Jammin thru the Global South

This is a tough one Jay. With your non stock Carb impossible to say what is up.

If you can recall your original settings, I would try to go back to those. Didn't you run for ages with no air speed screw? Maybe take it out ... see what happens?? :huh These symptoms are pretty strange ...
even running poorly it should be going over 55 mph. Mine gets up to 90 mph quickly ... even when jetting is a bit off.

Hard to diagnose without riding the bike. Could it be an air leak? Or blockage somewhere? Torn Diaphragm? Missing little O-ring on Carb top? Crud in float bowl? Clogged Pilot jet? But should still run at full throttle ... even with clogged pilot jet.

Or could it be an ECM problem ... limiting revs? (hope not!) Check throttle cables ... make sure when you twist throttle that carb slide is opening all the way up. So many little things. I'm pretty stumped. Just tossing out ideas. I don't know that Carb ... so hard to figure out. Just keep at it ... eventually you'll find the problem.

Worst case ... find a used stock DR650 carb and have it shipped to you.
They are pretty cheap. I had one, sold for $50. Probably cheaper ones around? Good hunting!

These don't even look close to being the same. Any chance of finding a carb that is made for your bike?

Have you put the side plate back on the airbox?

Didn't get a chance to work on the bike today, but I put everything back to original settings, except I'm not sure what height the jet needle was set at, so I'm going to play with that, since what I'm experiencing is actually in the mid-range and that's what the jet needle is about.

You mean the length? Yes, I know. You probably missed it, but I accidentally broke the grooved end of the original needle while fiddling with a broken throttle cable. If you look closely, you'll see that the profiles match and that's what's important here.

I've seen a DR650 at Dakar motors, but that's too drastic of a measure to replace the carb at this stage. I have all the parts and spares I need for this carb and it's been working like a charm since Chicago and before, so I'm going to get it back to that state. It's only a machine and sufficient knowledge (which I'm lacking in certain areas) is all that is needed to get this working properly again.

Yup. I wouldn't forget something big like that

I got my visa for Bolivia today after being turned down at two consulates in Brazil. They wanted a return plane ticket and hotel reservations, so I gave it to them (thanks to orbitz and photoshop )

Salar de Uyuni is on! From here, Im heading to Santa Cruz, getting some knobbies, going to source a winter sleeping bag and then head across the salar. Can't wait to get away from these concrete jungles of the past few weeks.

That's awesome Jammin, nice work.

August 25 - September 18, 2010

Having been on the road for six months since Chicago, and not staying in one place more than a week, I took a three week break in the coastal city of São Luís in northern Brazil, known for its reggae culture and colonial architecture. I met up with an old friend from my high school days in India who was living in São Luís for a year of historical research. While I'm enjoying being a nomad, it was good to be off the bike during this time. I also needed the downtime to prepare for the exams for my masters that I plan to give in São Paulo.


That's Kavin, a good friend from my school days in India. He's currently pursuing a Ph.D in History from the University of Pittsburgh and being a musician (he plays the bass guitar in the Afrobeat band, Kokolo), he's researching the influence of reggae on the local political scene.


Having a street snack of minced beef in a hot dog bun.


Walking around the historical centro, we came across this street performance of Tambor de Crioula, an Afro-Brazilian dance where the rhythmic drums (tambors) and chanting vocals were encouraging women to swirl and gyrate into the energy and seduce the beats.


The drumhead being heated up periodically with a small fire in the street to tighten up the sound.


While he's here researching, Kavin hasn't been able to tour with his regular band, Kokolo, but he's keeping active by playing with this local reggae band.


They were singing the reggae classics (Bob Marley's Legend) and it was interesting to see how well the lead singer could sing the lyrics in English even though he didn't speak a word of it. They called on Kavin to fill in and explain some of the vocals during their practice sessions.


I went around with Kavin as he visited various reggae organizations and here we're at one of the less developed communities.


These kids from the local community are part of a dance troupe that's trying to bring back Roots Reggae.


The kids put on a show for a reggae tour group that we sat in on.


After the small performance, Kavin discussed their story with the movement leaders. Reggae came into São Luís in the late 70s and 80s, due to its proximity to Jamaica and the culture took off on its own. Currently, modern reggae is the prime music at all bars and clubs. This new reggae sounds synthetic so there is a movement to encourage the warm sounds of Roots Reggae and the open, energy-filled dancing reminiscent of Bob Marley on stage. In contrast, modern reggae is a partner dance. Another feature of reggae here is the sound system where the louder it goes, the better. So imagine the speakers in the back of the room there, multiplied by 10 or 20 times and then imagine the volume. It was deafening everywhere we went; not just loud, but distorted. Kavin found out that which ever club made the biggest sound system, attracted the most people (since they drowned out their competition) and this naturally attracts politicians (to influence votes), so they are intimately related to the sound system companies. The most influential one went by the name, Power System.


As you might know, I enjoyed cooking a lot during my stay with Kavin. Here, I'm actually using my facão (machete) to cut up a chicken.


A spicy chicken curry with some potatoes.


Instead of seeing a lot of street dogs, I saw lots of cats all over São Luís. This guy was relaxing without a care in the world on this counter in a restaurant.


Having a Sunday fish fry lunch for R$ 7.


I was in Brazil during the run up to their major elections on October 3rd. All throughout, from the depths of the Amazon to every town, the streets were filled with images of candidates and their electorate numbers. Elections were on for the president, state governors, federal deputies (like congressmen) and state deputies. And every candidate had a car or a fleet of them with speakers blasting songs informing the public of their message and their number. And here is the funniest of them all. This Maranhão state deputy is named Nilton Damasceno and just because he looks like Obama, he's decided to tag his name on for more exposure. He was running under a campaign of "Change Maranhão".


One afternoon, we went to an island across the city to meet some friends to dance forró, a popular Brazilian partner dance. This is the view of modern São Luís across the shallow bay. The tides are quite extreme here.


Kavin dancing with Katya.


After that, we headed to another Reggae bar where Kavin was to interview the lead DJ, and we got a snack of freshly fried Pastel (a pastry shell filled with meat or cheese).


With Katya and her friend and pastels. Kavin gave me a Rasta hat to fit in, yeah mon.


Across from Kavin's place was this state-subsidized cafeteria where you could get a good meal for only R$ 1 (US$ 0.57) and it was open to everybody.


For R$ 1, you get some rice with beans, some meat, salad, a desert (fruit) and a drink. The yellow powder is farofa, a toasted manioc mixture, which is served on all tables throughout Brazil. It goes with the rice and beans and also can be sprinkled on meat.


Heading out for an afternoon at the beach. Kavin befriended the guys who work at this pastelaria, close to his place and it's customary to greet your friends every time you see them.


That's Mardiel and Loiro, who came from the interior to work in the city. They were very friendly and excited to see the big bike. Standing next to the fryer bought back memories from my college days in the US where I worked at the on-campus restaurants, flipping burgers, frying up taco shells and going back home smelling like fried oil but I saved the money and along with paying tuition, I bought a used BMW with it.


On the way to the beach, we got these small packets of frozen yogurt for R$ 0.50. There were lots of flavors and it was very tasty and welcoming for the warm air of São Luís. From what I saw, I can say hygiene is respected in Brazil. Even buying this from a street vendor where you are expected to tear off a corner and suck on it, the vendor reached into the ice box with a napkin, and only touched the one you were going to get.


The beach at São Luís.


Having some soft-shell crabs for lunch.


Enjoying a relaxing afternoon with Kavin at the beach over some tasty crabs. He grew out his hair and I cut it all off, much to the dismay of both our mothers, but we'd average out ok


Sunset at the beach, which is very shallow so it took a lot of wading through knee deep water before getting to the deep stuff.


In the evening, the beach front opens up to reggae clubs and these street bars, where we're getting a caipirinha made. It's the signature drink of Brazil made with cachaça (an alcohol distilled from sugar cane) and sugar and lime. Very refreshing, similar to a mojito.


Inside the reggae club, where we met the band during their sound check earlier in the evening. The bass guitarist had great facial expressions.


After not touching the bike or anything to do with it for two weeks, it was time to start getting ready to hit the road soon. I had to wash the dust from the TransAmazonica from almost everything I had. Here the boots are getting a wash, the first since I've bought them. Other things that were washed (for the first time), my entire helmet, sleeping bag, mattress, liner bags, and anything else that could be washed.


This is the right elbow of my jacket and you can see how the oils from my skin have latched onto the fine dust.


After all the washing, including the bike, it was time for some maintenance. Here I'm mounting the new front Metzeler Tourance tire that I've been carrying since Medellin, Colombia. I used some tie-down straps to anchor the bike against that cement bench.


The new Tourance on the left and the old Kenda K761 on the right with 25,630 kms (15,920 mi). I could have ridden on the Kenda some more if I had to, but as you can see, it was starting to cup pretty bad and in the wet, on the asphalt, in curves that wouldn't be a good front tire to be on.


Replacing the chain that I mounted in San Francisco (having the same mileage as the front tire above). I have the Motion Pro Chain Breaker but if I can find a grinder easily, I'd rather not risk breaking the Motion Pro tool and they recommend this method for chains over 520 width. Sebastian here didn't even charge me for the work he did.


The one thing I didn't get done on the bike before leaving Chicago was mounting a chain oiler to constantly lubricate the chain and thus extend its life. So, I explained the idea to Sebastian above and he gave me the bottle along with the tubing and I made a delivery system based on the Loobman Chain oiler. It got the chain oiled all right, but it also splattered oil on everything.


The delivery system made with zip-ties to lubricate both sides of each chain pin, since there are o-rings on both sides.


A park in the historical centro.


The court house.


A view of the ocean from the governor's house.


Sunset from the governor's house.


Igreja da Sé built in 1626 in honor of Our Lady of Victory, patron of the Portuguese at the Battle of Guaxenduba when they defeated and expelled the French, who established São Luís.


Baby Jesus getting a lunar halo.


Sunset over São Luís, considered the finest example of colonial Portuguese architecture.


Walking around the many narrow, cobble-stoned streets.


Having a few beers with Kavin and some friends on my last night here.


Saying good-bye to Kavin and feeling refreshed after a nice three week break. Thanks buddy.

It was a different kind of visit to meet someone that knew me from my past after being a stranger to everyone I came across in the past 5 months.

I spent the last 2 days at Dakar Motos and Javier helped me sort out the carb settings. She's running nice now. I adjusted the height of the jet needle. Did some other small maintenance things on the bike and am now ready to head to Bolivia. Hitting the road tomorrow for NW Argentina and then to Santa Cruz.

Hi Jay,

Did you get the sleeping bag for the cold nights at the altiplano?

All the best,
Reginaldo.

Thx. These bureaucrats just need a piece of paper that says airline ticket and hotel reservation. They don't check into it, so pretty easy to fool them. Probably going to need these tricks for Africa next year

Hi Reginaldo, I looked around BA, but they were retailing for above $200. I made a contact in Sucre who said he could get me a decent bag for much less.

_______________

I'm in the middle of sickness #2 on this trip Yesterday on the ride from BA, the sun was beating down and wearing me out and I think my lack of sleep since entering Argentina finally caught up to me. Suffering a sore throat and splitting headache.

CouchSurfing in Argentina so far has taken a toll on me. They have a skewed schedule here, starting the day late at 9 am, finishing it around 9 pm, dinner at 10 pm, going to sleep after midnight. And I naturally getup between 6-7 am. Been feeling like this

Staying with a nice guy thru CS in Rosario who said I can stay as long as I need to get better. Should be 1 or 2 more days...

Also, have to sort out a bike issue: there's a rattling noise coming from the rear brake caliper when I apply the brakes. There's still about 2-3 mm of pad material left on either side and they look to be wearing evenly and can't see anything else that could be causing the rattling. Once Im better, will swap in new pads and see if it goes away.

Hope you are feeling better Jay. Take your time and get your strength back. I know well that
"Skewed schedule" of the Argentinians. You are very diplomatic! Having worked with Argies for a couple years I'm familiar with this. Very hard to get any real work done on that "schedule". Very laid back with lots of Coffee and Mate' breaks ... and lots of talk and philosophizing before any actual work begins. But I grew to really love the Argentinians and made many good friends there.

REAR BRAKE NOISE
Rattling rear brake is another mystery. Lots of DR650 riders get fooled by sounds. Make sure its coming from the caliper. One source of noise (since you now have a new chain) is the lower chain guide. (It's that white plastic thing just ahead or rear sprocket) Sometimes the chain can Whap up and down on the plastic guide and make noise. So check your chain adjustment. I put thick rubber strips glued inside the guide. Silent. A new chain often makes this sound. As the guide and chain wear, less noise. My solution fixes it immediately. The chain can also whap up and down on the upper swing arm as well.

If it IS the caliper then it must be the pad retaining spring. This little spring clip is sometimes put in WRONG (upside down or reversed) It is there to secure the pad from falling out and can be confusing to figure out the right way to put it in. Hard to explain, you just have to fiddle with it until you get it right. It kind of clips in place and puts a bit of tension on the brake pad, it then holds the pad in position. Spring could be missing or "tweaked" or in backwards. Worth a look.

Good luck.

Man, its soo funny to see our own culture by the eyes of an foreigner!

Things that are so common to us and for you are so unusual!


Keep it coming!!!

Good luck, Jay! Feel better and keep us posted.

- Dan

Haha, you describe them well. I love the people I've met and as you might know, I enjoy all the philosophizing but yeah, I can see how this isn't the most productive behavior.

Good tip on checking on the pad retaining spring. I installed these pads about 12,000 miles ago in Peru. Maybe the spring is getting weak. I had a biker help me isolate the noise at a gas station. When walking the bike, periodically the shuddering noise would be heard and when he applied the rear brakes slightly, the noise was pronounced. I'll let you know what I find.

Im running an Iris chain (from Spain) now and kinks are already starting to form after only 6,000 miles and I've adjusted the chain twice so far. Going to replace in Bolivia with DID or RK. I looked at the sprocket initially for the noise and as you say, the chain slap, but it didn't sound like it.

September 19 - 23, 2010

From Sao Luis, I headed east towards the city of Recife and colonial Olinda and then turned south along the coast towards Salvador.


My route from Sao Luis in northern Brazil down the coast and interior to Sao Paulo and Rio, exiting at Foz da Iguazu to Argentina. Click on it to go to the interactive version in Google Maps.


Heading down BR-316 to Teresina.


I stayed with Gustavo thru CS in this interior city of Teresina, which was noticeably hotter than Sao Luis, where it was warm but a constant breeze kept things cool. He traveled to Argentina recently, so I got some tips on Buenos Aires from him.


His maid prepared some tapioca pancakes for breakfast.


Tapioca pancakes with eggs. This is a typical dish for northern Brazil and I had some sweetened versions of this in Sao Luis. The flour is heated in a pan with no oil, so it's a bit healthy in that respect.


One of the few curves on BR-316, heading to Salgueiro. These roads were not as busy and they were well-maintained.


Riding into dusk, hashing out the miles. One of my longer days, 622 kms (387 mi). Being generally flat and remote with not too many towns to pass through, it was easier to keep up the average speed.


Sunset in Salgueiro, a cross-roads town with roads heading east to Recife, north to Fortaleza and south to Salvador.


I stayed in a pousada for R$ 20 and got some dinner at the cafe at a nearby gas station. This is some lamb soup.


What better way to get customers to stop by then having a roller petro girl. She was handing out receipts and serving up the free coffee that's available at most gas stations in Brazil.


Continuing east on BR-232 towards Recife.


I rode through my first rain shower in Brazil, but it was only for a short while.


Close to the big city of Recife, the road turned into a freeway.


I was just snacking on nuts as it was another high mileage day, but I had to stop at this fruit stand for a little extra snack and fiber.


I was delighted to find many fruits that I haven't seen or tasted since India. The ones in the lower right are custard-apples, which I had in Ecuador and Peru, but they were much cheaper here. It's a very sweet fruit and I couldn't eat just one. Next to it, the brown fruit is officially called manilkara zapota, but known in India as sapota or chikoo. This I haven't seen outside of India, so I gorged on a few of them. It's also very sweet with a malty, almost caramel flavor. I also had some Jackfruit, another typical fruit of my home land.


Loaded up on glucose, I was ready to enter my first big city in a long time. Recife is the biggest city in the northeast of Brazil and is the fourth largest city in the country. The road was running on a plateau for a while and slowly dropped down to the coast. The signs says "continue to use engine brake."


Waiting at a traffic light in Recife and you can tell the election campaigning is heating up.


I stayed with Barbara, thru CS and she cooked up a nice eggplant lasagna, which I noted down the recipe for. She's a marine biologist and just came back recently from a dream dive in the Great Barrier Reef. She specializes in coral reproduction and Recife (which means reef in Portuguese) is suitably a good location for her research. I enjoyed learning a bit about corals from her and the unique way that these animals reproduce: synchronous spawning under a full moon.


Next to the concrete jungle of Recife is the lovely little colonial town of Olinda, known for its numerous churches and unique carnival celebrations. It was founded in 1537 and facing pressure from the new protestant movement in mainland Europe, the Catholic church sought to increase their influence in the New World by increasing the rate of converting the local 'savages' and they needed lots of churches to get that done. This is the Mosteiro de São Bento, built in the 16th century along with most of the others churches here.


The colorful streets of Olinda, a good example of well-preserved Portuguese colonial architecture.


Igreja do Amparo (Church of Our Lady of Amparo, which means shelter, protection in Portuguese). This church was founded by musicians in the mid 16th century and was dedicated to Saint Cecilia, the protector of musicians. Between 1580 and 1640, Portugal and Spain were united and taking advantage of the Portuguese weakness at this time, many of their colonies were taken over by other imperialists. The Dutch, through the Dutch West India Company, seized Olinda along with other towns along the coast, all the way up to Sao Luis. They were quite brutal in their take overs and burnt most of the churches down, since they were protestants. When Portugal separated from the Iberian Union, they reclaimed their lost colonies and the churches were rebuilt. As a side note, the Dutch East India Company were the first imperialists in India and there too, they were not nice to the locals.


Besides all the churches, being perched on a hill, Olinda offers nice views of the ocean and that's Recife in the distance there.


Igreja da Misericórdia (Church of Mercy), so named as it's positioned at the top of the steepest hill in Olinda, Alto da Misericórdia, and by the time you reach the top, you'll be aptly begging for mercy. It's a cobble-stoned path and was tricky going down with the bike. Next to the church, the first hospital in Brazil was built in the mid-16th century. You might've noticed that these churches oddly have only one tower and Barbara told me that it was because of tax evasion by the local churches. Every completed church in those times had to pay hefty taxes to the Roman Catholic Church back in Europe, but if your church was still under construction, you didn't have to pay taxes or maybe you paid less, so all these churches are technically still "under construction" since the second tower was never completed. And I thought people of the book were supposed to be honest


A busty sculpture perched on the corner of a building. Not only did they evade taxes, but looks like they were defying the conservatives back in the old world.


A panoramic view of Igreja da Sé (meaning cathedral), across a beautiful view of the ocean and Recife on the right side. This is the only church with two towers and thus gained the status of being the cathedral of both Olinda and Recife. The view from here is what prompted a dignitary to say "Oh, linda," meaning 'wow, beautiful.'
Click here to see the high resolution version.


A cute VW Beetle in the parking lot. Brazil is the only country in all the Americas to have a different-sized license plate, being much longer than the ones in all the other countries. The state and the city are printed above the numerals and I guess they need the space since some city names are quite long.


An interesting flowered roof and stone windows. It was very pleasant to walk around Olinda and I could've spent more than a day there.


The historic center of Recife.


The zero marker for all the highways in the state of Pernambuco.


From Recife, I followed the coast down to Maceio and went in and out of a few beach towns along the way. This massive surf board billboard caught my attention.


Stopping for some lunch in the beach town of Tamandaré, where Barbara's research station is based. She heads out for dives in the coral reefs from here.


The cobble-stoned road leading back to the highway through the Mata Atlântica (the Atlantic rainforest, or more literally, the Atlantic Mat). Cute sign of a tree sloth. I waited for a while, but didn't see any.


BR-101 running along the coast. There was heavy traffic on this route, but the nice views made up for that.


Just like in the Amazon, the hillsides here were shaved clean for sugarcane plantations but as a token to nature, they've left the tops of the hills intact. While being a nice gesture, habitat islandization doesn't do biodiversity any good. Plants and animals need to move to thrive and the recent Convention on BioDiversity in Nagoya stressed the importance of connecting these various isolated habitats to provide a network for these ecosystems to flourish. What's the point, you might ask? Well, most of these habitats are surrounded by agriculture that depend on various services from the ecosystem for free, such as pollination and disease control. The worldwide reduction in the number of bees is causing alarm in many countries.


Brazil and the ubiquitous sugarcane plantations. The colonialists removed most of the Atlantic Rainforest for the sake of producing sugar for Europe and this lead to the mass slavery trade from Africa. And in the mid 1970's, following the Arab Oil Embargo, Brazil harnessed ethanol production from sugarcane and created conditions to encourage the domestic use of this fuel in automobiles instead of gasoline and thus reduced their dependence on imported oil. Today, all new cars and most older ones can run on pure ethanol or the other option of 25% ethanol in the gasoline. Ethanol burns leaner, so foreign vehicles need a few adjustments to run efficiently. This biofuel success story encouraged other countries to follow suit and whilst initially looking like a very green solution to fossil fuels, the food price crisis in 2008 highlighted the double-edged sword of biofuels, in that they are taking up food production land and driving up the prices of food around the world, which seems highly immoral considering the billion or so humans who are going hungry everyday.


A sugarcane milling plant, located in close proximity to the sugarcane fields, since once the stalks are cut, they have to be processed quickly. Brown or raw sugar is made in these milling plants and then white or refined sugar is made closer to where it's consumed.


Taking in the sunset by the beach road. It got dark as I rode into Maceio, the capital of the next state south of Alagoas.


Being welcomed by Bruno and his mother. He's part of the choir at his university (glee club) and traveled to Germany a few months back for a competition and their song from the Amazon with the choir mimicking the sounds of the jungle won them first place.


His mother prepared numerous different items. The yellow root in the middle resembled the texture of turnips but tasted much better.


Hanging out in front of Bruno's house with his dad, brother and this young kid in the red t-shirt was an up and coming stunt rider.


He put on quite a show on his 125cc stunt bike with sandals and no helmet.


Continuing south the next day to Salvador on BR-101. This highway runs along almost the entire coast of Brazil. In some places, it's the only major highway and thus sees a lot of truck traffic, like through here.


A road-train hauling freshly cut sugarcane to a nearby mill.


Splitting off from the busy BR-101 and riding the more tranquil BA-99, Bahia state highway to Salvador, the state capital.


Riding through the Linea Verde (green line) or intact Atlantic Rainforest just north of the city. It was a welcome change after riding through endless sugarcane plantations.


The speed bumps in Brazil, called Lombadas, probably having some connection to the forbidden dance of Lambada. Brazil loves speed bumps almost as much as Mexico. Maybe the more developed a developing country is, the more speed bumps it uses until finally it can afford enough of a police force to actually enforce the speed limit instead of draconian bumps in the road.

Hey, Jay,

are you feeling better?

I'm loving the pictures of Brazil.

Abraços,

Linhares
​

It's all about perspective, eh? If you go to India, you'd be amazed at all the cows roaming around the streets and maybe even the elephants, but totally normal for us

thx man, feeling much better.

Hey Linhares, I'm feeling much better today. Lots of tylenol and sleep did the trick. Ready to get back on the road tomorrow.

Brake Issue: I replaced the rear pads with new ones and the sound went away. All the springs were in tact and nothing looked out of place. I'm not convinced that fixed the issue, but let's see how it goes.

Going to be interviewed on online motorcycle radio show SideStandUp.com tonight at 8:20 pm ET Listen live from the below website:

I lol'd.

at the contrast in hair or the 2 guys holding a crab?

The remark actually.