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By Lynx, on May 16th, 2011 With the unexpected setback of SeaWorld being closed what else were we to in San Antonio with no planning… The Alamo!
The Alamo is a tourist trap of course and overcomercialized to the point that theres little authenticity left and as much as I hate coming to places like this it is still The Alamo, arguably the heart of Texas. As anyone who has met a Texan can tell you they tend to have a certain swagger an arrogance even, a pride of being Texan that you just don’t see from citizens of other states. You don’t see too many people sporting a tattoo of the outline of Ohio behind a flag of red white and blue prominently on their forearm or have regularly repeated expressions like some of my friends would semi-jokingly say “F’ U’ I’m from Texas!”
Hahaha! Gotta love it. Yep, you could say that all of that attitude stems from these hallowed grounds. Remember the Alamo! Fight to the death! Never give up! Fight for what you believe against impossible odds and get it done! Not since Thermopylae has a lost battle been celebrated so much. The courage of these brave men’s sacrifice inspired everyone to do more and fight harder and those men’s courage inspired yet others and so this bravado has spread through the generations.
So yes I know its giant tourist trap commercializing those sacred grounds and profiting from and tainting the memory of her fallen heroes but yet it is still important. A small flicker of truth remains in the Heart of Texas to make it worth seeing and afterwards you can get your coon skin cap and tshirt to show all your friends back home you have been there.
Never static, The Alamo has slowly evolved and changed over time as the city of San Antonio grew up around it. I remember as a kid being able to drive up to the buildings and park alongside the barracks which is now fenced off. In fact the iconic Alamo faced itself was changed many years after the historic battle, had it ever been completed according to plan it would have looked more like Mission Concepción below. For a look at the changes to the mission over time look here.
Theres not much left of the original grounds or the original buildings. Part of the barracks were left and part of the chapel, the rest had been demolished and rebuilt a number of times. James Bowie himself was charged with destroying the mission by General Sam Houston after he decided they did not have enough men to secure it. Colonel Bowie decided to fortify it instead and we all know the rest. One of the last surviving parts of the Alamo was also tied into a large store front.
As you can see most of the original grounds are gone. That which has been beautifully restored, however, is quite amazing if you like old buildings and history. The landscaping was immaculate.
Continue reading The Alamo
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By Lynx, on May 16th, 2011 
We travelled for days nearly getting lost and running out of gas in in the back woods of Texas after our Garmin mistook a cattle trail for a highway and we endured sweltering heat, wind, poisonous fumes and hula-hooping embarrassment all to see killer whales doing tricks. What do we find? CLOSED!! Maybe we are just early… Thats gotta be it, Sea World cant be closed. No, wait, it IS closed! WTF Man!?
I felt exactly like Clark Griswold. If there had been a moose around I would have punched it.
Yep, turns out we arrived too early in the season while the park is closed 3 days a week. Well crap.. NOW what do we do?
Cece decided we should go to the Alamo so we plug it into the GPS and onward! For the first time ever my Garmin’s traffic alerts come on and start working giving us warnings and highlighting slowdowns and blocked routes on the map. Pretty sweet, too bad the traffic features apparantly do not work anywhere in the entire state of New Mexico, not even in Albuquerque. I was happy that the traffic radio does work and I was not ripped off and sent the wrong thing by Amazon like I had been suspecting, however, our digital navigator again led us astray taking us through several sketchy neighborhoods and the wrong way down one way streets.
Eventually I just made note of the general dirrection we needed to go and ignored our GPS completely to try and find a main thoroughfare and we ran smack dab into this.
Continue reading Sea World?
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By Lynx, on May 15th, 2011 The next day we left bright and early to head for Kerrville and Koyote Ranch campground to catch the tail end of the V Star 650 Texas Meet and Greet. I had planned to get there Friday to meet up with everyone but due to a major crisis at work we got delayed and were arriving on Sunday instead and we had to hurry before everyone left. When this thing was planned a year in advance it was going to be a big deal and at least 40 people from our little forum were going to show up but over time more and more people dropped out until there was just 5 besides us. Little did we know that despite several prepaying for cabins we would end up being the only ones to make it, although a few days late.
 Koyote Ranch Pool Because of the mad rush to get there to meet up with anyone who might still be there we didn’t have much time to stop and take pictures, not that there was anything to take pictures of besides cotton fields, wind farms and the West Texas scrub. Halfway there we did have to pull over to rejet the bike. This was expected, my bike is jetted for high altitude and going down more than a mile in altitude is a lot worse for an engine than going up. Going down that far really leans out the fuel mix and can cause overheating and engine damage, going up in altitude just makes it richer and robs power. I’ve done this many times before but this time when I slapped the carb back together the bike would not start. I had to pull it all apart again and try again.
As we neared I-10 I wasn’t paying attention and our GPS led us off course. It ended up taking us 40 miles further than I intended by not taking a more heavily travelled diagonal like I had wanted and instead took us down a series of back country ranch roads that in places were not much wider than a golf cart path. As we approached civilization again and we were extremely low on fuel the Garmin glitched again and wanted us to go down a dirt trail through a locked gate in some barbed wire! This thing is useless! I should go back to paper maps like we’ve always used. Coasting into town on fumes we were able to fill up and get on the super slab, now more than an two hours behind schedule with the detours and jetting.
We were really looking forward to Highway 16 south of Kerrville, our friends have said that it had the craziest switchbacks in all of Texas and indeed the Koyote Ranch’s own website claims “Hwy 16 has consistently been placed on Texas Monthly’s “10 Most Scenic Drives in Texas” list. The drive from Kerrville to Koyote Ranch includes much of this beauty, but it also includes almost 5 miles of switchback turns, which rival any mountain road in America.”
The road was beautiful with some of the best scenery we’d seen all day and the switchbacks were a bit gnarly in places but nothing special compared to real mountain back roads that we were used to but all in all we were pleasantly surprised. I’ve always had a pretty low opinion of the riding in TX and have been a bit skeptical with all the ravings of the hill country and three sisters riding. Is it actually as good as they say or just good for Texas? Now with just a taste of the hill country and the surprise that Texas has any good riding at all we are ready to come back next year when hopefully more people besides us turn up.
There were many bike friendly establishments here including Thunder in the Hills Biker Church, where gritty clothes or an unclean past aren’t obstacles to those seeking God. Really a biker church! Nearby there’s also a motorcycle museum and several bike themed eateries that I found on google. If work had not gotten in the way we would have had 2 days to explore the area, theres always next year. If you are headed this way there are several websites devoted to the areas biker attractions to check out before coming, I found Hill Country Cruising to be one of the best.
Koyote Ranch will be our first motorcycle campground, its quite nice to not have to worry about your bike being too loud to disturb all the backpackers and pick-nickers as you idle to your site for a change. We got there 20 mins past closing and had to find the management sites to let them know we were there and would pay in the morning. It was sunday but the place looked unusually dead for what’s supposed to be a very popular area, unfortunately we were informed by the nice managers (despite being interrupted getting dinner ready) that their well had gone out that morning and there was no water but we were still welcome to stay.
 
Koyote Ranch has a nice layout, RVs in the middle on a flat plain and various sized cabins surrounding on the hillsides with the tents down by the stream bed. The cabins do seem to be a bit closely packed together, however, so it may not be the place to look for peace and quiet if the place is filled up with a bunch of bikers going through. I didn’t get to see inside any of the cabins but the pics online look nice. The prices on everything here seem to be a tad high but you do seem to be getting some quality cabins.
Continue reading Koyote Ranch
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By Lynx, on May 14th, 2011 Trip time again!
We are both incredibly broke this year and I couldn’t afford to do another month on the road again so instead we decided to meet up with the CC&D crowd once again at the Texas Meet and Greet and then just stay exploring Texas for another week and relive a bit of my childhood by visiting places my Grandpa used to take me every summer and that Cece had never been.
First day: We have to get to Texas. I of course didn’t think to take any pictures of this since I’ve been this way many times before and frankly Eastern New Mexico and West Texas is about the most boringest, soul sucking riding imaginable. Its a wasteland of nothingness with no curves or hills. After half a day of this you begin to really look forward to seeing the next heard of cows or windmill for some scenery, like I said it’s bad.
That is until you get to Artesia NM or east of Roswell the way we went and start getting into big oil country where now besides the flat boringness you have noxious fumes, poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas, extreme heat and blowing sand to go with it. West Texas is truly miserable on the back of a motorcycle. I used to live and work out here in the oil fields and it doesnt take long before your body adapts and you cant smell how awful it is here but after being in the crisp fresh mountain air for a decade riding through the gas fumes now is nearly vomit inducing.
A few pics between Vaughn and Roswell from previous rides:
We stayed with my friend Lalo and we were somehow roped into going to a family reunion across town when we got there. They have a giant homemade grill made out of a large pipe with holes cut in the bottom for oxygen and expanded metal across the top. You can really cook a lot of food at a time on one of these bad boys and they had it loaded up. They were doing some family games and activities while we waited and despite my protests I somehow ended up getting pulled into them. I’ve found out that I’m now one of the worst hula-hoopers of all time, I think I may have made it 1/2 a turn one time as my best attempt. I’m blaming it on the terrible exhausting riding before hand as I used to be good way back in elementary class, no its not old age I refuse to accept that!
I did win a picture frame as a prize for licking a Big Red gum wrapper and holding it pressed to my forehead the longest though. Laughing your ass off at everyone else really helps in self torture activities like this. There were many hilarious new stories at Lalo’s expense, like how hes no longer allowed to borrow the in-laws mower after snapping the pull string and breaking it while trying to start it, and a good time had by all.
Continue reading Texas Trip 2011
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By Lynx, on April 11th, 2011 After doing the GAK mod to my bike I have noticed that the crankcase breather likes to spit oil all over everything when doing lots of Interstate travel at 80+ MPH. Its usually not so bad but if doing 4 or 500 miles or more it can start to drip down the side covers and generally make a mess along with building up lots of gunk under the tank and coating the outsides of the carbs.
This was my home grown attempt to fix that problem on the cheap.
Heres what I used, a few plumbing fixtures, another new filter, and a Jim Beam salt shaker can I had laying around and never threw out aka free!
Ignore those scrub pads, Do NOT USE SCRUB PADS. Many types of scrub pads use fine embedded abrasives which could destroy your engine if they got introduced into the oil. Since it is hard to determine which have them and which don’t its better not to take the risk.
I had to seal up the seams on my can to get it water tight. it was able to hold a full cup of water overnight without spilling, hopefully that should do.
I did not have much room to work with so I have the air going in from the side and exiting through the top, many of these catch can designs use a long internal tube for the line to the bike and a short internal tube for the line to the filter. Either way will work, you mainly want to create a change in direction for the airflow inside to help separate the oil gases from the air.
I have this side connector cocked to the side for clearance under the tank.
Testing the fit, perfect. The only problem with this location is you will eventually need to take the tank off to drain this can. You could also use a longer line and attach your catch can where the AIS components used to be.
Instead of using scrub pads I used a lawn mower air filter. Since this media is designed for air intakes to begin with it should be fine for the engine and help filter out the oil mist a little better.
Completed.
UPDATE: This catch can worked beautifully for over a year but one day I noticed a few drips on my floorboards on the right side and sure enough it was coming from this catch can. I pulled the tank to check if it was full but nope it was seeping through the seams in the can! I hadn’t sealed it good enough. I have removed this until I can find something else to use for the container, preferably something made in one piece with no seams.
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By Lynx, on October 10th, 2010 Replacing a Yamaha V Star 650 pickup coil and stator:
For a bit of background story on how I ended up here, a new mechanic stripped the oil filter bolt that happens pretty easily on these bikes. Unfortunately, when fixing it he got metal flakes down in the engine!
One day the next week I went out to start it and crankcrankcrankcrankcrank. Oh great now what? It took a good 25 mins to get her started that morning on the way into work and nearly the same on the way home, the next morning she was totally dead and would not start at all. Following the diagnostics here: http://650ccnd.com/coil.htm I found my pickup coil was reading very high and was toast. I was planning on maybe cracking it open that weekend to fix the sticky clutch but now I had no choice but to break open both sides.
Pulling the stator cover.
Japanese engineering likes to use lots of bolts close together at lower torque than other manufacturers. Be sure to remember exactly which bolt went in what hole, as you can see below they are all different lengths.
Also remember how your shifter is set up. I took a picture so I could tell later where the dot on the shaft goes in relation to the bracket. In my case dead center in the gap.
Unfortunately the kickstand has to come off to remove the shifter. There is a nut on the back side of the frame you need to keep from turning, it would be better if you had a helper and another set of hands for this part. I was by myself and had to use another box-end wrench on the back of the frame and a breaker bar/ratchet with a cheater pipe on the front. Yamaha really doesn’t mess around with these bolts, they were a bear to get off. Once the wrench on the back turned enough to press up against the engine or my lift I was able to break the nut free.
With the kickstand out of the way the shifter will just slide off the shaft after you remove the bolt in the previous picture.
As you can see I also upgraded from my poor mans bike stand to one from Harbor Freight for this operation for a bit more stability and lift, I needed one for the BMW restoration anyway.
Follow the wiring back up the frame and cut the zip ties as you go and remove a few bolted on wire clamps. Its a bit of a struggle to get these connectors through the downtube, use one hand to press back the big main wiring harness and press these plastic connectors through one at a time. It takes a bit of patience but you can do it.
Continue reading V Star 650 pickup coil and stator replacement
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By Lynx, on October 5th, 2010 I’ve had a lot of trouble with the V Star following our epic month long ride across the western United States and back. It all started with a simple oil change. You see, when I bought the bike I also got a service plan that included unlimited oil changes and all maintenence for 3 years. I can work on my bike as you can see but I’d rather not have to on at least one of my vehicles and with as many miles as I’ve put on in the last three years this service plan ended up being a great money and time saving deal for me. For years one of two techs has always done my bike and always done a good job, even cleaning it way better than I do most times. Every time that is until the last time, when they were both off. A small voice in my head warned me that I shouldnt hand over the keys to some tech I didnt know but I didnt listen. He really torqued down the oil filter screws and stripped the center one as is an easy newbie mistake to make.
The bike leaked slowly for 8000 miles and by the end it looked something like this where its really perfected the old Harley patina with oil slung down the whole side of the engine, all down the pipes and swingarm and on the front of the saddlebag. As RTWDoug has proved, a bike can go around the world with a nasty oil leak or dozen as long as its topped off regularly.
Unfortunately the only requirement for the primo bike parking on the sidewalk next to the door at work, no leaks!
Since they were the ones to break it they agreed to fix it at no charge but with this being New Mexico and as Ulysses Everett McGill would put it “a geographical oddity, two weeks from everywhere” it took a month to get my bike back from them due to waiting on parts. They ended up tapping the stripped hole and putting in a timecert. After I got her back I noticed right away the clutch was very grabby and sticky, so much so that trying to start it while cold with the clutch pulled in the bike would take off with you or lurch 5 or 6 feet when first putting it in gear. WTF? I immediately changed the oil and cut open the filter and just as I feared, they had gotten slivers of metal down in the engine while tapping it. #$%^&@!!!!
Continue reading V Star 650 oil change disaster
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By Lynx, on August 8th, 2010 We hauled ass across Arizona to see Stickdog, blowing through a swarm of honey bees along the way. We hit about 40-50 of them in the span of about 2 seconds. I think both of us were in shock, wtf was that? The whole bike and us were splattered with dripping honey and anywhere we stopped more bees would start showing up and eating the honey, or flys and wasps. No telling what the bike would be buzzing with when we came out to the parkinglot. At a nice truck stop in Winslow, AZ I watched one lady park next to us, open the door and quickly close it and move a few spaces over.
Eating on a corner in Winslow Arizona… Yep, I had that blasted song going through my head for an hour.
Henry ( Stickdog ) graciously put us up in a nice motel in Show Low with some tickets he had won at a poker run. Thanks a lot man! You are the best!
All of us rode up to the Petrified Forrest National Park. Strangely I recognized lots of landmarks and houses and placenames but couldnt remember when I’d last been there, my dad said later that whenever we went to Flagstaff or the Grand Canyon or Las Vegas we always drove through the Petrified Forrest, from Southern NM thats the easiest way. So I’d been through those roads a lot of times when I was very little and just never remembered how we got there.
Anyone want a rock hard chair carved out of petrified wood? Only a mere $3500ish? Anyone?
Cool Park Ranger from Austria, he was riding along beside us through the arroyos along the road.
Former residents from the time when the forrest was a little wetter and less petrified.
Continue reading Petrified Forest
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By Lynx, on August 7th, 2010 Vegas Baby!
We got through all of Death Valley without the bike having any trouble at all. We were mostly travelling at 60+ mph through there and the temp gauge stayed at a steady 80-90c (175-190f) but as soon as we hit backed up rush hr traffic in Vegas the crankcase temp spiked up to 120c (250f) in 15 mins! Oh Sh!t! The bike was starting to knock a bit and I started shutting her down any time we came to a complete stop even if for just 30 seconds to a min at a time. We had to find a place to pull off and quick!
We took the nearest exit which happened to have a Motel 6 right across from the strip and an In and Out Burger down the street, Sweet! We got a room and noticed that we werent the only ones who had overheated, there was 3 more cars in the parkinglot with their hoods open and steaming. We got some lunch at my first In and Out Burger and waited out the heat of the afternoon watching a Dirty Jobs marathon and went to check out the town.
Cece took some pics while we rode down the strip. They came out somewhat ok considering we were moving and it was low light, the top pic is a 8 second exposure with mine from the motel parking-lot.
Continue reading Vegas Baby!
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By Lynx, on August 6th, 2010 View from the parkinglot outside the museum for the area state parks and the reason why the area is so hard to get to. Those mountain peaks are at 11,000 feet and impassable.
I guess Nav-Air is a significant contributor to the museum and gets its own PR exhibit. These guys were going to be my employer straight out of college, they recruite a lot of NMT graduates along with the likes of competing weapon maker Raytheon. Did the interviews and filled out all the hiring papers and was set to move to CA and start working in a few months when they told me that after reviewing my transcripts I was 1 credit hr short on thier math requirement and I was disqualified. My recruiter and others at NavAir really wanted to hire me and tried to fudge the numbers by counting some CS and Physics courses as math related but that made other numbers short. They are really strict on the requirements and there was no way around them although everyone involved agreed I was much better qualified than other new hires and I probably would have been given a mid level position to start. Oh well.. How my life could have very easily ended up entirely different.
Down the road to Death Valley. Its actually a lot further away than I thought by looking at the maps. We left the state museum at the main highway at 8am and it was 9 by the time we got to the sign and entrance and further than that to get to anything else.
Glad we didnt have to worry about this problem. Hottest place on earth and oh by the way turn off your AC while going up hill so you dont break down.
Theres no phone service and the little station midway did not allow using their phones to call for tow trucks, because “the reason why your cell phone doesnt work here is the reason why our phone calls cost so much”. In short if you break down, and a lot do, you’re f*cked.
Continue reading Death Valley
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