The Offical Pachaug Trail Thread

[banshee8989]

I just got home from pachuag....... and the major water crossing I did not see any ruts or new tracks on..... did you guys do it yesterday?


Anyway, I am going to take a shower first... then give a trail report...... here is just a little teaser:



who wants to hear about the chain of events that led to this???

[Stan Dalone]

WTF ? Over?

[gildomilo]

The Flower Power DR had a lot of issues today. Randomly wouldn't shift ( shift drum bolt problem). Then the screw on the negative terminal of the battery vibrated out ( idiot didn't use locktite me!). Dave was kind enough to tow me up a hill and the handlebars went sideways, DR dumped and instantly dumped Dave. A lot of carnage on the trail.

The DR just got washed down, battery charger is on, and the surgery will start tomorrow.

[banshee8989]

Originally Posted by gildomilo

The Flower Power DR had a lot of issues today. Randomly wouldn't shift ( shift drum bolt problem). Then the screw on the negative terminal of the battery vibrated out ( idiot didn't use locktite me!). Dave was kind enough to tow me up a hill and the handlebars went sideways, DR dumped and instantly dumped Dave. A lot of carnage on the trail.

The DR just got washed down, battery charger is on, and the surgery will start tomorrow.

You failed to mention a few things like:



or



See that red arrow? No nobody moved it and yes that is the trail. This was after the guys on the KTMs had water problems and left..... probably the smart thing as this is what the next crossing was like. How deep was it.............



Lets just say: dont take my line through it. Amazingly it did not drowned out the XR!!!!!! the airbox was still bone dry although it did take some water in the exhaust.

If you can believe it the towing picture was after this.

what happens when your towing a bike..... and that bike comes to a dead stop and your rear tire still has lots of traction...... and your riding a 650?





We accually had a pretty good ride and did not have any problems up to that last water crossing. I have good pictures as well and will post them as soon as I blurr plates and stuff and will do a full report.

[CallMeBuzz]

Yep, We all went through that one. Right up the middle never put a foot down. Looks like the XR went to the right. That's where the muck is. I guess you guys had quite an adventure too.

[CousinLarry]

Nice pics and carnage

Like Buzz said - we did do that crossing. It looked a lot harder than it actually was.. Just stay on the pegs, keep the R's up, and don't look down :)



And Buzz's bike got chomped by a rock:

[TURNERSVILLE]

Did you guys (Fri or Sat) do the entire loop? If so how was the last section after the "hero" section. In December is was a rocky river.

[gildomilo]

Seeing all the issues my bike had I didn't want to mention the KTM's who sucked water. We didn't do the hero section on Saturday. Too many hours spent digging the bikes out of the swamp, and too many mechanical maladies on the DR.

[CousinLarry]

Yeah, on Friday we did the whole loop. It was my first time so I'm not familiar with all the sections..

I do know that the place is frickin rocky as all hell. The pachaug loop might be something I'll do once a year just to get seasoned up... But it's about a 1.5hr drive from here.. I'd rather head up to Pittsfield or somewhere else in the Berkshires.

But yeah, it was filled with a lot of New England R&R - roots & rocks!!!

I should probably say though that we stayed on the loop only.. I did see lots of side trails, but not sure what was down them.. Maybe it's just the loop that is rocky as shit? Lots of traffic over the years.

[banshee8989]

Here are some more pictures from the ride on Sat. and a funny video of the water crossing that ended the ride for us.




















I have some more but this post is going to become really, really big if I put them all up.


here is the video. explains what happened at "the hole".


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN7F73Nv7j8

[HeyDoc]

Great pics banshee. Sorry to hear about the various troubles, sounds like I missed out on a real "adventure ride"! Lets plan another, drier, ride in the near future, Pachaug is really more enjoyable when it is not under water! I drowned my bike, and damn near myself, last March. Rode the tar back to the lot soaking wet, about 40 degrees. The group I was with had 4 bikes not complete the loop due to water troubles, I was the only one nick named "the swimmer" !

[elrontx]

Originally Posted by HeyDoc

Great pics banshee. Sorry to hear about the various troubles, sounds like I missed out on a real "adventure ride"! Lets plan another, drier, ride in the near future, Pachaug is really more enjoyable when it is not under water! I drowned my bike, and damn near myself, last March. Rode the tar back to the lot soaking wet, about 40 degrees. The group I was with had 4 bikes not complete the loop due to water troubles, I was the only one nick named "the swimmer" !

so did you guys mess up your bikes? i drowned my xr650l in the same type of puddle in nj and it cost me 1000$ to rebuild the motor.

[HeyDoc]

Last year I was riding a KTM 2 stroke when I went for a swim. It immediately sucked in a cylinder full of water and died. Pulled the plug, kicked out the water, drained the carb, new plug and back on the trail. I did cut the ride short due to the cold. Drained the oil and flushed with diesel fuel at home. Never even needed a top end. Lucky. On the same ride a drz400 drowned out and had to be towed back. I believe he bent a valve and re-did his top end.

[gildomilo]

The water was strange. Old Shetucket turnpike had shallow puddles, last year at this time they were up to my seat on the KLR. I guess someone did some grading that held for most of the year, or maybe it's still somewhat frozen?? The 40 degree soaking wet ride is not fun at all, especially when you don't have a map or cell phone and end up in RI with no idea how to get back (happened the first time I rode it last year)

[banshee8989]

Originally Posted by elrontx

so did you guys mess up your bikes? i drowned my xr650l in the same type of puddle in nj and it cost me 1000$ to rebuild the motor.

My XR is fine. I did not and will not mod my airbox as I know we live in New England and mudd is a way of life . Even in the picture of XR up to the tail light the airbox stayed dry but when I shut it off some water went up the exhaust. The oil looks like it may of gotten a slight dose of water, but not alot.
When I did the "Daves carb mods" I left the vapor canistor in and let the crankcase vent into the airbox. I know alot of people do away with this on the assumption it saves weight, gives power, looks better, or somthing..... but I like having my crankcase vented into the airbox. The engineers at Honda knew what they were doing. In the picture above we had to lay the bike on its side to get it out..... and the airbox and crankcase still satyed dry but I think that is when some water went up the exhaust. Im not sure if the water made it all the way into the combustion chamber which I dont think it did as the bike turned over and started..... but it sure was a sauna behind the pipe for a few miles.

I am going to drain the oil, check compression, and do a once over on the bike tonight, but it ran fine after the water so Im sure its fine.