33 1/3 N C S + Cuba

[Ian The Pain]

I like your idea of the two front mounted pelican cases, are they 1400's or 1450's?

[Colombianito]

Glad to see your doing well. That calamari is amazing looking! Glad to see your eating well. ( Drinking well also! )

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by far

Wow was great the update of the Angel Falls looks like the bad times are better spent with a good whiskey and good beer partners with the warmth of Silviu SS I hope soon mend the bike and go on with the adventure with more beer of course.




Are those boobs will be the main event of the upcoming Mardi Gras
Greetings john

Thanks Far for the kind words, we need to meet up one of these days when I go back to Colombia again

You should come to Caracas and join the party.

Originally Posted by GZERO

BTW: john, you don´t even get to B cup, to me you are an A cup.

That means a lot coming from you Gustavo Hope you get that bike repaired soon enough and we get to finally ride the Gran Sabana

Originally Posted by Toadride

Bein a good US ambassador has certainly got u a bunch of good Karma built up, TM. And goodonya!
Wonderin about the bottom end on yer engine. Does it have a removable pan or is it a split case? An oil pan sure would help in makin sure there is no more of that crap lodged down there.

The bottom end should be in good shape as the coolant system doesn´t enter and their was no failure of the water pump seals and when I dropped the oil it looked great so I hope some more of that karma comes my way and I have no problems with the bottom end. It´s not time to walk away from this bike just yet btw it´s a split case and I ain´t splitting it....yet

Originally Posted by Ian The Pain

I like your idea of the two front mounted pelican cases, are they 1400's or 1450's?

Thanks man! I was trying to keep as much weigh off the rear subframe as I could. I believe they are 1400 IIRC and I think they have been a big reason my bike has survived so well in the many offs It crashes and recoveres well, I treat them like crash bars This bike fits me well and I´m really starting to miss it

Originally Posted by Colombianito

Glad to see your doing well. That calamari is amazing looking! Glad to see your eating well. ( Drinking well also! )

I must say I´m in very good hands, these guys over here are great. Hope things are going well with you and your new bike. Maybe one day I get to pass back through Popayan again


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Little update as of late, I´m waiting on parts from the states, mainly gaskets that I couldn´t find here, to get the bike put back together. While I had some time off I thought it would be worth a look to head out to Los Roques for a look around and some diving as Silviu once worked the waters and told me it was quite nice.

Well after missing my first flight out there Friday evening due to a water pipe break that nearly shutdown the autopista out to the airport I paid a small chage fee and Silviu took me out Saturday morning but not before another of those awesome bar-b-ques Friday night that I would have missed out on heading to the islands so it worked out nicely other than the very long ride to and fro the airport. The islands are very beautiful and the absolute best thing is that you can camp for free otherwise this place would be off the chart expensive as the posadas are all very pricey.

I camped the first night and the second day headed out to the South Barrier islands for two tanks of diving, some of the best I´ve ever done

Had the boat drop me off on another island yesterday after the diving and camped there last night. Haven´t had a fresh water shower since Friday and sand is everywhere and it´s more than a little hot out in the sun where I try to avoid getting baked, my tan is improving dramatically thou.

Again the scenery is also quite stunning as well as this is a playground for some well to do people from around South America and beyond.


I fly back Tuesday afternoon to the mainland and hopefully the parts are all in by then and I can put my poor bike back together again and head to Brazil soon.

John in Gran Roque, Venezuela staying cool in the internet cafe and eating lots of cheap empandas.

[SmilinJoe]

Sounds like a great time. Hope your parts are in onTuesday and you get the Ole Girl up and running once more. Cant wait to see photos of the little side excursion to the islands. Dont feel lucky! It is hot here as well!! Hope you make it to Brazil soon. Keep the RR coming and be safe my friend.

[Throttlemeister]

Far from my normal Lucky 13, I don't know what he hell DHL is trying to do here

Maybe I have to go intercept the damn package in PC, wtf! DHL is sucking big on this one

13	Arrived at Sort Facility PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	23:04
12	Departed Facility in MIAMI GATEWAY - USA	MIAMI GATEWAY, FL - USA	21:24
11	Processed at MIAMI GATEWAY - USA	MIAMI GATEWAY, FL - USA	20:51
10	Clearance processing complete at MIAMI GATEWAY - USA	MIAMI GATEWAY, FL - USA	20:33
9	Clearance delay	MIAMI GATEWAY, FL - USA	07:06
8	Processed for clearance at MIAMI GATEWAY - USA	MIAMI GATEWAY, FL - USA	07:06
Monday, June 11, 2012		Location	Time
7	Arrived at Sort Facility PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	23:55
6	Departed Facility in MIAMI GATEWAY - USA	MIAMI GATEWAY, FL - USA	21:44
5	Processed at MIAMI GATEWAY - USA	MIAMI GATEWAY, FL - USA	21:30
4	Arrived at Sort Facility MIAMI GATEWAY - USA	MIAMI GATEWAY, FL - USA	20:13
3	Departed Facility in MIAMI - TAMIAMI - USA	MIAMI - TAMIAMI, FL - USA	20:03
2	Processed at MIAMI - TAMIAMI - USA	MIAMI - TAMIAMI, FL - USA	20:03
1	Shipment picked up	MIAMI - TAMIAMI, FL - USA	17:20

[BeachGuy]

Taking the "Steel Rat" to Panama via the land of the big cigars are we?

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by BeachGuy

Taking the "Steel Rat" to Panama via the land of the big cigars are we?

No, not just yet. I'm going ditch my bike in the Land of Black Gold and Hot Women right after I make a run down to Manaus to see what I can find

I'll be back in December or whenever my moto's papers need more help than they can get abroad

Guyanas are calling and a whole lot of $$Brazil, I got to come back to Oklahoma and work- I'm ready to be home, too much time and money spent broke down You got anything I can tear up??

I hope to turn out some quality installments today as I have some quality time. I've had a nice break here in Caracas and Cuidad Bolivar from riding but ready to get going again

This is looking more like it!

19	Processed at MAIQUETIA - VENEZUELA	MAIQUETIA - VENEZUELA	07:47
18	Clearance delay	MAIQUETIA - VENEZUELA	07:47
17	Processed for clearance at MAIQUETIA - VENEZUELA	MAIQUETIA - VENEZUELA	07:47
16	Arrived at Sort Facility MAIQUETIA - VENEZUELA	MAIQUETIA - VENEZUELA	05:13
15	Departed Facility in PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	02:16
14	Transferred through PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	02:13
Tuesday, June 12, 2012		Location	Time
13	Arrived at Sort Facility PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	PANAMA CITY - PANAMA	23:53

I've been riding the hell out of the place up here on top, I guess my old bike really needed a break

[Eclecticmale]

Dude. I want to be like you when I grow up!!!!!!!

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by Eclecticmale

Dude. I want to be like you when I grow up!!!!!!!

Hell I'm 35, I don't even want to grow up; at least that's what one of my last long term girlfriends (single mother) said


I'll drink to never letting yourself 'turn' old

[BeachGuy]

John, after your very short stay at my place in Costa Rica (2010) I left my BMW K75 there at my house. Come back to Alabama ( this was in November 2010, seems like ages ago) and realized that I was bike-less.

So after having seen what torment you put your F650 through on your never ending ride south, I went and bought a 2001 F650GS.

Now if you absolutely need to ride something, that I have. However please don’t do to my little bike that which your old girl seems to think is normal. If you ever get married; I will hate to see how you ride her, LOL of course.

I’ll be riding to Seattle in September, if your back home by then I might come by and let you return the favor in the way of a bed and French toast with strawberries and whip cream for breakfast.

John after his breakfast.

Ride safe,

[Throttlemeister]

And here I am thinking about how I need to be proposing to one of your three beautiful daughters to marry into the good life I still remember that photo you posted of your beautiful family

It was a pleasure meeting you and your wife (I missed the girls) Jeff and for sure if I'm around in Oklahoma at the time your passing through you are more than welcome to stop in.
I don't know if I can handle your exact request but I can sure whip you up some of my almost famous homemade waffels (or pancakes if your antiwaffel or something) and add some tasty bacon Just ask you local crazy Soutern ADVer Swamp about it I think it's a damn fine meal for any traveler.

I still think the f650 is a damn good bike, I just tear up stuff real good, I wish you many happy miles, it remains one of the most efficient 650s ever produced. I'm not walking away from mine yet, it's got a lot of good quality miles left in her.

See you around amigo and thanks again for taking me in I rememeber it well , now are they all married off now??


Hasta la vista baby!

[BeachGuy]

John, I forgot to ask about that cheap ass tire you bought at the moto shop. Did you ever use it, and if so how many hours were you able to ride on it before you tore it up.

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by BeachGuy

John, I forgot to ask about that cheap ass tire you bought at the moto shop. Did you ever use it, and if so how many hours were you able to ride on it before you tore it up.

That was one of the worst tires I've ever ridden on as my bike was way too heavy for the carrying capacity of the lugs, it worked okay offroad but on road it inspired no confidence for me. I rode on it in Cuba for a little ways until my first flat, maybe a couple hundred miles then swapped in out for the Perelli I was carrying and never looked back to it but kept it for insurance. I think it is now serving time as a boat fender somewhere in the Caribbean, it was cheap insurance but that was about it I've found I really like running the Brazilian made Perelli tires down here and now with these latest set of Mitas tire out of CZ Rep that I found in Caracas they also seem to do pretty well too and nice for the price, I plan to run them all the way through the Guyanas so I will have to see how they do, they really remind me of the mefo tires but deeper lugs and feel like harder compound:

[BeachGuy]

Glad to know I could help with your tire selections.

I still get a smile on my face thinking about that overpriced helmet you were wanting to buy at Costa Rica BMW dealer. I really thought you were going to pull the trigger on that one. I did see the post were you later did buy that brand/ model of brain bucket.

Did it help getting any pretty senoritas for ya?

[Throttlemeister]

Originally Posted by BeachGuy

Did it help getting any pretty senoritas for ya?

I wouldn't know as I left it in Oklahoma, I like traveling with a flip face helmet too much or my sadly lost green Cubano Special. Thinking I will get one of the similar ones here in Venezuela for my chica helmet.

That BMW enduro helmet is a damn nice one, one of the lightest helmets I've ever tried, you need one bad I got mine half off with some scratches already installed.

I'm still using my old $30 dollar used helmet with 100,000+ miles on it
I did score a new visor for it in Medellin thou

Made it as good as new!

I'll miss this little helmet, nice memories