Little Bear 1, Javarilla 0

So I rode in the Little Bear Enduro last Saturday. The organizers tell me this was the first time a GS has officially competed in an NMA registered enduro.

Ever wonder how a GS will do on tight, technical single track? Ever wonder what a GS would look like upside down? Ever wonder what fluids leak out, and what stops working? On you? On your bike?

Stay tuned... I'm gonna flug this in over the next couple days. You see, it hurts to sit in a chair at the moment...

But, here are a couple things to keep in mind....
32 miles of 'B' and 'A' level technical single track trails (the Pro's ride Little Bear for points).
2000+ foot elevation gain, 3 times.

Serious competitors ride 200cc or 250cc machines.
People with balls ride 300cc machines.
The insane ride 450's.

If you're gonna jam it on an 1150 - do it with style...

When the K75 G/S gets near horozontial (and some times past that)

the engine oil breather lets oil into the air inlet area (when returned to normal positions that oil can get onto the paper air filter)
the gear box oil breather lets some oil out on top of the gear box
I have to pick to heavy thing up :1zhelp
Oh, and the handle bars twist in the rubber mounts (soon to be solid)
I've a sealed battery so that is not a problem area.


Frank Warner
But it is all good fun Just tell the trailer faggots that.

Hoping to get into the Big Dog next year you crazy maniac? Or maybe just trying to get in some practice for Colorado? Looking forward to the write up to hear the details of what repeated rubber UP feels like. Hope you can still type...

I hope you're okay . . .

Ok - so let's get this tale under way...

The first thing you need to know is that I swore I'd never take this GS off-road. In fact, until recently, it only barely saw gravel.

You see, past GS's have been just a little too willing to be partners in stupidly and I'd gotten myself into some pretty ugly spots. After the last time, when I left virtually everything I was packing at the bottom of the Seven Devils so I could climb out of Hell's Canyon in freezing dusk, I swore the next GS would never go offroad. There's probably jeans from that trip either still in the canyon, or stuck in some turbine in a dam somewhere down the Columbia.

I swore off 'big dirt' because I wanted to live to see 40. Not for any particularly good reason other than to surprise the people who were pretty sure I'd never make it.

And I did pretty good, livin' the asphalt life. Treating the GS like a K bike. Until someone woke the monkey...

Unfortunately, the problem is that I'm over 40 now. 42 to be precise, and there's really no good reason to continue living, so, why NOT take the GS offroad? Why NOT try to breathe some life into those old desert skills and see what you can do?

S'alright - so there's some stuff to be considered...
Stuff like steering stop protection, some crash bars, some head guards, stiffer shocks, the final drive gearing, the tires, life insurance, some ride-specific tack and some new togs...

Putting the armor on the bike caused some distress on my part, mostly because I was afraid of losing roadability. If I can't keep up with JohnJen and his GPS, I'll gonna get so bad lost it won't be funny.

But on the armor had to go. The Touratech Hard Part had no appreciable affect, and the Stanton head guards actually look good on the machine. So far, it's all good.

The Touratech Crash Bars are another story, though. They touch down under aggressive cornering. That's unpleasant. They're gonna slow me down if they're on there all the time. Are there bars that won't touch down before the pegs?

Shocks were an issue because I didn't get mine through Stig - I got mine through the dealership. So I got run o' the mill Ohlins, on a machine that carries my 280lb carcass over some 'thrilling' surfaces. Turns out I'm gonna have to have Stig change the spring as soon as I garner the cash... I got wee springs - 14's when I should be running 17's or 18's.

I wasn't sure how much of a problem the gearing would be. I'm already running the 33:11 final drive, and I thought the clutch might be stout enough for the type of riding I'd attempt. I shoulda guessed that Washington enduros were gonna be a little bit different than those old BLM land dashes. [A little foreshadowing there for the attentive]

The tires, though - man, what a road joke! These TKC-80s are nasty on pavement. You can ride them pretty hard. In fact, you can grind out the Touratech crash bars if you really push, but it's an unpleasant feeling that far out onto the tiny knobs. Trace the chicken strip across big and little knobs. See how far out of alignment it moves? I don't know how you Adventure owners can stand to have these things on all the time...

So then you target an event. Didn't wanna do some limp wristed offroad poker run. Didn't think I was up to a hare scramble. I'm not going anywhere near a MX course (for a while), and while SuperMoto would be ridiculously fun on the 1150, there wasn't anything coming up in my neck of the woods.

So I chose an enduro. And not some dual sport enduro - a real enduro!

Ok - so, I really didn't think that much of enduros. In my desert days, back when I was immortal and pain only lasted a couple hours, enduro's were the sport of the old men. Guys in their 30's who wore kneebraces, and thought gopher mounds were difficult. Yah, right...

With the enduro in mind, I got to buy some nifty gadgets. Like a roll chart. A simple one, for me, thanks. One that gaurantees hours of scissoring, taping, highlighting, rolling, unrolling, turning around, rolling, recalculating, tearing, swearing, etc... Reminds me of my art school daze...

The roll chart...


The enduro ride rules...


The completed monkey biz...


All held together with Rabia's Select zipties.

The other peice of equipment you desperately need, is this...


Ya see, you're gonna look ridiculous out there anyway, you may as well have fun with it...

Tomorrow - how to strip an enduro, how to dress for an enduro, and what to pack for an enduro... Then off to the races!

Keep it coming. I have a sense that this is going to get better.

I am having fun already and am now trying to decide what color mohawk would best enhance the looks of my beast (go with complimentary orange or harmonious blue? ).

I could even "pierce" one of the turn indicators and put a ring in to complete the look.

Jim

Why not orange and blue? Combination is rather popular down in your parts I hear!

Can someone explain what all those numbers represent on the roll chart?

where your mileage shoud be at what time.

if your behind you know to crank it up a notch.

There's no way you are 42.

I tried to put a message in my newly acquired roadbook to post in reply to you, but damned if I can figure out how to roll the paper on correctly. Maybe the touratech one really is worth $400?????

Can't wait for the rest of this report.

-d

Thanks.

I just knew we were going to be in for a treat when I heard about the MOHAWK,,, My mind ran wild with the possibilities let alone the implications...

Just remember boys and girls DON'T TRY DOING ANY OF WHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO READ AT HOME... do it miles and miles from nowhere..

JJ

True, true, but while I consider myself pretty crazy I am not nearly as crazy as that indigenous beastie we refer to (usually in a drunken state) as the AUBURN FOOTBALL FAN!



Jim

WAR EAGLE!!!

Hey Monkey Man, you're ONLY 42? Damn, here I thought you were some kinda silverback or something, but yer just a young chimp. I do look forward to your story! Will this end with the classic "I'm getting older faster than I'm getting smarter" sort of lesson? I love stories like that!