Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

Hey gang,

New motorcycle guy, long time Toyota truck guy.

Long story short. I never grew up on bikes. Not peddle or motor. I grew up in the 1970s in Alaska. In those days you road 3 wheelers. Then 4 wheelers came out. But the roads in Nome in 2024 are a fucking joke. In 1970 they were even worse. Bikes were a thing that looked cool but on all that ice and fucking permafrost I gravitated to trucks. Now as a parent I'm attempting to correct this wrong. I am embracing 2 wheels.

My wife is a motorcycle driver, her family are.. a great time for me to step back and let her be the alfa.


And the trailer is a major bonus. My god.. all this power and cooler shit I can now toe instead of bed weight.

Any tips or pointers on "how to dirt bike in northern Colorado " would be greatly appreciated. This is a completely new experience for us.

I'm a Fossil hunter, my kids will hopefully take old dad to the bluff I want to hound?




You bring gas for the bike. What else? I seriously don't know. Should I have extra tires with me? I've blown truck tires on this same area. I run ko2 load E. We have incredible nasty rocks. These tires take that?

The trailer tires are highway high speed he claimed. But I don't see any rating like c or d or e or z how do I know this little wheel can go

I know for a fact I'll need an articulating tong for the trailer. Any recommendations?

We will climb the taco trailer till it's of no use. We do all the time. This is the next step up a 14000k peak from 10000 to 12000. Who do we need to meet to use dirt bikes on the wagon track passes over Colorado mountains?

 

dirtbikes even small ones are great for familys tbh! when i was younger and getting into stuff my dad always had his 350 and would leave us in the dust until he started borrowing a family's 110 to stay around us then it was a lot more fun!

a tip for colorado ey? well stay away from the edge! oh ya and boulders! they really dont make good huggers i found out!

so for taking gas yes, when we were young on atvs and dirtbikes we always had at least a 5gal or more in the bed of the truck. it was always the worst and boring thing when someone got low on fuel and you had to load them up to go get gas! now being in Co you can prob puts your way down to a gas station near by and get gas and i doubt anyone would have an issue with a offroad bike doing that there. where im from ya no... you will get in trouble haha ask me how i know!

somethings to take with you to a trail. (if you know how to do it! if not then dont worry about it and limp it back!)
-tubes, you have more of a chance to blow a tube then a tire on a dirtbike not saying its impossible but its a lot easier to pop a tube
-tire spoons, this goes hand and hand with the tubes. if you blow a tube and know how to change it on the side of the trail or at the truck its helpful to have these to swap em out real quick and get back to riding.
-boots!, for the love of god get moto boots or enduro boots! i can tell you from past experience get boots for you and the kiddos so if you smack a rock or a tree it wont twist your ankle around! it also helps with more confidence on the bikes if you are shorter and have a taller enduro or bigger dirtbike.
-helmets, are a given tbh
-dirt gloves, trust me get a set of gloves to help hold the grips if your hands get sweaty... nothing worse then trying to have fun and you slip and let go of the bars and slide off the bike its also rather hamulating and your buddies wont let it go lol
-little canopy awning, so you can get out of the sun if you need to work on something or relax
-tools, never know what you might need we always had a tool bag of all the tools per machine we had
airfilter,-if in a super dusty invorment (never been in one) unsure if you would need this id ask some of the dudes who are in these areas more
chains, you will most likely snap a chain eventually so just have a spare lying about but ill say over the years ive never snapped one but always had a backup in the truck.

these are things we always took with us when i was a kid and i still take most all of it minus a air intake, awning, and atm chain since i needed to use my spare awhile back.

for the trailer tires im not sure how fast they will go but one way to find out right!

if you want an articulating hitch (even thou to me its pointless on a trailer with bikes and a risk of them tipping over) look into lock n roll hitches. i ran one on my military trailer i had and loved it buuuut there is no stoping it from spinning all the way around so do be careful of that.

for use of the bikes in high elevation is getting the bikes jetted for the area if they are carb bikes. i ride a klx400 (drz400 technically) and i have my bike jetted down in my elevation for more power here. now when i went to Co last year i pulled my carb and jetted it for a higher elevation which if i remember right made the bike more lean?

 

I would get UHD tubes and rim locks for the bikes tires if you are running colorado rock.

 

Is it possible to run a sealant for a patch type repair on a tube and re-inflate? Been in the back of my mind that I currently don't have a back up plan if I flat while out.

 

Sahara Moto is recommended by F9, I use it. Just squirt it in, the amounts are listed on the bottle for the tire size. Supposed to seal a leak as it happens.

 

You are better off carrying a patch kit with fresh glue or a spare tube since it's basically the same amount of work to patch on the trail. Carry a front tube since you can technically use it in the front or rear in a pinch. FWIW I have only popped a tube once in hours of riding on a UHD tubes and it wasn't even the tube, turned out to be a valve stem tear.

 

well everyone you might dislike me for this but i feel its time and im kinda tired of fixing the damn thing. i want it to be known i do love the klx but it really has nickled and dimed me to death with lots of repairs over the 3 years ive owned it... dont regret it but the plan is to sell it off and get another dirtbike (either a wr450 or a crf450l maybe crf300l?) to have something more modern and more dirt dedicated since i now have the bolt. ill be putting it back to green and selling off everything here soon after i sort out its odd issue it has atm. not sure what exactly to list it at since it has a lot of stuff done to it and a lot of repairs done.

 

Took a look, noted "Not to be used as a puncture repair in tubes or pinched tubes." which is exactly what I would like to do. Obviously one can do whatever they want, anyone heard of or have any experience with something like this after a flat and getting away with it? I'm typically only a 1/2 hr away from civilization on offroad rides, so just need something to get back into town with before going into a full replacement / repair.

UDH = ultra heavy duty? Been looking at spare tubes and then debating a tubeless conversion instead over the winter here. Technically a spare tube would still be useful with the conversion also. Trying to avoid having to pull tires and tubes on the trail if possible - if I can get away with some sealant and a CO2 inflator to get back up and running that's easier, less time, and no tools to bring.

 

Can't fault anyone for moving on from a project, running or not. If it causes you more stress than joy I'd recommend moving on as well. Only consideration would be if you were attached to it and unable to maybe get another in the future, would be worth parking and waiting until you are in a better position to repair fully, it's what I've done with my project car for the last few years (FD3S RX-7).

 

I really appreciate the feedback! I never would have guessed a wee-strom would feel more unruly than a Super T, that’s good info right there. We just had some basement issues so I’ll be digging up my house this season rather than buying another bike as of now haha. Next spring I’ll be back at it searching. XSR900/GSXS1000GT, maybe find a middle weight enjoyable enough to daily, test ride the lower base model wee storm or even a GSX8S/R. Probably just end up with more dual sports and dirt bikes in the end

Thanks again for taking the time! Awesome of ya!

 

so i do like it yes its been my first street legal bike i can ride its something i do enjoy and have put a lot of time to it. overall it has been a great bike but it has done a lot of nickle and dime shit and alot of repairs that i dont always post on here since the small stuff isnt really important haha. i can fix it easily its just the annoyance of it always breaking or having something wrong with it is my issue. i also have always wanted a bit more modern dirtbike that was fuel injected and a bit lighter then the ole pig but i pushed it off and moded it more to make it look more modern. would it hurt to sell it? a tad yes but im like that with any vehicle that ive had for awhile (minus you ford ranger!!!) and spent time and blood and sweat on but as you stated and a few friends have sometimes its best to sell it off and move to a better platform.

hell my project car is in a thousand parts atm lmao taking one civic shell and tearing it down to put it on another civic shell! also you cant just casually throw out a fd rx7 and not show pictures sir!

 

Small stuff constantly is a headache, and unless it truly is small and nothing it can add up over time mentally. Both the old 4Runner and RX-7 do that to me, luckily neither is a primary vehicle for me so I can park and worry about them later. I'd consider selling the RX-7, but I know I'll likely never be able to buy another one ion the future the way prices have shot up.

Old pic, fresh from diy paint shop.

 

that's pretty cynical.

 

Bro... thank you so much for all of this helpful insight.

 

Every time one of my bikes has any issue I get all doom and gloom and stressed out about it. Used to mean they were all in top nick at all times....but life changes has caused little issues to be pushed into the corner.

Need to address that. Maybe in the fall...

 

Yeah ultra heavy duty. I also carry super thick zip ties because I also only ride about a half hour from home and if I got a flat on a 1/2 hour from home ride I would just zip tie the tire to the rim and ride the bitch home. Haven't done it yet though, only swapped a tube on the trail.

 

ya thats what i feel with this bike its been great but its had a lot of small issues that im always fixing and messing with. dont get me wrong i like wrenching on stuff but after awhile it gets old when i just want to get on the bike and go ride... man idk if id ever sell that rx7! that thing looks really damn nice! plus you will have the regret of well ill buy it again one day and wont be able to find one since the prices have skyrocketed!

no prob man as long as it helps out! id listen to what @cynicalrider also said since you will be on a lot of rocks it will help out a lot!

ya for me its just im tired of all the tiny fixes over and over and it having issues when i want to go ride it.. i know the current fix wont be anything major but the bike is old its getting a bit tired and rather move on to a new one.

 

Good to know. Will need to pick up a spoon set and other tools at some point, good tip on the zip ties too, have plenty of those kicking around too.

Also now that the 2nd coffee has kicked in, I realized that any sealant could be (and is recommended) applied before puncture, likely will go and do that for the time being. Going to compare those sealants with the MTB stuff I already have as well, if they're close enough I might already be good to go.

 

Life changes all the time, just need to be ready and willing to pivot when it does.

 

When it's a 50 yr old hand built bike, I can't just kick it to the curb. (not that that's what your doing...that's my urge) Plus let's face it, they're not worth any real money.