Monday, September 9, 2024
Day 7 — Ride to Bozeman Date: Monday 9/9/2024 Destination: Friend’s house in Bozeman, Montana Travel Time: ~ 8h (Gaia crashed near the end of the trip, but before getting to Bozeman) Miles: ~ 400 Notes: Slept poorly again. No pills this time. Took some photos of my soft luggage setup to answer some questions in the TRK502X Facebook group. The saddle bags are from Wolfman Luggage, but I don’t think they make this waterproof line anymore. I use a duffel dry bag from Watershed across the top. A heat shield protects the side bag from exhaust heat. Hazy, smoky ride most of the way. Very windy in places. This is where I first really started to feel how underpowered the TRK502 is. Really struggled in places. Developed an engine-speed-sensitive squeak or rattle. Sounds like when a heat shield vibrates in resonance with engine vibration. Discovered that it’s a missing crash bar mounting bolt allowing the crash bar to rub against the frame. Also noticed that there’s a resonant oscillation at speed that feels like the chain going bad (like it’s stretching unevenly). First of several nights at a friend’s house in Bozeman (which, it turns out, is a pretty cool town). And there’s a hot tub…