It's time for another oil change with the WR-250FP.
It still makes me laugh how lots of guys make doing this once a month sound like it's worse than listening to Culture Club and dressing up like the singer.
I remember when saying ten-four was popular with people during the CB radio fad of the late 1970s.
Makes you wonder how anyone got by without a cell phone and PC.
Don'nit?
God.
How did I do that?
Although this is a week late, I'll write about last weekend's riding, which actually started on Thursday, Thanksgiving day.
Hmmmm.
I'm trying to think, here.
Well, I honestly can't recall any details about Thursday's Pachaug ride, so it must have been an average-for-this-time-of-year ride.
That probably means it was decent - possibly even quite good - although nothing was a stand-out or most excellent.
That's acceptable.
I want to say it was on the chilly side, but I can't remember for sure.
Well, I actually just PCed my ass over to weather.com and looked-up the monthly weather records for Thanksgiving day, and that says it started in the 30s for a low and reached a high of the low 50s.
Hey, Thanksgiving day's weather was pretty good, ya' know.
You can bet your ass I was wearing my blaze orange don't-shoot-because-I'm-a-human-not-an-animal vest, too.
God, I just hope these guys aren't shooting toward and/or across the public trail, goddammit.
It would be a shame if they shot holes in their SUV windshield, wouldn't it?
Friday's day at jerk was a sllloooooooww one since UPS wasn't delivering any UPS Ground packages, and that is what makes-up about 90% of our daily deliveries.
You know - we need that service in order to make a buck and pass around the goods that are imported from China and Taiwan and Vietnam.
That line above reminds me of what is probably the singe most interesting thing I've ever read on the Adventure Rider forums:
A guy from Cambodia posted about modifying his seat of the 2012 or 2013 KTM 500EXC dual-purpose bike he rides over in rice patty and sweat shop land.
He posted pics and words describing how he had a local seat upholsterer dude (local to him, not me over here in the USA, land of the free and 911 was caused by airplanes hijacked by towel heads with beards) modify his seat to his bum-bum's liking for $15.
This $15 covered three hours of labor, the materials needed to do the job, and a tip for the upholsterer dude.
Think about that for the rest of the day, would you?
Getting back to Friday, I went into jerk for an hour or so, then left, intending to come back in the afternoon around 3:00 pm when FedEx Ground came with a couple of packages.
So, I had about 4 hours to get my keister home and try yet ANOTHER front fork experiment with the ol' WR-250FP:
Changing to a different fork oil in hopes of relieving the high-speed compression damping spikes from all of those pesky sharp impacts out on the Pachaug rock-and-roll-pile loop.
I bought some Ohlins RT43 fork oil we had at jerk without even knowing it's true viscosity weight, but gave it a go, anyway.
The idea was to use a thinner oil - excuse me. Fork fluid - in the forks and get a reduction in compression damping.
Rebound damping would likewise be reduced, but, it was an experimant, after all.
I hoped for the best.
Oil level to be used was the same 145mm.
Well, I did the job, went back to jerk, came home and ate and slept, and got up Saturday morning for the experimental Pachaug Ohlins RT43 fork fluid ride.
As it turned out, Ohlins RT43 is actually a bit THICKER (7.5 wt, so I later read on a forum) than the Honda HP fork fluid's 5 wt I had in it, so it actually was a step in the wrong direction and I could feel it while on the bike.
The ride wasn't a disaster, but the fork did behave as it I'd stiffened the compression and rebound damping to the maximum with the adjustment clickers.
That means I backed the pace down in the sharp-and-pesky-bump-strewn spots on the trail, AKA about 50% of it. :)
At least nothing bad happened and I did learn what the true weight of Ohlins RT43 fork fluid is.
After I got home Saturday afternoon, I immediately started work to change the fork oil back to a known 5 wt. fluid as I had, before leaving from the ride parking spot, gone upstairs to the Parts Dept. at jerk and purchased three pints (hic!) of Honda SS7 fluid, a good choice since it says 5 wt right on the label.
I went with the same 145mm oil level, too.
Changing the fork fluid is a pretty easy job, really, with the biggest hassle being installing the front wheel since about 50% of the time, the front axle won't slide home easily.
This is probably due to tight clearances requiring having the fork legs and wheel perfectly aligned, and sometime if the world's axis is off a half-degree, it's a toughie.
Sunday's ride was better as the fork was back to normal and working much better, at least as well as it is going to work without more internal valving modifications, something the fork obviously needs for riding Pachaug's terrain.
I remember the weather being on the chilly side since washing the bike wasn't quite 100% comfortable.
It got done, regardless.
So, here it is Sunday morning of the following weekend.
Since hunting season in CT. is now in the firearms season, I'm really gonn'a stick to the no-Saturday riding plan until that's done in January.
Since there was no riding yesterday, I decided to use the time to change the fork fluid AGAIN to something that's quaranteed to be thinner than the usual 5 wt.:
A 2-to-1 mixture of 1.6 wt fluid called Redline Like Water Suspension Fluid (that's the real name, competing neck-and-neck with Smart Performances' 215.VM2.K5 fork fluid for long names) and good ol' Kayaba 01M fork fluid (which is reportedly a 5 wt.), the actual recommended fluid for my WR-250FP fork.
Mixing these two fluids in this ratio gives about a 2.5 weight fluid, and I can easily tell the difference in the reduced damping just pumping the front fork up and down while sitting on the seat.
I'm hoping for the best with today's experimental ride.
-John
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