I am headed south......not sure if I am headed toward Suches which has a rainy forecast for today - or to Robbinsville which has a much better forecast for the next few days.

I don't need to make a decision until I get to Alcoa to turn off the interstate, which will be around noon today.  If I go to Robbinsville it will be the Kickstand Lodge in Stecoah.

MM/Stew:  Call me to find out where I am before you leave.....if the weather is good I will stay as the Saturday/Sunday/Monday forecast is pretty good and I can just go home on Monday - if it turns out crappy and you aren't coming I will likely go home.  Maybe I will stay at Mo's for Thursday/Friday and then go to Suches for Sat/Sun.

I am at the Kickstand Lodge - weather is great!

Chance of showers - not seen any yet.

I headed north out of the Kickstand on 28 and got to Deals Gap without coming up on a single car!  With that kind of luck I figured I better keep going and I headed up the Dragon, and I was just coming up on a pickup truck when traffic came to a stop about 6 miles in.  A fellow came back and said that it would likely take 2 hours to clean up the wreck - so I turned around and when I got to Deals Gap I turned right on 129.  I stopped at the little store/gas station, and the owner said he heard that wreck had a fatality!  He told me about a nice scenic road that goes up over the mountain and connects with 28 about where the Marina is - so I took that.  I should have just kept going south on 129 - as I got into a rain shower that lasted about 4 miles.  Once back on 28 the roads became dry and there was no rain at the Kickstand, and all the bikes coming in from the south were dry.  It is so hard to anticipate and avoid these rains showers, as the roads are often in the valleys and the sky is shrouded by trees - you can't see the dark clouds coming or which direction to go to get out of them......I can remember one year Oldfeller and I would pull over and let the storm pass, then we would ride right back into it!

Tomorrow the day starts dry - but rain chances increase as the afternoon passes.  I am meeting MM in Tellico Plains at 2 - there is a very good chance we will get wet on the way back to the Kickstand Lodge.

Saturday and Sunday the rain chances are much less and we will likely stay dry.

I got back home about 13:30 Monday with no more issues ... more about the rear end problem later ... but

Stew can/would you send me that extra rear pulley ?   If so I'll PM ya with details  /  or PM me with details (I'll be glad to have it either way)  ...  other wise I need to go look on Ebay ?  

I got a few pictures but not many , it was too ruff keeping up with Dave to operate the camera at the same time !  

A Story or two also after I get adjusted to being home again .  

We missed you Stew - we rode some of our favorite roads on Sunday....Canada Road, three sections of 28 - south of Deals Gap and south of Highland and north of Franklin, Wayah Road.  On Saturday we rode the Dragon, 39 from NC to TN, and the Cherohala Skyway at sunset (pretty darn buggy).

Hard to know how many curves we rounded over the weekend - but we went looking for the curviest roads we could find!

Happiness is a scuffy tire!

Wow !
I just "expanded" that picture and looked at the top tooth really good .   It like 96.5% bottom then rising up to a sharp edge then falling to another really wide bottom .    

I'll send a better picture after I get it off , with a white piece of paper to show contrast.

MM, how many belts did you wear out with that pulley before getting to this stage?   I know you swap stuff around between your bikes as you work on keeping one going ...... so this is a fair question.

I am just mildly curious because nobody has ever noted the aluminum rear pulley itself as being the "weakest part" before.

So far the shaft splines on the steel engine drive pulley shaft are the #1 weak item of the belt drive system.  We should all pack our engine splines with RTV red gasket stuff from our favorite gasket fixer stuff to keep our splines from bashing back & forth so freely and to LUBRICATE the splines with a stiff "solid lubricant" that is long term durable.  

We also need to check the splines for wear to and re-tighten the spline nut with fresh locktite every new tire we put on our Savages.

The main drive belt gets frayed noticeably when it gets worn, so it isn't a hidden wear item at all, it is easy to spot a drive belt that is getting ready to go.

So, knowing how many belts you went through gives folks an idea of how long (approximately how many miles) it takes to wear out the Savage belt system.