Open Iris

Posted by chris at 06:16 PM

August 28, 2002
Equipment review
I wanted to give a account of how my equipment faired during the Alcan 5000. To start, here is a list of the major items that I took:

The Bike

2001 KTM Adventure R

Modifications-Additions:
1. Magura Hydraulic Clutch
2. Magura EX Bars (slightly more relaxed hand position, slightly higher than the stock Magura MX bars)
3. KTM Routebook holder bar
4. Touratech RB-01 Routebook Holder, Barpack
5. FHR Engineering Pacemaker 3 computer
6. GPR Stabilizer
7. Happy Trails Racks and hard Panniers
8. KTM Rally Pegs
9. Gel Grips
10. Sargents Custom seat
11. Amsoil full synthetic Motorcycle oil
12. Scotts stainless oil filters (2)

Riding Gear
1. First Gear Kilimanjaro jacket
2. Motoport Pants
3. Gerbing Jacket Liner
4. Daytona Enduro Boots
5. Now Evolution MTV 128 MP3 Player

Firstly, the bike performed wonderfully. The other riders rode a cross section of BMW bikes, include F650gs, F650gs Dakar, r100GSPD, R1150gs. The only other non-BMW bike was a Kawasaki KLR650. Given the choice of any available bike on the market, I would have not chosen any other ride. Simply put, the KTM rocks! I think it is a sport-tourer (no joke) that happens to be a very capable trail bike. This event demanded a bike that could be ridden very hard at high speeds, over rough surfaces, highways, and trails, and do it all well. In Class three, this was the ruling bike. The larger BMWs had better wind protection, and passing was easier for them, but it was not such disadvantage that I would have traded. Craig Johnson, who rode the monstrous 1150gs on the enduro ride, proved that a capable rider could man-handle such a machine on trails. He amazed me that he could do what he did with that bike, but when he did fall (once), he hurt his ankle and required assistance to get the bike up. If you were to ask any of the riders which bike they would have rather ridden on the trail, my bet would be that all would have wanted the KTM. I think that the soon-to-be-introduced KTM 950 Adventure will be an even better bike for such events, giving the rider enormous power will only a small weight penalty, while maintaining a superior off-road suspension.

Tires: I rode on Metzeler Karoo tires exclusively. There is no question that these tires are very good in dirt and gravel, and that the do a great job sticking to pavement. The do wear amazingly fast when subjected to the kind of speeds we were doing. I went through three rear and one front tire during the course of the event. I would like to find a similarly aggressive tire with better wear characteristics. Tumu?s Pirelli MT-21 wore better, but they do not come in sizes for the KTM. A rep from Maxxis told me that they are going to produce a 6006 rear tire to fit the KTM. Skip rode on these as his first set, and they lasted much longer. I would like to try them out myself.

Chain and sprocket: I rode with the stock chain, and started with a 17 tooth front sprocket, and a 38 tooth rear. It was a suggested combo made by several KTM riders form the Yahoo Newsgroup. I had not tested this combo out before I got to Seattle, and it turned out it was over geared. To keep speeds up, I was often running in fourth gear. In Whitehorse, I switched back to the stock 42 tooth chainring in the rear, and this ran much better. From the start I also put the exhaust back to stock (I had removed 4 discs) and replaced the air dam. When I changed the gear back in Whitehorse, I also removed the air dam to the airbox. While I might have been running a bit lean, I think this also helped.

Fuel economy: Most of my previous riding on the bike was on the twisty roads of New England, where you hardly ever get over 60 mph. Even with some highway driving at higher speeds, I usually was getting around 300 miles out of a tank of gas before switching to reserve, with one gallon to go. On the first day of the alcan, I had to switch to reserve during a TSD! My fuel economy changed dramatically, due to the speeds, and to some extent to the over gearing. Even when I change the gearing in Whitehorse, I was going into reserve at around 220 miles. At the end of the second day, I managed to go both into reserve and the emergency reserve to get to a gas station. All of the class III bikes were affected similarly, even the fuel injected BMWs.

I had three equipment failures, none of which were show stoppers. On the Cassier Highway, the right mirror head broke off of the stalk. Actually, it was just hanging there with a bit of plastic holding it on, so I just reached up and pulled it off. On the Liard Highway, the same thing happened to the other mirror.

I was forced to fill up with regular gas at a questionable stop outside of High Level (that is a town name). About 50 miles later, the bike started bogging down, and the temp light went on. I drained the float bowl, that got me to the next town where I put high test in. It ran fine after that.

The bag mounts for my Happy Trails had panniers broke on the way to Fort Nelson. I talked to the folks and Happy trails, I am sure that they will work on the design to ensure that it does not happen again. We were running at high speeds on some rough roads!

Other than the bike, the most important piece of equipment I had was the Gerbing electric jacket liner. There were times when I was riding for hours with this thing on full blast, with three layers including two fleece, and just barely warm enough. Electric gloves would have been nice. Only three of us had electrics, and I cannot imagine not having this. It really helps to save energy, as your body has to burn less to keep warm.

The other piece of gear that made a big difference was the steering Dampner. GPR provided this to me, but let me tell you, it was such a great piece of equipment that I would fork out the $$ to buy it if they had not. For the highway, I cranked it up to the highest setting (6), which tamed the knobbies at high speeds. On the high speed gravel sections, I found that 4-5 was perfect for 75-80 mph, keeping the front end from getting out of control. On the trail, a setting of 2-3 was sufficient. In all cases, I think it helped reduce arm fatigue.

FHR Pacemaker Enduro Computer: I had a love hate relationship with this piece of equipment. On the first day, I programmed it incorrectly, and it was no help. Programming it is very easy, so this one was on me. The second day, the computer went blank during the last TSD. I think that the constant vibration made the batteries drain prematurely. I taped the batteries up after that, and did not have the problem again. It did take me a few more a days until I really got the hang of making the navigational moves, reading the computer, comparing the mileage against the routebook, and making computer adjustments. There are some differences between a car TSD computer and a motorcycle enduro computer. Specifically, it is very hard to recover from navigational errors. The car computers have many ways of doing this, and of course, at least two people to deal with the problem! Early on I made a commitment to keep using it, even if I made mistakes. I thought of just working with times and mileages, but I kept at it. It was the reason that I was able to win the last TSD and move up a place in the overall cycle standings. Really, I think that being comfortable enough with how to make adjustments allowed me to concentrate on riding and making navigational changes.

Touratech routebook holder: I had the manual routebook holder (RB-01), and it worked great. I really did not miss the electric movement, but backlighting would have been nice. I also used the Cycoactive branded Barpack sold by Touratech USA. This little pack was perfect for holding energy bars, inside, and my mp3 player in the clear window on the outside. I really don't like tank bags, but this little pack is so unobtrusive that I really enjoyed it's usefulness. They are inexpensive to boot!

Amsoil Synthetic Motorcycle oil. Prior to the event, I had been running a 50% synthetic oil. I had no complaints about it, except that the clutch was not disengaging fully when the bike was fully warmed up, and the outside temp was above the high eighties. When I switched to the Amsoil, the problem went away. I don?t profess to know a lot about engine oils, but when we changes it in Yellowknife, it was really, really dirty. I?ve been toold that this is a sign that the oil is doing its job, so I feel that the Amsoil was doing a good job protecting my engine. The KTM Adventure R only holds 2.1 liters of oil, and has two oil filters, so this stuff gets a workout!

I really don?t know if the Scotts stainless filters are doing any better job than paper filters (I suspect they are). What is really great about these filters is that you don?t need to carry spares, as you can just clean them out and reuse them. This means that you can see what kind of junk is being captures by the filters. Let me tell you, they were pretty full of particles, so I think they were a good investment.

I know it is not really bike related, but I bought a MTV branded mp3 player in Seattle right before the event. This saved my sanity, even if I only had the same 8 hours of music with me to listen to! It is a little player with buttons on the front that I picked up at Radio Shack. It has 128mb of storage built in, and takes mulitmedia cards.

Oh, I almost forgot: I did blow one taillight bulb. It took about five minutes to change, without any tools.

Posted by chris at 07:12 PM
August 24, 2002
Finished in Jasper!
I'm back in Seattle, waiting to fly home tomorrow morning. The last day of the Alcan was a vary tense, exciting one for me. With one TSD to go, Craig Johnson and Don Beck were sitting very pretty in first place overall for the cycles, and a first place in clas 4 (over 700cc). Ramey Stroud was second overall and second in class 4. I was in third place overall and first in Class III. Tumu Rock, also in Class III, was close enough in points that if I really messed up the last TSD, and he did really well, we would swap places. I felt I had a slim chance at moving up one position in the overall cycle standings. NOTE: I went over the standing figures after I got home, and the difference between Tumu and I was over 200 points going into the last TSD, so I did not really need to worry about changing places.

The TSD started about 100 miles from Grand Prairie. It had many speed changes, and some turns on roads known only by their mileage, not by signage or landmarks. In other words, the type that I had done poorly on in the past. We started on the main highway at 60 mph, and turned right onto a gravel road, with several speed changes in a loop that returned to the highway. I thought I did this section well. Then , after a right turn onto the highway, another gravel right hand turn. Transitions from pavement to gravel are always hazardous. I missed an instruction in the route book that stated no controls for ? mile after the turn, so I speed up to try and gain a few seconds before the turn to compensate for the slow down in the turn. Of course, with no controls, I did not need to do this at all. I went into the turn to fast, had my weight on the inside peg( street style) when the road switched to gravel, instead of outside (for loose surfaces), and lost the rear wheel at about 20 mph. It landed on my right ankle. I quickly go off, picked up the bike, and continued. My ankle was quite painful, but not excruciating. I rode to a turn-around, had a four minute wait, and then proceeded back down the road to the highway, where the course took us another 15 miles down to the finish of the TSD.

The cycles mostly rode in a group for the last 100 miles to the end of the event, in Jasper National Park in Alberta. What an amazing place. We rode 30 miles into the park and to the finish, where people were waiting with banners and taking pictures.

A Few hours later, each participant was givin their indivdual scores for the TSD, and our place in the TSD, but no info about the other comptitor?s. I got first of the cycles, with a score of 14. As the award ceremony in the evening, I was more than a bit surprised when I found out that I had moved into second place in the cycles, with a gap of only 17 points. So I ended up 1st in class III, 1st Ironman, 1st solo rider, and second overall in the cycles. Most importantly, I met some wonderful people, saw some incredible sights (if only for a second), and pushed myself and my KTM Adventure R further then I ever thought possible. I will give a thorough technical brief and photos when I get home, and some other writings when I feel the need. Thanks to everyone who made the Alcan 5000 Possble, including the entire volunteer staff, the other riders (especially Ramey, my transit partner) and car participants, and of course my wife Gretchen for giving me much needed support!

Posted by chris at 08:43 PM
August 22, 2002
200 Miles To Go...
Well after 750 miles of flat, boring road, 2 TSDs (blew the first one and kicked butt in the second one I think) we arrived at 10:30 p.m. in Grand Prairie. It is only 200 miles to Jasper to the finish today with one more TSD. This will be a tricky one with many course changes and about 10 speed changes.

Yesterday evenings TSD was fun! It started in Peace River, the first third was on pavement and the rest on soft gravel roads. It was dusk which added a bit of challenge but made for a beautiful and fun finish for the TSD.

I forgot to mention yesterday on the road to Yellow Knife on Day 7 that Car 7 lost control on an unpavemed section and rolled the car off the road. The car is still there and probably will be there forever because the cost of moving it is not worth iit. The car is an older Suburu. Except for some cuts and bruises everyone in the car is alright. It was sad however because they had to say goodbye to the car.

Off to the mountains today. Jasper is supposed to be beautiful - Can't Wait! The banquet is tonight for the awards.

I had two scary moments with Bike Mechanicals last night - the first was getting on the ferry, crossing the river. I pinched the wires to my starter switch when I incorrectly installed the GPS mount. The bike wouldn't start. I had to push the bike on and off the ferry but managed to fix it on the other side - shwuuu.

Then 25 miles or so out of High Level (the town) I needed fuel. I stopped at a questionable fuel stop. The fuel was bad and bogged down the bike. I drained the carb float bowl and it got better.

Other than that the bike has been a super machine - running very well.

More on equipment when I get home.

I will post results when I get home.

Posted by gretchen at 06:26 AM
August 20, 2002
Way up in Yellowknife
I wanted to be able to make daily entries during the Alcan, but reality has made it darn near impossible to do so. We have been leaving early in the mornings, and arriving late at night. I am in Yellowknife after our "day off" (not really) and I will try and fill in the last few days, but I am really exhausted, so...

As far as the standings go, I have been bopping between third and second on the bikes. I hav been terribly inconsistent in the TSD sections. For instance, I ran the best TSD on day five in the morning, and the worst in the afternoon. The trouble is that I am using a great piece of equipment, an enduro computer from FHR engineering, but it does require some experience to use it successfully on a consistent basis. If I make no navigational errors, I do well, but if I make any mistakes, I have had real trouble recovering.

Day 4 was spent changing tires in the morning, and running a 60 mile enduro through the mountains surrounding Whitehorse. Jamie Gleason led us on the tour, and as a Whitehorse native, he really knows the area. He really planned a mixed route, which included stream and rickety bridge crossings, very technical rocks, steep up and down sections (usually rocky) and sand. The highlight of the day had to be stopping at the Carcross desert. This is the smallest desert in the world. Several of us took the bikes out to play! I had never ridden in open sand, and this was a hoot. It was the only time I dropped the bike during the entire day, but I was still grinning from ear to ear.

Getting to Whitehorse was our first real taste of rougher roads. The Cassier highway, which has a reputation for some nasty sections. It turned out not to be so bad, but it was a long day at 609 miles. I think about 70 of those were unpaved. Ramey and I were the first to arrive at about 9:45pm, some did not get in until midnight.
After the day we had about 50 miles to ride to Skagway, Alaska, though some incredible mountain passes. The downside was the temperature dropped very low, and it was a cold ride into town. We arrived at about 10:00pm

Day 5 started with a TSD leading through the same mountain pass out of Skagway, until right before Canadian Customs. Fog had settled in., and visibility was very difficult, made worse by a slight rain. Oh, and it was about 45 degrees in temperature. I did well on this TSD, but really messed up the following one, in Watson Lake. It was a slow one through residential streets, with many turns. I missed one, and thought I missed another, so I maxed out at 200 points. We ended up in Fort Nelson, where I discovered that my pannier mounts had broken on either side. I tried to get a welder, but none were up to it at 9:30 pm on a Sunday night.

Tumu fried one of his rear bearings, and had to put the bike in the truck in Watson Lake. He is trying to get a part from another KLR owner over 200 miles from here. Hopefully he will get it together in time to leave in the morning.

The following morning, I was ready to take the boxes and mounts off and put them in the support truck when Alex Millar, one of our two token Canadians in the rally, said that his buddy owned the fabrication shop next to the hotel. He walked over to see if he could help, came back a short time later, and told me to go over. Glen and another guy had the entire fix, two welds, some drilling and putting it back on the bike, in less than 25 minutes! Amazing and 30 minutes to spare to the morning TSD. I did bad in that one, I was late early on, but finally managed to recover from a wrong turn. I am slowly getting a handle on the computer.

The ride from FT. Nelson to Yellowknife was the most amazing thing I have ever done on a motorcycle. Shortly after leaving town., we started on the Laird Highway. This is about 400 miles long, aver half of which is unpaved. Running at 80mph for that long on dirt and gravel is really fun, but quite tiring. The When we got though that, the road turned mostly paved but straight as an arrow for about 200 miles. UGH! The only good thing about it was we got to see many bison, including young ones. Then the last 50 miles into town was really poor, the surface being wet twisty and unpaved.

Today was spent changing tires (again), an oil change, and a 60 mile DIY TSD. The route to it was under construction, so there was a detour. TO do well on this you needed a well calibrated odometer, and I tried to do the calibration before the start, but the construction got in the way. We had to write down the tenths and hundredths missing from the milage of specific points. Maddening!

Tomorrow it is our longest day at over 700 miles. Stay tuned!

Since someone asked who wrecked on the second day, it was Jeff Shrout, a MC cop from LA. He has received surgery, and made it back to Ft. Nelson and it riding in toolbox car for the duration. Needless to say, he was very bummed.

Posted by chris at 08:44 PM
August 17, 2002
No Cookies for the Boys :(
I decided today , despite 95 + degree weather in New England and no air conditioning, that I "Ode" it to the participants to bake some cookies. So two hours and 5 dozen later I was packing cookies and heading off to MailBoxes, Etc... I had tried to go online and get some idea of how much this cookie extravaganza would cost me but to no avail, no info. on shipping fees (however I did not try USPS which would have been $50.00 I later found out). So in I go expecting the shipping to be $40.00 or so. Bad News...even 1 dozen would cost me $70.00 - $90.00. I was so sad...the Mailboxes, Etc. guy was not however, he got a dozen. So much for the surprise, sorry guys. They were chocolate chip and Hello Dolly cookies. At least I can post my "Ode" that I wrote to accompany the cookies. Enjoy!

"Ode to the Alcan 5000"

You've ridden all day
and your butt is so sore
but you'll get up tomorrow
and do it once more.

Your bike and yourself
are one with the road
Your GPS cookin'
You've kept to the code.

The TSDs - What a challenge!
The road has been rough
But you've hung to the saddle
and you've not given up!

You have seen your first bear
and made lots of friends
Your dream has come true
I wish I could be there.

The Alcan is soon to be finished
But you can still dream
of that first place finish
as does the whole team.

So hang tough my Sweet
and don't lose the Faith
The Finish Line is just
a few miles away.

All my Love to my Husband, Chris, and Best of Luck to All the Participants!
Gretch

Posted by gretchen at 03:02 PM
It's Cold in White Horse! Brr....
This is a relay from Chris - he may add more later...yesterday was BEAUTIFUL! He saw three bears (200 lbs. +) grazing on the side of the road, 2 goats, and a groundhog that flattened himself on the side of the road when he saw Chris on his bike passing by...As far as the competition Chris thinks he may have finished a respectable third out of all the participants including the cars. - Not Bad! The route was approx. 650 miles yesterday and Chris is feeling really good. He did not comment on the other motorcyclist's conditions so I will assume everyone faired well yesterday. He said the TSDs have been brutal the way that they pop up in the least favorable places...like right after a challenging hairpin for instance. Well that is the news....he could not talk long, he had to go check results and then jump on the bike. He did mention it was nippy last night...I told him we would welcome the cold here in the Boston area right now :) Hi to all! He may touch base a little later today. glhw

Just a note from Chris: I tied for third on the second TSD of the day including the cars. This was my best so far. It had two controls, and I got a 0 in the first and a 5 in the second. Wish I could have done more of this!

Posted by gretchen at 07:52 AM
August 15, 2002
What a DAY!
I'm in the Bitter Creek Cafe in Stewart, B.C. We got off at 8:00am and the first of three TSDs started shortly thereafter at 8:30. It was over mostly gravel roads, with some very challenging haripin turns with deep gravel. One of the riders took one of the turns a little too fast, and ran off the road, put the bike down an incline, and broke his wrist in the process. He is having surgery in Prince George, B.C. tomorrow.

There were two more TSD sections during the day. While the first one was a challenging riders course, the second had many speed changes to slow speeds, even 12 mph.

I have been riding the transits with Ramey, my cycle "buddy". We stopped for gas, and 15 minutes for lunch, and then realized that we needed to hightail it to the start of the last TSD, over 200 miles away. We made it, allong with 6 of the seven other cyclists, with about 10 minutes to spare. This last TSD was almost 50 miles on gravel, less technically then the morning's TSD, but it had it's difficulties. The Pacemaker computer was working fine the entire day, but it went blank in the middle of the TSD. I went to manual mode, and Managed to get a 11 second late time for the last control. I hope the middle ones were good as well, but I am not sure. I think that the batteries vibrated loose, or something like that. Hopefully it is repariable. The ride into Stewart from the end of the last TSD was nothing short of breathtaking. The road worked its was through a gorge carved by a river. I saw my first glacier, Bear Glacer, and will get a picture of it tomorrow when the light is good as we go back that way.

In the moring, I saw my first bear, and it was a sad sight. It was a cub, adn had been hit by a truch only moments before.
Tomorrow we go to Whitehorse!

Posted by chris at 09:39 PM
The Good, the bad and the ugly
First the good: Yesterday?s start was a sight to see. TV cameras, a huge blowup Red Bull Banner, and lotsa cool cars were present. We were treated to a wonderful breakfast on the waterfront. We were off before you knew it. Chris, George, Ramey Jeff and myself rode together through the traffic out of the Seattle area, and soon met up with the rest of the cyclists.

The Bad:Our first TSD was in the states. I was doing fine until right after the first speed change. The computer went from displaying a ?00? time to over 2 minutes off! This could not be. I had not written down ?manual? times, so I was in a very bad spot. At the end of the TSD, the last checkpoint crew told me I was 66 seconds late (they give you a max of 60 for a check, 200 for a TSD).

Once we made it out of town, the scenery really started to shine. Everyone passed the Canadian boarder without a hitch, and soon the scenery began to change to rugged rock faces and stubby bush growth on the plains. On RT one we went through many tnnels, one named ?Hells Gate?. It was here, I found out later, That Chris Lindau?s F650GS broke down. It was quite hot by this time, and, his fan failed.

The Ugly: The second TSD started about 50 miles from the Hotel, on gravel logging roads. The computer did the same thing again. It turns out that I was only one second off in the first check, but then after the computer did the same trick, I was again hosed, but this time I had backup times. That did not stop me from missing a turn. It was another 200 point score. Oh, yeah, adn getting to bed after midnight. That was bad too.

Back at the hotel, some 550 miles total for the day. I figured out what I was doing wrong with the computer, so we will see if I can get my act together for today?s TSDs.!There are three, including one that is over 45 miles. It is on to Hyder, Alaska!

Posted by chris at 06:57 AM
August 14, 2002
Start this morning
It about 6 am, and the start of the Alcan 500 is less than two hours away. Yesterday was a frenzy. Registration and briefing at 1pm at Cafe Veloce, tech inspection, a reception at the woodmark hotel at 8pm. I managed to get to be at 11:30, which was amazing, considering.

We go 540 miles today. The raodbook, which we were given yesterday, shows two TSDs. One in the US before customs, to give to organizers a chance to catch upafter the start.

WE ARE OFF!!!

Posted by chris at 06:10 AM
August 13, 2002
Final Preparations
Today I stopped by Stongard, one of the event sponsors. They installed headlight protection, and also placed protection on the leading edges of the gas tank. The headlight protection is very thick, and should greatly minimize the possibility of damage.

I also stopped by to visit Tom and Dominic at Touratech USA (cycloactive) While we were looking over the bike, Tom noticed that one of the mounting bolts of my right pannier frame was loose. In further investigation, we determined that they were not long enough to give a good hold. I went to a specialty shop and got longer and harder ones. Tom suggested that I take it one step further, and drill out the threads completely, putting a locknut on the other side, but I did not want to do that "surgery" so close to the start. I did buy the bolts to do the job, in case the replacement ones that I installed fail.

Tom also gave me some advise on reducing wear on some cables, and even how to adjust the mount of my GPS to reduce the effects of vibration. He suggested that if you keep the GPS as horizontal as possible, it will reduce the stress on the GPS. The fact that he took the time with me even though he was obviously busy with other business speaks volumes about Touratech?s dedication to their customers. Thanks!

Posted by chris at 02:04 AM
August 10, 2002
Picked up KTM
I flew into Seattle late last night, and picked up the bike from I-90 Motorsports. They did a great job of preping the bike for me. They put a new rear tire on, checked the valves, and installed the new 38 tooth rear sprocket. I'll take a good shakedown ride tomorow, but the bike seems to be running great! Thanks to Joe and Remko.

Jerry Hines, the Rally Chairman, Picked up John Fouse and I at the airport. John flew in from Anchorage. His flight came in after mine, at 12:45 am, so by the time my eyes closed it was quite late.
Jerry and his family graciously put me up for the night, and Coleen, his wife, even gave me a lift to I-90.

Tomorrow I' will spend some time getting used to the new gearing, putting on the rally and sponsorship stickers. Jerry gave us a pre-event odometer check route, so I will do that also.

Thanks everyone!

Posted by chris at 11:45 PM
August 07, 2002
Safe and Sound
I got a call from Remko at I-90 motorsports at around 3pm. My motorcycle has arrived safely!

Posted by chris at 11:50 PM
Bike in Seattle
Well, the bike arrived at the shipping company's docks in Seattle, and is scheduled for delivery today. Since the crate spent the whole transit time from Harrisburg to Seattle on the same truck , the shipper's tracking website didn't change until this morning. Trust me, I checked!

I have stareted a checklist of items that I will be taking with me. Normally I am a seat of the pants packer (ask Gretchen, my wife!), but I really don't want to leave anything behind, so I'm making a list. I also have a surprising amount of things to take care of once in Seattle:

1. Pick up bike
2. Get new tires on bike, Check it out thoroughly.
3. Visit Touratech
4. Visit Stonguard so they can install headlight protection
5. Put on all stickers - sponsors, numbers and "Alcan5000.com" stickers
6. Visit autoparts store - for rags, cleaner, etc
7. Run an odometer check using the ODO check provided by the rally organizers
8. Create final packing list for gear going on the support truck - requestd by the rally organizers to expedite going through the border crossings
9. eat
10. sleep

Posted by chris at 10:42 AM
August 01, 2002
My KTM Moves
The shipper I used has a tracking system accessible through the web. According to the the last entry, the bike was/is in Harrisburg, PA.

It was a huge relief to get the bike crated and watch the truck leave the dock yesterday. I will feel another such relief when it arrives safely in Issaquah.

Posted by chris at 11:19 PM

Main | August 2002 ?
July 31, 2002
NEW Web Log
For those that may have viewed my original web log, you will notice that I have changed the look and functionality completely. This web log is now being published using moveable type. You can now post comments to each enttry, and I have more flexability in how things look.

Posted by chris at 04:23 PM
The KTM is on the way!
The shipper picked up my bike this afternoon. Now I get to lay awake at nights until it arrives safely. Next stop, I-90 Motorsports in Issaqua, WA.

Crating it up was not that difficult. The crate that Second Wind BMW provided was from a R1150GS Adventure. IT was designed to be shipped with both wheels intact. I need to remove the front wheel to lower the front end of the bike. Additionally, I needed to remove the front fairing and the roadbook holder/computer/support. Man, the KTM is a tall bike! Instead of using nails or stapes like BMW used, I screwed each piece together.

Posted by chris at 02:56 PM
July 30, 2002
Gearing
I have wanted to change the gearing to make the bike rev lower at highway speeds for some time now. Yesterday I picked up a 17 tooth front sprocket and a 38 tooth rear. Stock gearing is 16/42 respectively. We put the 17 on last night at Cliff's Cycles and I rode home on the highway. This change made about a 5mph difference at the same rpm in 5th gear. Looked at another way, it lowered the rpm 500 at the same speed.

Posted by chris at 02:54 PM
July 27, 2002
Shakedown ride
I went for a 200 mile shakedown ride today. About 20-30 miles of this was dirt roads in New Hampshire. I was very interested in trying out the stabilizer on unpaved roads. At a setting of 2 1/2, I still had plenty of control, but it kept the front extremely stable at speed. I got the bike going over 50 mph over many sections, the only thing that really slowed me down were blind corners, where prudence dictated slower speeds. At these speeds, I felt like I was riding on pavement! This bike is amazing! I have also started to push the lean angles of the Metzeler Karoos, and I am very impressed with how well these DOT kobbies handle on the street after they are "broken in".

Last night mounted the roadbook holder. It is the manual RB-01 from Touratech. It mounted right up to the roadbook support from KTM. It is high up enough that I only have to glance down, without moving my head at all, to read the page.

I stopped by at Second Wind BMW in Merrimac, NH and finalized things with Darrel, the owner, concerning the crate. He has graciously agreed to provide me with a crate to ship the bike. Since he lives near where I work, and will be shipping the bike from , he is even bringing the crate down to my workplace! If you have not been to Second Wind, I suggest that you drop by. There is a great group of people working there, and the new shop is very nice.

Posted by chris at 10:24 PM
July 26, 2002
Ride Sponsors
I just added some sponsorship logos and links to my webpage. One thing that became clear early on in my planning (which did not get started until 2 months ago) is that there were a number of things that I wanted to do to the bike, to make it more comfortable, reliable and better suited for the rally. And the second thing that I realized at the same time was that it was going to get expensive. This is where sponsorship comes in. If I were just riding around, I would not be asking them for help. With the television coverage, I hope I can return some value to the sponsors and make their investment worthwhile. So thank you FHR, Amsoil, Magura, GPR, FHR Engineered Products and Touratech!

Posted by chris at 06:40 PM
GPR Stabilizer
Last night I installed the GPR Stabilizer. If you have never seen on of these before, visit their website. It is an impressive looking unit, with three pieces: a head-tube collar and vertical pin, a new handlebar clamp, and the stabilizer unit itself.

I had never ridden a bike with a stabilzer mounted. I was interested in putting one on the bike for two reasons. Firstly, when riding on the highway, with the Metzler Karoo tires, the front end started to shimmy around 70mph. It is much worse when in traffic with bad air. Secondly, I have heard that a stabilizer can help conserve arm strength and energy, and this is something that could be a help in the Alcan.

Well, I rode in to work, about 15 miles, this morning. With the unit in the sixth, highest setting, the shimmy was almost non-existany at 80 mph. When I turned the unit to 1, which is the minimum setting, the wobble came back right away. Turning back to six, it was gone again. Cool!

We will have to see how this helps my endurance. I will test it this weekend on some gravel roads as well.

BTW, I alwo have their anti-vide bar ends. I have had them on the bike almost since new, and they do reduce the vibrations under 5000 rpm quite a bit.

For those interested, here is some mounting info:
On some bikes you need to forgo the clamp and weld the verticle pin directly onto the downtube of the frame. As it turns out, this is the method that I should have used. It is possible to mount the clamp onto my bike, (2001 KTM Adventure R), but you need to saw off some appendages on the frame. I did this with a sawsall! It was a little scary, as there were cable and wires near the blade, but I did it ok. Also, the stock mounting bolts and nuts won't work, as the nuts interfere with the collar and as a result you cannot turn the handlebars completrely. This I solved with a set of hardened steel bolts that happen to use a smaller diameter nut clearing the collar. You also need to modify the stock dust cover for the headtube. All of this would not be required if you just had the pin welded on. I am passing this information on to GPR.

Posted by chris at 02:37 PM
July 25, 2002
Preparations
I am well underway with the bike's preparations. Equipment changes have been made as follows.

Magura Hydraulic Clutch kit

Magura EX bars Magura parts were provided a a deep discount form Magura. Thanks!

1" bar risers, which I had made by a local machinist. They are simply 1 inch thick aluminum washers that fit between the bar cradle and the triple-clamp.

Sargents Cycle changed the foam and cover for my seat. See below for details.

The seat made from Sargents Cycle has arrived, been installed on the bike, and is a great success. As a test, I rode the bike up to Castine, ME and back (280 miles each way) and the seat made a huge difference in comfort.

When I first put the seat on the bike, I thought that it was not going to be much more comfortable then the stock, but I was very wrong about that. The foam is much more supportive and wider, much less like a bicycle seat then the stock one. They also removed some of the forward slant, and raise it about 1 inch in the process. I am very pleased!

I also mounted the Metzeler Karoo tires on the bike before going to Maine. I wanted to see how they performed on the highway for long stretches. I did not balence them, and above 70 mph they start a noticable head shimmy. I am hoping that this goes away when I install the GPR steering dampner that they are sending to me! If not, I imagine that I will go with the Enduro 3 tires.

I have some Happy Trails hard panniers from the BMW. Tim Bernard made me a new set of pannier frames for the KTM and the BMW, and changed the mounting system for the hard bags, so that they work for both bikes. They come on and off very easily, but when locked are not removable. As a bonus, I can use one bag to prop the bike up under the skid plate, raising the front wheel up for removal.

Posted by chris at 07:35 PM
July 22, 2002
Thanks!
I want to thank Frank and Cliff at Cliff Cycles in Norfolk, MA, hands down the best dealer experience I have ever had with motorcycles. Even though I did not purchase the bike from them (it was a 2001 leftover and only one dealer had it), they have been very helpful in getting me parts and advise for preparing the bike.

I also want to thank I-90 Motorsports, in Issaquah, WA. They will be receiving my bike crated, and have graciously agreed to uncrate the bike and make sure it is ready to ride. If that is not enough, they will be crating it back up for me when I return!

Posted by chris at 06:45 PM
July 21, 2002
Installed Accessory Outlet
This weekend I installed a BMW style accessory plug for the GPS and air inflator. I attached it to the roadbook holder mounting bracket, tucked in the back behind the fairing. I also started to gather up the bits and pieces of my spares kit.

Posted by chris at 06:16 PM
Welcome!
HI!
This is the start of my journal (or BLog for weB Log) of my preparation and participation in the Alcan 5000. The Alcan starts on Wednesday, August 14th, from Kirkland, WA, and Ends in Jasper, Alberta, taking over 4400 miles to get there