Wabs, an Itty-Bitty-SixFiddy

[beemerdons]

CHRIS_D: You've the perfect machine for Alaska with your KTM Adventure. I worked in Alaska six summers in the eighties.

As soon as the ALCAN or the Cassiar Highway was clear, I'd head up on either my Harley-Davidson FLH or my BMW R80RT.

When "termination dust" (snow) would start to fall in September, I'd be back on my Harley or my Beemer headed South.

With that sweet Katoom 990 of yours, you can be flat hauling ass on Top of the World Highway from Dawson thru Chicken!

 

[dcarver]

[SIZE=12pt]Wabs Responds[/SIZE][SIZE=12pt][/SIZE]

wheatonFJR: Help me out, Bro! Doesn't it say "Who wants to ride Alaska" in the thread title. Where are dates and routes??

I'm wid you...where are they?

2010, unless I get a complete and wild hair and just go, damn the planning, screw the reservations, to hell with organization..

[SIZE=8pt]uhOh, this is sounding better by the second..[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]As far as the blocky tires goes.. Geesh, so much has gone on since my last post..[/SIZE]

I now have over 2,100 miles on them tires, and rear is 2/3 gone.

In those miles, I rode into not one, but two freaking downhill canyons I NEVER should have explored without knowing, for fact, there was a way out..

[SIZE=8pt]ended up having to remove saddle and top cases, hike them to the top, then BANZAI the hill. 3 attempts later, whew.. Hey, didn't I do the same exact thing in 1979 on a TT500?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Made a trip to California City from Creston and back in one day - I know, I know, only 1 tank each way but I've NEVER ridden such challenging conditions - cold, rain, fog, black ice, Emergency signals on, hauling phooking ASS at 12 mph.. for miles and miles and miles on end. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=8pt]thinking while riding - **** dude, you sport an IBA plate that proudly proclaims 'Worlds Toughest Riders' - so buck up or shut up. To which I replied [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Where is the nearest hotel room? Oh, Bakersfield? Forget that, don't need no stinkin bed lice or other diseases; just keep riding.[/SIZE]

Cold, wet, finally, some sunshine. Temps up to 45F. Woohee!

[SIZE=8pt]Then the Tehachapi pass came into view.. for about 10 feet. Then was back to cooold, wet fog, no visibility, and here we go again.[/SIZE]

Finally, past them stoopid bird killing too expensive wind generators and into Mohave where

[SIZE=10pt]Clear skies appeared! Did my property inspection, earned my 100 bucks for the trip, and headed home.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Did you know you can buy a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2,300 square foot house built in 2003 for 50k in CA?[/SIZE]

And what a glorious late afternoon / night ride it was. Seriously - the sky was clear and bright, I chased Orion, a big rig truck, dodged a CHP, had 2 coffees as MickeyD's, met an off duty copy (how did you know I'm a cop he asked; by your body posture I replied, and the answer blew him away, visibly shocked he replied, well, 'Yes, I am' to which I replied 'I knew it all the time'... LOL.

Some ride observations:

1. Wabs headlights ROCK. Much better light dispersion than on the FJR; the low beam has a wonderful cut-off point that illuminates the majority of the road ahead and side; high beams just fill in a greater long distance.

2. Gas mileage is not better than the FJR - 38 mpg on the way there, 35 on the way back. Kinda surprising it's not better to me.

3. Wabs ain't no true off-roader. Too little ground clearance. Hell, I can hit the center stand bracketry SOLID on the street - and off road it's even worse. Wabs, while she CAN go offroad, slowly, sure can't do the off-road thing at a clip. Then again, I've already had her on two rides where FJR's do not dare tread and she kept up with 20k BMW's (one of which carried a complete final rear drive for the ride, lol)

4. I installed the new TKC's what, a week ago last Thursday? The rear is now half gone. They wear fast on pavement. Ps, don't give me no shit about my lack of chicken strips.... The only time you wear down them side knobs is during a serious rut or crashing.... :dribble:

5. The plastic Givi saddlebags and top trunk are solid units, vibration wise at least. Not yet crash tested. Went on a 120 mile ride with a solid 80 of it dirt, some rough stuff, most of it fire-road quality and the bags did great. Guess I need to crash test them before the AK run..

6. Wabs burns a bit of oil. At approx 2,100 she was down by 1/3 quart. I've read this normal, just means I need to carry some like the KTM riders do. At least Wabs oil doesn't cost a trillion per quart..

7. ABS in the dirt, true dirt, SUCKS. I have to make the mod to disable ABS on the fly. Scared the shit outta me on the one big TV Tower Downhill trail. Brakes on full, not slowing down, 10" boulders all around, hard right corner in a rut at the bottom. Head for the berm, drag the undercarriage (uggghh, that hurt) and not go off the edge. Gotta kill ABS for the dirt.

8. Wab's ABS on the street is BETTER than the FJR. The lock and slip pluses are more tightly joined, e.g. higher frequency than the FJR. On the street, it feels really good.

Well, that's it for now, except for some pix of WABS in her current fighting trim. I'm sure by the time AK trip arrives she'll be much more dinged, ugly, and with, uhhh, character.

I really like this pix.. Looks like an Adventure waiting to happen...

[SIZE=12pt] [/SIZE][SIZE=12pt]All in all, I am thoroughly enjoying the WABs ride. Sure, she ain't as fast as FJR, but she sure can go places an FJR fears to tread, is much lighter, and can apparently handle a 475 mile day with no problem what so ever. Of course, every time I ride Crzy8, the FJR, I remember what power and life beyond 120 is all about.. [/SIZE]

Next time I'll report on my buddies AT&T underground bunker he bought..

 

[beemerdons]

Brother Don, Thank you for the real world testing of the Continental TKC80 tires for me. I was going to put them on before riding to Real de Catorce near Zacatecas, Mexico in April. But hearing from you that they only last 3K miles is no good.

I'm going to try the Avon Distanzias for Mexico and then switch to Bridgestone Trail Wings for Alaska in June of this year.

By the way, I have the 2009 Alaska Milepost on order and they say it'll ship to me in March. I'll then give you my old copy.

 

[CHRIS_D]

CHRIS_D: You've the perfect machine for Alaska with your KTM Adventure. I worked in Alaska six summers in the eighties.
As soon as the ALCAN or the Cassiar Highway was clear, I'd head up on either my Harley-Davidson FLH or my BMW R80RT.

When "termination dust" (snow) would start to fall in September, I'd be back on my Harley or my Beemer headed South.

With that sweet Katoom 990 of yours, you can be flat hauling ass on Top of the World Highway from Dawson thru Chicken!

Sorry Don, Just saw this. Yes I'm definitely considering going to Alaska. I imagine it would be a blast. So many places and so little leave!!!

 

[beemerdons]

CHRIS_D: You've the perfect machine for Alaska with your KTM Adventure. I worked in Alaska six summers in the eighties.
As soon as the ALCAN or the Cassiar Highway was clear, I'd head up on either my Harley-Davidson FLH or my BMW R80RT.

When "termination dust" (snow) would start to fall in September, I'd be back on my Harley or my Beemer headed South.

With that sweet Katoom 990 of yours, you can be flat hauling ass on Top of the World Highway from Dawson thru Chicken!

Sorry Don, Just saw this. Yes I'm definitely considering going to Alaska. I imagine it would be a blast. So many places and so little leave!!!

CHRIS_D: I will be starting a thread on my Alaska trip soon under Southwest, picking Southwest because I am hoping that "retired" FJR Forum Members SkooterG and Wolfhound could be riding along with me. Since I am traveling with my 12 year old son Seth, the pace will probably not be one that a lot of riders will want to co-ride with for the entire three weeks.

But, if your trip to AK coincides with even a week of ours, it'd really be neat to ride along with a fellow FJR Forum member!

 

[Tenchi]

Interesting what you say about the oil. Between changes I added zip oil to my bike. Nada. Nothing. The damn thing doesn't burn any oil whatsoever. Very maintenance friendly.

I'm not sure why you're scraping the center stand either. I have one, it doesn't hit the ground pushing the bike, and I'm reasonably large (190 lbs). I've gone all the way to the edge of the tires and it hasn't hit the ground. Are you sure your rear suspension is set up right? Then again, I don't carry a lot of gear or a fat b*tch on the back.

I'm running some D607 Dunlop's and after 5000 mi they're squaring off a bit but still got plenty of wear left in them. Supposedly dual sport tires - in other words, harder compound with a street tread on them, suck in mud, but you get that with anything but pure knobblies. Knobblies suck on pavement, and I do most of my riding on pavement, so... anyway, I expect to get around 7000-8000 out of these tires, but I don't exactly try to pull wheelies (or carry heavy sh*t on the back) a lot. Front tire and rear tire are wearing at an even rate.

Adding to the DL650 Wheel size from one of the previous posts:

Front - 110/80 R19

Rear - 150/70 69H R17 (rim size was missing)

Good to hear Wabs is out and having fun. Mine's keeping the garage warm at the moment... too busy riding the bicycle around. I also haven't found a suitable way to carry my snowboard on the back of the motorcycle yet.

 

[dcarver]

Brother Don, Thank you for the real world testing of the Continental TKC80 tires for me. I was going to put them on before riding to Real de Catorce near Zacatecas, Mexico in April. But hearing from you that they only last 3K miles is no good.
I'm going to try the Avon Distanzias for Mexico and then switch to Bridgestone Trail Wings for Alaska in June of this year.

By the way, I have the 2009 Alaska Milepost on order and they say it'll ship to me in March. I'll then give you my old copy.

I would like to have the old copy, mi Southerno amigo.. (how's that Spanglish, eh?)

Regarding the TKC's, don't sell them short yet. Tim had a Distenzia sp? on the back and TrailWing on the front, and both of them truly SUCKED hind tit, IMHO. I would so rather give up mileage for not crashing my brains out in the dirt, 1.5 trillion miles from cell phone reception...LOL... I mean, WTFO, if I only get 3.5k out of P2's, then ain't it about the same?

And, they really do well on street. I left a 20K Beemer in dust on the dirt and on the road back home on my 5k POS chain driven, TKC tired Suzook... (yeah, it was kinda fun...)

Interesting what you say about the oil. Between changes I added zip oil to my bike. Nada. Nothing. The damn thing doesn't burn any oil whatsoever. Very maintenance friendly.
I'm not sure why you're scraping the center stand either. I have one, it doesn't hit the ground pushing the bike, and I'm reasonably large (190 lbs). I've gone all the way to the edge of the tires and it hasn't hit the ground. Are you sure your rear suspension is set up right? Then again, I don't carry a lot of gear or a fat b*tch on the back.

I'm running some D607 Dunlop's and after 5000 mi they're squaring off a bit but still got plenty of wear left in them. Supposedly dual sport tires - in other words, harder compound with a street tread on them, suck in mud, but you get that with anything but pure knobblies. Knobblies suck on pavement, and I do most of my riding on pavement, so... anyway, I expect to get around 7000-8000 out of these tires, but I don't exactly try to pull wheelies (or carry heavy sh*t on the back) a lot. Front tire and rear tire are wearing at an even rate.

Adding to the DL650 Wheel size from one of the previous posts:

Front - 110/80 R19

Rear - 150/70 69H R17 (rim size was missing)

Good to hear Wabs is out and having fun. Mine's keeping the garage warm at the moment... too busy riding the bicycle around. I also haven't found a suitable way to carry my snowboard on the back of the motorcycle yet.

I've read on StromTrooper and other DL sites, even from our own RenoJohn, that dragging the center stand is easy to do if you weigh more than a run-way model on meth. The stock rear shock is woefully inadequate for, uhh, big boyz, (I'm at 240, nothing but muscle) and I can drag the center stand on pavement dips.. and off road.. Oh good god, it ain't funny.

I'll try to take pix this weekend of the drag points.. they are substantial, and major metal has already been ground away. Common thing, according to various DL forums. If I need to, I'll remove the center stand. It's not all that useful anyway.

 

[dcarver]

Me n' Wabs take a Soil Sample

LOL, the first taste of dirt happened last Thursday.. Decided to take the 'Long Way Home' via dirt.. when..

...Phooock.. WTF?

Is this happening?

Yep.. Major dirt auger.

Front tire washed out, hard body slam to the right.

Damn, the shoulder kinda is squakin, if you know what I mean..

Wonder if I can get the girl back up on her tires again...

Then again.. WTFO, since she's already laying down for me, what a great chance to examine her uhh, underbelly, yeah, Underbelly. Chain OK. Linkage OK. Swing arm pivot points OK. Who ever said crashing wasn't good for maintenance eh?

Unplugged the worthless TourMaster gloves, the helmet sound system crap, and attempted to lift Wabs back into a position of pride.

Actually, pretty damn ez.. no issues at all.

Except that I crashed on the right side, and had some difficulty getting to the left side in order to deploy side stand on the down hill.

Oops, problem 2.. Nothing to support Wabs in the very soft talcum powder sand.. Note to self - need to carry something.. for that reason.... it was a royal PITA to get Wabs back up and stationary. I couldn't get to my helmet/gloves without first laying her back down, fetching my stuff, then lifting again. Not something I would want to do if tired after a long cold day of riding.

Which is EXACTLY the point! Test in the hood. Find out what works and what fails locally prior to the big ride.

My weaknesses at this point?

1. Rain/Fog riding

2. Camping in adverse conditions

3. Intimate knowledge of WABS workings..

4. My limits of cold weather riding..

...more to come......

[SIZE=8pt]What a long, strange trip it's been... [/SIZE]

Wabs, TWN, riding, life, and Adventure.

I so need to expand my riding world, how about you?

 

[madmike2]

Me n' Wabs take a Soil SampleLOL...........................................

Not something I would want to do if tired after a long cold day of riding.

...........................................

Which is EXACTLY the point! Test in the hood. Find out what works and what fails locally prior to the big ride.

...........................................

...more to come......

IIRC, RJ and Highlander have each shared their experiences with a horizontal and loaded DL, John in the snow and Dave on the Alaska trip. And both after riding for some time....

I enjoy reading your experiences, especially seated in my warm and comfy computer room.

 

[HIGHLANDER]

[SIZE=12pt]Wabs Responds[/SIZE] 

wheatonFJR: Help me out, Bro! Doesn't it say "Who wants to ride Alaska" in the thread title. Where are dates and routes??

 


I'm wid you...where are they?

 


screw the reservations,

 


I now have over 2,100 miles on them tires, and rear is 2/3 gone.

 

 


2. Gas mileage is not better than the FJR - 38 mpg on the way there, 35 on the way back. Kinda surprising it's not better to me.

 


3. Wabs ain't no true off-roader. Too little ground clearance. Hell, I can hit the center stand bracketry SOLID on the street - and off road it's even worse.

 

 

 


6. Wabs burns a bit of oil. At approx 2,100 she was down by 1/3 quart. I've read this normal, just means I need to carry some like the KTM riders do. At least Wabs oil doesn't cost a trillion per quart..

 

 

 

 


Yep..... screw the reservations, it means your riding to a schedule...not good. I never booked any reservations on the whole trip. If your headed to Prudhoe then a reservation is definately required there.

 

 


Hey I told ya about the TKC's, best dirt tire though, send them up to Anchorage and put them on there, then swap'em out again on the road south.

 


I'm getting close to 50MPG ??? Somethings not right ??

 


Did 8,600 miles on my AK trip.......never needed to top up any oil ??

 


Keep up the dirt testing, let me know if you need company

 

 

 

 

[dcarver]

Yep..... screw the reservations, it means your riding to a schedule...not good. I never booked any reservations on the whole trip. If your headed to Prudhoe then a reservation is definately required there.
Hey I told ya about the TKC's, best dirt tire though, send them up to Anchorage and put them on there, then swap'em out again on the road south.

I'm getting close to 50MPG ??? Somethings not right ??

Did 8,600 miles on my AK trip.......never needed to top up any oil ??

Keep up the dirt testing, let me know if you need company

Hi Ya HighLander, Thanks for posting!

Not having reservations kinda scares me, then again, if traveling self-sufficient... may not be as big of deal. Soon enough I'll be 'camping' in my yard to see just what the, uhhh, 'camping' experience really feels like... :blink:

TKC's - I gotta say you were right.. They handle insanely good for a full on knobbie in the street. Then again, like an Avon Storm on the FJR, the the rear will be finito at 3k.. Shipping a set up north will be mandatory...

50 MPG? No freaking way.. Funny, WABS sounds good, idles and runs good, but 50? No way, My best EVER is 41, if that. Maybe a valve adjust check / TBS is in order. Have you done these yourself?

I've read elsewhere that others have experience some oil use when run hard.. and it's normal? Then again, you and Tenchi report no oil consumption at all... So either WABS has issues, or you two are limp-wristed riders? :lol: :lol:

Oh, Dirt Testing? Doode, I've been discovering every great dirt road in this bitchen county I live in.. Just drop a dime.. Anytime...

Here is my latest WABS Report..

 

[RadioHowie]

[SIZE=36pt]BUMP!!![/SIZE]

Two weeks without some kind of update????

SLACKER!!!

We wants more!

"It puts the words on the forum, or it gets the hose!"

 

[dcarver]

[SIZE=36pt]BUMP!!![/SIZE]
Two weeks without some kind of update????

SLACKER!!!

We wants more!

"It puts the words on the forum, or it gets the hose!"

Ok, OK, OK! :****: Thanks RadioHowie, for keeping me honest.. Sounds like you want to ride AK too?

[SIZE=12pt]Wabs Vs. Crzy8 Ride Comparison[/SIZE]

So for the last 3 - 4 weeks, cRzy8 has been down with blown fork seals, and my daily rider has been Wabs, with full knobbie tires.

Today though, cRzy8 was ready for her maiden voyage with new fork seals and bushings..

...always kind of interesting, when you take the 'real' first ride at 0500, 23F, in the dark, and in a cell phone free area.. :blink:

Wow, what an overweight gurl cRzy8 is! Getting her off the center stand was maximum effort.. down the dirt road she wanted to wash out on any loose dirt. WTF, over? Did I put these forks back together correctly or was this normal? 2 miles into the dirt road and it kinda felt normal again.

Except, of course, for those little teeny-weenie narrow handlebars. Who cut them suckers down when I wasn't looking? I mean, like hell, how are you 'xpected to turn a motobike with handlebars the length of BustaNuts private parts? All according to Odot, of course...

Finally, the pavement... Yahooo and Woopie-Kay-Yeah! :huh: My gawd this bike can move out.. Using the same shift points as Wabs, and somehow wind resistance seems more, my helmet is catching serious wind... take a peek at the GPS, and WTFO, 139? Woot Woot WOOT! Now there is something Wabs can't do! Seriously, I had forgotten how fast cRzy8 is after riding Wabs, a bike with 1/2 the displacement and power.

Of course, the first corner then appeared. By the way, this was the exact spot I nailed Bambi, and oh my good Lord above, will I be able to bend this corner? Folks, I ran that corner soo wide... how much energy DOES IT TAKE TO PUT THIS BIKE INTO THE APEX ANYWAY? Oh crap, the apex is soo far behind me... The right stripe was way left of my tires, so much so that ToeCutter would have been proud of my gutter riding (stay right, stay alive) technique.. he would have made a PSA outtta the way I took that corner...

..and after that, I had to cool my heels. Seriously, compared to Wabs, cRzy8 is a freaking overweight sweaty gurl enticing you to dance, bump n' grind in public places oinkly to deposit your butt on the road thus testing your ATGATT philosophy.

Of course, by the time I made it work, about 45 miles later, all was great with cRzy8. Amazing how riders can adjust to different machines quickly. cRzy8's brakes are much stronger, the fuel gauge has more resolution, matter of fact the entire computer is much faster than Wabs, meaning the information displayed is more detailed and updates occur more frequently.

For the ride home, I took one of the best roads CA has to offer, hiway 229 running north from 58 to the small burg called Creston... and I'm happy to say me n' cRzy8 went phooking ballistic, gutter riding the entire way, and upon exit found some serious Street Warriors lining up to run the 229. I stopped to see if they were OK, 'yes' was the answer. One guy, on a Yammie 600, had many 'character' marks on his bike. I asked 'Are you the guy who hit a car this weekend?' He replied no, it was an 'out of towner' and the po-lice report said he was ok.. I enjoyed their comments about how cool cRzy8 was, somehow these really young guyz got it when I said I can pass poor riding sport bikers, keep in touch with competent sport bikes, but nooo way can I run down a *good* rider on a competent sport bike.

Anyway - not enough Wabs info on this post, and I apologize. Then again, it IS an FJR forum, eh?

- Just Ride,

dcarver

 

[RadioHowie]

Ahhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmerrrrrrr.......I need a cigarette now.

Thanx!

 

[dcarver]

Ahhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmerrrrrrr.......I need a cigarette now.
Thanx!

RH, was it a ceiling shot? :lol:

 

[RadioHowie]

Ahhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmerrrrrrr.......I need a cigarette now.
Thanx!

RH, was it a ceiling shot? :lol:

Best comparison I can make.......hmmmm......

Oh yeah! Have you seen "Hancock" with Will Smith? :yahoo:

I can really relate to the comparo betwwen Wabs and Crzy8.

Just a couple of weekends ago, I took Rex (my '02 Zrx) down "off the blocks" where he's been sitting ignored for about a year. Yeah, I know -- BAD!

Anyway, sitting so long put a serious case of CCS on the old boy. (Clogged Carburetor Syndrome)

Spent about 6 hours doing a complete overhaul and cleaning of the carbs, if ya can remember what that's like, buttoned him up and have spent the last coupla weeks driving him exclusively. Like I said, been over a year and what a difference a tighter suspension, similar power characteristics to the Feej and a 100+ pound deficit can make in the way two bikes feel.

It's like hoppin' on a nuclear powered mini-bike...but it sure is fun! In two weeks I've put 3000 miles on the beast just riding everywhere and nowhere, just 'cuz I can.

Already ground the old chicken strips outta the Pilot Powers. Gotta slow down, though....the budget can't handle a new set of skins AND a run-in with LEO.

But, ain't it great to be able to do back-to-backs with your own toys?

I knew you'd understand.

Keep up your "dialog". It's a great read.

Enough for now. Time for Bustanut to come along and validate why some species eat their young.

 

[dcarver]

[SIZE=12pt]Snowing in Creston[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Woke up this bright and early Monday to find out it's Snowing in Creston! [/SIZE]

Just waterproofed the boots, and now headed out with WABS to see what snow riding is like!

(DeathValley trip is proposed for this Friday, with snow on the iteneray, so why not play while close to the house!)

...Sure wish I owned a digie camera..

 

[dcarver]

[SIZE=12pt]Snowing in Creston[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]Woke up this bright and early Monday to find out it's Snowing in Creston! [/SIZE]Just waterproofed the boots, and now headed out with WABS to see what snow riding is like!

(DeathValley trip is proposed for this Friday, with snow on the itinerary, so why not play while close to the house!)

...Sure wish I owned a digie camera..

Turns out, riding in snow and mud isn't as romantic as it initially sounds to be; sloppy, slippery, and loose, LOL. Rode 100+ in a varying conditions; some snow, some mud, some really BIG poodles, er, uh, puddles, and got really sideways on a downhill off camber. A true dirt bike, WABS ain't.

Arrived home an installed new cleated foot pegs for additional grip. They were cheap too, only 22 bucks for the set.

Then installed some 'Hippo Hands'. I had forgotten I even owned these things after they failed miserably on the FJR - with out hand guards, and at, uhh, nominal speed, the hippo hands folded back, reaching the levers was next to impossible unless I first pressed the inside of the Hippos away from the lever. Not good. Wabs, though, has hand guards... tomorrow will tell.

On a roll, installed a condom for the radar detector - the last rain storm I went through soaked the X80, it cost me 110 dinero for a 're-furbish'.

The coolest farkle of today - wired up the Cobra GMRS radios.. tested them and they seem to work perfectly! :clapping:

Slowly but surely, Wabs is getting dressed up for her AK 2010 journey...

 

[Tenchi]

Yeah, I discovered pretty much the same thing with the snow and mud stuff. The Strom is a little too top heavy (and heavy) to be a fun bike off road / in the snow. If you have less than a full fuel tank that helps too.

 

[dcarver]

[SIZE=12pt]Rain Riding on Wabs! [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10pt]I've been reading all sorts of Alaska riding reports lately.. AdvRider, STN, V-Strom, Strom Trooper, etc.. and EVERY rider has had to deal with RAIN, and not just for one day, but for days on end.[/SIZE]

Oh Shit..

I hate riding in rain. I suck in rain. I'm from Creston, CA, where it rains 0.45 days per year. On last summers ride to NAFO, the heavy rains came, and I so relinquished the lead to rain-proficient riders (Thanks Lori) soo fast...

So, if I'm to be this big bad Adventurer Rider to AK, I need to develop rain skilz..

And.. today, it's raining in Creston, CA!

So off I go.. Under the best of circumstances, e.g. I'm leaving a nice dry and warm la casa.

I recently purchased a pair of Scott 89 goggles (over Rx glasses) and treated the Scott plastic lenses with copious quantity of RainX. Oh, shut up, don't tell me about how RainX tears up acrylic, plastic, etc... it's only a freakin goggle lense which I have plenty of extra.. for cheap too. So I smothered both in and outside with RainX.

The next question - how to keep the heavy rain for running into my gloves.. CyclePort gear uses an 'inner' rain liner. My gloves cuffs go *over* the CP gear, meaning all water will simply run INTO the gloves.. not good.

Attempts to place the glove inner liner inside of the jacket rain liner worked well on the left hand.. but Impossible for the right hand as the left hand, now glove-encumbered, could not make it happen. Fook it, let's see what happens.

Answer obvious - the rain ran right into the gloves.. Not good, if you get my drift.

Stopped by two outfitter shops and 2 MC shops - no, we don't have 'wrist gauntlets' to keep water from entering the glove. They have Gators or something like that, for the boots, but not for wrists..

So I bought a pair of waterproof gloves, neoprene style, with nice rubber knubbies on finger/palm side, for a test. 30 bucks. And headed outside. Then of course, it quit raining.. So I have no idea how well this really works.

I will say that after 100 rain miles on Wabs, the CyclePort lower rain liner worked well. Some water wicked up my Wrangler's, but not over the boot top. The waterproofing I used on the Joe Rocket boots worked well, my toes were try and warm. The CyclePort jacket and pants did NOT become excessively heavy with water, they are mesh after all.

Oh, the Scott 89 goggles worked well too - no water on the inside lense, so vision was good. Sticking me head into the wind at freeway speed instantly cleared all water from the outside lense.

All in all, a good learning day. I need a more torrential downpour though, for longer duration, to see how well I'm truly prepped.

BTW - Wabs did GREAT in getting out and back to home on the really really slippery dirt mud road, 3 miles worth, to the pavement and back to the HondaRosa. No way would cRzy8 have been able to handle the mud.. No way.. In one spot, at 32 Mph, Wabs was sooo sideways.. :lol:

The learning curve continues..