TechWest is an event where FJR motorcycle owners get together and invade our friend Dan Denchell’s Desert Valley Powersports and get seriously geeky about the FJR. We spend the day in the shop having technical sessions including Racetech Fork Upgrades, throttle body synchs, etc.

To up the ante I hosted a BBQ the Friday before and had a record 5 FJRs, an hold Honda, and a gas-tanker BlackBird in my garage. The Jetta got to park outside.

And I also seemed to be taking in strays off the street. (Note salt encrusted rim of drink in the lower right….. Margaritas went down quite smoothly….1 shot tequila, 1/2 shot orange liquer, 1 teaspoon Prickly Pear Syrup, 1/2 lime, 1 oz Margarita mix) I should note that the one being squeezed brought me the nicest of gifts……a custom machined cruise control mount…..BIG THANKS Ian!

The party livened up and I got a shot of a portion of the small fleet of bikes just before dark.

We also got a chance to compare HID lights….

Left is my motorcycle that has 6000K low beam HIDs and Hella FF200 HID High Beams in the 4300K range.

Middle is Skooter’s bike with 4300K low beam HIDs and Phillips “PHIDs”.

Right is Skyway’s Sylvania Silver Stars upgraded halogen low-beam bulbs. His Solteks are purposely off…….

……because with the Solteks on….his lights just destroy the competition.

Meanwhile, nature threw it’s own HID light show and my neighbor, William S., shot some photos.

Come Saturday I did snap a few photos….but ended up spending a lot of time preparing for clinics myself. Dale kicks off the morning festivities.

Taking a grinder to your beloved forks is always a tense moment. No tension in Warchild’s face.

A good view of our host Dan Denchell….and a great TL125 I’d love to have myself in the background…..and even some “tech” stuff going on in the middle!

Skooter demonstrating his Wal-Mart Sticky String Special ™ method of tire repair.

Not pretty, but he swears by them….after trimming off what looks like an alien hawked a green loogy.

General consensus from the 3 LD riders using 3 different methods…or at least how I remember it was:

I’ll still use the use the Progressive Suspension product as my primary for symetrical holes.  The plugs are designed to be an interference fit that “pops” into the whole.  The narrow neck part of the plug is wrapped in a special ring of tacky rubber that increases the stick when the vulcanizing process happens.

Sticky string looks to be a great back-up or if the hole is irregular and/or large.  With lots of material and lots of glue causing a chemical reaction there seems to be a good bond.  I carry it as a backup and it’s dirt cheap at Wal-Mart.

The Mushroom Plugger seems elegant, but relies exclusively on air pressure and physics to hold the plug in place.  There’s no chemical change to make the thing stick.   It just seems the PS option does this plus incorporates chemical reaction in the rubber.

Sunday morning was time to see off Skoot and Skyway off to the great wet Highway 395 in front of them. I went back home and went to bed to recover.

Some other photos including more detailed shots of the actual TechWest: Lisa and Mr. Lisa Steven’s Photos