The Dual Sport Motorcycle Adventure That WASN'T: Complete and Total Dual Sport Fail

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the dork side. I am the Dork in the Road and today we're going to take my Bichon Bras 250 up in the woods and see how she does off-road. That's right everyone, I am the Dork in the Road and I want to be your internet riding buddy. And I'm better than your regular riding buddies because I'm available whenever you want and I come with the mute button. So please, consider subscribing and don't forget to turn on those notifications so that you know when I post awesome new dual sport and adventure content just like this. So we're going to load up the bras, we're going to take it up in the woods, we're going to take her up to the usual area, ride some logging roads, some side roads and see how she does off-road. So I'm really excited to get out there and see how this dual sport does on the other half. So you may have seen the road test video that I did, did really well. Now I'm excited to do the other half, the other sport of the dual sport and that is the off-road test. So we're going to get out and ride some logging roads and see what we can find out today. So it should be a great day. It's a beautiful day for it, weather's awesome, I'm excited to get out there. So thanks for coming along. Quick update, so my plan today was to go up above House Rock Campground, just drove past the sign. But the forest is lousy with people today. It's like the weather's nice, well we're all social distancing but it looks like everyone's social distancing in the woods. So I will probably run into people today which is disappointing, I've gotten used to having the woods all to myself riding in the winter and stuff. My guess is the spot where I normally park and unload is going to have people in it but if it is I have a backup plan in mind so we'll keep driving. But that's where we are so we're off the main highway and we're going to go try to find a place to unload and get some woods riding in today. I feel like I'm cursed or like trying to get out on this thing. It's like the universe is just telling me that I'm not supposed to. I don't know, I had the worst luck so far. So some of you know but yesterday little dork and I tried to go riding and we got out to the woods, unloaded the bikes, had them ready to go and she told me that she forgot her helmet. So we drove an hour to get there, unloaded, she forgot her helmet so we came home. Today I loaded up the bike, drove an hour to get here, unloaded the bike, put on half my gear, went to turn on the choke so I could start the bike so it could warm up while I put my jacket on, and the rear brake reservoir cap is gone and I have no idea where it is. What's crazy is the engine's not really covered in brake fluid so it has to have fallen off recently. We drove it in the truck two hours yesterday, loaded it, unloaded it, so if it had been missing the cap all day yesterday then wouldn't the fluid have gotten everywhere? There's only a little fluid. It almost looks like it's just as much as would have dripped out from me unloading it just now. That made me slightly optimistic that it might be here somewhere, that it just fell off, but I have been crawling on my hands and knees on the ground out here looking for it for half an hour and I can't find it. So you're probably saying to yourself, why don't you just ride without your rear brake? You know what? I could, I thought about it, I considered it, but I don't have any way to close off the reservoir. I don't have any duct tape or anything. If I had duct tape just to put over the top to keep it clean, I would do that. I don't really want brake fluid splashing out all over the damn place. Now obviously I can get another cap, I don't know how long it's going to take to get it. It's really annoying. Like can I not ride at all? I don't even have like paper towels to like soak up the fluid and get it out of there and then just plan on cleaning it out really well when I get home. Two days in a row I've ridden all the way, or driven all the way out here, unloaded, gotten dressed, and not been able to ride. It's unbelievable. I'm just super disappointed and pissed off right now. What sucks is it seems obvious that cap has got to be here somewhere. The reservoir is still half full. How would it have not all the fluid bounced out on the drive here, right? I just did a mile and a half down a gravel road, there's no way it all stayed in there with the bike strapped down. It's got to have come off recently, but I have no idea. So if I can't find it here, I might stop at where we unloaded yesterday and just look there. But for now, I'm really thinking about just loading up. The good news is the Braz looks really good up here. There it is, and it's in the woods glory. I cannot find that cap. Well, I've been out here for half an hour or so, maybe an hour, I don't know. Looking for the cap and trying to think creatively about ways to still be able to ride today. As most of you know, I am no mechanic, so my improvisational ability when it comes to engines and parts like this is limited. I thought I had a pretty genius solution. I was pretty close to it actually. Here's what I tried. I was trying to think of a way to cover that reservoir so that I could at least ride and not worry about getting stuff in it or having corrosive brake fluid all over my engine. I thought about a plastic bag that I could zip tie down. I found a plastic bag and then I came across this. Can you see that right here? This is the lid off of an ibuprofen bottle I had in the truck. And it fits almost perfectly. I had to modify it a little, but it just does not stay on. So my genius plan was to take this and put zip ties around it because I do have zip ties in my tool kit, but I only like six and when I went to tighten them down, they're basically so old they just came apart on me. So in the interest of turning everything into a learning experience, and if this ends up being a video, then you'll get to see the learning experience parts of it. I don't have my survival gear today because I was just going to take it easy. There's duct tape in my survival kit. If I had that gear, I could have duct taped that cap on and been fine. I have no tape at all in my truck. If I had a little bit of duct tape, I could duct tape that cap on and I would be good to ride around a little bit. Unfortunately, I have no tape and it's just not going to stay on, which gets us right back to square one where we are. So I have 80% of a solution, but unfortunately the other 20% isn't going to keep me from getting it done. What's screwed up is there's some zip ties on the ground here, but they're either broken or too short. Garbage that people have left could have almost made that work. So I'm sure some of you are more mechanically inclined than me. I'm sure there's an easy solution here that I'm overlooking. I'm sure it's not necessary for me to load up and go home, but I've reached the limit of my ability and my creative thinking mechanically. And as much as I definitely do not want to give up and admit defeat two days in a row, especially when I know the governor is issuing a formal shelter in place order two days from now, which will mean technically I'm not even supposed to get back out and ride. I think we're done. I think I got to load up and go home. I'm going to stuff a towel in there that I have to keep the brake fluid from getting all over everything. I just really, really hope that that cap is sitting on the floor of my garage or in my driveway. And if not, then I'll just have to see if Peace Sports can send me another one before I can get out and ride this thing. I'm super disappointed and I'm super frustrated because like I said, two days in a row. This is ridiculous. To quote one of my favorite movies, Bad Boys 2, this is a stupid problem to have. It's a stupid problem to have. Please feel free to let me know in the comments what the easy solution to this that I could be employing and or why it wouldn't have been dumb to go riding with that brake fluid cover open. I just do not want to mess up this bike. I don't want to get a bunch of crap in that brake line and in the reservoir. I don't want to get brake fluid all over everything. So thanks for watching this horribly ridiculous, pointless video. I'll probably, you know, let you watch me loading up and stuff. I got to change out of my gear and I will stop at where we were yesterday just to see if maybe that cap is there. That would mean I could unload there and still get a little riding in today. So we'll see. But I'm going to load back up. This is where Lil Dork and I unloaded yesterday. It's right off the highway, as you can see. So I figured it was worth stopping here on my way home just to see if I can find anything. So I'm just going to look and see if the reservoir cap is here somewhere. I kind of doubt it, but it's worth a look. Well, it was worth a shot, but it's not here. Or if it is, I can't find it. Just want to say thank you for watching. This video was not awesome. Not a great day. I'm frustrated and angry right now. Two days in a row, that's the thing. One day, okay. But two in a row, ugh, it's just awful. Adventures are often imperfect and, I don't know, I guess I just want you guys to see that. That's the lesson. If there's a lesson to be learned here. But thank you for watching. I appreciate it. If you made it this far, you're awesome. And please, as always, do not forget to be excellent to each other. Thank you. Excellent! Yay!