Wednesday, December 23, 2015

TAT-2016 Post 15 – Wednesday 23 Dec 2015


Hand is getting stronger and even been riding the CRF on easy rides including a little mud. Time is flying by and everyone is trying to get geared up for the Mar 2016 launch. That being said we’ve had our first desertion from the heavy bike KLR group; Steve.

This past weekend Steve went riding at Ott Park with another work friend named M&M. M&M used Dales KTM 530 and Steve was on his KLR 650. Ott Park is on the shore of the AR River so gets pretty wet with any rain which had happen recently. Steve had a very bad day from what he told the rest of the TAT team; Lots of water and mud. Steve evidently got the KLR buried down to the axle on several occasions and it took both him and M&M to get the bike out. Of course Woodrow and I gave him lots of grief about hauling that heavy bike on the TAT but then we forgot about it.

Well today Steve took the day off so I expected I would not see him until after Christmas holidays. On my way home after work I get a call from Steve asking if I could do him a favor. I asked what did he need and he said he needed a ride to Searcy to pick up his car. This was unusual so I asked more questions like why and what was he doing in Searcy. He finally came clean and admitted he had just bought another dual-sport bike (Yamaha WR250R) and was riding it home but needed a ride back to Searcy to get his car. I couldn’t believe my ears. He was deserting the heavy bike KLR team and jumping to the light 250 team. While on the ride to Searcy he said the Ott Park mud experience convinced him that using a heavy bike for this trip was not a good idea. He had been watching for sale adds and had found this 2009 WR250R which already had all the gear he needed for the TAT ride.

As soon as I got a couple of pics of his new ride I had to send them to the other team members and they were both blown away, especially Terry the only remaining KLR pilot. Pics are below.





As for the CRF, I continue to make modifications. Today I installed Zeta Armor Hand Guards that I received from SoloRacer. Installation went quickly and they fit the CRF perfectly.






I also received a plug and play circuit that corrects the speedometer error; SpeedoDRD. After changing the gear ratio with the new 13 tooth front sprocket, my speedometer was now 5 to 6 mph off. This circuit is tunable with any change in gearing or tire size to compensate for indication errors. Before I install the circuit I need to baseline the speedometer error against my GPS by riding 50-60 miles. This will have to wait a few weeks.





That’s all for now, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you next year.

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