FJRiders.com

extrememarine wrote: ↑Tue Apr 22, 2025 9:12 pm On my way out of town this afternoon, I dropped off D-eagle's freshly mounted PR4. I was running late... Hope there's no porch pirates around...

Couldn't find the tire in my lawn.
Please drop off another.

Why is it on backwards?

Festus wrote: ↑Wed Apr 23, 2025 10:53 am Why is it on backwards?

...what do you want for free?

El Toro Joe wrote: ↑Wed Apr 23, 2025 7:36 am Rode it to work...

me too. and took a long lunch ride.

I let it sit in the garage as I took the Gold Wing out for a ride. I had to test the Wing in some twisty conditions. While out, I met some of the nicest people.

Got my new rear tire installed and while doing that the post delivery lady dropped off the Motopumps air compressor so I just HAD to try it out. My impressions:

without the bag and power cord accessories it stows nicely under the front seat. It pumps air as expected though it does not inflate as quickly as advertised but these small ones rarely do. Now the kicker- the air chuck. P.O.S.!! I have T-valves to accommodate TPMS so I ordered it with the straight latching air chuck. Doesn't seal! I rotated it 90 degrees 4 times and I always lost more air than was going in. I finally laid on the ground and had to maintain constant pressure on the chuck in order to inflate the tire. Because of this I'd give the Airshot 2.1 a solid 2-1/2 stars.

I'm going to email Motopumps and see if I can trade the latching air chuck hose for a straight screw-on one.

Rode it to work again...one week till the SEO Ramble.

Festus wrote: ↑Wed Apr 23, 2025 10:53 am Why is it on backwards?

BTDT - Michelin PR2. My first attempt at spooning (with tire spoons) on an FJR tire. Prior to that, I did all my m/c tires easily. Rode it 8K miles down to the wear bar indicators. The PR2 was and still is the best wearing tire I've ever tried for the FJR. Pisses me off that they don't make 'em anymore.

Anyhoo - after the near hernia experience with spooning, I decided to bring tires to someone else to mount. I get to the dude with the PR2 and he says "You know this tire was mounted backwards? Do you want me to mount the new one backwards?" I thought he was joking. Nope - I ran that puppy backwards the whole way. I can't recall the rainy wet roads being any different.

I could write a book on the dumbass I've done....

Hppants wrote: ↑Thu Apr 24, 2025 8:55 am I could write a book on the dumbass I've done....

Some of us have sequels and prequels. Literal volumes of stupidity.

A couple of day ago I headed north to roads paved with more asphalt and smoother surfaces than the roads south of my home. Roads to the south, in the Palouse Wheat fields are cheap seal and in disrepair, so I am learning to adjust my thinking aka roads to the south are not well suited to the FJR so north I went because I was growing tired of looking like a bobble-head on a motorcycle.

The reason to wait is there are mountains up north so the roads need sweeping so waiting has its advantages. I picked a route I knew would be clear.

I didn't have a route loaded on the GPS so I took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up on a road I had never been on before, the upside, the down sided it was cheap seal, but it was scenic. Realizing I was off the intended path I told the GPS to go to Newport Washington, so we did.

Newport, Washington is where Yamafitter got pulled over the by police, in 2016, for going the wrong way on a one way street. The Canadian Liberation Army got off with a warning of all things. Here is the photo of that event. The cop has a huge grin on his face while Ray pleads Billy's case. Priceless.



Rather in heading north on State Hwy 20, long, boring and uninteresting, I take the LeClerc road along the Pend Oreille River.



No leaves on the trees yet it was a perfect day for a ride. No summer heat and no wildfire smoke.



This cemetery is on Kalispel Reservation.



The building in the background is a Tribal Community Center.



It's like a Far Side cartoon.

I have been using a version of Open Street Maps on my Garmin 590, acquired on alternativaslibres.org.

I really like this map as it has more information on the Garmin 590 screen than the Garmin City Navigator Map. I registered, donated and loaded the North American Map to my PC so it is readable by Basecamp. Using Basecamp I put a subset map on a SD card and it includes maps for British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Montana. Give it a try!

From LeClerc road I head to Tiger Washington, Tony was absent, and on to State Hwy 20 to cross a mountain pass. Twisty fun right out of Tiger was the point of today's ride. I set the FJR from touring mode to sport mode for instant fun and smiles. It is a short blast of uphill enjoyment.

At Beaver Lodge and Resort Campground I have a sandwich and try to imitate Pants. The ice cream choice was very limited and the gas pumps were out of order.



In the mountains here is a some good dual sport riding but the snow level is about 3200' so those roads are still snowed in. A new place to ride on the mighty DR650 this year. I could even stay at the Resort.

After lunch I continue on Hwy 20 stopping a Crystal Falls for a photo op because the creek is full with spring run off.



Open Street Map has a road on the screen I have never been on so I take it as it goes to the same place I am heading. Very cool and the road was good too. I like this map.

I find a few more roads like this too. One turns to gravel so I turn around.

A few photos of some remote roads in rural NE Washington.







I find the Columbia River and roads I know well on the way home. Other than a couple of turkey's I didn't have any wildlife encounters so it was a very good day to be on the FJR on smooth asphalt.

D-Eagle wrote: ↑Wed Apr 23, 2025 10:33 am

extrememarine wrote: ↑Tue Apr 22, 2025 9:12 pm On my way out of town this afternoon, I dropped off D-eagle's freshly mounted PR4. I was running late... Hope there's no porch pirates around...

Couldn't find the tire in my lawn.
Please drop off another.

If it wasn’t so far away, I would drop off the 3 leftover take offs sitting in my garage. Take a picture and drive away. lol.

Yesterday's destination was Elk River Idaho. What sane motorcyclist would ride to a place named in honor of hoofed ruminant ungulates? ME!

The real destination isn't Elk River but the road between Boville and Elk River, a 17 mile twisty piece of pavement. It is down and back as it turns to dirt in Elk River Idaho. So 17 is the new 34, riding 290 miles today for 34 miles. Fortunately the other roads I was on are pretty good, just more well traveled.

A cloudy day. The snow level is around 3300'. I keep looking at that as there is good dual sport riding here but not yet.







I am stubborn at times and cheap at other times and while many others are sporting the Garmin XT2 I am sticking with my Garmin 590's because I don't want to learn work arounds for new set of problems, like the GPS leaving the cradle or not using Basecamp. (I expect comments on that!)

In the last post I promoted Open Street Maps obtained from aernativaslibres.org Here is an image of the detail provided. I really like this feature, those roads in black won't show up on City Navigator. All is not perfect but I am creating, yep you guessed it, work arounds.



My route was created using Open Street Map on Basecamp. And for some reason it would crash the GPS while using Open Street Maps. So I set the map to City Navigator, restarted the GPS, load the route then switched back to the Open Street Map. Maybe next time I will create the route in City Navigator, load it to the GPS and use Open Street Maps.

The other odd thing is the top banner says "Continue on Hwy 3". When I use City Navigator the banner says turn left or right in "X" miles and. The work around is to load the route with City Navigator then switch to Open Street Maps.

These next set of photos are on the road to Elk City. Not good but I wasn't taking photos in the good parts.



During this ride I noticed 4 scrawny deer. One ran out in front of me. This scrawny hoofed ruminant ungulate was either very scrawny or the remains were plastered to the bumper of the truck that ended its existence.



After lunch where no ice cream was available, I end up back in the wheat fields where lots of trucks were delivering liquid fertilizer to farmers.





The logistics alone for wheat farmers are enormous. They need things used about 1 month every year and they need lots of this stuff. Fertilizer delivered and a means to apply it between mid April and mid May. A big tractor to till the land and the tractor uses diesel, lots of diesel, in terms of gallons per hour at the going rate. A machine to plant the wheat for month long period in late fall. They need machines for one month to harvest the wheat in late summer. Harvesting it includes diesel, enough machines to cut the wheat, enough trucks and men to drive the trucks to haul it somewhere. After and during harvest they must figure out when to sell it to maximize their profit, if there is a profit. They don't control the price so they will hedge on when to sell over the next 1-9 months spreading the risk. Wheat is a dryland crop especially susceptible to weather. To top it off 90% of the wheat crop in SE Washington is exported internationally so the farmers are subject to the whims of trade policy. Farmers are smart people who know how to manage risk.

Every time I am out here riding my motorcycle I think about this stuff.

To end this here is a silo in the community of Belmout Washington.

This silo is the only thing here.



It was a good day to be on the FJR.

Put the wheel back on the fjr. I need a torque wrench that goes up to 90 lbs. any recommendations? Is craftsman any good still? Something better yet reasonable?

90 is too high, and you may have had fun getting it off...... Go with 75-80. It's a Fuji-Loc nut, so it ain't gonna fall off.

Took the FJR out for a spin today. Been quite a while. Only choice, as the GSA had an uncommanded braking event last Wednesday, and is at the dealer for diagnosis. Bike is under warranty. First time I have had a bike to a dealer in ???? over 19 years maybe. But, admittedly, haven't had very many bikes with warranty. Anyway, great ride out towards Suches. Perfect weather.

My wife and I rode out to Matagorda beach in Texas, about a 3-3.5 hour round trip. We were discussing how other places that is a fairly long drive, but here it is just often the closest decent version of what you are looking for.

Annette kicked me out of the house today - she said, "why don't you start you vacation trip early?

Why not indeed...

Less expressway tomorrow.

And why the he'll does Garmin think Kentucky is on the way to SE Ohio???

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Toter wrote: ↑Sun Apr 27, 2025 5:47 pm Took the FJR out for a spin today. Been quite a while. Only choice, as the GSA had an uncommanded braking event last Wednesday, and is at the dealer for diagnosis. Bike is under warranty. First time I have had a bike to a dealer in ???? over 19 years maybe. But, admittedly, haven't had very many bikes with warranty. Anyway, great ride out towards Suches. Perfect weather.

uncommanded braking event Never heard that phrase before but I'm willing to bet it's not a good thing. Hopefully this will be the one and only time it needs a warranty visit. Always good to have a backup bike ...or 2.

extrememarine wrote: ↑Sun Apr 27, 2025 9:04 pm Annette kicked me out of the house today - she said, "why don't you start you vacation trip early?

Why not indeed...

Less expressway tomorrow.

And why the he'll does Garmin think Kentucky is on the way to SE Ohio???

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Safe travels...see you Thursday

extrememarine wrote: ↑Sun Apr 27, 2025 9:04 pm Annette kicked me out of the house today - she said, "why don't you start you vacation trip early?

Why not indeed...

Less expressway tomorrow.

And why the he'll does Garmin think Kentucky is on the way to SE Ohio???

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

You are one dumb bunny. I bet if yer Garmin told you to drive to europe you would unblinkingly follow your orders from Garmin. Lol
Were you in the military or sumpin?