-Had another day out with Thomas on our KLR 650s, getting lost in Los Padres National Forest somewhere between Lake Lopez and Pozo. We made it back well after dark. With wet feet. The above video shows why…
-We almost peed on a salamander, annoyed a king snake enough to make him coil up and threaten us, and almost got stuck on the side of a mountain following what Google Maps said was a “road.”
-My Flip cam died before we got into the really gnarly trails… There was some seriously steep and rocky stuff up there… But also some pretty spectacular views. Worth the excess adrenaline for the peaceful vistas! I got some iPhone snaps posted on my Flickr account…
-In all, we covered about 70 miles in about seven hours. I’m exhausted!
Love and adventures,
=j.lynn
Oh hey, HI!
-My buddy Chad just picked up a fun 1997 Kawasaki KLX300R, and wanted to take it out for some good ol’ dirt riding. I rode my Kawasaki KLR650 the 200 miles up highway 101 to his house in the Santa Cruz mountains and tagged along! We wound up at the Santa Clara County Motorcycle Park. What a fun day!
-My bike (Kawasaki KLR650) is no motocrosser, but I was actually impressed at how capable it was on the gnarly/steep/rocky dirt stuff. It wasn’t AMAZING, but it definitely handled itself like a champ for being such a huge heavy pig. Not bad at all, considering I’m ALSO able to cruise 75 mph on the highway for 250 miles at a time while loaded up with all my luggage… Try THAT on a nimble little 250cc two stroke dirt bike, sucka!
-I wrecked the KLX 300 on a crazy steep and rocky downhill. Whoops! Locked up the back wheel and slid right into a foot-deep runoff rut. Over and a tumblin’ I went! Haven’t had a road rash like the one currently on my arm since I was about eleven. Just provin’ I’m not an old man yet! Other than that, I’m fine. And the bike was no worse for the wear, no matter HOW awesome my buddy tells me the crash looked! =)
Love and fun scrapes,
=j.lynn
-I probably should put my dirt tires on the bike before I let my buddy talk me into riding Garcia Ridge Road between Lake Lopez and Pozo in California again… Shoulda known better! Especially since this is the same buddy we had to rescue off the side of a mountain in THIS post.
-Lo and behold, I was met with my first significant water crossing EVER. And me sporting the previous owner’s Dunlop 404 on the rear and Kenda Challenger on the front… I wasn’t too happy to see water a foot deep and twelve feet across. Not to mention all the loose stuff on the trail itself!
-But hey, “I survived!” And it was my BUDDY who ended up having to put feet down in a foot of frigid crick-water. HA.
Love and adventures,
=j.lynn
Got an SOS text from a buddy this afternoon…
-So I headed out Cuesta Ridge’s “TV Tower Trail” to help the poor sap lug the 2008 KLR650 he’d borrowed from his dad back up onto the trail… He and his lady were 2-up on a nice afternoon fire road ride when they came to a spot where a landslide had washed across the trail. He’d moved a bunch of rocks and shale in an attempt to cut himself a path across, but the second the front end touched the loose stuff, it just slid downhill… He set it down gently and started calling his buddies…
-It was steeper than it looks, folks…
-With enough straps and man-muscle, we were able to get the bike upright and ROLL it backwards up the embankment without having to scrape and drag it on its side. His dad should be much happier with him for not scraping the bike up…
-It was a great trek out there, though! Beautiful stuff. Views galore all the way to Morro Bay. It was raining by the time we headed back, so MY 2004 KLR650 got her first wash on the ride home… Ha!
Love and California “rescues,”
=j.lynn
The previous owner had left it out in the sun for 6 months, unridden and uncovered, before he sold to me…
-In addition to the predictable maintenance stuff of gettin’ ‘er back up to roadworthiness (fluid flushes/changes, etc), I just couldn’t stand to parade the thing around with her once-proud red plastics faded to pink.
-Solution? BLACKOUT!
-Acerbis supermoto front fender, eBay steals on the side panels, and a couple of cans of satin black Krylon Fusion spray paint for the rest…
She’s gone from this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdbox…7621195905945 (set)
To this:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nerdbox…7621850393575 (set)
-I’m waiting on my new set of D606 knobby tires and front turn signals still (stockers stripped out when I pulled the front fairing off to paint it), but I figure she’ll be plenty meaner when I’m finished with the makeover…
Love and blackouts,
=j.lynn
I scored a sweet deal on a 2004 Kawasaki KLR650 last week.
-That’s a motorcycle. The fun kind. The kind you can take over rocks and muddy trails AND still ride it to the corner store to get some Pepsi.
-The previous owner had a low-speed fall in town that crunched some plastics. He rode it for a little longer as his commuter with things roughly patched up before he moved to a new area (MY area) and his commuting patterns changed.
-He didn’t feel like purdyin’ the bike up before he sold it, so he set a ridiculously low sale price just to get it out of his garage. It’s got a lot of miles on it, but this was just the deal I was hoping for. Less than HALF of its Blue Book value! Even with 33,000 miles on it, I figured I was looking at a steal!
-Two hours after he posted the ad, I’d made arrangements to take a look-see… The next day I rode it home. Hooray! I’m in the club!
The Test Ride
-Pics of the bike the day I got it home are HERE on Flickr.
-Well, I added another 150 miles to the odometer today! After changing the oil/filter and cleaning the air filter and chain with my dad yesterday, I thought I’d get it out on some of the scenic routes through the CA wine country to the coast and back for a quick loop.
-The iPhone pic doesn’t quite do the scenic overlook justice, but that’s Morro Bay in CA past the ridge line. Morro Rock is barely visible just above and to the slight right of the throttle.
-Note the previous owner’s red duct tape job holding the front fender together… Don’t worry. I’ve already got black plastics on the way to replace the red cracked-and-sun-faded ones.
-First impression: She behaved like a champ! Can’t wait to add another 33,000+ miles to the odometer total.
Love and coastal solo loops,
=j.lynn
