Bike parts

No matter how nicely you treat your machine, the time is going to come when you need to buy parts for your ride. Brakes wear out, seats get damaged, and tires can only take so much abuse on the rocks of the trails before they start to wear down and need replacement.

Or maybe it is time to add some graphics or a nice windshield? Canada Post provides a wide range of dirt bike parts comparisons to help you find the things you need to keep your ride going. In just a few minutes of looking through the items on the site I found everything from basic replacement parts such as fuel filters and brakes, to customizations such as tank or fender graphics.

All of the links in that category I found went to "Motorcycle Superstore", however, other categories on the Canada Post site link to a wide range of stores, so it seems to be a lack of other parts providers that causes the appearance of a sole provider for the motorcycle parts.

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Artic Cat turns 50

Just over a month remains before thousands of Arctic Cat fans are expected to converge on Thief River Falls, MN to help Arctic Cat celebrate it's 50th year.

In 1961, Edgar Hetteen founded Polar Manufacturing in Thief River Falls, MN. The name was changed in 1962 to Arctic Cat.

For more information on the 50th anniversary 2 day even in Thief Falls River, check out the official Arctic Cat 50th anniversary announcement on the Arctic Cat website.

Need new saddle bags

The zippers on the saddle bags for my ATV have been pretty much destroyed by the elements. They won't unzip or zip fully closed. I need to get some good canvas and make a new set, this time custom made to fit my little Honda rather than a pre-made store set of tank bags that were meant for a machine twice the size of my little Honda ATV.

I'm thinking I will stop in at the fabric store and get some cotton canvas that I can put through the embroidery machine and do some custom designs on, then sew them together into a set of specialized tank bags that include pockets that my Mag Light will actually fit into and a place for my camera and other essentials along the trails.

Time to check the brakes on the toys

I think it might be time for me to get all of my toys out and give each of them some maintenance, in particular the brakes. It seems to be an epidemic with my vehicles right now that the brake pads are all being worn down and in need of replacement.

The back brakes on my poor little ATV have apparently been worn out, I try to hit the brake, but it barely has any effect to slow the machine, but thankfully the hand brake for the front brakes still works great.

Then there is my little convertible, and it's mouse in the brake system that goes "squeeeaak" sometimes when I try to coax it toward that hard piece of metal. I'm not hearing the squeak often, but it is making little worn brakes squeaks from time to time when I am going slow and stopping for red lights in the city. Reading the information at this Brake Pads Replacement page and you can pretty much see that it is what my little car is up to right down the line.

I'm still annoyed that there are issues with the Cadillac's brakes after I paid around $800 to get everything about the brake system fixed. Walked out the day I picked it up and pointed out to the mechanic there was something dripping under the car, he said was just where they had spilled fluid filling it. Eh, no, turned out that it was a bad seal in the master cylinder, which I had thought they had fixed. Nope, they would replace it for me for another $260+ parts. I'll do that work myself, thank you very much. Or at the very least check a site like Repair Pal to get estimates for what it costs to repair the master cylinder properly.



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Summertime in Alaska, I'm back on the ATV finally

Got out on the ATV again today, goes far too long between chances to get out and go for a ride. I rode down to my nephew's shop to visit with my sister for a bit - nice ride for my birthday, will hang out with her for a while today, then pretty much stroll the ATV back home with no particular time to have to be there. Well... I'm sure the dogs will want their dinner, but other than getting home in time to feed them later, I'm not going to be in much of a hurry getting back home. I just want to ride my ATV around and maybe do some exploring on a few trails I hadn't followed yet.

Flying a Trike over Knik Arm

It's not an ATV, but it sure does look like fun... at least if you don't have a fear of heights or of flying.

This is a video of a Flex Wing pilot flying around over the Kink Arm here in Alaska.

I found the video and an article on the pilot at Alaska Dispatch: Video: Trike flying over Knik Arm

Check out the video below, and then read the article at Alaska Dispatch via the link above.

Dune Buggy Down

I hopped into my brother's dune buggy yesterday to go for a spin around the trails with him, unfortunately we only made it a brief distance from the house before one of the back tires started making funny sounds. Upon inspection it was determined that the buggy had incurred damage earlier in the day when him and his son had taken it out and went fast through a creek crossing - hitting a rock hard with that tire.

Poor buggy is now back at the garage waiting for him to get the time to repair the wheel, which is not too major of a repair, but still was annoying that our ride was cut short. We'll get back out and hit the trail again as soon as he gets the time to fix things.

Hot Wheels soars 332 Feet!

Hot Wheels driver sets new world record for distance jump with a 332 foot flight.