, it took several secs to get the engine on Valencia to "catch" as I left work today. She'd been in the cold all day. I wonder if I can use 10w40 oil instead of 20w50.
I've only had posting issues a couple of times, luckily both times I copied/pasted the material to notepad before it was lost, as you did.
The label on the dash of your R80 suggest 10W30 for temperatures below freezing. I suspect it'll meet the needs of the Ural as well. This weekend, I'm going down to 5W30 as I expect temperatures around 0°F and lower to be the norm for a while. No problem cranking the engine now with the oversize battery.
Delete-9? You have my respect! I'm cold just thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteBelieve me! I think the same thing when I see triple digits in your neck of the woods. It's easy to bundle up when cold. The inverse is much more challenging.
DeleteMinus nine. I thought a windy 79 was a tad brisk coming home the other evening. silly me.
ReplyDeleteI think chrome is a test to see how gullible people are. I never go near it. New , improved, 99 percent of all known germs are slogans from a happier time. ignore all corporate inducements to change what works.
When Chrome first came out, it was significantly faster than anything else and Firefox was getting more bloated with every release. Now Chrome is getting the same way. With the changes in OS X, Safari may be a better way to go for Mac users. It shuts down background tabs to reduce battery consumption.
DeleteYou must have needed the heated gear for the ride home, thank you for commenting ;-)
Respect! And I am beginning to whine at 33F.
ReplyDeleteThe barn door of a windshield and full fairing really make a difference. Plus, my legs get heat from the cylinders sticking out in the breeze. Even after riding in the rain, my pants and boots are completely dry due to the heat.
DeleteRichard I think I may have seen some of that video ... and you are right travelling with a production crew plus a support vehicle(s) with everything you need is a little different than being one with your motorcycle on the road. Still, anyone who wants to test themselves against that much cold has my admiration just not my envy.
ReplyDelete(I also had trouble with my Nov 8 post - it showed up on my home page when I logged in but I noticed it had not appeared on anyone's sidebar as a new post. I had to do the same as you, copy and paste into a new post before it did.)
Not sure what the problem is with blogger but that seems to be a recurring problem. My last post went in 5 hours ago but still doesn't show up. I'll wait and see what happens tomorrow.
DeleteThose guys in the video are crazy. -55°C is cold without the wind chill adding to it.