She slapped me with little provocation !

[heffa]

you've got my attention!

[motoged]

I put about 4800 kms on the bike before getting ready for Baja with few problems. I had to get a warrantied replacement for the lower tank bushings (a known weakness of the subframe engineering) at about 1500 kms and a custom seat early in the bike’s life. KTM’s are NOT known for comfortable seats…my first effort at improving the seat was to replace it with a 2X4 wrapped with barbed wire, but that didn’t create the comfort my tush was expecting so I had a local guy (Rudy) craft a seat resembling the design favoured by many (Renazco)….it was a vast improvement although it raised the seat height a bit. The 690 is a tall bike and, with my 29.5“ inseam, I find myself doing some nifty yoga poses getting on and off this beast.

My mods to the bike have been:

Custom seat;
Trail Tech Eclipse HID headlight;
Scott steering damper;
Suspension tuning (forks revalved; shock got a heavier spring);
Double-Take mirrors;
Removal of charcoal canister and SAS system;
Safari fuel tank;
Twin Air foam air filter;
Rally Raid upper tank bolts and countershaft sprocket guard;
Motoz Tractionator desert tires;
Bridgestone Ultra-Heavy duty tubes;
True Goo tire sealant;
And a Canadian flag sticker for the front fender …

I use a Giant Loop Coyote bag for lugging most of my crap as well as a back-pack. I carried two UHD tubes, patches, full tool kit w/extra bolts, JB weld, and the usual tubes of goop as well as enough No Toil stuff for one or two filter cleanings as needed. As usual, I carried way more crap than I needed…but was prepared for the “Just in case situations”. I was also packing a spare set of levers, shifter pedal, and rear brake lever.

I copied pages from the Baja Almanac for paper info and had a Mexico topo map for my Garmin 60 CSX ….just so I had some sense of where I was when I got lost…

The trip was a relatively last-minute decision as I have been feeling a need to be close to the phone as my 94 year old father is in failing health and I am constantly awaiting the call to go to Winnipeg to attend to whatever crisis is around the corner. My siblings encouraged me to feel okay about being out of the country for a few weeks….so that was the plan.

The gang I was going with are the folks I tend to ride single-track with and they are all hard-core riders. Several of them have been on Baja 1000 race teams and have been to Baja numerous times. As such, they know what to expect. I rode with them last year in Baja and figured I would use the bus as my way down to ride a different route than what they were planning for this trip.

The general plan was to drive the bus to San Ignacio and park the bus for 10 days of riding. They were planning to ride off-road from there and go down to Los Cabos the Hard Way. My plan was to ride with them the first day or two and then do a less arduous ride to areas I wanted to explore more: south from Mulege to San Isidro/La Purisima, Comondu, Agua Verde, and back to San Ignacio from San Juanico.
I have ridden most of those areas before, but was looking for a chance to ride without having to keep up with their pace…and take my time and enjoy the terrain in a different way.
I am a frequenter of Baja Nomads, a forum devoted to sharing great info about Baja, the usual gossip, and the normal politics of such internet entertainment….

A poster on BN wrote to me as he got wind of my upcoming ride and asked if he could join our ride. He claimed to be an experienced rider and had a new 690 that he was enjoying. Trusting that he was willing to follow my ride plan, I welcomed him aboard and he planned to meet us

at Rice and Beans in San Ignacio as he would be at his place on the East Cape around the time we would be down.

But first....we needed to get loaded......










The bus left Kamloops about noon on Feb. 10^th and we snacked

our way to Vancouver (thanks for the picnic basket, Kim) where we picked up two more riders.








Ross was the fellow who concocted the ride route by scouring Google Earth and the Baja Almanac...maintaining consistently in the face of common sense and good judgement that "If you can see it on Google Earth, you can ride it!".


Here he seems to be referring to Google Earth rather than the highway in front of him....such is the life of Rossco...












We drove straight through to San Diego for about a 30-hour jaunt, arriving at the Tijuana crossing at midnight Friday….This gave us ample time to eat , drink beer, share ride memories, and do the usual male bonding rituals (insulting each other and farting).


Murray, a Baja veteran (AKA El Mur) is the guy responsible for a successful effort to raise money for Coco a few year's back on ADV Rider. He raised about $6000 and those funds were directed to Coco through Kiki in San Felipe (Kiki's Motel and RV Resort)

[Animo]

I thought you were kiddin'

[CHRIS_D]

Looking forward to this.

[cactusreid]

your ride reports are stellar motoged! espicially when i get a supporting role! let -er - rip big fella. don't let common sense and good judgement stop yah now.

[Haywood]

Ready!

[Skedaddle]

That Bus Rocks

[Skrow]

IN!~!

[gsstampeder]

well alrighty then.....get'er going

[motoged]

Originally Posted by ggoytia

Awesome pictures especially the bus!
Where the bikes at.
If you dont mind more pic of big blue you sparked an Idea.

As Ken Kesey said: "You are either on the bus or off the bus!"
.... but he ate a lot of acid...

Ross sent these pics of the bus before it was infested with beer and wine-swilling dirtbikers intent on farting their way through three countries to simply ride the best Baja has to offer:

The rear living area has five bunks and a biffy...the only slide-outs are guys pulling duffles out from under bunks or off of guys sleeping under a pile of someone's stuff:






The RV biffy works simply....ever try to hit the bowl while standing and when the driver is drifting corners? ....or not have the bowl contents slopping into your pants around your ankles while on the throne and the driver hits the brakes???? Something for the unitiated to ponder



The kitchen is plumbed to a 50 gallon water tank on the roof of the bus, as is the RV toilet (for water supply....no hot water at this time). The bus has an inverter so the fridge and microwave can run off of engine or land-power. Drinking water is from 5 gallon jug....beer is in the fridge....keep your eye on your beer...seems that others get a taste for it too









As we move forward in the coach, there is a table, adjoining seats, and a "couch" (i.e. bunk set-up that has the top bunk dropped down for a backrest) for a socializing area , where stimulating conversations may be heard wafting over the gentle pulse of the diesel pusher , the sweet melodies of singing , the clinking of glasses, the lofty words of elder riders "That Honda is the best bike I ever had !!".... "That 300 is the best bike I ever had !!!!" , where friends can share a conversation , , and where a meal might be shared ,








And the bikes are stored in a separate section at the rear of the bus...the ramp has a winch:










But I digress...there is riding and travel to talk about...

[WFO]

Nice set up.
How does one get a seat on this bus next year?
I like beer
I like bike's
I can fart
I have experience pissing in moving vehicles
Do I qualify ?

[kenbob]

I take a trip every spring , with some buds , in a motorhome . Where there is much beer swilling , card playing , and hooting , going on !

We tape a couch pillow on the wall over the pisser - lean your forehead into it and you have a great 3 point stance ! Cuz , even if the driver is doin his best ......... its rough back there .

The pillow works . Oh , and by the way , we all share cleanup duty :))

This is a great thread . Thank you so much for doing this .

You guys are livin large !

[RacerXS]

Really cool trip!

[motoged]

KenBob,
First of all....Pure Prairie League rules.... I first turned on to them in the very early 70's: their first album was their best I think !!!


As for the biffy stabilization technology...no cushions were used but I did figure out some tripod configurations to reduce misdirects

Originally Posted by kenbob

I take a trip every spring , with some buds , in a motorhome . Where there is much beer swilling , card playing , and hooting , going on !

We tape a couch pillow on the wall over the pisser - lean your forehead into it and you have a great 3 point stance ! Cuz , even if the driver is doin his best ......... its rough back there .

The pillow works . Oh , and by the way , we all share cleanup duty :))

This is a great thread . Thank you so much for doing this .

You guys are livin large !

[motoged]

WFO,
Next year the bus is likely headed down to San Felipe (it's usual base at Kiki's... http://www.kiki.com.mx/ ) in late January or February...usually the core group who are the bus partners have 3-4 places available...fee is charged to cover fuel...loading up happens in Kamloops or somewhere along I-5..

Originally Posted by WFO

Nice set up.
How does one get a seat on this bus next year?
I like beer
I like bike's
I can fart
I have experience pissing in moving vehicles
Do I qualify ?