Carol wants to moto to Ecuador!

Booked a fly n buy to Denver on a lowered F650 for her and trying to decide KLR? DRZ? 640 Adventure? for me.

Autocomm? Scala? Starcom?

I will listen to anyone that has an opinion about anything. Personal experience has weight.

Launch date 9/1 pending the wheels of family court justice...

http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2008/09/darien-gap-most-dangerous-absence-of.html

I'd take an old Toyota Land Cruiser and a small army myself. Honduras is rather unsettled politically as well. Other than that, I got nothin'.

Eddie is going to want to go with.

(As you Minnesotans say).

Hey, at least we don't "fix a plate". Unless it's broken. :D
-K

But we do say we "tossed grandpa down the stairs his hat."

If I'm to go, someone's going to have to "borrow me a dollar."

A whole article on the Gap and no mention of the Liska's?? what's up with that?

mk

For a bike purchase your main concern should be parts availability/repair ease. If it were me I'd go with an older KLR. When in Mexico you have a shot at getting parts, don't know about the rest of the Americas. KLRs are also farm implement basic, so they can be fixed/welded/duct taped together in the sticks if need be. Not counting the touristas, the only bikes I remember seeing were KLRs and the odd DR350. And a huge assortment of chinese bikes that were well on their way to complete failure.

Check out Horizons unlimited,the Johnsons if I remember right,its a globe trotter site,good folks.
Mr.Coons is right on the KLR route.
With Bart,Uh,Honduras, Nicaragua...last time I was in that area I carried an M-16 and had air support......but thats all water past the bridge..or did we blow that up too?
Start tanning and for sure start learning spanish.
Plan the trip and go.

I sure am going to miss public libraries.

They read backwards down there.

And.....???
-K

Not sure, just a casual observance.

Only on the other side of the Equator.

Actually, this is a myth. They don't read backwards on the other side of the equator, the words just appear backwards (think bath water and how it swirls the other way depending on which hemisphere you are in). But lucky for us, since your eyes are on the other side they "see" the letters backward and you don't even realize it.

I am in the middle of packing a 20' container of shit I think I need to drag around to live, hiring domestic and international shippers, importation documentation prep, consulate hacks and agents ext, ext.

Thens theres the trip planning; to include arranging the gap, visa's for the non american, yadda yadda, fuck, fuck.

Bike prep (whats that?) to wrapped up in trying to get the state to shit two titles in time frames of yesteryears hey day. (2-3 months these cock suckers are saying).

This sucks!

Stay tuned for the supposed reward from the effort...

I don't think this GPS mount is gonna work when the road gets bumpy.

Love that site! Love the name!



mk

I tried to find you in Plainview Mr. Coons but alas the GPS fell off... or was that one of those stupid Zumo base micro-pins? Having fun in Chicago with a pissed of mate and FTP file uploading through hotel Firewalls. I promise this will all be worth it, you will see...

Greetings Fellow Earthings!

We come in peace to explore your planet. You can find more about it here:

http://www.aaronpetty.com

Click on "archive" and start with "Preview" (have only constructed five days and we have been out two weeks now)

Clicking on the "RSS" feed may allow new posts to come to you!

RSS explained here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

If you have not downloaded the Google Earth application do it.

http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html

KMZ files to come with GPS tracking of our route....

Live long and prosper.



--
Aaron Petty
On the Road
Minneapolis to Quito
www.aaronpetty.com

Blog Updated

It's about damn time. I keep checking for updates, and checking for updates.....

Carol's looking good in that corner. I'm hoping that lady with the cleaver missed with that swipe she's taking at you.

How does Carol like the lowered F650? I'm so-o-o-o-o loving mine! So much easier to maneuver than the 1100 Guzzi California (although I loved that bike).... The F650GS has more power, and less bulk. What a sweet ride. I never thought a BMW would make my heart dance - they're all so TALL.............
-Susan

She loves it when it stays upright.

So for those of you that insist on blue and white, I must share that my steering head bearings woke up a two days ago and decided to make my driving unsafe.

Oh, and my main drive gear shaft is dripping what oil does not burn in the warped cylinder.

Verde es muy malo.

The Panama City BMW dealer doesn't stock a rear tire for any F650 so the chances of finding bearings for my Kawasaki at the dealer that is somehow tied to a Volkswagon shop are not looking good...

Sorry to bitch but the other option is to continue to look for bearings to change while rocking on a 120 foot slow boat to Colombia.

Tits and wheels, but life is good and the view is spectacular!

I just took the time to go through the blog on this trip. You Guys Rock!

Good Luck!

Bob

Aaron,

Try tightening the drive gear nut. There is a seal behind it that will leak if this is not tight. Did you change it out to a 16 tooth sprocket and not use a new nut?

As for the steering head bearings, I will check tonight to see if I can find the industry standard part number. You may be able to find them at a bearing house (I assume they have companies like Motion Industries in Mexico).

You may want to check www.klr650.net for additional information.

Jeff

Aaron, I've pinged my mechanic, who is well versed in both of these models. Hopefully he'll be along soon.

KLR - Keep Locktite Ready.

Yes, it was common for the steering head bearings on the KLRs to get loose after a few thousand. If they get checked/adjusted after a little while, they'll be fine. I replaced mine at 6k; The races were slightly peened.
I'll see if I can find a part number.

The drive shaft leaking oil was also a known issue if the chain was run too tight. I think the slack should be 2-2.4" unloaded, if my senile brain remembers right. Or if on the side stand, "almost touching the swingarm with your boot raising the chain" is close enough.

Hell, you two are having an ADVenture!
She got a sister?

We were approached by "Joey D from Jersey" outside a cafe while looking for a hotel. He hooked us up with a sweet cheap room across from his apartment. Then he treated us to the Yankees game, dinner, scotch, and we broke out our collective smokey treats; his Panamanian, mine Cuban. Joey D from Jersey shagged me around yesterday for the bearings and the tire should be easy in Colombia... We are off to catch the boat to be in Colombia for Halloween. Plan to update the blog on the boat.

"Joey D from Jersey shagged me around ..."

Woah, I had heard that things get a little expensive 'round those parts, but ...

It's not an adventure until you camp in a cemetery.