Good to hear you have another riding buddy, and all is well. Take care, Gerry
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Short test ride
So bill was not incredibly happy with his XR650, it was always giving him trouble and sometimes it seemed near impossible to start. We had been keeping our eyes open for a replacement that was a little nicer, we just didn't expect a KTM to fall from the sky.
but as things often work out over here, despite being utterly helpless on our own, problems that we face are usually solved in ways we never imagined. Bill bumped into a helocopter pilot who brought over this KTM in a crate and has not been able to ride it and was just looking to get rid of it. Bill of coarse was more then happy to oblige the man, so for a nominal fee, he picked up the bike he had always drooled over, but had long ago resigned as un-obtainable.
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So a test ride was in order. Bill wanted to test his new bike, and I wanted to test my new fuel filter modification (there is a separate thread on that).
we rode up the mountain behind our town and tried to find a fabled waterfall on the backside. the main road is 95% paved with a few hard-packed dirt sections, so it is really the perfect ride for the TW. I love the traction I get on the dirt sections with that huge back tire.
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we found some villagers who knew about the waterfall and would be happy to take us, but it started raining so we decided it would be better to come back another time.
The nice thing about this place is that if you do get caught in the rain, it is still 90 dagrees, so you don't get cold.
Bill ran out of gas right when we were going to turn around and he didn't think his reserve would be enough to make it back. fortunately there was a young boy there with a 2 liter juice bottle full of gas that he sold us for about 5$.
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all in all it was a good ride even if we did not make it to the waterfall. I kept getting bugs in my teeth because I was smiling the whole time, this bike is just so much fun to ride.
next week we ride to Brugam, a town about 150 miles towards Indonesia. We will spend the weekend there doing work on a school house for a missionary out there.
but as things often work out over here, despite being utterly helpless on our own, problems that we face are usually solved in ways we never imagined. Bill bumped into a helocopter pilot who brought over this KTM in a crate and has not been able to ride it and was just looking to get rid of it. Bill of coarse was more then happy to oblige the man, so for a nominal fee, he picked up the bike he had always drooled over, but had long ago resigned as un-obtainable.
So a test ride was in order. Bill wanted to test his new bike, and I wanted to test my new fuel filter modification (there is a separate thread on that).
we rode up the mountain behind our town and tried to find a fabled waterfall on the backside. the main road is 95% paved with a few hard-packed dirt sections, so it is really the perfect ride for the TW. I love the traction I get on the dirt sections with that huge back tire.
we found some villagers who knew about the waterfall and would be happy to take us, but it started raining so we decided it would be better to come back another time.
The nice thing about this place is that if you do get caught in the rain, it is still 90 dagrees, so you don't get cold.
Bill ran out of gas right when we were going to turn around and he didn't think his reserve would be enough to make it back. fortunately there was a young boy there with a 2 liter juice bottle full of gas that he sold us for about 5$.
all in all it was a good ride even if we did not make it to the waterfall. I kept getting bugs in my teeth because I was smiling the whole time, this bike is just so much fun to ride.
next week we ride to Brugam, a town about 150 miles towards Indonesia. We will spend the weekend there doing work on a school house for a missionary out there.
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