@brstr Ha Ha, been out goofing off in Peru! Back now; will update some stuff from riding in the Andes as I sift through pics and video. In the mean time, here are a couple pics:
Did get a video edited from before I left a few weeks ago: Long Version
Short Version:
https://youtube.com/shorts/e8u4BIDjmWc?si=yWGQyNbi1_q4Ji8j
That's some kind of goofing!
Knew my radar pinged for a reason.
Love that switchback.
That would require all the skills we need to make riding an art form.
Those mountains are amazing.
The highest in WA is only a 1000 meters or so, so that scenery is out there for me.
It's Wednesday here. I wonder where Miles is?
@brstr It was an exceptionally fun ride... got to locate and install front wheel bearings alongside the road up by Yungay, Peru for the rental bike. (Honda CB500x)
Those switchbacks were a trip. They use baby-head rocks in the tight curves, I presume for erosion control. They offer very limited traction! The crest at the top of that pass was a little over 4,800m. Lakes were gorgeous and crystal clear.
The highest in WA is only a 1000 meters or so, so that scenery is out there for me.
It's Wednesday here. I wonder where Miles is?
Ha, a 1000m hill is just a bump on the landscape in the Western US.
I've been on the roads/trails in Ben Franklin 's pictures, very rough on the bikes.
And, it's still Tuesday up here. Just had dinner with Thane and his wife, Karen, in Broken Bow, Nebraska.
Slightly over halfway home, been a 5,000 mile road trip thus far, with 1550 miles still to go.
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
It's Wednesday here. I wonder where Miles is?
Broken Bow, Nebraska having supper with us! 
Illegitemi non carborundum est!
Well friends,
It cooled off to 115F (46 C) this afternoon, and the nice shady garage was only 104F (40C), so decided to do a little minor maintenance:
But at least it's a "dry heat!"
@TresPatas had reminded me a little earlier this week that things looked a little stiff on the suspension, from a video.
I think the majority of that was coming from the hack wheel, where I had the Beemershop calculate spring rates, assuming a passenger and some gear in the tub. Since the rig doesn't get run fully loaded, all that much, I felt that I could get away with reducing the mechanical preload about 15mm, from where it was set at. There is still a hydraulic preload adjuster on the shock, that would give me back 15mm of preload, if I load up the chair, so will see how that goes.
Just for fun, took a measurement of height of the fender, with the original mechanical preload setting. it came in at 32 5/8"or 82.7cm.
After removing most of the mechanical preload, leaving just a little tension on the spring to prevent rattles, the height of the fender dropped to 31 7/8"or 81cm. Basically lowered the height by 19mm without touching the hack electric tilt adjust.
I'm not excited about re-springing it lighter, but maybe pulling that much preload will add a little more "give" into the hack wheel, as it hits rocks and such.
We will see. Heading out for a night ride in a bit.
Dane, a question just came in from one of the race course observers, they want to know,
"When the sidecar is fully loaded, with all your "stuff", whether that be a live passenger, a roadkill found in the desert, or just 150 lbs of tools for fixing Black Betty while on the trails, and when the sidecar shock is fully compressed, how close does the sidecar wheel come to the sidecar fender ???
We realize that the angle of the shot above, shows that there appears to be a great divide between the top of the sidecar tire, and the inner rim of the sidecar fender, whereas in reality it is only a 6" gap between the top of the tire and the fender, so...inquiring minds want to know.
Carry on, in the heat of Skunk Hollow. 
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
Plenty of clearance for roadkill!
Hack wheel has 6.9" of travel, about 2" taken up with static sag, when a passenger slides the tool kit over and gets in.
This leaves about 5" of wheel travel to take up the little bumps that I sometimes (rarely) hit.
At full suspension travel, there is 1 3/4" between the tire and the fender. This came about from the magic wooden shim (chunk of 2×4) that I put on the top of the tire while redesigning the wimpy fender mounts that broke a few times during very light use.
Fender has also been sufficiently relieved to no longer contact the brake caliper at full travel.
Oh, and I also moved the fender outboard about 1" to center it over the tire, a while back. Prior regime had it inboard, which made contact happen sooner, with the outer edge and tire.
Took a little ride out in the desert, last night. Found some 73 deg F air and was quite happy with the reduced preload!
SYZ has an easy to use preload adjustment lever on the sidecar spring. So nice to dial it down for off road travel. Makes the travel smoother, and helps the sidecar tire stay in contact better. On road I crank it up to max, and the rig runs pretty straight at freeway speeds.
Glad you are finding the same results, albeit you have on the fly electronic camber control which makes a super nice package! 🍻
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Had a little fun visiting the lad in Peru, a couple weeks back. Decided that the road trip portion is probably best in 3 videos, maybe a 4th on gringo traffic survival tips in Lima! Pics courtesy of my son.
Poor little CB500x, flogged to the max:
Beach at Barranco:
Climbed the hill:
Video:
@scott-h The mechanical preload adjustor is kind of a pain in the rear on the hack shock. It has a 3mm peg that locks a rotating threaded ring in place. To change mechanical preload, the peg must be pulled out (can't drive it out from the back, since it is in a blind hole), the spring tension relieved, and then the ring rotated to remove or increase preload.
Decided it was easiest to just pull the shock and put it in a vise (by the eye) to do the operation. The hydraulic preload has always been backed completely off, so I should be able to add 15mm of preload back in, with that adjustment, should I really load up the side car.
@scott-h The mechanical preload adjustor is kind of a pain in the rear on the hack shock. It has a 3mm peg that locks a rotating threaded ring in place. To change mechanical preload, the peg must be pulled out (can't drive it out from the back, since it is in a blind hole), the spring tension relieved, and then the ring rotated to remove or increase preload.
Decided it was easiest to just pull the shock and put it in a vise (by the eye) to do the operation. The hydraulic preload has always been backed completely off, so I should be able to add 15mm of preload back in, with that adjustment, should I really load up the side car.
Sounds like a perfect solution! 👍
Hold my keyboard and watch this! 🙃
Well Friends,
Felt like putting together the video on part 2 of this journey...
This was the leg of the trip from Barranca to Yungay, Peru.
Had a couple of roadside maintenance events that created a little angst, but were survivable. Overall, an excellent adventure in the "Then came Bronson" sort of way of fixing a bike with a chunk of firewood and a claw hammer.
Dane, that was fun to watch, as usual. When viewing your videos on 2x the normal playback speed, you fixed those front wheel bearing in record time.
Great Video !
Two Million Mile Rider
Exploring the World in Comfort
Looked like a great experience.
Lov3 how you got lucky with replacement wheel bearings.
