318: New Sidi Boot Parts for Me

I think I've mentioned how the boots I currently wear off-road are some well-used (AKA just about worn-out) Sidi Vortex boots, and I've had some brand-new Sidi Crossfire TA boots waiting in the wings which I've owned for a year.
Why am I still using the old ones?
Basically, after wearing the new ones on two off-road rides, I decided I did not like a feature on the boot:
Like all of the latest motocross boots on the market, the ankle area pivots on metal hinge pins.
There are, naturally, parts covering the pins so that they can slide more easily across the side of the bike while riding, and also to protect them from damage.

I did not like how the new boots felt like they had a half of a golf ball glued to the inside of my ankles.
It felt a bit too bulbous around the ankles, something that annoyed me since squeezing the bike while riding is what I do.
Because of this, I decided to keep wearing the old boots until a solution came up.
Well, it has (hopefully) come.

Sidi just introduced the latest version of their Crossfire motocross boot, and the ankle pivot covers are much less bulbous-looking, and, instead of a hard plastic cover, it has a softer, grippier rubbery covering.
The rubber cover is spread over twice the area, so it seems to stick out less and is less abrupt in the way it rises above the boot, and (I hope), easier to slide over the bike and grip the bike while riding.
Basically, instead of half a golf ball glued to the inside of my ankle, there is now a rubber-covered miniature pork chop there that seems to stick up less.
I saw how Sidi was also selling these new parts seperately, allowing you to make last year's Crossfire TA boots like the latest version at the ankle pivot cover area.
So, I just bought the new parts and installed them on my worn-twice boots.

The swap of the parts went easier than I thought it would, requiring what are called by Sidi new boot uppers, and new pivot pins.
The pins are the hinges the boot pivots on, and the uppers are the soft plastic part of the boot that hooks onto the pins and wraps around your calf.
(In case you don't know, boots for the past 20 years are less and less real leather, and more and more man-made materials like plastics and leather substitutes, probably because real leather is expensive although it gives excellent feel to the rider and is very rugged.)

The way that Sidi improved the ankle covering is by no longer using a circlip to snap into a groove on the outside of the pivot pins to keep the pivot together.
Now, the pins simply engage with slots in the boot uppers, eliminating the circlips and the bulbous golf ball covers that used to protect them.
In fact, unlike before, you can no longer see the pins or the circlips because they are now beneath the slimmer-looking rubber covers.

I'll be using the Crossfire TAs this weekend in the rock pile.
I'm hoping I like the change because the boots otherwise feel very good.

Off to jerk,
-John

317 Mosquitos Buzzing Around my Head

The WR-250FY after the wash after today's ride in the Pachaug rock pile.

I didn't ride the WR-250FY yesterday (Saturday) because I felt like I was effected by some kind of 24 hour bug.
I wasn't sick, but fighting it off made me feel uncoordinated and my concentration suffered, things I could definitely tell since I rode the WR-250XX into jerk in the morning.
That's not a good combination for having a good ride, and I didn't feel great on the bike riding to and from work, so, I waited until today to ride the WR-250FY.

How was it?
Pretty good.
I got a bit tired on one section early on that has a lot of rocks, and the heat and humidity helped to sap my energy, but, once clear of that early section, I felt good, all-in-all.
I once again enjoyed the pine-needled sections, and the last section of the dash back to the starting point felt very good, indeed.
The bike felt just fine, performed well, and I felt good because I was riding in a decent manner.
In fact, I actually felt better as the ride went on, and once home, I washed the bike and all of my riding gear, too.

I came across a couple of guys 4-wheeling in some old compact pickup truck about 10 miles before the end.
I pulled off to the side to allow the bucket of bolts room to pass by without running me over, and as the driver pulled along side me, he stopped and asked, "Hey. Are there any more of you?"

What that means is he was asking if there were any more dirt bike riders coming up behind me that he'd have to look out for.
I told him there were none as far as I knew, but that he should still be on the lookout in case there were.
The reason I added the second half of my reply was because the trail we were on is not even a legal place to drive an off-road truck to my knowledge, and I think it would suck if somebody became a hood ornament.

-John

Psalms 3:16 : Keep Thoust Eyes on the Trail

Well, I did go out onto the Pachaug rock n' roll pile on Sunday with those two other guys I mentioned in my last post.
The quick summary of how things went was good, all-in-all.
We all survived and had a good time and were able to motor out of there on our own power when we left to go home.

I did, however, do a boneheaded move that I'd already learned about years ago, but I was reminded of it during Sunday's ride:
Keep your eyes ahead, not looking behind.
See, the guy from the Internet, who rode the WR-250R, was, as I'd expected, a dirt-riding rookie (although, as I told him, I felt he did very well for a guy who did not know the trails) and we had to stop at the end of each trail section to allow him to catch-up.
At one point while on the trail about 1.5 miles from the start, I looked back to see where he was, and when I turned back around, I ran too close to a small tree, clipped it with my right-side handlebar and front brake lever, and went down.

It wasn't a hard fall, but it did slightly bend my front brake lever, bent my clutch lever a bit more, and made me feel like a bozo for doing that.
I stopped when I got to the end of the trial section and made a clutch cable free play adjustment to compliment my clutch lever's new custom bend, and we carried on.
For the rest of the 50-something miles, I was annoyed by how the clutch lever felt, being bent in too closely to the handlebar grip for my liking.
That's a big deal to me (how my controls are positioned and how they feel), and needless to say, the WR-250FY will have a new one before this weekend's ride, along with new grips which I've already installed.

This last ride also reminded me of something I've already known for decades:
More often than not, I'm better off riding by myself.
That way, I have no concern about what any other riding partner is doing, or where they're at.
It's just me and my bike on the trail.
Sure, I like riding with a buddy or two on occasion, but my occasional buddy ride just passed, so I'm all set for a while before the next one. ;)

Off to jerky jerk,
-John

Out of my Brain on the 3:15

I went out on the Pachaug rock pile yesterday afternoon on the WR-250FY, and I'm going again, today.
Yesterday's ride was a good one.
My arms got a bit tired toward the end (I did my longer loop of 54 miles), but, it was still a good feeling, all-in-all.
Highlights were the two favorite pine-needled sections of mine, the second one with all of those nice whoops to time together and jump and wheelie over.
Also, I saw no horses. :)

Today, I'm supposed to meet a couple guys at the starting point at 2:00pm.
One guy I know from the shop I work at, and I rode the rock pile with him last November.

The second guy I've never seen before, and have only chatted with him through an Internet message board.
Basically, he asked if anybody ever rode out in Pachaug, and I replied that I did, and added that I was, in fact, going out there this weekend.
He asked if we could ride out there together sometime, so I told him I'd be going today.
He said he'd be there waiting at 2:00pm, so, we'll see how this goes.
He's supposed to be riding the same model of bike I rode last year on the street, a 2008 Yamaha WR-250R, which is a dual-purpose bike and the sister model to my WR-250XX that I currently ride on the street.

-John

314: The Rock Pile on the WR-250FY, Day 2

The WR-250FY, after the second day of riding was done.
Here, the bike has just been washed squeaky-clean.

Yesterday (Sunday), I did go out to the Pachaug rock pile for another ride, my second of the season out there.
Where Saturday's ride was 34 miles, Sunday's was 54 miles, as I went on my longer of my two usual loops.
It was another good one, and I enjoyed it.
I did get a bit tired during the second half, but that's not surprising, being I had a seven month lay-off from doing that ride, and although I felt a bit tired, I could still ride well enough with good concentration.

Notably enjoyable points of the ride were:

One of my favorite sections with the whooped-out, pine needle-covered ground (actually real dirt without rocks littering the place).
Whenever I come into that section, I get an immediate boost because it looks like so much fun to ride.
It was. :)

Another highlight of the ride was when I come down a hill leading out of the woods, ride over a narrow wooden bridge spanning a dammed pond, and hit a section of paved road to the next trail.
As I approached the bridge, I saw a couple of guys standing on it while fishing.
When the geezer closest to me saw i was about to ride up onto the bridge, he quickly realized that covering the bridge with his tackle box wasn't going to cut it, so, he moved his shit on the double.
I basically balanced the bike as I crept forward as this was going on, and after he cleaned a space for me to pass by without running over his Jitterbug lure, I asked his how he was doing and nodded my head as a way of thanking him for getting his crap the hell out of the way of the WR-250FY rider who was on a mission, goddammit. :)

All-in-all, it was one of the best weekends I've had in months, all told.
It now seems I'll be riding both of my bikes for the foreseeable future.

-John

313 Rocks in the Rock Pile

Yessirree, folks.
I finally got off my ass and rode the WR-250FY firebreather out in the Pachaug Rock Pile for the first time since the last Sunday of last November.
The ride rocked, as well. :)

Since March, I'd basically been putting off my first ride of the season on the WR-250FY.
Partly because I have another bike, the WR-250XX, and partly because I no longer have the garage to keep the bike in and to perform the maintenance work.
I knew I would, at some point, get with it and simply put that behind me, and yesterday was the day.
How did the ride go, and how did the bike feel?
Awesome, in one word. :)

I always hope for a good ride, but yesterday was one of those days where the ride basically turns out better than you thought it would.
This was because, not only did I not have any crashes or heart-stopping moments, but I realized, on several points along the 34 miles I rode, that I was negotiating sections of the trail as easily as ever.
A couple of sections felt easier than ever.
Period.

This is amazing because I went into the ride consciously thinking that I was going to take it slow and easy in order to get a feel for the WR-250FY and the terrain, which I hadn't ridden in a bit over seven months.
I did ride more slowly on the whole, but those sections that seemed almost effortless were completed at a good pace.
I plan on going again today, so I'd better knock wood. ;)

-John

Silly Shit on Forums, No. 312

Oh, my God!
I hope this guy is aware of the prime numbers.

Today's silly message board/forum bunk is about how a lot of morons are swallowing some stupid urban legend about how small of a front sprocket you can use before your world turns to shit.

It's my belief that a lot of the stupid writing on these forums are done by guys with more time on their hands to write-out their dumb and unfounded concerns than actual experience about the subject.
They'll post that they are going to install a 12-tooth front sprocket on their WR-250R, and then another turkey will reply about that being a bad idea because the smaller sprocket will wear the chain faster.
The silly part is that a lot of people seem to take this as gospel.

Now, I firmly believe that this is all theory.
I really doubt that one person has conducted some kind of scientific test to prove or disprove this theory.
I've bought motorcycles that came off the showroom floor with a 12-tooth front sprocket.
Things can go to completely geek proportions when some nerds come on and write that you need to use some math formula involving prime numbers to determine how many teeth both of your sprockets should have.

All of these retards can go jump in the lake.
I've never noticed any change in chain wear from a 12-tooth front sprocket.
I've proven this to myself over and over.
I have to laugh when some noob, who is still learning how to take off from a dead stop, gets involved in this bullshit.
I'd think his momma would have taught him better.
Actually, she probably did, but he was stupid and too easily persuaded by his retarded buddies, all who carry slide rules in their WD-40 pocket protectors.
They all probably ride BMWs and are constantly barking at the guy about how chains and sprockets are bad to begin with. :)

Off to jerk,
-John

311, and it's Not the Sucky Pop Band from the 1990s

Fourth of July Fun Factory on Wheels.


I rode a few hundred miles on the WR-250XX this holiday weekend, and it was a good bit of riding, too.
I rode some of my usual roads that I know well, as well as some that I've never had this bike on.
It was some sporty, good fun, and it felt nice to have a full 2-day weekend for a change.

You know, the last place I worked where 2-day weekends were the norm was at a factory that made boxes, just a couple of miles from where I live.
I worked there from May of 1984 until April of 1987, and at the time, the place was called the Federal Paper Board Company Folding Carton Division.
Most people just called it the Federal box shop for short. :)

Funny thing is that for the past few months, I've seen no cars parked out front, and haven't heard the usual noises emanating from the place.
It basically looks deserted and shut down.
I should satisfy my curiosity and ask somebody what the heck happened to the ol' box shop.

-John