FJRForum Official 2015 Iron Butt Rally Tracking/Analysis thread

[LowAndSilent]

It'll definitely be fun to see how the routing choices worked out for the riders and see what their game plan is for the rally. Always good to see how the different choices play out over the long run.

Will Owen come out ahead in the end after being efficient and conserving energy for later legs, and higher points that they usually hold? Or will Mountain press ahead and pile on the miles and big points?

Thanks again to all of the veterans for your insight.

 

[HotRodZilla]

Well, we got Josh up and running. Even threw in an oil change for good measure. NMROADRUNNER is the hero this time. I gave him a last ditch phone call and he came through. He had all the tools and had done it once before.

I gotta say, I learned that I will NEVER do this job on my bike. It's totally worth the money to let someone else do it. Not knowing much about it, all I bought were seals and fork oil. Once we got the first leg apart, we couldn't get the middle bushing to drive down because we probably messed it up forcing the fork apart. Hell, I don't even know if anyone in Albuquerque even stocks those middle bushings. We decided to put that bushing in a freezer looking for anything to help and started on fork 2.

That one wouldn't come apart. Pretty sure we pulled a GixxerJasen and drove the bottom bushing over the middle one and jammed that fork up tight. Some thought, a lot of luck, adrenaline, and a strap wrench got us turning it and it basically screwed loose. It finally came apart but the seal stayed in place. That thing was in there. We dug it out, cleaned up the bushings and put everything back together with no middle bushings. Thank God we read this forum and know some of the suspension guys do it without problems.

They were a breeze to put back together, install and get put back to original settings. Still, I'll never do it again if I don't have to. NMROADRUNNER had two buddies there, Lenny and TC that were awesome help. We sent Josh out of the garage door around 1045. That guy needs sleep.

He just sent me a message that his forks are great and everything feels right. Jesus, what a relief! This place is absolutely bad ass. If Bud hadn't come through I don't know exactly what Josh would have done. No one that could do the job opened until 10 am tomorrow. Woulda screwed his plan.

Thanks to everyone that called or PM'd ideas. You guys were on top of it.

 

[TestPilot]

Out of likes for the day, so just typing LIKE, specially for posts 641 above ('zilla, you rock) and 632 - Iggy's comments from 2013

 

[Twigg]

Outa "Likes" too ... So LIKE what HRZ did.

 

[Uncle Hud]

LIKE. LIKE. REALLY LIKE.

 

[Crew Dawg Dave]

When I rode the ET Highway for the Team Lyle Rachel Days Insanity in the middle of May, it was in excellent condition.

I came through last Sunday and it's still in great shape... cattle was a bit of an issue since it is open range. The vtwin rattle of my Strom scared them off.

 

[Oddball]

A bit of levity while white-knuckling the time line....
Stopped at a rest stop on 95 below Coors 'd Arlene today to refresh the eval vest.

Saw a brand new KTM 1190 with rider appreciating an IB style table top nap. It was hot, +112 F.

He saw me, jumped up, RAN over, and asked, 'Are you in the rally'?

I laughed so hard I'm sure it was heard all the the way to RJ's place.

ps Good to see RJ posting again.

Now then, let's get Mountain fixed up! As CBA #10, we have to help this mad man!

What else is one to think when they know the big show is going on and a fully decked out FJR rolls into a rest area?

It was great meeting you. I was asleep on that table about an hour and it was the sound of the FJR that woke me from my slumber.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Thank you Hotrodziila and NMROADRUNNER and his friends who helped Josh. Thank you thank you thank you. I was hoping to see an update this morning. I was shocked to see the comment about posting standings around midnight. I believe in the past, they've waited until the riders were allowed to see the standings in the morning during/after the riders meeting. Guess I'll just need to be a little more patient.

Best wishes to all the riders, you're 1/3 of the way there, you got this!

 

[jwhite518]

The riders bonus book is available at:

www.ironbuttrally.com/IBR/2015/2015IBRBonusBook.pdf

Where are the points values?

 

[orestes]

Standings should be posted about 08:30 ET. Waiting to see how the European riders are doing.

 

[Redfish Hunter]

HotRodZilla is The Man. If I were not so proud of him I would have to speculate on how he got enough time off from catching criminals to repair and maintain all these out of town FJRs.

A.J. is one of those men that is so good he was willing to tackle a job on some relative stranger's bike he would not be willing tackle on his own bike. This forum should be proud of his contributions to this rally. Since he enlisted the help of NMRoadRunner, that puts this forum on top of the IBR Pit Crew Competition. Now, if we can just get a forum member's FJR on the podium...

 

[Tanker]

Fantastic work AJ!

 

[FJR Flyer]

Zilla I was also thinking of GixxerJasen's nightmare and hoping you'd find a set to swap out. Awesome that it all came together (and apart). Many cold beverages await if you ever come east.

 

[Hello Kitty]

Well, the one he helped is a forum member and a very likely candidate for the podium.

 

[grommet]

Massive kudos to all who pulled it together to keep Mountain on the road. That's truly impressive.

My guy in the running is Phil Weston, because he's an icon in the FZ1 world, and we've become friends over the years. But I'm a Yamaha guy too and FJRs have always been on my radar. So my heart is in it for all the FJR guys in the rally.

Awesome work, folks. You should be proud of yourselves.

 

[Jaugie]

Wow, I downloaded a PDF of the rally book totally cool book but after looking at the first few pages bonus's are time restricted to specific hours or times so it looks like riders will run at night to be ready for a daylight bonus. I guess that is one way to ensure that the riders get enough rest.

I wonder is the IBA will put a GPX file with the locations.?

 

[ChrisW]

Wow, I downloaded a PDF of the rally book totally cool book but after looking at the first few pages bonus's are time restricted to specific hours or times so it looks like riders will run at night to be ready for a daylight bonus. I guess that is one way to ensure that the riders get enough rest.
I wonder is the IBA will put a GPX file with the locations.?

I'm pretty sure they got a thumbdrive with the locations and coordinates. Not sure how they comunicated the point values and time restrictions. Could still have been a significant amount of data entry for each leg.

 

[bwoodsom]

I understand that the IBR is not about or for the spectators, however, I really appreciate the great coverage this year.

 

[gixxerjasen]

I gotta say, I learned that I will NEVER do this job on my bike. It's totally worth the money to let someone else do it.

Hell yea!

Pretty sure we pulled a GixxerJasen

Oh...so THAT'S what we are calling it now huh!?!?!?

So...right there in front of Mountain you yanked my name out of yer ass for what happened? I'm not sure if I should be thrilled to be there in spirit, or embarrassed. All I know is I didn't do it and as much as I'd have loved to be there for this little event, I'm quite glad I wasn't.

Zilla I was also thinking of GixxerJasen's nightmare

Sigh...how one becomes legend is rarely of one's own choosing.

 

[wheatonFJR]

Out of likes for the day, so just typing LIKE, specially for posts 641 above ('zilla, you rock) and 632 - Iggy's comments from 2013

Outa "Likes" too ... So LIKE what HRZ did.

LIKE. LIKE. REALLY LIKE.

Yeah me too. Kudos to Zilla and NMroadrunner!!!!