What Have I Been Doing in Fairbanks?

Spent 4 days in Fairbanks, what gives?

How did the tires hold up during 1,000 miles on gravel and dirt? Here's the rear tire, you can compare with the shot taken just before I set out on the Haul Road that's in an earlier post. You can see numerous small rock cuts but they all appear to be superficial. Some amount of tread wear but almost indiscernible.

This is the bracket for the rear brake caliper. It's coated with hardened calcium chloride mud.

This is the caliper slide pin. Unfortunately, the rear caliper wasn't doing much sliding with this pin in this yucked up state, and this lead to...

...this, a completely worn out (unevenly) brake pad. This is the outer pad, the inner was pristine.

Here is what it should look like.

This is one of the two front brake calipers. Pistons were corroded and the whole thing covered in ...yea, you know.

All this stuff had to be cleaned, lubed and reinstalled.

I didn't start out intending to work on the brakes, I had intended just to do an oil and filter chenge. Later I decided I'd better change the plugs as well. Getting them out was tight going. The cylinder head is pretty tightly enclosed by the frame, tank and radiator. Luckily, two things conspired to allow success: I had brought just enough tools to dismount the radiator and I have small hands!

Here are the plugs, nearly 15,000 miles on them (original ones), and they look great. Only than electrode wear. I replaced them with new.

I was concerned about the air filter. I had inhaled quite a bit of  mud spray and figured the bike must have breathed it in as well, so I hunted down a new one. Top is the new, bottom is the old with about 15k miles. It's a bit dirty but in a lot better condition than I'd expected.

This is the intake air box (bottom part) and throttle plates (top part). I was amazed at how clean it was. The air inlet is way up under the gas tank, a location which appears to have been quite effective at keeping most of the crap out of the air box and filter.

Every city  needs a special place to keep its snow!

Here is the entrance to the Glacier House Hostel where I spent 4 days. It's private house run by Gay Ellen and Clarence Griffin. A friendly, homey place that is quiet enough to actually get some sleep.

I worked on the blog and my photos during these days as well.

Some nights I spent inside in the bunk room, others in a tent they had set up in the back yard.

My hooch in the tent. There were foam pads and lots of comforters with which to build a comfy nest. Only minimal leaks during rain!

Some friends I made during my stay with fellow hostel residents, L to R were: Katie and Vera from Minsk, college students spending the summer in Fairbanks sight seeing and attempting to find jobs so that they did not have to ask their parents for money as often, and Tae from Korea, who lives in Alaska, sometimes in the hostel.