The Right Way to Break In a Wee Strom

[Trail Boss]

The Right Way to Break in a Wee-Strom
Or
The Junction Unction Dual Sport Ride
​

For the past few years Uncle and I have taken a 3 day ride over Easter weekend. Unfortunately, on the Monday before our annual ride Uncle called with bad news. The rear shock on his BMW R100GSPD had broken and a replacement would take several weeks to procure. No Easter ride for Uncle. Well, 2 weeks before Memorial Day weekend Uncle called me.

Uncle: Hey, Rich
Rich: Hey Uncle, whatcha doin?
Uncle: Nuttin
Rich: Bike fixed?
Uncle: Yep
Rich: Whatcha doin over Memorial Day weekend?
Uncle: Nuttin
Rich: Why dontcha come on down to Austin and we can go ride?
Uncle: That sounds good.

Woo Hoo! Time to Ride with Uncle.

Then, the weekend prior to his arrival, my phone rings.

Uncle: Hey, Rich
Rich: Hey Uncle, what’s up?
Uncle: Bikes broke.
Rich: Broke? You just got it fixed.
Uncle: Yeah, but it’s broke again. Dang bolt stripped on me, dog gone it, mutter, curse, mutter, curse some more…
Rich: Well, come on down anyway. You can ride my Fizzy (FZ1). I’ll ride the KLR. We will just have to stick to paved roads this year.
Uncle: Okay and I can drop the Beemer off at Lone Star and they can fix it. I’ll be there on Wednesday.

On Wednesday after dropping the Beemer off at Lone Star, Uncle shows up at my place.

Uncle: Hey Rich
Rich: Hey Uncle. How was the drive?
Uncle: Okay
Rich: Get the Beemer dropped off?
Uncle: Yep
Rich: They gonna have it fixed before our ride Saturday?
Uncle: Didn’t say. Probably not.
Later on Wednesday night.

Uncle: I think I’m gonna buy a new bike. Maybe one of those Wee-Stroms I been eyeing for the last year.
Rich picks up phone, calls Woods Fun Center, gets Dogman on the phone.
Rich: Still got those 2 Wee-Stroms?
Dogman: Yep. One red, one blue.
Rich: Uncle wants one. He’ll be by tomorrow to pick up one tomorrow.
Dogman: Okay.

On Thursday Uncle went to Woods and bought a blue Wee-Strom. Sweet!

Wee Strom and KLR, ready to go

Uncle on his new Wee Strom

We wouldn’t have to stick to paved roads during our ride after all. That’s good. There are some roads over near Junction that I have wanted to ride. I had read reports about a few of them by some fellow DSers on this site. Some I hadn’t heard of anyone riding (though I’m sure somebody has, they just haven’t posted it here). This was as good a time as any to go ride those roads and break in Uncle’s new Wee-Strom in the process.

Uncle and I left out of Austin early Saturday morning. We rode for 11 hours, covered 327 miles, discovered some fantastic dual sport roads, ate some wonderful food, and stayed the night in Junction in the best $42 per night motel I’ve ever stayed in. Sunday we spent about 9 hours in the saddle, rode 270 miles, and ate some more excellent food.

Instead of writing one of my typical chronological ride reports I thought I would simply report on the highlights of the trip, especially the dual sport roads.

Usener Rd
West of Fredericksburg on Hwy 290 is the north end of Usener Rd. It runs south to Hwy 2093. It’s paved its entire length, but is a typical fun hill country road.

Zemer-Ahrens Rd
From Hwy 2093 take White Oak Rd south to Zemer-Ahrens Rd. My map says Zemer-Ahrens is unpaved, and while some is still unpaved, parts are now paved. Still a fun road though. Here’s a shot of White Oak Rd before reaching Zemer-Ahrens.

Hackberry Road

Hackberry Road runs between Hwy 41 and RR 335. We turned off Hwy 41 onto Hackberry and ran it south. It turned out to be a really fun road. I think it’s even better than the dual sport road that joins RR 3235 and RR2631 just to the south of Hackberry. Camp Eagle is located on Hackberry Rd. They offer free rock climbing and mountain biking – www.campeagle.org

First view of Hackberry Rd

Hackberry Rd runs through a valley, following the path of the Nueces River.

Hackberry Rd is quite scenic

The southern end of Hackberry Rd, where it ends at RR 335, is not marked with a road sign. There is a big sign for Hackberry Ranch though.

Spotted some camels on RR 335 as we were headed south to Camp Wood

CR 380/353/350 - The Best DS Road not in Big Bend
I first rode this road, which consists of Edwards county roads 380, 353, & 350, during my 2006 three day Easter ride (the one Uncle missed). It was such a good road that I wanted to ride it again and give Uncle an opportunity to ride it too. Grab CR 380 in Barksdale and run it west to CR 353. Run CR 353 north to CR 350 west.

CR 353 - Just a little ways further up the road, we turned left onto CR 350 and headed through the hills you see on the left side of this picture.

CR 350 – headed west. There are quite a few water crossings on 353 and 350.

CR 310 / White Mountain Road
After passing through the hills on CR 350 you reach the intersection of CR 350 & CR 310 (also known as White Mountain Rd). You can continue west on CR 350 and eventually end up at Hwy 674. Or you can turn north / northeast onto CR 310 and you will be routed back to Hwy 55 just south of Rocksprings.

Taking a break at the intersection of CR 350 & CR 310

First bump gate on CR 310 after the intersection of 310 & 350

Old Junction Road
We left Rocksprings headed north on Hwy 377. A few short miles up 377 we turned left (west) onto Hwy 2630, which is paved. At the end of Hwy 2630 the pavement ends and Old Junction Road begins. What a great road. Uncle voted it the 2nd best dual sport road not in Big Bend. It starts off 2 lanes wide and in good shape.

South Llano River from Old Junction Road

Then Old Junction Road gets smaller, rockier, and less traveled. The fun meter takes a strong turn up at this point. Don’t you love riding roads with grass growing in the center?

The further we went the less maintained the road became. Parts of it weren’t even rock/gravel, it was dirt with ruts from the last rain. It would likely be tough to pass through parts of it following a good rain shower.

It just kept getting better the further we went.

And even better. 4 deer were stopped in the road watching as we approached. 2 ran off before I could get the camera out. After I snapped this picture another 4-5 crossed at the same spot.

When we reached the end of Old Junction Road (and the end of the unpaved road) we turned left onto Bond Rd / Sutton CR 320 with the intention of taking it all the way into Sonora. Alas, it was not to be. A short distance up Bond Rd, we encountered a locked gate.

Kimble CR 260

Forced to backtrack on Bond Rd, we ran Sutton CR 314 north and worked our way to River Road. We took River Road east to Kimble CR 260, which was unpaved and very fun. Out here, when you want to go swimming you just drive your truck out into the river.

How to Recover from an 11 hour day of riding
We stayed overnight in Junction at the Lazy T Motel. It was the best $42 per night motel I’ve stayed in.

Uncle in full recovery mode – cigar and Shiner boch

Rich in kick back mode

Putting the “lazy” in “Lazy T Motel”. Uncle begins phase 2 of rider recovery operations.

Next – Finding more DS roads on Sunday

 

[Faylaricia]

I didn't know a V-Strom is this versatile! Congrats to the new bike. I am sure it never thought to be broken in like that.

Thanks for sharing the pics. Gotta love the Hill Country.

Huhm, those people really leave that truck parked there? Aren't they worried about dripping oil or coolant? It is a beautiful creek. My parents have a creek like that on their property.

 

[10-95]

Very entertaining trip report.

He'll love the DL. I really enjoy mine. I did find a weakness though. Today heading down a CR in Burleson County at about 45, pavement ends, slowed to about 35 then had to brake hard when it went from hard packed red dirt and gravel to deep sand with the consistency of flour. Not fun. Needless to say I had my feet out like outriggers. My Pat Walsh bars are supposed to be here this week. I think I'll feel a little more confident with some protection.

 

[Squeaky]

I didn't know a V-Strom is this versatile!

Well, it is when the rider is that versatile!
I love my V, but I still haven't done the water crossings and gravel that y'all did this weekend. I'm sure the Wee is going to live a full life! If he hasn't ordered them already, do what 10-95 is doing and get some bars on the side of that baby to save it from too much damage in a tip-over.

 

[Tourmeister]

Great report! Congrats to Uncle! Why isn't he a member here?

Faylaricia, the Wee-strom should be high on your list of potential next bikes!

10-95, that is when you need to stand up, weight back, loose grip on the bars, and stay ON the gas It will scare the poop out of you, but it usually works more often than not.

 

[Faylaricia]

Faylaricia, the Wee-strom should be high on your list of potential next bikes!

Hmm... haven't even considered it at all yet... does it come in yellow?

About the bars, +1. We lifted Squeaky's V-Strom on Saturday during our drop n' learn and it made it easier to pick up than the little Ninja because of the leverage ! (just one reason)

 

[kurt]

Hmm... haven't even considered it at all yet... does it come in yellow?

The 1000 did in '03.

 

[Georgiapeach]

Hmm... haven't even considered it at all yet... does it come in yellow?

About the bars, +1. We lifted Squeaky's V-Strom on Saturday during our drop n' learn and it made it easier to pick up than the little Ninja because of the leverage ! (just one reason)

This year the DL650 comes in that pretty blue and in red. I sat on an 05 last year and it was a little too tall for me and felt a little top heavy because of that. I come from a long line of short Italians, sometimes this displeases me.

 

[Trail Boss]

Day 2 – Kimble County Dual Sport Roads​

Gotdurt recently wrote a ride report about some of the roads in Kimble County that I’ve been wanting to ride for some time.
http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9374

In fact, last fall I rode over to Junction one day on my KLR meaning to ride some of these roads, but time ran out before I could get them all in. I’ve been meaning to go back ever since but just haven’t made it. Well, today was the day. I had plenty of time, the weather was great, Uncle was willing and eager, and the Wee-Strom was great.

Kimble CR 261

The first DS road on the list for Sunday was CR 261. CR 261 starts about 15 west of Junction near the town/community of Roosevelt and runs northwest up to Hwy 2597. The map says the southern part of CR 261 is unpaved and the northern end is paved. The map was right.

CR 261 is 2 lanes wide and nicely graveled. Not a particularly challenging road, but it makes up for it with some excellent scenery.

Kimble CR 2612 – One of 2 Crown Jewels

Prior to reaching pavement on the north end of CR 261 you can turn east onto CR 2612. My Roads of Texas Atlas labels this road as private, but the map is wrong. For the first 50 years this road was private, but Kimble County has recently made it a county road as part of their 911 system upgrade.

Intersection of CR 261 and CR 2612

CR 2612 turned out to be an awesome road!

GotDurt wrote about this road in his trip report and I confirm all that he said. Great road.

About 1/3 of the way, as we were going through one of the several gates on this road, we spotted a rancher on an ATV coming up behind us. I waited with the gate open so that if he wanted to pass through he wouldn’t have to open the gate. As he got close to us he indicated he was turning to follow the fence line and not going through the gate, so I closed and latched the gate. When he reached the fence he stopped his ATV and greeted us.

We spent about 10 minutes visiting with him. His name was Hoskey (not sure of the spelling) and he lived in the ranch house we had passed a ways back. He confirmed that this was indeed a county road, though he wasn’t all that happy about it. He told us his grandfather had originally built this road and that it hadn’t been graded in at least 28 years, a fact we would easily agree with considering the condition of the road up to that point. In recent years Kimble County had declared it to be a county road.

Hoske and the other land owners adjoining the road got together and petitioned the county to return the road to “private” status but the county commissioner rejected the petition. Hoske told us the commissioner has other plans for the road, involving having water well digging crews use it for ingress and regress to parts of the county so that it needed to remain public and open.

He asked us if we had been through here a few weeks back. After I told him it was our first time on this road he told us that a lone rider had passed through here, on bikes like ours, headed east to west. I suspect that rider was likely gotdurt from his trip through here in early May.

Then Hoske told us that 15-20 Harley riders, all wearing colors, had passed through here in the last week or so. This really surprised me as I would not have expected this to be a road of choice for any road bike or cruiser. Sure, they could get through, but it couldn’t have been any fun. The worst thing was that the loud pipes on the Harleys scared the dickens out of Hoske’s sheep and they ran off, busting down a fence in the process and getting off his ranch. It took Hoske a while to re-gather his sheep and, understandably, left him pissed off.

The bottom line is that this is a county road. Hoske is a good guy too. He was honest about it when he told us that it was a county road, though he pleasantly let us know that he really wished it weren’t. I can’t say I blame him considering the story of the Harleys. If you do ride through here, please make sure to close the gates and don’t spook the sheep.

One last shot of CR 2612

Kimble CR 214 – The Other Crown Jewel

Hoske asked us where we were headed to and I told him Cleo. I grabbed my map and asked him about CR 214. CR 214 runs east west between Hwy 1674 and CR 210, providing a shortcut over to Hwy 291 and the community of Cleo. The map shows CR 214 to be private also, but Hoske told us it was a county road just like 2612. His sister in law (or some similar relative) lives on 214 and he confirmed we could legally ride it. That’s what I wanted to hear.

CR 214 turned out to be just as fun as 2612.

Here is the west end of 214, at the intersection of 214 and Hwy 1674.

Another shot a little further down.

I didn’t take any other photos of 214. Just substitute the pics of 2612 and you will have a pretty good idea of what it was like.

The eastern end of CR 214 joins CR 210. Here’s what the intersection looks like, looking back west down CR 214.

Kimble CR 210

CR 210 was a pleasant DS road. Though unpaved, it’s 2 lanes wide and well maintained all the way east to Hwy 2291 at Cleo.

Unfortunately it appears the county is not going to let it stay unpaved. The road crew had Sunday off, but their handwork is evident from this shot.

Breaking in the Wee Strom the Hard Way

Up to this point, the Wee-Strom break in has consisted of putting the initial 600 miles on the engine and testing the suspension on the unpaved roads. Things took a turn for the worse at a little water crossing on CR 210 though.

If you’ve ridden across any of the many low water crossing in the hill country you can probably predict what I’m about to say. Experience has taught you that those crossings, especially the ones with concrete, have algae growing on them that is unbelievably slick. The slightest error on the rider’s part and the bike is going down.

Uncle made a rider error on one such crossing and rode in the middle of the bridge instead of on either the left or right tire track. The algae proved too much and Uncle and Wee-Strom went down. I ran back and helped him pick the bike up, we pushed it out of the water and then checked for damage.

The total damage was busted right front blinker, broken handlebar end, and scratched tank. No damage to Uncle. Some electrical tape made a field expedient fix for the blinker.

Wee-Strom battle scars. Note taped up blinker.

Spiller Lane

Our next target road was an unmarked on my map DS road that cut west to east from Hwy 2291 over to Hwy 83. After a little bit of searching we finally located it and it was named Spiller Lane.

This abandoned house was sitting at the intersection of Spiller Lane and Hwy 2291.

We rode west on Spiller Lane and discovered it was a fine DS road. A short distance up the lane, however, we made a wrong turn and got off track. The road we turned on was a great unpaved road headed out through the hills, but I finally figured out that it was a private road so we backtracked.

Once back on Spiller Lane we stopped at a ranch house to ask for directions. H.B. Spiller came out of the house as I was walking to the front door. He asked if we were lost. I explained the situation and showed him my map. He confirmed the road did indeed go all the way over to Hwy 83 but that there were 3 locked gates on the road. We visited with him a few minutes and then backtracked to Hwy 2291. Don’t put Spiller Lane on your itinerary when you ride through here since the gates are locked.

HB keeps a few animals around the place. This baby walked right up to us with no fear. I’m guessing it was looking for a handout.

The adults kept a little more distance than the brave little one.

Kimble County Roads 410, 322, 412, 470, 420 & Blue Mountain Rd

Due east of Junction there is an area crisscrossed with unpaved county roads. I had previously ridden one of these roads (CR 320) but wanted to ride the others. Gotdurt had ridden through here recently and clearly liked these roads. I recall reading another ride report of this area, posted by Fly Fisher if memory serves me correctly, but I couldn’t find the ride report. Anyway, now was my turn.

CR 412 was the most fun, in my opinion, but all of them are worth riding. I particularly liked the middle section of CR 410 too. Navigation is not too bad, but if you don’t have a GPS and you navigate by map like I do then you will want to pay close attention to the map as you wander through the area.

This is near the north end of CR 322, close to where it intersects with CR 320.

The house at the intersection of CR 322 and CR 320. They had a really big American flag flying out front, as can be seen in this pic.

East of CR 322 the map shows a road running north/south. I recall from the ride report I couldn’t find that this road was great fun but was now a private road. There were no signs indicating a private road where it intersects with CR 320 so Uncle and I decided to chance it. Alas, a short distance later we confirmed it was a private road when we happened upon this locked gate. Too bad.

Looking back the way we had just come.

The intersection of CR 420 and Hwy 385 is marked as Blue Mountain Road. The intersection of CR 420 and CR 410 indicates CR 410 but doesn’t have a sign for either Blue Mountain Rd or CR 420.

The intersection of CR 410 and CR 322 is unmarked. There was a sign, at one time, but it’s gone now. Looking north down CR 322 at the intersection of 410 and 322.

Looking east down CR 410 from the same intersection. Very good road.

Headed south on CR 322. Or CR 410. Not sure if this part of the road is 322 or 410 since it isn’t marked. Still a fun road though.

Looking south down CR 410 at the intersection of CR 410 and CR 412.

Looking east down CR 412, at the intersection of CR 410 and CR 412. CR 412 runs back through those trees, through a valley, and then climbs out of the valley. This part is really great road!

Looking east down CR 412, at intersection of CR 412 and CR 470

Looking north down CR 420 / Blue Mountain Rd, at intersection of CR 420 and CR 470.

CR 470 road sign, at intersection of 470 and 420.

Food – Man’s gotta eat, right?

Breakfast at Engel’s Diner in Fredericksburg

The Rocksprings Restaurant advertised all 3 food groups on their wall – steak, mexican, and BBQ.

This is restaurant that caters to hunters and fishermen. Note the art on the wall above us.

Breakfast at Isaac’s Restaurant in Junction

Lunch at Mamacita’s Restaurant in Fredericksburg

The Wee-Strom, all broke in (and only slightly broken)

Well, the Wee-Strom is all broke in now. We put right at 600 miles on her during our 2 day ride.

I have to say I am mightily impressed with the Wee-Strom. Uncle was able to easily hang with the KLR, no matter how rough the unpaved road got. And on the paved road, he could have easily run off and left me with his extra horsepower.

I asked him how the Wee compared to his BMW R100GS Paris Dakar which he bought new way back when and has put 100,000 miles on. He thought the Wee actually handled the unpaved roads a little better than his GS. It was obvious that he really liked the Wee and that it was a better unpaved road bike than either of us anticipated. He does need to add a skip plate and some crash bars though.

 

[Gilk51]

I didn't know a V-Strom is this versatile! Congrats to the new bike. I am sure it never thought to be broken in like that.

Those of us that own them are not surprised. Rich's uncle is one smart cookie!

Hmm... haven't even considered it at all yet... does it come in yellow?

Oklahoma Russ has one:

(that's Russ - busarider1 - in the dark yellow shirt)

Rich - excellent report and photos!

 

[Photojojo]

Great report!!

10-95, that is when you need to stand up, weight back, loose grip on the bars, and stay ON the gas It will scare the poop out of you, but it usually works more often than not.

+1, standing up and giving it gas is my #1 solution. If that bothers you just stand up and stay steady on the gas. Lots of times it's the engine braking caused by rolling off the throttle quickly that gets people in trouble.

 

[Tourmeister]

Great report Richard. It is killing me not being able to get over there to run around with you.

 

[Trail Boss]

Thanks for all the comments, everyone. I'm glad everyone seemed to enjoy the report & pics.

 

[Hairsmith]

+1
Bravo

 

[bobcat]

I just got to read this after sifting through 8,552 unread posts. Great stuff Richard. Glad to see your uncle likes his Wee-Strom.

I'm going to be in the Leakey area this weekend with some ADVriders, and thanks to this ride report and your Easter ride report I'm hoping to ride CR310, CR350, CR353, Hackberry Rd, and the 3235-2631 route.

 

[Trail Boss]

bobcat,

Cool. I'm looking forward to your ride report and pics.

 

[Tourmeister]

after sifting through 8,552 unread posts.

 

[bobcat]

bobcat,

Cool. I'm looking forward to your ride report and pics.

Well, not much of a ride report or pics, as I spent most of Saturday eating everyone else's dust, and I didn't have time to take pics. IronDawg led the route, we went north from Leakey on 336, stopping to regroup along the side of the road at some point:

We then went south on RR 3235/DS road/RR2631. The big hill that drops down into the canyon caught me off guard. I almost lost it as a result of pulling in the clutch lever, hitting the rear brake and locking up the rear wheel, leading to an almost out-of-control slide. Nice little dropoff to the left if you're unable to negotiate the curve to the right. Somehow recovered from the slide, put it in first gear and let the engine braking do the work. Made it through the rest of the road without too much angst, here's a couple of photos at one of the bump gates:

We then headed down to Camp Wood for lunch, then took the road between Camp Wood and Barksdale that has a lot of gates. Nice road, other than the gates:

After that, we headed south to find some roads around the Nueces River south of Camp Wood that IronDawg had ridden 4 years ago. However, a law was passed since then that forbids vehicles in riverbeds. So the roads he remembered are now non-existent, and the land has been turned over to the surrounding landowners. We called it a day at this point and headed back to Leakey, as we were all still feeling the aftereffects from Friday night.

On Sunday, I came home the round-about way, riding solo, west on 337, then north on 335, since I wanted to try Hackberry Road. I made it about a half mile down Hackberry to the first crossing of the Nueces, where I stopped the bike to do an algae check. Walking out in the water, I just about busted my *** trying to locate a clean line through. Nice scenery though:

Not feeling particularly muscular or adventurous, and having visions of your uncle's splashdown, I turned the bike around and went back to 335, and didn't stray from pavement the rest of the way home.

Gotta love Stonehenge II:

Interesting how much braver I am in the dirt when I've got riding buddies with me.

 

[Trail Boss]

bobcat,

Had a rough go of it Saturday after a hard Friday night, huh? Yeah, been there suffered from that.

That first downhill is a doozy, glad you didn't go over the edge or something else equally as terrible. Engine braking can be a good thing.

 

[Cagiva 549]

Nice photos Claire , I would have been in the water , all I found was dry crossings a few wet ones would have felt good .I did get some air time from the Duc , long suspension works better though . Enjoyed meeting you , SEYA at the next one