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My Life With A 990 Adventure R, Or Drinking The Orange Kool-Aid
- Thread starter Richard
- Start date
Richard
Active member
That will take some thinking. 49 years of motorcycle travel, there are a lot of trips.
I think the greatest achievement is not dying on a motorcycle.
Yet.
There have been some really close calls.
With only about a half hour of thinking, I'd venture there isn't anyone best or favorite ride, but a lot of parts of rides that were great and favorite times. More than a few really awful times too.
One of the best early rides was with my wife on our 1974 850 Norton Interstate. We rode to Steamboat Colorado for a weekend and back to Denver.
Short, free wild camping by a stream.
On our way back,
We never got rained on that trip but it got cold at one point. Jean jackets are no match for real cold.
We did a two week ride to Arizona one summer over July 4th. Tucson. Super hot and neither of us had been riding much on the bike. I'd not been commuting because we had moved to about a mile from my work, so I walked. Our route that trip was straight south on I-25 to Santa Fe, then the idea had been to head south a bit then west across the two lane, but the summer monsoon weather forced us off the greasy dirt/gravel roads and back to the interstate.
The first night was in a terribly cheap motel in Santa Fe with a non-functional wall air conditioner, paper thin walls and a tiny shower I could barely turn around in. I was about 130#'s at the time, so not a large human.
The second day would've us discover one of the nuts holding the barrels on the bike come loose and a second from the head fall off. I'd had the shop service the bike because it was a specific requirement for warranty coverage. In retrospect, I'd have fared better skipping any notion of warranty and done the work myself. After this little adventure it was abundantly clear the shop was not doing a proper service.
The one nut was found bouncing happily on the engine, the other escaping on the road somewhere. With darkening skies we raced the summer storms south to Demming and a Holiday Inn where we had a big, late lunch. Then spying a huge dust cloud/storm headed toward us form the east, we pointed the bike into the wind and hunkered down in the room, hoping for the best.
The darkness about 2:30pm on a late June afternoon thanks to the approaching dust storm.
This was summer 1975
On the way across town, we picked up a four inch screw into t he back tire. I patched the tire and rode across town in a different direction to the Norton shop and bought two spare tubes. Also got a replacement nut for the head. The shop loaned me a torque wrench to torque everything as well, then we checked the valve clearance and were off back to where we were staying with my wife's sister and her husband.
When we left Tucson headed to Phoenix where my great aunt and uncle lived, it was 113° by the temperature displayed at the post office. So hot it forced fuel past the closed petcocks flooding the carbs and cylinders. I had to pull both plugs and kick the bike to blow fuel out of the cylinders.
Stick the plugs back in and fired the bike right up. We stopped a short time later at Casa Grande at a Holiday Inn for some cooling off. The frozen Nalgene jars of water we had in the fairing were of course melted and very warm to drink. We had a pitcher of iced tea and ice cream. Then off into rush hour across Phoenix.
My aunt created us with towels for a cool shower and clean off and an iced G&T after for cocktails before riding in her Coupe De Ville to a steak dinner. After a day with them we heard for the south rim of Grand Canyon by way of Sedona. Up to this point we had been rained on off and on since we were south of Pueblo Colorado a few hours from home. This would be no different. Getting to the south rim campground we found them all full, but the ranger said a couple were camped at the group camping and they might allow us to join. We went off looking and were welcomed.
I rode up to the store for a case of cold beer while Lois set up our tent. Then back at camp, we finished up with setting up and made dinner. While we talked the couple that had got the site were on a restored /2 R69S BMW from around Boston. He was a plumber and they had been out riding for five weeks. The bike was hard to start and leaking oil from a valve cover.
I took a look and fixed the leak, (a piece of old gasket material had been left on with a new cover gasket in place creating a ready hole).
Then I taught the plumber how to properly start a plunger-primed carb bike. Once I demonstrated the correct method, he was shocked. First kick starting.
Even his wife could start the bike easily.
Sadly no photos of all this as I'd wound film into my canon, stripping the film strip cog holes out at first. I would not discover this until we were in Mesa Verde and I noted I'd just wound past 38 exposures on a 36 exposure reel with no resistance.
lost sunset over the GC and sunrise photos along with photos of relatives and along the way, through Sedona and rain and hail. Plus the camp photos we'd set up with tripod and timer to get all of us.
The next bit of bad luck was noticing the rear fender dragging once in a while on the rear wheel. What had happened was the frame had bent just aft of the lay-down shock mounts forcing the fender much closer to the tire. Once home, we saw there was actually a crack, but we were a week away from that discovery.
Anyway that was still a great ride. I had a real motorcycle shop fix the frame for me. And bought a 1974 BMW R90/6 as a better travel mount. The Norton would return around 60 mpg at the then national speed limit of 55 mph. I had experienced 75 mpg with a 24 tooth drive sprocket replacing the 22, but that required a lot of clutch slipping to launch. Two up that was a bad idea so I stuck with the stock 22.
The R90 had a 2.91 final drive ratio so wasn't too bad on economy returning mid 60's on flat cool interstate or two lane. 55mpg was the usual in-town commuter economy.
The R90 was probably the best travel bike I've owned. The 1150 GS Adventure was confortable, but heavy and tall. Much less confidence inspiring with two people onboard. The R90 was better economy than the GS. I've not had a fuel injected bike that was reliably economical compared to a similar capacity and size carbureted bike.
Even my CBR900RR would return 65mpg with stock gearing on the interstate if ridden at the speed limit. Add ten to twenty mph and the economy drops to mid to upper 50's.
I don't think we ever had a perfect trip. We had a lot of them that were fun for the most part but had some issues here ar there or several. Logistics and mechanicals. The R90 never gave us any problems other than. the original seat being so bad the second day of riding was pure pain and the first night trying to sleep on our backs was impossible because of how much our butts hurt from that seat.
Even the water cushion could not fix the profile of the saddle. Having the EZ Berg built was the best money spent on that bike.
We sold it and bought the. R65 which I built into an S, but it was too small a saddle for two up and BMW never got the bag mounts built before we tired of it. I sold it for more than we paid for it with the extras on it and went on a quest for an RS.
The RS was pretty good. Not as good of saddle as the custom, but I could ride it all day.
We figured to sell it in California, but used loan interest rates made that impossible so I flew out and met my wife who was out in LA for work. We rode him on it. The. hard luggage having been sold off the bike before I rode it to California.
Mark Twains Cabin where he prospected for gold and wrote the Jumping Frog Contest.
After selling this we were going to be bike less as we became a family of three.
That lasted about six months.
Richard
Active member
I'd say my biggest challenge was learning to handle the 1150 GS Adventure on dirt. I have Jimmy Lewis Offroad schools and MotoVentures to thank for training. I learned a lot I did not know from riding the street and race tracks. Performance riding training and roadracing training don't prepare you for controlling a heavy, tall bike in deep sand. But, learning to handle a big bike off road on dirt, sliding and braking and balance and such help on the street and race track.
A bit.
Being able to ride in sand when I was forced to on the big loaded up for travel adventure bikes, far too often I was on 50/50 tires that were well worn as well and being able to sing the back wheel to dig a parking hole. then wiggle the bike side to side and ride out of the hole to continue was a huge accomplishment. Without the proper training, I might have burned down more than one clutch. Slipping the clutch to modulate traction is a bad idea. Throttle control is the key. Jimmy Lewis stresses this and it flat works. I hurried both the 1150 and the 990 up to the belly and wiggle the bike side to Sid, then rode out of the hole. Loaded or unloaded. I did it enough I was confident I could manage it and did it on both bikes with very worn 50/50 tires. I'd slid both bikes rear ends on dry tarmac with knobbies. The KTM will spin the rear knobby on pavement really easily and depending on what tire will do it all the time. The Dunlop 908RR spun until it was bald, never did hook up on pavement. The Golden Tyre knobbies were similar, but after about 1,500 miles finally would hook up enough for wrist roll wheelies.
The ABS on the GS prevented locking the rear on dry pavement with the brake, but dropping a gear too low and dumping the clutch would do initiate a spin and slide that could be modulated with the throttle. Good fun.
Since retirement I don't ride enough to have my skills honed to the degree I did back when I was commuting and putting 25. to 30K miles on a bike in a year. Southern California is ideal fro motorcycle commuting, if you're willing to keep your head up and pay careful attention. Lane splitting is nerve wracking because you. can't depend on cars doing anything right. They will always make the most wrong decision and move. It's best to leave room for a plan when the worst happens.
The longest ride I did was in 2018 with the 990 for nearly five weeks. That ride ended with the bike blowing the motor. If I'd been smart, I'd have ended my riding then.
But, I would have missed some more fun rides. Short but fun. That 2018 ride I was mostly alone and I've gotten used to that being how I ride. It's nice not having to hurry up to get going to avoid keeping others waiting or the reverse. It's nice to not have a real plan, to make it up as I go. I have migrated more to KOA type camping and motels these last several trips to escape the desert heat. Riding long days to minimize the time in the heat.
Coming back from Iowa I was 4 days in 100°+ heat for nearly the entire days riding. That heat dome stuff is no joke and it is huge. The Iowa trip the dome extended into southern Canada. My dad and Stepmom summer in BC and it was 100° there with fires closing roads. The same last summer when I was riding back form Denver. I'd originally planned to ride to I-90 up north and across, but the tiny window of semi-relief across Nevada and Utah got me three days of not super bad temperatures but still two of over 100°.
Even riding in Utah and Colorado was hot. So much less fun.
Would have. been less work if I'd noticed the preload spacers at the bottom of the springs when I swapped back to the longer, softer springs. Then I would have not had zero sag at the front.
A bit.
Being able to ride in sand when I was forced to on the big loaded up for travel adventure bikes, far too often I was on 50/50 tires that were well worn as well and being able to sing the back wheel to dig a parking hole. then wiggle the bike side to side and ride out of the hole to continue was a huge accomplishment. Without the proper training, I might have burned down more than one clutch. Slipping the clutch to modulate traction is a bad idea. Throttle control is the key. Jimmy Lewis stresses this and it flat works. I hurried both the 1150 and the 990 up to the belly and wiggle the bike side to Sid, then rode out of the hole. Loaded or unloaded. I did it enough I was confident I could manage it and did it on both bikes with very worn 50/50 tires. I'd slid both bikes rear ends on dry tarmac with knobbies. The KTM will spin the rear knobby on pavement really easily and depending on what tire will do it all the time. The Dunlop 908RR spun until it was bald, never did hook up on pavement. The Golden Tyre knobbies were similar, but after about 1,500 miles finally would hook up enough for wrist roll wheelies.
The ABS on the GS prevented locking the rear on dry pavement with the brake, but dropping a gear too low and dumping the clutch would do initiate a spin and slide that could be modulated with the throttle. Good fun.
Since retirement I don't ride enough to have my skills honed to the degree I did back when I was commuting and putting 25. to 30K miles on a bike in a year. Southern California is ideal fro motorcycle commuting, if you're willing to keep your head up and pay careful attention. Lane splitting is nerve wracking because you. can't depend on cars doing anything right. They will always make the most wrong decision and move. It's best to leave room for a plan when the worst happens.
The longest ride I did was in 2018 with the 990 for nearly five weeks. That ride ended with the bike blowing the motor. If I'd been smart, I'd have ended my riding then.
But, I would have missed some more fun rides. Short but fun. That 2018 ride I was mostly alone and I've gotten used to that being how I ride. It's nice not having to hurry up to get going to avoid keeping others waiting or the reverse. It's nice to not have a real plan, to make it up as I go. I have migrated more to KOA type camping and motels these last several trips to escape the desert heat. Riding long days to minimize the time in the heat.
Coming back from Iowa I was 4 days in 100°+ heat for nearly the entire days riding. That heat dome stuff is no joke and it is huge. The Iowa trip the dome extended into southern Canada. My dad and Stepmom summer in BC and it was 100° there with fires closing roads. The same last summer when I was riding back form Denver. I'd originally planned to ride to I-90 up north and across, but the tiny window of semi-relief across Nevada and Utah got me three days of not super bad temperatures but still two of over 100°.
Even riding in Utah and Colorado was hot. So much less fun.
Would have. been less work if I'd noticed the preload spacers at the bottom of the springs when I swapped back to the longer, softer springs. Then I would have not had zero sag at the front.
That's definitely a plus!I'd read your blog post about your father-in-law before. I love the story. How old were you when you met your wife at the wedding? Those are great pictures of your adventures together.
The film equivilant to a corrupt SD card. As unfortunate as that is you sure captured a lot of other great photos!
My last bike before I got the KLX in '21 was a 900RR in the 90's. I loved that bike but looking back on it I'm lucky to have survived; despite reading Keith Code's books and learning everything I could it just isn't a platform to learn the basics on. I read your blog post about practicing for the skills test at the DMV and that is almost exactly what I did when I got this bike though it took me longer before I took the test. I've spent countless hours in parking lots learning balance and full lock 360s and slow slalom before realizing that I had to learn them all again once I tried standing while doing them! All part of the fun.
Yet a lot of your stories are about those imperfect times. Those are the most memorable it would seem. I know they have been for me so far.
Where was that to? What did you do after the bike blew up?
That must've been tough going! I'd figure that the memory is a lot nicer than the actual event though. That's kind of what I'm after with some of the rides I've done that I knew weren't going to be fun in the moment, that they would leave a lasting memory to look back on and ask myself “what the hell was I thinking!”.
Thanks for sharing! You’ve had some amazing adventures. 👍
Richard
Active member
I took to motorcycles late for most, 21. My wife and I met when I had just turned 19.
I'd read your blog post about your father-in-law before. I love the story. How old were you when you met your wife at the wedding? Those are great pictures of your adventures together.
On my daily commute an hour to work and anywhere from an hour to three hours to get home depending on how the cars crashed I worked on focus and balance. Splitting lanes requires being very focused on everything, everywhere all at once and staring at nothing. Yet, seeing it all. Good for the track. I never fully trusted the track to be clear or the rider in front not to fall or the rider behind not to run into me. Committing 100% to the track safety is what racers do. In a trackday I was never to that level.
Yes, our brains seem to only recall the terrifying experiences leaving the day to day stuff gets fuzzy.Yet a lot of your stories are about those imperfect times. Those are the most memorable it would seem. I know they have been for me so far.
I'd ridden to Colorado, Utah and had thought about heading to BC, but a new grandson born a few weeks early got me turned for home. The bike blew up about 7:30 am on I-40 west of Flagstaff about 99 miles from Lake Havasu. I had cell signal and called the auto club. I have my motorcycle insurance with them that includes towing for 100 miles. Lake Havasu had a U-Haul dealer with a truck I could load the bike into, but of course the truck didn't have a ramp and neither did the dealer, so more adventure.
The hottest day ever was coming back form Ouray in 2022. It was to be 117° in Needles. I got there about 10 am, filled the tank with fuel, bought two bottles of water, drinking one and topping off my hydration pack with the other then heading to Barstow. I stopped at the interstate rest stop for a pee, and kept going. The temperature never dropped below 100° until I was six miles from home.
It's funny a friend just finished LAB2V this past weekend on his DR650. I'd never do that on the 990, but would consider it on a CRF300L or similar size.
Other than a moped when I was a kid and a few years on the sport bikes I got started really late with my current bike. I met my wife at about the same age (her dad isn't into motorcycles though
)That's remarkable that you have ridden that much and in those conditions and have lived to tell the tale. I've done a lot of track days on four wheels but small mistakes don't result in a crash like on a bike.
That's what makes them fun. Though I have yet to have any really bad experiences like being stranded or injured way out on a trail. I suppose those kinds of memories take a little longer to look back on with any kind of reminiscence. I have a feeling I'll learn for myself eventually and that's okay. If or when that day comes I'm going to think back on this exchange with you and remind myself to enjoy the shitty moment because it's making the strongest of memories.
That's rough. Especially with a pressing need to get back home. That's lucky you had a mile to spare. And a good idea about the U-Haul. I don't have a bike yet that has the legs to get me very far from home so that's not a problem I've had to consider.
I'm not familiar with Ouray but I just searched and the pictures are amazing. The riding out west is really incredible. Man, that's hot. We rarely break 100 here and it takes a toll on me. As I've been putting together my ride report from last year I've been looking up the historical weather and it's embarrassing how mild the temps were compared to my memory of how hot I was at some points. I don't remember where I left off but in one of the upcoming days that I need to compose I actually trimmed the tops of my socks off hoping for any little bit of relief. It was probably in the mid-70s.
In my defense though, there's a lot of trail there where I was averaging 8-12 MPH so I wasn't generating a lot of airflow.I've never heard of LAB2V before and just looked it up. That looks like a great ride. The more I talk to people and poke around on the forums the more I realize just how many great rides there are out there. I'm super grateful that I got into riding but it would've been nice if I'd gotten into it a little sooner.
Thanks again for sharing, Richard. You've been there and done that on MCs, that's for certain! 👍
Richard
Active member
49 years ago today, I rode to a motorcycle dealership in Denver, Colorado on my six month old Honda CB360 and traded it off on my new 1974 Norton 850 Interstate.
Yes, that is snow in the background, near the University of Denver campus.
A long strange trip indeed.
Yes, that is snow in the background, near the University of Denver campus.
A long strange trip indeed.
I think I read that whole story in your blog. Is that when you met the preacher?49 years ago today, I rode to a motorcycle dealership in Denver, Colorado on my six month old Honda CB360 and traded it off on my new 1974 Norton 850 Interstate.
Yes, that is snow in the background, near the University of Denver campus.
A long strange trip indeed.
Richard
Active member
A monk actually. It was later that winter.
Oops. I got your riding around Denver in the snow stories confused.
Richard
Active member
You are not alone. HahahaOops. I got your riding around Denver in the snow stories confused.
Davethestick
Active member
Great photos thanks for sharing
Richard
Active member
2023 came to an end without my completing the last couple of tasks I'd decided on. That will give me some work to begin 2024 with.
My Life with the 990R - 2023
My Life with the 990R - 2023
Richard
Active member
I'm recovered. I did a bicycle ride Sunday with a group. Fast and hard riding. I'm sore from that today.
No real plans for riding the motorcycle at all. I'm not at all inspired to take time, or money away from either my cycling or family for motorcycle travel. I'm not depressed by this at all. I'm just not inspired to ride a motorcycle.
A friend and his wife have been considering riding the CDR. We talked a bit about it. I'm not really into it.
After 50 years I'm probably filled up with motorcycles and travel on them.
No real plans for riding the motorcycle at all. I'm not at all inspired to take time, or money away from either my cycling or family for motorcycle travel. I'm not depressed by this at all. I'm just not inspired to ride a motorcycle.
A friend and his wife have been considering riding the CDR. We talked a bit about it. I'm not really into it.
After 50 years I'm probably filled up with motorcycles and travel on them.
I’m glad to hear that you’re recovered.
Have you ever felt like this before about motorcycling?
The CDR would be awesome. I have a lot of rides on my list and, unfortunately, most of them I’ll never get the time to do but the CDR is a ride I have to do some day. Hopefully sooner than later.
Richard
Active member
Yes, but not this sustained. I am more driven to ride my bicycle than my motorcycle. The last seven years have been super hot summers in the west and southwest. I've spent day after day riding in heat for all those trips. I'm over doing that anymore. I don't like riding sand and that is really what the desert is and it is worse on a big bike. It's been fifty years of riding as of this year. I was looking at all the space motorcycle and stuff take up in this house and it is crazy. Plus, I sell the motorcycle that gives me a little nest egg for a new bicycle.
I get it. If this really is the end of the road for your mc riding you cetainly can't say that you haven't had an amazing ride over the years. I'll never come anywhere close to the number of epic rides that you've had. You're very fortunate. I really enjoyed reading and hearing your story. Thank you for sharing it. Take care, Richard.