The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: davidpdx on June 24, 2015, 11:40:23 PM
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I am leaving on a motorcycle trip to California first thing tomorrow morning. I am planning to post to my travel blog every day, cell service allowing. If you are interested "come along for the ride" and don't hesitate to leave comments. David
http://davidslongstrangetrips.blogspot.com/
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I just saw this, hope you have a good trip. It's too hot to go to CA though, unless you stay on the coast all the way.
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Ed, I am finding out the hard way that you are right. Either got to get some cooler riding gear or put these trip off til October.
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Cool!
Ride safe - invest in mesh jacket and pants!
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I don't know if you are going to be travelling in temps over 100 F or not, but an R65 without an oil cooler can get oil temps above 325 F at speeds of 65 mph in 100 f plus air temps .
I have a temperature indicating dipstick on my '81 R65 and was quite surprised to see such high oil temps .
I installed an oil cooler after my first summer in the low desert .
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Just to do the translation of Bob Roller's comment for those who are fahreheit and mph challenged which is particularly relevant to Australia-
An R65 without an oil cooler can get oil temps above 325 F (160c) at speeds of 65 mph (104 kph) in 100 f (38c) plus air temps. -
That's hot.
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I don't know if you are going to be travelling in temps over 100 F or not, but an R65 without an oil cooler can get oil temps above 325 F at speeds of 65 mph in 100 f plus air temps .
I have a temperature indicating dipstick on my '81 R65 and was quite surprised to see such high oil temps .
Bob
My solution was simpler and cheaper.
My R65 HAD a temperature gauge dipstick. I removed it as I didn't like what it was telling me and what I don't know cannot hurt me. The temperature gauge dipstick now glares at me disconsolately from the shelf in the shed and I haven't seen a temperature much over 30 degrees Celsius since I put it there. I am sure that in the long term we will both be much happier for this arrangement.
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Cool!
Ride safe - invest in mesh jacket and pants!
And a wet t-shirt under the mesh jacket will work wonders. For a while, anyway. Not so much behind a Windjammer though! >:(
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Whenever you start off on a long trip on a bike that is almost 40 years old you have to expect some sort of difficulties. Before I left I was talking to a co-worker who used to do motorcycle touring and I told him I was looking for a little adventure as every one needs a little adventure in their lives. His response was "just a little adventure but not too much". This time I got a little more adventure than I was looking for.
After leaving Graeagle in Northern California early in the morning I had the most glorious ride through the mountains. I passed a little lake the had deer in the woods above it and antelope grazing in the grass next to it. Made me feel that I was really in the west. I had ridden about 1000 miles (1600 Km) mostly around 65mph (100 kph) in temperatures near 100 degrees (37c) on my trip.
I stopped in Chemult Oregon for gas just as it was beginning to get hot. When I went to restart my bike the battery was completely dead. First I had to prove to myself that I can't push start a R100 by myself on a flat parking lot, then I went looking for a jump. I found a Harley rider at a tire shop near by who put my battery on a charger while I went to get a blackberry milkshake. After 40 minutes it showed fully charged but still won't start the bike. I put it on started boost and got it to fire up and gave him $10 even though he would have done it for free. Once I got riding I realized that I couldn't stop because I had no way to restart the bike. The R100 gets way less mileage than my R65 and I wasn't sure if I could make it home on one tank. I figured that if I was going to have to call a friend for help I wanted to be as close to home as possible. I made it home, going onto my first reserve, 200 miles without stopping which is the farthest I have ever ridden in one shot.
When I got home I discovered that the 4 year old Odyssey extreme battery would not take any charge. I guess it was not extremely reliable and had lost a cell in the heat. With a new battery installed, I am heading out again tomorrow but this time plan to go down the coast to try and avoid the heat and the wild fires. Check in on my travel blog and leave a message if you care to.
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I have found that the Odyssey batteries don't last any longer than the generic AGM's here in the heat of Phoenix .
And at one third the cost .
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Heat and vibration generally kill batteries faster than cold - glad that you made it back OK!
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I just rode back from Graeagle Friday and saw two things on the trip that I had never seen before. Just after entering the Modoc National Forest I saw a big kitty run across the highway. At first I thought it was a bob cat but after looking at pictures on the web I think it was a juvenile cougar. The size was right for a cougar but the color was darker than I think of cougars being but some of the photos I saw of juvenile cougars showed them being darker and it might explain why he was dumb enough to be running across the highway in daylight. When I got into the Winema National Forest I saw wild turkeys beside the road. Not as cool as a cougar but still a first for me. The heat was not as bad this trip and my new mesh jacket made a world of difference.
My oldest son, my brother in law, and I did a couple of night backpack in the 5 lakes basin of the Tahoe National Forest while we were down there. I made a video of our trip. Here is a link. http://youtu.be/15LifFEd9gI David
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Sounds like a good trip. How did you secure your riding gear for the back packing?
I guess you didn't see the cat's tail.
There are tons of turkeys around where I live. You have to be careful, as they don't seem to be very afraid of vehicles, and I bet hitting one on an R65 wouldn't be fun.
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Ed, I left my bike at my brother in laws house while we went backpacking. The road in would have trashed my street tires. I saw a post a few years ago by one of the Low Brow Custom guys who had hit a flock of wild turkeys and crashed and broken his collar bone.
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Don't let the Turkeys get you down!