Dog Toy, First 1000 miles

[varmint]

Short summer. still managed to have a few adventures. went twenty miles on the beach from my house up to nikiski. only had to use the shovel once. will pay more attention to the tides next time. ultimately it is not a very good motorcycle, and not a very good atv. but it combines the two in a way nothing else does.

the dogs love the thing. and will jump in immediately after i take off the cover, then bark and dance impatiently while waiting for me to start it. so far the only real modification has been to rip the passenger seat out and lay a dog bed down.
the girlfriends kid loves it. like a portable roller coaster. stuck her in the car with a paintball gun and drove around the woods behind the house while she screamed and shot trees.

mechanically i've blown out one rear tire. replaced it with the spare on the roadside. took a while, but was okay considering i didm't know what i was doing and used only the provided tools. still don't think i have the rear brakes adjusted properly after that. throttle cable came loose. spent an afternoon tracking that one down.


put her into storage this week. already ice on the roads. have big plans for exploring and camping next year. a tachometer is a must. probably going to get the skid plate as well. all in all happy with it. you accept it's limitations and you'll not be sorry.

[Embraer]

awesome!

[varmint]

and doggles. probably going to have to get a couple pair of those.

[on2wheels52]

I've put about 6000 km on mine this year, about have it sorted. Got the tach, skid plate is in the mail. Took it to a couple of rallies, it will haul an incredible amount of 'crap'.



Jim

[shinrai]

Awesome varmint. Beautiful pup.
I had a Cj750 sidecar when I lived in China. POS bike but the fun factor made up for it.
Your pics make me want to get another. Perhaps one day soon.

[stuartj]

That's v.cool.

Healers rock. If they like you.

[varmint]

Originally Posted by on2wheels52

I've put about 6000 km on mine this year, about have it sorted. Got the tach, skid plate is in the mail. Took it to a couple of rallies, it will haul an incredible amount of 'crap'.


Jim

for a month was my primary commuter/grocery getter/weekend toy. guy up in anchorage welded some pipe together to he could haul a canoe on his ural.

the dealership is 200+ miles away. did the first service myself. remarkable easy, detailed videos on youtube for almost every procedure. knew how to do it all but the wheel spokes. will figure it out next spring.





cowboy just turned 15. made him swear that if i bought him this bike he'd live to 20. very smart and fearless dogs. but known for being standoffish. the bike has made them small town celebrities. women come up to them in the grocery store lot and want to cuddle. they're slowly getting used to the attention.

[on2wheels52]

" knew how to do it all but the wheel spokes"

Mine is an early '10, didn't come with alloy rims but the PO bought three and threw them in.
You don't need a spoke wrench, just a 10mm socket and an inch-pound torque wrench. Think they take 42 in/lbs, but done in three stages. The spoke nuts are accessible with the tire off.
The first one took a while but by the third I was getting faster.
Jim