Bike Mechanics 101

So i killed my DRZ. In a big way. At this point i realise that i know as much about simple engine mechanics as I do quantom physics. i.e  Naff all! The DRZ did come with the workshop manual but to be able to use that the basics need to be known.

After much forum scouring and many newbie questions, i started to form some ideas. First off was to open up the air box. I opened up the side of the air filter and muddy water poured out, not a good start. Slick mud collected in the sump. I follow the air routes and this led to the carburetor. At this point i was worried. Next step was to take out the carb, some brute force and swearing required there. With the carb out i consult the workshop manual and take it apart. Not easy for a mechanical numptie like me. Especially as all the screws were either seized or rounded off by a previous owner. Much more swearing and Dremmeling later, it was in bits. The muddy water had totally entered the carb and a silty residuew was everywhere. I even found a blade of grass in the main jet. Cause of the previous stalling possibly???? I took apart the jets, cleaned and blew out all the crap several times until i felt it was ready for re-assembly.

Perhaps i am a geek but i started to enjoy the experience until i went and looked into the engine where the carb enters. Lots more muddy residue in there. Now i was very worried. My fears confirmed when my offroader buddy started talking about hydrolock, bent bits and the world coming to an end. I drained the oil from the engine and the frame. It looked more like milk! Bearing in mind the oil was two days old, i think a gallon of pond water had got in there also. A few tests and it was not so bad. Head off the engine, feeler gauges and all seemed ok so no hydrodeath.

New oil in and clean filter, battery charged and re-fuel the bike. Try to start it and nothing.

An Excellent Resource

One of my questions I found myself repeatedly saying to offroaders was "Where can i legally ride?" Then a friend of mine came up with this superb website. An ever expanding OS map showing all the legal byways South of London. Its work in progress but is is a stroke of genious.

This database not only has the route overlaid on an OS map, but it includes a video of the entire route. Go check out http://www.bywaydatabase.com/

Sven, the creator of this idea and site is also a well know biker vlogger. His youtube pages are here http://www.youtube.com/user/svengalie

The First Day of Greenlaning.....and Death of the DRZ!!

So, Dan calls me and asks if i fancy an afternoon on the greenlanes / byways in East Sussex. I was nervous at first knowing that the bike had issues, but hell, yes I said.

The next day I rode to Newhaven and met Dan. Fuelled up and hit my first lane. This was Beddingham BW8 in East Sussex. Even though the bike kept stalling I could not help but grin my arse off behind all the mud and crap. I was keeping up with Dan. I was happy with that as he has a good year of experience and was on a KTM 450 exc.

That was until a slippery climb where the bike power just died, jerked back into life and ploughed me into a steep bank. I was furious, knackered and for the first time on a bike, had forearm pump. Not had that since my last rock climbing session.

I climbed that hill and felt elated i had conquered the climb. Onwards to some more great trails and then disaster.......

I should have sussed that Dans ride lines were not always the best we he confessed to picking the puddle lines instead of the easiest. We went through some marsh land called 'White Dyke'.  I followed Dans lines and found my self in deep deep ruts filled with water and underlying slick mud.

Dan was 40 yards in front and fell off head first intro a huge deep rut. I creased up laughing, lost concentration as well as the front end and also launched myself headfirst into a deep mudbath pool. I stumbled to get to the kill switch but in my now sodden road boots, failed. The bike was underwater and chugged to a stop.

I got the bike upright, pushed it back 200yds to dry tarmac. Knackering while sliding around in gloop. It was deader than a dead thing. Neither Dan or I had any tools or the knowledge to use them. The story of my first ride ends with the DRZ in the back of Dans van and being driven back to my garage.

Things learnt today:
1:Dont follow another riders lines aimlesly
2:Carry a toolkit
3:Learn what to actually do with the kit in a breakdown situation
4:Should have got a bike with a kick start as DRZ is electric start only. Pants in heavy wet conditions.
5: Dan is a star for getting the van and taking me home.

Lets Get Muddy

I decided its time to get muddy. Im fortunate because right next to my house is a dirtbowl where i decided to test the new bike and offroad tyres. Steep hills and drops, boggy mud and rough flats were waiting. I took the bike out, and spent 45 minutes buzzing around. Huge fun, covered in mud, wet and knackered.

However the stall problem was really pissing me off. Everytime i tried to open the bike up it died. This had to get sorted and fast or I would end up hating the DRZ.

The Woes of Buying a Used Bike

So being an impatient bugger and like a kid in a sweet shop, i decided to take the bike for a ride. It looked in mint condition and i felt happy with my bargain purchase. On the road. The big shock was how tall the bike was. Bearing in mind im used to riding a VFR 800 Vtec sports tourer. Almost dropped it at the first junction when my 6ft tall frame forgot to plant a foot in time LOL. I have to be honest and say I was very dissapointed. The bike didnt start too easy, the choke didnt seem to work, the bike kept stalling on downshifting to lights and generally felt gutless.

After getting home i started to think why all the above was happening. The bike had done 4700 miles in its lifetime and only 450miles in the last year. I was thinking a good service would sort this out. So I ordered some very good offroad tyres as recommended by my offrroader experienced mate, took them to TPG in Southwick and paid for them to fit the tyres, do a full service. In this time I had purchased an offroad lid, goggles, body armour, knee armour at Alfs in Worthing.

I collected the bike expecting to have all the problems ironed out. Paid the money, rode away cautiously on the brand new and very knobbly tyres. The damn thing felt a little better but still kept stalling and was still gutless. I resigned myself to the fact that I may have bought the wrong bike. Never mind, I can learn the basics on this and upgrade later.

A Bike is Found

I had almost given up in my search for a bike i could afford. Then out of nowhere i get an email from a mate who said someone we know off a shooting forum was selling a 2003 Suzuki DRZ400s. I knew these were not too pokey, reliable and even better this was well within my price range of £1800. I rang the seller and got the bike for a good price. It came with a new top box (for those quick trips to the shops) and various new bits like sprockets, spare tyre and even a cheap lid.

The big problem was it was in Wales and I could not get there to do a test ride. The seller was a police officer so i took a gamble and bought the bike. I organised delivery through an online broker. This website was superb and I got the bike delivered from Wales to West Sussex for £60!! Bargain. It had road tyres so my plan was to get some offroad but road legal tyres, some offroad clothing / armour and then get muddy.

And so it begins

Just over a year after passing my big bike test I noticed that a few of the guys who were on the training schools forum got into greenlaning. Some of them were vlogging and posting up on youtube. Inspired by this i decided to start saving and get involved.
I spent  a lot of time researching the right bike and to do this i had to work out what type of offroading i wanted to do. Motocross, enduro, holiday trips only??? In the end i relised that i wanted to explore the countries green lanes. The trouble here is that i  live in West Sussex in the UK where there are sod all lanes due to the local authority restricting access. This meant i needed a road legal machine with a full MOT, not just daytime MOT. Several models were possible, various Honda, KTM Exc, DRZ, Yamaha WR's... After working this out i struggled to get the money together and started the search on the usual websites. Known biker forums, Ebay, MCN, Biketrader, Friday Ad and Gumtree. It was a long search......

Im writing the first few blogs retrospectively. I will catch up in a few days or so then be blogging as i progress on this journey.