Spring KLR 650 Weekend Ride with a Suzuki DR350

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Hilary

Horseshoe Hill Map

Last weekend was beautiful weather in the Bozeman, Montana area, so a ride was planned.

I have to say I felt a little out of place.  I went with 3 Kawasaki KLR owners, while I was on my Suzuki DR 350 (my KLR is still in pieces!) And I was the only girl. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t have a good time!

We met up in Belgrade and headed up towards Horseshoe Hill. Gary, one of the riders, introduced me to an amazing iPhone app called MapMyTracks, which I highly recommend (I bought the pro immediate, it wasn’t much and well worth it. You can export your maps to Google Earth!).

I started tracking when we were at the top of the mountain and headed down.

The view up there was simply amazing. Weather was clear and we could see mountains all around us.

Montana Mountains

 

The area was pretty dry, and since we had such a dry spring, I’m guessing, is why it looked a bit like a desert.

KLR 650 on a dirt road

 

I really can’t stop staring at the Montana scenery. While the road wasn’t tough, there was plenty to look at and I had fun taking pictures of my KLR buddies!

Montana mountain motorcycle ride

We rode around the Horseshoe Hills for the morning and I got some fun video as well!

We headed back to Three Forks for a break and some food, and then soon were off again, this time to Manhead Mountain in the Tobacco Roots.

Manhead Mountain and Queen Hill Map

On the way there we drove through some beautiful rock formations…

Rock formations and KLR 650s

As we headed towards the Tobacco Root mountain range, the scenery really started to change. It reminded me a lot of Albania!

Montana Ride

And the mountains in the background… I wish I could write more, but really I don’t think words, or even the pictures, do it justice!

Tobacco Roots motorcycle ride

It was a freakin bummer that my GoPro® HD Motorsports HERO™ Camera was out of batteries. We had been riding a long time. Well, at least it is an excuse to get back up there soon!

As we climbed the mountain there started to be more and more snow on the road. Unfortunately 2 of the KLRs had more street tires on, and the other had two people riding it, not one, so we couldn’t continue. However, when we stopped for a break and a snack, a butterfly came to visit my motorcycle. It really is spring!

Motorcycle Butterfly

It was so beautiful up there, I have to go back soon!

Motorcycle Ride

And while the way back wasn’t as impressive, it still was pretty impressive!

Montana mountains

All in all it was a great day, with great weather and superb company!

Montana motorcycle ride KLR 650

Categories: Ride | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

First Ride of 2012

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Hilary

New year, new country, new friends, new places to ride!

Last weekend when spring peaked out, we went to a famous motocross track near Bozeman, Montana by Radersburg, MT.  It was a Saturday, but we were shocked that nobody was there yet!

Suzuki DR 350 at Radersburg

The best part… well, ok, the best part was riding my new Suzuki DR350! But the second best part? I got a new GoPro® HD Motorsports HERO™ Camera!

I did a lot of research into this camera before purchasing (it is $300!).  It is not very aerodynamic (I really wanted something that didn’t stick out so much), but everyone said this is by far the best camera on the market. I’m so impressed with the quality and ease of use!  And the quality is awesome. So instead of having a bunch of pictures, I’ll have some videos!

First off, my puddle run. I know, doesn’t look so cool, but it was a lot of fun on my end!

And here I was crazy enough to follow Cara around. She went down a steep hill (doesn’t look so steep here). I chickened out and toppled over!

After going around the track a bit and getting lost a lot from each other (I had to pick up the motorcycle all by my lonesome!), we found a nice trail that we could all follow. This is our way down.

All in all it was a fun day with a fun camera and lots of dirt!

As Cara said “I love my motorcycle!”

Categories: Honda XR400, Ride, Suzuki DR 350 | Tags: , , , , , , | 2 Comments

New Suzuki DR 350

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Hilary

1999 Suzuki DR 350 home

Woot! Today I got my Suzuki DR 350.

Its a 1999, electric starter with 5,867 miles on it.

I was lucky enough that the seller agreed to hold the motorcycle for me in exchange for a batch of cookies.

Apparently he had to fight of some prospective buyers, I’m pretty lucky he kept his promise!

And only 3 hours away it wasn’t a bad day trip.

We picked her up in Missoula, which is about 3 hours away from Bozeman, Montana.

Its not in perfect condition, but that is okay because I’m going to deck her out completely!

Suzuki DR 350 Tail Light

This gigantic tail light is the first to go. Really? Does a tail light need to be this big?

Suzuki DR 350 Passenger pegs

Passenger pegs are going to be removed. No passengers allowed!

Suzuki DR 350 Tank

Will replace the tank with a larger one (15L or 3.9 gallons).  It will be plastic. (Notice that the tank says “dual sport” on it. )

Suzuki DR 350 front blinkers

Large front blinkers will be replaced with something a bit smaller.

Suzuki DR 350 hand grips

Hand grips are ripped (and aren’t the type I like).  I’ll get some foamy ones.

Suzuki DR 350 Speedometer

This speedometer is HUGE. I’ll probably replace it with a bicycle one.

Suzuki DR 350 kick starter

Looks like I can add a kick starter lever thingy. Will see how much work it is, but shouldn’t be too bad (I hope). Great as a back up.

Suzuki DR 350 exhaust

Will buy a lighter aftermarket exhaust. I want one that won’t be loud though. Last one I bought was way to loud, not cool.

Suzuki DR 350 rear blinker

Both rear blinkers are broken. Its okay though, I would want smaller ones anyways.

Suzuki DR 350 chain guard

Chain guard is cracked. I’ll look into if it should be replaced or not.

Suzuki DR 350 mirrors

Mirror is broken on one side. I would replace both of them anyways with some mirrors I can fold in. A life time warrantee isn’t bad either.

Suzuki DR 350 headlight

I’ll get a lighter headlight.  I will probably add some LED lights as well.

All of this will be done after I do a total maintenance check of the motorcycle. Hopefully I won’t run into any problems. I also need to get some luggage racks and luggage.  Tires are pretty warn, so may need to get new ones soon.

This motorcycle I’ve decided NOT to lower. The seat height is 35 inches (89cm).  The last Suzuki DR 350 I owned I did lower. But it was my first dirt bike ever. My dream bike is a bit taller, and I need to learn juggling. I think this DR will be good practice!

It will be a lot of work, but it will be fun too! At least now I have plenty to do this winter!

Categories: Suzuki DR 350 | Tags: , | 11 Comments

Albania Ride Report and More

Posted on February 17, 2012 by Hilary

new backyardHello everyone!

Early in 2012 came the Chinese New Year, which was the year of the dragon. A year of change, and new beginnings.  I had many changes to my life, and this website, of course, reflects it.

I’m now living in Bozeman, Montana, full of mountains and riding fun. Sweden was great, but cold and flat, so I’m excited to find new terrain to explore. I have a KLR 650 here, and I am getting soon another motorcycle. And knowing myself, even more will come!

I’m also no longer have a permanent riding partner, so I will be the one to update this site solo.  I am reorganizing this site a bit and I hope to be adding even more content.

First off, the dirty motorcycle blog here will be mainly for ranting and raving, small ride reports (day trips) and banging my head against the wall when something goes wrong.

Montenegro - Albania Trip 2008

I will be making a Motorcycle How To maintenance and modifications section (yes, I will be wrenching on my own. Should be fun to watch!), and I will update this blog with a link to any new how tos.
For those of you who do enjoy Johan’s amazing wrenching skills, his own blog will be coming up soon and I will be sure to give you the links to his mad skillz! I hope we will have some guest posts now and then as well.

When I am on a big trip (some planned already), I will be doing very quick daily posts here, and then when I get back I will do a more detailed report in the ride report section.  I will of course update the blog with any cool new pages I may add!

I’ve already gotten requests for some ride reports. Well, your wish is my command! I’ve uploaded the ride report from my very first off road motorcycle adventure in Albania in 2008.

Categories: General, Ride | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Installing a set of Xvision Solopods on the Suzuki DR350

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Dirty

We have used LED lights previously and really like these small sturdy lights that take little power and put out amazing amounts of light. They are a bit pricy but so far they have a proven good investment never failing or acting up. On the bike its an aftermarket headlight that is lighter and less fragile then the stock light but the light output is bad (stock isn´t very good either). To be honest most headlight on motorcycles seems to be mainly so that others can see you not really useful if having to ride in the dark.

Had some pieces of 90 degree aluminum we cut out and drilled holes to mount to the top triple clamp bolts making a secure mount for the Xvision LED Solopods:

Simple aluminum bracket to mount it

Since it added some thickness we swapped to longer bolts with washers since they didn´t have the flange the stock bolts had, 45mm would have been great but only found 50 mm and they worked fine, didn´t bother cutting them.

The light come with a male connector but since we move the lights between machines we bought some extra male connectors and used those this time to do a wiring harness with deutsch connectors (not sure if these comes complete with pins and you only need the males since the lights comes with the female part preinstalled but all I could find on amazon that wasn’t packs of 50 or more) on it and double spade connectors in the other end since the light bulb just had such to connect to. If having a stock H4 connector it might be worth getting a plug in piece to steal the power from and not have to hack up the stock wiring harness. We did that when installing extra lights on the Transalp.

New wiring harness

Took it out to check how it looked and adjust them:

Brought it back in to tidy up the wiring and secure everything good with small zip ties:

Securing the wires

And with all in place:

Done

Categories: Maintenance, Modifications, Suzuki DR 350 | Tags: , , | 6 Comments