Vancouver Island Day Trips

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

I'm sorry if this RR is getting to be more about me working on my bike than about riding on Vancouver Island, but I suppose it comes out of being able to ride and commute all year (much of it in the rain), rather than putting the machine away for 6 months and working on it in the off season. This is my only vehicle, so I can't afford to neglect it anymore!

It's been a month long ordeal, but I finally have all of the rear suspension bearings and wheel bearings installed! That took way longer than it should have....It's a big job when everything is stuck together. It's not how I like spending my weekends!

Now about those machine shop perks...There are a few things that have made life easier being in my line of work. I have made the odd few parts for the bike including stainless wheel spacers, exhaust brackets and switch mounts, and if I need a special tool, sometimes I can make it. A while back, I made up a few punches to make the process a bit easier.



This is how far I had to tear into it to replace the upper shock bearing, and to boot, I'll have to do it again! I missed re-installing a snap ring whick holds the bearing in place...I hate having parts left over....



Good cleaning opportunity though!



Just last weekend ( June 3rd, Happy Birthday Dad! Mom's was May 31st ) I finally defeated the last stuck frame linkage bolt.

I soaked it in oil and half beat it to death with a drift the previous weekend, and it would not budge. It's a real tight spot, and the angle of contact was not great.

It finally budged when I used an idea that Eric at work gave me. I made up a block to fit between the nut and the frame stanchion, with clearance milled into it for the brake sensor mount, which I didn't want to crush. I then held the nut stationary while turning the bolt, and it started to crack loose! Tightened it once more, and wegded it on the block again to loosen the crud, and drove it home with the drift!





It's a beautiful thing!

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

Hi there, been very busy the last while. I'm in the middle of trying to find a new apartment rental, so that is taking up most of my time. I haven't posted in about a month! I got one good ride in, before my piece of shit aftermarket stator died after 4 months.
I am soooooooooo lucky to never have broken down in the bush! I was coming home from work, and hit a red light. the bike sounded like it was out of gas, so I switched to reserve. No problem. The light turned green, I gave it some gas, and got nothing but backfiring, and FOOT LONG FLAMES OUT OF THE PIPE! Top speed, 10 kph. I was able to push my ride home about 10 blocks, using the engine to get up only the worst hills. I had just enough power to do this without backfiring. I get home 1AM. SOMEONE STOLE MY GARDEN HOSE!!!!! Great.... Bikes not running, and I can't even wash the mud off.......What a monday that was.....

Next morning I get to work on the bike. I check all the carb connections, vent lines, air filter, and I drained the float bowl. I checked the wires going to the plug, they were fine, I checked the plug itself, it was fine, and was wet with gas. Odd thing was, the bike idled fine. By then I was out of Ideas....I reluctantly got the shop to pick it up for the first time ever.....They checked the valves and timing ( needed doing anyway ) checked the carb and adjusted it (much healthier on de-cel now) and came to the conclusion that the pickup coils on the stator went bad, and were giving poor spark.
Two and a half weeks of sprinting on my bicycle to catch the very last double decker bus at 12:10 AM, and $1134 later, and I have an OEM stator, and a tip top DRZ. Yep, it's going to be a hard month, but at least I have my machine.

My bus driver was great! Didn't have to pay once, He had loads of stories, a few magic tricks, and I even learned how to make a Paralyzer! "I love night shift, I can smoke on the bus, I can make fun of the passengers, why would I want to change?"
Yep, I love night shift too! I might have to take his bus just for fun some day!

[Mercenary]

I used to enjoy night shifts. As I get older though I find that I just can't sleep as well as I used to during the day. Next job I find is going to be straight days for sure.

eleven hundred bucks for all that work eh? Ouch. Well I guess you've got to pay to play eh.......

[muskeg]

Originally Posted by Tropic-Of-Canada

Hi there, been very busy the last while. I'm in the middle of trying to find a new apartment rental, so that is taking up most of my time. I haven't posted in about a month! I got one good ride in, before my piece of shit aftermarket stator died after 4 months.

Glad you're moving too... someone stole your hose? WTF?!

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

The day before my stator fried, I was out in the bush, about 20 clicks in....Man am I lucky! I saw a lot of wildlife that day. Some whimsical force keeps me from having mechanicals in the bush....


A grouse and chicks. She had about 4 of them. Looks like good eating to me!



I stopped by a place that I think was called Pete's Pond. Didn't have the map that day. This little guy hopped up beside me. He was real good for the camera!







This is the second time I have had this happen. I come up to a Doe and fawn, and Mom darts into the bush while the fawn plays dead! Is the doe saying "Chase me"? I'm not sure I understand this defense strategy.



Not too often you see Macmillan Bloedell signs anymore. They used to be a huge company on the island. Locally owned too.



Stopped by an old favorite! Not sure if there's any fish anymore....

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

Some Interesting sights on a ride I took from the top of the Malahat to Cobble hill on the trail. Just past the trailhead, the first pic was back in winter, and I had to drop the bike to 45 degrees and push it uphill to get under the smaller tree.



Thanks to whoever cut that section out! This was late July.



I love old bikes, I met this guy at Oliphant lake doing some fishing. Check out his rig!







I'm curious if they keep up on removing the Scotch Broom in areas that are re-planted on the Island. This is what happens in areas that they don't. It takes over massive chunks of the land letting nothing else grow. It's very hard to get rid of. I have never seen it anywhere but the Island.



Some edibles along the way. Salmon berries,they're just a bit tart yet.





Near Mill bay.





This is the car I grew up with! Well, not this one, we didn't have a skid plate or a winch. I can see how it would make a capable bush whacker.



My Mom called it her little snow cat. One of the schools I went to was at the top of a steep hill in Lake Cowichan, and when it snowed there, we'd wait for the big tough 4X4's to slide backwards down the hill so we could crawl right up with no trouble whatsoever! It would never get stuck in winter. I have fond memories of the 84 Tercel 4x4.

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

Mid July, I was coming home from work about 12:30AM, and saw some flashes in the distance. Conditions were right, very warm night, high humidity, you could feel the electricity in the air! About 1AM, I decided to ride to Gonzalez to check it out. It put on a show alright! Very rare to see this here.







It continued into the next day.



POW! I'm not sure why, but this photo had more views in one day, than any I have ever posted to Flickr! Within about 2 weeks, it had over 4000 views... Is it because I caught it at 1/20 seconds exposure, or did it just catch the eye as a thumbnail?

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

Well, I wont say it's been a bad summer, but heat didn't really kick in until the weekend of August 5th. I decided it would be a good opportunity to head up island. I went out to the Alberni Valley, and explored some of the lakes and trails north of Great Central Lake. It hit about 33 Degrees Celcius when I was there, and only dropped to about 18 at night! It is probably the first time I have camped out on the Island and have not woken up to have my tent completely soaked in dew. It was real nice out there.





I did get in kind of late, took a left, took a right, and BAM! perfect camping spot on a lake with a wharf! Nice find! Just enough time for some beer and fishing! Locals might recognize the airplane on the bottle. It's a picture of one of the Martin Mars water bombers based out of nearby Sproat Lake. They were built in WW2 as transports, and are the largest flying boats in the world. As a kid I used to see them flying over Lake Cowichan to pick up water for local forest fires when things got dry.



Morning wildlife.







Fished for a while, saw them swimming by, but no such luck. Headed for the hills to see what I could see before heading home.







Looks like I'm above Great Central! Still don't own a GPS..... Why bother?

[PPCLI-Jim]

wow some great pics and it looks like I will be talking to you via PMs later about some routes. tomorrow I will taking a friend who just got a DR 200 out to Forebay Via Muir Creek .

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

Originally Posted by PPCLI-Jim

wow some great pics and it looks like I will be talking to you via PMs later about some routes. tomorrow I will taking a friend who just got a DR 200 out to Forebay Via Muir Creek .

Is that Tugwell Main? That's a great area! Have you done the Tugwell Creek Crossing? My buddy is editing a vid of that right now!

[jackd]

I always enjoy following your posts Tropic-of-Canada and these shots above Great Central Lake really bring me back in time. I used to fix float planes out of Port Alberni back in the mid '80s. I did a lot of flying over to Tofino and during these jaunts, I would be scouting out trails/roads to ride on, out of the window of the Beaver. The next weekend would find me down there on my old DR400 up in these parts. Lots of these trails weren't shown on any maps. Thanks for bringing this all back to me - beautiful area to ride in.

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

Originally Posted by jackd

I always enjoy following your posts Tropic-of-Canada and these shots above Great Central Lake really bring me back in time. I used to fix float planes out of Port Alberni back in the mid '80s. I did a lot of flying over to Tofino and during these jaunts, I would be scouting out trails/roads to ride on, out of the window of the Beaver. The next weekend would find me down there on my old DR400 up in these parts. Lots of these trails weren't shown on any maps. Thanks for bringing this all back to me - beautiful area to ride in.

You and I gotta have a coffee sometime! I'm sure we'd have lots to talk about!

[jackd]

Will do. I've only been back living over here on the Island for the last several months and I've only had the pleasure of meeting non-Forum riders. There's lots of us over here from what I read. I can hardly wait until the riding season starts again - this year I will make it an early start - probably March.

Is it my guess or was your pic with compass/map/lake in background taken right above the powerhouse part way down Great Central Lake? I used to be a logger up in those hills back in the day..... Across the lake from where you were, are a whole network of trails on the ridge that were put in during the Taylor River fire from 1967. The forest service put these in to put in pumps to fight the forest fire that was raging at the end of Taylor Arm. I scouted out the way to get up into there from a Beaver and rode that ridge. Mind you, I was much younger then.

[Tropic-Of-Canada]

That's about right, I didn't see any powerhouse though. I rode south along the west side of Lowry Lake towards a scout camp, and then headed west at a 4-way towards the climb. As far as I could tell, I couldn't get much farther west of this.
I've got a vid of the climb, I'll have to post it sometime.

That would be interesting to explore the other side of the lake, might take a while to find a trail head, eh?

[jackd]

The trail head might have been up Branch 31 - up above where the West Bay Hotel was located. If you are an old timer like me, you will remember when (pre 1972) the highway to Tofino was not along the lake as it is now. The highway was actually the MacMillan Bloedel gravel logging road half way up the mountain. You would climb switchbacks to about a mid-elevation along the ridge above Sproat Lake and then eventually descend to the lake level near the far end of Taylor Arm on Sproat Lake and proceed to Tofino. I used to regularly circumnavigate Sproat Lake without touching pavement back in the day. The road was somewhat de-activated but I managed to get through - some of the bridges were dicey.

I've done a bit of riding along the southern side of Sproat Lake these last few years and many of the roads have been removed to put things back to their natural state. Hell, I used to take my TL125 up into the alpine areas and ride on top of the frozen snow crust in the wintertime. This was my playground back in my '20s.