Motorcycle Salvage Yard

Steele's motorcycle junk yard in Englewood, CO is a huge jumble of unidentified frames. I dropped in to see if I could find a donor frame for the '96 XR400. No such luck. Only XR frames I saw were from the '80s.

2001 XR Linkage, Drive, and Brakes

Linkage, shock, swing arm, etc. all get cleaned and lubed.

Finishing up the cleaning, lubing, replacing linkage, final drive, brake parts, tires, etc for the aft section of my bike. Uggh. Need more time. Good timing with the snow and cold that is here now.

Removing the tire was a wrestling match. Should be done with warm tire. Lots more cleaning here too.

The Madness Never Stops...

My Buddy Hondo helped me pick up XR400 number 2 tonight. I hope to have my Son riding with me soon. Needs quite a few things...

Some New XR400 Parts

New fork boots, rear brake rotor and pads, bearings and dust seals.

XR400R Rear Bearing Removal

Pulling the bearings out of the rear wheel. This bike is pretty messy. Going to make it better. Used a concrete anchor to pull them. Nice trick for a few bucks. Dedicated bearing puller kits are spendy.

2001 XR400R - Needs Work!

Set up to work on the final drive, rear wheel, and swing arm.

One rusted axle.

A closer look. Had to drive it out.

What surprises will the rest of the rear linkage hold for me? 

Digging in to the rear of the bike, the engine is running well (but rich, need to fix the jetting).

You can tell by the shape of this axle that this bike has been rode hard and put up wet. I will probably need to replace all the bearing in the wheel and rear linkage. It's great getting a bargain bike!

St1300 near hog's back

A ride while the weather is so nice. 

Webster Pass, White River National Forest

Tom (right) and his friend Larry from TX on the top of Webster

I had the biggest bike on this trip up Webster, wasn't too much of a problem until we started up Radical Hill on the North side of the pass. Mine is the blue KLR650. We went up on September 18th, 2012.

Have gun, will shoot anything. I hope they considered that guy a mile away.

With this picture you can see Red Cone, a very rusty mountain. Someone must have left it out in the rain

Tom's little "Canary" bike, 200 cc Suzuki DL.
Larry had it up to 70 mph on I70 for a spell!

This is typical terrain for the trip, except it gets much steeper. Rocky trip in the Rocky Mountains.

Your intrepid blogger.

Bike Updates

Here is the '03 Connie in a photo I took when I sold the bike. It was a mess
when I got it and doing the work on it was good for the soul.

The '06 ST1300A on short trip to Walmart after meeting my friend Tom for
breakfast and a quick trip up Bear Creek Canyon. 60 degrees today.

The bike above is 2006 ST1300A, with the A standing for ABS. That movable windscreen makes all the difference for wind management. The bike has lots of smooth power, the only knocks against it are that it is heavy, and some would say that it is more like an appliance than a Motorcycle with soul. It works really well.

All I have done so far to the ST is oil change, coolant change, and rewired some of the electronics done by the previous owner. Still have some work to do, but that will come in time.

A 2001 XR400R. A dirt bike classic.

The XR400 is the most humble bike I've owned to date. It is also the most fun. Colorado has so much terrain that wants to be explored on a light (260 lbs?) bike that won't suffer too badly if is dropped. I paid $1,000 for it originally, then came to learn that it wanted some $700 worth of work to make it run. Now I own it about right, but the condition is pretty rough. Nice $20 headlights, aye?

Update for 2013

I has been almost two years and a few bikes since the last post. I sold the '86 Concours and replaced it with a 2004 that had needed quite a bit of work.

The '86 When I sold it

The '04 Connie getting a much needed going over. Notice the upgrade in workspace and the China Freight lift. Saves the back from a much abuse. Whilst owning the '04 Connie, this little gem caught my eye...

It is a 2003 BMW K1200RS. 130 HP of awesomeness. Cruise control, heated grips, amazing bike. It is somewhere between a sport bike and a tourer, leaning more toward the sport. It was not comfortable for long periods in the saddle. I had to find the right bike.

The Collection to date. The KLR is a constant presence!

The Beemer when I sold it. It is moving sculpture.

Since then I've added one more...