Pashnit Mystery Tour
The original idea was sound. I had proposed a motorcycle tour where you have no idea where you're going. Sign up blind. All you get in advance is an address for the meet spot, could be anywhere in the state. This idea had proved so popular with our alumni, I added a second date in early October. Incidentally, it had been so hot for that tour in June, we were chased out to the Pacific Coast to find cooler air. So ironically, I had to re-design both tours at the last minute due to weather.
I had this super-cool super-secret tour planned, plus hitting up some roads we haven't ridden in a long time. Namely, I wanted to ride what we call the Cherry Lake Loop, a remote 50-mile loop in the Sierra Nevada Range north of Yosemite that pops out on Highway 108 Sonora Pass. I posted those pics of Cherry Lake Rd in the 2020 thread.
I remember this ride as having ancient pavement but was pleasantly surprised to discover portions of this mountain road had recently been repaved.
Cherry Lake Rd always reminds me of locked up brakes.
It was here as I was riding up out of the canyon that my front brakes failed. The motor began to strain as I felt the front brakes clamping down and refusing to release. Not like in the movies when Indiana Jones shoves a flag pole into the spokes of the baddies chasing after himself and Sean Connery, rather a gradual heat induced failure of the caliper tightening up on the disc and unable to release. Idiotic instinct is to just give it more gas, yeah, that’ll fix it. My caliper had other ideas and clamped down on the disc with vigor and wouldn’t let go. There I sat in the middle of the mountains with a motorcycle that wouldn’t move. I was sweeping the tour group, and they were all far ahead of me while I was lollygagging in the back merrily taking pictures. They’d come looking for me at some point, right? I had only paid a $1000 for this motorcycle and used it for freeway commuting to my job 60 miles away.
A few days earlier I had the impulsive idea to take it on a 1000-mile weekend ride. It could best be described as rickety. This was my second Yamaha Venture, and I had put 60,000 miles on my first one in two years after wandering all over North America. No car helps boost the overall mileage count.
The Venture had linked brakes. The brake lever controlled the left caliper, while the foot pedal controlled the right front and rear. And therein was the solution. Parked along this deserted stretch of Cherry Lake Rd, I unbolted the front left caliper and zip tied it to the fork tube. I still had brakes using the foot pedal. And we were off again, headed up Cherry Lake Rd. The next day, the rear caliper also locked up, and I simply unbolted that also and zip-tied it to the bike, then rode the 500-miles home with only the right front caliper working and lots of engine braking.
The Venture on Cherry Lake Rd with locked up brakes.
Cherry Lake
The original idea was sound. I had proposed a motorcycle tour where you have no idea where you're going. Sign up blind. All you get in advance is an address for the meet spot, could be anywhere in the state. This idea had proved so popular with our alumni, I added a second date in early October. Incidentally, it had been so hot for that tour in June, we were chased out to the Pacific Coast to find cooler air. So ironically, I had to re-design both tours at the last minute due to weather.
I had this super-cool super-secret tour planned, plus hitting up some roads we haven't ridden in a long time. Namely, I wanted to ride what we call the Cherry Lake Loop, a remote 50-mile loop in the Sierra Nevada Range north of Yosemite that pops out on Highway 108 Sonora Pass. I posted those pics of Cherry Lake Rd in the 2020 thread.
I remember this ride as having ancient pavement but was pleasantly surprised to discover portions of this mountain road had recently been repaved.
Cherry Lake Rd always reminds me of locked up brakes.
It was here as I was riding up out of the canyon that my front brakes failed. The motor began to strain as I felt the front brakes clamping down and refusing to release. Not like in the movies when Indiana Jones shoves a flag pole into the spokes of the baddies chasing after himself and Sean Connery, rather a gradual heat induced failure of the caliper tightening up on the disc and unable to release. Idiotic instinct is to just give it more gas, yeah, that’ll fix it. My caliper had other ideas and clamped down on the disc with vigor and wouldn’t let go. There I sat in the middle of the mountains with a motorcycle that wouldn’t move. I was sweeping the tour group, and they were all far ahead of me while I was lollygagging in the back merrily taking pictures. They’d come looking for me at some point, right? I had only paid a $1000 for this motorcycle and used it for freeway commuting to my job 60 miles away.
A few days earlier I had the impulsive idea to take it on a 1000-mile weekend ride. It could best be described as rickety. This was my second Yamaha Venture, and I had put 60,000 miles on my first one in two years after wandering all over North America. No car helps boost the overall mileage count.
The Venture had linked brakes. The brake lever controlled the left caliper, while the foot pedal controlled the right front and rear. And therein was the solution. Parked along this deserted stretch of Cherry Lake Rd, I unbolted the front left caliper and zip tied it to the fork tube. I still had brakes using the foot pedal. And we were off again, headed up Cherry Lake Rd. The next day, the rear caliper also locked up, and I simply unbolted that also and zip-tied it to the bike, then rode the 500-miles home with only the right front caliper working and lots of engine braking.
The Venture on Cherry Lake Rd with locked up brakes.
Cherry Lake
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