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Some weekend dirt riding for Daniel

Tourmeister

Keeper of the Asylum
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Joined
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Location
Huntsville
First Name
Scott
Last Name
Friday
Ever since our trip together to North Carolina back in mid June, Daniel has been pestering me to get the dirt bikes out. Last week we took the XR80R apart because the throttle wouldn't turn. We pulled the carb and realized that the slide was stuck in place because of gas residue even though I had drained the carb after the last ride. So we gave it a good cleaning and got it all back together. The back seven acres of their property is wooded and over the years we've made a bunch of trails back in there. Friday afternoon Daniel was at work with me and we were slow, so he walked the trails to be sure they were clear and I got out Dad's BIG zero turn Kubota (60") and mowed all the trails. The weeds were several feet high in places. Friday evening we loaded the XR80R and Daniel's TTR110E in my truck and hauled them over to my parent's place. It was getting close to dark, but Daniel really wanted to ride. He was able to get in a few laps before it got completely dark, but I told him we'd come back over Saturday evening after it had hopefully cooled off a bit...

We headed over Saturday around 6:30pm. He was hoping to get some seat time on the XR80R so he could practice riding a bike with a clutch. The TTR110E has the auto clutch like the little 50s. I had brought my helmet and his street helmet because they have communicators in them. I wanted to be able to follow him in Dad's Kubota RUV and talk to him while he learned the clutch. After checking tire pressures, oil, and gas, I fired up the XR only to find that gas pours out of the carb bowl over flow :doh: I guess I might have messed up the float setting when I had it apart and cleaned it. I thought I was being careful not to change it, but that is all I can think of that would cause gas to pour out of the drain line while the engine is running :shrug: So I shut it down, turned off the gas, and rolled it back into the trailer (which stays at my folk's place). We were both disappointed. Still, Daniel wanted to ride his TTR, so he geared up while I went and got the RUV and my camera.

He rode for about an hour and a half. It wasn't really HOT, but man was it MUGGY!!! Just standing around taking pics I was dripping with sweat!

He got a new helmet earlier in the day/ Tried to find a larger version of that jacket, but no luck. He's been wearing that one for four or five years! I think he's pretty well outgrown this bike. He sat on a CRF125F at the dealer after we bought the helmet and it fit great! But... it has a clutch ;-) So he has to learn the XR80R first.
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The gas cap is off because he is about to top off the tank before riding.
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I don't know what they are, but there are a lot of them around my parent's property and along the road
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This is all limestone behind him. There is an intermittent creek cutting through the property. Just off the right side of the image is about a 4 foot waterfall. When we get a good rain, this will run about a foot deep and about 10-12 feet wide and is moving FAST.
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My ride. I usually carry a large machete with me to cut back the Yopon, which grows like a weed!! That is the hardest part about keeping the trails clear.
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Creek crossing up stream of the water fall section, steep in and out with loose sand on both sides. This frequently has standing water/mud and he loves to rip through it when it does.
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He started doing a loop that includes a long straight where he can really get on the gas and then cutting back through the creek. Just after climbing out of the creek, he had to make a hard right, so I sat on the inside of the corner to get some shots of him there. When he realized what I was doing, he really started hammering the throttle through the turn...

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The first few passes went great... but then the grass had been torn up to reveal the soft sand below... :lol2: The back end tried real hard to come around on him, but he managed not to panic and saved it, ripping away in a cloud of dust!
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A little more restrained the next time around :-P
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Just around that corner above, here you can see
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I moved further up the trail between loops. Once again he was really whacking the gas wide open!
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The camera totally flattens each side of the creek :doh:
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In some spots, the Yopon makes tunnels. Here, he is coming out of one of them and setting up for a right hand turn.
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One of the trails heads down hill away from the barn and into the woods. It has become twistier over the years because of the need to get around trees that died years ago in a drought (2010) and have finally fallen. I've cut some away with the chain saw, but it is nasty hot work and I only do as much as is needed to clear a path :mrgreen:

Dad's Blue Heeler, "Sassy" inspects the trail for Daniel
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Gotta watch for the face slappers down in here!
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Another tunnel section
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The big mower can get most places, but there are some BIG ruts in this area from the ATVs we used to run back here, so I can't mow this section near the creek.
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He just powers through it
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One of the approaches to the water fall area has become eroded in recent years from the fast moving run off during heavy storms. Now there is a little ledge, maybe 10 inches tall that Daniel like to launch off of or use as a "wheelie assist" since there no clutch on the TTR, which makes it hard to wheelie.

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NOT keeping his eyes up!

Same thing here too! So I flagged him down and told him to stop looking at his fender :lol2:
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Better!
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Perfect!
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Right after the landing is the water fall crossing, which is quite rough and bumpy! I can hear him braking hard and sliding right before he reaches it, then gassing his way across to make his turn around loop, and then hard on the gas to the wheelie bump.

Eyes up!
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Oops!! :lol2: This got his attention! But at least he kept his eyes up and recovered easily
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A four way intersection of the trails
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This is the road leading from my parent's place back to the main road, basically one long collection of chip seal patches over poor chip seal pavement... But, it has a WIDE shoulder that is relatively smooth and Daniel wants to test out the top speed of the bike in 4th gear... Once I shoo away the good sized herd of deer that are grazing, it is perfect :-P
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We were losing the light here and I did not have the big flash for my camera, just the built in flash and it doesn't have enough power to really reach out. Of all the shots I tried to get, this one is the best. Because of the limited flash range, I had to be pretty close to him when he came by, which made it REALLY had to pan fast enough to keep him focused!
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After a couple more high speed passes, we called it quits and headed back to the trailer to load up the bike. We were going to head back over today (Sunday), but we had some pretty heavy showers move through the area off and on all day. He loves riding in the mud but I didn't feel like slogging through the humidity following him again... :-P
 
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and now you know the seed you planted years ago has taken root and sprouted. hope it sticks with him through the teenage years, and beyond.
 
What a fun evening. Your parents have a good setup with enough land to go run around. I use to love going to my grandparents farm to ride 4wheelers and cousin's dirtbikes. Unfortunately the rides weren't consistent enough and no one was anyone teaching us how to ride. They kicked us out the door and said be back for dinner and don't get hurt lol

I'm looking at your son's progress and his plans for the next bike, he's lucky to have a Dad who is showing him how to ride and going up bike sizes as he grows. My dad wasn't a motorcycle guy, he taught us other stuff, and as an adult I'm grateful for. I'm sure your son will realize the same one day looking back. Good job Dad.
 
Good times for sure.

XR carb needs the float needle and seat cleaned good. The float level is probably good. Sometimes I use a pipe cleaner to clean the seat area good and wipe the needle really good with rag.
 
Good pictures!
He is a very good rider.
 
Good times for sure.

XR carb needs the float needle and seat cleaned good. The float level is probably good. Sometimes I use a pipe cleaner to clean the seat area good and wipe the needle really good with rag.

We pulled the carb this evening and gave it a sonic bath. When the lines on the float were level, the needle looked low, so I raised it a bit...

We’ll be pulling it apart again tomorrow so I can lower it back down :doh: :lol2:
 
From your "Smokies" thread...."Hopefully, this will be one of those experiences he remembers the rest of his life. I hope that when he's old enough I might be able to do like Roger and Mason and do some trips together where he's riding his own bike. I just don't know if I'll be able to keep him in sight... :zen: " Keeping Daniel in sight..good luck with that. Great Pictures!
 
What a fun evening. Your parents have a good setup with enough land to go run around....
My dad wasn't a motorcycle guy, he taught us other stuff....
Good job Dad.

Yep, good work Scott. As a kid back in the '70's, the biggest argument I recall between by dad & older brother was when my jr.high aged brother asked for a motorcycle. Now we lived on 300+ acres of East Texas leased pasture, hardwood creek bottoms and cutover timber, and my brother was asking for something like a Trail 70. In hindsight, at least to me, a reasonable request. But, no, my dad was in law enforcement and, in his opinion, only "trash" rode motorcycles, so the answer was a resounding "No!" But my dad did teach me to shoot a rifle by the age of six, and I was a pretty good shot until a baseball hit my dominant eye at age ten. My brother and I both purchased motorcycles as adults, but my brother no longer rides.
 
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