Just got back from Little Sahara last nite.
Monday and Tuesday, the wind blew bigtime, so the sand got good quickly after the weekend ruts. Wednesday to Friday, it was hot as hell, so mid-day was spent looking for shade and cool places to hide out. As I left there about 10 Am Friday, it was showing as 96 degrees, and going up fast. We had the whole place to ourselves for four days, then on Thursday nite, a whole lot more riders started showing up. I don't know for sure, but it seemed like there was a 100 or more that showed overnite.
Few problems, and only one minor crash when Fed went off the top of a very small dune first day and broke a tie rod. Later though, he broke an axle and ruined his works shock on that side, so it was a tough trip for him.
Litespeed is fast as ever, but had a minor reed cage problem on the Pilot, so he only had the Drakart to ride. Nobody was feeling sorry for him though, as he would regularly kick ass on anything that moved and made the mistake of being in front of him. On the last afternoon, he took out a couple of CV boots, Nuke 'em got a quick lesson on fixing them, and will likely be using his newly acquired skills on building a highly modded and stretched FL350.
Dennis, as usual, showed up with a $10,000 Pilot on a $10 trailer, I have to kid him about that anytime I see him. Actually, all of his stuff looks and runs perfect. Only problem he had was an odd looking spark plug on the last night. Oh, and he didn't come home till about 3 AM on the last nite, and being the "fatherly" type, I couldn't sleep right till he got "home", so the bags under my eyes are his fault. Yeah right, didn't have anything thing to do with the 100 new riders that came in and had to exercise their machines all nite till they broke them.
The first day, Nuke 'em was loosing compression rapidly, and it was looking like his machine was about done for, but he took off a 'dial-a-jet' that was leaking and looked like it was getting sand into the Engine. After that, his compression didn't improve, but it didn't get any worse, so he was able to ride all week.
Big Tom's stuff ran perfectly, and by the way, if he finishes the diet he is on, we may have to start calling him Tiny Tom.
Old man Ody showed up mid week, thanks to being "hoserized", his 250 ran like a top. Out on the dunes, it looks like a pogo stick on wheels, so he is always looking for smooth sand, and got a lot of it this trip.
I have always had an overheating problem with the Drakart in warm weather and extended runs. Turns out that the fan was not running when the
Engine was running. Big Tom made a fix for it by wiring the fan directly to the battery, so now the temp sensor on the radiator makes the fan run whether the key is on or off. It helped a great deal, but I still need a larger radiator for the turbo set-up, as it makes a lot more heat than stock.
I took my new rig for the first time. Nuke 'em and Fed slept in the back, I had originally named it the bunkhouse, but after they kept the air running for 5 days, we started calling it the ice house. Litespeed installed the TV, so one afternoon, we all watched a couple of movies while it was too hot to ride. Down deep, I knew that getting this thing in black was a mistake, should have gotten white, cooler and cleaner, but not as sharp looking.
I want to thank all of those who helped me out with one thing or another, big or small, without all the friendships, these trips wouldn't be worth bothering with.
I didn't get my camera out much, actually left it in the truck, so only photos I have are shot from the truck, but they are below if anyone wants to see them.