Mt.View Night Life

Back in July of last year, I went to Tulsa. Chuck and Deekster helped me do a valve adjustment and some other needed maintenance on the Rex. However, I went to Tulsa by way of Mountain View, AR. No, it's not even in the same direction as Tulsa. I spent the night there in Mt. View. I paid like $27 on the cheapest hotel in the town, a place BTL usually stays at. I ate dinner at the Mexican restaurant.....big surprise! After dinner, I noticed a few people out on the lawn of the court house. Just a few folks playing guitars and singing. Then I noticed a few more people on the other side of the court house. Out back beyond that, there are a few gazebos set up for people to play music and sing. Turns out Mt. View is pretty well known for it's folk and bluegrass music. People gather in the court house square NIGHTLY (yes nightly), when the weather is nice for some pickin' and grinnin'. On the humid, July evening I was there, I watched several groups and even partook of some ice cream. What a night. A wonderful surprise to top off a great day of riding.

I strung a few video clips together and posted them below to give you an idea of what it was like. I know I can be dramatic at times, but the gal playing the banjo gave me goose bumps more than once that evening. She might have sold her soul to the devil. And then the little boy playing the mandolin wound up sitting in with other people on the square. He's quite the singer and showman.

How to Make a Gasket

Well, my SR500 has been getting more wrenching than riding since I bought it a couple of months ago. It's titled, tagged and insured, but I've been spending time just going over it and getting caught up on maintenance. The most recent thing was an oil change. I wanted to do it right, so I removed the downtube strainer and the belly pan so I could clean the screen down there in the pan. (Don't worry about the metal shavings. I'm sure that's nothing to worry about.)

When I removed the small oil "pan", the gasket was destroyed in the process. So I set into making a new one. I tried three different unsuccessful methods before finally calling John and asking him how it's done. He told me to use a manila envelope and to use a tiny hammer to tap out a template. I thought he was talking about a sort of cookie cutter method where I would be hammering the metal part trying to make an indentation in the envelope. Luckily he realized I misunderstood him and he clarified that I would be rubbing the envelope and NOT whacking away at the metal piece. So, I followed his instructions and it was easier than I expected. I used the ball part of the hammer and got a very distinct line I could trace with an exacto knife. And the "rubbing" part took less than 3 minutes. See below:


I was very happy with the results. From there, all I had to do was cut out the tracing. John suggested that I use the Hylomar between the gasket and the belly pan. But he said I should use a very small amount of anti-seize between the gasket and the engine. That way I could likely use that same gasket the next time I take the belly pan off. Instructions were followed to the letter. It's days like today - when parts just go together like butter - that I feel like a real wrencher. Figured I'd post this up since it's a GREAT way to make your own gasket.

The "Secret"!

See video below I took with my TachyonXC "sports camera". It's a relatively cheap video camera meant to be used outdoors, under extreme conditions, and works fairly well mounted to the handlebars of the FZ. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware that the camera required 6X speed SDHC memory to record at the highest resolution and purchased only 4X memory so I am unable to capture the highest quality resolution but I think what you see below is perfectly acceptable for stuff uploaded to YouTube. In all actuality, there is very little difference in the two but when I record at the highest setting, there is some jitteriness in the video. Keep in mind that the view is through the windscreen so there is some distortion from the curve in the screen. Also, the camera is completely sealed, including the microphone, so the sound is not so great. For some reason, their is a resonance in the FZ exhaust that seems to disagree with the built-in mic causing an obnoxious buzzing as the FZ is almost whisper quiet although it sounds as if it has a bad Kerker mounted! Anyways, don't bore yourself with watching it all but it does give you a feel for what you will look like from behind.

Will it hold?

Can we get this lucky? 20 striaght days of rain here in the Tulsa area beating the previous record of 13 days by a wide margin. 10-day forecast for Eureka looks good right now but it's a little far out to plan with any certainty. Really looking forward to seeing everyone and catching up. You guys headed out early, take it easy the first couple of days as I know some of us have put less than 100 miles on our bikes since the Fall Rally.

An 88-mile Diversion?

Okay Texas boys, here's a suggestion for Wednesday.  I was thinking instead of heading straight for Eureka Springs on Wednesday, we could maybe take a little diversion north and catch HWY9 and maybe even hit 341 again.  (I could ride 341 - Push Mountain Road - every day and never get tired of it.)  Point "D" to point "E" is 341 on the map above.  That's Norfork / Mt.Home to Big Flat.  Anywho, if we did this, it would be about 88 miles and then we'd be basically right back where we started.  And then we could take whatever route to Eureka.  Maybe head toward HWY16...possibly hit 123 in the middle of the week and avoid Po-Po Patrol.

As for total mileage, taking this little 88-mile diversion wouldn't put us over our average daily mileage.  I'd guess it would wind up being a 300 miler, maybe a little more.  

Just running it up the flag pole to see if anyone salutes.

Hooligan in Training

Thought I'd share a picture of my 20 month old son, Colton. To say his arrival was a surprise is the understatement of the century!! He likes to go to Olschl's house to play with Milo and do other manly activities. I can't wait until he can climb aboard the REX and go for a ride with his old man. I think there is a pocket bike in his future !

Tires and Tickles

Hey all. I got the tip from Chuck that Cycle Gear has a sale on Pirelli tires. If you buy in store, you can get the set with the size 180 rear for $189 plus tax. If you buy on-line, it winds up being around $215 with taxes and shipping. You can try to save that $15 by purchasing the tires in person at the store on the 16th of May (one day only). But in-store supplies are limited and stores often run out on these door-buster sales. Pre-ordering pretty much guarantees you a set of tires.

Also, a little bit of humor for your Friday.

The Original 452 Racing

I'm guessing you guys might have received Chad's email about his revived racing endeavors. This inspired me to remake a video I had partially lost in a computer crash last year. It also gave me the chance to improve upon the original, as I have honed my craft much as a samurai sharpens his sword. Anywho, I'll post this here and then Chad can take it for his blog if he chooses. Video DOES have sound; crank it up!!! Also, be sure and toggle the "HQ" button on the bottom right, which allows for Higher Quality viewing of the video.

Note toward the end of the video there are pictures of a corner worker talking to Chad and Chad's riding buddy. The corner worker had ventured into the pits from the farthest corner on the track. He was looking for Chad because he had seen him execute a miraculous save during the heat race just completed. As Chad tells it (to the best of my recollection), Chad had checked up for some squid in front of him and he grabbed every ounce of brake that little SV had (and then some). The back end raised up off the ground in what Chad called an "endo". In the pic, the corner worker is seen to hold his hand up "yay high" in indication of how far Chad's back tire came off the ground. The worker claims they were heading out to pick him up off the pavement and were astonshed when Chad rode it on out like a seasoned racer.

In case you didn't get the email about Chad's new race blog:
http://452racing.blogspot.com/