OW ride 2-28-09

[roostingu 0]

This was Dougs ride starting OW saturday morning we got moving around 10am the ride included Doug, Mickey and Papalex and myself. Doug and his son Micky, along with Papalex and myself take a Saturday ride from Ocotillo wells to shell reef to pumpkin patch (we met up with some of Doug's buddies at PP and they rode with us 2 ATV's and a Honda 450 no names sorry ) to the telephone booth shortly after we parted ways with the additional riders, we then rode to the Salton Sea and then back to the truck for a lunch break, where enroute my KTM 530 had a catastrophic engine failure, (details yet unknown) doug and a 10ft tow rope towed me approx 6-7 miles back to the truck, which ended my day. Up until the engine failure it was the most awesome and powerfull bike ever ridden. I did enjoy the ride and I am hopefull the guys at All American KTM will be able to help me out with this. I have a lot of good to say for RJ and his operation in Romona he has bent over backwards to keep me happy with this bike, a couple weeks ago he spent nearly a week after updating my 08 with the 09' cam because of starting problems that I had experienced with this bike, after the cam change he worked on this bike because he was not satisfied with the ease and dependability of starting, he changed many parts out and played with jetting and several other things, keeping it until he was satisfied with its cold and hot starting. When I got the bike back it was running almost before I touched the button cold and hot and would lite on the first kick hot, unreal on top of that I experienced a definite increase in HP and Torque and engine braking this bike was like night and day compared to when I left it with RJ. If there is anybody out there looking for a new KTM or own a KTM and want expert attention paid to your machine, here is guy that stands behind what he sells and goes over and above, I feel he is a genuine friend and recomend him highly. I won't say he knows everything, but he will before he is done.

http://picasaweb.google.com/roostingu/DigdugsDesertRide

this is a link to the album of the pictures I took that day so you can click the slideshow arrow and see them all sorry I am lazy

[BC330 0]

Thanks for the props Jeff. We really do appreciate it. The doctor is still in the opporating stall. We should know somthing after noon tomorrow.

I think we are going to find some sort of a valve issue... just speculation as of now. The good thing is you not only got picks, you got almost all the way back before having to break out the rope! :ok:

Thanks again for all your support.

BC330

[Spaugh 1]

Sorry about the bike Jeff. Hope you get it sorted out soon. Looks like you guys had a good day otherwise.

[dirt dame 561]

Looks like a good time was had by at least most. :ok: Was a better time than I had, selling my KTM 250 on Saturday. :ok: Maybe. I'll be able to make another desert trip before the weather gets too hot.

[roostingu 0]

yes it was a good ride, and hope the fella that fell into the ditch was not to sore the next day.

[PastaPilot 17]

Yikes, bad news but fun ride. You have my well wishes for a speedy recovery.

Jon

[DigDug 0]

Thanks for kicking off the writeup Jeff... And thanks to Jeff and Alex for tagging along. It was a good day out in the sun! Jeff pretty much summed up the day, here are my pictures:

Riders coming along the trail:

At Pumpkin Patch:

Here we met up with a friend of mine from work - Cory and a couple of his friends.

We rode over to the Truckhaven side of the freeway. Here, Mickey is trying to show us how to do a steep hillclimb:

"TRYING" being the key word:

We took off trying to find the phone booth... Again, "trying" being they key word. Here we are following our fearless (but slightly lost) leader(me):

Ahhh.. there's the phone booth:

Alex doing his "Napoleon Dynamite" impersonation at Tetherball Hill:

Mud arch pictures:

Jeff showing off:

Alex:

Cory:

Cory's friend #1 (sorry, I can't remember the name):

Cory's friend #2:

Mickey:

From there, the quads were running low on gas. We donated some from Mickey's tanker and parted ways. After Cory's get-off (pretty good crash as you can see from Jeff's pictures) they decided to head back to camp. The SDAR crew headed off to the Salton Sea to check out the mud.

Here's Jeff throwing some mud around:

And Alex' one-finger-salute to me for throwing some mud on him (sorry Alex, it was an accident, I swear):

Mickey roosting in circles:

From there we headed back towards the trucks. We were going to hit the gas domes area and do some of the tight little washes over there, but Jeff's bike problems cut our day short. A tow back to the trucks and Jeff and Alex loaded up and headed off. Mickey and I were starving so we headed over to the Blu-Inn for some high-priced burgers. From there we rode over to Cory's camp to make sure he was doing alright from his crash and that the quads had enough gas to get back. Cory was fine, he was repairing some damage. He said that he had just put new grips on and had gotten some of the grip glue between the throttle tube and the handlebar, causing his throttle to be sticking - that's what lead to his crash. The quad had run out of gas less than a mile from camp so they were able to handle the "rescue" relatively easily.

Thanks again guys! That was a great day in the desert. I'm looking forward to a couple more desert runs before it gets too hot.

[roostingu 0]

It appears that I broke my cam chain and the probable cause an aftermarket camchain tensioner, dirtworks. It looks like for some unknown reason the tensioner had the chain so tight it finally failed, the idea was that the tensioner was a replacement for hydraulic tensioner that under low rpm was known to get so loose that the chain would be slapping. I don't know of any know failures of the stock unit but the idea of the chain being so loose was a problem and could possibly jump? The dirtworks tensioner is a positive mechanical racheting once it gains a position it doesn't give it up. (Bad in this case) why it was so tight is a mystery. I am hoping when the Cam was replaced the mechanic collapsed the tensioner before re-installing, I am not sure you could force it in uncolapsed, when I installed it the first time collapsed the thing only clicked out one click, indicating the chain had no stretch in it? I guess we will never know for sure, but I am looking at a chain and the guides (completely destroyed) the chain broke at its strongest point so not likely it was a chain problem. A leak down test a couple weeks ago indicated a 2% leak down, today after the incident it is 14% so I at least have damaged valve or valves. It appears the bottom end is OK and I assume the piston and cylinder surrvived. I guess it could have been worse, feel kinda stupid for installing the dirtworks tensioner now, if it ain't broke don't fix it , seems to ring true. I am looking forward to riding it again, need to find work to pay for it. That ride was so much fun as the bike was a monster.

One thing I must mention, Alex likes to ride the deep sand washes, Doug and Alex were gone, I suck at 50mph in that stuff the bike was so twitchy I had one foot in the ambulance. Good ride Doug where is Alex?

[dirt dame 561]

It appears that I broke my cam chain and the probable cause an aftermarket camchain tensioner, dirtworks. A leak down test a couple weeks ago indicated a 2% leak down, today after the incident it is 14% so I at least have damaged valve or valves. It appears the bottom end is OK and I assume the piston and cylinder surrvived.

[TrophyHunter 15]

Some more great pics. I need a tour of the mud arch area. Looks like some good riding.

[Crawdaddy 96]

I need a tour of the mud arch area. Looks like some good riding.

N33 18.211 W116 00.417 :declare:

[papaalex 5]

Good riding everyone...thanks for the company picture taking and mud shower...I suck in woops...see you next time.

papa.