I'm going to put this ride report here instead of under the "Reports" forum because I think my report and pictures will be more interesting to our Terra and Strada owners than the rest of the Husky fleet. My ride covered 2388 miles in 24 days on what I think is the perfect bike to ride on the Baja roads, both pavement and dirt, especially 3 weeks after Hurricane Odile hit the full length of Baja. Here's a few pic's of my trip before I get started.
Before I get started here's a list of my bike mods and how I dressed my Terra. 1. Pod Mod and Booster plug. 2. Koubalink lowering kit. 3. Rox handlebar risers. 4. TCI windscreen. 5. Seat Concepts seat. 6. Kennth Webb's designed crash bar bags by Storm Industries. 7. Altrider crash bars and skidplate. 8. Mosko Moto BackCountry 35L panniers with aux Molle pouches. 9. Wolfman Tank bag. I'm going to add additional info on some my gear during my report. When I started this ride I had just shy of 11,000 miles and I haven't yet had the valves checked/adjusted. I have followed Bill's, at Bills Motorcycle Plus shop in Salem OR, advice and am holding off on the valve check until the motor starts to show starting issues. So far the motor still starts with no delays or excessive turning over. Also during the whole trip my oil level dropped less than 1/8 inch via the dipstick in spite of the fact most of the trip was done in temps pretty consistently in the mid 90's. Other than 2 rear flat tires I had no bike issues. The Terra and my setup performed better than I had hoped it would.
Thanks Riding Again, Baja is a great riding destination with lots to see and wonderful friendly people.
I entered Mexico at Algodones which is about 10 miles west of Yuma, AZ. It's a nice small border crossing with an HSBC bank right behind the immigration office so it took me all of 15 minutes to get my visa, pay my fees and be on my way. Then a quick stop to exchange some dollars for pesos. From there you zigzag a bit on Calle A to HWY 6, follow it to HWY 2, head west about 15 miles and then turn south on HWY 5 and after a total of 166 miles you are in San Felipe. Easy enough. Except just 79 miles into my adventure I get my first flat. The bike was feeling a bit washy on the HWY so I stop and sure enough, a flat rear tire. It's well in the 90's with high humidity and no shade. I'm standing there contemplating on how to deal with this when a local waves me over and suggests I come over onto his property and under the shade of his trees. What timing and what a guy. An hour and a half later all is fixed and I'm good to go, hot and sweaty but ready to roll. When I pulled the tire off the rim I discovered that the flat wasn't because of a nail but due to the original rim strip that protects the tube from rubbing on the spoke nipples had totally disintegrated and I had two leaks on the upper part of the tube.. I literally poured the pieces out of the tire, it looked like a pile of cornflakes. I would suggest everyone with a TR650 to replace your rim strips on your next tire change. About then I was wishing I had a center stand on the bike but the bricks worked pretty well. I am running a Heidenau K60 scout on the rear and really like this tire. The sidewalls are stiff enough that even running with the flat in the high temps that day the tire didn't break loose from the rim and cause a crash. I still had to use my bead breaker to remove the tire from the rim. On the front wheel I also had the Heidenau K60 but had changed it because it was too loud on the highways and I felt it didn't have enough grip on pavement or dirt. I have replaced it with an IRC TR* Battle Rally knobby tire. It's much quieter and is holding up from wear very well.
After my slight delay I rolled into San Felipe around mid-day. First priorities are gas for the bike; drop the tube off at a llantera to get the rear tube hot patched; get a room at the El Cortez Motel (must have secure parking and A/C), unpack the bike; take a long long refreshing shower (hot water not necessary) and then dinner, my favorite being Taco de Camaron and ice cold cervesa's and a margarita or two. My usual schedule was to pack up and hit the road early so as to avoid the hotter afternoons. I would try and find someplace for desayuno (breakfast) around mid-morning which was usually tacos or empanadas. By getting up early I was able to enjoy the most gorgeous sunrises.
Thanks troy deck, To be me means you will be 68 years old, but you will be retired and with reasonably decent health.
I packed up early, picked up my patched tube and was on the road again by 9 AM headed for Gonzaga Bay. About 10:30 I saw the Cow Patty and stopped for brunch hoping for some tacos and maybe some cold Orange Juice. All they had was hot dogs and no OJ so decided a couple cold Pacifico's would have to do. It was already hot and I was getting thirsty. A couple more hours and I was at Gonzaga Bay. I ended up staying at Alfonsina's Resort. I liked it enough that I ended up spending two nights here. The second afternoon several dirt bikes rode into the place. They were a bunch of Los Angeles fire fighters on a week long vacation and were heading back up to San Felipe on dirt bikes. In Baja you don't need lights, license's, etc. to drive on the roads. They have making this trip/vacation for many years and could they put away the cerveza's.
The pavement ends at Gonzaga Bay. Not to many years ago it ended at San Felipe. Today I was going ride a nice dirt section via Coco's corner and then continue on to Bahia Los Angeles. If you've read other Baja ride reports you will know about Coco. He's quite a character and his place is "interesting". These pictures will explain what I'm talking about. He was "home" when I reached his place and as always had ice cold cervezas. I wasn't always real sure what he was saying to me, my Spanish is not so good and his English along with his accent is difficult to follow but when I asked him if the pantaloomas grande were his companera's (girlfriend's) I think he may have called me a gilipollas (shithead), but with a bit of a smile. It was all in fun. He's a "must visit" when down this way.
"How did those Mosko Moto Panniers work for you? Been lusting after those for a while." The Mosko Moto Panniers worked great. I'll do a full report on them in a couple days. They had a crash test, a Hurricane Simon waterproof test and a long washboard road test and came though will zero issues.
Bahia Los Angeles. It was about 500 miles into my trip before I stated seeing wind and rain damage from the first Hurricane (Odile). The road from MEX 1 to Bahia Los Angeles was damaged or totally missing in places. And the town of Bahia LA is 3/4's gone. The river of water that flowed down out of the mountains washed most of the town into the Sea of Cortez. It a pretty sad site to see. There's is a hotel, Pemex station, a tienda, of course a couple repaired bars and a few homes remaining on the SW part of town which was further away from the arroyo north of town. While in Bahia LA news reports of another hurricane, Simon, was being reported and was expected to cross central Baja from west to east which put me right in it's path. I decided to just sit here a few days and wait it out.
The 1st picture is the arroyo that carried all the flood waters toward Bahia LA. The 2nd picture is what was an RV Park for the sport fishermen that visit this area. The post in the center of that picture is what is left of a row of Palapas that was on the RV Park beach. After 2 days of waiting for Simon and not seeing much rain or wind I was anxious to get going. I should have waited because by the time I got back to HWY 1 and was heading south I ended up right in the middle of what was now tropical storm Simon. I fought the heavy rain and strong winds until I reached Guerrero Negro, by then drenched and tired I finally said uncle. Entering town I saw a brand new nice looking Motel named TERRAsal. What a find, it even had "swans" on the beds all for 550 pesos, about $43 US. Sorry no pic's of the rain, flooded Vados, mud or misery. I just wanted to get dry and cleaned up.
Bahia Concepcion. Finally got away from all the wind and rain on the Pacific side as I headed SE back to the Sea of Cortez side of Baja to Bahia Concepcion. Lots of nice beaches and choices of camping areas. Some of the Palapa's on the beaches were wind damaged or missing but finally found a good site on Coyote Beach.
