Springtime in Georgia

March brought some warm weather and not as much snow as we would hope. Since the road trip to Mestia, powder was not lasting past midday. Spring skiing in heavy wet snow was here. In the start of April my friend and I volunteered to shovel and shape jumps for a snowboard camp that lasted from April 10 to April 17. Some of the kids from Moscow could really ride park. I can hold my own but I don't do cork 900s. I landed some things I haven't done since I was in college so that felt good. Its been so long since I did a backside rodeo 540. After the camp closed they left the jumps up. I think they were too lazy to take them down. Gudauri turned into a ghost town in April. It is summer in Tbilisi 120 km away and here it is still snowing. Since no one is riding, the wet spring snow doesn't get tracked and it is quite fun to ride when it is fast.

Nanu Shredding

Brent from ND doing his thing. 

Anna from Ukrain

Doubles. :)

Me dropping in.  

Brent dropping  

Backflip attempt

Aftermath

Nice frontside 360. 

"OFF-PIST" SKIING PROHIBITED" WTF? That doesn't really apply to us right?

Nanu shredding.

 Backcountry fun

Running out of snow :(

In the park. 

Nanu in the park.

Khinkoli

This really doesn't have anything to do with this post. Except you can buy "Barf Detergent" in Georgia. Funny.

In the start of April I ordered parts for the moto. They arrived about a week ago. On the first day within 2 hours we discovered that the camshaft can't be pulled while the motor is in the frame. 1 hour later we had to come up with a way to pull cam bearings. The large cam bearing we were able to tap out with a punch and hammer. The small one we had to get creative. Unfortunately I don't have any picture of the creative tools we tried to use to get the small bearing out. We tried using a concrete anchor that expands when you tighten to hold the bearing and pull it out. Unfortunately it slid out and didn't pull the bearing. Finally we through the bearing so we just had to pull the rase out. A washer that fit perfectly into the bearing race was filled on one side so it could be turned sideways and slid into the bearing. Then we threaded some rod in and turned a nut to pull the bearing race out. The new bearings went in way easier. We rebuilt the rear suspension while the motor was out so it was easier to lift the bike. The hardest part of putting the bike back together was installing the rod through the swingarm and motor. I needed to re-shim the valves after putting the new cam in. Niko used to work with KTM Georgia but quit a few months ago. The owner of KTM Team Georgia is a German guy named Slava. This dude wouldn't sell me the shims or the new rear tire I had him order for me... because I was working with a former employee of his. So long story short I told him to go f**k himself and had my friends from the UK send some parts in. I lucked out and found a pair of 90% tread TKC 80s from a local guy that took them off a newer 690.

Long story short, don't trust KTM Team Georgia for anything. They will overcharge you and the only mechanic is an Armenian dude who is used to working on scooters with a hammer. Now the bike is back together and it sounds amazing. Like a brand new motor. No more ticking from the cam and the starter motor doesn't make me cringe every time I start the bike. After about 100km in Tblilisi I changed the oil. Any dust or junk in the motor should be cleaned out. If you need Moto help in Tbilisi, Give Niko a ring. He will help you out. One hell of a guy! nickamoto@gmail.com

Niko

Necket bike

Motor out

Cam bearings out

Shiny new starter

Giant Loop from Bend, Oregon sent me a care package with the new Siskiyou pannier, a few drybags and a tank bag. As well as a few sweet t-shirt. Thanks guys, these are amazing!

All back together with new Giant Loop Panniers!

Nanu signing the bike. 

Only sometimes. 

After the bike was back together we spent 3 more days in Gudauri and a few more days in Tbilisi. Nanu's family was so amazing they would have let me stay as long as I wanted. The food was amazing also. Here are a few pics from the full moon night in Gudauri and a few from Tbilisi

Full moon over Gudauri 

Sunset over Tbilisi