Author’s note: This was penned a few weeks back, so forgive the incorrect timeline. The Touratech Rally West has already come and gone, I was busy and didn’t get this posted in a timely fashion… It is that time of year again, the Touratech Rally West looms on the calendar. Normally these five or six weeks … [Read more…]
Owning a vintage Vespa has been on my bucket list for at least a decade now. The reason why that is seems to be a bit fuzzy even to me. I could go with it means I have finally come full circle, as my first two wheeled internal combustion vehicle was an early 1970’s Vespa … [Read more…]
I grew up at the tail end of the era that reads “Four on the Floor” as something special. While the four-speed manual transmission was common for decades and produced around the world, I picture it in it’s American incarnation. As a robust four-speed manual transmission behind a massive chuck of iron known as an … [Read more…]
2016 Stumpjumper Desert 100 Countdown 6 Days to Go Less than a week until race day. The window on rush ordering parts and shaking down the bike is rapidly closing. Tuesday night the engine was hung into the frame. The rest of the week flew by too fast, and without any more work completed. Sunday … [Read more…]
2016 Stumpjumper Desert 100 Countdown 13 Days to Go Less than two weeks to go until race day, and a few days less than that before I head out. Things are starting to move along. Today my box of part arrived, and shortly after that I received the call that my engine was ready for … [Read more…]
2016 Stumpjumper Desert 100 Countdown 17 Days to Go It is that time of year again, the Stumpjumper Desert 100 race weekend is closing fast. I plan to race my mighty KTM 950 Adventure for a third year in a row. My first attempt saw a 2nd place finish in the Adventure Bike class, and … [Read more…]
Carrying your cell phone on your person most of the time is pretty much a fact of life these days. As much as we might hate it, being connected is expected. During adventure riding it might be piping the music to your helmet via Bluetooth, and for me it is also my camera. This normal … [Read more…]
Because Racebike… A while back my buddies Adam and Jason were hanging out in my garage with me to preform a valve check and adjustment on Adam’s KTM 990 Adventure. I have experience doing this job on my own KTM 950 Adventure, and have the special factory tools and shim set, as well as a … [Read more…]
I have gone through thousands of dollars of riding gear since the turn of the new millennium. Some of it I rode into the ground (literally at times), others I outgrew, upgraded, or otherwise replaced. There are a few select pieces that have stayed around, often because of sentimental value, those examples are mostly relegated … [Read more…]
I suppose this is a break-up letter of sorts to a motorcycle. This isn’t the first time I have written something like this either. When I have ridden my former 2006 Triumph Tiger 1050i after replacing it with my current 2005.5 KTM 950 Adventure I have penned my feelings. With the Tiger the undertones were … [Read more…]