Babes with Bikes!!

I received a request for information on our motorcycles, so here is the 411.
We bought the dirt bike, a 2003 Honda XR 400, from a friend of ours in the Bay area in 2013. The bike was a "loner" bike so when our friend would go riding, his friends could come with him if they didn't own a bike. 

When the bike came into our possession, it did not have a street legal kit so Jamie put one on it. The street legal kit would make it legal to ride on main roads as well as the ORV/OHV areas. The state you live in, or where you register the bike, depends on what a street legal kit includes. The kit that Jamie put on the XR included; Hi-lo beam, rearview mirror, front and back turn signals, a tail light with a brake light, a horn, and a license plate light. Jamie also wanted a bigger gas tank, so we bought one off of Ebay for $29.00, it holds 4 gallons now instead of the standard 2.2 gallons. 

The bike had no passenger pegs for me to be able to ride so we ordered some pegs called rescue pegs. Instead of the pegs being attached to the back for the passenger, they attach right onto the driver pegs, as an extension. This riding position was pretty comfortable for me due to my long legs, but it didn't last very long. 

 Last year while we were camped in Lake Havasu, we were pulled over at the light going to the laundromat. We knew we had nothing to worry about but this cop was dying to give us a ticket for something...anything! With every question he asked us, (which was about 10) we had answers and for everything he checked; the headlight, the horn, the turn signals, the license plate light, our licenses, our insurance, our plates...EVERYTHING came back clean and clear. The one thing he wouldn't let go of were those rescue pegs, so he got us with a "fix-it ticket", we would have to get the "right" pegs welded onto the bike within the next five days, then bring the bike back to the station to get it inspected and signed off or we would face a fine. 

After we finished our laundry, we went to 2 different dirt bike shops to see if they had the pegs we needed...nope, they actually didn't have any parts for Honda's...weird! We drove back to camp, hopped online, ordered the pegs, which had to be next day delivery (which cost a fortune)! The next day we picked up our pegs at the post office and went to find the welder one of the shops told us about, we finally found the shop and had them weld on my new pegs...$50 for the weld!! I had just sold my guitar so it was kind of a push for the weld but, it still sucked! 

After the weld, we drove back to the police station to have them inspect the bike and pegs. We found it pretty comical when the same cop, that gave us the ticket, came out to inspect the bike! We had a good laugh and rolled out after we were signed off. The pegs are nice, they fold back toward the bike when not in use but they are pretty high up, so now I feel like my knees are by my ears when we ride! Are you picturing that image!? haha

Now the bike is 100 % legal on any road we take it on!

Next, we have my scooter, "The Life Saver".
My scooter is a 2000 Honda Elite. 

Since the Life Saver is an 80cc, it is considered a motorcycle so I had to get a motorcycle license to be able to ride it. I had never been on a bike as driver before, so I took a two day class with Safe Ride that cost $145, they went over basic safety and first time riding instruction, with a driving and written test at the end...and yes, I passed both of them with flying colors! 

The top speed is about 45 mph with the both of us on it, with one person it may get up to 47-48 mph, if you're going downhill! It is able to go on most roads but cannot go on Interstates, which right now, is fine with me....I'm still getting used to 40 mph! Even though it's not really made for the dirt and gravel roads that we camp on, it's done a great job getting through the rough roads. Since the scooter has a low center of gravity we can fill a 7 gallon water jug and place it in the flat foot area to bring back to camp, without ever moving the van! It's also great for grocery shopping. 
I really don't think there's much more to my Lil' scoot, other than we love our Lil' Life Saver!
 
Now, onto how we tow the bikes...
We have a motorcycle hitch that holds up to 600 lbs. connected to the van with a double hitch, so we can tow the bikes along with our trailer. 

Jamie made the motorcycle hitch a little bigger/wider by attaching a piece of pressure treated plywood in the gap between the bumper of the van and the metal of the hitch.

As you can see in the pictures, the hitch has a chock to hold the front tire of the dirt bike. The hitch has a ramp which we use to get the dirt bike up and down, once the dirt bike is on the hitch Jamie moves the back tire over to the plywood area and straps it down enough to be able to maneuver the scooter onto the hitch. 

Once the dirt bike is on, it's all about muscle...well, for me. The scooter sits on the ramp part of the hitch when in tow, so we have to take the ramp and screw it back down to the hitch, then he will "wheelie" the scooter onto the back tire and place the front tire on the hitch, we change places and I take the handlebars, he goes to the back and as I roll it forward he picks up the back and it rolls up to the front where we can strap it down. Definitely a two person job! 

Over the past few months, we have noticed a bit of sagging so last month we took the hitch off of the van and reenforced it with a threaded steel rod. Now it sets perfectly straight and doesn't sag!

I hope that sheds a bit more light on how we tow the bikes along with our trailer. For those of you that don't know our van, we have a 1995 Chevy Astro van that is AWD, so that definitely helps. If you'd like to see more about our rig and what we've done to it over the past few years, you can go to the archives and there is a post called, We got a new van! posted on February 5, 2014, that describes everything in great detail.
If I missed anything you were wondering about, please comment below and let me know, I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.
Thank you for stopping by today, we hope to see you down the road!
Peaceful travels my friends.

PEACE

Pegs, Pigs & More Pegs

I think we both have to say that getting the dirt bike/motorcycle has been one of the best things we could have possibly done for our lives as vandwellers. We can jump on at any time and hop over to the grocery store, get out of camp for a bit, experience a change of scenery, whatever we want and we don't have to move the van...its been great for the mind, body, soul & our gas budget!

Jamie has always had bikes, he grew up on them and as he has gotten older has kept his love for motorcycles alive. Before our journey began, back in 2012, we sold our 2003 Harley Davidson V-rod to help along with the funds for the beginnings of our new life....and oh what a beautiful bike.....

[caption id="attachment_5345" align="aligncenter" width="358"] Sooo many great memories![/caption]

We sold the V-rod knowing it wouldn't be the most practical bike in our new lives and we also knew that another bike would be in our future. We've been looking at dirt bikes for a few years and while we were in San Carlos this Summer, we found one...or maybe it found us! One of Jamie's longtime friends had this bike, it was in great condition, & had barely been ridden, so J' worked, paid it off, and then worked on it to make it street legal as well as a few personal touches.

Our new bike is a Honda XR-400

[caption id="attachment_5347" align="aligncenter" width="384"] Honda XR 400[/caption]

Along with the street legal kit; hi/lo beam headlight, brake light, license plate light, turn signals, horn, rear view mirror, Jamie switched the 2.5 gallon gas tank for a 4 gallon gas tank (cost $23.50 on ebay) and put passenger (foot) pegs on for me. We started with these foot pegs (cost: $10 amazon)

[caption id="attachment_5349" align="aligncenter" width="280"] Save your money[/caption]

We knew when we opened the box that we would need better ones soon, but these were something to get us by, so I could come along for the ride. Once we were back on the road, I rode along about two times before one of the pegs fell off, so we ordered Rescue Pegs (cost: $68), they attach onto the existing foot pegs...like an extension.

[caption id="attachment_5357" align="aligncenter" width="280"] Rescue Pegs for me[/caption]

 I really like the Rescue Pegs. I am 5'7 with pretty long legs, and with these pegs my feet/legs are able to rest lower & be more at ease, plus it's nice to sit comfortably on the back of the bike. The more we rode the bike together, the more Jamie figured out they were in his way at times; starting the bike, at stoplights, etc. And if ya'll know him, you know he's always keeping his research fresh, so the passenger pegs he wanted for the long haul were already on his wish list!

One day last week we went to town to run errands, our first stop was the laundromat. As we were turning into the plaza, the police officer behind us turned his lights on and stopped us in the parking lot. What was the reason he had pulled us over? We were waiting to hear what it was too, because we know we are current & legal on everything, 'cause that's how we roll. First, he asked us about our foot peg situation and after we told him all about it he said, "Hmm, I'll have to check if that's legal." #2- He said we did not have a rear view mirror but we do, he just couldn't see it. So that was a no-go. #3- He said we didn't have a license plate light...but we do it's just harder to see in the daylight.
No-go. #4- He didn't like where our license plate was attached and told us we needed to get a bracket and put it on the side or on the back where it can hang down...he thought that was his "go"...but it wasn't! We stood by the bike while he ran both of our I.D.'s along with the bike and even checked into the foot peg statute. When he came back over to us he said he wasn't going to give us a ticket but he was going to give us a repair order to get safer passenger pegs for me...and for Jamie.

We were given 5 days to get the "right" passenger pegs plus have them installed, before a citation would be issued... so either way he gave us a ticket!!

[caption id="attachment_5360" align="aligncenter" width="203"] NOT a ticket![/caption]

 Later that day when we got back to the van, Jamie got online and ordered his wish list foot pegs, costing us $137.76, almost $40 bucks of that went to shipping because we had to overnight them.

http://www.bajadesigns.com/ProductDetail?ItemNumber=210045

They arrived the next day, earlier than we expected, so we went and picked them up and then headed over to a local welding shop, http://www.thepropellercompany.com/ where Presley welded on our new passenger pegs. (cost $50) We thought that was a little steep but it seems to be a good price around here.

[caption id="attachment_5362" align="aligncenter" width="218"] Welding Presley[/caption]

[gallery columns="2" ids="5373,5374"]

After that hit to the wallet, we had to go to the police station to have an officer sign off on the "fix-it ticket". Funny enough the same officer that gave us the ticket was the one to come out to sign us off...it was comical and made the whole experience complete! All in all, in the end, everyone was happy, he was happy we got it done so quickly and we were happy that we got the pegs we truly wanted...could have done with different timing for the bill, but now it's done and we won't have to worry about getting pulled over for something so silly.

[caption id="attachment_5372" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Good Citizens[/caption]

 Now that we've had them on the bike for a week, Jamie loves them & I'm still getting used to them. As you can see in the pictures they sit much higher than the Rescue Pegs, so the first couple of days I felt like my knees were hanging out by my ears...but I'm slowly getting used to the feel of them and in the long run it will be safer for both of us.

I guess the next best thing will be getting my own bike.......right!?

PEACE