Artic Circle Trip - Day: -1

On July 1 (Canada Day) my dad and I will leave Calgary AB and embark on a  Canadian journey to the Arctic Circle.
 
The goal: Inuvik NT

The motivation:
Nothing profound. We aren't soul searchers trying to escape the hustle bustle of everyday life and discover our home and native land. Nothing quite that deep. We just want to go somewhere new and different and test our gravel riding skills on the Dempster highway. In fact, I don't think we'd been inside the house for 5 minutes when we returned from our trip to San Fransisco last year before we had started thinking about the next trip. Inuvik kept coming up, at first as a joke. And now we're leaving tomorrow. This is what happens when jokes go to far.

The route:

The bikes:

Left to right:Dad's 2012 Suzuki V-Strom DL650
My 2008 Suzuki V-Strom DL650 (My Sleek Black Beauty)

Our gravel riding skills are amateur. We've each taken a gravel riding class and a couple short intro to dirtbiking classes at our favorite riding school: Too Cool Motorcycle School and we've been seeking out gravel and dirt roads around here to get as much practice as possible. We're riding up to Dawson on TKC70s and hauling TKC80s to put on when we get there.

Pretty much all the planning is finished. All that is left to do is load up the bikes and hit the road. 

More later.

 

A100 Restoration: Carb Refurbish

Quite a while ago I put in a very large order to DiscountBikeSpares.co.uk. Included in that order was a carburetor rebuild kit which contained the following:

Gasket, needle valve, mixture screw, main jet (75), pilot jet (36), jet needle (with retainers)

I used three main resource:the service manual, the Haynes manual and a video on YouTube by Ginger Geordie Biker (this guy is worth subscribing to - he has some very cool videos). 

Official Service Manual / Haynes Manual

Anyway, here is the carburetor out of the engine: 

Ready for rebuilding

It is nice to have the service manual which gives all the specs and an exploded view of the carb. The official Suzuki service manual is surprisingly helpful.

Relevant page

I also really like using the propor JIS screwdrivers when working on my old bike as all the screws are not actually Phillips like most people would assume. They are Japanese Industrial Standard (JIS). Using a Phillips driver on a JIS screw often results in the screwdriver camming out, ruining the screw.

My lovely JIS drivers

Once I was into the carb, I started removing jets and valves for inspection. Note how dirty and plugged the pilot jet is! Gross! The other jets were not bad, but since I bought new ones, they will be replaced.

Just call me Benny. Here are my jets.

I decided to replace all the old parts with the new parts for peace of mind (including needle jet, mixture screw, etc.) I made sure to consult my manuals to make sure the new jets were the same sizes as the old.

I also gave the carb a real good cleaning with some carb cleaner I bought off a friend who had not used it all on his last project.

Carb cleaner (for carburetors, not spaghetti)

Another thing you must do is make sure the float is set at the right height. The floats are responsible for actuating the needle valve which fills the float bowl. The manual and Haynes manual were not super clear about the setting. It seemed one wanted me to measure without a gasket installed and the other wanted me to measure from the gasket face. I ended up installing the gasket and then doing the measurement because without the gasket I would have had to do a ton of adjusting. With the gasket installed, I did have to adjust it a few millimeters.

Float adjusting

I put everything back together following the manual and set the needles to the factory settings; ready to tune!

Clean and shiny. Ready for reinstallation!

New T-Shirt Design

Have your answer already printed on your shirt for about 90% of all the questions you get throughout the day. Why go to work? because motorcycle. Why do you need all these tools? because motorcycle. Why are you always smiling so much? ... You get the idea

because motorcycle. Shirt by becauseMotorcycle
Browse other Becausemotorcycle T-Shirts

New Page: Bikes I've Ridden - With Brief Impressions!

Hi all,

I've created a page to share my impressions of every bike I've ever ridden. This started as a simple list on my own computer when I realized how many bikes I've had the privilege of riding. This is basically so I don't forget which bikes I've tried and what I thought of them. Y'all might find it interesting.

Without further ado: Bikes I've Ridden - With Brief Impressions!

A100 Restoration: DiscountBikeSpares Haul

Hello all,

Short update today to share this photo of the haul of parts I just received from DiscountBikeSpares.co.uk (which is becoming one of my favorite site for A100 parts!)

Here is the packing list:

• SHOES, BRAKE, A100, A50, AP50 (x2)
• BAND, OIL TANK GT250, T350. BATTERY, A100, AP50, GT185, GS850/750, GP1
• CARBURETTOR REPAIR KIT, A100
• HOSE, CARBURETTOR AIR OUTLET, A100
• FILTER, AIR, A100
• WASHER, LOCK, REAR SPROCKET BOLTS, AP50, A100, A50, TS250(x2)
• GASKET, HEAD LAMP LENS, A100, A50, AP50, GP125, GP100, GT125
• GRIP, THROTTLE, A100, A50, AP50
• GRIP, LEFT HAND, AP50, A100, A501
• RUBBER, FRONT FOOTREST, T500, A100, A50(x2)
• GASKET, TANK CAP, GT750/185, GS, TS, RE5, AP, GP

Shipping : £8.99
Total£111.28

Which translates to about a bazillion Canadian dollars (Actually 224.66CAD). So glad Suzuki reused so many parts for multiple bikes. Really makes it easier to find stuff!

Calgary To San Francisco Motorcycle Trip

Video summary from my trip to San Francisco from Calgary. All helmet cam footage taken from the Garmin VIRB.

Ride Report: Adventure Without Limits Charity Ride

This is so old now but thought I should post it. This happened back on July 18, 2015. It was a charity ride for the Cerebral Palsy Association in Alberta. 

This group ride was also the first leg of Alan Connor's solo ride to the Arctic Circle. Shot on my Garmin VIRB helmet cam.

Check out Alan's site: http://www.adventurewithoutlimits.com/