Today was all about the incredibly beautiful scenery, which just kept getting better mile by mile. I took a lot of pictures, but missed some incredible shots because there was no place for me to stop and take the photo. If you really want to see the pictures you should go to this link, click on the pictures and expand them to full-size:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/j2rMWEBLLDetgl5j1
I have been disappointed with some of the pictures in the blog because they are not very big, and it is hard to see how things really looked. But here are a few if you don't want to go to the link:
I could talk all day about the incredible scenery but I will have to let the pictures speak for themselves. I wish I could describe it adequately. I hope you can get a feel for it from the photos. I was amazed and stunned all day long with one spectacular sight after another.
Instead, I want to talk about some technical aspects of my trip. If you are not into that sort of thing, I recommend hitting "like" and forget about reading the rest. But some might be interested, and it's fascinating to me, so here goes.
The day started cold and got colder. It started out about 55 degrees in Salida, but I immediately started ascending the Rockies and it got colder and colder. It felt like the 30s.
So... you are wondering how I can ride a motorcycle in cold weather. Well... I have a secret weapon. It's my electric jacket liner. Here's a picture:
See that handy dandy cord hanging out the bottom. I can connect that to my 12 volt system, turn the dial, and be toasty warm no matter how cold. I love that jacket liner. And when I keep my core warm, my hands and feet stay warm too.
The only problem is that my little TW200 has a rather small electrical output. So I worried and worried about whether I would be draining the battery when I ran my heated gear. That has happened to me before on a motorcycle. Arrived at my destination, and the battery was dead. So that I would know and not be guessing, I ordered another handy instrument - a USB connector that indicates the volts. Here is a picture of that:
As you can see, at the time of the photo, my system was producing 13.4 volts. Anything over 12 volts in charging properly.
The problem is that when I have my phone, which I use for navigation, charging and my heated gear plugged in, it produces about 11.7 volts = discharging. What to do?
After reading tips from the TW200 forum, I rigged a system where I could turn off the headlight. Usually on modern motorcycles the headlight stays on. There is no switch to turn mine off. But I took apart the headlight system, and disconnected the green wire, according to instructions from the forum, and now when I turn the headlight from bright to dim - it turns off. And my voltage immediately shoots up into the normal range. Cool work-around. I know, I know, I need the headlight on so people can see me coming even in the daytime. I agree that it does help some to have the headlight on, but I also have two orange running lights that are on all the time. That helps. And when I am traffic, or a town, or not using the heated gear, I flip the headlight to bright and am safe again. Nobody complains about a bright headlight during the day. It's not that bright anyway. Hey! I had to choose headlight or heated gear. Heated gear won.
The other problem I encountered today was a power problem. If you know your cc's, you know that a 200 cc engine is WAY smaller than, say, my Yamaha FJR with 1300 cc's. I don't have much power to begin with on the TW. But when I got into the higher elevations today, it started losing what power it had. It was terrible. I was creeping up that mountain, and just had no power. I quickly realized that the higher elevations meant the air was thinner which was throwing off the mixture in my carburetor.
Fortunately, I brought with me another homemade tool so that I could get into the very tight spot under the carburetor and change the fuel mixture. I don't know why they made that screw so hard to get to and in a place where no screwdriver will fit. Here's a picture of my work-around makeshift tiny screwdriver for the carb:
I wrapped the duct tape around a screwdriver bit for a drill, and that thing fits perfectly in the tiny space.
So I stopped on the side of the mountain, and adjusted the fuel mixture screw so that it would be more lean. It ran a little better, but it needed more. So I stopped again. This time I turned the screw completely shut and opened it only one complete turn, whereas it takes 2 1/2 turns at normal elevation. Yippee! The bike had power at elevation! And I got to an elevation of 10,500 feet this morning.
When I dropped down to 5,000 feet at Montrose, the bike started running poorly again now because it was too lean for the elevation. So I adjusted the fuel mixture back to normal, and it ran fine again. Well, until the road started ascending again. I got back up to 8,000 feet this afternoon, and I was losing power, but I didn't stop to change it this time. I was climbing some of the afternoon mountains in third gear at 35 mph. Fortunately, there wasn't much traffic and usually a slow lane, so I wasn't holding anybody up. Now that I am in Moab at 4,000 feet, the bike runs great again.
That's another benefit of having a simple bike that I can work on myself. Of course, most modern fuel-injected bikes will adjust automatically for elevation. Oh well. I liked being able to solve the problem myself. First time I have adjusted the carb for elevation.
Since I am boring you with technical information, I want to add one more. One of the necessary maintenance items on this bike is cleaning and lubricating the chain, which can be a real pain. The reason is that you can only access a small part of the chain when the bike is sitting normally. To lubricate the whole thing, you have to service the visible part, move the bike forward a bit, then service some more, then move the bike, lubricate that, move the bike, etc. You see the problem and what a pain that is. When I am at home, I can put the bike on a motorcycle jack, thus lifting the rear end and simply spin the wheel while lubricating the chain until it is all done.
I stewed and stewed on this one since I knew I would have no jack with me on the trip. I finally invented the Mickey's Marvelous Motorcycle Lifter. Here's a picture:
Yeah, it's a stick. But it's a stick just the right length so that I can push the bike over toward the kick-stand just enough so that the stick fits under the footpeg on the other side, and the rear wheel lifts 1/2 inch off the ground inviting me to lubricate the chain by spinning the back tire. The other tip is that you will notice the front tire jammed against a curb. That's to keep the bike from rolling forward when Mickey's Marvelous Motorcycle Lifter is under the right footpeg.
All in all, I thought it was ingenious, and it is an original idea. It works very well. Someone else may have something similar, but I haven't heard of it. Solves a big problem for me.
Okay, I think that is all the technical stuff. That's more than enough of it. But it's all really cool to me. That's the kind of stuff I think about when I should probably be thinking about something more important.
It's been a fun day. (And did you notice? No gravel!)
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