Norway assault vehicle 95% ready...

So, after three long weekends plus a few other odd hours over the
preceeding months I've finally got most of the XT build done.

Pictures are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8963323@N05/5381829729/in/photostream/

Just got a few small jobs to do (fit a pannier bottle rack to carry
spare oil and coolant, sort out snottoiler, take for a shake-down run
when loaded).

Plus of course I need to check my camping gear out.

Feels like I'm close to going away...

 

There is no SAG wagon for this adventure, is there? So, do you strap a
set of studded tyres on the back and swap them out when the snow gets
deep enough, or what?

 

No, we don't have a support vehicle...

Tyres on the bike get studs wound into them when I've had enough of
sliding all over the fucking place and falling off.

In reality I don't think the studs will help with snow, the tyres should
do that[1]. Where the studs apparently help is packed snow/ice on roads
and then you just put them in the sidewalls.

Which would have been Saturday afternoon... roads were very greasy.

So, now I'm stressing that the mounts I made for the topbox (in
aluminium) aren't going to hold and I really ought to have done it in
steel. I'm sure Andy will be along shortly o agree that aluminium will
crack under the severe weight of ten ready meals, one sleeping bag and
maybe a camping chair.

[1] If they haven't worn out on the motorways prior to then... however
I'm sure you can buy 'Swedish Army Specials' in Norway...

 

Certainly looks the purposeful part.
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

It does, but I'd look at the angle of those massive bins: there's a
digging-in edge there for deep snow. A leading edge kickup might
obviate problems - and while I'm at it, a leading edge on the bashplate
might prevent snow building up and packing between it and the front
tyre.

 

Holes drilled...

So how does one go about fabricating a leading edge kick-up?

Is this a sharp bit , angled forward designed to scoop snow up and push
it to one side?

Must admit I'm kind of losing the will to drill IYSWIM.

The bit I'm puzzling about is the front wheel's 'rear mudguard'; there's
a half a mudguard that's got small clearance and I think this is a
clogging risk. Still snow shouldn't be as bad as mud, as long as I
clear it last thing at night so it doesn't freeze solid.

 

I'd lose the bashplate completely, all it'll do is make you beach
earlier in deep snow. And I'd definitely lose the comedy rear section
of front mudguard, or at least raise it up as far as possible without
hitting the rad. Knobbly tyres & tyre-hugging mudguards are a recipe
for disaster.

 

It looks like there's enough room to sit the topbox on the seat &
bungee it to the rack & panniers. Which is what I'd do (& have done on
the Tigers), partly to get the weight forward & partly cos a backrest
can be a wonderful thing on long trips.

 

Heh. Ginge'd. It'll either clog, or the tyre will pick up a lump of ice
& smash the mudguard, assuming it doesn't jam the wheel instead.

 

Er... I think other stuff will be on the rear of the seat. Tent and
stuff.

 

Bashplate protects the fragile waterpump, exhaust headers and keeps shit
off the engine.

 

It looks great, what type are the panners.
I'm not being funny, I'd go for some wide front crashbars with a trailing
section that sweeps back, like some Boxer 'bars, so you don't go down on
your leg/knee/bodywork and going down in snow is just a little "slide" then
leg it up again. I did this shit for years.

Not so easy to do but some crash bars wrapping around the leading edge of
the panniers would be cool too.

The front mudguard thing. Our Sherco has a close fitting type, in freezing
mud it jammed solid. Regularly.

 

The plastic MX front mudguard on the lad's YZ85 (now replaced by a
supermoto item) had a separate rear section with large holes drilled in
to it. Looked like a home brewed modification, but well executed. Though
I suspect they have been more to allow more cooling air to reach the
rad.


--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

One of these days you will have to get used to OE users

 

Looking good.

 

Steel, definitely.

 

If we hit snow deep enough to dig his panniers in I for one will be
waiting for a snow plough to clear the road.

We're using the main route from Oslo to the north of the country and
it's allegedly kept open all year round so my guess is that if it
hammers down a load of snow overnight we'd only have a couple of hours
wait for a plow to clear it. The last part of the journey on the E69
could be a slightly different story but again, if it's deep enough to
dig his panniers in I'll be sitting it out.

 

Holes in the bashplatye? Surely they'll just fill up with snow which
will pack down - OK, the snow in contact with hot bits will melt away,
but I betcha it'll hang around within a cm or so.

I was looking at the leading edge - bottom front corner - of the
panniers. It occurred to me that in deep snow, that down-pointing
corner might dig in, causing problems. A bashplate affixed to the
base, with a forward projection angled up, would allow the assembly to
"ski" over the top rather than digging in.

They do seem to be mounted very low, so perhaps the best solution would
be to mount them higher - with the tops more in line with the seat -
which would give you a really nice wide and flat area to strap your
tent to.

I think engineering snowploughing plates is a bit beyond the original
spec, you know. Beyond me, anyway.

I can see that. There's a point where it becomes - well, just ENOUGH!

I'd have that off. It won't function well in snow anyway - although
you might want to leave it on for just wet roads. I can only refer to
four-wheeled experience as to clogging: surprisingly, as mud is
inehrently slippery and weighty, it just slides out and falls off,
sometimes in lumps. Snow, otoh, once it gets beyond the flying out
stage, sticks to itself and builds up rapidly.

The surface of the buildup that is contacted by the tyre packs hard and
melts a bit from the friction - then freezes and becomes very bloody
hard. This restricts suspension travel (on a car) very successfully,
leading initially to a feeling of "Oh, I've got a flat tyre" followed
swiftly by "It isn't pulling very well"; "It isn't steering very well";
"It doesn't brake worth a shit" and ultimately "Trees don't move very
far, even when you ram them on a frozen-open throttle".

No, I'd rip off (or be prepared to remove) anything that remains
proximate to tyres. Every time Bonwick stops for a smoke, when
sweller's topping his oil up and donning another pullover, you clear
snow and ice from around your tyres - and theirs, if you're working as
a team.

 

few days later, incontinence.

 

You going anywhere near Telemark?

--


Nige,

'That's shot the fox'

Eunos Roadster (for summer)
Grand Cherokee (for winter)