ozark mountain scramble 2012 : CARNAGE

It was mentioned previously that a couple riders went down on day one escaping with just a few bumps, bruises, and scrapes. Apparently that isn't entirely true as one of the Brads managed to break a collar bone. This beast of a man rode an additional 600 plus miles on the injury, and didn't even see a doctor for a full week just to get a look at it. Here's the trophy shot.

ozark mountain scramble 2012 : DONE

If you didn't make this year's ride, then you truly missed out on something special. I want to thank everyone who made it out, and even to those who attempted but missed the mark. To quote Tim on the subject "I can sum this trip up with three words. Fun, fun, fun!".

I won't go into full detail of every event that happened over the three days, but maybe a summary of sorts to highlight the most interesting moments. Day one was a real humdinger. We had a couple slight accidents, some parts fall off, and what looked like a terminal bike diagnosis. At 2am one of the coolest parking lot fixes in the history of ever brought the dead back to life and we were back in business. Day two brought a punctured tube, a license plate bracket jump off, and a sheared off fender bolt. Follow that up with a virtually uneventful day three, and we are all caught up. No attitudes or whining, just riding and wrenching.

With all that said, you probably want to see some pics. I'm still getting pics collected from other riders, so here is a few from what I have gathered so far.

xs650 build/entry : part 5

We have done the service work to make this XS650 that has been slumbering in a barn since 1986 road ready. It is 100% road legal. I have my pack that we did a Product Review in a post last fall mounted up and ready to go.  All that is left is load Purple Rain on the truck to trek 1100 miles to the Ozark Mountain Scramble for 3 days of mountain riding and hopefully not much wrenching.

Tim

cl350 build/entry : part 13

Got my seat back from the upholstery shop today. Pretty stoked on how it all turned out, but it definitely makes the rest of the bike look crappy. Put a few miles in today on it, and I think it will do the job. Scramble ready.
 

xs650 build/entry : part 4

We rode the Purple Rain XS650 to a bike night in Buffalo NY. This is 60 miles each way from my place. I wanted to do a final shakedown to prove to myself this bike will stay together for 600 miles of mountain riding in the Ozarks. This was the first time that I rode the beast at night. It was cool on the ride home 52 degrees and the motor ran flawless. The standard incandescent lighting leaves a little to be desired but useable. It makes me think how far we have come with modern Halogen lighting and now HID units make the Halogens look like a candle flame.

In retrospect with this project I had a bunch of chopper and custom ideas but after we worked all the bugs out to make the bike reliable it did not leave much cash for customization. All told I came in at $65 under budget the way the bike sits today. It is funny on how much little items like gaskets and spark plugs and fuel system parts add up when you only have a couple of hundred bucks to spend. What you end up with is a 33 year old stock looking bike that is hopefully reliable.

Tim