Black Dog 2007
Riding the 16th annual Black Dog Dualsport Rally around Mt. Hood
The Rev's BlackDog Dualsport Rally Photo Album
This year Tawm gave us something new-we staged out of the Hood River Fairgrounds on the North side of Mt.Hood and he routed us on both sides of the Columbia river, through the Mt.Hood National Forest in Oregon and the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington.
My brother, Andy, from Hong Kong rode as my navigator this year. My wife, Amy navigaited for another Adventure Sidecar instructor, Monica Rahn. Graham and Julie Meyer,from Australia, are staying with us while Julie recovers from injuries sustained in a fall. Graham rode the Black Dog with us as well.
Here are a few photos of our preparations for the rally.
Getting ready for the BlackDog.
Tuning the muffler for quiet-I hate loud bikes anyway and they are not tolerated at the BlackDog. Removing disks from the Super trapp makes it quieter. The bike had ten disks installed when it came to me. Little kids at schoolbus stops covered their ears as I rode by, I kid you not! It now has three disks.
Update: Tawm put the db meter on the KLR and it rang in at 98 decibels! Totally unacceptable! I took two more disks out tonight, leaving only one and the spark arrester - I hope that does the trick!
Setting up and calibrating the Navigation cluster. I use Sigma bicycle computers. Cost about $20. Easy trip reset with one button. The last one I bought was a Sigma BC 506. A roll chart holder is also required. You can get it from Tucker Rocky, Chaparral or Dennis Kirk. Any moto shop can order one for you.
I buy larger magnets from RadioShack, which I glue to the rim with JB Weld. I also solder in an extra length of wire from the sender to the computer
I also solder in an extra length of wire from the sender to the computer
Calibration is as simple as measuring a single rotation of the tire to get the circumference in mm and entering the value into the Sigma. I calibrate that against a GPS reading and fudge the numbers if I need to get a closer reading. You need the tripmeter to be accurate, so don't worry about speed, focus on distance over the road.
Something I've done to all my KLRs has been to replace my rear suspension links with Eagle Mike Raising links. They give some added ground clearance, slightly steepen the rake for reduced steering effort and effectively stiffen the rear suspension. I use the RL-1 links. Pictured are the tools I used. The pivot bolts are 17mm with 22mm nuts. The black links are the new ones, next to an old set of OEM links for comparison. Not shown is the torque wrench and red loc-tite.
I put a jack under the bike to relieve the tension on the links and pivot bolts.
Once the links were off I used some high temp grease to lube the pivots before installing the new links.
To get the shorter links to line up I first installed the top pivot bolt then used the jack to raise the bike until the holes lined up. Then I cleaned the threads applied some red lok-tite and torqued the pivot bolts down to 72ft. lbs.
Graham Meyer setting up his Ural Patrol for the Black Dog
I went over to the fairgrounds to visit with Tawm last Saturday morning. Tawm is spending the week leading up to the event there, doing last minute prerides and course preparation.
He took time for a little impromptu "Pants Off Dance Off"
Tawm was concerned there was a section of trail too rough for the sidecars so he asked me if I would take a look at it before the rally. Monday evening Graham and I rode over and gave it a try. It was a bit technical but lots of fun! The sidecars are in for a treat this year!
Mr.Cob arrived Tuesday to help pre ride the course. He brought the infamous Chernobyl Chariot. This Ural is a test bed for many inovative modifications. We were admiring his navigation pod, high exhausts and suspension upgrades...
Smile Dave!
Dave also trailerd down a demo Gear Up which the folks at IMWA provided Tawm for the Black Dog. Dave gave Tawm some basic Ural instruction-it wasn't long before Tawm was ripping around the fairgrounds with a big smile on his face!
Saturday morning....
Kimber and Graham, Team Adventure Sidecar-Oz go thru the sign up line
The Hood River nieces and their Hong Kong cousins sold refreshments at our booth
Graham found the roll chart confusing at first:
Amy is an ace navigator and had no problems with the rollchart. She was navigating for the Adventure Sidecar Girls Team with Monica Rahn driving- they kicked our butts all weekend!
There was a sound check at the start. Loud bikes were heavily penalized and quiet bikes gained points for every decibel below 94db. I was never able to get the SuperTrapp below 95db, so I put the stock exhaust back on for a whisper quiet 87db.
Kimber and Graham breezed through the sound check aboard his 07 Ural Patrol
Amy and Monica at the sound check on a 96 KLR
Team Oz was not above using intimidation at the check points...
Most of the route was marked with orange ribbons on clothes pins
Katherine Bellows and Jim Mitchell took the Adventure Sidecar S/TEP class last year. Katherine bought this BMW 650/Ural outfit just 5 weeks before the BlackDog!
The dusty conditions quickly fouled the airfilters
Back at the fairgrounds, I helped with the final checkpoint Saturday
Sunday saw us across the river in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest
This
overlook is on the brink of a cliff,1000 feet above the Columbia River. A couple
of months after these photos were taken a wildfire started down by the river. It
climbed the cliff and jumped the road at the viewpoint, razing several nearby
houses...
We passed through MillA and off the pavement into the woods....
The proud recipient of the SpongeTawmSquarePants Award
Congratulations to Garret Kloudohl and Jason Rae for winning the Adventure Sidecar First place Sidecar Team trophy aboard the IMWA Ural Crossbike!
If you are interested in trying out a sidecar, we use the KLRs in our Adventure Sidecar S/TEP classes Call Hood River Community Education (541)386-2055 to sign up!
The Rev's BlackDog Dualsport Rally Photo Album
All photos and articles Copyright© Vernon Wade 2006 unless otherwise noted