Spring in the sierra's

[T Legg]

While I was out throwing sticks for my dog in the  yard I saw a fire was burning in the foothills across the valley. I decided to ride over and take a look .

[T Legg]

When I got over there I found it was just a controlled burn. I decided to ride up the mountain and check out how the roads were .

[T Legg]

There is still a good amount of snow in the mountains but the roads are clear. I rode all the way over the 9,000 ft pass up to Tahoe ( it's only about 25 miles ) . The meadows are melting off and the streams are flowing. It's time to start riding the high country. In the next month I'm going to take a ride from the area south of Tahoe  around the west side of the lake and across the Sierra's out towards Quincy and the Bucks lake area to view all of the places the fires went through last summer.
   

[T Legg]

I lost pressure to my front brakes at the top . I think my left anti dive valve has sprung a leak. I descended the 4,500 ft back down to the valley using engine breaking and  the rear brake if I had to come to a stop.

[Old Rider]

Nice report and scenery it looks like here in Norway. Did not know you have a red vhite fj i thaugt you had a black and also a yellow fj. I dont think the leak from antidive is fixable.I had to replace one
of mine because of a leak.I think the leak came from standing outside over winter in very cold weather and that maybe it had beeen some water in the antidive that freezed

[Troyskie]

Nice one mate!  Beautiful scenery. Does any of that snow melt end up Cali way to help them out with their drought?

I'm adding 'throwing sticks for the dog' as a proven reason to go for a ride  # 400,561 

[T Legg]

You might be right Rolf. Like yours my poor FJ's live outside under a tarp. Being at the base of the mountains on the desert side I don't think I get the amount of rain and snow you get in Norway but its still a tough life for a motorcycle. For now I am going to remove the brake hoses from the anti dive units and see how I like it.
I bought  the 86 ambulance a couple years ago  for a loaner bike so it mostly just sat there until I snapped the chain on my yellow 1100 and broke both halves of the engine cases up in Oregon last summer. I bought a low miles XJR 1250 engine to replace it but I have to shave  the head and cylinder barrel fins to make it fit into the frame. I hope to get it done this summer .
    The engine in my black 1100 is also in sad shape. I found a small amount of water in the oil after it had been sitting . When I pulled the clutch side case cover I found rust on the clutch spring and I could see rust on one of the connecting rods. The engine is now sitting on my bench with the head off and the oil pan off.there is rust on the connecting rods and crankcase counter weights . The heads and cylinders have no rust. I found the water entered through one of the cylinder studs. The engine hasn't turned over since the rust occurred so I am hopeful the crankshaft bearing surfaces are ok. If they are I'm going to try removing the rust and putting new crankshaft and connecting rod bearings in. I'll know more a soon as I split the cases in the next couple weeks. If the crankshaft and rods are bad the next plan is to try and use the internal parts of the yellow 1100's engine. It was still running great even with the broken cases .
    I bought the 86 to loan out to any members ( that would include you Rolf ) who might end up out in my area , now I'm glad I have it until I get the other bikes straightened out .

[T Legg]

Nice one mate!   Beautiful scenery. Does any of that snow melt end up Cali way to help them out with their drought?

I'm adding 'throwing sticks for the dog' as a proven reason to go for a ride   # 400,561  

    Yes Troy northern Nevada and California get most of our water from the Sierra's  but all the water that flows out of lake Tahoe ends up in Nevada. It's one of the few lakes that flow inland and never makes it to the ocean. It terminates in pyramid lake one of the remnants of the great inland sea that used to cover much of Nevada . Even though my State is mostly desert like , there are huge aquifers beneath us .