Ready for riding

 Spent the better part of this morning/afternoon installing new front and rear sprockets...new X-ring chain...new HiFlo oil filter...and of course, new oil.

Also needed to cut off the stock skid-plate bracket, as it was creating issues with the Tusk skid-plate. Don't think I'll ever be needing the stock skid-plate again, so that shouldn't be an issue. Re-fitted the skid plate with some Allen-head button screws, so that removing it won't be such an issue...won't need a special Torx bit anymore!

I went with the 14/47 sprocket combination again, as this proved to be the best setup on the '09.

Now...all I need is some insurance and some decent weather!

 

....onwards

 January 23, 2025...I watched my CRF drive away.

Sold it to a pleasant young local fellow who insists that it will be his "forever" bike...I wish him well and better luck than I had.
It's never easy selling a bike...especially one that I also thought would be my forever-bike...this one was nothing like the Sherpa or the "Funduro", I actually enjoyed the ride and the capabilities of this one.
It's just the maintenance that I wasn't looking forward to.

Now, my attention turns back to my original crush...my light-weight, easy to maintain, more smiles-per-gallon than any other bike I've owned so far.
Now that this sale is final, I've ordered the necessary bits to bring this one up to the task.
New sprockets, new chain, new air-filter, new oil filter, and most important; a new rear spring.
Work on the rear rack is progressing...I'm still on the fence as to how I feel about this "Man-racks"; it looks as though the alignment is critical, or you can't get the seat-bolts back into their respective holes! This may end up being a deal breaker for me, whereon I'd be back to fabricating a home-made alternative.
We'll see how things work out.

 

TW and personal update

 After trying to tweak the TW into perfect running shape and failing....I decided to order some new jets. The #31 pilot jet seems ridiculously small for this one, yet in my '09 it was perfect. But in this one, I have very little fuel mixture adjustment...if I close it to less than 2 turns, it runs rough, yet I can unscrew it to over 4 turns with no effect.
The #34 jet seems to be the right one...less than 1 turn runs rough, more that 2 starts to stumble...I currently have it set to about 1¾ turns out.

It took a few weeks for the parts to arrive, but that was OK because we were in Cancun for 10 days at the end of January.
Unfortunately, while I was trying to tune my bike, as mentioned above...I had injured my back which turned out to be quite severe. There were 2 separate incidents where I was within minutes of calling an ambulance, the pain was so intense. We came so close to cancelling our trip because of this injury, but I was bound and determined to give my wife the holiday she so desperately needed.
With the help of some prescription-strength muscle relaxants, handfuls of Tylenol and a back-brace, we were able to make our flight. I spent the majority of those sunny morning zoned out in a lounger by the pool, but was coherent by lunch time.
It's been over a month now and things have improved, albeit slightly...physio and stretches keep the pain at manageable levels.

I also started working on the rear rack for this one. It came with a "Man Racks" type and I am uncertain how I feel about it. Trying to mount the deck with plain old hand tools leaves much to be desired, but once the deck is mounted, it shouldn't need to come off.
The Man Racks uses the seat mounts as a securing point, which is good...but this means that I won't be able to use my magnetic seat mounting trick like on the '09. 

This remains a work in progress. I still have not sold the Rally, despite listing it on 3 separate occasions, changing the price and the ads garnering over 1000 hits.
Guess people aren't ready to buy just yet...maybe once the fair weather returns.

Yet another update on the CT90

Sometimes the drab, grey days of a Lower Mainland winter are useful...I have the opportunity to update this!

Back in the early Fall of 2024, I had thought of doing another day-trip or two where we could BOTH be riding. So with that in mind, I pulled the old CT90 out of it's corner and went to give it a thorough check-up.
I soon discovered that she didn't start as easily as she used to and when I got her started, she didn't run well at all. After fiddling with it for a while, I decided to re-install the WinCycles carb that I had ordered. This particle carb would leak if I over-tighten the bowl screws, so I had put it away and opted for one of the Chinesium carbs that I purchased from Amazon.
Now, it was the Chinesium carb that was the problem, so I thought I'd give the WinCycle carb another chance.
It was while adjusting the float level, that I noticed the bowl gasket was too large and would encroach into the float's space...this is why the float would stick OPEN when I tightened the screws!
Trimmed away the excess with an Olfa knife and sure enough...that worked...no more leakage.
Unfortunately, the CT still wouldn't run properly, even with the WinCycle carb, so I started looking around for a USED Keihin.
As you can guess, used CT90 carbs are as rare as hen's teeth...but I managed to locate one about 30 miles away...and the guy was willing to give it to me for FREE...can't beat a deal like that!
So once I picked it up, I set about to cleaning it well...lots of compressed air and tiny brushes into every cavity, passage and orifice. Ordered a rebuild kit and re-assembled the carb and installed. Took a few minutes to get things right before she would start, but I finally got her going and adjusted.
The requisite road-test revealed that she couldn't even make 40 mph, so I imagine there will be some more adjustment required...probably dropping the needle clip to get a bit more fuel into her might help. So, this is still a work-in-progress, but it's great to have an OE carb back on this model again.
Wonder when was the last time she had one?

New Year...new start

 Just picked up a 2019 TW200 today.

Back where we started from...

What I didn't like about the CRF300L Rally

It's not until you've replaced an old habit with a new one, that you get a bit more critical about the last one.
This goes for partners, jobs, addresses, and especially vehicles.
Now that my days with the Rally are close to being in the rear-view...I can righteously state my opinions about this model and what I liked/disliked about it.

Pros:
There were many...
- The mileage was excellent. To be able to do a 7 hr day in the saddle, on ONE stock tank of fuel is phenomenal.
- The ride was decent, although it required a modification to the rear shock.
- Throttle response was snappy and I was never "looking" for more power.
- The overall curb-appeal was there, many people commented on its looks.
- The lighting package was awesome.
- The fairing kept me dry during the frequent rains we have here.

Cons:
There were a few too...
- THE RATTLE!!! That notorious 5K rattle...absolutely hate that noise. It literally sounds like your engine is about to fly apart. The worst part is that 5000 RPM is a great cruising speed.
- Seat...one of the most uncomfortable I've sat in, and I used to own a DR650.
- Fairing...although it kept me dry, any sort of maintenance is a brutal exercise as several panels need to be removed to accomplish the simplest of tasks.
- Trailside maintenance...forget it. You can't even access the spark plug without dedicating a couple of hours for panel, tank and rad removal...
- Fuel Injection. I know most new riders are fond of this, I'm not. On most other bikes, I can pull the carb at trail-side and remove a piece of crud stuck in a jet. Good luck servicing a dysfunctional throttle body.
- Maintenance. Although the service intervals on this model are huge, the actual work to perform is (as mentioned before) brutal. In order to CHECK the valves you need to remove most of the fairing, the fuel tank, the rad fan and possibly even the rad (means draining/replacing coolant)...then you should have enough room to service the valves.
- Speaking of valves...shims on buckets...Ugh!
- Rear shock: As mentioned, it needed to be 'improved' to accommodate 2-up riding, but even in its stock form the rear shock is stupidly under-sprung.
- Weight: After having to pick it up from a downhill position TWICE in the past 6 months...I realized that I'm not as strong as I thought I was.
- Throttle: Notoriously twitchy at off-idle, means you'll be using the clutch a LOT in low-speed conditions. There is no hesitation AT ALL...the only fix for this, is an upgraded ECU for another $200 Cdn.
- Height: This model is quite tall, so if you expect to flat-foot, you're going to need to lower it somehow. Yet even when lowered, it still has a high center-of-gravity.
- Chain: The stock chain will remind you that it needs service. This one would start making noise as soon as it needed lubing or tensioning. This could be seen as a plus, but I don't like to hear ANY kind of odd noises coming from my bike.
- Chain adjustment: For some reason, this seems to be a critical issue and the method of measuring is un-necessarily complicated. Lifting the chain mid-span and measuring with a tape is good enough on most other models.
- Parts: I kept reading about the vast and extensive "after-market parts-availability" but this was only true in the US.
- Passenger footpegs: Set too high up and too far forward for an adult; had to manufacture special brackets to move them down and back.

I'm sure there are a few of each that I've missed, but this gives you a general idea.

December????

 

Once again, it has been WAY TOO LONG since I posted here...but here I am once again.
There hasn’t been much of note since September...a couple of rides that have helped me "reach a conclusion”...more on that, in a little while.

In October, we took a short day-trip to Davis Lake and stopped in at Brookmere on the way out. We tried visiting the remains of the KVR in that area, but stopped at the bollards that prevent you from going further.
I also did a short trip up to Ruby Creek in October and to Norrish Creek area a few weeks ago.
It was while I was at Norrish Creek that I came to a conclusion...

Travelling up Dewdney Peak, I was looking to get within walking distance of the Ben VonHardenburg memorial cabin. I plotted the route in Gaia and made my way past the open gates and logging equipment. Shortly, the road turned from NEW logging road to OLD logging road. As I travelled, the road became less and less hospitable; water crossings and deep washouts (or maybe they were crafted water bars)...
It was at the 3^rd washout where trouble began...as I was heading up the backside of the washout, I accidentally stalled the Rally, and when my left foot could not find solid ground, it all toppled over.
Luckily I was tossed clear, but landed butt-first on a large log. The Rally lay on its side, facing backwards and downhill. It took me several attempts to get her righted again...the last one required every ounce of strength I had, but I finally succeeded. Within a few minutes, I was back in the saddle but called it a day when I saw at least 4 more of these “washouts” in the road ahead. I knew my @ss was going to be sore tomorrow, and from the effort it took to get her back upright, I was certain that my back would be hurting as well.
It was on the ride back down the hill, that I came to the “conclusion”...this bike is too big for me.
This was the second time that I experienced a standing-still tip-over, and BOTH times it was a real chore to get back into the saddle....both times, I was (relatively) uninjured...what if I had broken my arm, or a rib and couldn’t exert...how would I get home?
The ABS version of the Rally weighs 335 lbs. when laying down flat...when it’s facing downhill and backwards...well, you could easily be looking at 350 – 400 lbs depending on how you have it loaded.
So with this in mind, I have decided to get rid of the CRF and go BACK to the one that brought me to the dance in the first place.
The CRF purchase was done in a rage, after I had spent most of the summer trying to make a silk purse from a sow’s ear (F650 Funduro)...and I was ‘aware’ of what ownership of a CRF entailed. But as a hand-on type of owner, I was always wary of the impending maintenance that I would face.
The CRF needed a rear-shock renovation from the start...so that was an additional $300 added to the price.
Next was a lowering link to prevent what had just happened...another $ 200+
The availability of parts is also an issue...sure, there’s lots of “after-market" stuff, but regular consumables like air-filters and sprockets aren’t available from my usual sources.

Checking the spark plug on the trail is next-to impossible.
Checking the valves is a four hour ordeal that also involves much plastic removal as well as draining and replacing the coolant.
Heaven forbid if anything goes wrong with the fuel pump or throttle body when on the trail...granted these things are engineered to last a long time, but the failure rate is never 0%.
...and there’s that annoying rattle at 5000 RPM, which also happens to be cruising speed.
When I bought it...I didn’t realize it had a catalytic converter built into the exhaust pipe...an exhaust that incidentally gets too hot by my right leg!
All the way down the mountain, I created a list of things that I didn’t like about this bike and when I got back down to roadside I realized that I didn’t “love” this bike as much as I thought I did, or ever would...and that’s never a nice conclusion to draw.
When I first started riding, back in 2004 I went from a 1974 Honda CT90 to a Yamaha TW200.
After a few years of the TW, I was convinced that I needed more power...so I sold that gem and bought an XT225...then an XT250...a DR650...A “Super Sherpa” (still hate that name) and eventually, I came back to the TW.
Fast forward another couple of years, and I convinced myself (again) that I was ready for the ADV scene and needed a larger bike again. Cue the BMW “Funduro” that turned out to be more trouble than it was worth and once that one was gone, I purchased the CRF under the impression that it would be “the last bike I’d ever need”.
Now, I find myself yearning for the comforts of home...and the familiar territory that is the TW200.
At 280 lbs, she’s easy enough to pick up, even when lying across my leg!

Tappet valve-adjustments are something that I can do in under an hour.
A carb is something that I can remove and repair at trail-side.
Parts availability from my usual sources...close to 85 MPG...as reliable as a hammer!

Only now do I realize that my beloved TW is in fact, the last bike I’ll ever want.