Wellston Wildlife Area Ride

There are a bunch of local rides I have mapped out over the years in the region  of Athens/Meigs/Vinton counties. Most of these are out of necessity. It is mid-winter, cold, and I am feeling cabin bound. Today was such a day. There were steady winds (20 mph), occasional gusts, 42F, cloudy, and periodic light rain showers. Seemed like a great day to bundle up, pull out the dual-sport (Kawasaki (2007) KLX-250S) and go for a 60mi/90min ride. 

This ride is largely a loop ride with about 80% on-road and 20% off-road. Beginning in Albany, OH, head West out SR50, pick up Vinton Station Rd (just outside of McArthur, OH) and cut over to SR93, then go South until you take right onto SR683. At that corner there is a Marathon station if you need a quick snack or fill-up. From there, just head up to the Wellston Wildlife Area. The central element is Lake Rupert (good spot for fishing or picnicking). Throughout the area there are some good double tracks through the woods and various trails to ride. Today I just spun around the lake and headed back to SR93 where I picked up Sam Russell Road (paved) which then turns into the Vinton Furnace Experimental Forest Rd (unpaved; Wayne National Forest). (No WNF riding permit is required here because this is a public vehicular road.) This will take you (on dirt/gravel roads) through the Raccoon Ecological Management Area (destined to become the largest intact tract of forest in the state of Ohio) and let you out on SR 160, where you turn left and head back on 4-lane SR32. The ride:

This was the first test of my new Wolfman tank bag. I purchased a whole set of this luggage for enduro camping (claimed to fit almost all dual-sport MCs). It is one of the few setups I could find that would fit this bike. It is first rate stuff (quality), but is reflected in the price (made in USA). This ride is typical of many dual sport rides in the area--more is on pavement than off. Most of the tires that come on dual sports are really just off-road tires (which do not perform very well on pavement). The solution is a 50:50 tire tread design. However, some bikes are hard to find tires of the right size. The KLX250S is just such a beast. I finally found and ordered the only set of tires I could find anywhere: Bridgestone TW301/302 (Trail Wings). I have a set in the shop, just haven't got them on the bike yet. Will report back later.

Upshot: fun, 4-season, diverse ride.

Tires

Everyone on two wheels knows the value of good rubber on the road. Actually, I have been a stickler for this even on my four wheeled vehicles for years. This is the only contact point between your vehicle and the road, so why skimp on quality or run them down to the wear bars just to save a few bucks? Another one of those penny wise and pound foolish deals.

After my first season on the Buell 1125R, I noticed fairly significant wear on my tires after only about 3500 miles. Admittedly, I often ride pretty hard and make good use of the edges. :-) But, 3.5K seemed a bit low mileage to me (was expecting 5K). The stock OEM tires are Pirelli Corsa III's. Overall, I have been pretty happy with these tires. They are really sticky with three zone dual compound technology and handle very well in the twisties and inspire quite a bit of confidence (maybe too much).  These tires will do well on the track as well as the street.

As an experiment, I decided to explore an alternative tire to see if I could get some more mileage without sacrificing quality. Michelin also offers a dual compound technology tire, the Pilot Power 2CT, that has been rated well. I picked up a rear tire from sportbiketrackgear.com as they had a pretty good price and I have been happy with them as a vendor. 

All this talk (thinking actually) of tires got me in the mood to finally purchase a tire changer. I guess there are two types of people in the world: those who insist on doing everything themselves so it can be done right (assuming you have the time and inclination), and those who are happy to just farm stuff out. I try not to do the latter because I am unhappy more often than not with the final product. In sum, dealers and mechanics do not have the same attachment to the bike as you do. Back on topic. Probably, like most people who mess with tires, I have wrestled with them all sorts of ways with mixed results.

After a fair amount of web reading, product research, and a demo at a track day, I was pretty well convinced of the value of the No-Mar Tire Changer. The Classic Model will handle most types of motorcycle tires. I got the hitch mount version which is kind of neat because I do not need to commit the space in my shop (wish I could) and it becomes portable for track days. The website offers a lot of useful instructional videos. A basic tire change and balance only takes 15 minutes (once the tire is demounted from the bike) even for a newbee.  I was pretty impressed actually. Based on what most shops are charging for tire mounting, it would seem that you could nearly recover the cost of the machine after only 10 tires (by getting best online tire prices and savings on labor). I have 3 more tires in the shop for other bikes that I plan to do this winter.

My first tire mount was a mixed bag. Most tires have a heavy (or light) spot marked on the tire. It is important to find the corresponding heavy (or light) spot on the wheel and get them oriented in opposite directions. Pirelli marks the light spot on their tires with a pair of dots which one then lines up with the valve stem (presumably the heaviest part of the wheel; the two cancel each other out). It was unclear what Michelin does, though rumor has it that they have a barcode mark on the tire lip. Apparently, not finding any dots or obvious marks, I got this backwards on the Michelin and now have an excessive amount of wheel weights. Am waiting for the bike to come back from the shop (warranty repair) to redo the tire mount and correct this problem.