2012 TAT From Myth to Reality! The No U-Turns Show Moving Forward with Production!

[Noah M]

Greetings everyone!

Welcome to our madness! I trust that most of you share our disease of an unquenchable thirst of adventure!

We are but 4 young lads who have not yet hit our mid-life crisis. We are mostly travelers having over traveled to over 100 different countries collectivly.


One of us works at a TV studio and a thought was born...why not film our crazy adventures??
So the idea was born...now we just have to find time to edit...

In 2011 we rode motorcycles up to Deadhorse and had an amazing time.

Now its 2012 and we have all but forgotten our trip to the arctic as we have just heard of a guy named Sam Correro.

The TAT Trip is forthcomming. Please stay tuned.....

[Noah M]

Let me introduce the team!

First on the list we have Wheatie from London, England



Next, hailing from Napier, New Zealand we have Jaron



Bringing it back to the United States, we have Jason from Iowa



Finally we have me! Noah from Big Island Hawaii







Alright now that you know the crew, lets get on to Season 3!
The Transamaerican Trail from sea to shining sea tour.......reccession style!


Well since there are 4 of us going and we are a bit...well ridiculous, poor and a bit crazy...and since we dont mind a bit of work to keep things irritating for us and entertaining for you, I give you the first machine being modified for the TAT which we plan of running this summer 2012!



This machine will be ridden by a one, Andrew Wheate, or "Wheatie" as we know him by.
Wheatie was born in the UK but grew up in Cairo in Egypt..he is 25 years old, studying international politics and is single!







Behold the 1973 Honda XL175 with Chinese knockoff Lifan 200cc engine!
Known affectionatly to us as "Lifanda"


Now I know what you are all thinking...my goodness how can you take something SO valuable on a trip like the TAT! Aren't you concerned with it being stolen!

Well the answer is Yes! We are worried sick! This $800 bike just about broke the bank (we are so reccession bound)

However, rest assured that she will be taken care of in the months and weeks to come!
She will need a bit of modding here and there, but we are semi-confident that she will make the journey in the van back to the starting point in South Carolina and a bit less certain she will make it to the pacific coast!

Stay Tuned....

[Noah M]

The first thing that is needed is some racks to hang all our precious gear on, we dont want all those thrift store goodies getting caught in the spokes!




A front rack was the first order of business.

I checked my scrap pile out back and found an old oven rack


I also was able to dig out this great old lawnmower handle



A few cuts later and a bit of gluing with the welder and we are all set!




Mounted the speedo



Then needed some idiot lights for the neautral and turn signal...had this from an old 250 rebel



Adapted that a bit and glued it onto the oven rack..er front rack


Put on a rear rack too!


More to come!

[Noah M]

Alright, having a lunch break so time for an update.

The Lifanda needs a larger fuel tank than the orginal because we dont want to carry extra fuel..I realize the Lifan motor gets about 80-100 miles to the gallon, but still.

So the local Honda Shop donated an old fuel tank they had hung up on the wall years ago!

After a few bashes with a hammer, it was looking like the steering might clear!



The problem came when, with all the bashing, the crummy kream job that someone performed years ago broke loose!
about an hour of jiggling and it all came out!


I bought a handful of fuel filters, i assure you!



Being that the tank is a bit larger I had to adjust the mounting point




All bolted in baby!

[Noah M]

Now that the tank is installed, I needed a seat.

Well the old seat was so uncomfortable it was incredible!
You couldnt ride for 30 min without needing a break!
Add to the fact that I needed to make more room behind the seat for Wheatie to carry his gear on this already small bike, and we see the need for a smaller, yet comfortable seat!

Introducing the old ripped virago 250 cruiser seat!








It needed a bit of adapting to fit in here







But a little elbow grease and she was wresstled into place...




Yes that is a 2x4 "shim"

Should be able to carry 3 spare tires!

[Daz the Aussie]

Ooh you are gunna piss off all the pretentious wankers on $20,000 BMW's who think that is the only bike for any such adventure.
Looking forward to the mayhem to come....

[Noah M]

Well we cant please everyone..if we had the $20k we might just be riding beemers ourse...wait... no..if we had $20k we would be riding the mediterranean loop on vespas...


Anywho back to the monstrosity...

where was i?

ahh yes!


so the cruiser seat is now on the 1970s dirtbike!

next thing needed in the mods was something to keep the spare tires in place... i still had the top half of the lawn mower handle so..




It was chopped in half and welded to the back of the rack stickin straight up like a proud peacock!
I had some section of a garage door track that was also glued in place to make the whole shmo a bit more beefy!




Now for a run around the neighborhood to see how she handles!


Well besides the neighbor's grand kids pointing and laughing, the ride was uneventful.

I went off a little jump and bounced around the dirt trail that runs along side the powerlines and she felt great! Little hard to stand up with the big tank, but its something Wheatie can get used to I suppose...part of the consequence of having someone else get your bike ready!



I parked her in my gravel pile and snapped a photo for yall.

[Noah M]

I hope that fork brace isnt a problem in heavy mudd! not much clearance! We will see!


Anyway so some sadle bags will also be necessary for Wheatie's spare parts, which he is sure to need many of!
I spoke with him over skype today and he seemed to want more storage space since the rear rack is kind of only good for light stuff...... in fact that rear subframe might be snapping in the future...will have to adjust the bracing.

The saddle bags therefore are needed


So I cut the pipe and lowered the exhaust to keep the soft bags off the hot pipe.






Then I needed something to keep the saddle bags from hitting the wheel.
Another run to the scrap pile and I found two of these!






Cut off the hooks







Then welded them on







and there you have it!
Wonderful saddle bags!

[Motojournalism]

Oven racks and wisecracks, lookin' forward to this one boys

How'd the 3D GoPro work out?

[Noah M]

The go pros did pretty good!

Grab a set of 3d glasses of your choice and check out this 3D link to our season 2 of The No U-Turns Show
Arctic Ocean Tour




just a warning..the red and blue 3d glasses work, but it looks like real quality on a 3d tv!

[Noah M]

Well the Lifanda is pretty much done, i still need to wire in a 12 volt socket to keep the radio powered for helmet to helmet communication amongst us 4 but other than that she is done!!

Oh I made the foot pegs wider today with some old ones i had laying around.

[Noah M]

Now that the Lifanda is finished, it was time to start on the bike that I will be riding!

a 1993 DR350


here she is on last summers trip up to the arctic ocean.

she is the white one on the left....




The airhawk was really the only mod for that adventure as we had the chase vehicle which carried all our supplies! It was awesome having a chase vehicle!! to ride thousands of miles and not have to carry gear?? its soo much fun! But not as much of an "Adventure" thus this time we are driving back to south carolina and selling the astro van on craigslist or to the scrappers!!

[Noah M]

Today the DR was looked over and the scrap pile consulted to see what kind of rack building material might be hidden under those chicken soup cans and old coat hangers.








First I removed the old rear rack






And welded on another one from...well who knows what this came off of?
At least it didnt come out of an oven this time..we are moving up in the world!!







Installed!

[Noah M]

Next was a front rack which was basically done the same as on the Lifanda









Then I too needed saddle bags so I started on a system to keep the bags off of the tire on the left side..and...


viola!! the lawn mower handle trick worked again!!!





I was out of lawn mower handles when it came to the exhaust side....
Im going to leave the plastic side cover off and just make my own since the saddle bags will be there anyway..no need for melted plastic!!

The local Honda Shop donated an old Seca sissy bar to our recession bound trip so i welded her on to the passenger footpag bracket and the new rear rack!!
Worked out great and clears the muffler taboot!!










again I am using soft luggage so I need something to keep any and everything off the exhaust so the tray that goes on the oven rack will do the trick!!

Glued in place







All set for soft luggage and front rack!

[TH]

Looks like a nice time will be had by all! I'm looking forward to the continued updates.