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I just got back from the Talimena Trail XSessive Rally in Oklahoma. I met 9 of the most truly likeable guys I had ever had the priveledge to ride with. It didn't start too well for me though. Friday, I plugged my MP3 player into my ears and headed for Talihina. Riding rather spiritedly in the 95 degree weather, (80-90mph... with some passing of cages well over 100) I arrived in Mcalester, Oklahoma approx 60 miles later. I pulled to a stop at a light and turned off the MP3 player, and heard a terrible noise. It sounded like a couple kids were beating my motor with ball-peen hammers... KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!!! Made me sick! I pulled into a station and killed it. My ride was over before it had even started! 
I looked the bike over and saw nothing out of the ordinary, except for the crank seal under the left side was leaking, but not bad. It sat for several minutes while I made a few phone calls to get a truck and trailer lined out. The bike cooled off considerably during this time, and when I went to start it to see where it was knocking at, it fired right up with only the slightest hint of a knock. I called back and put the truck and trailer on hold, and headed for Talihina!! I arrived without it getting any worse sounding.
We ended up with 10 people, including 7 XS/XJ's. I was amazed at the lengths some rode to be there with us. We had 3 from Kansas, 2 from Texas, and Brent rode his Harley clear from GEORGIA to ride with us! I'll let someone else give the full report, but a very condensed version is...
Ride day arrived, and it didn't look too promising....
But it got a little better shortly after that....
And ended up being absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!
By the end of the day, my bike was slowly getting worse, so I decided to quit pushing my luck, and headed for home this morning (Sunday). The XJ took care of me all day Saturday through some rather spirited riding at times.. (80mph+ through some 35mph zones... but who's counting!
) even though it was wounded. So I rode nice and easy and babied it home today. I leave Tuesday for a week, but I will tear into it and see what all the noise is about when I get back. A few of the others went on another shorter ride this morning (Sunday) and were headed home to their respectable parts of the country after that.
This was a GREAT ride with some really great guys... I can't wait until next time!!
Tod
I looked the bike over and saw nothing out of the ordinary, except for the crank seal under the left side was leaking, but not bad. It sat for several minutes while I made a few phone calls to get a truck and trailer lined out. The bike cooled off considerably during this time, and when I went to start it to see where it was knocking at, it fired right up with only the slightest hint of a knock. I called back and put the truck and trailer on hold, and headed for Talihina!! I arrived without it getting any worse sounding. We ended up with 10 people, including 7 XS/XJ's. I was amazed at the lengths some rode to be there with us. We had 3 from Kansas, 2 from Texas, and Brent rode his Harley clear from GEORGIA to ride with us! I'll let someone else give the full report, but a very condensed version is...
Ride day arrived, and it didn't look too promising....
But it got a little better shortly after that....
And ended up being absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!
By the end of the day, my bike was slowly getting worse, so I decided to quit pushing my luck, and headed for home this morning (Sunday). The XJ took care of me all day Saturday through some rather spirited riding at times.. (80mph+ through some 35mph zones... but who's counting!
) even though it was wounded. So I rode nice and easy and babied it home today. I leave Tuesday for a week, but I will tear into it and see what all the noise is about when I get back. A few of the others went on another shorter ride this morning (Sunday) and were headed home to their respectable parts of the country after that. This was a GREAT ride with some really great guys... I can't wait until next time!!
Tod