theboondork's RV blog

It's hard to admit it when you've made a mistake.... So I won't

12/8/2017

Vulture peak clouds

The last few weeks I have been giving serious thoughts to the choice I made in the kind of motorcycle I bought. Don't get me wrong, the Yamaha WR450 is an incredible motorcycle and will do virtually anything that you have the skills and capability of doing so its not the Yamaha's fault, it's sort of mine.

Box Wash is a great place to ride a motorcycle, it's got easy trails and hard trails, hills and descents and is the first place that I've been in since I customized the Yamaha that I've been able to give the motorcycle some serious riding in all types of terrain and get to know more about its abilities. But I found myself not riding it is much as I thought I would and I couldn't figure out why until a few days ago when it finally dawned on me what the problem was.

When I bought the Yamaha WR450 I hadn't owned a motorcycle in about 25 years so the only knowledge about what I liked in a motorcycle was the way I felt about motorcycles 25 years ago, so naturally I just continued with those feelings. But it has now become clear to me that I have changed in those 25 years, for the better of course, but changed nonetheless.

For some inexplicable reason I don't seem to have the strength, reflexes, or apparently even the reasoning ability that I had 25 years ago and that has seriously affected my abilities to enjoy what the Yamaha has the capability of doing.

And it appears that the reason I couldn't figure out why I wasn't enjoying riding the Yamaha WR450 is because it was a combination of problems that all together combined to create a situation where the thing missing from my rides was the very thing that I like to ride motorcycles for which is..... The FUN.

It was as complicated and as simple as that, the Yamaha just wasn't FUN to ride it was more like work. It's kind of big, it's kind of heavy, and it's still kind of tall which makes schlepping it down a rough trail more work than fun. I can do it but when it's over instead of a sense of accomplishment, the feeling is more one of glad to have survived.

So I'm in the position right now of trying to figure out what to do. I'm supposed to be heading for Quartzsite where my major way of having fun was going to be riding my dirt bike. But riding my dirt bike just hasn't been as much fun as I hoped it would be. So I've got to figure out what I need to do about all this and I will talk about that tomorrow.

theboondork

Some of the many trails and washes available to ride on at Vulture Peak

Box Wash, some parts are deep sand and some parts are rocks and boulders. But all 5 miles of it are fun on the right motorcycle.

12 Comments

JWFitz

12/8/2017 06:00:44 pm

Sounds like you are leaning towards more wheels on the ground to Have Too Much Fun.

I am hoping I have not made my own mistake. I bought an electric Fat Tire bike. My plan is to use it for alternative transportation with the RV I will be getting in the next few weeks (17 working days until retirement). I just need to get off my lazy azz and start riding. I have had it for 2 months, October was still too warm after work here in Yuma. Now it is dark too early. Somehow missed the 1 month of good weather and light.

theboondork

12/8/2017 07:17:34 pm

Actually I've never owned a Quad or an ATV of any kind I've always been a motorcycle kind of guy. Plus I don't have a way of carrying a four wheeled vehicle, and I imagine it would be pretty heavy. I'm thinking of something smaller and lighter than what I have now.

Alternative transportation is what I had in mind also when I bought the Yamaha but so far it has spent very very few miles on the road .

17 working days to go huh? When I was in the Air Force that would be called SHORT, and we would walk around all the time yelling out SHOOORT. Just to let everyone know that we were so close to being a civilian nobody could mess with us. I assume you can't do that at your job.

I've never had an electric motorcycle but if it's going to be of any use to you it had better have a looong extension cord.

Good luck with your retirement and your travels in the RV

Tom

12/8/2017 08:53:38 pm

Realized after my comment that a quad wasn't going to work with the 5th wheel.

Just got a call and I do not have to work tomorrow. It is now 16 working days. Yeah I may be a getting a little obnoxious about reminding everybody, but I really think I have earned it after 38 years.

Not too worried about the extension cord. Range is about 50 miles. Will add up to 20 mph to whatever you can pedal. With the fat tires it can be used in sand or snow Box wash might be a little extreme though. Won't know until I can get out on the road though. And it is very unlikely that I will ever try it out in the snow.

12/8/2017 09:19:07 pm

I know electric motorcycles are becoming more and more common and may have a better chance of catching on than electric cars because a lot of motorcycles are only used for short distances and primarily for recreation which may make them better candidates for battery power.

I hope you know how to stop working after 38 years, for some people its not that easy. My experience has been its going to take some time to slow down and relax and get the hang of doing what you want to do instead of what you have to do. If you're like me you were taught as a young boy that men work and if they're not working somethings wrong, so its kind of hard to shake the feeling that not working is a good thing.

Fortunately for me my laziness and total lack of ambition allowed me to achieve perfect harmony with the RV lifestyle practically overnight.

Tom

Vall and Mo link

12/8/2017 06:03:02 pm

Hi Tom,

1st of all, thanks for the pics. The one with the lateral light rays is absolutely incredible, I did not know a camera could capture something like that with such sharpeness.We have witnessed similar light effects personally many times, but trying to photograph them has proved elusive for us every time. Not so with your pic, you really got it down pat!

Also, thanks for the very insightful pics regarding riding the motorcycle for fun, made us rethink our priorities. We plan on getting and carrying around a Yamaha TW200 basically to (a) have a second vehicle in case of emergencies, and (b) to allow us to explore places too far from the RV for hiking but too rugged or narrow for the truck. Our thing is really hiking and exploring and we've been thinking of the bike as a means to allow us to do more towards these ends.

That said, who knows? Perhaps we will even end up enjoying riding it around for its own sake... But this is not our mindset now.

Cheers,
--
Vall & Mo.

12/8/2017 07:18:54 pm

Thank you for the compliments about my snapshots I actually enjoy taking them more than looking at them.

I remember you talking about the Yamaha TW200 before and it has one good thing that mine never had which is a very low seat height. And the seat height of mine even though its way lower than it was when it was new is still one of its major problems for me.

The other problem it has is the weight. And that problem is exacerbated by the height problem. Street bikes spend most of their lives driving down the road in a straight up position in less there in a curve at which time there laying over somewhat but they're moving fast enough that the gyroscopic effect of the wheels keep them from falling over. On the other hand it's common for dirt bikes to lean way over going really slow and the only thing keeping it from falling over is the strength of the rider and his foot contact with the ground.

So if the motorcycle is heavy and tall it means the motorcycle has to lean over farther before your foot can touch the ground. And by the time your foot can reach the ground the motorcycle has leaned over far enough that it has become pretty darned heavy. And therein lies most of my problem.

Your TW 200 is actually a little heavier than my Yamaha, about 270 for mine and about 280 for yours but your seat height is only 31 inches whereas mine is 34 inches even after I lowered it from 38. That may not sound like much of a difference but when you're riding on unlevel ground, which pretty much describes riding off road, you have to lean that bike over a long way before your foot is going to touch and by then the weight maybe more than you can handle. And that's what is happening to me.
So your low seat height will allow you to hold up a heavier bike at a steeper angle.

Tom

12/8/2017 10:34:10 pm

I agree Tom's pics are a pleasure.

If you are still in decision making mode. Check out some electric "Bicycles" they may fit better than a "motorcycle". And 2 will weigh less than one motorcycle

This YouTube video shows the bike I purchased.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KStyV0skP1c&t=1772s
The Bike review starts at 10:00. Be sure and check out the trail ride after 35:00

12/9/2017 04:11:50 pm

That is a cool bicycle and since I've never been very fond of pedaling if I was getting a bicycle that's probably the one I would get.

I actually talked to a guy that was riding just that one when I was boondocked at Ben Avery's gun range and he really liked it. He said he was recovering from a broken back he got when he crashed his motorcycle, that's just what I wanted to hear, and the electric bike was fun to ride around on.

I think it usefulness would depend on whether or not you stay in RV parks most of the time or boondock most of the time. I think it would be far more useful in an RV Park because everything is usually close by and that would be a great way of running to the office are going down the street to a close by store.

But for boondocking shopping is often kind of far away so you probably couldn't use it to get to town, and I'm not sure if it would make a good Jeep trail bike. Another concern when you're boondocking is cactus spines, motorcycle tires are pretty thick and tough but my experience with bicycle tires is you get plenty of experience fixing flats even with the slime stuff in them.

But it is an interesting concept, keep us all informed about how the bike works.

Tom

Barney Ward

12/8/2017 07:05:32 pm

WOW that is almost a duplicate of my conversations with myself when I had my last mountain bicycle. It was not an easy decision to choose what was next. But my deterioration of reflexes made it obvious I had to "tune it down some to be safe". So another phase of living well passes on. The choice is not easy or guaranteed to be right. But at my ancient age I chose to chase safety so I can at least do something longer. Good luck and congratulations on realizing the truth in front of you in time to have a choice.

12/8/2017 07:33:07 pm

Yeah since I've always been a motorcycle guy it's hard to admit that I can't do what I used to do, so in a way I think I'm lucky that I have realized I can have more fun on a little sissy girl motorcycle than a more manly motorcycle, and thank goodness I'll be riding mostly where people can't see me.

I guess the next step down from a little sissy motorcycle will be an electric wheelchair, I just hope I can find one with knobbys.

Tom

John link

12/9/2017 11:38:53 am

I've got a son in a power wheelchair. The Tankchair is the one he wants if he wins the lottery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hzzF0iGS00

12/9/2017 04:10:23 pm

That is a neat chair, who wouldn't want a chair with tank treads on it. I didn't see any mention of price but it looks like something that has to be hand built one at a time so it is probably pretty expensive.

I wonder if there's a way to mount a small machine gun on it, something like a full auto AR15 would be about right.... After a few warning shots nobody would get in your way.

Tom

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It's hard to admit it when you've made a mistake.... So I won't

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