Carl Hutzler’s Blog

My brother, Paul, is currently driving from his home in Seattle, Washington to Skagway, Alaska with one of his friends. While this may seem like a wonderful summer vacation and a chance to see the great Northwest, trust me, its not what it seems.

You see, my brother and his friend, Jon, are riding this trip (did I mention it is 1,737 miles). Yes, riding, as in two wheelers. But although they had planned to ride actual motorcycles, they ran into mechanical issues just before they left Seattle. So they had to “delay the trip and move to plan B” according to Paul, which is actually plan F if you ask me.

Plan F: 1985 Yamaha QT50

My brother and Jon are riding moped/scooters the whole way! Now you might think, “Well OK, that will be a lot slower.” And a moment later you are thinking, “I bet its not a very comfortable ride”. And you are right on both. But in reality, these are just minor issues.

You see, the main issue is that mopeds are designed for maybe 10-20 mile commutes, running errands, etc. They are not designed for 1000% duty cycle, highway travel. Oh, and I doubt they were meant to pull a trailer loaded down with gear!

Paul and Jon somewhere in British Columbia, CA

Stardate 8.9.2007-00.13.22
Captain Paul wrote, “We’re in Prince George BC. This is the largest city in Northern Canada. It’s the gateway to the more desolate reaches of the country. Every possible breakdown scenario was considered before departure and all necessary spare parts are on board. We rebuilt Jon’s engine in a campground. We crafted a connecting rod out of a moose antler. Kidding on that part.”

Stardate 8.10.2007-12.10.32
Forward to Ma and Pa. Thanks. We’re just north of 100 Mile House town. 400 miles traveled. One melted engine. Still going strong. Paul

So now you get the idea that this is more of a fight between man and machine than it is a road trip across the Northwest. One of their first big challenges was figuring out how to cool the engines. Moped engines are air cooled for the most part (well, these models are). And when you are towing a trailer and going up hills (there are some pretty big mountains in that part of the world) the speed of the bike tends to slow considerably which when combined with the fact that the engine is also working its hardest, bad things can happen.

Stardate 8.11.2007-00.07.01
Captain Paul wrote, “The key to riding hugely under powered bikes on a long trip is heat management. For some reason at the very last minute before leaving last week I decided to throw an infrared temp gun in my bag. I don’t know if we’d be this far if I hadn’t. I have it bungee’d to the bike pointing down on the block and managing the temperature by using the choke to richen the mixture, killing the engine, and using body positions for aerodynamics. With all these tools I’m able to keep my temps down. We’re starting to experiment with scooping air down toward the engine using license plates we’ve found and such. I’ve also learned how important ambient temperature is to keep an air cooled engine cool. So we’ve been getting up with the sunrise to ride with the cold temperatures. My problem is I don’t know what temperature my reading should be at. We had a seizure at 310 F, so I’ve set my ceiling at 260 F. Also I’ve found that depending on where I read the temp off the block my readings are hugely different. 2mm farther out than the place I’m reading and the temps drop 15 degrees. So the numbers are sort of arbitrary but they’re better than nothing. What should I keep my temps at? Do you have any other ideas how to keep temps down? Dangle ice cubes in front of the engine? Mount a fan?”

But besides the engine issues, they are enjoying the scenery (how could you not when you are not much more than walking the whole way). They reported that they are seeing a lot of wildlife along the way. In fact, my brother had a dream about wildlife and his old dog Pico, a Chihuahua…

Stardate 8.13.2007-00.08.15
Captain Paul wrote, “We saw caribou, a lynx, and big horn sheep this week. I had a dream that I was riding a dog sled with a single chihuahua pulling me. Boldly going where no man has gone on a little motorbike.”

Paul’s last log entry showed that they were about 300 miles (2 or 3 days!) from the final galaxy (Skagway, AK). We hope that they get there and enjoy a cold beer at the Red Onion Saloon, a Skagway landmark.

Captains Log, Stardate 8.23.2007-21.30.57

Leaving watson lake, yukon territory in the morning. 300 miles/ 2 or 3 days to whitehorse, yukon. then 100 miles from whitehorse to skagway, alaska. spent two days in watson lake repairing broken trailers and blown cylinder head gasket. bikes are in good working order. updates to come. signing off captain paul hutzler