Mendicino National Forest Trail Riding

A bit more moist at places on some of the trails was the way it was. I had some times with fun creek crossing of maybe 6 inches deep and then climb up a bumpy gravel and rocky grade.

MT

I went back again to ride there and saw a bob cat. I was just going for a short ride and not the more difficult areas of the trails. I moved to another campground and got there late and used minimal protective gear just as it getting near sun set. Only time for getting just the helmet and goggles.

When I saw it I was about 75 feet away and it was moving slowly away from me. Then I pulled the brakes and stopped the engine idling. The beast turned around to look after stopping breifly and then started on its way in a sort of gallop.

Not much different were the elk and there calves, they also were afraid, but I cut them slack and stopped and waited for them all to regroup away from the trail. There is a 6 month period at this place where the elk are that they close it off to trail riding so the elk can have some .

Closing off trails I saw a lot of to grow back vegetation. I would hope that they don't just let it stay closed for ever though.

About the rain the first day of about a week out there it sleeted and rained. I was OK, just was in process of going to another campground. They 2nd to last day after I was cooking up a late brunch, it started to rain. I guess I could have gotten out and ridden, but did the safer thing. Not everyone there stopped due to the rain though. My tent is not good in the rain and will have to get a better one.

I rode the last day and found ways to take the steeper trails, just going down hill. I go on another trail that is less steep and longer to make a loop.

That steep trail down hill with the mud hand me holding the brakes to keep from getting too much speed. Some areas of water and mud were fun. I did find it uneasy when I felt the steering not responding exactly perfect due to mud that had different viscosities through the section I was riding through.

MT

Some pictures of the trip attached.

The Elk and calves with the zoom in.

Oak tree with attached poison oak. Don't hug this tree!

Breakfast.

A dirt fire road legal for all traffic and Green Sticker OHV included. Photo stitch with Iphone pic.

One of the less moist trails paralleling a fire road I took picture of also using panorama stitching. Maybe some distortion.

MT

20:1 Ratio is what it is set at now, but I can lower or raise it for even slower speed and more torque.

There are two belts and one chain with the twin jack shaft system.

Recently since I had to replace the rear wheel sheave pulley with a clone type Whizzer steel part. It is 15 inch diameter instead of my last home made washing machine pulley of aluminum that cracked but was smaller a 10 inch diameter. That meant to keep the same ratio, then the connection with the short chain between top and bottom jack shafts had to use different sprocket arrangement.

As it turns out, I only adjust the ratio with sprockets between top and bottom jack shafts. It is not a speedy process, but it works. I have to make different length chain for the sprockets, unless I just swap top sprocket with the bottom, this is not a common occurrence I would think.

I have sprockets with teeth in sizes 10, 18, & 28. Right now oddly enough when I got the 1/3 bigger rear sheave it did something funny.

I kept the overall ratio of 20:1 by removing the 28 tooth and replaced it with the 18 tooth. Now 18 tooth connect to another 18 tooth sprocket and provide a neutral 1:1 ratio that when multiplied by the other two belts ratios brought it back to the same 20:1.

The performance would be best if the belt would not slip. As tight as I can make them safely and have the torque pull up the hills I do. I even got the AX belt that works best with small diameter pulleys for the rear wheel pulley to bottom jack shaft pulley. I however cannot get a AX belt that will fit my clutch to first driven pulley on the top jack shaft. My back idler pulley to set the tension is working its best with an A belt. As much slack as I can take up, a 1 inch AX belt is either too tight or too loose.

I though it strange that the same manufacturer Gates would not have the same exact outside length belt to go from v-belt A section to AX section. If 1/2 inch increments were available and there was not some minimum order of like $100 I might try getting the first reduction belt to grab better on the centrifugal clutch to fist driven pulley using an AX v-belt.

I am going to see what I did with an old mini bike clutch that I freed the rust from the shoes and the bell and them have two chains and 1 belt system. I switched long ago the connection between the jack shafts from belt to chain as a 1.7 inch diameter pulley is no place for 3hp and my bike weighing 110 lbs with me added to it going up hills with a short run up.

There is a point I found with underpowered engine for this sport, that being too much torque and less speed does not help hill climbing. Run up speed and the mass moving is also an asset. If I do find the clutch with the chain drive and switch it, I may go for lower ratio maybe and see what happens.

My GPS told me top speed 19 mph (over reving) on a dirt fire road and trail average speed 7 mph where it is not real steep or too windy or bumpy. 12 mph with this ratio is probably the 3500 rpm max for the engine. A short while at near 5000 rpm was probably what had it doing 19 mph.

The gravel size of oranges and a few rock mixed in the size of grapefruit have me with my feet off of the pegs and steadying at a crawl. The tires I'm sure don't like it either. I find trails that are smoother. The muddy ones and creek crossings surprisingly I can do enough to get a rive out of.

Belts when wet and rim V-brakes you have to know don't like being wet. They dry off, but it is best to take it slow after a rain and see where the puddles are.

When I cross through a stream I apply the brakes and dry them.

You do want to not have to be going so fast on a trail you are not familiar with.

If you go through a stream and have to get a lot of speed for momentum to get up a hill just after crossing the stream, this could be bad. Imagine a blind curve at the top and a drop off with a major delay of braking!

All the protective gear will not help in all cases.

MT

Test upload... same photo above not zoomed in of Elk.

MT

Here is a current video link for MNF 2015 trip up there:

http://vimeo.com/117886338

I wish I was able to have the helmet cam see the splash when going through puddles on the trails, but as far a I was able to look down while in the middle, I have to use caution.

You might hear the splash sound. The bigger puddles do cause belt slippage for a while as the belt/ pulley dries off. The brake shoes dry much quicker and are not really an issue. If there is a blind curve and puddle and a drop off, that is an issue so I scout trails unknown for a new visit and see what is there before being a bit more aggressive

MT!

I have marked up trail maps the NFS gives out free. My 20 and another 10 year old GPS's when they were still working I checked the data they gave for mileage and speed. Taking pictures then and now movies I can see on the small rear screen, I can somewhat see where I've been without the lap top screen. I do have the WiFi I can transfer while out there in the element to my cell phone and look on its bigger screen, also send over internet too.

If I really were counting on the movies and or still pictures, I'd slow or stop and look in the direction of trail signs getting the bread crumbs laid down as so to speak.

I know which trails I can go in only one direction, not specific for direction, but too steep otherwise. I can take a less steep trail a bit longer to get to the other end and then come down the trail that way for a loop.

I've used fire road that is legal for OHV and made longer faster speed round trip of maybe 7 miles out and 7 miles back. I refill for a rest and use water for me and a aluminum gas stove bottle of gas to fill the tank back up.

Some cell phone service, but not everywhere.

I noted which trails I went on and how it went. Just note that after rain or whatever, your back again a year later, best take note what it looks like again.

There are barking / high pitch yeps..... yea wild life.... you get used to it. Don't take any food or drink in a tent ya know.

Seems every time I somewhere riding, the bike is a magnet for trail bike riders to question in amazement my home built.

I even had the association for trail bikers interested as well as the law enforcement.. green jeans w/vest ranger... and the like knowing about the spark arrestor muffler... 2 year OHV DMV lic and stuff... how the engine transfers power to wheels...

MT

When I find the time I may clean the mud off the bike.

My exhaust changed over from thin corrugated metal, now using cast iron plumbing parts worked well.

MT

So if not pretty and not done has already been used in a title for another thread, I'll have to say trail riding needs a more padded seat and be done with that. It was done on the spot and would have been fun to check it out better, but valve timing is going to consume some work to get it back bouncing on the trails.

It is a bit high to get on the seat now, but crushes down soon after and is OK. It is all just two types of foam. The center of it all taped over in yellow (Banana Color), has the soft foam and an extra layer on the top aft section. Underneath in the aft section is hard foam. I carved out foam in the center foam section to have pieces stay in place and taped over. How long the tape lasts I don't know, but it was a quick mock up.

MT

I changed out the spark plug with a new one. I noticed the gasket was not sealing. I have a shorter plug in there now. Any speed at the throttle it starts just the same. Gotta be careful now as the centrifugal clutch will get it off to a start and so I'll have to have the rear wheel up off the ground or have the brakes being held which is harder to do. I start with prime when cold and then it will be having to run as it always had been without a governor as that is the way it has always been. The elbow manifold feeds the engine and avoids hitting the seat frame tube. The carburetor does not have a nice threaded idle adjust. I made some threads in it and they held for a while. Now I have to use a nut, so I used a nylon locking nut. The head of the screw was a round head, I ground it with the Dremel to make a pan head so that I would have just a iddy bitty amount that stops the butterfly from closing fully. I had also to make a slot with the Dremel for the pan head had nothing left after I created it. All the washers were so I could get the nut far enough away not to hit part of the plastic connection to the butterfly. I have been using the spring connection to safe guard the weak plastic at the butterfly. I am assured it cannot break the plastic with the twist grip throttle cable pulling as I limited both min an max and the force that can be applied through the spring that transfers the twist motion. I'm ready to see if the engine needs a ring job and hone out to de-glaze the cylinder as it sees oil is up past the rings and on top the piston when I looked as I changed the spark plug. At the exhaust it is not smoky though so maybe OK. The easy-spin intake valve that Briggs did for this era engine, I may do away with if the filter wets with oil / gas fuel mixture. There was absolutely no gap at one time as the valve and seat wore and intake was closing fully about 2/3 of the up stroke of compression. Now it is like 1/3 which seems like I just waste power and have fuel spray at the foam filter for a short part of the compression stroke, just to later have it drawn back into the cylinder during the next intake. I don't think I'd wear my arm out starting it and there is no auto blade stop required for it is a motorcycle, so one day maybe have more power. It does do really well right now, but if the filter clogs and a starves the engine for air, I'll be ridding of easy-spin start or what ever it is called. The picture shows the plastic throttle being held at fully open butterfly in the picture. The thin head of the screw ground down is all it needs as a semi-permanent set up. The carburetor has no adjustments so this seems fitting. I also change out the front brake cable and cover and adjusted nice.

I have found that also low oil level caused some problems, but not so bad as cylinder wall is still smooth and the crank shaft had some oil splashing just not what is a safe level. Engine ready again for use, here is the last ride video.

https://vimeo.com/130158715

Another engine I have is 1/2 hp bigger at 3 an 1/2 hp, but the crank shaft is only 1.33 inch length 3/4 inch diameter, and sports a 3/8 thread tapped into the inside of the crankshaft at the end. I'm trying to see how I might use it, as it fits in the bike even though it is 1/2 and inch taller cylinder. Seems shaft extender is iffy to be able to get a torque converter attached for drive unit. The 30 series Comet have 5/8 diameter for the driven unit so no problem there as I use jackshaft of 5/8 inch.

MT

Another thread not mine on torque converter here I posted to, but I am waiting on a call for cost to adapt my crankshaft. I however found I may use a belt from engine 3/4 shaft to a jackshaft and either use no clutch or put the clutch on the jackshaft (of which I have two stacked in my twin construction) and not have to buy but just a 4 inch pulley that fits the 1.33 inch long 3/4 diameter 3.5 hp Briggs newer used engine crankshaft.

No problem getting back the 1:3 reduction lost using same size pulleys on both engine and 1st connection to my top jackshaft, as I have a short chain connecting both top to bottom jackshafts. I retain used gears I had once needed for when I had a smaller sheave on the rear wheel. Now that it is larger sheave I will resort to swapping back in to the twin jack shaft gear and chain different size gears to get back 1:3 reduction. Currently they are the same size and do nothing other than transfer motion.

Slight mistake, it can't work as the centrifugal belt clutch pulley is for the output of the clutch and I must spin the shoes by putting a pulley on to the jackshaft that has a belt to the engine crankshaft. This would allow the output of the centrifugal clutch pulley to go to the second jackshaft. Then that jackshaft goes to the rear wheel sheave. It is not going to have room for the gear reduction so I am still having to get another longer crankshaft to fit the engine or an extender for the crankshaft and it cost $110, but could also be used with a torque converter. I think the engine will probably just be sold or parts that fit my 3hp mix and match. I seem to think the 3.5 hp engine opposed to the 3 hp engine has different stroke length to have different displacement and horsepower. If it was diameter of cylinder and piston swapping the crank shaft from the 3 to the 3.5 might be possible?