Alpinestars Tech 7 boots
Well for the SBR dirt day I figured I needed to get some sort of good dirt boots. I'd only ridden twice off road before, the first time in hiking boots, which realistically have 0 ankle support and the second time wearing my street boots, which also have 0 ankle support compared to off road boots.
When I first put them on they were unbelievably stiff, I wore them all around the house and everywhere I went the night before the ride, though Sat am while a bit softer, they were still quite stiff. Thankfully, after riding around they seemed to have mostly broken in within the first hour and I was so busy riding I didn't even notice the transition. Since riding with dirt boots was an entirely new experience for me, I really had to get used to it. Shifting and braking were completely different and while I'm hardly 100% comfortable, it didn't take terribly long before I was feeling not too bad about them. (Though the rear brake does seem to be either on or off now) 
The protection these boots offer is supreme and I'm glad I had them on. At one point I washed out in the mud and the weight of my bike near the rear axle was on my ankle, it was mildly painful through the boot which is super thick and very tough. I can't imagine what would have happened had I been wearing hiking boots. Not to mention the super stiff shinguard protection they have. All in all it was money well spent, it is hard to go wrong splurging on safety gear and in the end I'm really glad I did. These have now become my street boots as well, they are super stout. 
Labels: gear, motorcycles, rm125, xt225
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
Trail riding the serow at Hollister OHV
Well I went out to the SBR newbie day in the dirt on Saturday and had an awesome time out there; man what a huge learning experience that was! :D I felt like I was doing fairly well and my bike managed to hang in there just fine in spite of a few little issues. Even fairly aired down, the IRC Winner GT tires I had on the bike did not do too well in the mud at all, while on the hardpack and loose dirt they did just fine. Although I'd like to blame the tires for my many mud related crashes, a pronounced lack of rider skill in the mud was really the culprit. :) I suspect my next set of tires will be much more off road oriented, maybe something like the Kenda Trackmaster II 760's. Another area where the bike fell short was with the foot pegs. Once they got the clay-like Hollister hills mud in them, they were more or less smooth which made it impossible to stand up as I would instantly start sliding off the pegs.
The other main issue I had was due to handlebar height, something I never adjusted once I got the bike as they were way too low which made standing hard as my arms were almost straight up and down when I stood. Finally the last area where she fell short was with the gearing, the factory gearing is 15/45 which was just a little too tall for the semi-steep hills I was riding. I found that if I tackled a hill in 2nd, more often than not I would bog down and have to down-shift. I also found that on the tighter trails 1st gear was even a bit tall, so once I got home I ordered up a 13T and 14T gear for up font that I can tinker with. On a few of those climbs I also managed to pull an unintentional wheelie or two, which was actually not that bad and felt pretty smooth. I think once I get that lower gearing installed I'm going to have to play around with getting that front tire airborne. More than once I wanted to wheelie drop something, but just didn't have low enough gears to do it.
That trip definitely inspired me in more ways that one. First off, I rode with some pretty awesome riders who were super cool and had the patience to wait it out as I learned how to tackle many parts of the trails we hit. I also realized the potential that the little 225 that could has, with its light weight and low stand-over, I felt really comfortable pushing it out there, though I did feel out her shortcomings; which also really inspired me to tackle that ground up restoration on my RM125 because that seems like it would be the perfect trail bike to me. It's a 2 stroke so it would have more torque, it has way better and more travel and it just seems like it would handle much better in the rough due to its overall design. Don't get me wrong, I love my XT and like my big Jeep the fact that I can ride to, through and home from the trail on it is a pretty awesome thing, but a trailer queen sure does give you a bit more leeway.
I've worked out the bars since I can adjust them myself and I've got some lower gears coming soon so I'm really excited to see what kind of change those modifications will have in the way the bike handles. I've read about how some people modify the fuel delivery by adjusting their pilot screw and going from a 125 to a 130 main jet and from a 40 to a 42.5 pilot jet, but I'll try the gears out first. I also ordered up a Clymer shop manual for the RM125 so I can get that rebuild moving along.
Here's a group shot from the pre-ride meeting (photo courtesy of Andy SBR)
En route to the mudpit of doom (photo courtesy of Gary SBR)
"Hold on, I think I can make it...." *crash* ... "nope, guess not." lol (photo courtesy of Joe @4theriders.com)
I'm not liking mud right now (photo courtesy of Joe @4theriders.com)
Almost went down again but juuust managed to pull out of it :) (photo courtesy of Joe @4theriders.com)
My plate is quite fitting sometimes (photo courtesy of Joe @4theriders.com)
In case you don't know what it means: AUGER N = "Auger in" which means: "In aviation, the term augering in refers to the usual result of an unrecoverable spin (flight), in which the airplane hits the ground rotating like an auger. It typically digs a hole into the ground, but not usually a deep one."
ie. to crash. lol 
Labels: motorcycles, outdoor, rm125, xt225
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
RM125 takedown
So while working my way through a 12pack of Fat Tire, I decided it was as good a time as any to get started on pulling the RM125 apart so I could do a frame up rebuild on it, God knows it needs one. This bike definitely had a hard life and was abandoned at the side of a house for at least a year.
Like many of my sometimes ill-fated projects, I started out with the comment "how hard could it be" and proceeded to begin diassembly. Inside it looks clean, but without a doubt I'll likely have to replace almost every hose, sand, repaint, new seals, rebuild the motor, the tranny etc. I figured it would be a fun side project to screw around with. Yeah, it will likely cost more in the end than it would to just buy one in good shape, but I figure I'll learn a lot in the process.
What a mess
Subframe still on
At least it's clean inside
Labels: outdoor, rm125
PermaLink / Posted by: Tony
