Bringing the next generation along...

[Tourmeister]

So I've posted stuff here and there about my kids, Sarah (18) and Daniel (16) recently getting their motorcycle licenses. I thought I'd collect some memories here as one big report and then just keep adding to this thread as the adventure continues. What follows is a bit of backstory, ride reports with pics and videos, etc,... to get us up to the present day.

Sarah got an early exposure to bikes... In fact she attended her first bike night when she was only one week old and her first pie run when only six weeks old! Daniel and Rachel had similar experiences. They started out on dirt bikes as kids at 7 and 5 on a Honda CRF50 I snagged while making a deal on a KTM 530 EXC. They started out with the training wheels with me on the back letting them either steer, do the gas/brakes, or all the above until I thought they could do it without the training wheels. They just rode around our back yard and I worked with them on basic skills. Sarah gravitated toward the Honda CRF50 and Daniel a Yamaha TTR50E I found a few months after getting the Honda. Rachel (14) also started on the Honda at about 5 years old. She rode occasionally over the years, but the bug never really bit her quite like the other two.

One of my favorite memories is of Sarah and Daniel riding around in the back yard. When they first started, I did not allow them to shift into higher gears because I wanted them to focus on being able to do the basic controls before adding speed. Of course Daniel ripped around the yard rapping out his TTR in first gear while Sarah putted along so slow she'd almost fall over. Eventually, she got better and I decided to let them try out second gear. Daniel took to it like a fish to water. Sarah was not so confident. Daniel saw her riding slowly with her bike shuddering. He pulled up along side her and yelled, "It is a lot smoother and faster in second gear!" To which she sternly replied, "I AM IN SECOND GEAR!" She was always telling him what I said, "It is NOT a race!" Of course in his mind, it was ALWAYS a race!!

Sarah and Daniel actually got a private dirt riding class on the 50s because all the other people canceled at one point or another in the days before the class and the instructor agreed to go ahead and do it with just the two of them. They never really got to rack up huge hours on the bikes, mostly just doing some rides on my parents property on trails we had cut through the woods on the back 7 acres of their land (here, here, and here). Both of them started riding on the back of my 1200 GS when they were eight (Sarah's first ride, Flower hunt with Sarah, Daniel's first ride). It was not long before Sarah tried an XR80R that was donated to us by another TWT member, but that didn't really turn out as planned She decided she wasn't quite ready for a clutch and that become a chase bike I used to follow them on their rides rather than riding my much larger KTM 530 EXC behind them. Shortly after that, Sarah got a Honda CRF110 which we got just in time to attend a great weekend with other TWT members at a nearby dirt park. Everyone had so much fun with that weekend we decided to do another! All the riding got Rachel in the mood so she started wanting some seat time as well. Daniel was getting taller so we got him a Yamaha TTR-110E.

I always wanted to spend more time with them getting to ride their bikes, but it just seemed like there were always other things getting in the way, their schooling, my work, other stuff... you know, life. I did manage to take Sarah on a big week long adventure trip through New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado in 2016 with Joe "Jfink", Roger "Rsquared", and Phil "ToeJam". We later did a nice trip up to Donnie's place in Arkansas in 2017 which was so much fun Daniel and I went back up a month or so later for a TWT Father/Son weekend of riding with other fathers and sons. After that, the bikes pretty much sat in the garage or an enclosed trailer until I sold them last year, along with the trailer. However, when Sarah was about 15, a 2017 Yamaha XT-250 popped up on the forum for sale. We visited the sellers, did some test riding, and eventually bought it. The thinking was that I would use it to teach her to ride on the street here in our small neighborhood so she could get her license when she turned 18. Then Daniel would use it... That never really panned out because of, well... more life. I did manage to take Daniel on a great adventure trip to the Smoky Mountains in June of 2019 with Roger "Rsquared" and his son, Mason. It was a blast. BUT... then Covid hit. Everything got turned upside down. Work got crazier for me after my Dad retired, so even the riding with them two up on the GS happened less and less frequently. Dad passed away in March of 2022. Riding really seemed to get pushed to the back of the line. So the XT250 spent a shameful amount of time just sitting the garage... waiting... in the dark... with my unridden KTM and GS.

Daniel turned 16 in August of 2022. He got his driver's license. Around the new year, it was really bugging him to see the poor XT-250 just sitting in the garage. So I let him ride around the neighborhood with me while I coached him on how to ride it. After a few sessions where he did really well, I decided we could venture out of the neighborhood and we did a short 20 minute ride on nearby FMs. That got him HOOKED! The next weekend we did a longer ride of about 150 miles on local dirt roads and he did great. Then I told him we should not be doing this because we had no insurance on him and it could get ugly if there were an accident. He immediately decided he wanted to do the MSF class and get his license. I asked Sarah if she was interested in doing the class with him and she agreed. They took it in early February and both passed. Sarah had her license the following Monday morning, but Daniel still had to do the road test since he was under 18. We got that knocked out later in the week. Now they were both legit, ready, and eager to ride! Being the cautious Dad I am, I still made both of them do some riding around the neighborhood to work on mastering the basics of controlling the bike, clutch control, panic braking, balance, u-turns, etc... And then we ventured out.

Our first outing went great. The drill was to get home from church ASAP and try get on the bikes in time to get out to Iola for BBQ lunch at Mallet Brothers. They decided who would ride the XT-250 first and the other rode with me on my 1200 GS. I let them lead at a pace they were comfortable with and I hung back so as to not make them feel like they were being pushed from behind. I watched them and communicated via Sena 20S communicators, letting them know what to expect and how to deal with it in real time. If I saw a mistake, I could tell them what to do immediately to correct it before it got out of hand. I cannot over stress how important and useful it is to be able to communicate in real time! Anyway, after that first outing, both of them were checking weather apps to see what was in store for the following weekend because they wanted to make sure we could go riding It turned out that the weather was even better and we did get to go riding!

To be continued...

 

[Tourmeister]

Okay, so continuing with more recent stuff. A while back someone posted a sweet KTM 390 loaded with accessories and even an extra set of spoked wheels. I should have pulled the trigger, but I don't like to do impulse buys. I like to let bikes sit a while before I get serious. Well, it lasted almost a day, maybe two? Then I was kicking myself. Sarah and Daniel are very different builds. She is maybe 5'4" and he is 5'11" and still growing. So trying to have one bike that fits both of them comfortably while riding on dirt would be difficult at best. The Yamaha XT250 fits her very well, but Daniel is a bit big for it. I had been doing some research and the 390 kept coming to the top of the list. So I contacted a few owners for their views and they were consistently positive. Then last week another 390 popped up here on TWT. I thought about waiting, but then... So I called my wife, ran it by her, and she was fine with it. I made an offer and it was accepted. The only problem was that it was in Corpus Christi, almost exactly 300 miles from our front door to his house. With my job, I am on call 24/7/365, so venturing more than 45 minutes to an hour from home is not something I generally do anymore. But... not having had a day off since sometime in late 2019, I decided I would just risk it and go. I waited to tell the kids, and then surprised them once I knew they didn't have prior commitments for Saturday. So we went to bed early, slept terribly, and got up and the freaking crack of dawn... 6:30am

We were in the truck and pulling out by 7:15am

We made it as far as El Campo SW of Houston before the first work call came in. It was one of those clients I don't hear from real often, but when they do call, it is often an American holiday that they don't know about because they are down in Trinidad. Fortunately, it was a simple job and I was able to pass it off to a person that works for me. So we continued on.

I must say, the drive to Corpus is not exactly exciting or scenic. We did make good time though, arriving at the seller's home around 11:30am-ish. We visited a while, talked bikes, looked over the 390, and eventually did the deal. We got it loaded into the back of the truck and made ready for the haul back home.

Daniel got on his phone and found the nearest Rudy's BBQ because we were all starving and love their BBQ. Fortunately, it was not far out of the way.

While having lunch we were discussing life, bikes, the future, how annoying my job can be, and then my phone rang again... Again, a different client that only calls me maybe once or twice a month and he has a flaming emergency on a Saturday afternoon. I just told him I was at least 5 hours from home and would have to call him later and there was nothing to be done about it. He didn't even have all the needed information for the job yet, so it wasn't like I could have started on it even if I had been home when he called.

We finished up lunch, gassed up the truck, hopped back on the highway, and cruised back to Huntsville, arriving around 7:15pm. 600 miles and change in 12 hours, not too bad. We popped into the local Chikfila for dinner and then headed home to unload the bike. We were exhausted. I don't do 12 hours in the truck as well as I used to and I have never done 6:30am very well

Parked out where Mom can get a good look at it.

Pleasantly surprised and happy kids

Of course there is much debate about "whose" bike it is... I just asked them who paid for it and the discussion stopped It's my bike and I am letting them ride it, just like the XT250. And then the next discussion was whether or not we were going riding Sunday afternoon!? The weather looked promising! But all I wanted to do was get inside, get that emergency job done, and go to bed.

 

[Tigerkf]

Awesome!

 

[Tourmeister]

Sunday morning arrives wayyy too early for me. I vaguely remember turning off my alarm and then the next thing was Daniel poking his head through my bedroom door asking me if I am ready to go ride when I am obviously still hibernating under the blankets Apparently I was so tired I failed to wake up a minute or two after turning off the alarm like I usually do and I missed church, which I actually don't like to do because I really enjoy it. Anyway, he's practically already geared up and ready to go and I am still trying to get the sleep out of my eyes and walk in a mostly straight line to the bathroom

Daniel informs me that Sarah went to lunch with Mom and Rachel, kind of hinting that she didn't want to go riding so we should leave now and get going before she gets home and changes her mind. Brothers... I slowly get my gear on, grab a Red Bull, and try to kickstart my brain. I am a bit sore from sitting in the truck all day yesterday. I also just like tormenting Daniel by making him wait to go I manage to fart around until Sarah gets home and she lets me know she does indeed want to go riding with us! Before a discussion can ensue and Daniel can start sharing all kinds of crazy rationalizations about how it makes sense that he should get to be the first one to ride the 390 Adventure, Sarah graciously tells him that he can ride it first if he wants to... as if that was in doubt! We eventually get everyone geared up, check oil and air pressure, make sure everything on the bikes is adjusted properly, and get set to go.

This will be our first time out where I am trying to watch both of them at once while following them. It is not bad following one where I can be close enough to keep a good eye on the rider, but now if Daniel is out front... well... he likes to roll a little quicker than his sister and I am worried about him getting too far ahead. They are still VERY new to riding as this is only their 3rd or 4th time out on the street. What he lacks in experience he makes up for with confidence and enthusiasm. Sarah is a bit more cautious.

We are getting a slightly later start than usual and I want to take them on some different roads than the ones we've been riding, so I decide to head East toward Riverside on FM 980. Just before Riverside there is a short section of 980 that has some fairly tight curves including a decreasing radius corner, something they've yet to experience. Daniel takes point on the 390, then Sarah on the XT250 with me bringing up the rear. However, just a few miles down the road she is telling me the bike is starting to wiggle uncomfortably as she gets around 60 mph. We've had an issue with this on a previous ride where it got so bad I actually thought she might go down before she got it under control. So we pull over on a side road and I double check her tire pressures. Then I tell them to wait while I hop on the bike and run it up and down the road around 55-60mph while moving back and forth on the seat. When I move forward, it starts getting a little squirmy. If I shift back, it stables up nicely even if I intentionally induce a wobble. So it seams like there is too much forward bias. When I get back I explain all this too her. I think with her shorter arms, she is just sitting right up behind the tank; whereas, Daniel has long arms and tends to sit further back and has no issues with a wobble even at 70mph, which is about al the XT250 can muster with him on board. I tell Sarah to just scoot back if she starts to feel it and that we'll work on keeping our speed less than 60mph, which is hard for her because she actually likes to go fast. We get going again and head for Riverside, easily negotiating the curves as I talk them through how to handle a decreasing radius corner.

We cross Hwy 19 and continue on FM 980 until we reach Old Staley Road, a little unpaved short cut that heads mostly East while 980 makes a loop North and back where Old Staley comes back out. I tell them to wait at the intersection and I ride ahead until the communicator is almost out of range, get off the bike, and then tell them to come on!

Sarah has got a thing in her head about sand from when she was about eight years old and she fell over in some sand on her CRF50 out at Outlaw Trax. So I am trying to work with her on that, which is part of the reason for me picking this road. She doesn't know it, but there are a few spots on the section East of FM 946 that sometimes have time mild sand, nothing she should not be able to handle. Daniel continues leading and is familiar with this road because we have come down it numerous times when riding two up on my GS. As expected, Sarah sees the sand and gets a little anxious, but I talk her through it, telling her to keep standing, stay steady on the gas, keep her weight slightly back, and to relax her grip on the bars so she isn't stiff arming the bike. She rolls right through it without any problem.

One thing they are both still working on is how to position their body when cornering. I want to see them exaggerate the push down, outside elbow up, and hips to the outside with the outer knee pressing into the tank. My youngest daughter, Rachel has a bit of her own groove. She is constantly shucking and jiving around the house, sliding dramatically across rooms, cha cha cha... Sarah and Daniel know exactly what I am talking about, so I am always telling them to channel their inner Rachel as they go through corners because I want them to see her exaggerated movements in their minds eye and emulate it. Rachel doesn't know it, but she has great dirt riding form even though she's not done much dirt riding! Believe it or not, it actually helps! It also lightens the mood and keeps them from tensing up in corners. There are a few tight 90 degree corners with fresh deep gravel right before we get back to 980 and she doesn't really like it, but she doesn't panic and lets the bike wiggle around under her, making it through again with no problem

Once back on 980 we make the short run down to Waterwood Parkway. This is a nice paved twisty road that just cuts down to US 190 and there is a subdivision at the 980 end of the road. The rest of it is pretty much just woods with fun curves. As expected, Daniel is soon pushing the limit of the range on the Sena20S communicators. Sarah cruises at about 55-60mph and doesn't have any issues with the wobble on the XT, even after hitting some uneven pavement sections. We eventually get closer to Daniel when he realizes we are not responding to his ceaseless commentary about how much he loves the 390 and has slowed down to wait for us. Near the end of the road we cut over on a turnaround and Daniel asks if Sarah wants to ride the 390 back up to 980, which of course she does. He gets it parked on a nice level spot so she can get it off the side stand and then he takes off on the XT. Sarah and I both head check left in the direction of US 190, which is maybe 100 yards away from us... and then she pulls out...

She is unfamiliar with the 390 clutch which engages pretty far from the grip and she runs a little wide as she pulls out to the right onto the one way street that I think is really one lane but is slightly wider than a normal lane... fortunately. As I am watching her and about to pull out myself a car just appears out of nowhere in front of me and almost on top of her. I sternly tell her to pull right NOW because of the car and she responds without hesitation. The car just blows around her, slows for a moment, and then just takes off like nothing happened. It is a sober reminder of how quickly things can go bad even if you think you are doing everything right. We got a free lesson/reminder. She and I both regain our composure and she sets off heading North after Daniel, the car already having passed him and disappeared. And he is already out of communicator range again

Sarah immediately starts her own running commentary about how she likes the bike on pavement compared to the XT. It does have better suspension and a smoother motor after all. It also has a bit better wind protection. She is soon carving the corners, holding nice smooth lines with nary a bobble or weave. I have been trying to teach both of them to keep their eyes focused in the distance to the vanishing point of the road but to also pay attention to their peripheral vision to see visual clues about their lane position. I can easily tell when they are doing it and not just by watching their lines through corners. Both of them have been doing a very good job of it.

Daniel pulled over to wait for us and captured Sarah on the 390

When we get back to 980, we continue East a short way until we reach Ryan Ferry Road, another unpaved road. This will be Sarah's first time off the pavement on the 390 and she is a little nervous about the TKC 70 tires as compared to the full knobbies on the XT. I just remind her that she needs to set her corner speed and counter balance the bike so that if she breaks traction, it is not a big deal. I get ahead of her and exaggerate my own body position through a few tight corners right at the beginning of the road and then let her take the lead again, keeping Daniel behind me so he doesn't ride to close behind her and make her nervous. I try not to tell them about every single corner and what to expect. I will often ask them what they are thinking about a corner as we approach, what speed do you think you should be going, what gear do you think you should be in, can you tell which way the road goes if it disappears behind a blind crest, what is the surface like and how should you react to it, and so on. And them sometimes I just stay quiet and let them work on processing all of that on their own so they can get used to reading the road and conditions. Sarah does very well and actually enjoys the 390 on the dirt/gravel despite the tires. We soon reach the South end of the road where it comes out on US 190, just a short distance from where Waterwood Parkway meets US 190. We turn West and head for FM 946 in Oakhurst.

At FM 946 we head South a short way. We are going to run Felix Currie/Wilderness road across to Hwy 156 just South of Point Blank. This used to be a very narrow and unmaintained deer lease access road and could be quite challenging if even remotely wet. However, over the years property has been selling back in there like crazy and people are building homes, so the county has put a lot of effort into upgrading and maintaining the road. It is now wide, graded, and mostly smooth. What were once fun deep sandy sections have been covered with gravel. So the kids will have no trouble with it. When we reach the start of Felix Currie Road, Sarah asks Daniel to switch bikes with him, which he readily agrees to! Moments later he is zooming off around the corner again... Sarah and I occasionally catch a glimpse of his tail light or the crackling and broken commentary coming over the communicator that is on the edge of its range. When we finally do catch up enough that I can talk to him, I ask him to get ahead and pull over to shoot a video of us coming by him.

Sarah on the XT followed by me on my GS

You don't see it or hear it on the video, but right there at the end of the video is a pretty sharp left hand corner... with sand. I can tell immediately when Sarah realizes it just by her body language. She starts to tighten up and run wide. I just start repeating calmly and firmly, "PUSH AND LOOK! PUSH AND LOOK! PUSH AND LOOK!" She lets out a slight squeal of panic but she listens and immediately starts to correct, making the corner without any problems. I am going to get her to the point where she is like me and actually likes riding in sand!

Daniel soon catches up with us and we run the rest of the way over to Hwy 156. The kids are hot and thirsty, so we shoot across the road to a biker place that has restrooms, AC, and cold drinks. As expected, Sarah is a bit nervous about pulling into a gravel parking lot while a bunch of "real bikers" just stare at us like we are from another planet This continues as we walk past the outdoor seating area in our full riding gear to the front door. Inside we order lemonades and have a seat. Then I hear Daniel, "Christian...? Andrew...?" What the heck is he talking about? I spin around to look where he is looking and there are two young guys having lunch in the booth behind me. It turns out they were his cabin mates at the last Youth Camp he attended! Small world! We have a nice visit with them while enjoying the drinks and then head back out to the bikes to continue the ride.. Daniel on the 390 and Sarah on the XT.

We run down 156 a mile or so to Snow Hill Road, which starts out as broken pavement and eventually becomes all dirt. There are a few challenging corners on this road because they are tight, hard packed, and covered in small loose gravel. It is kind of like riding on marbles. Of course, with Daniel out front, he misses a turn because I can't tell him to turn. About the time he figures out he's on a dead end, turns around, and comes back, we are approaching the turn and Sarah just misses it because she's confused when I tell her we are turning. So now she has to do a u-turn on an dirt road, something we've talked about and practiced. I remind her to keep the weight of the bike below the crest of the road so gravity and the engine work for her. She takes her time and eventually gets it done! She joins us back at the turn and we continue on our way. The road soon drops out onto FM 946 and we head Southeast to Harrell Road. This is another one with some sandy patches, like potholes full of sand rather than the entire road being nothing but sand. It is not hard. It is fun though because it is narrow and wooded, like riding through a tunnel in many places. The kids really enjoy it. About half way to 156, it becomes paved and about a lane and a half wide until it reaches 156.

My original thinking was to hop over to FM 224 and run down the West side of Lake Livingston, then run FM 945 over to Hwy 150 and work our way back toward Huntsville going through the Sam Houston National Forest. However, because of our late start, we are getting pressed for time. We need to be back up at our church by 6:00pm. Our little country church is one of the last churches in town that still does Sunday evening services. So I change the route on the fly as we are running South on 156 and tell Daniel to turn back up 946 to the North to get us heading back in the direction of Huntsville. This is just a nice smooth FM with big sweepers. Daniel takes off. Sarah gives chase, getting up to about 65mph. I ask her about any wobble and she says it is good. She's slightly shifted back on the seat and is having no issue. I make a mental note that I will have to check the rear preload setting to see where it is set. The front end is not adjustable. We quickly reach US 190 again and just cross over, heading North on 946 back up to Old Staley Road.


This stretch of FM 946 probably doesn't get much love from most riders because it "dead ends", meaning the pavement stops at Old Staley Road. So a lot of riders avoid it. However, it is a very pretty area and the road is actually quite fun. There are numerous elevation changes and fun corners. It really gets the commentary flowing from Daniel as he sings the praises of the 390 in these corners! Sarah is really enjoying it as well! When we reach Old Staley Road, we turn West and head back toward Riverside. At one point, Daniel pulls over to take a picture or something and we pass him. I eventually pull over to wait for him, but tell Sarah to continue to the end of the road at FM 980 on her own. I just want her to build some confidence without having me right there behind her. She soon fades out of communicator range and I get setup to get a shot of Daniel as he comes through.

I wait.... Listen... wait a little more... Listen...

Take a few pictures...

If you have ever been on a ride where someone actually went down and you were waiting for them to appear, you know that strange feeling you get as you start to wonder if you should keep waiting or if you should actually get back on the bike and backtrack to see if something is wrong. Maybe a few more seconds or another minute...? But what if something really is wrong...?

I listen....

About the time I am thinking I might need to get back on the back and backtrack, I finally hear the 390 coming. What a RELIEF!!

It turns out that Daniel is already a pro at this adventure riding thing. He informs me that he stopped to pee on the side of the road in bushes, much like many older guys I sometimes ride with that are all too frequently unintentionally caught in pictures standing in the background doing their business

We catch up to Sarah. She's patiently waiting at 980. We turn West and head for Riverside. She tells me the XT reserve light has come on, which means she's still got about 30 miles to go. No problem. We stop at the Valero station on Hwy 19 and fill up the bikes. While doing this, Sarah mentions that she almost blew a corner when she went ahead on her own. Right before reaching 980, there is a sharp right corner that has to be made. It is rutted up pretty good from water erosion. Also, there is a dirt road with a gate on one side and I think a driveway straight ahead. Being unfamiliar with the road, it was not immediately obvious to her which way she was supposed to go. Fortunately, she has been listening to me lecture about riding within your sight distance and constantly evaluating if your speed is appropriate! She was going slow enough that she had time to slow down more, read the situation, and make the right decision As we finish filling up the bikes she asks Daniel if she can ride the back the rest of the way home. She wants to experience those tight curves on the other side of Hwy 19 on the 390!

She sets out in the lead with me following and Daniel bringing up the rear on the XT. She also has a thing about guard rails. One of the corners has a guard rail all the way around it. I tell her that if she is looking where she should be looking, the guard rail is a non-issue. As she approaches the first corner, the one with the guard rail, I tell her to pick her tip in point where she will start her lean and to just look through the corner and gently roll on the gas. She does it perfectly and carries a nice smooth line all the way through the corner without the slightest bit of weaving. The next corner is the decreasing radius corner, but it opens up when coming from this direction, so I tell her to just roll on as we come out of the corner. It is apparent that she is very comfortably on the 390 on pavement. Once we clear the twisty stuff and get near the TDC Feeder Slab Hog Farm, she's picking up speed. Daniel is in my rear view mirror wringing the neck of the XT to make it keep up with us! In short order we reach the house. Sarah is changing so she can go to her gym after church. Daniel wants to ride to church and show off the new ride.

Sarah is very pleased that she did not drop the bike once even though it is slightly tall for her compared to the XT.

Both kids really like the 390. Sarah feels more confident on the XT when going off pavement but she did great on the 390 when she rode it on the unpaved roads. She REALLY likes it on the paved roads. It doesn't wiggle like the XT at 60mph and up. Daniel just likes the 390 period. I can already see that in his mind, this is going to be "his" bike I've been working on getting my KTM 530 EXC back to being road worthy after a long spell of sitting in the garage. Who knows, maybe if I sell it and the XT, I could get a second 390!

 

[Simmons1]

What an awesome day with the kids. You are a blessed father!

 

[William Wolfen]

Those are some of my favorite roads out there. It's been too long since I've ridden them too. It's a shame about Felix Currie Rd. I really enjoyed it before, although it is nice that it's routinely passable now. One of these days I'll get back out there!

 

[Tourmeister]

So has has been nagging me to get my 530 back together so I can either ride it or sell it. I really think he wants to ride it! It has been sitting for almost five years in the garages. With his “help” I have replaced front and rear wheel bearings, the steering head bearings, pulled and cleaned the carb, replaced the spark plug, reinstalled the forks, front wheel and headlight fairing. Waiting on brake/clutch bleeding supplies and air filter. New battery arrived today and is charging. New chain sitting on the workbench. New fuel lines and brass tee fittings for the 6.6 gallon Acerbis tank are waiting to be installed. Hopefully it fires up and runs good. My intent is to sell it but I know once I get it out on it and ride a few miles I’ll want to keep it

Here are some pics from about a year ago when I first started tearing into it before getting distracted by other things and letting it sit another year until a few weeks ago.

First thing to do was remove the gas tank and pull the carb. After sitting for so long, it will need a deep cleaning...

This was gas from Ouray, Colorado in July of 2018 after sitting in my tank for a few years... I cannot even begin the describe the smell

Time to remove the wheels to get at the bearings, forks will come off to replace worn head bearings.

Just before that Colorado trip in 2018, my garage got crunched by a very large pine tree that came down when a tornado ripped over our small neighborhood. Due to contractor woes, it was late September before the garage was ready to use again! I had the bike covered on the back porch, but the East Texas humidity was not kind to the chain It was new before the trip to Colorado. That had to be replaced.

Looks bad, but it wasn't. It was just from the chain and brushed off easily with a wire brush. The sprocket itself was not rusted at all. This was just on the part of the sprocket where the chain was touching while the bike was parked.

Carb, air filter, and rear tire removed.

The big gas tank that reliably gets me 300+ miles of riding before I even think about reserve.

Got the wheel bearings pressed out and new ones in the freezer.

Front bearings required a bit of heat on the hub to get the new ones in place. No issues though.

Got the rear tire on before pulling the front end off, which is how it sat for the last year. Yes, I am ashamed...

Helping while eating Fritos... getting the front brake caliper remounted and finding out that the battery is DEAD, not even taking a charge.

Front end mostly back together. Still need to torque everything, including head bearing nut.

I think he's more excited about it than me

How it sits as of today waiting for brake/clutch flushing, coolant flushing, carb reinstall, new chain install, new battery, new air filter, and remounting the gas tank.

Hopefully in the next week or so I will have it ready to roll and get it out for a ride. Then we will see how serious I am about selling it...

 

[LaserDave]

I started this yesterday and went WHOAH, gonna have to wait for a slow evening. Great fun to read, and yeah, it's hard to tell which one of you is loving it more.

 

[Tourmeister]

It's really funny. Daniel and I went to get the KTM 390 inspected about 4:00pm today so we can get the registration in our name and because it expires this month anyway. So we went for a ride afterward down into the Sam Houston NF on the forest roads. On the way back up to Huntsville we were riding in the dark. I have massive lighting on the front of my GS so I was leading. He must have said 3-4 times in the 30 minutes it took to get home how much he loves riding. It's like he can't help but say it because he can't believe how much he likes it himself I'd venture a guess that he's now hooked for life.

 

[Tourmeister]

Here are a few pics and vids from the ride with Daniel yesterday.

We headed South out of town on FM 1791 but then I decided I wanted to take Daniel down the the SHNF on one of the fun roads I like to ride. So we cut over to FM 1374 on Bowden Road. Daniel had aired up my front tire the other day and I felt a bit harsh. When I checked my TPMS on the dash is was showing 40 psi! So we pulled over so I could let out some air and get it down around 35-36 psi.

Bowden Road is a little lane and a half chip sealed county road. It is rough and the pavement is broken in paces. It eventually just turns to gravel and runs until it hits FM 1374.

At 1374 Daniel tells me he thinks he needs gas, so we make a slight detour back toward town to gas up and then backtrack South on 1374 down past Stubblefield Lake Road until we eventually reached FR 222, also called Parrish Road. This used to be a two rut road with lots of face slappers and low branches that had to be dodged. Very often the forest service would have the gates closed on each end. However, not long ago they let a logging company get in there and take out a LOT of trees. Now the trees are cut back from the road, it has been widened, graded, and generally ruined compared to what it used to be However, there was actually quite a bit of loose sand on it today because there has been more logging and the trucks churn up the ground. Daniel loved it. We totally forgot to stop and get pics or vids of it Most of the time the way I'd get into here would be on Lost Meadow Road. The two roads join and continue on as FR 222. There are a lot more sections with sand than I recall from previous rides and they are longer and deeper. Daniel doesn't seem to mind and just cruises right on through it with the bike wiggling under him like a snake. There are a few sharp corners that I tell him to watch for, but other than that I just let him read the road and enjoy himself, watching to see how he is positioning his body in the corners. At FR 233, there are a series of esses that are a lot of fun. So we stop and he lets me get ahead to shoot some video of him coming through so he can see what he looks like.

Waiting for him to appear

When he comes back he wants to shoot a video of me.

That done, we continue heading toward the trail head where the dirt bike riders all park their trucks/trailers. It is empty, so we continue on until we drop out on FM 1375. We head West into the evening sun. When we cross over the North end of Lake Conroe the low sun is very pretty in the clouds and reflecting on the lake. After crossing the lake, I decide to run over to Kelly's Pond, another trail head and popular camping area, to see who might be there. As we are running down the gravel road leading to the parking area there are many spots along the road where people camp on both sides. These are free camping, first come, first serve. I spot a few bikes as we ride by and mention to Daniel that we will need to stop and say hi on our way back out. In the actual paid area, there are quite a few people set up and a few RVs. As we get turned around to leave, a gentleman steps out and waves at us. So I pull over to speak with him and it is Glen Brady, a member of Old Dudes On Dirtbikes. We talk a bit and he mentions there are a bunch of guys coming out to ride with him tomorrow. He's in his 70s and still trail riding After a nice chat we take our leave and make it a few hundred yards before pulling into a campsite with a young couple and a little boy. IF memory serves me, this was Garret, his wife whose name totally escape me, and Stetson his 7 year old son that rides an XR70. They are from New Braunfels and this is their first time in the SHNF. We tell them about TWT, chat a bit, and then take our leave. Further on up the road there was a van with a Ducati Multistrada on the back of it on a hitch carrier and the guy had waved at us when we were heading in, so I want to stop and visit with him. We find him and pull up. He quickly comes around from behind the van to greet us and is very happy to have visitors!

This is Adrian. He invites us to come around and sit by his camp fire, offers us drinks and a log to sit on.

For whatever reason, I decide to just kick back and see where this goes. He soon starts telling us his story. He escaped Romania in the days before the fall of the Soviet Union and managed to get to West Germany. There he married but that did not work out. So he sold everything and came to American with $3000 cash and no ability to speak English. He found work, got an education, and eventually started his own business. At 49 he decided he'd had enough of chasing the "American Dream", quit his job, sold the business and everything else, bought the van and Ducati, and has been living on the road for the last nine years. We spend about an hour and a half sitting there as the sun sets, the fire flies come out in force, and the stars begin to shine.

We talk about adventures, chasing dreams, the meaning of life, and more. He is knocking back some kind of Kentucky Bourbon at a rate that would lay me out flat and leave me worthless in the morning, yet I never notice him slurring his speech, talking nonsense, acting goofy, or being off balance when he gets up and moves around! He is quite the character and we both really enjoy the visit. About 8:30pm I tell him we have to be getting home. He wants to keep talking, but we make our way to the bikes, shake hands and part ways. I don't think he ever noticed, but for quite a while Daniel had his phone out and was discreetly recording Adrian as he regaled us with his adventures, which spanned most of the U.S., South and Central America, Africa, and Europe.

I don't really believe in random encounters any more. I have had to many "random" encounters with people that seem like they were put in my path at just the right time and place to open my eyes or teach me something that I needed to know. I call them "Bumper People". These are people that you encounter that have an impact on your life, sometimes big and sometimes small, like the bumpers in a pinball game that change the direction of the ball. For the last few weeks in particular, I have been talking a LOT with Sarah and Daniel about chasing dreams, not waiting until you die to do what you want, taking risks while you are young and have time to change directions if something doesn't work out as you planned, etc,... He's 16. She's 18 and about to graduate highschool. We had hours in the truck to talk about all this while driving down to Corpus Christi and back when we went to buy the 390 Adventure. So it is kind of like Adrian is just one more piece of that. As we are riding away into the smoke hazed darkness from the controlled burning in the national forests, Daniel comments on how it was strange that we would meet this guy just now in light of our recent discussions. We ride West through the thick smoke on FM 1375 pondering the encounter as individual trees can be seen burning here and there throughout the woods and smoke rises from smoldering stumps. At FM 149 we turn North and make the short run to FM 1791 and run back up through the woods to Huntsville, keeping a sharp eye out for deer!

I am hungry. So we head into town to Chik-Fil-A for dinner. A friend of the kids from church works there and takes his break to join us. Sarah is usually in town finishing up her workout at the gym about now so I text her to see if she wants to join us. Seconds after I hit SEND, she walks in the door. A few minutes later she gets the text and is a bit confused After dinner and milk shakes, we head to the house. I lost count of how many times Daniel mentioned to me how cool it is to ride adventure motorcycles during the evening.

 

[woodsguy]

He's in his 70s and still trail riding

Doon't forget this other old 71 y/o guy you know, lol! Glen is a character for sure and a very good rider.

 

[Tourmeister]

Doon't forget this other old 71 y/o guy you know, lol! Glen is a character for sure and a very good rider.

Yeah, I still remember trying to follow you out at Sterling Ranch when you said you were tired and going to "take it easy"

 

[Tourmeister]

So when Rachel was much younger, say 5 to 8 years old, she would ride the CRF50 and she even tried the TTR110E that Daniel had for a while, but that one kind of scared her. After that scare she never really rode on her own again, but part of that was coincidentally just a lack of opportunity more than anything else. She was still envious of the fact that Sarah and Daniel were getting to ride on the back of my 1200 GS. She would often ask me if she could sit on the back of the GS to see if her feet reached the passenger footpegs yet, a precondition of being able to ride with me. I'd look over and she'd be willing her legs to get longer so she could reach But... one day, they really did reach! She was thrilled! So told her I'd take her the first chance we got.

The day finally came when the weather was nice, it was a weekend, I didn't have to work, and nothing else was going on that would prevent us from enjoying a day out on the bike.

The baby is Rachel at 6 weeks old. Here she is 9 years old.

Pumped and ready to roll

And away we go...

The first ride was relatively short, maybe two hours with a mix of pavement and mild dirt. You might notice we have SENA 20S communicators, so I can talk with her during the ride. I bought them a few years ago when I made a big trip with Sarah up through Utah and Colorado. It was one of those purchases I was kicking myself for not having made years before After we get home I ask her what she thought... "Bumpy!" was her reply. I couldn't really tell if she like it or not. However, this was also about the time she started getting into gymnastics and her interests moved elsewhere, so I didn't push it when she declined a few future offers to go riding. Daniel and Sarah were always ready to take her place.

Flash forward a few years... like a few weeks ago. Rachel starts making comments that make me think she might be ready to reevaluate whether or not she wants to ride with me again. Sarah and Daniel have been getting to do a lot of riding with me since getting their licenses and I think she's been feeling a little left out. A few weeks ago Rachel rode home from evening church with me. It was just a quick 10 minute street ride after dark. Then this past Saturday Sarah was not going to be able to ride because she had to get caught up on her school work and Daniel was driving me nuts because he was ready to roll the second the sun came up. He casually asked Rachel if she wanted to ride with me and she said yes! After the Sunday ride, we knew she could wear Sarah's gear. However, Sarah's regular boots finally wore out. When we made the run down to Corpus Christi to get the 390 Adventure, we made a last minute stop at Cycle Shack in Conroe a few minutes before the closed and found her a new pair of boots at 40% off! They were still new in the box and Rachel needed to wear them even though Sarah hadn't even had a chance to wear them for the first time. Sarah graciously agreed to let Rachel wear them.

Daniel is already out in the driveway ready to go, so Rachel and I join him. He's riding the 390 Adventure. At this point, I don't think he's ever going to ride the XT250 again unless he is having to give Sarah a turn on the 390 We head out of the neighborhood with Daniel in the lead and go out FM 980 toward Riverside. After crossing Harmon Creek we head right on McMillan Road over to Woodfarm Road, and then head South to Hwy 19. This route is just a fun little backwoods ride through a bunch of rural residential property on a narrow road in the woods. We cross 19 and stop for gas before continuing East on Sterling Chapel Road. This used to be paved for just the first 1/2 mile or so and then gravel the rest of the way. Now it is pretty much all chip sealed with no center line. It becomes Roy Webb Road after crossing Caney Creek and continues in a generally Southeastern direction toward FM 405. We cross 405 and continue on the Old Oakhurst-Dodge Road, which also used to be mostly dirt/gravel but has also been chip sealed. It used to have some fun sandy sections before reaching US 190. Not anymore.

We cross US 190 and head over to FM 946 and make the short run down to Felix Currie and Wilderness Roads. We did this last week and Daniel really enjoyed it, so I thought we'd do it again and try to complete the loop I had planned on doing last week but had to cut short. I get Daniel to pull over and wait a minute so I can give Rachel my Olympus T5 camera so she can shoot some video. Mostly, I am just curious to see how it will turn out, especially being handheld. Once she is ready, I tell Daniel to take off, which he does with gusto! He's riding really well so I don't want to discourage him, but he is riding at a pace that won't be real forgiving if he makes a mistake, so I do occasionally have to remind him to keep his speed in check. It doesn't take long to make the run over to Hwy 156 and we are thirsty, so we cross the highway to the local biker bar for some lemonade. At this point, Rachel seems to be having a good time and isn't complaining about things being a bit bumpy. I take a moment to check the video. She did a good job of keeping Daniel in the shot, but as expected it is pretty jiggly because of the lack of image stabilization, so I won't share it. After downing a refill of lemonade, we get back on the bikes and head South on 156 to Snow Hill Road, hit 946, cut over to Harrell Road, and come back out on 156. This time we do make the run down FM 224 along the edge of Lake Livingston. I usually get hung up behind slow moving traffic on this road which can be frustrating because it really is a fun twisty road with nice elevation changes, especially on the South end. As Daniel starts to take off for the first corner, I tell him to focus on being SMOOTH and NOT fast. I am really trying to drive technique into his head, reminding him to look for his tip in point for every corner and to use his peripheral vision to monitor his lane position through the corners. We manage not to get caught by any traffic and he does all the corners really smooth!

When we reach 156 again just North of Cold Spring, we turn North for a short bit to pick up FM 945 and start heading West. This is just a nice winding paved FM that can be run at 70mp all day long. It doesn't take long to reach Hwy 150 and we jump over a few hundred yards to the start of John Warren Road which takes us back into the Sam Houston NF and becomes dirt very soon after we get on it. I don't know what it is about this road in particular, but it ALWAYS seems to have numerous BIG potholes Rachel does not like these and it kind of spooked her the first time I goosed the throttle to lighten the front end when I failed to spot one in time to swerve around it. Once I explained what was going on, she seemed okay with it from that point on. Daniel was just ripping through them without giving it much thought... until his handlebars rotated down after one BIG hit! So we had to pull over and break out the tools for a few minutes.

She is skinny as a rail but you'd never know it with this gear!

Bars fixed and tightened, ready to keep on rocking!

The dirt this side of I45 is often red, you don't see this much on the West side of I-45. Maybe that has something to do with the prevalence of pot holes here?

We only see one other vehicle out there, which is pretty amazing given how incredible the weather is and that Spring Break just started Anyway, we keep going until we reach FR207 and cut back South to FM 2693. The West side of 2693 has a lot of fun fast sweepers, but the East side of it is kind of boring. So we head West. The edge of the right tire line has a lot of edge traps where the ground under the pavement has been subsiding into the ditch. In some spots, there is a pretty good ledge from one side of the cracks to the other and hitting that while leaned over could be a real pucker moment. So I take the moment to educate Daniel and make sure he knows to watch out for them. He does a very good job of picking good lines through the corners and we soon reach Hwy 150 again, where we head West into New Waverly to take a break at the Chevron in the middle of town.

Looks to me like she is having fun!

After a nice break, we head West on FM 1374. Daniel wants to run FR222 again since he enjoyed it so much last night. It is just a short up 1374 from I-45 to the start of the road. There is loose sand right off the bat, but Daniel just takes off and is soon zooming out of communicator range When I do finally hear him again, he is set up for a video shot as we pass by him.

You can't really see it in the video or the pics, but the sand is a few inches deep with numerous ruts created by recent logging truck traffic. I find that just zipping right on through it works vert well, as does Daniel! In fact, he gets to the end of the road and turns around before we get there and wants to know if we can run the road again. Seeing that he is already pointed in that direction, I agree and he takes off again. This time I run the whole thing a little quicker, beating him back to 1374 and getting turned around to wait on him. When he arrives, he executes a perfect u-turn and we take off again.

This is what it looks like now. No long the tiny two track road full of trees at the edge of the pavement leaning out to whack you with their branches.

To be continued... It's 3:00am and I have to go to bed...

 

[William Wolfen]

That's a real shame about FS222. I really enjoyed that when it was an overgrown, rutted mess. Still, it's awesome that y'all are having such a good time together!

 

[Tourmeister]

We eventually reach FM 1375 and as we are pulling up to the stop sign a red Honda goes flying by heading West toward Lake Conroe. Daniel and I take off after him. I tell Daniel to keep his distance and not follow to close. We cross the lake and enjoy the pretty evening views. It is quite breezy and the water on the South side of the bridge is very choppy, but is smooth on the North side where it is protected from the wind. When we reach the turn for Kelly's Pond, the rider slows and turns off. I tell Daniel to follow him. He goes another hundred yards or so and pulls off to the side of the road, so we pull up to talk with him. His name is Austin and he lives in New Waverly. He's on a Honda 450 something street legal dirt bike that looks very new. He informs me he's had it for about six months. His friends all wanted bikes and they got supermoto bikes, but he likes the trails and dirt roads, so he's out riding alone. I figure he's in his 20s, but as I get older, my ability to guess younger ages gets worse I tell him about TWT, what we've been up to so far, and where we are heading next. He asks if we mind him tagging along for a while, which is fine with us. So we double back to 1375 and cross over toward Stubblefield Lake with Daniel in the lead.

We peel off on FR 215 and head NW toward FM 1791. The trail head here is packed with ATV riders loading up after a day of riding. We continue to County Line road and turn toward 1791. This is basically just a long straight dirt road with some elevation changes. There has been controlled burning in this area as well but there are still quite a few nice patches of Dogwood trees blooming. I've given up trying to get pictures of Dogwood trees from any kind of distance because I just can't seem to get them to show up in a way that even remotely does them any justice compared to seeing them in person. A LOT of trees have suddenly started putting on leaves, I mean like a switch got flipped and they just POPPED out overnight. I love the color and look of the fresh green leaves before they've had time to dry out and become dull looking. The grass everywhere is the same way, a deep lush and vibrant green that makes me want to roll around in it... but not really ;-P

When we reach 1791 we turn North and head up to FR209. This is another easy road, but slightly less used than the others by regular traffic. It is mostly hunters, motorcycles, and horses that come back here. It is just fun because it has more curves in it and is narrower and less improved. They did recently build a HUGE parking lot right on the 1791 end for horse trailers though. We run this until it reaches Taliaferro Road. The last little bit offers a small challenge for new riders. There is a corner that starts out with a tight left and then goes into a long sweeping right handed corner before a small bridge and then another tight left. I was following a group of riders a few years ago and the guy in front of me was relatively new to adventure riding I think. He was almost through the corner when the edge of the road got into his head and he started running wide. There was nothing I could do but start slowing down for the inevitable low side, which came the moment his tires went into the grass. He was not going fast and the bike was pretty much fine, as was he. We made sure he was good to go and he decided to call it a day and head for home. I've told Daniel about this experience and remind him to focus on pushing the bike down, getting his weight outside, staying steady or slightly accelerating on the throttle, and looking through the turn. He executes perfectly and accelerates out of the corner. I have to remind him about the fast approaching tight left with loose gravel!

As one might expect with a young male rider, he likes the acceleration of the bike... well... kind of like most of us older riders as well What he lacks is the experience of connecting corners together in a smooth way so that accelerating out of one corner doesn't set you up too fast for the next corner. So I am trying to teach him how to string them together in his head to be as smooth as possible, without harsh acceleration or harsh braking. I know that may not be as exciting as some people like to ride, but it is safer for those that lack the hard core dirt skills. Despite his youthful enthusiasm, he does listen to me and he does try... most of the time. Sometimes I think he can't remember that I can hear his motor when he exits a corner and see the rocks flying. He is constantly complaining about the traction control and having to turn it off

When we reach Taliaferro Road, we continue running West on FR 209, but it is now a narrow paved road. A short distance down the road we turn North on Cedar Hill Road, another narrow paved road that used to be VERY smooth, but the subsurface has really subsided in places in the last few years, leaving some huge cracks and big bumps. It eventually bends due West and becomes Hoke Road. There is a spot just after that corner that has a tight right/left and is usually covered with pine needles. There is a house in the corner and it used to have several good sized dogs that loved to come out and give me a good barking and sometimes a mild chasing. I think they've gotten old. I spot one in the back yard and notice him lifting his head as we approach. I watch for him as we come around the house, but he never even gets up or barks. Well, it happens to the best of us Along the North side of this road there is a LARGE piece of fenced property with exotic animals. Over the years I have seen all kinds of stuff in there, even a zebra once. Typically there are various kinds of deer, antelope, etc,... Today we actually spot a few off in the woods with pretty large racks on their heads. Rachel gets a kick out of this.

Hoke Road eventually dead ends into Bays Chapel Road, yet another paved road but more of a striped two lane road. At the top sign I motion for Austin to pull up next to me and let him know that we are about to turn North and start working our way back up toward Huntsville. He points at his little dirt bike gas tank and mentions that he needs to be heading back toward New Waverly. He thanks us for letting him tag along. We say goodbye and part ways. I always love the random encounters while riding. We head North on Bays Chapel. I think this has become one of Daniel's favorite roads, even when he was still riding as passenger on my GS. It is good pavement and just has some fun corners. There are some really nice properties along the way as well. It eventually becomes dirt on the North end and turns into Pool Road when it turns East. Just after that corner we pick up Hoke Road 2 and run up to Hwy 30. This is also dirt/gravel and is fairly well traveled. We cross Hwy 30 onto Hoke Road 1 which starts out as a fairly well traveled and maintained road, but turns into a narrow two track road after it bends East. There is a really nice home right after that corner and the fun stuff starts a few feet past their driveway. This is another section Daniel really likes! It is not real technical. It just has trees real close to the road, weeds growing everywhere but the tire tracks, the occasional downed branch to dodge, and some tight corners to negotiate. The sun is starting to get low on the horizon and the shadows are getting long. In the world of photography, we are entering The Golden Hour. In the world of motorcycling, we are entering the time of deer... I remind Daniel to keep his speed in check and his eyes wide open and scanning.

We reach Loma Road and turn North. There is a home at the next intersection not far away and it often has these enthusiastic little wiener dogs of some sort that will come ripping across the yard yapping as if they were a Tyrannosaurus Rex chasing the first potential meal they've seen in weeks! They were out the first time we came through here a few weeks ago, but apparently they have today off. Loma Road has a spur that runs off East also called Loma Road, but the main road turns West toward the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, basically a creek at this point. But has a lot of blind tight corners and I get to talk with Daniel about how to handle those corners when you aren't sure what you might meet in them. I usually try to look around the corner through the weeds, trees, bushes or whatever obstructs the view in an attempt to detect any movement that might indicate someone coming the other way. I scrub speed and hug the inside. It is not uncommon in this area to meet large dualie trucks hauling cattle trailers or farm implements! This time we do indeed meet a large truck, but he moves over and gives us plenty of room

Loma Road meets CR 227 and turns North, both roads running together for a short distance before Loma makes a tight bend East and CR 227 heads West, then Loma bends again heading North a bit. It eventually comes to a tee of sorts and bends West again, getting much narrower. There is a bit of a small community of homes back in here and a small church. I think it is Hopewell Baptist Church. It looks like it has been here a very long time and is still active. Just past the church the road narrows a bit more and takes on that tunnel feel with all the tree branches hanging low over the road. After a few tight gravely bends, it drops out onto CR 146/Hopewell Road. If you are coming from the direction we approached from, the intersection is just over a rise and cannot be seen. If you are carrying too much speed here, you will be trying to stop on a downhill slope in loose gravel. If you fail to stop on your own, there is a nice thick tree and barbed wire fence on the other side of the road that will take care of stop you.

We turn East on Hopewell and I tell Daniel to just run this until we come out on FM 1696. It is starting to get late and we are starting to lose the light. He's ridden at night and the 390 Adv has a really good headlight, but deer have this way of just appearing right in front of you out of nowhere! This is a pretty heavily traveled road as there are many homes and large properties out in this area. It also connects most of the smaller less traveled roads. It runs mostly East/West from 1696 on the East and and FM 2620 near Bedias on the West end. I ride this one frequently when on this side of Huntsville. The road condition varies a lot depending on the weather and the mood of the county road people. Sometimes it is sandy in places, other times deep, chunky, and loose gravel, sometimes smooth clean hard pack, and even on occasion deep pea gravel! It eventually reaches Davis Road and bends North for a short wash boarded and DUSTY run up to FM 1696.

At 1696 we head East back toward Huntsville. This is a 70mph road for the most part. We are cruising at about 75ish when a big jacked up truck comes flying up behind and around me like his head was on fire. I don't think Daniel sees him coming and I am barking at him to get right NOW! The communicators work pretty well until about 70-75mph where it just gets hard to hear what the other person is saying because of the wind noise in the helmet. A bit more volume would be nice, but... I hear Daniel yell, "WHAT!" and I respond, "MOVE RIGHT NOW!" He appears to hear me and quickly moves over just as the truck blows by him! It kind of rattles him a bit, but he recovers and we continue the rest of the way to US 75 without issue. The rest of the run is a short cut across Pinedale Road on the other side of I-45 to FM 247 where we turn South to 980 where we gas up the bikes before heading to the house.

While sitting in the driveway, I think to give my Mom a call because my older brother and nephew are in town for the weekend and it is about dinner time. They are just puling out of Mom's neighborhood and heading into town for dinner. We talk them into Jersey Mike's and head into town to meet them. Now it is full on dark. Daniel does not have much experience driving the motorcycle in town with lots of traffic, especially in a busy shopping center parking lot at night. He as driven the area in our old Yukon though, so he is familiar with the area. I just remind him that he has to be EXTRA watchful as bikes are harder to see at night, especially where there are so many other moving lights and distractions in close proximity. He does fine though, even in the very crowded and busy parking lot. We have a nice dinner and visit, then head home, arriving about 8:30pm. All up, we are right at 245 miles for the day. It is probably more than Rachel thought she was getting into when she agreed to go, but she seems to have enjoyed it and is open to the suggestion of riding again some time soon. Daniel is of course wanting to know if we can go riding tomorrow (Sunday)?

 

[LaserDave]

How in blazes do you remember all of the turns and road numbers and yadda yadda with such detail?? Does that Sena contraption take dictation?

 

[Tourmeister]

How in blazes do you remember all of the turns and road numbers and yadda yadda with such detail?? Does that Sena contraption take dictation?

I've been riding so many of these roads for years that I have most every corner memorized. I know where most of the dogs are and where the deer generally like to hangout, but not always The rest of it just kind of runs in my head like a video. If I wait too long after a ride/trip though, it does start to fade. It annoys my wife because I can't remember something she tells me but I can remember road numbers and names from trips years ago

 

[Kingsize]

Loved every bit of this read! My son is ready. Has 3 and a half more years till he can ride with me. And reading this makes me smile.

 

[Tourmeister]

So back to the venerable 2010 KTM 530 EXC "refreshing"...

Daniel and I decided to make the push to get the bike running during the week. After some fussing, finger pinching and scraping, and a few choice words under my breath, we got the carb back in place. Then I had to hook up the throttle cables I am old and blind, so Daniel lent me his hat with his flash light clipped to the brim so I could see what I was doing... sort of...

The gas tank still needed some attention. I bought all new fuel hoses and tee fittings for the big 6.6 gallon Acerbis tank. We still had to get the remnants of the putrid gas that has been in the tank since the Colorado trip in July of 2018. We took it out back to our burn pile and tried to drain it, but it quickly became clear that the petcocks were clogged. It has one on each side with a cross over fuel line to the carb side of the bike. So I headed back into the garage to get my compressor...

Yeah, those pants got washed a few times without anything else in the washer and a lot of white vinegar added to the soap. It worked. With the petcocks cleared and the tank nice and cleaned out, we headed back inside to install it. Wayyyy back in... oh... 2015 I think, the last day of a trip out to Utah we were heading back to base and I came around a corner and hit a patch of ice under some snow. I had already cleared the corner on the outbound part of the ride and had no issues, but this time... Yeah... I was doing my drunk superman imitation, flying through the air with the greatest of ease with my bike chasing after me. I recall hitting the ground on the side of the road where it was quite muddy and sliding. I don't think I was knocked out, but I was definitely "not right" for a few moments. Mostly, I just got the wind knocked out of me something fierce and had to go sit down, catch my breath, and marvel at the fact that my bike did not land on top of me. The bike was fine. There was gravel jammed between the tire bead and rim about 1/3 the way around the rim, but we got that cleaned out with an allen wrench after letting the air out and then aired it back up once cleared. I rode the 75 miles or so back through the woods to the highway and finally to the hotel where I went straight for the ibuprofen. I was find, the bike was fine, we made the 24 hour drive back to Huntsville. However, the next time I took the bike apart, I noticed that the little black post next to my head in that first image above was ever so slightly bent to the right side of the bike. It never really affected anything, but since I have the bike apart now... I thought I might "take care" of it You'll see below that we eventually give up, get the tank mounted, and go get fresh gas so we can start the bike.

As you can see, I had to crank it a few times, fiddle with the choke, idle setting, and air/fuel screw, but once I got it idling, it purred like a kitten... well, a slightly loud kitten! The packing in the pipe is probably due for replacing. It has quite the bark at higher RPM Daniel is so excited he's silly. He seems convinced that he's going to get to ride this thing... soon! I keep telling him that he is still VERY new to riding and that while he is doing very well, he has nowhere near the experience to make me comfortable letting him on this bike. He does fit it well though

Once we got it running and let it warm up a bit, it was time to drain the oil in the engine and tranny. I was curious to see what this would look like after so long. I had changed it right before the Colorado trip. The engine oil was dark, but not nasty. The tranny oil looked clear and new! The screens for the drain plugs looked good, so the engine hasn't been wearing itself out. With the oil drained, I still needed to pull the filter, which means laying the bike on its side. But I am old and tired, so I put it off until the next day...

 

[Tourmeister]

So Friday rolls around. It is pretty outside even if a bit cool. I do a job fairly early in the day and then kick back to see what other work might come in. Fridays can be crazy or dead calm, but I never know until after the fact. About 3:00pm I decide it's been slow enough to risk a quick shower so I can head into town. After the shower, I get the notion to head out in the garage and finish that oil change for the KTM. At about 4:30pm, I think to myself, "Job done. I bet I can get to the inspection place in town before 5:00pm!" Yeah, I know. We all hate those people that show up RIGHT before closing time. Heck, I deal with that a LOT on Fridays. I have these customers down in Trindad and they always seem to have emergency jobs for me right around 5:00pm on Fridays. But, they don't mind paying my weekend rates, so

I zoom into the house, tell Beth what I am up to, throw on my riding gear as fast as I can, head out to the garage and roll the bike into the drive way, press the magic button and it ROARS to life! I hop on and head out the driveway to our street. There is a little stumble off idle, but it pushes through with no problem. When I reach FM 980 at the entrance to our neighborhood, I wait until I am REALLY sure there is no traffic coming from either direction before I pull out, just in case it stalls on me. People coming through here are always in a big hurry and I don't want to get run over! It is also a fairly steep slope at the stop sign which just adds to the fun. When it is clear, I ease out, straighten up, look far down the road and... let it rip!

Yeah, I am getting old and forgetful. I forgot just how hard this bike will pull and how fast it will accelerate I am running 75mph in a few seconds and the cold wind is whipping through my jacket. That's another thing I forgot, just how much wind blast there is on here without any kind of wind screen/fairing. No sooner than I am starting to become elated at how well things are going, the engine feels like it is bogging and I start losing speed. The throttle response is zilch. I pull in the clutch, then ease it back out. The rear skids a tad! I pull it back in and pull over to the side of the road where I can get clear of the traffic. Moments after I pull over, a nice couple in a truck slow down to check on me. I am only about 3/4 mile from the house so I tell them I am fine. Perplexed, I look over the bike. I make sure I have the choke off and the gas petcocks OPEN... Yes, been there, done that, did the head smack. It's all good. The bike rolls freely back and forth in neutral. It has always been hard to roll if the bike is in gear with the clutch pulled in, almost like it never fully disengages. I don't see any fuel leaks anywhere. I don't know. Maybe some gunk got in the carb and got sucked into the jet? I go ahead and thumb the starter and it fires right back up without any hesitation. It is now 4:55pm... I am pretty sure I won't get there by 5:00pm to get the inspection and I don't REALLY want to be the guy that comes in that close to 5:00pm on a Friday, so I do a u-turn and head back in the direction of the house.

I get back up to speed and this time everything seems fine... so I just drive right on by the neighborhood. As I fly past it, all seems well. When I reach my parent's neighborhood a few miles up the road I spin back around and head the other direction. So far so good. Just for fun I go ahead and run on down the road to FM 247. Yep, still good. So I might as well take advantage of the nice weather and do a quickie test ride! A few miles from the house is a nice gravel road with some sweepers and tight corners. It is perfect. If anything goes wrong I am not far from home and Daniel knows where it is so he can come find me if needed. I've been off this bike for five years and have forgotten what a beast this thing is!! When I whack the throttle, it just GOES! The pipe really could use a repacking because it has quite the bark. I am wondering if this will even pass inspection...? Once on the gravel the back end is sliding and drifting like there's no tomorrow. The back spins forever coming out of corners until I just decide I probably ought to stay under 60 on a 30 mph dirt road. If I ride a bit more reasonable, it just hooks up and launches like a dream. The road eventually becomes paved before a little country community near I-45 and I turn around for a few glamor shots before heading home.

As I get near the beginning of the road, I realize that the weather is just... well... freaking incredible. There is NO WAY I am heading back to the house with this much daylight left, but I need gas, so I take a little cut off that brings me out on the edge of town right next to the new police station, and my tags are five years old and the bike is loud. I have fun on the way, but as I crest the last little hill on the edge of town I ease along trying not to attract attention. Once back on the main road, I take a quick turn and run about 1/4 mile down the road to see if there is anyone at the shop working late, just on the off chance that I might convince them to inspect the bike.

When I pull up I spot a few cars out front and a few of the garage bay doors are still open. So I just cruise around to the back to see if the inspection bay door is open... and it IS! As I pull up I spot a few young heads pop up from their work to see what is making all the noise They all drop what they are doing and come over to check out the bike. I ask if they will do a quick inspection before shutting down for the weekend and they are all, "Sure! No problem!" It seems one of them was a Yamaha sponsored racer for a while until he broke his back. They ask a ton of questions because none of them have ever seen anything like this bike. Now, some inspection places are more thorough than others. My regular guy checks all the blinkers, lights, horn, etc,... The ONE thing that didn't work when I revived the bike was the horn... Fortunately, my son spotted the horn on our Yammy XT250 and realized it was the same size and he swiped it and mounted it on the 530. So the inspection guy at this place asks me to honk the horn first thing. It works perfect. After that, he asked the mileage, got the plate/VIN and filled out the paperwork. DONE!

Almost totally legit again! I thanked them, they told me to have fun, dropped the door and called it a day!

So now I just need gas. I decide to make a quick loop down to the Sam Houston National Forest and hit a few of my favorite forest roads, no trails because I don't have a current sticker and they just reopened so they are likely checking and I don't want to press my luck. I top off the 6.6 gallon tank and head South. The bike is running fantastic at about 70-75mph, but that is pretty much topped out for the gearing I have on it right now, the tooth count eludes me at the moment, but I think it is 14/48 or 14/50? Despite the pretty sunshine, it is a bit cool for me, so I have to pull over and zip up all my vents on the Bandlands Pro suit. That done, I take off and start carving corners on FM 1791, which runs from Huntsville down into the forest. It's been a few years, but I can feel some tentacles trying to push out from under my jacket. This bike has that affect on me more than most any sport bike, especially in the corners.

When I reach the forest I slow and turn onto a long straight pot holed road through the woods. This is a great time to see how the suspension has weathered the years. After a couple good jolts, it becomes obvious I will need to at least flush and replace the fork oil and maybe even the rear shock. They were rebuilt not too many miles ago, but the ride is not the normal supple float through the nasty bits. Instead it is kind of jarring and harsh. I might check the settings, but I am pretty sure they have not been touched since I last road the bike and they were fine. Here in East Texas, Spring started back at the beginning of February and is in full swing now!

One of the many Dogwood trees blooming all over the place

It is really hard to get the exposure right on these so the leaves show up the way my eyes see them in person

They have been doing a LOT of controlled burning in the forest. The sky has been hazy for weeks. Even now there are still stumps and downed trees that are smoldering and smoking. It looks pretty cool though if you come through the area at night.

I get back on the road and keep cruising. This road basically connects three different trail heads for OHV riding. I soon come out on FM 1375 and turn towards Lake Conroe, crossing that and running to the start of FR 233, which goes by another trail head before cutting off through the forest. Up to the trail head, it is wide and maintained. Beyond the trail head, it narrows and is maintained much less. I came through here recently with Daniel and there was a lot more sand than usual, which doesn't bother me as I happen to like sand. However, last night we got rain from the tail end of that huge front that went ripping all across the country dumping rain, sleet, hail, and snow all over the place. Here is just made the sand PERFECT!

A slightly wider and more maintained section

You can see a wee bit o mud along the edges, but otherwise perfect.

FR 233 eventually becomes FR 222 and I press on. There is one little stretch of FR 222 that has been gated off for several years. Some years it would be open and then others not, for no apparent rhyme or reason. It used to be a two track rutted road with tons of face slappers. I'd ride it just for the practice. Well, sometime last year the Forest Service decided it was time to "manage" the forest and they allowed a timber company to come in and thin out the trees... They immediately graded and widened the road, cut back the trees, and generally ruined what had been a perfectly fine road! Still, the big trucks have chewed up the ground and made the sand deep and loose in a few places, so there is at least still that. Daniel really likes this road because at his stage of riding, it makes him feel like a hero It's cool, it used to do the same for me many years ago

A sample of the "thinning" of the trees

There are still a few sections with nice trees, but even there they were cut back pretty far so the road could have gravel put down and graded. This used to be all two track and ruts. Jeeps would try to come through here and their pretty paint jobs would get scratched up by all the branches.

There is hope for the road though if the Forest Service will forget about it for a while. This is one of several low spots that can flood. Before they "fixed" it, these sections could be very challenging when muddy, often having deep cuts across the road from erosion.

All too quickly I reach FM 1374 and turn North back toward Huntsville. This is just a fun sweeping little FM. I am soon back at the house, snot running down my nose from the cold (64 F ). Anything under 75 is the dead of winter to me.

I still need to do a coolant flush, maybe repack the muffler and deal with the suspension. My original thought was to get it running, sell it, sell the Yammy XT250, and then put that money toward a second KTM 390 Adventure. This way I could have one set up for Daniel (tall) and one set up for my Sarah (short), and I would not have to listen to them try to justify why they should get to ride the 390 while the other rides the XT250 Not that the XT is a bad bike, but it just isn't as much fun when we transition from the dirt back to the pavement. Sarah REALLY likes the 390 on pavement but kind of prefers the XT on the dirt, but it has full knobby tires whereas the 390 still has the original TKC 70s on it, which don't inspire as much confidence on the loose marbly gravel roads or sand. Daniel basically thinks of the 390 as "his"

To sell or not to sell... Dang! :uhoh

 

[SpiritAtBay]

Reading this reminds me of how your RR's differ from just about all others. You talk about and describe the riding itself, something I find difficult.

"I can feel some tentacles trying to push out..." this turn of phrase gave me a great mental image, half sober, responsible rider with all safety gear in place, half squid tearing up the road. Lol

I venture to guess that not only are you introducing your kiddos to a new world, you are reacquainting yourself to it as well.

Cool!

 

[woodsguy]

our kiddos to a new world, you are reacquainting yourself to it as well.

Seems he's gained a little spark to his riding!

 

[Tourmeister]

Reading this reminds me of how your RR's differ from just about all others. You talk about and describe the riding itself, something I find difficult.

"I can feel some tentacles trying to push out..." this turn of phrase gave me a great mental image, half sober, responsible rider with all safety gear in place, half squid tearing up the road. Lol

It just sort of comes to me. Hard to describe I definitely felt like a squid on that bike, rapidly darting to and fro, but without leaving a dark cloud behind

I venture to guess that not only are you introducing your kiddos to a new world, you are reacquainting yourself to it as well.

Cool!

Seems he's gained a little spark to his riding!

Yeah, this is definitely true. With my inability to commit to a specific time and day to do group rides like I used to, my riding has been reduced to spontaneous rides on a moment's notice. Even then, it often gets interrupted by a work related call and I have to cut it short. So I've been riding all the same roads close to home without anyone else tagging along unless one of the kids rode pillion with me. While I enjoy having one of them along with me, the overall experience has been getting a bit dull and has sapped some of my enthusiasm for riding. Being able to ride with them on their own bikes and watching them learn has definitely been a nice change and made things more "interesting"!

If Daniel is awake, he wants to go riding Sarah is not quite that bad, but she still really enjoys riding. Right now she is busy trying to get the last of her schoolwork done in time for her to get to attend a graduation ceremony. The Abeka homeschool curriculum comes from Pensacola Christian College in Florida. If you turn in their work/grades along the way, the school will give you a graduation diploma. If you get it all done and turned in by a certain time, they hold a ceremony at their campus and anyone graduating can attend so they get to "walk the stage" and get a diploma handed to them. We are planning on going and it will be the first time I have taken off from work in three years. I'll be taking off from Thursday morning to Monday morning for the weekend and have told my clients I will not be answering the phone. Even though I told them this months in advance and will remind them several times before I go, I'd be willing to bet a LOT of money that several of them will be trying to call me in a panic because they have an emergency job and have not arranged for someone else to take care of it for them while I am gone. So it will be interesting to see how it all plays out after I get back

Something I forgot to include in the ride report above is that while heading out of town on the bike I got a work call. I sat around ALL FREAKING DAY doing nothing. But no sooner than I head out and try to do something, I got a call from one of the clients down in Trinidad. I managed to put him off about an hour so I could finish the loop through the woods, but as soon as I got home I spent the next few hours working.

 

[woodsguy]

I'm glad she'll get to walk the stage and that you'll get a little R&R. Also glad the kids have rekindled your enjoyment of riding! Winner all around!

 

[SpiritAtBay]

I'm glad she'll get to walk the stage and that you'll get a little R&R. Also glad the kids have rekindled your enjoyment of riding! Winner all around!

Now if Beth gets reinfected, the whole family will be rolling on 2 wheels!