There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

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HomeMadeSin
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#16

Post by HomeMadeSin »

After the late night push, I had the bike together and looking the part anyway. At 1am, I made the decision to not go test ride around Commerce City...(not the best place). So I merely rode it to the other end of the building to store for the evening.

The next day, I managed to extract it to move it outside to setup for a test ride to lunch. It started, and all seemed well.

So, I’m confident now and looking forward to a nice ride to lunch. Fire her up and head out and make it all of about 2 miles. Dead, in the turn lane with heavy semi traffic. Great. Horn, signal stop light fuse is blown so I replace it with a 30A (it was handy). Well about a mile later the main fuse blows. Replace it with a 30A and about half way back now. As I pull into the work lot, it dies again. Damn, it’s going to be another late one....
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#17

Post by HomeMadeSin »

So Tuesday evening, I come back to work out the wrinkles. This is the day before we leave for Canada....

Since the horn, signal and stop light fuse gave me trouble, I decided to put the stock front signals back on and not use the China all in one headlamp for anything but that.

I had also moved my rear signals to mount on the stoplight frame to make for a clean side profile for bags. Well, the stoplight chassis is isolated from the rear fender (electrically, with rubber isolators) - anyone know why?!? Anyway, I used a ground wire leftover from the Vetter setup to ground the chassis for the signals to work. It worked like a champ.

So after riding quite a bit, all seemed to be working well. Ready to ride, right?
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5speed
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#18

Post by 5speed »

you are a brave man. I would be scared to leave the driveway. :mrgreen:
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#19

Post by Old Fogey »

5speed wrote:you are a brave man. I would be scared to leave the driveway. :mrgreen:
Thinking much the same!
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#20

Post by Brant »

:popcornx2
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ALL WE WANT TO DO IS DRINK OUR ESPRESSO, RIDE OUR MACHINES, AND NOT BE HASSLED BY THE MAN
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5speed
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#21

Post by 5speed »

following this adventure on facebook. So far the only casualty I've seen was a broken drive shaft..
1982 1100 standard. (sold)
1986 Yamaha FJ1200
2000 Yamaha Roadstar
1976 GoldWing. running but not on the road
1978 Goldwing. future cafe project.
2019 Can-Am ryker (boss's new ride)

2002 Shadow American Classic(sold)
1983 Shadow 500. (sold)
HomeMadeSin
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#22

Post by HomeMadeSin »

Apologies once again. The schedule has been hectic because of our late departure and I haven’t had the time to do a proper trip report here. My plan is to do that essentially post ride, with detail, pics, etc post ride.

In Dawson City now preparing to embark on the most difficult section of road (to Eagle Plains, then to Inuvik, and on to Tuktoyaktuk). According to reports on advrider, there have been several broken arms and legs for those attempting to make the trek due to rain. And I’m guess most of those are on “proper” bikes - not 40 year old ‘Wings.

We’ve had the broken drive shaft, a flat rear tire, broken luggage racks, wacky voltage problems, oil leaks, missing windshield hardware, a slow radiator leak and an odd timing belt wear issue. Just haven’t even posted that stuff on FB.

My K&N air filters are dirtier than a Richard Pryor comedy set. One bike has oiled the right boot and side of its rider ceaselessly since an overfilling and is just now coming into proper range/level.

And since one rider turned around in Smithers BC, I’m the only naked GW (the three others are faired) and doing my best to rid the world of every kamikaze insect I can. My visor and jacket (and front end of my bike) is so peppered with guts I could make chili.

But today is the kick off for the remote town of Eagle Plains. Sounds like there have been significant rain along the way which is NOT a good omen. We plan to reach it and take each leg a bit caustiously.

Thanks for your patience. I’ll include pics and gory details when I can set up links to pics and have time to add the proper prose.

Z
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#23

Post by HomeMadeSin »

Oh and Happy Fathers Day!!!
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Rednaxs60
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#24

Post by Rednaxs60 »

This is a fantastic thread. Thought I was the only person who would undertake a trip with a bike that was not 100 percent road tested. I brought an '85 LTD fuel injected GW from Ontario to BC after it had been off the road for four years and after only working on it and road testing for four weeks.

Good on you gents for doing this. These older GWs are fairly bulletproof and once the engine is sorted out it is generally mechanical that gives you grief as has been mentioned. Even newer bikes have issues on trips like this.

Look forward to following this and will check out Facebook.

Safe riding. Cheers
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HomeMadeSin
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#25

Post by HomeMadeSin »

I’ll try to capture the extent of our last minute wrenching when I do the ride report proper. It will make the nearly organized among us cringe...
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#26

Post by Brant »

At least you are not sitting at home watching Nat Geo. Cross county on an old wing, a wonderful adventure. Stay safe.
83 GL 1100 bagger Ugly Betty
ALL WE WANT TO DO IS DRINK OUR ESPRESSO, RIDE OUR MACHINES, AND NOT BE HASSLED BY THE MAN
Owning a motorcycle is not a matter of life or death. It's much more important than that.
"Don't sweat the little things, guys, take care and appreciate all that you have around you!" - Fewman
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#27

Post by desertrefugee »

Anybody got the FB link? I can't seem to find it...
- Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass. It's about learning to ride in the rain.
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#28

Post by HomeMadeSin »

Look for Bottom Gear 4848.

Well we made it to Eagle Plains. You guys are truly not going to believe our adventures today. Fortunately the weather was perfect and the road dried up nicely. But 40+ year old routers are not made for 370km of washboard dirt roads.

Aside from all kinds of stuff intended to stay mounted and/or strapped onto the bikes (but didn’t), we had a battery failure. Fortunately, we had a Honda 1kW generator Jerry rigged to power the bike to make the final 100km or so to Eagle Plain

You can’t make this stuff up. Picture a bike with a flippin’ generator running on the back of a bike providing the juice to keep it running.

Z

PS: there aren’t enough bungy cords on this route to keep the luggage in place. More to come....
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#29

Post by Whiskerfish »

"Agreement is not a requirement for Respect" CDR Michael Smith USN (Ret) 2017
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and a whole garage full of possibilities!!

Psst. oh and by the way CHANGE YOUR BELTS!!!!
HomeMadeSin
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Re: There once was a man from Tuktoyaktuk...

#30

Post by HomeMadeSin »

Reached Inuvik around 9pm local. The road from Eagle Plains to Inuvik was dry and often very dusty. A few sections were sketchy - like when they were watering the road and grading it.

The bike with a faulty battery over-cooked it’s electric fuel pump, requiring a replacement en route.

Too tired to continue. Have to decide who and when are going to Tuk. Weather will be paramount.

Z
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