The Mobile Instinct

Urban Exploration with Chris

from The Mobile Instinct

https://www.themobileinstinct.com/

A New Episode Of ADV TV!

It's been a while.

This episode feature the Backroad Biker Adventures of Mr. Chuck Jines 

for more about Chuck and his work visit http://www.chuckjines.com/

1100 Mile Tire Change - A Ride Report

 It all started innocently enough.

(May 13 - 16, 2016)

The idea of traveling upstate New York on Route 20 seemed like a good idea at the time.

We planned the ride a few months before we left. The riders Al, Derek and myself (Brian) decided to ride from Springfield, MA to Cleveland, OH, a ride Derek and I have taken plenty of times before.

This time, to break the monotony that can be RT90 West across the state of New York, we would take RT20 West and see the small towns we zip by on the highway and we talked Al into joining us for the adventure. It wasn't hard to convince him as we often end up referring to previous to rides to Cleveland while we reminisce about the past and he's forced to listen to stories he's heard three or more times now already. 

We headed out on May 13th Friday morning. The forecast called for rain but it wasn't raining yet so we started the ride. Al rode his 1990 Suzuki Katana 750, Derek rode his 2015 Triumph Scrambler and I rode my 2013 Kawasaki KLR650. Our final destination was Parma Ohio, which borders Cleveland to its Southwest. I bought my KLR form Derek over the Winter and it had it's original factory tires, that at 5,000 miles needed the rear replaced. The thought was to finish the tire's life by riding it out to Parma where a new tire and tube had already arrived in the mail. Change the tire on either Saturday or Sunday morning, catch a Cleveland Indians game and ride back on Monday. As far as the ride was concerned, we'd take RT20 West to Syracuse and pick up RT90 West the rest of the way. On the return ride we would depart Cleveland on RT20 East to Syracuse and hop on RT90 East back to Springfield. That way we could ride all of route 20 without it taking 16 hours one day. We'd split the extra time between the two scheduled travel days relaxing and visiting. "Easy peasy".

We were behind schedule on Friday morning, but that was okay because he had discussed the possibility of staying the night in Syracuse, NY during a coffee break in Lee, MA. If we had to get up early and ride on Saturday morning we'd only be a few hours out. We rode West on RT20 through the Berkshires of Massachusetts into Lebanon, NY past the race track and over the Hudson River directly into the poverty of Albany, NY.. Once you cross the river you are greeted by urban foot traffic, the kind of pedestrians that cross the street regardless of the presence a crosswalk or not. There's also plenty of of tall buildings, a college and the capital city's businessmen and women bustling about getting coffee and heading to meetings I suppose.

Just past the University traffic in Albany, NY it started 

Our nemesis for the rest of our journey, the weather.

The rain started and continued to soak us to a little town South of Canajoharie where we stopped at a gas station for it to pass. I had the idea that it was just a band of weather that would pass us by.

But the rain didn't stop. We stood under the building's overhang and decided the best course of action would be to abandon our original plan of RT20W. So far the road only had a few scenic areas but was mostly taking us to the one or two traffic lights each little town had to offer, it's only traffic too.

So we changed our plan and took RT162 North to Canajoharie and got on our familiar path RT90 and rode West to a rest stop in Utica, in the rain. On RT162 our helmets started to fog and Derek's goggles fogged too. So much so that he ran over some of the manure on the road that had fallen off the back of a rural farmers tractor. He didn't fall but still. Gross.

Derek and Al had had enough of the ride at this point. Derek suggest we turn around and head home figuring we could be there before dark. That was a fair enough suggestion as Al and I had been warned by our wives that we weren't taking the impending rain seriously enough. Derek's girlfriend also. The three of us listen so well that we all were riding with no rain gear and it was that in the 50's kind of raw feeling you get when soaking wet. Just as Derek was informing me he intended to head back and that Al was joining him, the sun showed itself for the first time in hours and brought with it the false hope of warmth. I let Derek and Al know I intended to continue the ride and that there were no hard feelings about it because they were absolutely right. So far this ride sucked and probably was going to suck even more if we kept traveling West. I thought, more like hoped, it was going to pass and didn't want to follow the rain East for a few hundred miles home.

After some discussion, coffee and the sun shining for a bit Al and Derek reluctantly decided to continue West with me. We made it to Buffalo, NY and only got rained on two more times for a few hours during our ride. 

Sitting in our hotel room with our Wendy's diner that night we watched the news. Weather report for the weekend. Snow. That's right snow on Sunday for Buffalo and for Cleveland. You have to love that lake effect, right? So we headed out Saturday morning and with our start to a new day came the same old rain and some of it's friends. Wind and sleet.  

If you haven't had the pleasure of riding RT90 between Buffalo, NY and Erie, PA in May when strong winds blow across Lake Erie, don't. The wind can push you from one lane into the other and can be a dangerous ride. Fortunately the wind was only gusting to about 40mph and not sustaining 40mph like Derek and I had experienced in 2008 on a different ride (we had to stop, a bike did get toppled by the wind, but that's another story for later maybe) so lowering our speed made travel possible, uncomfortable but possible, without getting blown off the road. We were making terrible time and it was already past noon Saturday.

Once we got out of the wind zone and into Ohio we met another weather foe. Sleet. 

As we were riding I noticed the rain wasn't splattering as it had been for the previous hundreds of miles, it was bouncing off my gloves, the windshield and helmet also. Again we pulled over soaked and freezing cold. After warming up in a rest area bathroom we braved the final 30 miles to Parma where we met up with my brother Andy and his roommate Mike in Parma. Were we glad to get a warm shower and into some dry clothes? Hell yes we were. 

Hanging out Saturday night 

left to right (Brian, Mike, Derek, Andy and Al)

Sunday afternoon we tackled the rear tire change. Originally we had planned to attend the Cleveland Indians game, but it had snowed that morning and was windy and cold. The idea of manual labor in a heated garage sounded more appealing. We listened to the game on the radio.The Indians lost to the Minnesota Twins 5-1. 

The garage when we started

Plenty of bikes.

This was to be my first time changing a motorcycle tire. After 23 years of riding and managing to get away with merely plugging any previous tire issues it was time to get this figured out. 

Besides I saw this Ecuador Freedom Bike Rental video about how the do a tire repair in the field

  If you can do in in the jungle you can do it in a warm garage, easy enough can't you?

Thanks to the help of Mike the job got done. It wasn't easy at first, but after getting some of the right tools (ie. two tire irons instead of lots of large screwdrivers) we managed to get the tire mounted, balanced and put back on the bike for Monday's departure.

A timelapse of our version of a tire change

Thanks for the lesson Mike.

Our return ride home was so much better. We stayed on RT90 East as we'd learned our lesson that over 500 miles of travel in one day wouldn't be possible on RT20 no matter how much we may have wanted it to be. We got home a little cold as the temperatures didn't get above 52 degrees, but we weren't wet this time and that helped a lot. Also Al's "old" 1990 Katana ran like a dream, trouble free and is a real testament to the late 80's early 90's Japanese motorcycle quality. 

Now we have another travel story to share with each other on our rides. The time Brian got Al and Derek to ride to Cleveland in the Rain, Sleet and Snow only to change his tire. 

It's not the destination, it's the journey with friends that makes the bonds stronger. 

Thanks to my friends Al, Derek, Andy and Mike.

- Brian

Adventure Riding TV Bob Hogan

Adventure Riding TV had the pleasure of spending some time with Mr. Bob Hogan for an interview at Hogan's Cycle Shop.

Leaky Fork Seals?

This may be worth a look. Also, rumor has it, 35MM camera film may do the trick as well.

Tires

Back to Springfield Motorsports for more to do with tires.

Last week, as posted, Al's PC800 needed a new valve stem due to his front tire not wanting to hold air, thereby not allowing him to continue our ride in Connecticut. He took his tire and rim to Springfield Motorsports and they had him repaired within hours.

This week my CB250 needed tires both front and back. Having ordered new tires, the week before, I called to see if they were in. They were. Cool. So I rode to Springfield Motorsports to have them installed. Much to my surprise, not only were they able to take my bike in on the same day, they were able to have my bike back to me the same day. I asked if I could pick it up the next day and it was no problem. The price for service was very fair and Dave (the service technician) was really helpful and easy to work with.

We at ADV TV don't make a habit of suggesting one motorcycle shop over another. That being said, if you need some work done to your bike consider Springfield Motorsports. Our experiences this season have been positive allowing us more time on the road and less time in the garage.

For more info please visit http://springfieldmotorsports.net 

 

- Brian

Bob Hogan

We are in the process of arranging an interview with the legendary Bob Hogan.
Bob was a very competitive and champion motorcycle trials racer, who in his 80's, still rides today.
He also has owned his own motorcycle shop for many years featuring Bultaco, Ossa and many other vintage motorcycle brands.

We can't wait to hear his stories and learn more about this pioneering motorcyclist.

ADV TV