Blackhawk farms raceway ride

Rode out to blackhawk farms raceway last weekend on the KLR and with two of my old buddys. The track was having a trackday and a guy Dan I used to work with was running his GSXR and my old boss was helping him out.


This was the first trackday I have ever seen where they had a vintage class, which is so cool to see some two strokes lapping. One guy had a CBX touring model going around while another was lapping around on a single cylinder bultaco. Mmmm, the smell of a two stroke is so nice and it always makes me feel like a kid when I did dirt bikes.


The motley crue, Jim, Jim, and Dave.
Dan running pretty good.



I love seeing people body position when turning. This guy was pretty fast but it was a unique trail braking posture. If you zoom the picture he's not even on the front brake at all. See his head is up and back and he's off of the tank.


This guy hauled ass. Posture was all standard race form, over the tank and his head is relaxed and forward. It was great sitting here on turn one watching him slide the back out while passing other riders.





This picture makes me wonder, all that $$$ for a nice MV and a nice loose chain!

It was a very good day of hitting some backroads to and from the track with old friends. Hopefully later this year I'll be riding back with another old friend when NESBA does a chili cook-off to raise money for air fences. T2 that means you!!

Backroading in Wisconsin

For the 3rd and 4th of July I had the opportunity to go back up to my Uncle's lake house in
Wautoma WI. I used to spend a good amount of time there and have not been back since 1998. The bike choice was the KLR since the chance of rain was high and I don't have dry gear for the ZX-10.
I really wanted to hop off the bike and get closer to the cows but they looked scared of me. The one thing I don't miss is the farmers dogs that always try and chase you in the spring time but by this time of year they learn that they won't catch you.


Typical WI roads, empty maybe a little more curvy than this most of the time.


A little toasty but not too humid of a weekend.
The one scary thing that happened on the way home involved a tow truck in front of me coming out of Princeton WI. I had a row of cars and a tow truck getting up to speed going south out of town with me in last. On a right hand turn the bike slipped both tires and I kind of thought it was just some farmers animal waste on the road. The next right turn another little rear tire slip so I backed off of the tow truck and realized I smell diesel fuel. Now I noticed every right curve fuel was pouring out of the trucks left tank -- his cap had to be off! A long straight came up and I came along side of him and sure enough the cap was just hanging on the safety chain. When he saw me getting his attention he let off the gas and then it really poured out. I had to get back behind him since on coming cars were coming and I got covered with fuel. It was all over my face shield and covered my saddle bags. I have to say the bugs came right off. :)


This is my Religion!
Coming from Illinois where fireworks are "illegal" you know I had to stop. The funny part is when you buy you also join the pyrotechnics association. LOL! They give you a list of spots you can legally blow them off.
A familiar sight when coming down RT47 in the summer time in Elburn IL.
You can bet money a train will be holding you up when passing through town. They used to stop and stay stop for some time but the good thing is now they seem to keep on rolling.

I didn't post any lake house pic's because I don't want to invade on my family's privacy.

Every bike has it's thing!

This KLR is killing low beam bulbs every summer and I think at this point I have spent more money on bulbs than oil. I was buying the special Sylvania bulbs like the silverstars or the ultrastars and I'm done paying that much.
I can't figure out why the bike is killing bulbs other than the KLR varies voltage greatly between idle and cruising RPM. Idle can be about 12.6 and cruising can go up to 14.5 volts and bulbs like a nice consistent voltage. The bulb should also be fairly isolated from vibration due to the whole fairing being rubber mounted. This time around I went with the plain jane Sylvania bulb and it's half the cost.


Something thats getting old.
Best way to do the bulbs is just go all the way and remove the whole upper assembly.

The clip is nice and tight and no room for the bulb to vibrate.
Just a little open circuit! :) or should it be :(
New totally standard bulb. If this one dies young I going to get a Phillips or a PIAA bulb and see how that goes.
The only other thing that can be recking the bulbs is off-roading but I have had old 70's bikes that seen harsher and way more off-roading and have never killed a bulb. Time will tell in about a year.