New C-826's Are En Route

[riverrat]

Well I hit the main part of the lake today. The ice in the areas that were open water are 6 inches think. I know because I drilled a hole with my auger, and stuck my hand in. I rode for a couple hours tonight. The motorbike guys were out in front of the castle, like 15 of them. I can't see the ice going anywhere, and should be safe this weekend.
The ice is sort of spotty with bumps, so it's hard to find a perfectly smooth big track, but I got something going in front of my house.
I think they are talking about a storm Sunday night?

[Bryan Raffa]

cool,, gonna get up to 50 next week and melt the snow...that alone will put 2-3 inches on top of whats there.. think Im just gonna switch over and forget about Indoor.. this is the only time I can ride in my front yard!

oh and I passed on the NEW 826's...Fair trade for a trip to ride the Dunes... I got All Turbocoops Canadain studs he had in the Tiger last year... Ill swap every other out .. or just add... or I may Rob the tires and rims off the 200x and stud them with all long studs...

[ChrisD]

That's awsome Anthony!!! I'm under a little stress about this. My Sequoia is in the body shop (dented the hatch with the trailer). They promised it to me by tomorrow, but I have not heard a word. Also, as you can see by the pictures, I had to do some major surgery to get her through the winter. It is just waiting for gaskets at this point and ESR sent them 2nd day air on Tuesday. I should have that tomorrow too. It looks like I will be finishing the motor on Friday night and that is only a patch, not a full rebuild. I had surface rust in the cylinder. The piston was fine and I honed the cylinder with a deglazing stone to clean it out. It should be fine for the winter. My O-ring must have been leaking a little last year. I do have 6 or 7 years of abuse on that motor, so I can't complain, but it still sucks to be caught off guard at the last minute. I've been here before and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. As long as I have my truck back, I can still ride my 85R, but the whole thing is stressful. Especially when you tell me the whole lake is good. If I have to, I will rent a truck to get up there.

Mr. Raffa....I hope to get out to your place this year. I just have to get the wife to say OK for Valentines day.

[Bryan Raffa]

Chris Bring Her! If she wants...

[JohnR.]

Made some progress out there tonight. I only have to paint the footpegs and I am done with painting stuff. The pipe needs to go on, the front forks need to go on, the rear brake lever is painted but needs to go on, and the front brakes need to be bled. After those things are done I should be ready to start it. Hopefully the front master is OK and I'll be good to go. I'm guessing I'll do some more work tomorrow and then I'll button it up Friday night.

I'm not going to be around past lunch time on Saturday Chris so if you guys need me to leave the plow quad for you just let me know and we'll arrange something.

John

[riverrat]

Don't stress Chris, whatever happens, happens. That bike sure looks clean!
If we ride here, or even the castle, I have the plow on mine also. I just don't have studs on the 4 wheeler, or chains.
It is supposed to just get to 40 the next two days, but back into the 20's at night, hopefully it won't get slushy.

I rode from Storms Island, all the way to Chapel island, and all around, I was the only one out there, besides the guys racing at the castle. I just had that feeling that many people were watching, and listening to that loud exhaust I got. My neighbor said he heard my bike when I was at awosting, like 5 miles away.

I took my 110 out, first time riding it since the melt last year. Gave it a nice run too. Everything is so dirty, I need a hose....

[riverrat]

I am not liking these temperatures. Let's just hope it doesn't rain Sunday, and snows instead. Their talking about a mix now.

I worked on mine today, I cleaned it, washed my car and truck too. I sharpened one set of screws, Then I installed the twist throttle. Then we went for a brief ride. I am not liking the twist throttle, I need one that has less range of motion to it. It didn't even fit to begin with, and I had to monster it to get it in, by modifying the cable, and the throttle itself. Everything was too short, and I could not get the throttle to go all the way down to idle. But I got it in there pretty good, after much frustration, but the old one isn't going back unless I get a new throttle cable.
Maybe I just have to get used to it, and also try a different pair of gloves.
My arm is dead already from riding.
My sprockets came today, probably put them in tomorrow. I got 15-36.
Next week I should be getting a 10x6 rim, and a duro tire. I really feel if I lower the front more, it will put me, and the bike in a more comfortable position. Right now I feel like I am reaching up for the handle bars. Adding that tire and rim, should lower me down 3inches or more, depending how I set the forks.

Drinking beer now, relaxing
We should do a bon-fire Saturday night here at the beach, and chill-out.

[ChrisD]

After the football game....the Ravens are playing at 8:30

Well, I'm 75% together, but I HAVE to go to bed. Everything went back together easily. Let's hope it will run for the weekend. If I had the time, I would have had it bored and put a new piston in, but with 4 days notice, it wasn't possible. Keep your fingers crossed.

[JohnR.]

I hope it all comes together Chris. I put about 2 more hours into mine this afternoon. The only things I have left to do are swap the new ice tires off the Tecate onto the R and put the seat back together with the fenders then pop them on the bike. I started it up tonight with some race fuel that was left over from last year (thank God for Sta-Bil) and it fired up second kick. Hearing a 250R with that Paul Turner pipe and silencer never fails to make me feel like a 15 year old inside. After the kids go to bed I'm going to button it up. I hope you guys get a few hours in tomorrow. It sucks that I have to go somewhere tomorrow as that is probably going to be the better of the two days. According to NOAA its supposed to dip down to 23 here tonight so it should be pretty good tomorrow for at least the beginning of the day. Its supposed to get down to 20 Saturday night so if the snow/sleet holds off we should be pretty good for Sunday morning as well. I'm praying that the cold weather returns and FAST!

John

[riverrat]

Ditto on the weather. We didn't loose much ice, and the Jersey end still has plenty, so let's hope the temps drop at night. Right now, it's 7pm and the temp just dropped from 44 to 40. Let's hope for 20's at night, and snow on Sunday night, instead of rain.
John, I found a 55 gallon drum of C12 race gas for $453.00 Thing is I don't need that much at one time. I would take 10gallons, if we could find some others to share it. That gas is fairly local.
I am going to whip out there tomorrow, if the temps get into the 20's here, and see how it is. Then as it warms up, I might do some ice fishing.

[riverrat]

Well the ice is still strong and good. The Jersey end where people were riding on Saturday is trashed. I blasted all the way up and down the lake, spent almost a tank of fuel, did some laps in front of my house, on some perfectly smooth ice.

Yesterday after fishing, I was showing some guys my catch, and there was like 8 guys leaning on my 4 wheeler peering into a bucket of 40 perch, and we didn't go through the ice. That was like 2000lbs. The ice is still 5-6 inches.

The weather started as ice, and it hurt as I was riding. The little ice pellets found there way through the air vent holes in my helmet, and still hit my face pretty hard. Those little holes have 2 turns in them. I did some 4 wheeling too, in the rain. The rain was like 33 degrees, so it didn't hurt the ice at all. We should be good this week, and through next weekend.

Gonna put my new gears on tomorrow, and give them a try on the ice. I definitely need the gears, I ran out of gear in 6th, easily The motor revs out past it's power band. I am thinking the gears are going to help on the track too, because usually 4th is to little, and 5th is too much. This should make 4th better. (or 3rd-4th, not sure what gear I usually use, I just shift)

I am on my third tank of fuel. hehe. More fun riding with people though.

[ChrisD]

Glad to hear that....it looks like it will be OK during the week. Not great. We'll see. Right now it looks like I will have new studs and a new motor this year. I hope to have it done on Friday. It's not too dignified right now.

[JohnR.]

Don't sweat next weekend too much Chris. Its not looking too good right now.

[riverrat]

Right now, the forecast (which doesn't mean crap sometimes) says Friday will not go above freezing. If that holds up, Saturday will be good. The whole NY end is good, it just has to get cold enough to be hard.
The ice on the NY end is much different than the Jersey end, it is pure ice, not snow ice. Most of it anyway.

P.S. the gears are in, and one of these mornings when the ice is froze, I am going out to test.

[JohnR.]

I agree that its safe, I just don't have much hope for it being good. The only good thing is that its supposed to get into the 20's every night this week. If we can get a cold night Thursday, a cold day Friday, and a cold night Friday night into Saturday then the ice should be good. Keep your fingers crossed.

John