Small is B I G!

Elsee

I've always believed that smaller is often times better.  Let's say for example, you're going to be shot out of a cannon, you'd certainly want to fit in there now wouldn't you.  You wouldn't want to get in  down to your waist and then get stuck, would you??  That shot of compressed air would blow your head off!

I have several small bikes.  By small I mean less than would be commonly accepted.  After all, we live in North America where BIG rules, supposedly.  Just take a look around you next time you are at the Golden Corral or any gathering of cruiser bikes.

Not photo shopped, that's the real Baja CA

Last year I'd geared up my diminutive Yamaha DT 50.  It's got a piston the size of a golf ball.  No one but an ant would call it big or overweight or colossal, nope.  By pretty much any definition amongst motorcyclists it is small.  Smallish wheels, a little 420 drive chain, weight right round 168 lbs (I weigh 150) and horse power, say maybe 7.5 at the crank.

On the other hand, it's got 6 gears, a reed valve and a Y.E.I.S. boost bottle, (ten points for anyone knows what that is) a red line set at 10,000 revs, and a propensity for getting around on small trails.  I've ridden the little DT (stands for "dinky toy") on a huge adventure over three weeks in forest fire ravaged British Columbia in 2003, into the Laguna Giganta mountains of Baja in 2006, and of the many bikes I sold prior to the move east, it's one that found a home in the cargo trailer.

Ready for anything we wuz!

I also have 2 125's a 175, 2 150cc scooters and 2 Honda C 70's and a Yamaha 225.  I even have a 23cc (okay its a weed eater, but still small counts) The biggest of my small bikes is a 350!  See what I mean, I like small.

Layton tells me that since his last years inspection of the little DT... I'd covered 3 km!  I immediately vowed to triple that!

Yeah, I didn't have a lot of time last season with trying to finish things on the house the contractors were supposed to do but didn't (I wouldn't hire Doc's construction ever again!)

Then of course there was the extensive renovations on our little old apartment building bought last May.

Back in Baja

The little liquid cooled wonder is almost fast enough for PEI roads and certainly was fabulous when I rode it in '03 and '06 on my mini adventures.  In fact the other day, on my first ride on her this season, I saw 94 kph on the clock on level ground, sitting up and with the tachometer 100 rpm into the red zone.  Eighty kph shows 9000 revs!  Not exactly the "ton" even if you stretched the truth and called a ton 100 kph instead of mph...

Could this stand for "Dinky Toy?"

Okay, realistically the cruising speed is right round 75k, but again... during my previous trips, I had little need for more than that.  I wish I had an '83 DT 125 L/C or an '84 DT 200... but those bikes are hard to find and most have been trashed and thrashed into an early grave.

For now I am looking at some rather ambitious rides on the dinky toy.

Kazue on the Powderface Trail

I met Zack K today, dusty, err... trusty dual purpose small bike guy from CanadaMoto Guide magazine online, for a coffee at where else... I threw an idea out to him, of my plans for a thrilling upcoming planned adventure ride.  He was all ears, nose and throat looking on in amazement at the prospect of my pulling this one off.  I can't divulge much at this point but it would involve some REAL MILEAGE... say from Toronto to Alaska...

Busy little bumble bee is she

There... I've said too much already.  Anymore and I'd have to kill you all, right.

Stay tuned in upcoming blogs.

Amusing is the right word!!

Historic Port la Joye...

Knock knock... nobody home!

OTHERWISE known as Fort Amherst, is a Parks Canada historic site.  Many years ago it hosted a National scouts jamboree with 15,000 participants.  I once convinced the powers that be, to allow us to block off the short, multiple turn, then newly paved access road for a couple of hours while CBC Charlottetown and my shop filmed several television commercials.  Back in those days we could produce a 30 second spot for a couple of hundred dollars and the air time was also very reasonable.  In those days, shortly after the Spanish Inquisition ended, CBC through the air broadcasting could reach every household on PEI.  We made many commercials, funny ones too, one of which won a National award for best locally produced commercial!  That brought accolades to the local station.

Today, as I pulled off onto the park access road, it was cracked up, the pavement missing sections, and as I closed the building I thought it looked deserted.  Odd... after all it is summer, there are tourists on the Island.

The building that once had locals in period costume, a very informative interpretive center, and happy smiling shining faces, was now bleak, dark and dingy.  The door was locked, peeking through the dirt stained windows, to a hollow space, the odd box on the floor and a decrepit counter, saddened me.  How come, history takes a back seat to bean counters, why do we waste billions on garbage job creation strategies that often serve to line the wealthiest pockets further, scandalous campaigning, and government ineptitude.  You sometimes have got to wonder, why we don't revolt at climbing taxation, consumer prices, bribery and outright thievery...

Run down historic site

Climbing off the soapbox once again... I mount up and gingerly exit on a road that was once billiard smooth and 30kph became 130 for 30 seconds.  By the way, I rode and featured the Maxim 700 and X (5 valve 750) as well as the then new FZ 750 Genesis.

Because I was only a kilometer away from the road blockage I decided to have a lookey see.  After all, this is why I travel by motorcycle, to see and experience things.

Boy, they're not kidding with this closed down business

They weren't kidding when they said "Bridge Out"  It was indeed!  Maybe I could have skirted across with my XT 600, certainly I could have picked a spot with my 225, but there weren't no way, a 500 lb VX 800 was getting close to that.

I backtracked to highway 19, dodging Playboy, umm... I mean playful bunnies by the dozen.

Bridges were built with wooden pilings

At Cornwall I headed west on the TC 1 again to Crapaud and highway 13.  This road bisects PEI South to North.  It's also the highest point on the Island, just by Brookvale Provincial ski park, nearly 500' elevation.  No danger of oxygen deprivation here, but certainly some pretty woodland and mixed farming views.

The Kelly's Cross junction has an interesting feel, the old village store, takes me back to a simpler time when I may have been here on a BSA twin, old aviator goggles on my pudding bowl helmet. More history.

Wish I could have taken this home in my saddlebag

By the time I reached Hunter River after a stop at the 225 junction where I met former Burlington Amusement park owner, Gerald Profitt and a couple of his cruiser cronies, the sky had clouded over and the sunshine receded farther in my rear view mirrors.  They say in very small print, "Objects are closer than they appear"  Well to me, the blue sky was getting farther and farther away!

I hooked up with route 6 along the North shore, passed through first Rustico, then Rusticoville, and finally North Rustico, all picturesque little quaint villages.  A quick stop behind Cavendish Pizza Delight, and a short visit with Chris Smith, part owner and manager, before heading for home.

Kelly's Cross community store.

As timing would have it, I arrived at the highway entrance just as 20 V Twins, Hell's Angels (wannabe's) rode by in perfect(?) staggered formation.  You had to give them credit for working so hard at maintaining formation like a gaggle of WWII B-17 Flying Forts, sounding for all the world like a bunch of Pratt and Whitney air cooled radials, with those bellowing open exhausts.  The line moved snake like along the narrow coastal highway, taking up easily a half kilometer with a very tight 1-2 seconds gap between riders.

Now gang, I don't mind riding in small groups and I have often admitted I hate doing Aspencades, Americades, and Atlanticade type gatherings with a passion, only matched by my distaste for insurance companies, banks and ludicrous government laws... but here we have twenty "BAD BOYS" tossing cigarette butts, feet on "highway" pegs, rumbling along between 55 to 70, to 45 to 85 to 63 to 95 slowing and accelerating like a slinky toy, leaving no gaps for which regular traffic can effect a pass.  Nope... these "individuals" (cause they all want to be that) had no clue of proper road etiquette, where by large groups should break into slightly smaller ones (3-4 riders) leaving sufficient gaps for a potential passing motorist to pull into safely.  Duh!!  It ain't rocket science boys! I have read news reports over the decades where a passing motorist had no choice but to bunt some riders off the road because they left no gaps.

Off my soapbox once again...

That's for 1`gallon!!!

I arrived home from my Sunday morning ride just before noon, having covered 245 km in 4 and a half hours, taking 87 photographs (love them digital camera's) and averaging 48.9 mpg on the Suzuki.  I found out that my head bearings were a wee bit loose, anytime I took hand off the bar, a very nervous oscillation emerged.  A half turn of pre-load in my garage cured that right away.

I did the "TON" once as I often do, just for fun, but spent most of my ride under 100kph and enjoyed every minute (except for the 15 I had to follow those 'real bikers'!)

1767, nuff said.

Sunday morning...

I was up at 5 am, feeding Sir William and Lady Abby.  By quarter to six, is was beginning to light.  I let out a shiver sampling the 9 degree weather in my shorts standing outside the garage door on the sunny side of the house.

By 6 30, the temperature was well into the double digits, nearly 12 in fact, so warm that I decided to go for the quintessential Sunday morning ride.  I haven't ridden the 600 since Friday evening after I installed all the new parts, after all it was raining much of the day.  Yesterday I geared up all the remaining bikes except for the TY 175, it needs an oil seal replaced before I ride it.  Of all my bikes I chose the Suzuki VX 800 for today.


                                                                  

7 am

Weather forecast was sunny with potential of showers, but it was looking good standing there in my boxers, so I would chance it.  I haven't ridden this bike since changing out the head bearings and this was a good opportunity to shake it down (No pun intended)

last of its kind on the Island

Everyone was still asleep, as I prepped the bike and picked appropriate gear.  Only thing special was two pairs of gloves in case it warmed substantially.


By 6 50 after checking the little red line and satisfied that at 15 degrees, I was good to go, the final countdown had begun.  Shortly after seven I was taking my first photos in a very quiet Kensington, nary another human or moving vehicle in sight.

very neat and quaint little "downtown" in K'ton

I had a loose (the only kind I like) plan to ride central Queens county, counterclockwise, by heading directly south across the Island to Borden before riding through Crapaud east to Victoria by the Sea and then Port la Joye otherwise known as Fort Amherst, directly across the bay from our quaint capital city, Charlottetown.

Mossies are biting just fine

After leaving K'ton, I headed XC crossing the Dunk on route 110, stopping to ask a fly fisherman how the trout were biting.  His answer "not at all... but the mosquitoes were more than making up for it!" 

and they come even older than this burg!

At Middletown I hooked up with the 1A.

Gateway village shopping in Borden

On the approach to Borden, I remembered very well the long line-ups during summer tourist season, vehicles waiting for the next ferry crossing.  The Confederation bridge has changed all that.  No more line-ups and no more 'stuck in the strait' during an ice jam!

No ice today, except at Cow's, which wasn't yet open.  In fact Borden was sleeping in, there was only myself on my Suzuki V twin and a couple of busloads of tourists doing what tourists do, snap countless photos of the bridge, the nearby caboose and the defunct lighthouse!  I backtracked a few kilometers to the Trans Canada junction with 1A and nearly got clipped passing a Quebec sedan that at the very last second crossed from the Summerside off ramp, across the faded yellow median and right into my path... just as I was picking up speed overtaking them.

Yup, that'd be the bridge 14km to New Brunswick Canada

A quick stab at both brakes and there was no harm done, but just goes to show me yet again, how vigilant one must be when flitting about the world on a motorbike.

I turned at the Victoria junction and surprised a small red fox, just chowing down on something at roadside.  For a second I thought he/she may dart out across my path but I was past before he/she had a moment to react.

Busloads of Asian tourists

My road speed had been right on the speed limit, which for most Island roads is 80 or 90 kph. There are numerous towns and villages where the posted limit drops to 60 or even 50.  In fact 90 is the fastest allowed speed on the Island.  Guess being so small, the powers that be, decided that they didn't want tourists leaving too quickly...

Seat 46... seats two!

Victoria is a very pretty place.  Unlike its counterpart on the other Island on the other coast, this Victoria by the Sea has barely five streets and there is no downtown.

A mecca for those that like traditional little seaside villages in the summertime, today there was no one about and even the Beachcombers wasn't yet open.  I took a few snaps to add to my burgeoning collection of some 30,000 photos, and at some point it crossed my mind that whoever inherits my photos albums (including the hard drive) will have quite a record of my life.  Hopefully, they will love looking at them as much as I loved taking them.  You know what they say... a picture is worth a thousand words, right!

This is Victoria and it's by the sea!

The sun was beginning to poke through the cloud cover just perceptibly and the temperature reflected that, as I changed into my regular gloves from my gauntlets.  The next 30 minutes I cruised to DeSable, Argyle Shore and Canoe cove, where not a single canoe was spotted!  The road was filled with potholes, either recently filled to yet to be.  Island roads are not for the faint of heart, once off Highway 1 or 2, known as the "All weather highway"  Shoulders are none existent and you wouldn't want to lose you concentration, the ditches tend to be made to carry away rain water or unsuspecting motorcyclists.

I see an upcoming story here...

Route 19 is one of my old Island favorites, busy with cottage goers and tourists in the warmer months but not today.  The only thing I saw this morning of any number were mobile bowling pins in the form of small furry bunnies!  And I am not talking the Playboy mansion residents.  These little guys bounce like the proverbial "eight" ball into the corner pocket, no matter... I was enjoying just cruising at 80-90 kph.  A sign greeted me just past Nine Mile Creek turn-off, warning me of a bridge out at kilometer 9.  The Fort was 8 kilometers in, so I pretended to be 'local' traffic and rode on in.

Hmmmm, what's going on here?

Once there, memories flooded my head, I was in for a nasty surprise...

Four Hundred

I'm NOT lost, just sorting out where I am.

WHILE
thinking of this upcoming, epic, number four hundred edition of this blog... I tried to conjure up something inspirational.  Something that gave a sense of who the Dr of N Thusiasm is. 

How can you forget, Forgetmenot pond?

It was on the 6th of May, 2009... I first put "pen" to paper in this fashion.  It was a Wednesday, and I wrote about my arrival in Hungary, why I was there and the trials and tribulations of following my dream thirty eight years late.



Holly, my well traveled elder daughter had suggested it.  Roaming around 22 countries and 20,000 plus kilometers, and trying to upload photos repeatedly to send on numerous emails to friends and relatives, was taking a great deal of time, causing my numerous (but not humorous) headaches dealing with keyboards in different languages, many that didn't function 100 %, and of course it wasn't cheap sitting in an internet cafe or bar and paying dearly for my time on the net.

A solemn visit both times I was at Auschwitz

Somewhere in the Arizona desert

Once I got set up with Blogger, I could insert half dozen photos, tell the latest adventure story, and be done in an hour.  You, who have been with me since the beginning, could follow along and share my dreams. 

Somewhere in Athens!

Since then I have gained a small following, with about 200 people that read along at least regularly.  You live in various parts of Europe, Japan, Mexico, the USA and of course at home in Canada.  I have reached over 26,000 views and I truly hope, you continue to share my adventures.

Having fun, keeping in shape.

I thank you for your loyalty, for sharing your thoughts and suggestions here and in emails, and giving me such joy in doing this.  It ain't easy, much as I love to write about motorcycling, many times I use this forum to step up on the soapbox and state my 2 cents worth.  Sometimes you don't agree with me, other times you think I am being a pussy, that I don't go far enough.  In any case, I see no reason to quit, I will en-devour to keep on writin' if you'll keep on readin'.

So... this is installment number 400.  Can't wait to hit 500!

Cheers all.

Yes, the bridge!

Just like relationships...

Motorcycles in some ways, are just like people. 

My kinda riding!  Out in the boonies.

They require routine maintenance.  Depending on the bike you have (Velocette, BSA, Indian) some require more than others.  Also like people, motorcycles either have soul or they don't.  Ducati's have soul, old Ducati's even more.

XT and I in the early days.

Like people, bikes need tlc at times, understanding, be given the benefit of the doubt and cherished. 

Still looking good today on red soil!

Some motorcycles like some people, are just bad apples and need to be passed on to someone else that better understands them, or has that peculiar aptitude for dealing with them.  Bikes likes people can give tremendous joy, sorrow or even that orgasmic feeling some of us are familiar with.



No matter how you slice it... bikes, are people too.


Many of my bikes are years old, some even several decades.  I have no hankering for a bicycle framed Harley with starter pedals and a leather belt to drive the wheel, although if I had one I'd sell it and get some bikes I'd rather have.  People often ask me why I don't have a Harley or two?  It's not that I don't like those bikes, just that they have become so commonplace it seems everybody has them.   Same with V Twin cruisers.  They are great bikes, I have ridden and sold countless numbers of them, but they are all "cookie cutter" motorcycles.

We've been around some...

Nope, I am known for having odd or unusual bikes and that's not because I am an odd or unusual fellow (?)  It's just that I find soul or function where many others don't.  Like they say, "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder" right!

Take my XT 600A for example.  The XT series, starting in the late 70's, was Yamaha's four stroke dual purpose bike.  (The TT model was the off road example.)  My 1990 edition was quite ahead of it's time, Yamaha putting to use it's years of experience building such bikes.  It had a reasonable seat height, remember I am vertically challenged as some say, so it's just low enough for me to get a tip toe on the ground at a level stop.  Never a problem off road but can be dicey if I need to come to a halt on the crest of the road vs the trough.  It has adequate power and has carried me around the Cabot Trail, criss-crossed western Canada, pointed a wheel south to Cabo San Lucas with stops at Mike's Sky Ranch, Bahia Conceptione and San Felipe.  It's still light enough for a trek off road on a well used XC enduro course run the day before, but a bit heavy when stuck in axle deep sand or muck.

They were a pair at one point.

Although the model was tried and true, it's SOHC 4 valve engine (which many mistake for a twin) powered the bikes through years in the USA and even longer in Europe.  Unfortunately for whatever reason the big blue XT was only offered for sale one year in the CDN market.  Shame really, as  the bike is modern enough for a vast portion of the riding public. 

Just some other Rocky Mountain back road.

For the typical buyer of a large displacement dualie, they offer a desirable ride even today.  Unlike the "ADVENTURE" bikes being sold at dealerships across the country (and world) a large displacement, lightweight single makes much more sense to me for someone that wishes to throw some bags on and really ride the Baja peninsula rather than Highway one, and who say they've ridden Baja. It's unlikely riders of GS1200 BMW's, 990 KTM's Honda Veradero's or the like, would be suitable for plonking from San Isidro to San Jose de Commondu.  

TLC time

Most of my bikes receive fairly regular routine maintenance with the occasional valve check or parts replacement.  This weekend it became the turn of the big blue XT.

I took the time yesterday to hoist the bike onto my little hydraulic lift and replace tires and tubes front and back, the somewhat kinky (ooh la la) but still perfectly good drive chain, some brake pads and a few other bits.  I will pull the tank today and check the valve lash, easy to adjust with a wrench and feeler gauge.  Although the bike is nearly 25 years old, it still has less than 40,000 kms on the odometer.  This is a direct result of my owning several different types of bikes over the years, and never really putting many miles on a single one.  If I owned just one bike... it would accumulate a lot more mileage.

New rubber and DID O-ring

I've thought about replacing it with something newer.  There are plenty of great bikes that would be a welcome in my garage, the big KLR Kawasaki would do, or an exotic Euro model KTM or Husky, most likely as a replacement I would choose the

Closest thing you can get today, a likely replacement?

DR 650 Suzuki as it most closely resembles what I have now and to me anyway, is an all purpose motorcycle.  Funny thing is... I have these little 'talks' with myself occasionally but can't bring myself to parting with this faithful if dated beast. 

Freshened up

So for now, Big Blue still has my attention and love.  Yes, love.  Remember... bikes are people too.