The weather, some rare slack at work, and general desire to escape for a day all aligned Thursday and I spent the day on the Terra. Did a loop out of Portland, OR, exactly the stuff that I think is a perfect match for the TR650. Some pavement, some gravel, some dirt, some rocks, and just plain lots of fun. https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=762451f2a5c05b2ad Full set of pics at http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/30744034_W49hVd Here's some highlights, TR650 marketing brochure oriented.
I'm out of town for work, and since I knew I'd have some downtime, I rode the bike instead of caging it. Today I did a little cemetery exploration in the backwoods of Georgia. I found some neat spots out in the woods. Red clay was the bane of my existence today. The local potters just call it "slip" and now I know why. I am NOT good at riding in this stuff, and the K60 was struggling. I had a lot of close calls. I was by myself, so after the 5th near miss, I decided I better get back to the hardball and hit the hotel. I'm going to be sore tomorrow!
Krussel, Nice pics. I've ridden most of the paved roads near your route, but not the back dirt roads around Detroit Lake and the branch off of FR46 to Hwy26. I see you've decided to keep the Terra and sell the Strada. I'm going to switch to Heidenau's when my stock Strada tires wear out - if ever. I can see by your post that I need to learn more about the Montana GPS too.
Had to test out the Wuka plug today, so I did a run out to a lake on Mt. Hood that I had not seen previously. About 100 miles of pavement, 25 miles of gravel and 15 miles of dirt and rocks. That, and a short walk, were rewarded with my own private lake in a national forest... Passed a nice meadow on the way back... Enjoyed the road a bunch... '
I went on two rides this weekend. Both of them were on the same trail. The first one was a scouting ride so I could figure out if the lady-friend could handle it. The second was with the lady-friend. The trail we did is about 10 min outside of Reno, NV. It starts in Toiyabe National Forest and goes through Tahoe National Forest. Our destination was Stampede Reservoir which is close to Truckee, CA. This was her first trail ride and I am very proud of her (oh and the girlfriend too ). The Terra however did lose its tail (pics below). The lady-friend road our trusty Yamaha TW200.
Just got back from my 11 day, 3500km ride around southern Western Australia. We had roo's, bird strike, mud, sand, heavy rain, tankslappers on a beach, high winds, sunny days, freezing temp's and camels to contend with. Put that together with plenty of scotch, good company, laughter and natural stupidity and you have a truly great ride. Overall the Terra was great, much better than the rider could deliver. Tyre selection was all wrong though as knobblies would have been better. Terra went fine, but - broke my left mirror mount in a fall, lost rear brake fluid reservoir cap, cable ties holding rear fender to the frame snapped, rear brake light lens busted, rear rack bolts sheared off & lost footpeg retaining pin. I cable tied the rear fender to my rack to try & reduce the rear movement. It worked pretty well for a while too. The going was tough and it was either slow & very slippery or 'ears pinned back' speed over corrugations. I can't wait to do it again Hopefully next time I will have a beefier rear rack option in place before I go. Until then, I will carry a wider range of cable ties!
I used the Rotopax but it was only "Just in case" as I would have reached the next fuel stop anyway. The other container was for the thirsty KTM which got about 13km per litre, although with a 25L tank he never needed the extra. It always pays to have a "just in case" when you're out in the bush even though we planned each day around obtainable fuel supply.
Nice pic! Tip -- Get that boat anchor off your tail. That metal license plate holder can help induce tail breakage.
It is ok and thanks for the tip. The best quote I've heard in awhile: "when things break it's just another opportunity to upgrade".
