Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! 
Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to 
Story goes like this, I was stuck in the house all day on a gorgeous Sat having some work done on the house. The contractor said he’d be done my noon. He didn’t show up till 1 and left close to 5pm. Day of perfect riding weather wasted. Okay, there’s always Sunday. Screw football, I hear the hills calling me. Woke up bright and early and found a storm had blown in. But, being Texas, it might go through quickly. Get on the ‘puter and check weather. Dang! This sucker is a big’n. My buddy comes over and we head out for some cheap Tex Mex and watch Tampa/Atlanta game. As I'm driving home the weather starts to clear. It’s close to 3 so I’ve got about 4 hours of riding.
Hop on the GS and head down 1431 to Marble Falls, out 1271 around Lake LBJ. Was going to take 962 down to Eckert road for a quick trip to Fredericksburg when something clicked. Hmm… CO 310 is just up the road. I could take that, hit CO309 and then down to Fred-town. Off I go. Turn on to 310. HOLY ****! This is some slipper mud! I guess they got a LOT more rain than I thought. There had to be a good 3 inches of red mud covering the road. What the ****, and I went for it.
Now, for the Anakees. I’ve got almost 6k on them. Not quite down to the wear bars but pretty close. I’m going down the road, slipping and sliding all over the **** place, but having fun. Stopped once and saw that the tires were covered with about 2 inches of the crap. So, I think if I keep the speed up the mud will fly off. Wrong. If y'all have ever been in Texas red mud, it's like gorilla snot mixed with concrete.
As I go up and down the rather large hills, I’m thinking that this isn’t too bad. Jinxed myself. As I climb a hill and start down the next, I see a creek that’s over the road. Doesn’t look to deep but the mud is pretty thick. Okay, stand up, weight on the pegs and lean back, don’t get off the gas. Hit the mud at about 30. Went down at about 30. Me and the bike slide in the freakin red mud about 30 yards and land in the creek. All I could do was laugh and think, man that was kinda fun!
So I go and pick up the bike. This alone was a chore. Everytime I got enough leverage, the **** thing would slide in the mud. I ended up pushing it off the road into a ditch where I finally muscled it up. After checking for damage I found the cheap plastic cylinder guard broke and Wunderlich bars either bent or came loose and cantered to one side. I figured they just needed adjusting. The crashed side was ½ inch away from the cylinder while the other side was 2 inches. No sweat. I pull in the clutch and what the #@!% I got a good spray of brake fluid right in the face! I panic, run back to the creek and splash red muddy water all over me face. Phew!! I’m okay. Look in the mirrors and my face looks like a baboons red ***. Still no clutch. It seems that the Acerbis guard bracket that mounts to the handlebar rotated down and loosened the banjo bolt. Great. Now how do you bleed the clutch? Well, I figured I follow the line down and surely there would be a bleed screw or some way to bleed it. Start stripping the bike. As I’m taking the bike apart, I notice that I’ve got company. Slowly about 15 head of cattle show up to see what’s up. They pretty much leave me alone but I’ve got an audience. Now I’m really laughing cause all I can think about is a Far Side cartoon where in the first panel all the cows are standing up talking, the second shows a car coming and the cows on all fours mooing and last shows the car gone by and the cows standing again talking. Hehehe.
Okay back to work…I can’t seem to figure how to bleed it. And I know I’m going to have a problem getting the bike out of here without a clutch but what the ****. Then I try taking the cover off and pumping. That worked. But I've prolly got lot's of air in the system but enough pull to get me outta there. I start putting the bike back together. While I’m doing this, my audience is getting a little closer so I’m keeping an eye on them. As I’m putting the fuel quick disconnects together, I notice something isn’t right. **** IT!! I broke an o-ring. Uh-oh. Fuel is spilling all over the place. I figure it’s time to call for reinforcements. I get on the cell but I’m in a ravine. I try anyway. I get a signal, call my friend and tell him what’s up. He tells me I’m breaking up but he's heard mud, clutch, o-ring, cows, help. Okay, I’ll walk up the hill and try from there. It’s about 100/150 yards to the top. As I walk up my boots are getting **** heavy with mud. Soon, I’m having problems getting up the hill but finally make it. I notice that I’m about 3 inches taller to boot!
Back on the phone, tell my buddy to get my Jeep and bring o-rings. I slide back down the hill and figure I’ll finish putting the bike together and wait. Boredom sets in pretty quick. I end up riding out to the highway. But before I get out, I had to biff one more time. I picked a line that looked pretty good. Turned out it was smooth DEEP mud...about six inches of the stuff. Went down laughing with red water splashing up inside my helmet. Pick up the bike again and wouldn't yah know it, same thing happened again. So off comes the hand guards. Left them for the cows to ponder. Tighten up the clutch banjo bolt, take off the cover and pump. I finally make it out and an hour later my buddy shows up with the o-ring I need, laughing is *** off because my black jacket, blue jeans are now red and look like stucco.
Lessons learned…Anakees are not good in the mud. Acerbis hand guards will take out your clutch banjo bolt. (I got these with the GS brackets. I thought about moving the bracket under the clutch line but if I dump it again and the bracket rotates up, it’s going to break the line instead of loosen it.) And lastly…ALWAYS CARRY O-RINGS!!!!
You may ask yourself if I'd do it again....in a heartbeat!!!
Pics of the beast tonight....
Hop on the GS and head down 1431 to Marble Falls, out 1271 around Lake LBJ. Was going to take 962 down to Eckert road for a quick trip to Fredericksburg when something clicked. Hmm… CO 310 is just up the road. I could take that, hit CO309 and then down to Fred-town. Off I go. Turn on to 310. HOLY ****! This is some slipper mud! I guess they got a LOT more rain than I thought. There had to be a good 3 inches of red mud covering the road. What the ****, and I went for it.
Now, for the Anakees. I’ve got almost 6k on them. Not quite down to the wear bars but pretty close. I’m going down the road, slipping and sliding all over the **** place, but having fun. Stopped once and saw that the tires were covered with about 2 inches of the crap. So, I think if I keep the speed up the mud will fly off. Wrong. If y'all have ever been in Texas red mud, it's like gorilla snot mixed with concrete.
As I go up and down the rather large hills, I’m thinking that this isn’t too bad. Jinxed myself. As I climb a hill and start down the next, I see a creek that’s over the road. Doesn’t look to deep but the mud is pretty thick. Okay, stand up, weight on the pegs and lean back, don’t get off the gas. Hit the mud at about 30. Went down at about 30. Me and the bike slide in the freakin red mud about 30 yards and land in the creek. All I could do was laugh and think, man that was kinda fun!
So I go and pick up the bike. This alone was a chore. Everytime I got enough leverage, the **** thing would slide in the mud. I ended up pushing it off the road into a ditch where I finally muscled it up. After checking for damage I found the cheap plastic cylinder guard broke and Wunderlich bars either bent or came loose and cantered to one side. I figured they just needed adjusting. The crashed side was ½ inch away from the cylinder while the other side was 2 inches. No sweat. I pull in the clutch and what the #@!% I got a good spray of brake fluid right in the face! I panic, run back to the creek and splash red muddy water all over me face. Phew!! I’m okay. Look in the mirrors and my face looks like a baboons red ***. Still no clutch. It seems that the Acerbis guard bracket that mounts to the handlebar rotated down and loosened the banjo bolt. Great. Now how do you bleed the clutch? Well, I figured I follow the line down and surely there would be a bleed screw or some way to bleed it. Start stripping the bike. As I’m taking the bike apart, I notice that I’ve got company. Slowly about 15 head of cattle show up to see what’s up. They pretty much leave me alone but I’ve got an audience. Now I’m really laughing cause all I can think about is a Far Side cartoon where in the first panel all the cows are standing up talking, the second shows a car coming and the cows on all fours mooing and last shows the car gone by and the cows standing again talking. Hehehe.
Okay back to work…I can’t seem to figure how to bleed it. And I know I’m going to have a problem getting the bike out of here without a clutch but what the ****. Then I try taking the cover off and pumping. That worked. But I've prolly got lot's of air in the system but enough pull to get me outta there. I start putting the bike back together. While I’m doing this, my audience is getting a little closer so I’m keeping an eye on them. As I’m putting the fuel quick disconnects together, I notice something isn’t right. **** IT!! I broke an o-ring. Uh-oh. Fuel is spilling all over the place. I figure it’s time to call for reinforcements. I get on the cell but I’m in a ravine. I try anyway. I get a signal, call my friend and tell him what’s up. He tells me I’m breaking up but he's heard mud, clutch, o-ring, cows, help. Okay, I’ll walk up the hill and try from there. It’s about 100/150 yards to the top. As I walk up my boots are getting **** heavy with mud. Soon, I’m having problems getting up the hill but finally make it. I notice that I’m about 3 inches taller to boot!
Back on the phone, tell my buddy to get my Jeep and bring o-rings. I slide back down the hill and figure I’ll finish putting the bike together and wait. Boredom sets in pretty quick. I end up riding out to the highway. But before I get out, I had to biff one more time. I picked a line that looked pretty good. Turned out it was smooth DEEP mud...about six inches of the stuff. Went down laughing with red water splashing up inside my helmet. Pick up the bike again and wouldn't yah know it, same thing happened again. So off comes the hand guards. Left them for the cows to ponder. Tighten up the clutch banjo bolt, take off the cover and pump. I finally make it out and an hour later my buddy shows up with the o-ring I need, laughing is *** off because my black jacket, blue jeans are now red and look like stucco.
Lessons learned…Anakees are not good in the mud. Acerbis hand guards will take out your clutch banjo bolt. (I got these with the GS brackets. I thought about moving the bracket under the clutch line but if I dump it again and the bracket rotates up, it’s going to break the line instead of loosen it.) And lastly…ALWAYS CARRY O-RINGS!!!!
You may ask yourself if I'd do it again....in a heartbeat!!!
Pics of the beast tonight....
