It was unbelievable there, and looked more beautiful than anything can. The sky alone was perfect. Here’s an example as we approached the North rim:

This will be updated as time allows!

More pics are in my Flickr album.

The leather “wiper” on the index finger of my left glove was no longer wiping my face shield clean. Admittedly I was making some pretty weak wipe-attemps, as every time I removed my hand from the heated grip, my fingertips went instantly from stinging cold to aching cold. I could see a hazy red dot ahead of me – either Dad’s KLR650 taillight, or the mouth of Hell – and where my shield wasn’t totally fogged, I could see snow pouring down.  Illuminated as it was by 200 watts of twin PIAA 910s, and coming at me at roughly 60 miles an hour, the blur of flakes made it look like I was entering light speed in the Millennium Falcon. I bet Han Solo’s hands never hurt this bad.

After the 300th time trying to clear my face shield, it hit me: I can’t get this water off, because it isn’t water anymore. My shield has frozen over. Oh hell, my GLOVE has frozen over.

My life was about to end at 9,000 feet, crossing the frozen Sierras, and my Dad was going to have to explain to my Mom and Incredibly Understanding Wife that I had ridden bravely, but ultimately not quickly enough to clear the Sonora pass before the storm came and froze my arms and legs off, leaving my torso to balance precariously on a rock-hard, freezing cold Sargent saddle, and my bike then careened into the woods behind Strawberry.

I needed some dry clothes, a hot shower, and an evening with a beautiful woman. I made do by thawing my gloves on the jutting cylinders of the GS as I pounded a slushy Red Bull.  After four straight days of riding, and in blistering cold, I wasn’t sure that that Red Bull was going to be enough to get me home.

When we left, I knew there was a risk that we wouldn’t make it back by Tuesday.  On that last day, I was confronted wit the possibility that if the weather got worse, or I stopped paying attention, I might not make it back at all…

What had started as a four day pleasure cruise with Dad had become a full-on race against time. We had decided that we’d “try to make it to the Grand Canyon,” but if we saw that we were not going to be able to do it, we’d just turn around after two days and head back. Yeah. Like that’s gonna happen.

Dad and I had managed to get Friday and Monday off, making a nice long weekend for a fun fall trip. Maybe a little camping, maybe a little dirt, maybe see some sights and explore. Then we both realized we had explored everything nearby. And everything that was near that, too. If we were going to go anywhere, we were going to have to really GO somewhere. In four days. With the first good winter storm of the season coming in from the North.

So, South it was. Baja seems cool, but I had never seen Zion National Park, and neither of us had seen the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. How far can it be? We have FOUR WHOLE DAYS. That’s a lot, right?

Well, it was nearly enough. So we cheated and left our jobs at 3:00 on Thursday to get a head start and beat the traffic out of the Bay Area.

Keep checking sundaybender.com for more updates here – you have to read the part about the Clown Motel. We stayed there. It’s for real. And it is worth a visit…

Five days, ~1,671 miles
View Larger Map

Day one – 226 miles

View Larger Map

Day two – 471 miles

View Larger Map

Day three – ~ 121 miles

View Larger Map

Day four – 449 miles

View Larger Map

Day five – 404 miles

View Larger Map

Why, you ask? (Do it, ask.)

Because she got on the back of the GS, and let me pilot her from La Honda out to the coast, down to Pescadero for a sandwich (which was awesome and a half, by the way) and down Pescadero Creek road back to our house.

For non-natives, imagine the second half of the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland. We basically did that, but on a bike. With no abominable snowman or whatever.

She’s awesome! She waved to fellow bikers, she leaned into turns, she made me laugh inside my silly looking helmet. F-ing amazing. I didn’t even crash! Come on!!

Next up – Chile. Or maybe Mexico. Or maybe Woodside.

Check her out! Sweet BMW jacket, huh? I am jealous. I may have to remedy that soon…

Seems that Gazo’s creek road turns dirty and leads to a secondary entrace to Butano state park. Nothing too challenging, just a good old dirt road, with a couple of sections that were “paved” way back when, but have over time been reduced to gravel and chunks.

Shiny new R1150GS and lack of dirt riding experience be damned – I was gonne give ‘er a try.

The bike was impressive. More impressive than I was, to be sure. That said, we made it 5.9 miles up and 5.9 miles down without incident, ABS-ing along the way, and bouncing around a bit because I forgot to lower the pressures in my Tourances to a more dirt-friendly level.

Kevict and the KLR went bounding up and down without issue, as expected from a veteran dirt guy and a “real” dirtbike, and I impressed the hell out of myself by puttering up and down without scaring the life out of myself even once. A little clutchwork, some balance, juducious braking and looking far ahead served me very well… Hm, sounds almost like track riding to me…

I don’t think I have ever had more fun going eight miles an hour. I am addicted. This GS is amazing. The KLR is amazing. Touring is awesome. I had no idea. I can’t wait to actually go somewhere! I wonder how much a good GPS costs? What about knobbies? Do I have a tent? How much vacation time have I accrued? how many clif bars fit into the side cases luggage?

Oh man. Trouble.

As I tend to do, I have recently become preoccupied by the idea of a new BMW. This time however, the manifestation of my longing has only two wheels instead of four. I don’t know how it happened, but I decided that I’d really like to take the Incredibly Understanding Wife around on the back of a motorcycle and see this fine nation. Or at least, this fine area very close by our house. Or maybe I would just commute to work on it by myself. I dunno, something. Whatever. It was a romantic notion.

If I was going to force the IUW onto the back of a bike, It couldn’t be the torturous pillion accommodations afforded by my track-prepped SV1000s. I needed something more grand. More luxurious. More appealing. More German.

An K1200RT would be the right bike for sure. Knowing that, I decided to become preoccupied with an R1150GS instead. Tall, rugged, strong, black… it’s everything I wish I was. I began dreaming about it, and what started as Internet research snowballed almost overnight into full-fledged obsession.

The IUW, seeing my compulsive buying behaviors begining to surface, tried to nip this whole process in the proverbial bud.

“Honey, we can’t get one.”

“Of course not, I know.” I reply as I surf craigslist and email a seller to ask for more detailed pics, “It’s dumb.”

“Seriously, honey, we can’t afford that.” the IUW, now clearly vexed, strains to see the laptop screen.

“I’m not gonna buy it. But check it out – Ohlins shocks front and rear! And full luggage! This is really a deal!”

“We’re not buying one, honey. We can’t.”

“I know. We’re not.”

“Okay, I hear your words, but it feels like we are buying one. You just emailed the seller!

“That’s just because I am curious. Because even though we aren’t buying one, I might, you know, have to buy this one.”

“You need to stop looking. Are those heated grips?”

“I am not looking. Yes, they are heated grips! Holy crap this thing is awesome!” I reply, and then I email a dealer to ask when I can test ride the perfect bike I have just found.

The dealer says Tuesday. I say perfect. I email on Tuesday to confirm, and the bike has sold. I weep. Just a little. Like a man, though. A rugged, tall weeping. The dealer says that another bike, very much like the one I am pining for, the one I never even saw or touched but that had somehow become part of my very soul, the one whose sale severed the only link I had to true bliss and eternal enlightenment, the dealer said another bike like it would be coming into his shop in just two weeks. This other bike belonged to a regular customer whom this dealer knows well and trusts and who takes good care of his bikes. Would I like first right of refusal on that similar bike?

My heart skipped, my stomach leapt to my throat. Could it be? Could fate be so clearly forcing me to buy an R1150GS? Even when the one I need so badly has sold and left me hopeless and gasping for breath, another emerges on the distant horizon, staring mistily at me, pawing the ground gently and tossing its wild mane as the rising sun glints off its dewy sweat-soaked coat. I cannot argue with destiny. I agree.

And then it’s my birthday. The IUW gets me a little box, wrapped beautifully. In it, another box. In that box, another, like a series of Russian dolls, each tightly packed inside the other and gaily decorated.

And in the last box, a funny-shaped key.

Thanks entirely to the IUW, Kevict, my mom, and a very clever salesman from BMW of Santa Cruz ,there, outside of my folks’ house (only recently PUSHED to that place of rest by Kevict himself, who had sneaked away under the guise of visiting his own parents who live nearby and fetched said bike, whose key was wrapped and waiting for me to find it and thus he bike was not able to move under its own power) was the R1150GS. The very one that had sold the day before I was able to see it. The very lifeblood that I thought had been sapped from me! It was there in my parents’ driveway, magnificent and regal, big and scary, clean as the proverbial whistle and as real as the nose on my extremely surprised and seriously confused face.

When the dealer told me the bike had sold, I never once thought it might have sold to Kevict and Megan, my IUW, who bought it for me. And unbeknownst to them I had been trying to buy it for myself, nearly ruining the surprise. What a heel! What a fool! What a lucky lucky sonofabitch!

They did it all without my even beginning to know anything was afoot. I have never been more surprised. I really am the luckiest boy ever, to have people who care about me so much.

It’s better than I ever imagined. And look – Ohlins shocks front and rear!

Another key track lesson that I was surprised to learn is, “When riding in the paddock, you may get T-boned by a passing rider.” Yup, some jackalope took the SV and me down in the paddock. I was probably only cruising at about four miles an hour, but despite that slow pace, the collision broke my carbon muffler, the slip-on flange by which it connects to the mid pipe, and my shifter. Sweet.

With bike thusly out of commission, I had some time to wander around and watch riders. I even remembered my little point-and-shoot camera, and I pointed and shot some grainy, tiny videos of Kevict riding around in the A group. Check it!

(Save locally, please.)

Turns, 6, 7, and 8 (tiny Kevict, but check the acceleration!)
The back side of 9 into 10 (again, check that speed!)
Turns, 11, 12, and 13
The back straight

The fork is noticeably stiffer over choppy bumps, but not by any means harsh. Cornering is completely free of any wallowing and therefore feel more stable, though the stock fork did an admirable job as well in my opinion. Turn in is not dramatically improved, though transitions do seem to require slightly less effort.

The major difference, and it is a night and day difference, is during braking. The fork feels like it has nearly no dive at all, and the bike now tracks straight and true even under extremely hard braking. I could brake significantly later and much harder into turns, and the bike felt totally composed and confidence inspiring. I was not expecting this much of an improvement, and I am very pleased.

Lever feel is incredible and positive as well, and I am not using a radial master, nor braided lines yet. I tried fitting the radial master from the GSXR, but with the LSL raised clip-ons, the brake lines would interfere with the clip-ons. The radila master simply did not fit and I was initially concerned that would mean reduced braking power, but the performance with the stock SV master has proven to be fantastic, and I feel no need to use a radial master at this point.

For a tracked bike, I feel the braking improvement alone is worth the expense and time of this swap. After two track days, I have managed to take 5 seoncds per lap off of my previous best times. However, I still feel the stock fork and brakes were more than up to the tasks of street riding, including very spirited canyon carving.

Overall, I was not sure if I would notice an improvement over the stock system, which I believed to be very good, and in most respects the improvements are not dramatic. However, if better extreme braking is what you are after, the GSXR 600 fork’s combination of more aggressive damping and stiffer overall structure serve up what you need in spades.

Plus, they look the business!

Installing an upside down fork and radial calipers on a 2006 SV1000s is something many owners are interested in doing. Having just completed this swap myself, I can say with complete assurance that the actual work is quite simple, providing you start with the correct parts and tools.

I have read a lot of different processes for swapping a late-model GSX-R fork onto a SV1000, but most of those seem to contain misleading or inaccurate information. When I decided to do this swap for myself, I decided to write a clear (albeit a bit long) process, with a clear parts list, based on my recent ‘05 GSX-R 600 fork and caliper swap. I apologize for the length, but I hope it will serve others looking to do this same swap.

Materials:

Starting with a fork and brakes from a 2004-2005 GSXR 600 seemed to me to be the easiest route, because many SV parts could be re-used.

Here is the complete list of parts I used for the swap. If it isn’t listed, you don’t need to buy it. The reasoning behind each part is included where needed.

• 2005GSXR 600 fork
• 2005GSXR 600 radial calipers
• 2005GSXR 600 upper and lower triples
• Speed Research carbon fender fender
  A stock GSXR 600 fender would, of course, work as well but the SV fender won’t work with the new fork.
• Custom machined spacers to fit the GSXR calipers to the SV rotors
  The calipers were designed to work with 300mm rotors. The brakes on the SV 1000 are 310mm.

  Dimensions:
  Outer diameter: 24mm
  Inner diameter: 10mm
  Thickness: 5mm
  Cost: 60 dollars for 4 at local machine shop. I am sure I could have got these cheaper, but I wanted them done the next day, and 60 bucks is cheap compared to a new front wheel and rotors.

• LSL “offset match” 50mm clip-ons with a 1.5 inch rise, and LSL bar ends
  The stock clip-ons will not fit around the larger fork tubes, and stock GSXR clip-ons do not preserve the comfortable riding position of the SV, and leave very little room (read: not enough) between the stock fairing and the grips.
• Race Tech springs
  I weigh 175 lbs with no gear, and the SV weighs at least 40 pounds more than the GSXR 600. The added weight of the bike alone necessitates a stiffer spring to get the intended performance out of the fork. The stock GSXR 600 springs are around .85s). I factored the extra weight of my bike in to the Race Tech spring rate calculator (i.e., 175+40 = 215 lbs “rider weight”) to figure the correct rate. Plus, the stock spring rate on the SV is .98 anyhow, and it was sprung pretty well for me, just not damped well enough.
• Redline synthetic fork oil
  Lightweight/Medium cocktail mixed 65/35 to achieve about 6.5w
• A new left grip
  I bought a new one so I could cut the old one off rather than wrestling with it and fighting grip glue.
• Some small strips of rubber
  From a bicycle tire inner tube, for example (see process below).

Time:

• Budget one weekend day. I spent about 6 hours, including cleaning and bleeding the brakes, re-springing and oiling the fork, etc.

Difficulty (one bleeding knuckle to five bleeding knuckles):

• Two bleeding knuckles for just the swap, three bleeding knuckles if you re-spring the fork. This ain’t rocket science.

Process:

1. Re-spring and oil the GSXR fork.
   You will need a fork spring compression tool, such as this one sold by Traxxion Dynamics. The tool comes with excellent instructions. Follow them, and take your time. I added 6.5 weight oil to a height of 115mm. This is the hardest part of the job. When you are done, take a break and have a beverage.
2. Raise the bike with a front stand, and support.
   I used jack stands on cinder blocks to support the innermost part of the frame sliders.
3. Remove the fairing.
4. Remove the ignition assembly (held on with loctited 40mm security torx bolts).
   I bought a security torx bit for a ratchet at an auto parts store.
5. Remove old forks, clamps, and clip-ons.
6. Remove the controls from the old clip-ons, and tie/hang them aside with stiff wire or zip ties
7. Remove the brake lines from the SV calipers, and get brake fluid everywhere.
8. Clean up the brake fluid mess.
9. Remove, clean and grease the old bearings, then re-use them.
   The Stock GSXR 600 bearings can be used if you prefer, they are the same.
10. Install the GSXR fork, triples, and new clip-ons.
    I ran the tops of the fork caps flush with the top triple, for maximum length.
11. Install the ignition assembly into the new triple clamp.
    Note that it fits perfectly, and the steering lock works just fine.
12. Install the controls, grips, and end caps onto the clip-ons.
    The starter and turn signal assemblies have plastic locator pins which seat in a matching hold drilled into the clip-ons. Rather than jigging and drilling the clip-ons, I dremel-ed off the locator pins, and used a very thin strip of rubber between the assemblies and the bars to prevent them spinning when installed. Works fine.
    I bent and re-used the brake fluid reservoir bracket by mounting it to the LSL clip-on bolt.
13. Install the GXSR Fender onto the fork.
14. Install the SV wheel with SV axle.
15. Attach the brake lines to the new calipers.
16. Attach the calipers to the forks, with the spacer mentioned above.
17. Remove the bike form the supports using the front stand.
18. Bleed the brakes.
19. Replace the fairing.
20. Take a picture and have a beer.

That’s a lot of steps, and many are simplified, but aside from re-springing and oiling the fork, there is really nothing tricky about it.

Have look at the pictures below and imagine you are a molecule of combustion gas trying to escape an engine through the labyrinth of flattened, bent, twisted and hideously ugly pipes that lead to the totally restrictive honeycomb-filled mufflers.

You would be a pretty sad little molecule. Bruised and beaten and generally tossed about. Not the best design I have ever seen, to be sure. Compare that to the nice Yoshimura kit.

The good news is that stock system weighs 26.2 pounds – WITH the baffles removed (at just under a pound each). Wait, that’s awful. We are talking an almost 30 pound system, that can be replaced with a roughly 13 pound system. Come on.

I will be interested to see what the throttle response is like with the new pipework.

To remedy this, I chose a single pipe conversion from Yoshimura. The system is not available on the Yoshimura website, but can pretty easily be found by searching for yoshimura 3/4 system SV1000S in Google. I went with a carbon can because the look complements my bike, and because I plan on outfitting the bike with other choice carbon bits as soon as they are available from Speed Research. Neat.

Internet wisdom says the installation can be difficult, as apparently the slip fit onto the header pipes is sometimes very tight. I had absolutely no issues with this. See below for more details.

Yoshimura 3/4 system install

(or, how to lose 11 pounds in 35 minutes)

Installation of the 3/4 systems is pretty straightforward, and the instructions included with the package were pretty good. Below is my experience with this very easy project. I didn’t take many pictures of the process as all bolts are very easy to find, and there wasn’t much trickery involved.

Materials required:

• Loctite for reinstallation of all bolts and fasteners
• 12″ extension (or similar) for your ratchet preferably with “wobbly” u-joint
• A breaker bar/extension that can be used with a 10mm allen wrench (or a 10mm allen socket for a long-handled ratchet)
• The kit from Yoshimura should include a an M8 nut for the back of the chassis mount for the new pipes. If it didn’t, don’t panic, you will have plenty of them from all the crap you take off during the install.

Time:

• I spent about 35 minutes actually working. I probably spent another hour BS-ing, weighing parts, and taking pictures.

Difficulty (one bleeding knuckle to five bleeding knuckles):

• One bleeding knuckle – seriously kids, this one’s WAY easy

Process:

1. Raise the rear of the bike on a stand. This is not optional, as you have to remove the sidestand to get the stock midsection off the bike.
2. Remove the belly fairing/chin spoiler/shovel. Just pop out the four bolts, and the gently stretch the sides of the chin spoiler outwards to pop it free of the mounting bosses on the frame.
3. Remove the bolts holding the mufflers to the passenger pegs. (If your kit didn’t come with one M8 nut, or you bought the system used and didn’t get one, hang on to a washer and the nut from the passenger peg muffler bolt. You’ll need it later.)
4. Optional: Remove the mufflers from the pipework (4 VERY WELL LOC-TITED nuts each side) or remove the passenger pegs for clearance. I removed the pegs cause they were easier to get to, and easier to wrench off.
5. Remove the two 10mm cap head bolts that affix the sidestand to the frame. These bolts are on tight. I had to use a 10″ breaker bar on my 10mm allen key to get the bolts to budge.

   Note: Removing the sidestand is NOT explicitly called for in the Yoshimura instructions, but the post for the sidestand spring definitely prohibits the removal of the stock pipework.

6. Loosen the pipe clamp at the front header-midpipe junction. Piece of cake.
7. Loosen the pipe clamp at the rear header-midpipe junction. Pain in the ass. If you are lucky, the adjuster bolt will be aimed such that you can get an extension on it by coming in from the right side of the bike (the brake side, not the chain side) just behind the heelguard on a stock footpeg assembly. I got it from there with a 12″ extension on a 3/8″ ratchet. A wobbly (u-joint) on the extension would have made this easier, but it is not necessary.
8. Loosen, but do not remove, the two bolts holding the midesction to the frame on either side.
9. With the pipe claps loose, remove the 2 loc-tited bolts that hold the front header flange to the front cylinder head. The flange will slide down the header. Clang it around it to make annoying sounds. I did.
10. Pull the front header pipe out of the cylinder head, and then twist and pull to remove it from the midsection.
11. Brace the whole exhaust system (or have a buddy hold it) and now fully remove the bolts that hold teh midsection to the frame. The incredibly massive weight (26.2 pounds baby!) of the system means as soon as you remove those bolts, it slides right off the rear header towards the floor.

    Check those pipes out! They are flattened and smashed, and likely as restrictive as a catholic schoolmarm. That can’t be good for performance. Plus, that whole assembly weighs more than a warehouse-store-sized bag of dog food. Sweet. Note also the removed sidestand assembly and front header pipe in the first pic below.

    Also have a look at how narrow the bike is without all those mufflers everywhere. That’s a big reason why V-twins are so cool. After swapping for this new system, you will be better able to take advantage of that narrowness with improved flickabilty and lean angle. Be excited.

12. Position the new clamps onto the fancy new (and incredibly light) midsection, such that you can get a wrench on them when they are installed on the bike. Use your head here. It will save you time later.
13. Slide the midsection up onto the rear header pipe (mine slid on with nearly no effort) and hold it in place while you loosely install the bolt to hold the midsection to the right side of the frame.
14. slide the front header pipe into the midsection (again, mine slid right in) and then pop the other end of the header into the cylinder head and loosely tighten the flange bolts to hold it in place.
15. With all fasteners still loose, wiggle and jiggle the midsection until you have it as snug and close as you feel is right. Tighten down the frame bolt, and then the front and rear header clamps.
16. Slide the muffler clamp over the midsection, taking care to orient it such that you can get to the adjuster once the muffler is on.

    Note: The muffler clamp will eventually need to be tightened A LOT. There will be a lot of threaded post exposed, and if you have it pointing directly at the swingarm, it will scrape when the swingarm moves. If you have it pointing directly away from the swingarm, it will look silly and potentially scrape YOU when you are getting on and off the bike.

17. Slide the muffler over the midsection, slide the outer bracket over the pipe, attach that bracket to the back side of the passenger peg (reinstall that passenger peg if you removed it before), and then tighten down the clamp. Keep tightening. It is way too big, isn’t it?

That’s it! Your bike is now 11 pounds lighter, sounds WAY cooler, makes more power, and has more lean angle than you can use without running out of tire. Not bad for half an hour!

Well, turns out that after riding the ‘thou for a while, I found the stock damper to be too stiff, and actually a hindrance rather than a help on track.

I tried downsizing to a 65 series front tire, but then things were still weird. I raised the forks to compensate – still weird. The bike would lean in quickly, but counter-steering was artificially slowed down, feedback was reduced, and mid corner wallowing would lead me to run wide. Less scary than headshake, but not exactly great.

I decided I still wanted a damper, but I needed less damping. Enter Ohlins. I got a used Ohlins kit from an SV650 on www.sv-portal.com, and it bolted right up – the head tube bracket fit was a little off, but it was actually slightly oversized so it worked out.

I installed the damper on top of the triples so I could adjust it more easily, and also because I am a dork and thought it looked cooler than if it was hidden away behind the fairing. 11 clicks from full soft seems to be the ticket – nice quick steering, but no shake, even under hard acceleration over crests. Nice.

I also installed some Pazzo Racing levers that I bought at a great price from Moto Mummy, where the prices apparently raise the dead. Scary.

The levers far exceeded my expectations in terms of quality, and they fit up flawlessly. That being said, I bought the “Short” levers, and I think they are actually heavier than that full-length stock items. I am talking about tenths of an ounce, but still, I guess I expected that they would be lighter than the stock bits.

Regardless, they look pretty trick.