Talimena Scenic Byway Etc.

I met my friend Jason in Atoka, Oklahoma and we took the long way to Talihina to ride the Talimena Scenic Byway.

We noticed later that 'watch' was spelled wrong

This was the worst puddle, Jason found a really deep spot (the hard way)

Success.

Cleaning his waterproof boots off next to a spillway

Replaced clutch cable

The day after my 430 mile day trip, I noticed that the clutch cable was out of adjustment.  I started to adjust it, but realized that the top adjustment was maximized.  When I inspected it at the engine end I found that it had been rubbing on the adjustment bolt because the mount was not holding it in the right position.  Thank God it didn't break yesterday, or any other day last week!  The previous cable (assuming it was original) had a little over 9000 miles on it.

Its hard to tell, with the rubber boot, if the alignment is okay

Just a few drops of motor oil, using a cable tie to drip it

Gloss Mountain State Park, Oklahoma

Today I clocked 430 miles on the bike, round trip from Norman to Gloss Mountain State park and Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge.  Gloss Mountain was awesome to behold, and today was a perfect day.  Crosswinds near the salt plains were horrible, and the salt flats were uninspiring to me.

I met a few very nice people.  A lady named Suzy who owns a pharmacy in Fairview who would not let me pay for a soda and stayed late talking to me.  Three separate times, while I was looking at my phone or map guys stopped to ask if I needed directions or help.  One guy pulled up in an old Land Rover to compliment my bike, and he was a R1150GS owner.  Another guy gave me directions and he has a couple old Hondas (cb550 and cl360).

I got stuck and had to remove my panniers to lighten up and pull the bike out by hand.

I dropped it three times while trying to pull it backwards

Finally, I did get the bike un-stuck and turned around.

Too bad, I would have loved to get a some salt flat pictures of the bike.

Fort Reno

My plan for tomorrow is to ride to Glass Mountains State Park.  Today I rode about half way there and turned around at Fort Reno.   Fort Reno was used as a POW camp during WWII, according to the lady in the visitor center.  Looks like a very interesting place to visit but i have no time right now.

Purcell, Lexington and Sundog Trails

This morning I went South on 77 from Norman, Oklahoma to Purcell.  I pulled off and doubled-back to take a picture of an interesting lawn ornament (see below).  While riding on a bridge over the Canadian River (in between Lexington and Purcell) I noticed the shores on both sides were definitely ATV trails.  I rode to the top of a scenic overlook in Purcell and talked to an old lady for some time.  I asked her if she knew where I might be able to access the trails and she suggested turning right just after the bridge on the other side.  That is how I found Sundog Trails OHV park.

I had the pleasure of meeting the staff at Sundog, paid my fee and explored the trails.  There is a lot of sand, next to the river and a mixture of sand and mud throughout.  I almost dropped it a few times, got stuck on a hill etc...  There is a nice section with some decent whoops (is that what they call them?).  I had a video camera mounted to my crash bars, which turned out to be a tad too close to my 650cc thumper's engine.  Probably not worth editing the raw video, unless there's a rainy day with nothing to watch on television.  I shall return next week.

Scenic overlook in Purcell

I got a kick out of the back side of the entrance sign

100 miles of back roads

Today I filled the tank with 100% gasoline (why can't we get that in Illinois?) and rode Northeast.

Stopped to get a picture of the bike w/ the horses in the background

They seemed to want to say 'hi', especially the blonde one

I want one.  Next door to me.

First ride in Oklahoma

I have six weeks to explore Oklahoma.  Yes, it is tornado season. 

Installed new barkbusters

I finally got tired of my makeshift hand guards.  They did the job, but one of them had cracked during a trail drop at some point.  I ordered these from Amazon.com and they arrived in less than two days!  I should have waited until I had new grips to install them, but oh well...

Front brake rotor upgrade

I agree with the majority of KLR owners on this:  the stock front brake is weak.  I swapped front wheels with my other bike (and put a new Heidenau K60 on the wheel), uprading my bike and retrofitting the other back to stock brakes.

Back in Black

I realized soon after painting the plastics army green, that I preferred black.  I used Krylon Fusion satin black, after scuffing the green paint with 400 grit sandpaper and cleaning with Prepsol.

Rattle-can paint job in my backyard

The Fairing looks very 'Darth Vader' in black

Aligned rear axle

I used the string method to align the rear axle.  The chain adjusting marks no longer agree, but the chain bounces much less while running in 1st gear on the swing arm stand.  With the adjusting marks in agreement, the axle was about 3mm skewed.  After the initial adjustment, the chain was too tight so I loosened it by turning both adjusters equally in the same direction and then double-checked the alignment.  Torquing the axle seemed to cause the chain to tighten and bumped the alignment off, by about 1mm.  After checking alignment at several locations on the rim, I decided it was within specs.

I made these jigs to verify the swingarm / axle alginment

Installed new chain and sprockets

Today I installed the new chain and sprocket set that I had purchased in the Fall of last year.  The chain was at its limits and the sprockets were worn a bit.  I upgraded to a 16 tooth front sprocket, hoping to keep the revs lower at highway speeds.

new o-ring chain and 16 tooth front sprocket

the master link wouldn't budge, so I had to dig out my Dremmel rotary tool

I should have removed the countershaft nut before the rear tire, so I had to clamp it with the old chain

the nut spun right off with the transmission in neutral and the old chain clamped as pictured above

the larger sprocket and new chain cleared the stator wiring fine

now we have some adjustment room