Trail 70 Engineer

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp from Villa Ortega coastal restaurant Went on a day ride into Mexico for food, wine and just a chill Saturday afternoon. It was my first time in Mexico so I was glad I went with a group that knew the area and spoke Spanish. I'll definitely do this ride again. This would be a good tour even in a car.

My first adventure bike setup. Not the best...  Taking a break from other projects by doing some research for a future adventure touring bike build. This is a Live post. I will continue to update it as I find more awesome donor bikes.

Finished Prototype of my motorcycle stabilizer. The best thing about having this blog is sharing ALL the things I've worked on. This includes past projects from my university days. Specifically my senior project at Cal Poly SLO for my Bachelors Degree in Manufacturing Engineering. It was a project to help motorcycle riders with disabilities support their bikes when not moving. There are other products that do this but typically didn't look good or they adversely affected the motorcycle riding experience. I was charged with designing and manufacturing a product that worked, didn't change the way a bike rode and was hopefully less expensive. A very difficult assignment.

At some point, I don't remember when, I got the idea to ride my motorcycle to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico from my home in San Diego, California. I spent months inviting friends and changing plans to suit everyones needs. In the end, everyone decided not to go. So, in a bit of frustration I thought, "The hell with all of you, I'll just do an epic ride up to Alaska by myself!" I said this to myself a few times and the idea really stuck. So a month later I did just that. I rode from San Diego, California to Coldfoot, Alaska by myself.

This is a Live post. I will continue to update it as I buy more bikes. This was an awesome find on craigslist. A 1998 Buell Thunderbolt halfway converted to a cafe racer. Bought it for $1200 off craigslist. Originally thought it wasn't a great deal until I saw it came with all the original parts. Got it home, spent a few hours checking the engine, put in a new battery and it fired right up. Finished the cafe racer mod and got it registered in CA for only a few hundred more. Still own it and its still awesome. 1998 Buell Thunderbolt with cafe racer mods.

The morning we left. We had no idea what would happen. My friend and I decided to ride from our home in Stockton to Yosemite National Park. Something that is an easy few hours trip. But to make it interesting we took our minibikes. I rode a 1974 Honda Trail 70 and he rode a 1973 Honda SL70.

Atop Angels Landing in Zion National Park, UT. This was a great week long trip. With a lot of major sight seeing, hiking and camping. 

Here she is getting carried home in a Ford Escort after a fun night riding Pismo Beach dunes on New Years Eve. (Jan 2012 New Years day) I bought a 1974 Honda Trail 70 in October 2011. Payed $600 for it. It had a '75 CT70 engine in it that somewhat ran. The original engine came with the bike but was disassembled and in a bucket. I didn't know it at the time, but this would be the best motorcycle purchase I would ever make.

This is just the overflow of bikes that didn't make it early enough to be in the official show. Who doesn't love a free motorcycle show where they raffle off a custom built Harley?

I think this is just off of the 79 north of Julian but at the time I was a bit lost. The classic San Diego Loop is a route I use to take often. Has a good combination of long straight hilly roads and very twisty mountain roads.

Bikes are starting to get a bit dirty. This is about 30 miles into our dirt riding. At some point in my motorcycle trip research I read about "The Lost Coast". Its a section of California that not many people travel through and has earned this title by being well off the beaten path.

Camping near the Grand Canyon A friend of mine and I decided to ride to the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately he was starting in Stockton and I was starting in San Diego. The other problem was I was riding my old Honda hawk with no storage options and a small tank and his only bike was a 250cc enduro.

I have taken this trip a few times now. It seams to be my general route between my new home is San Deigo and my friends house in San Luis Obispo. I have now gotten over my fear of freeways and have lost all hope of Hwy 1 going through LA so I just take the 405 and the 10 over to Hwy 1 where it's starting to get nice. I also discovered a fun motorcycle friendly burger place called Neptune's Net. There's always bikers of all kinds parked out front telling stories, eating burgers and drinking beer.

Parked along Hwy 1 and starting the Partington Cove trail My second bike trip was from my home in San Luis Obispo, CA to another friends house in Santa Cruz, CA. It was a classic ride up Hwy 1 with one of my good friends. Not much else to say about it other than it was raining north of Big Sur and we didn't have any rain gear! It was my first time riding up Hwy 1.

My first trip on a motorcycle was from my home in San Luis Obispo California to my friends house in Stockton California.