Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Sand Is Not A Recomended Lubricant

Recently we, Marjorie and I, visited friends in Michigan.  Friends long lost but not parted if that makes sense - I probably have that backwards.  Anyway, we missed them sorely and they took some time from their busy schedules to be together.  Rich was able to find a nice Suzuki DR350 for me to try and keep up with his Yamaha XT600.  The DR is a hard beast to start while the XT is electric so we kicked, and kicked, some more, ditto until we held our breaths just so, hovered our centers of mass even closer and like magic, an amazingly refined engineering process keeps beast running.  Gasoline helps too.  And oil.

A mere moment later, the XT purrs, nay thumps, to life.  I'm sweating, he's laughing but no complaints from me, I get to ride with my best friend.

My critical eye notes a front tire on the last millimeter of rubber and the front washes out frequently when I push the beast even slightly.  My forearms are sore just thinking about muscling beast through the sandy turns while keeping up.

It seems that Michigan is one big sand dune and it's everywhere!

Rich is justifiably proud of his XT, as well he should, it's in fine shape and as civilized as a bike can be, tracing back to rallye racing in Dakar.  It suits him.

Running through the turns, the nimble little beast can throw a roost and a feeling of such freedom settles over me that I know I'm blessed to be in this moment.  I know time is short and time limited but the feeling persists.  I even pass Rich, once, playing wannabe racers.  He's heavy on the gas, that one!

We stop for lunch, talk some, laugh, poke fun and are friends, too long apart and time quickly passes and so it's time to ride.

"Care to ride the XT?" "Why sure, does the electric start work....?" and off we go!

I feel the mass of the heavier bike and a different technique keeps me farther back on the seat, steering with the throttle.  It's also more comfortable back there too so I get lazy and work the throttle harder.  The bike is designed to handle that style rider but soon, I feel a hitch in the thumping smoothness and the chain comes off.  In the middle of nowhere.

I look at the rear sprocket and the teeth are worn completely off, nothing is left.  It seems that all the sand in Michigan got stuck to the chain and in an insidiously accelerated chain (no pun intended) of events, sandpapered the sprocket to oblivion...so I think anyway.

We were able to keep the chain on by judicious use of throttle, clutch and gears, and limp home slowly.  But we did make it and lived to tell the tale. Not that we were in any danger but we like the drama!

All that sand is an eternally fun playground for motorcycles to romp and roost around in and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

No, sand is not a recommended lubricant for chains, sprockets and the like, little DR350 beasts are hard to start and bigger bikes take a different riding style...electric start is still very nice! And, best friends are special.

Weeks after our ride, I miss it sorely.