FXRants

I love to get these random emails from my friend Tom Rose in Wyoming. He and his girl (The Panther) love to thrash the bejeezus out of his magneto-fired, kick-only FXR.

Hi guys,

So - the weather was really good today - like REALLY amazing, so the Panther and I rode up Horse Creek Road which is in horrible condition to the Forest Circus cabin and headed into the mountains on a timber road. We were cruising along and at a certain point, ran into a bunch of really wet clay and then a bunch more, then even more. Shit.

My front tire is currently 20mm wider than Harley intended. I used to think it was a better idea to run a wider tire in the front but Phil Irving says differently (WWPID). I would concur with Phil Irving not based on handling but based on fender-to-tire clearance. Mine rapidly became compromised due to the clay. I'm sure you all know riding a bike with the front wheel locked is rather difficult.

The Panther and I spent a lot of time dragging, pushing, and lifting Kiback out of various different ruts and boggy spots. The Panther also spent an awful lot of time digging mud out from under his front fender and then I remembered that I had set up his front fender so that I could undo the four bolts out of it and drop it out the back like a kitten. Trouble with this was that I had recently replaced my spring bolts that I use for highway pegs as well as the brackets that hold them. That is a titanium tire iron she is digging mud with, very handy, who knew?

I pointed out to the Panther that the fucking BMX pedals that I run are not an affectation, merely self-cleaning grippy foot pegs. They proved their worth.

We got out of the clay for a bit and I made tea while the Panther excavated the fender mud. There was bear sign everywhere. The tea was awesome. On the way out I went down, rode out with the Panther holding the front fender under her arm. Definitely broke a mirror, think I bent my ultralight K&N super-bars, looks like Biltwells are in my future. I'm just not mature enough to run lightweight handlebars.

Tom Rose

And a couple days later, enjoying his new Trackers...

Thanks, Tom!