It was +6°F in town when I left and cooled off to -2°F by the time I pulled into the parking lot. I took a time lapse video on the way out (and on the way back) but not for the entire trip. I wanted to save some battery power for the return trip.
I had lunch with Bruce W and his passenger who both drove out in a borrowed truck as they were both feeling pretty chilled from their trip to Fairbanks. Neither felt like taking the Ural. He didn't have a single problem with the Ural on the trip. I still have oil leaking out of the valve covers when the temperature is around 0°F or lower and my boots were pretty oily upon return home. The engine is now about ½ a quart low but not all from this one trip. I got my best gas mileage of the winter, 27 mpg, on this round trip and didn't need reserve until almost 200km. For this rig, that's good.
As far as the trip goes, there was quite a bit of black ice around 40 mile CHSR and the rear end tended to break loose when you added throttle. Easily controlled but still a good reminder to slow down. Also, with wind chill around -35°F at the speeds I was traveling, a large bowl of vegetable soup was just what I needed when arriving at the resort.
Here is the time lapse PBC video for the trip out.
Brrrrrr. Your videos are making me feel like a weather weenie. We have warm but rainy weather and I still don't want to go out and play in it.
ReplyDeleteI think that I'll take the cold/snow over the warmer/rain any day. With the snow you don't get wet.
DeleteGrieg as moto background sound, quite the eclectic choice, and matching the ride exquisitely.
ReplyDelete+1 what Brandy said. Played in the snow today as well, but sans bike ;-)
Music is a continuous challenge. Most of the other PBC videos have live narration but with the facemask on my helmet that would be difficult.
DeleteRichardM, I think it's Raceway that sells a thicker "silicone?" version of the valve cover gaskets...perhaps those will seal things up better? Tell Bruce and friend I said hey....I see on his FB page that he's meeting some of the local Airheads at the coffee shop as well.
ReplyDeleteI should look for those. I have the orange silicone valve cover gaskets on the Beemer and have never had even a drop leak.
DeleteYou'll like this, when Bruce was in the Yukon and into Alaska, folks at the gas stations told him about another Ural that came through a couple of years back in the snow. They remember it as being reddish or something like that and had tires stacked up on the rack. Sound familiar...
nice, the rig was bright orange and people remember red...perhaps it was all the road grime?
DeleteMaybe they were seeing into the future...
DeleteThat's insane Richard, I can't even see myself riding when it's close to 32. Are you the only one on the road on a motorcycle?
ReplyDeleteAdd a sidecar and riding in the winter is no longer a dangerous, reckless thing to do but routine. The Ural has become my "daily driver."
DeleteI expected you to be airborne through most of this video!
ReplyDelete