Oregon Coast

May 2018

My friend Shane and I have been a two man motorcycle club surfing beaches around the Northwest the past four years. We’d been trying to convince our friends Lorn and Shawn to give up the comfort of their mini-vans and dirtbag it with us on two wheels for a while. With four members, I wouldn’t have to be embarrassed about calling it a club anymore. I’d all but given up when they suddenly both got Suzuki DR650s at the same time.

Our weekend trip to Oregon was a test for a longer, warm water trip we’re planning in June. The idea was to make all the things that can go wrong, go wrong now while we still have time to make repairs.

And it worked because things went wrong immediately.

The morning we left Seattle, Lorn’s bike died a few blocks from the ferry that the rest of us had already boarded. He had pinched a fuel line, then killed his battery trying to get it started before he figured that out.

Once Lorn caught up to us, the rest of trip down US Route 101 was smooth. The surf in Oregon was good and crowds were mellow for Mother’s Day weekend. On Sunday, we got in at a coveted point break and had it all to ourselves in good size swell for the entire afternoon.

The ride home was different. A third of the way up the 101, Shane’s DR650 was in front of me hammering 90 mph when the engine started billowing smoke. We hoped it was just the plastic fairing melting on a hot exhaust, but we could see oil splatter and a slow puddle forming under the engine case. A hairline crack was running the entire width of the upper header and bleeding.

Bizarrely, other than the smoke from oil hitting hot engine parts, the bike ran fine. We took it slow to the next gas station and bought a quart. After topping up the lost oil, Shane rode with a white trailer of smoke streaming behind him like an air show pilot all the way home.

Shane plans to use the mandatory top end replacement as opportunity to install a big bore kit that will add 140 ccs to his bike. We should go on another ride before we leave because trying to keep up with a 790cc Suzuki DR is going to make the rest of our bikes explode too.