Itchy boots season 7

[old head]

She started her new adventure today on You Tube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMvfS5mbsiI

[pehayes]

Location caught us by surprise.  I was sure she was off to Australia or New Zealand.  Glad to see she is wearing a SPOT on her shoulder.  All of that port scenery looked very familiar as we had just completed that import with the Falcone club before -  hit.  Even had the same parking confusion trying to find the ferry ticket office.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[tommy2cyl]

One thing that always amazes me with her border crossings is how poor the signage/information is for her to get to her designated area to leave a
country & enter the next one.  There appears to be no logic in the location or traffic flow to where she needs to be to conduct her business.
Imagine the wasted time and frustration in dealing with this, especially with different languages hurdle as well.  She on the other hand is
always eminently prepared and speaks at least 5 languages to make it all happen.  Look forward to her continued travels. 

[2WheelsUp]

It's incredibly exciting to start off a cross country motorcycle trip, one of my favorite things to do. She is brave, I would never go where she is going. Perhaps already covered, but do we know whether she actually travels alone at this point?

[steven c]

 Yup she travels alone.

[ScepticalScotty]

Alone indeed - but with a delay to putting up the vids.

[Huzo]

If there’s one thing that reminds me of Europe it’s the riding up the ramp onto ferries. I always enjoy it.
Also ports ALWAYS look the same.
Video of riding on the right hand side of the road brings back a lot of the feeling too.

[twowheeladdict]

I was hoping for Japan, New Zealand, but still looking forward to the new adventures.

Close to 500,000 views already.

[Shorty]

I think she is turning into a desert rat...   she sure likes those dunes.

[trippah]

I was surprised that the car wash at the gas station in Tanger where she got a fill up was labeled "car wash."  Glad she's back, and what a shock at how green the countryside was.

[pehayes]

I noticed today at about 8 minutes that a young child ran out in the road to give her a 'high five' slap.  Cute.  But alas, that deteriorates.  We often had kids out in the road during our Falcone Club tour.  Quite close and perhaps dangerous.  If you stopped, they swarmed and groped you while demanding 'bonbon'.  Not much candy in their life experience.  It only comes from tourists.  As the roadside school children became a little older, the congratulatory high five slaps turned into an elbow grab to see if they could pull your hands off the bars!  Eventually as we traveled further south and more rural, the roadside ruffian clusters began to arm themselves with pebbles to throw at you as you traversed their little town.   What started out cute wasn't quite so toward the end.

I do hope that eventually she will pass by a photograph the solar tower at Oarzazate.  Using solar input and molten salt to generate electricity at 2 in the morning.

I was fully enthused to hear a little Cat Stevens at the end of today's episode.  I sang right along.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[tazio]

She's got herself in a pickle now...

[redrider90]

Boy I'll say. Surprised she didn't carry an extra set of clutch plates knowing she was headed into the Heart of Darkness during the wet season. She sure is tough. But I think she made a mistake letting Lawrence take over and burn those disks. She''ll find a way like she always does. It make take a while to unwind it. Great videos lately with "to be continued" when she is in real dire straits. I like the last one just after her clutch finally gives up the ghost. Waiting on Sunday's release.

[pehayes]

I'm surprised she hasn't done some full inspection of the linkage or attempted some adjustments.  Off camera?  She doesn't report such.  Just keeps driving and slipping.  With all that mud there could easily be something crammed in the levers or links to prevent full engagement.  If you followed here on season #1 she did the same thing on her Royal Enfield in Pakistan.  Had a clutch cable that was the wrong size and it was under constant tension and eventually burned discs.  Even burned discs should work better if the cable or hydraulic action is complete.

Yes, she's a brave and wonderful person.  But some times her basic mechanical skills leave a little something lacking.

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[xackley]

In an earlier episode this season she bent the shift lever. She didn't even try to pry it back out, but rode miles to have a "mechanic" pry it out. In the early seasons on the Royal Enfield she did carry too many spare parts, I believe she had clutch plates then.
Just before the end of the last episode it looked like they were about to hook up a tow rope.

[Huzo]

In an earlier episode this season she bent the shift lever. She didn't even try to pry it back out, but rode miles to have a "mechanic" pry it out. In the early seasons on the Royal Enfield she did carry too many spare parts, I believe she had clutch plates then.
Just before the end of the last episode it looked like they were about to hook up a tow rope.

Probably a good idea not to bend it back out.
If it was cast, (and I’m not sure it was), then it can snap like a carrot. Then you ARE in trouble.

[Tom H]

Have to agree with Huzo on that. As long as it's usable, don't mess with it on the road.

Tom

[bad Chad]

You fan boys are so cute.

[tazio]

You fan boys are so cute.

Lol Guilty!!

[pehayes]

That girl needs to use one of these rainy days to just sit and watch YouTube videos about towing a motorcycle with another motorcycle.  How many mistakes can you make on one ride?  Once they decided to tow, why didn't she run her bike?  Even the slightest of clutch advantage would have helped getting up to a rolling speed and not burden all of the load on the little tow rig.  Go to neutral once rolling on the gyroscopes.  Good thing she's safe and thanks to the local helpers.  Still no effort to inspect or adjust the linkage.  At least she's now admitting that the RE clutch burn issue was her fault for lack of mechanical knowledge.

I checked for specifications.  Apparently her bike has a 'slipper clutch'.  I'm not familiar with such.  Does anyone know if that is what may be failing?   Or if the mud incidents may have  caused her issue and could be solved by disassembly and cleaning?

Patrick Hayes
Fremont CA

[pressureangle]

I've been yelling at her to get off the darn clutch for...ever now. She smoked her first one early on, and with all the 'training' and accompaniment of experienced riders never learned proper throttle control- she uses the clutch like a motocrosser who only has to make the weekend. Ol' boy didn't burn her clutch, it was 3/4 dead when he got it. Look around at the infinite number of cheap Chinese and Indian bikes there- I saw only one being pushed. She's a clutch burner, and apparently absent the basic mechanical knowledge of cable adjustment.
I love her dearly but damn girl you need some tech updates.

[twowheeladdict]

In an earlier episode this season she bent the shift lever. She didn't even try to pry it back out, but rode miles to have a "mechanic" pry it out. In the early seasons on the Royal Enfield she did carry too many spare parts, I believe she had clutch plates then.
Just before the end of the last episode it looked like they were about to hook up a tow rope.

I bent my shift lever in a rock garden and didn’t bend it back for at least two reasons.
1.  I didn’t want to apply more force on the shift shaft trying to bend it in the field. I wanted to remove it and use a vice to hold it.
2. It still shifted and wasn’t rubbing against anything.
3.  Didn’t want to risk it breaking.