Bilco's TAT tour 2011

ya shoulda found the cow and oven quick lol

glad yer ok

bike pics asap

ps doesnt bilco mean get yer brain cell in order :aidan:beerjug:
 
Catching up with a few pix and here are a few from Arkansas which is a very pretty state, great people and of course awesome riding
 

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The KTM 640's had similar issues with tyre wear and fork seals so me and Tim shot into Tulsa to get sorted. Keith and Vance, 2 guys from ADV rider sorted us out with some of their tyres and took us to K&N Yamaha to get sorted. The shop is owned by the N from K& N filters and is the oldest Yamaha shop in the US. Fantastic people and three generations of teh family work there and they all either race or have raced. The old man used to race the likes of Sheene etc and his son was cheif mechanic to Eddie Lawson. They know all top guys like Spies and Hayden and they were a joy to be with.

My 640 had a fork rebuild as the rebound was U/S and Tims had a carb overhaul. Thed guy who did it was teh number one Yamaha mechanic in the USA and 4th best in the world. Watching them work was like being in an operating theatre and it was a joy to watch real pro's in action. Needless to say the bikes have been transformed.

The guy with the big V10 petrol Excursion is Keith off ADV rider and he ran us around getting bits. Absolutely top guy and he was happy with the 12mpg of his truck. The thing was a beast :thumb The workshop manager had his gun there and Tim thought he'd do th decent thing and a cruiser out of it's misery:augie!
 

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Saw a young brown bear about 20ft from me yesterday, stopped and then wondered if an angry mum was around.

Ran over the tail of a long snake:D

Several mishaps for some in the sand and mud.

Now after around 10 days hard grind the reward. Colorado, awesome:thumb

I leave it to someone else to answer why Gary had a HP2 on top of him following a fast down hill bend on loose gravel this afternoon:D
 
I think I need to drop my front tyre pressure by 0.000001 psi!!!!:thumb2
 
Major delay today as I got shafted inthe rear (no it wasn't Gary)
the biggest 'kin nail you've ever seen -took three refits to sort (don't ask)
but huge thanks to Mad Mike, Tim, Chris, Gary and Blue who ran away from the dog thereby saving us all . . . it must have been mammoth sized (it is America after all) who saw me reet!:thumb
 
What kind of guy would you expect to meet in a festering backwater town in Oklahoma?

Meet Leroy:thumb
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Great cars everywhere:eek
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:augie
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Colorado:)
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Great pics - Colorado looks brill :thumb2 Very jealous.

Sounds like Gary's extreme bike parking is coming along nicely :D
 
Major delay today as I got shafted inthe rear (no it wasn't Gary)
the biggest 'kin nail you've ever seen -took three refits to sort (don't ask)
but huge thanks to Mad Mike, Tim, Chris, Gary and Blue who ran away from the dog thereby saving us all . . . it must have been mammoth sized (it is America after all) who saw me reet!:thumb

Blue running away from something? That doesn't sound right; it must have been a big fooker.:D
 
I've just sat and read this thread on a saturday morning while eating my breakfast of grits, jello, ham, eggs (over easy) a doughnut. :thumb

keep up the good posts :D
 
On a day off on Salida Colorado so should be able to catch up with some posts. Days off generally consist of getting over the hangover, mending bikes and talking bollix to the locals.

Things to do today will be to nail Skygods TT cockpit back together, find another bolt for the main stand on my 640 as that shook itself out, sort an oil leak on Bakermans jalopyand check teh wiring on Blue's 950. I'm sure plenty of duct tape and cable ties will be used.

Anyway, a few random pix of the last few days. We have Bakerman being attended to after his bike/cow interface, a small town in OK with a cracking bakery, the dust on the trail, a gas pumping rig on the panhandle and of course the compulsory disregard of and bridge out or road closed sign:D
 

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One of the greatest thing about riding in the US is the continuous change of scenery. As you cross from one state into another the whole thing seems to change. This is particulary noticeable on the TAT because we are out in the backwaters. We have riddenon every surface you can imagine and ridden over mountains and through forsts but now is the tough bit....the Oklahoma Panhandle. It's huge, hot, flat and utterly featureless. If you have read Grapes of Wrath this is where it was based. We also stayed in a town called Liberal, Kansas which is where the Wizard of Oz was based.

You have to get across this dustbowl because the prize at the end is Colorado so it's a case of girding your loins, manning up and doing it :thumb

The roads are good dirt and dead straight sometimes for 40 miles but it still has it's surprises. There has been a storm a couple of days before and some of the roads will look dry but once you break the surface it's slippery as hell. Most of us got cought out and at one stage, it took an hour or so to go a couple of miles as the stuff is like treacle.

Still, it's all part of the adventure and I for one love the challenge of getting through this sort of thing. On the day we crossed the panhandle, I drank 6 litres of water and the conditions seem to suck the energy out of you:eek:

Just a few pix. My camera screen is broken so I just aim and fire but you can get the idea of the vastness of th Panhandle although the pics just don't do the size of the place justice.

e
 

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Cool Pictures :thumb looks great :D

Great to see Gary on the Hp2 having fun (Proper man's bike :D:D)

Stay safe all

Louis
 
Tell me about it:blast

They are a phenomenal piece of kit and are the bike for the job but they do require high maintainence.

And to be fair my carb problems were because of how the bike had been set up previously, fork seals can go at any time.......enough excuses:D

Mike's Husky's doing very well
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May try one of these next time:cool:
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Bad Ass Bakes
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High maintenance but worth it.....the KTM btw
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A bridge out just adds to the entertainment
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