Elefant Sightings?

Dusty Elefant - she got lots dirtier later - but I didn't snap pics to prove it...

IMG_4785 by MotorCade77, on Flickr

Wine in a tin cup

IMG_4787 by MotorCade77, on Flickr

Baby is also not impressed

IMG_4771 by MotorCade77, on Flickr

Napping in the pines

IMG_4762 by MotorCade77, on Flickr

Elefants and fire!

IMG_4805 by MotorCade77, on Flickr

Riley and his riding buddies from another camp

IMG_4820 by MotorCade77, on Flickr

There were so many highlights of this trip, I don't know where to start. Pretty gratifying to watch one son take his first ride on dirt - and then progress to riding with his new buddies from a campground over. Also pretty gratifying to watch the other son crawl for the first time.

Fun to teach my son to shoot. He managed to hit a water bottle - it's a start. His mother rolled her eyes when I started lining up bottle caps at 30 yards out. Her jaw dropped when I started picking em off one at a time. I've spent a lifetime shooting... just none since we've been married. Shameless brag: Expert marksman in rifle, pistol, machine gun, grenade.

The food was great - we 'gourmet' cooked - omelettes and bacon for breakfasts and fancy cheeses and wine for lunch. Tin foil baked meat/potatoes with roast vegetables and roasted garlic for dinner one night, andouille sausages another. If I'm going to bring a truck and trailer 'camping', then I'm taking advantage of it!

And of course the riding. One intermediate trail that I rode solo went up a ridge line and then culminated in a cliff to the north of our campground, with a wide expansive view out over the desert below. Amazing. The trails were alternately rocky, or sandy, or hard pack, but all dusty and wide - perfect for our big bikes. Having a plated bike up here opens up so many potential areas that most of the other OHV guys aren't on. So if you're looking for a little peace and quiet and some amazing trails with really almost no limitations on where you can go ride - I highly recommend Big Bear area.

Definitely going to do this one again. Hopefully can get the wife out there on her bike sometime too. Might have to leave the baby with Gramma.

And by the way, I heard someone describe the bike as an 'OG Adventure bike.' Made me grin. BMW eat my dust!

Thats a good one!!

Been wanting an E900 for a LONG time to book end my 900 ss sp - if any one has one out there that is in GREAT shape that they'd be willing to shake loose please PM me!

Even better, if someone out there has a nice E900 and is interested in taking a mint condition Husky TE 630 with 312 miles on it as a partial trade DEFINITELY get ahold of me!

@bullsnake
PM sent

Here's one for sale outside Seattle: (not mine)

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/mcy/3293996139.html

Rare 1985 Cagiva/Ducati Elephant 650 - $2900 (Wenatchee)

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Rare 1985 Cagiva/Ducati Elephant 650 twin dual sport. Bike is all original and is in excellent condition. Always kept in heated shop. I have the owners manual and shop manual. Runs great and a hoot to ride. Please reply with phone number if interested. Thanks.

Solo Lobo: Thanks for the link! I am looking specifically for the E900, and in the "Lucky Explorer" livery if possible. Mint and unmolested as possible is a must.

Wyvern: JUST noticed your PM if you can believe it - sorry! I did send you a PM back - let me know if you get it.

I would really, REALLY love to get one of these picked up - I posted the entire story over at Ducati.ms, but my dad had one of these when I was younger and I went on an epic trip with him. I lost him just a few years ago, and my son and I would like to take a similar trip. I will end up keeping the E900 and adding it to my long term "keeper" collection, and would really like to make this trip with my son on an Elefant in memory of my dad and all of the good times that we had on his bike.

Thanks again everyone!

need some details from 750 owners .
whats the top speed and mpg on standard gearing.its a euro spec 1989 750 elephant the owner mentioned it runs on a single mikuni carb(is this stock)
are they dual start or leccy start only.
thanks ian.

I can't help too much, but bear with me for a second. If it's a 1989 I'm assuming it's a Pantah engined air cooled "pre-E750" bike. If this is the case then fuel economy is brilliant (whatever that means) because it can be geared to do whatever you want. Mine had tall road tyres on it and a 15 tooth countershaft sprocket when I bought it and it would fly past 200kph and still hauling. mpg on standard gearing and tyres? Wouldn't have a clue - it's been faaar too long for me to remember that kind of detail.

My 1988 Elefant is kick and electric start and I'm pretty sure a 1989 will be the same. The early E750's I'm not so sure about, but I don't think they appeared until around 1992 or 1994. They came with two carb's - Bing, not a single Mikuni. Converting to a pair of Mikuni's was a common modification but not a single. In fact there were pre-made "kits" to convert to Mikuni's complete with throttle cables to suit. I'm not sure how that (a single Mikuni) could be done so doubt it's true. The early 750 Paso's used a single downdraft Webber carb, but that was a very different bike. It's possible that a conversion to something like that could be done, but I'm pretty sure it would require cutting the frame downtube to eliminate the branches for the air intakes of the standard carb inlets. I've thought about doing that once upon a time, but can't bring myself to cut the frame on such a rare bike. (Mine's a Lucky Explorer). Also, having owned a 750 Paso for a few years I don't think I would head down that path anyway - I got a little tired of it being a 375cc bike every time the slighest bit of crap fell into a jet, which happened with uncanny regularity!

Best wishes with it.
Cheers
JayBo

Don't know much about the Euro 750's. I have two Elefants, one converted to 750cc and the other a standard 650. Both are electric and manual starters. Mileage on both in 50/50 pavement/off-road approaches 50mpg. I have no idea what the top end speed is since I refuse to stress these old engines much over 90% and that equals about 85mph. Both of mine are dual carburetor (DelOrto) models with debris screens every where in the circuits. I have never seen a single carbed Elefant, so doubt that was a factory solution. HTH

I looked better on it Cade:

Sniff-Sniff:


Kurt

OK ... People ... someone needs to help out here .... I am in if someone can make this happen and supply the slider..

I ended up buying one from Europe... cost 147 dollars to get it here.
It really is a nice one, but cost waaaaayyyyy too much.

I've emailed Dewey to offer my unused chain sliders for both the Elefant and the Gran Canyon/Navigator. I am waiting on a reply. I have 2 different chain sliders for the Elefant, both with the same part #. I'll take a pic of each to confirm we are all on the same page. These sliders were obtained from different sources.

Donald LaVigne

I went out to see how hard it would be to remove mine and send it to you, but discovered that most of it is missing!
So it's a "no go" on mine!
I have plenty of other bikes to ride while mine would be down, but since it's missing most of the top block and the chain is against the swing arm I ill have to either build one for myself or buy one off you when you get one to make a pattern off of!

Sorry!

Not many 'Elefant Sightings' of late, so here's one of mine from a couple of weeks ago and a reminder of why it's a god idea to Stop at Stop signs......... even in the middle of nowhere..........

I've decided to sell my '95 E900

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <wunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->Cosmetically it is in fair-to good condition. Engine runs great. Valves recently adjusted - engine purrs and starts right up.
I bought it basically stock about 5 years ago with about ~14K miles (~22K KM) on it
Shortly after buying it the speedo cable snapped. I've purchased and installed two replacements, and they both snap immediately. I haven't spent any more time on it trying to figure out what's the story with it. I just use a GPS instead, and I think I've added another 7 K miles since I bought it.

I have done a bunch of things to it:
1) Odyssey Battery
2) DDL Aftermarket starter wire kit
3) DDL Aftermarket Headlight wiring kit with relay
4) DDL Aftermarket High performance Dyna coils
5) DDL Aftermarket VDO Voltmeter kit
6) ProTaper Handlebars / riser
7) Rebuilt the front forks, new seals & fluid
8) Corbin seat
9) Rebuilt carbs with new DDL aftermarket jet insert
10) New cylinder studs for horizontal cylinder from Nichols Engineering
11) Aftermarket StainTune High performance exhaust
12) Aftermarket wider foot pegs
13) Aftermarket clutch slave cylinder
14) K&N reusable air filter
15) H&K front frame guards

Most upgrades are described here:
http://www.elefantadventurebikes.com/elefant_electrical_upgrade.html

Things I will throw in:
Second rear wheel
Tank bag
Givi monokey rear pannier racks. Needs some work
Cortech soft bags for rear
Extra brake pads
Acerbis hand guards


Asking $2850


Pictures can be seen on Craigslist ad:

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/mcy/3721381437.html




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This is a bargain, if I did own one already I'd be all over this. Make sure you post in the flea market section.

I've been trying to make my own, but without a milling machine it is nearly impossible. Vacation time is coming up in CT and if no one has a set of "Dewey V Specials" to send so he can get the measurements I might just have to trailer my e900 the 312 miles to Lititz, PA.

Another option would be, since I'm replacing my chain and sprockets anyway, I could ship you my rear swing arm. I would pay for shipping there and back and maybe we can work out a deal on the sliders. Any thoughts?

Guys, it's really not as hard as we all seem to think. Go to a plastics specialist for the stock.
I made mine in a hour with nothing more than a drill a heat gun and a hacksaw. And it cost me under 10 bucks.
It's been on the bike for some time without a single problem or any real sign of wear.
Sorry for the dirty bike...... been out riding...........