Labor Day is finally about here.
Been working rediculous hours so am ready for a couple "free" days this weekend.
Currently in Grants, New Mexico. Different country here and a lot cooler than at Aztec. We're parked in the middle of an old lave flow area at a KOA Campground. Lots of cedar type "forests" here.Very pretty and green country. Has been raining nearly every afternoon.
Spent a couple hours this evening and installed a new drive tire on the rear of the hack.
Tire on the bike was 1 1/2 years old. The tire was a trails type tire and wore much longer than the cheepo Shinko's I've been using. Still had a little tread but the tread disappears fast when they get down low. We'll probably ride around 500 miles this weekend so the tire never would have made it. Haven't ran a lot of miles in the past 1 1/2 years. Gotta get busy and start wearing out more tires!
Cleaned / lubed the drive hub splines....lubed the rear wheel bearings. Bought a new Odyssey PC680 battery a few months ago, so installed it. The old battery was 3 years old and showed 100% charge but didn't crank the engine like it should. The new battery cranked it much faster. Guess I'll hold onto the old one for now. Maybe I'll find another old bike to mount on the battery?
Checked / aired up the tires. Still have a minor pushrod tube seal leaking but not too bad, anyway not bad enough to not go for a ride.
Packed a couple spare inner tubes and a new "screw jack" to replace the old heavy bottle jack I've been hauling around for the past 5 years.
We plan on riding through the El Malpais country and down to Alpine AZ. Looks like some interesting country around Alpine so we'll do some exploring. Have a reservation at a small "lodge" in Alpine for Sat. night...web photos look more like an old Motel.
Sounds like a pretty good chance for afternoon showers all weekend so the rain gear will go along for sure.
Not planning on any camping so will not be packing enough gear to wear out the new tire this weekend.
Hope to take a lot of photos. Always look forward to riding new country!
3 comments:
IWhat trials tire have you been using on the rear? I have been using an IRC TR-1 since January on the rear of my airhead sidecar rig and it looks like I may get 4K miles out of it. Not bad considering how soft the rubber is.
On deck is my winter tire, a Heidenau K60 Scout (also 4.00x18) with carbide studs for winter riding. And I just ordered Heidenau K28the newly imported sidecar tire for the pusher for next Summer's road trip.
What are you running of the front?
I was running a Dunlop K-70 "Gold Seal" on the driver wheel. I ended up in LA Winter before last with a worn out Metzler "K-Block" and the only tire I could find in the area was the K-70. The K-70 actually turned out be a pretty good tire.
I'm running a 19" Avon Triple Duty MK II sidecar tire on the front. The Avon has very deep tread knobs and picks up lots of rocks when off paved surfaces. I have minimal fender clearance so am "crunching" rocks all the time. On the plus side the Avon is not showing much wear and I'm going into my 3rd. driven wheel tire since I mounted the Avon.
On the hack I have an 18" Metzler K-Block. I've only changed the hack tire a few times over the years. It seems to wear for a very long time. Last time I changed it, there was still tread but it was wearing a little unevenly.
I've found that the 18" K-Blocks are NOT a good choice for the driven wheel as the tread vanishes astonishingly fast. Plus we typically travel with a LOT of weight. I had a new cheepo Shinko which I mounted to the
driver....Not getting very good mileage out of them either, maybe 2000 - 2500 miles.
My next purchase for the drive wheel will probably be another Dunlop K-70. I've found that quite often the cheaper, harder rubber tires are the way to go as far as longevity.
I have been running Shinko Tires on my naked 1977 Gold Wing and have no complaints...soft enough rubber for grip, but seem to wear quite a while.
I enjoyed reading youur post
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