In Panama there are hotels known as “push buttons. They are called this because typically you can pull up to a window, push a button, slide some money through a slot, get a key, and head to a room all without actually seeing a person. Everything is set up so the customer can stay anonymous. Basically they cater to people who are cheating on a spouse.
I stayed in a place like this in Mexico by accident once. Mitch and I shared a king size bed, and I’m sure everyone assumed we were lovers enjoying a night of bromance.
Cool thing about them is the garage. Which is only there to hide your car from prying eyes while you do your business. But it was nice to be able to park our bikes somewhere safe for the night.
http://bit.ly/waKPPE
A few weeks ago I rode my motorcycle to the top of Volcan Baru the tallest peak in Panama. I took a serious beating on the ride, and got some great video out of it. I wanted to do a ride from sea level to the top of Panama, so I started at the beach and filmed my ride to the top. It was exhausting, and horrible, and everything an adventure should be.
For this series of videos I wanted to do something special, something different so I have created an iPad book. The book has a bunch of photos, and 7 different videos with a combined length of over 70 minutes. Since it’s a book I was able to fill in the gaps between the videos and give more detail about what’s happening and what I was feeling. I’m really happy with they way it turned out. I’ve been asked a lot about DVD’s of my videos, or a book about my adventures. Well this is both. You get to read about the trip, see the photos, and watch the videos all in one place. Once it’s downloaded you don’t need to wait for video to buffer before watching them it’s all there you just hit play and it goes. Really if you have ever wanted to come along on one of my rides this is the closest you will get without flying to Panama and renting a bike.
I keep calling it a book because I don’t know another name for it. It’s more like a mini adventure and you get to come along for the ride. I’m very excited about it, it looks great on the iPad.
Skeefoo and I went for a short ride on a dirt road above Boquete. We checked out a small lodge that does canopy tours. It looked like a lot of fun and we stayed to watch a few people flying over head then headed back down the road. It had been very windy while we were up there and we didn’t ride for long on the road before we came to a large tree that had fallen over blocking our path. There was no way the 2 of us were going to move it alone, so I headed back up to the lodge for help.
After a few minutes they sent a crew of guys down with machetes, and chainsaws to clear the tree. I couldn’t resist trying to pull the tree with the bike, it didn’t budge but I had to try.
http://www.progressivesuspension.com/
Skeefoo recently bought a KLR650, and when he came for a visit we decided to install one of the extra sets of forks springs I received from Progressive Suspension. They are super easy to install, just take off the cap, pull the old spring and spacer out. Cut the spacer in half, and drop everything back down the hole. Do one side at a time and you won’t even need to put the bike up on blocks.
After testing out the difference between stock and the aftermarket springs we came to the conclusion that they feel very similar. Because a large portion of the aftermarket spring is exactly like the stock spring. The aftermarket spring begins to work it’s magic when you are really hitting some heavy bumps, and compress the spring to that final bit which saves you from bottoming out.
Upgrading the KLR’s suspension is one of the first things people do to their bike. If your gonna spend a few months living out of your bike you should probably do everything you can to make it as comfortable as possible.
A fellow youtuber redchargerpilot1 just sent me this video along with an invite to go for a ride next time I’m in the area. It reminded me of how incredibly beautiful the state of Utah is and I wanted to share it with you.
In this video I film myself getting down to the clutch of my KLR650. To do that you will need to drain the oil from the engine, and the water from the radiator. This is a project that might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but if you take it one step at a time you should be able to handle it. Take the skid plate off, drain the oil, drain the water, and start taking out all the bolts in your way. Once you have everything out you will probably need a rubber mallet or something to jar the side casing loose. Mine took a little pounding before it would come off. Make sure to clean out the little filter while you are in there. Clean the old gasket off everywhere it stuck to the metal. Be careful when you are cleaning it off not to damage the O-ring that is in the side case.
Don’t forget to buy new gaskets when you do this job. I didn’t realize I needed them, and had to wait a few weeks for them to arrive before I could put the bike back together. One of the joys of living in Panama… You will need the big gasket for the side case, and a small one for the water pump.
For detailed instructions including tools and parts needed for this procedure check out: http://www.ravenshadow.com/KLR650/techtips.html I looked at it a few times while doing this project and it helped, but since there isn’t a video, or even any pictures I decided to post this so people could see what they will be getting into.
Mitch and I decided to ride our bikes out on this abandoned train bridge for a few photos.
Both these pictures are from a ride with a couple friends in Arizona. Couple of the best photographs I’ve ever taken. Neither have been edited in anyway, and were taken with one hand while riding down the highway in an Arizona sunset.
New from the pharmaceutical division of HalfThrottle Industries is the Adventure Rider Fist Aid Kit. Here at HalfThrottle Industries we had been receiving a lot of complaints about first aid kits that do little more than take up valuable space in a luggage system. So we designed a compact, easy to use kit. It doesn’t even require any first aid training. With the Adventure Rider First Aid Kit saving your buddies life is easy as unzipping his pants. So ride safe. Travel far. And do it soon. But if something bad happens remember to drink water, or shake some foot powder on it and everything will be fine.
Posting a few outtakes soon.
I’ve got to give credit to my basic training drill SGT for this joke. I was there in the winter and a lot of privates were getting sick, and requesting sick call trips. One morning he lined us up and explained, “There are 2 ways to fix privates. If it hurts from the waist up drink water. If it hurts from the waist down use some foot powder.” Drill SGT Pipkin is the sort of sadist that would hunt a man down throat chop him, then skull drag him up and down the parade yard for stealing a joke. So credit is due.
I had to do some work on the clutch of my KLR650 and decided to set up the Drift Stealth in time lapse mode behind me. The large gaps in action are because I’ve realized something is wrong. I think I went inside, got on the computer trying to find out what the deal was. There is a little spring just below the clutch that had snapped. Took me a long time to get that piece shipped to Panama. By the time it got here I didn’t feel like setting up the camera to film putting everything back together.
I’ll post the video I’m filming of the clutch with my main camera one of these days.
