Well, another Minute Man 1000 Rally is done. http://www.minuteman1000.com

This one was most enjoyable. The theme of this rally was “That’s Entertainment!” and I must say that I and the rest of the rally staff were most entertained.

Congrats to all the riders. You are what make this an exciting event for me.

I won’t get into the details here, as I have written of this ride before and the riders are the ones that really have the stories.     I will, however, relate one story that the rally staff was involved in, and a few other stories that I found “Entertaining”.

After the riders are sent off, the staff has breakfast.     This allows us to relax before the calls start.    Well, the calls started a little early this year.    Just after we left breakfast, a staff members phone rang.     One rider was stuck in the mud.    Now, understand that it had been raining most of the night and dirt roads can be expected to be less than ideal.     We normally state in the rally book if the bonus is down a dirt road.

The rider in question had his Goldwing stuck pretty good in the mud he says.     I am the one that scouted this bonus, or rather pair of bonuses.   I know the road might not be ideal in the rain, but I did not expect it to be impassable.     Besides that, no one should have ridden past the first bonus:

Hmmmm, No GPS Route, Dead End Road. I wonder where this road goes.....

A woman with a pickup truck and some rope stopped to help the rider, he and the bike were fine and continued on the rally, doing quite well.   The Rally Staff were intrigued.   Just how bad was this road.   We hopped on our bikes to investigate.    The bonus in question was only 80 miles away from staff headquarters.

When we got there, a gentleman (shown above next to Power Ranger Dave) told us that we could not make it down that road.   This man rides the AMA Vintage Races and was quite interested in what we were doing.   He said that a number of riders had gone down this road, that a Goldwing had gotten stuck and that a Honda ST had crashed.   He also said that he offered the ST rider a garage to work on his bike, but the rider said he had plenty of duct tape and was on his way.   Nothing slows down an IronButter.  Hmmm.   Iron Butter?   Sounds like a fortified dairy product.   Apparently a rider of vintage bikes crashed a few weeks before the rally and had to be airlifted to a hospital……

Now the staff HAD to check out the road.    One of the great things about the Minuteman 1000 is that it is good for beginner riders who have never done this kind of rally, but it also allows great challenges for experienced ralliers as well as educational opportunities for every rider.

The point of this bonus was that you cannot blindly trust your GPS.   This is the first year we have provided the bonus locations as an electronic file suitable for GPS and mapping programs.   There is a bonus 2.7 miles away as the crow flies.  The Garmin GPS routes you 3.5 miles down the dirt road.   Google Maps routes you 15 miles down paved roads. Guess which route is correct.   What riders should have done when they got here was to look at their GPS or mapping software and their route sheet to see if this is really the way to go.   Since it was only a few miles down the dirt road, an acceptable alternative would have been to drive down a ways and see how the road was.    This is what a number of riders did.

This shows that the road is really not that bad.

The road looks fine to me.

Here is an obstacle that was not on the road when I was last there.   I wonder when that got there.

When did they put that box and tape on the road???

Oh, I see, they got tired of all these bikers coming down this nice quiet road.

Oh, I guess they did not like people a bunch of riders coming down their road in the morning.

Now, I would have thought that any rider making it to the point shown below would have stopped.   Some did, most did not.

OK, I can see taking the dirt road. Maybe I can see turning down this road. Maybe.

But I really did not expect any rider to go down the following road…..   But at least one did and got stuck.   All was well in the end though.

But THIS road???? Probably not a road the Rally Staff would send you down.

Fortunately, no one tried to go down this next road.   That is only around a half mile from the next bonus.   Heck, you could have parked your bike and walked.    Assuming you could walk knee deep in mud.

Fortunately no riders tried to ride past this point. At least none that would admit to it.

I am sure all of the riders that came down this way learned a few things.

Another rider, who shall remain nameless, learned a few things.   One, never tell the scorer (me) about some strange occurrence as the scorer will ALWAYS make it public.   (I believe one rider referred to me as anally retentive for expecting him to read the instructions)   And two, ALWAYS read the instructions carefully.

One rider (who shall remain nameless) made down the dirt roads to the town of Adamant.   I don’t know if this town was named after the singer, but anyway….   This little town is on a good dirt road, surrounded by good dirt roads.    The post office/store is so small I think you need to call ahead before visiting it.   Said rider talked to the Post Master, asking her where the Winnebago was.   She had never seen a Winnebago around there.   He insisted, and so did she.   I met this woman when scoping out the bonus.   She was very nice and loved the idea of the rally.    I will have to go back there some day and ask here about the Winnebago Man.   You see, the bonus here was the Adamant Music School.   Here is a pic showing an idyllic location in a quaint little town.   It doesn’t mention the dirt roads though.   I think this map shows about 5 times as many buildings as there are in town, INCLUDING every small storage shed and chicken coop.

An Idylic Setting in a Quaint Village

The Winnebago was a ways away, and Yes, the rider DID get the RV bonus, but missed the Adamant bonus that was steps away from the post office.

Winnebago

Why a Winnebago?   Well, I was sent to find a music school, that ended up not having a sign or anything else of distinction.   BUT this Winnebago along with a number of other dead vehicles looked like it would be here for a long time.   Funny how this Rally Stuff works, huh….

The rest of the pics that I took at the event can be found here:

http://whereisbobl.com/pics/index.php?album=2010-06-minuteman-1000-rally

Bob L

While I would definitely NOT consider myself an international travel “”Expert” I have done a few trips, and I AM opinionated. A friend asked me to answer questions on his web site relative to motorcycle travel based on the before mentioned qualifications. I said sure, I would see what I could do. Go see my responses here:

http://vagabondjourney.com/blogs/motorcycle-travel/

Bob L

While waiting at a light in upstate Vermont I got to see one of those few special things that one can only see in Vermont (and Maine, I guess). There were about 40 bikers, err, make that bicyclists riding naked through town. It was about 30% women I think. What made it extra special was that after all the rain it was rather nipply errr, nippely, err, nippley, err… it was kinda chilly out. I had my camera, but unfortunately the memory card was in my computer in the trunk.

AAAND, there is even a website.

http://montpeliernakedbikeride.org/

Bob L

This is NOT a how to. This is a rant. Just another rant. Maybe next time I will create a how-to..

A couple of months ago it was time to check the valve adjustment. This was the second time I did this job. Not a real problem to do. There are 4 valves per cylinder, and 4 cylinders so there are 16 valves to check. The biggest pain to this job is getting the Tupperware off. Removing the plastic body panels takes longer than it should, as does putting it all back on. I estimate 45 minutes off and 45 minutes on. That means ANY job that needs the Tupperware removed is already going to take you 1.5 hours, before you even do anything.

Honda uses an overhead cam arrangement. Each engine side has two cams. It is a simple matter of removing the covers and rotating the engine to the right position for each cylinder. The pain here is that you must look into a view hole in the front of the engine to see a small mark as it rotates past the hole. Between the positioning and the size of the mark it is nearly impossible, especially without the bike on a lift. Using a mirror works, but holding the mirror while you rotate the engine is seriously tricky. If your eyes are not exactly as good as they were a few years ago it is even more difficult.

I solved this problem after the first time I did the job. I bought a web cam for my laptop computer. These don’t focus very well really close up, so I duct taped a magnifying loupe onto the camera. Basically a lens. Using a magnet to mount it to the radiator in just the right position allowed me to see, magnified, the mark as it rotated by. Saved a ton of effort. I can see this as being a useful tool for a lot of jobs where you need to see somewhere that you can’t really get to. I don’t know how many times I had to do work under a dashboard of a car by hanging upside down with my head jammed under the dash. This was a lot easier a few years and a few crashes ago.

Once the valves are checked, you can button it back up. UNLESS, you need to adjust the valves. This Honda uses what is called shim under bucket. Not to get into too much detail, but there is a metal cup that fits over the end of the valve and spring. Between this cup and the valve is a shim. The shims come in many sizes. To adjust a valve, you simply replace the shim with one of a different size. Simple, right? Yeah, right.

To take the buckets off, the cams need to be removed, or at least lifted up. This is a reasonably involved job, with potentials for royal screw-ups, such as dropping a bolt into the dark regions of the engine, or putting the cams back the wrong way. This could kill the engine.

If the valves on the RIGHT side of the engine need adjusting, then it becomes a bit more involved. The chain that drives the cams has a tensioner assembly on it. This assembly has to be loosened. On the left cam, this adjuster is on the outside of the engine. For the right cam, the adjuster is underneath EVERYTHING. The fuel tank has to come off, requiring draining of the gas. AND replacement of some of the hoses, as they tend to rip and leak if used again. Then there is the airbox, which is not as simple to take off as one would think. Then the throttle body, including the pressurized fuel lines. All of the parts removed seem to require replacing a gasket or a sealing washer, or both. Then there is the antifreeze, which you can get away with not removing if you are careful. There are numerous electrical connectors, which are easy to forget about when reassembling. And don’t drop anything into the intake. Careful not to mess up any of the adjustments by loosening the wrong bolt, or pulling on the wrong part.

All of this is to get at one small adjuster. If they had put this bugger on the outboard side of the engine, it would save about 1.5 hours, after all, this stuff has to be put back on too.

The adjusting of the valves is not super involved, but it does require removal and replacement of the cams. Once the shims are switched ( you did record what size was on each valve?) then you have to check again.

This job took me about 16 hours the first time. Granted, this included research, trial and error and triple checking, but even with experience I doubt I could get the time much less than 8 hours. This is a job best combined with any other jobs you can think of that require removal of the Tupperware.

I was pissing an moaning a lot on this job. It should be a quick and easy job. I would have to say it IS fairly easy, but it is definitely NOT quick. I adjusted the valves on my KLR 650 in Mexico outside a Hostel, with a Tequila in one hand and I don’t think it took me an hour. Most of that was trying to find the magic dust that is needed to make the valve cover come off. That is one that requires all the planets to be aligned just right, then it comes off easy, but not before.

One of the things that pissed me off about this job was not the job itself. There are a fair number of parts, mostly gaskets that need replacing (or at least it is a good idea to replace them). I had a gift certificate for Bike Bandit, an on-line seller of all things motorcycle. I ordered the things that needed to be replaced, as well as those things that it would be a good idea, just in case I lost or broke something. I also ordered the valve adjustment kit. There are two ways to get the shims. One way is as a single kit, with three of each size shim in a plastic compartment box. The other way is to buy one or more of the refill kits. The refill kits have 5 of each shim in a range. I had previously measured the shims and knew that I would need a bunch of shims from the mid-size kit, and soon a bunch from the small-size kit. I bought both, knowing that I would have to compromise to have enough of the sizes I needed. These two replacement kits cost about the same as the full kit that only had 3 of each size. Just my luck that I needed mostly a couple of sizes and could not get away with a kit with only 3 of each. Obtaining these parts locally was possible, but I foolishly thought I could get them faster on-line.

Anyway, I ordered the parts after taking the bike apart. I ordered them on a Friday, and it said things would ship in 3 days. Well, 5 days later, I was told some of the parts were going to take a while. I stopped the order on these good to have parts, and thought that my order would ship right away. I decided to pay for express shipping. 5 days later, I was told that the parts would be shipping in a few more days. So much for express shipping. I bitched and they gave me the express shipping free. I lost 3 weekends of riding. Two of these weekends were perfect February riding days. The other we had no power and could not get out of our driveway with a car, but still.

As I said, not a difficult job, once one has done it once, but a lot more involved than it really should be, with plenty of places that allow for catastrophic mistakes.

Oh, and another thing. I found a peice of metal in the engine that obviously came from the original machining of the engine. Does not give one a warm fuzzy there.

This is a piece of metal that was jammed in a crevice in the engine. It was tricky to get out without breaking it and having it go into the engine. I don’t know if it would have caused a problem if it was floating loose, but I was glad I didn’t have to find out.

The airbox. The front of the bike is to the left. This all sits under the fuel tank.

The throttle body. All four are bolted together and come off as one. This took a lot of pulling and swearing to get loose. The swearing helps, honest.

Under the throttle body. That is the alternator. They advertise that the alternator is air cooled. Yeah, with air coming off a hot engine. Notice all the hoses, some carrying gas, some vacuum and some antifreeze. Those are rags stuffed into the intakes.

Again, this was from a couple of months ago.

Time for a valve adjustment. Due to the fact that the valves on the right side of the bike needed adjustment, the air filter had to come off. As well as a lot of other stuff.

So, what did I find? A mouse nest. The mouse stuffed a ton of crap inside the air filter. Not only that, but the mouse ate a good chunk out of the filter. The only thing keeping the mouse out of the engine was the wire mesh on the filter itself. This mouse nest got there at the previous owners house. I suppose I should have checked the air filter before this, but, well, whatever.

This filter was pretty damned full. I don’t know how the engine even ran. This might explain why it stalled once in a while for no reason at all.

This is where the air comes from, and where the mice got in.

Here is what was in it. Some of it I could not even identify.

This post is a little late, as I did this work back in November 2009.

One of the things I look for most in a bike is overall practicality. A large factor in this is the ability to carry *stuff*. Sometimes LOTS of stuff. My last three Harleys had fairly large saddlebags and a huge trunk. More importantly, the trunk had a luggage rack on it that could handle a ton of *stuff*. The bike could handle the weight as well. I used the bike like a Pack Mule. There were times we were traveling down the road looking like the Clampetts (think Beverly Hillbillies). When we went to Florida from New Hampshire with our camping gear and SCUBA gear, all we needed was a rocking chair on the back with Granny sitting in it.

So, when I got this bike, I was concerned that we would not be able to carry as much. The saddle bags are bigger than the ones on the Harleys, but they opened from the side so are harder to really stuff. Zippered bags takes care of a lot of that. But I needed a trunk. My girlfriend needed a back rest anyway. You can load a ton of *stuff* on a bike with just duffel bags and such, but for any real convenience you need a trunk.

I found the E55 MAXIA 3 from GIVI. This Italian made trunk holds 55 liters. Pretty big for a bike, but the Harley trunk was 63 liters, with a lot larger luggage rack. The GIVI is a very well made product. Not as solid as the fiberglass Harley trunk, but it is a lot lighter. It also has a much lighter rack. Only two bolts hold it on. I find this rather scary, but I have not heard of many problems, and I have broken the mounts on the Harley. Of course, the Harley trunk was overloaded by about 70 pounds, and that was an old style mount.

The back rest on the Harley is large and wraps around the passenger to some extent. It is rubber mounted to reduce vibration. It also adds a fair amount of weight to the trunk. The GIVI is only a small pad, but my Girlfriend likes it well enough, so I suppose it is OK.

There are cheaper trunks out there. They are lighter, but cheaply built. More than good enough for most riders, but I felt that with the way I was likely to overload it I should get the best. Not sure if it will make much of a difference in the long run, but this trunk can be mounted on almost any bike, and it comes off with the press of a button.

This trunk went on easily, as shown below, and works very well. I am happy with this and use it continuously. Some riders say that this makes the bike unstable in the wind behind trucks and side winds. I notice only a slight change, but with a bag or a passenger on the back seat the bike seems even more stable than without the trunk.

Of course, after evaluating the situation, I still don’t have enough room for big trips with my GF. I have decided to get a trailer for the bike. That will have to wait for another post.

The mounting plate. that the trunk mounts to. This allows the trunk to be removed quickly.

Although it does not look very secure, it really is. They make one for almost any bike, so you can use this trunk on multiple bikes.

This is one of the two bolts that holds the mounting plate on. I was worried at first, but it seems strong enough.

The trunk, open.

A close up of the luggage rack, so much smaller than the Harley.

Various pics of the bike with the trunk.

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On the way down to Florida. Notice the large waterproof bag on the back? This actually helps with wind stability. Without a passenger I can bring anything I would want for any kind of trip I would take, in this case SCUBA gear.

NEW THERMOSTAT

Well, I finally got around to replacing the Thermostat. Not a difficult job, but it took a long time. Just getting the Tupperware off took a long time. I checked the valve clearances at the same time. The job took 9 hours. I could probably cut this time in half next time, but still, I consider these two things major repairs.

The Thermostat was stuck open. Way open.

These pics show the old thermostat on the left and the new one on the right. You can see just how wide open the old one is. The engine was running very cold.

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You would think they would have made this part a little better.

After the repair, everything seemed good, but I can smell some antifreeze. It is intermittent. From internet lore, this is not that unusual. The ST’s tend to develop leaks, especially in cold environments. Weird. This leak, however, is enough to leave small puddles under the bike. The Valves were also at the end of their range and will need to be adjusted at the next check. So much for low maintenance.

Here is a picture of the temperature gauge. Notice there are three bars. Notice the temperature is 19 degrees, that’s Fahrenheit, not that their foreign measurement. I was running at 1 bar or no bars at temps as high as 50 degrees. Now back to normal.

This is what we are looking for, 3 bars on the temp gauge. The temp was 19 degrees F, the day had started at 6 F but the gauge does not read anything until 14 F and it was a while before I decided to stop.

Before the change, the temp gauge was all over the place. Sometimes I would get 3 bars when it was cold, sometimes no bars when it was just cool. Mostly though, the colder it got, the fewer bars I saw, and the worse my mileage. Now, I have driven for hours in single digit temps with 3 bars, always. I would consider this a success, if it were not for the coolant leaks.

I ordered some special hose clamps that should fix the issue.

-My vacation in FL was pretty good.   It was not as warm as I would have liked, since the weather was unusually cool there, but it was not bad.   The diving was great, and in fact, about the only thing I really did there was dive.

-Starting the weekend before New Years I started looking for a weather window to get home through.   The problem with a motorcycle vacation like this at this time of year is you really never know what will be happening.  But generally, you can find a window of OK weather to ride through if you are flexible.   There was one window I could have made, and that was if I had left Monday right after diving.   It would have been clear sailing.   This was just too early for me.   Had I seen this window earlier I might have taken it, and just gotten home on Wednesday instead of my planned Sunday.

-There were not a lot of people in the keys, until the Sunday after Christmas, when all these hacking, coughing people came down from the north.   They brought their hacking, coughing offspring as well.   It’s such a pleasant site to see a kid wipe his nose with his bare hands,  cough into the air, right at you, THEN cover his mouth.    By Tuesday I was starting to get a scratchy throat.  By the time I was finished diving Wednesday I felt like POO.   It was not a good night.   On Thursday (New Years Eve) I was feeling like absolute crap.

-That was when I left.    There was weather that was going to be hitting New York and Washington on New Years Eve.   I can make 1,000 miles in a day, which would have put me into the storm in that area.   I chose to take my time, stop at an air museum, and stop early.   The only window I could see in the weather would have me stopping in Southern New Jersey on Friday, with my family in Connecticut on Saturday, then a mad dash home on Sunday.     Richmond, VA area seemed like a good place to stop.   There are cheap hotels if you take the right exits.    The hotel manager recommended the Italian restaurant across the street.   Italian food and the south just don’t go together well, but it sounded like a good idea.   I was feeling like poo.   The goal when you are sick should be to keep it to yourself.  This exit is one of the exits that people use when going from the frigid north to the warm south.  Almost every table had at least one sick person.   I was a bit short with the waitress when she screwed up my beer order.   It was not bad beer, just not what was ordered.   Seemed important at the time.   My apology included an explanation that I was sick and not myself.   She understood as she was yet another hacker and cougher.   This place was like a TB ward.   And the food was mediocre at best.   That’s pretty good for the south.

-New Years day was bright and cool.   The traffic was moving at a great pace and I felt pretty good.   Looks like the cold has left me.   By nightfall I was on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge to New York.  The temps were in the 40’s and the roads were clear.   A quick call home revealed that it was already snowing pretty good there and was not likely to stop for days.   A call to my brother in Connecticut showed that it was dry there at the moment.   Shortly after crossing the border into CT, the temps dropped to the mid 30’s.   It was cloudy, so there was no concern about ice, but the roads were wet from condensation, and there was no way to tell if there was salt on them.   A quick drop in temps, or a sudden clearing of the sky could make instant ice.

Shortly after the start of the Merritt Parkway the temps dropped again, to just freezing.   There is no way to be sure the bike’s temp gauge is accurate, and again, there is no way to tell how much salt is on the road.   The Merritt Parkway is dark, and curvy, and hilly with car drivers driving at top speed.     I was not.   It was a scary 15 miles, until it started to snow pretty good.   Then it was terrifying.    Actually, that is not specifically true.   The snow gave me a little better clue as to the surface temps, as it was melting as soon as it hit the surface.

Shortly after I got to my brother’s house, it started snowing really hard, although not collecting seriously.   It was around 1,000 miles that day.   It snowed the next day, and the day after that, and was supposed to snow the day after that, and……   You get the picture.   A friend had said that he would come down from New Hampshire and pick me and my bike up with his truck.   I hate to take advantage of an offer like this, as it is an imposition no matter how it works out.   I looked at all my options.   I could have gotten a family member to drive me home, or I could have rented a car one way, but the bike was a different story.   It is expensive to rent a U-Haul one way, also kinda hard to do last minute on a holiday weekend.   If I got a ride home for me, I would have to borrow a truck or something to get the bike, which would be sitting outside until I came down.   I decided to take my friends very kind offer.    I was able to make it home on Saturday, so I could be home for when we got my girlfriends family together for their belated Christmas Dinner that they held on Sunday.

All in all a successful trip.   Taking the bike rather than getting a flight was risky, but with the absurd price for a last minute holiday flight, it saved me a ton of money and made the trip down and back interesting.

Next time I am going to plan ahead, I promise.

SAVING ENDANGERED SPECIES

So, about the Bar.   I went out to one of the better local restaurants.   It will remain nameless for reasons you will understand shortly.   It was an out door affair, with enough wind blockage that I felt comfortable, as did the folks next to me from Minnesota you bet….   The locals were bundled up like Eskimos.

In the Florida Keys there is an endangered species called the Florida Key Deer.    Now, they make pies out of Florida Key Limes, why can’t they do the same with the deer? (I hate deer, as you can understand).

Anyway, back at the bar, there were a couple of fixtures at the end of the bar talking about one of the local residents.   This local resident was also a fixture at the bar.   He is also from an endangered species.   That is the *Florida Key Wood Rat*.   Yep, he had holed up under the beer cooler.   Apparently, they spend most of their time elsewhere, but when it gets cold they snuggle up under the warm motors of the beer coolers.   There was a lot of food on the floor.   They LOVE french fries.   Oyster crackers are also on the menu.   While we were watching *him* I counted at least 3 that were there, maybe more.

Exactly WHY would there be so much food on the floor of a nice clean restaurant?   Why, we were putting it there of course.   The bar maid helped.   As did the general manager of the place.

So, exactly how does one do the environmentally correct thing of saving this poor endangered animal?   Well one tries to catch it, doesn’t one.

One of the fixtures went to get his *Scooby*.   This was a small, child’s Scooby Doo fishing pole with a very small hook on the end of the line.   Yep, these guys were going fishing.   The bait was small bits of french fries.   These  were too light to cast, so the bar maid had to be called over to extend the line over to where the fish, err Squirrels were.   You see, the bar maid did not want us yelling out *RATS* in the bar, so I renamed them squirrels.   I want to go on record that I REALLY expressed my opinion that fishing for squirrels was a BADDDDDD Idea.

I paid my bill just in case things got out of control and leaving was the best bet.   Lets see, a rat caught on a hook in a bar with bottles and glasses everywhere, and plenty of customers.   What could happen?   The bait was cast, err, carried.   The *fishermen* waited patiently.   A little chum was placed into the water (uhh, crackers on the floor).   A nose pokes out from underneath, then another, then one *squirrel*, oh hell, RAT, comes out and grabs a cracker, then the other reaches out and bites the fry with the hook.   Back it runs under, the rod is yanked to set the hook.   The bold FisherMan (RatMan???, RatterMan???) fights with the tiny pole to pull in his catch.   Did I mention that the stools at this bar were fishing chairs, complete with rod holders, but no harness?   The struggle is immense.   Man against beast.   It is a stand off.   Eventually the Bar Maid came over and pulled the hook out from under the beer cooler.   Lost another one.   This went on for quite a while.   Bait is cast, bait is taken, RatMan is fooled again.   Eventually the rats stopped taking the bait.   Smart rats them.   That did not stop the fisherman.   What exactly does that say?.  Well, eventually the beer ran out and everyone went to another bar.

I could not tell you if the fishing was better in the next bar, as I left for my mom and pop motel where I am currently writing this.   Although, I have to say I am learning a lot more about fishing than I really want to know from the guys in the next room.   The walls in this mom and pop are a little thin.   They talked until 2am.

For what it is worth, I would recommenced this hotel for anyone looking for a clean CHEAP place to stay in the area.   The owners are very nice and the place is plenty good enough.   If I was staying a shorter period of time I would definitely stay here and would be interested in doing so in the future.   Although if I was here for more than a night I would have to talk to the neighbors about their noise.   I could just talk to them through the walls.

OFF AGAIN

Well, I am off again.   I had leave that had to be used before the end of the year.   Somehow I screwed up.   I thought I had more time to use the time, but ended up having to take  the weeks of both Christmas and New Years off.   Unplanned,  last minute, and bracketing two holidays, flight costs to anyplace unusual were out of this world.   In some cases 3 times what they would be if I was leaving in February or even a couple of weeks later.

If I stayed home for more than two weeks watching the snow fall, I would go stir crazy.   So I chose to head for the Florida Keys on the bike.   December/January are not exactly the ideal months to be taking a Motorcycle vacation from New Hampshire, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.   I chose to take my Honda ST1300 rather than try some other form of transportation.

17DEC09 Thursday

I had planned to leave on Friday, but things changed at work so that Thursday was the best day.   This was fortuitous for reasons that will become obvious shortly.   I waited until I was sure the ice was off the roads, 8am.   At 7am the temperature was 7 degrees F.   By 8am it was down to 6′F at home.   The thermometer on my bike does not read below 14′F.   It was two hours before I saw this temp.  It was another one and a half hours before I saw 20′F and another hour and a half before it got above freezing at all.

It was an easy sunny ride for the most part, although I did get into some minor traffic in Washington DC.   I stopped in Fredricksburg, VA   A VERY uneventful 545 mile Day.   Not So the next.

18DEC09 Friday

Last night the Weather Channel was telling me that the area I was currently in was going to get 6 to 8 inches of snow.   OR MORE.   Fortunately it was not to happen until later the next day.   If I had not left a day early, I would have been stuck, pretty much where I stayed last night.   Where I was going, there was just rain.   A LOT of rain.   Miami was flooding.   The Weather Channel was flooding.   Picture a weather lady standing in front of the camera, behind her are a truck and a car trying to traverse the deep flooding.        She says something to the effect of *OH MY GOD, THE WORLD IS ABOUT TO END, SEE ALL THIS FLOODING in this parking lot.   OH MY GOD……….*  OK, parking lots flooding all around Miami might not exactly be a disaster, but it WAS followed by some new age rock band.   *So, how did YOU get your start??*   *Well, we were on the weather channel see…..*

In the morning it was 21′F.   The tires were cold, the road surface was cold and my brain was cold.   Sometimes we do things automatically.   Sometimes this is ill advised.   I tend to practice quick stops, rapid swerves, U-Turns etc.   I do this so often that I sometimes do these things automatically when the opportunity arrives.  Leaving the parking lot, there was a speed-bump that I could either go over, or do a quick (very quick) swerve around.   I chose, or rather automatically happened to do the swerve.   No thinking involved here, just see and do.   The tires on this bike are sporty, which tend to have little traction until warmed a bit.   Did I mention it was 21′F?   The road surface was probably colder than this, as the night time temps were colder.   Oh, and there was a bit of gravel and stuff etc.   SO, I lost traction on the front wheel, dropping the bike.   These things happen pretty quick, there is no time to think, or even say *Oh, S…* but midway to the ground you know it’s happening, and you, well, just know.

The only damage to the bike was to the plastic tip-over wings, which is what they are there for, and a few minor scratches to the exhaust.  The worst part was that there were about ten people in the hotel having breakfast.   They all came running out.   At least they were kind enough to go back inside after we got the bike up.

Pride damaged, I set off for the South.

Around Dunn SC (or was it NC?) I hit sleet as the temps dropped to just above freezing.   I get off the exit to prepare my gear.  Put on my rain mitts over my  heated gloves.   For some reason I am getting cold at odd times.   Sometimes, even though the temps go up, I feel colder.   I wonder why?

At the end of the exit ramp, there is a sign for the *Airborne Museum*.   At the moment, it sounds wonderful.   It turned out to be pretty good.   And the sleet turned to hail, then back to just rain and the temps went back up a bit and I was off.

Later in the day I was freezing, I don’t know why.  Finally the temps went up to a very warm 68′F but I had had enough and ended the day by 7pm.   The areas I left this morning are getting hammered by snow.

OLD DOG

I learned a new trick today.   In some areas there are a lot of motel signs showing great prices.   There is no way to keep track.   When you get to a hotel, say *I saw a sign out there for your hotel….*.   They will immediately give you the price on the sign, even if you don’t know it.  Out of high season, you will also often get away with saying *Hey, I saw that the Motel 69 is only $XX, would you give me this price?*   It sometimes works.   I saved $20 today.

19DEC09 Saturday

Nice morning, temps all the way into the 40’s.   People around here look frozen, but what can I say…..

Stopped at Cape Canaveral (aka Kennedy Space Center aka Womanizer Space Center).   It has been around 20 years since I have been there.   Nice improvements.   Talked to a guy there that was a bit confused about how one bit of the Saturn V rocket worked.   I tried to help him, but he was not doing his part.   I asked him, *Weren’t you following the moon shots on TV?*  He said *No, I was too young, only 8.* I told him I was 6 at the time and watched the coverage.   He said he was in Media Communications.   I wanted to ask him if he would like fries with that, but instead told him I was an engineer and reduced the level of my technical talk until he understood, or at least said he did.

I left the museums when they closed at 6:30, finding a hotel a little ways down the road for a great price, including breakfast.

WHY BE COLD?

For the last part of my ride I was pretty cold.   This made no sense since it was not too cold out, although I was not wearing as much gear as usual.   Checking my gear showed that the main rear jacket vent was open.   The entire ride down it was open.   This explains why sometimes I was freezing and other times not.   Sometimes I would be in a position that the vent was wide open, and other times it was sitting such that it shutout most of the wind.   Damn…

20DEC09 Sunday

Nice day, started in the 40’s but warmed up quick.   The keys are being subjected to a cold wave.    Just my luck, ONLY in the 60’s.   Got to the hotel.   This is the Key Lantern Inn.   It is $55 or $65 per night, depending on which night, and every seventh night is free.   For this area (Islamorada) that is seriously cheap.   A nice little Mom and Pop Shop.   Clean, and truly basic.   No phone, no internet.   There is a picnic bench to sit on.

The only problems were that it is 20 miles from my dive shop, it is right near the road, and there is no decent place to hang out during the day.   I will be here for 11 or 12 days.   There is also a 2 day cancellation, so if I have to bug out early, I will lose $$$.   If I stay here, I will end up spending all my time at the bar.  Not a good thing.   So I went to various places on the way back to the dive shop.   Even the little mom and pops were running well over $100 for what they had available.   The Holday Inn next to where the dive boat leaves was only $99, but that is a big jump up from the Key Lantern.

The next stop was the Ramada, which is where the dive boat leaves from.

Their best price?   $99 for the first night $179 after that.   Bye…..   *Well, how about $89 for the first night and…. No? Well, let me show you some rooms.   Nice views.   Did I mention that you can use our pool or the pool at the Holiday Inn next door or any of their facilities?   And we give you free breakfast?   And Free internet?   And……etc…..   No?  Well, how about $79 per night?*

Ok, he sold me.   I love a bad economy (not that this price is cheap, just cheap for here and now).   It will save me in internet hassle, gas and breakfast almost as much as the additional cost.   Or at least that is what I am telling myself.   At this point, if Wade is reading he is getting a case of the vapors.   At this price plus the tax, one day equals ten days full travel for him.

To tell the truth, the real reason, or at least the final straw was that I will be here for a LONG time and over Christmas if the weather holds out up north.   The Ramada/Holiday Inn is better for hanging out rather than hanging out at the bar.   I am not sure if that is a good thing or not.

HISTORY OF DIVING MUSEUM

This is a pretty good museum on Islamorada.   Most of what is there is from a private collection with everything from diving bells to re-breathers.   From Breath Hold Diving to Helium.   There are a lot of hands on displays for the kids and a pretty good time line of underwater adventures.   These are not things you are likely to see in other museums.   One of the main contributors was there, to feed the fish in the small aquarium.   She was full of information and talking about future exhibits.   If you would like to buy an authentic brass diving helmet, they have them on sale, everything from cheap $2,500 units to $10,000 and up.   I will stick to my mask.

2009-11-01 – odo: 15,725

TIRES CHANGE THE BIKE

A new set of Metzler Z6 roadtec tires and the bike is back to being GREAT. Handles well, nice and light, very stable. Still the slight nervous feeling around trucks and such, but I put that down to the bike giving very good feedback as to what is happening. Fine once you get used to it.

DRIFTING RIGHT

The bike still drifts lightly to the right if I take my hands off the bars on a flat road. Not unusual for any bike, and common for this model. By following the proper procedures for wheel mounting the issue becomes barely noticeable, and only if you really look for it. I have had bikes that were not balanced properly (Harleys) and easily got used to it. Just lean a little to the left if you have to take your hands off the bars. But still….. it is not right.

So I searched the mis-information net. No real solutions. One guy used what I believe was an inclinometer to measure the angle of the forks and other parts of the bike. I decided that I must come up with a better way. I have never liked the way that the front forks get aligned on bikes. You basically follow a tightening procedure and hope everything goes as planned and they are aligned in the end. Yeah, that builds confidence.

The procedure I came up with uses a piece of quarter inch thick plate glass. The glass is about 3.5″ by 10.75″ with the edges sanded down smooth. I had a piece laying around and cut it shorter so it would fit on the exposed part of the forks. Of course, you need to make sure it is flat, but that is pretty much standard with plate glass. The 3.5″ was the largest I could get that could be used on both my bikes. I won’t get into details of the whole fork tightening procedure as it may be different on different bikes. The assumption is that everything is in spec, nothing bent or broken and the forks are clean. For the ST1300 with the bike on the center stand and the front wheel in the air and the left axle pinch bolts loose, I place the glass against the fork tubes. If the forks are square, the glass will sit nicely against both forks. If the forks are even a little bit tweaked, the glass will be able to be rocked. If this happens, you need to slightly partially loosen the fork clamps and using the front wheel, tweak the forks in the other direction. A little experimentation here and you will get the forks perfect (within the limits of your measuring device).

My first test ride after performing this procedure? Better. Not a lot better, but there was not much drifting left anyway. But at least I feel better about the way the forks are aligned.

The piece of glass I used to align forks.

The glass sitting on the forks. You do not want to just lay it on the fork guards, you need to hold it against the forks. Be VERY careful about scratching it.

CLAMSHELL BAGS

Most of my complaints about this bike are really complaints of this category of bike, Sport Touring. They are all pretty much the same. These side bags open from the side, rather than from the top. Bags that open from the top are easy to really stuff things in.

The Honda clamshell bags. Sorta’ like nailing your suitcase to the wall and trying to pack it that way. To be fair, they do come off the bike easily so you can bring it inside and pack. Or just use duffel bags shaped to fit. Makes it only slightly easier.

The clamshell bags from the Buell. About the same capacity, but the shape is different. Some things are easier to pack in it, others are harder.

Buell made these great semi-hard bags that could be taken out easily. The only real drawbacks were that they were almost impossible to get things in and out of when they were in the saddle bags, and the zipper was at the same place as the parting line of hard bags. That meant that when you tried to close the clamshell, the zipper and it’s seams would get in the way.

Even the Honda Goldwing touring bike has bags that open from the side. Just have to get used to it I guess.

2009-10-15 – Thu – odo: 14,450

NEW BIKE

This is an account of my life adapting to a new style bike. This is mainly to help myself remember both the good and the bad. I tend to forget my gripes as time goes on. I am making it public because some are entertained by this and it give me incentive to update it continuously.

I bought this 2004 Honda ST1300A Sport Touring bike. It is very different from all the other bikes I have owned. Very different from my Harleys, not a lot different from my Buell or my Honda GL650.

As a long time Harley rider, I have come to grips with the quirks and issues with them. I have done all my own work and will say that they are very reliable up to around 50 or 60k miles. After that, little things go wrong, and sometimes big things. The good news is that most of these things are both easy and cheap to fix if you do it yourself. The bad news is that some of them are a lot more difficult than they need to be mostly because of tradition, trying to keep a certain style. The air cooling is definitely an issue. Cylinders and heads get too hot in heavy traffic, wear and eventually fail. I have owned and driven other non-Harley bikes, but none of them were considered my primary ride.

Now, understand, there are more likely to be negative things here than positive. It is no fun to write *Yep, everything going fine here, yep yep.* Booooring…… So don’t look for too many praises. You can find those on other people’s sites.

This is the bike, a 1994 Honda ST1300 ABS

NEW BATTERY

When I picked up the bike, the battery was dead. I was able to jump start it and get it on the trailer. Then, a couple of hours later, after I dropped off the trailer and tried to drive home, I had to jump it again. This was not a huge surprise, as the owner told me he had to charge the battery after not riding it for a year. I expected to change the battery soon. Yesterday I stopped at my favorite shop and they did not have a battery in stock. I thought the battery would last a bit, but even charging it for 24 hours, and after riding it all day, it was dragging after just stopping for a little while. I stopped at a dealer in Mass. for a new one. I hate buying from a dealer, I hate paying Mass. taxes, but because of where I was I would not have a chance to get a battery until the middle of next week, which would prevent me from riding it for a few days. Can’t have that. There were basically two choices of battery at this place or my favorite shop. Cheap, aftermarket for $75 or a good Yuasa for $175 (not in stock). I took the cheap crap that was in stock. Maybe good for two years. Maybe.

Note, this bike uses the smallest battery I have ever used. It is smaller than the Harley Sportster battery. Dwarfed by the Harley touring bike battery. Even smaller than the KLR 650 battery. Add to that the fact that when you turn the key on, there are 130 watts of headlight, lots of other lights, fuel pumps, computers and all kinds of other electronic doo-dads to power. Even the manual states that you should use the key to turn the bike off rather than the engine shuttoff swith so that the battery won’t be drained. I plan on adding a turn off switch for the lights to reduce reduce some of the non-operation power usage.

The BIG battery is from my big Harley. The tiny one is for the ST1300.

PULL TO THE RIGHT

Once I got some miles on this bike, I noticed that it pulled to the right. This was rather pronounced. My left arm was actually getting tired from the extra work required to compensate for it. This is only the second used bike I have bought. The first being a rather high mileage Honda GL650 down in Argentina. That one had issues also, but then, it had a hard life.

A search of the www.st-owners.com site showed that this is a known issue. After slogging through tons of useless posts I found some real info. The issue seems to have to do with the way the front tire is mounted. It is sensitive to proper torque and procedure. Here is the basics of the procedure:

1) Put bike on center stand.
2) Loosen up the axle and axle pinch bolts.
3) Re-torque the axle (79 Nm).
4) Re-torque the right side (throttle side) axle pinch bolts (22 Nm).
5) hold the front brake and compress the front suspension several times.
6) Re-torque the left side axle pinch bolts (22 Nm).

Front axle = 17mm allen wrench 22Nm = 16.236 lbs foot 76Nm = 56.088 lbs foot

This worked very well. The front tire is worn on the left side, which I think is causing the minimal amount of residual drifting. I also think that if there is still any left when I change tires, I will look into ensuring the forks are aligned. I have had this same wear issue with the Buell and I thought I fixed it by aligning the rear wheel to the front wheel, even though I did not seem to actually adjust anything. I had changed the tires at the same time, so I must have been more accurate in my positioning of the forks.

I have an idea for checking the alignment of the upper fork tubes that should allow me to more precisely align them than the standard procedure does. Of course, if all else fails, I can just tweak the fork one way, see what that does, then tweak it the other way and retest.

As far as the front tire wearing more on the left side than the right? That is normal. On Radial sport type tires the effect is more noticeable than on non radial touring tires. Although I noticed this on my Sportster when I went to a more rounded profile tire. If you look hard, you can see it on the Touring tires also. Putting together the various Internet guesses, it looks like if you add crowning of the roads with the fact that we drive on the right side of the road, it makes sense. When you drive on the right, you have better visibility through a left turn so are more likely to lean farther and go faster through them. Also, left turns are *longer* than right turn (larger radius) so theoretically we drive more miles leaned left than right. There are two types of riders that I don’t think see this much. Those that ride hard in both directions, who usually wear the sides of their tires down fast and those that don’t lean much at all, and they wear the center of their tires more.

KOOLAIDE

If you talk to a lot of Honda riders, they have this almost fanatical view of their bikes, although not as bad as some BMW riders. They believe them to be totally reliable, as if there are no issues. They also tend to believe that Harleys are totally unreliable. Neither of these two views is completely correct. Hondas are mechanical/electrical devices. That means things can and will go wrong, just as with Harleys. And, as with Harleys, the Honda ST1300 has a huge following with lots of on-line information as well as a ton of misinformation. A larger percentage of ST1300 riders put long miles on their bikes, but there are still a lot of Harley riders that also put large miles on. The difference being that there are so many more HDs out there compared to the ST that the large miles riders are not as visible.

One of the differences that I have found is the dealerships. There are HD dealers on every street corner it seems. And although I have not been overly impressed with the dealers or the mechanics in general, they do tend to know their bikes fairly well. But then, when all your bikes for the last 100 some odd years have been basically the same, and engine models last decades, it is easy to know your bikes.

The Honda Dealers often sell generators, ATVs, hedge trimmers and nose hair trimmers. They also tend to sell other brands. I was at a dealer looking for a battery. This dealer sold Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, some Chinese brand, Kawasaki, trailers, trikes, ATVs, snow mobiles etc. One of the big Honda dealers in my area told me they only get one or two Honda ST1300 bikes each year. The mechanics here are NOT going to know the quirks of this bike. The mechanics may or may not be good. No matter what you ride, it is a good idea to get to know your bike and do as much of the work as you reasonably can. If you do find a mechanic that really knows his stuff, keep him employed. Stay as friendly as you can with him. Good mechanics are worth their weight in gold.

TIRES

I was beginning to hate this bike. The steering was very heavy with Irene on the back. The back of the bike was so low that it was hard to see out of the mirrors and the handling was less than stellar. I checked the tires and found that the back one was very low. It turns out I had a nail in the rear tire. Needed to replace them fairly soon anyway, but I was hoping to get a couple thousand more miles first.

FEATURES

Another *feature* of this bike (every bike has at least one) is that the thermostat in the radiator tends to fail. Fortunately the failure mode is rather benign for most riders. It fails to close all the way, so the bike will take a little longer to warm up and in cold weather riding it will run much colder than it should. Most riders never even notice this. Mine has failed. This has no effect on warm weather riding, but I don’t expect to see a lot of that really soon, so I will get the recommended aftermarket thermostat and change it. This is a long, but easy and cheap job.

September 19, 2009

Went to a Harley Dealer’s open house and tried some of their test bikes. The first was a Sportster XR1200. This bike looks interesting and should have been a heck of a sporty bike. It wasn’t. Hard suspension, crappy bars, hard to grip the tank with your knees, tricky fuel injection. This bike had been pretty near the bottom of my list, but ended up falling completely off after this ride.

The other bike I rode was the FLT I had been considering. The last one I tried had been modified horribly and sounded and handled like crap. This one was stock and handled nice. Big improvements over my 2004 model. Unfortunately, the suspension and other quirks made this bike stay fairly low on my short list. I could probably fix almost every complaint I have with some aftermarket parts, so it is still on the list. But right now, I really don’t think so.

September 25, 2009

Andy K. loaned me his Honda ST1300 for the day. This bike has over 100,000 miles and has been driven in a number of rallies, including the most recent IronButt rally. I loaned him my Buell. I got the better part of that exchange, that is for sure. I had high expectations for the Honda, as well as some serious concerns, after researching this bike. There was more vibration than I expected, but I was expecting none. It is very minor, and not annoying in the slightest. The ride was not quite as smooth as expected, nor was the transmission. That is not to say it was bad. As I said, my expectations were not based on reality. The bike was very nice to ride. The engine was smooth, and the brakes were very good. There was plenty of power, but the delivery was near perfect. Irene enjoyed it, saying it was very comfortable. I was a little concerned about engine heat annoying the rider and passenger, but I did not find this to be an issue. There was just a little heat, but not intrusive. I was also concerned about high speed stability and stability while around trucks, as that mis-information net talked a lot about that. Yes, you can feel the bike move around some when in the turbulent air around big trucks, but it is not a concern. I attribute this as much to the sense of feel that the bike gives as much as to aerodynamics.

Irene was a little concerned when she saw the small trunk, and lack of arm rests. Andy has about the biggest trunk that could be put on this bike, but compared to the Harley trunks, everything is small. This trunk has more room than a Goldwing trunk. Irene and I will just have to learn to pack light. The lack of tools that are required should help with that. The real problem is when we camped with the Harley, we could pack the trunk and the luggage rack sky high and not have a problem. I know we way overloaded that bike. This bike will not allow that. Realistically, no matter which bike I get, I really need a trailer. I should have been using a trailer on the Harley also.

All in all I really like this bike, and Irene does too. Is this the one? Probably. Still have to do some shopping.

September 26, 2009
Jim F. let me take his Suzuki V-Strom out for a ride. I came back with a smile from ear to ear. This is a fun little bike. Enough power, nice handling, good riding position. Not the best highway bike, not the best two-up bike, but this would be a great bike for just me, with an occasional short two-up ride.

October 10, 2009
Went to look at a 2006 ST1300 that was advertised. It turns out I know the guy, he is another MSF Rider Coach. The bike was not a bad deal at all. I wanted to think on it, as there are so many other great deals out there. There was a bike down on the Cape, but it was blue. I don’t remember ever seeing a blue ST, but the pictures looked like crap. Then, within ten minutes of seeing the 2006 bike, I saw a blue ST. Then, it seams like every third bike was a blue ST. They look great in person, crappy in pics.

October 12, 2009 Monday, Columbus Day
Way up in the white mountains, I stopped for coffee and found I miraculously had cell phone service. I called the guy with the bike on Cape Cod. He said come on down. This was peak leaf peaper season. That means, any major road will be blocked with goofies. That meant, to get to the Cape, I had to take back roads at least to Manchester NH. From the phone call, it took me 8 hours to get to the bike. I got stuck in traffic, due to an accident, that ate an hour of time. Mostly I was pushing the bike, as traffic was not moving fast enough to warrant running my bike.

The ST was in good shape, well taken care of, only ridden in good weather. The only odd thing I found was some kind of sediment in one of the saddle bags. I scraped it off, smelled it and thought…. The guy has dogs and runs a doggy exercise program. I looked at him. He looked at me. I said “Doggie Treats?” He said, “Probably”.

After a test ride, we settled on a price and worked on when to pick up and all that paperwork stuff. The bike is 6 years old, and has 14,000 miles on it. I will be picking up the bike on Thursday and plan on doubling it’s miles in the first six months. Maybe the first 3 months.

I’m now a Honda owner. Irene said the bike sounded like her electric toothbrush, only quieter. Irene was concerned about the packing space on this bike. I told her: “This bike is $20,000 cheaper than the desired Harley. For $20,000, when her cloths got dirty, she can throw them away and we can buy new ones. We won’t need any camping gear, because for $20K we can afford a lot of nights in the half star hotels that I prefer.

Stay tuned for the continuing saga. This bike brings me down to only two operating motorcycles. My dream is to have two reliable bikes in the garage and nothing else. The Buell is not exactly reliable. Considering that I was once at the point of having six bikes and only 2 of them were functioning, my dream is unlikely. As much as people try to pretend that these bikes are completely reliable, they are mechanical/electrical nightmares. Things go wrong. For the short time that I owned a BMW, I expected magic. I expected perfection. I got a pile of Scheiss. OK, the problem may not have been the reliability of the bike, but the expectations due to the flawless reputation of the bike. I won’t drink that Koolaide on this one. It is mechanical, it is electrical, it is both cheap and high tech. If that ain’t an recipe for disaster, I don’t know what is. But, it is not air cooled, it is not trying to adhere to some tradition. It is designed to do what it is supposed to do. I will be happy, I think, with this bike.

Bob L

Sooooooo how did this whole BLOG thing work out? Not so well. It is an easier way to write my stories, and easier to keep track of comments, but it did not reach the audience I had hoped for. I sent a notice to about 50 people that my BLOG would be where you could all find my stories. I also told you all that you could subscribe to get notified when new content showed up on the site. 3 people subscribed. When I got back, a dozen or so people asked me if I had gone on the Ironbutt Rally yet. Most of these were people that were truly interested in my trips, they were just not the kind of people that use the computer for much more than e-mail. They apparently saw my original notification mail, but never did anything about it. They did not even know that I crashed my bike and totalled it. There is no real way for me to register these people to my site, nor should there be, as that would be an invasion of privacy.

What now? I am planning on going back to my old practice of sending e-mail notifications to my readers. I will use my WhereIsBobL Gmail account, as it allows a lot of recipients. I will still use the BLOG to write my stories, and to organize comments, and you can still register there. I will still move the better stories over to my web site eventually. But when I write something, I will notify all the people on my list that I have a new story. Sometimes this will just be a link to the story, sometimes it will be the story itself. It will be delayed some, so if you want to know what is going on right now, you should go to my BLOG.

Still looking, still trying to decide what to get.   I am still looking for just about any age, any type, but concentrating on only a few newer models.

Right now, there are three categories of bikes that I am really interested in:  Touring, sport touring and dual sport.

For the dual sport, the only one really on my list is the Suzuki V-Strom 650 with or without ABS.

For touring it is the Yamaha FJR or the Honda ST1300.   Both great bikes, but realistically, the FJR is a SPORT-touring bike and the ST1300 is a sport-TOURING bike.   If I get a full up touring bike, the FJR would be the choice.   If not probably the ST.   If I only get one bike, then I really don’t know what is best.    The ST is almost like a mini GoldWing.   It is 70 pounds heavier than the FJR and carries it’s weight high, as apposed to the Harley FLHT that is another 100 pounds heavier than the ST but carries it’s weight low.   The ST should have a little bit better passenger comfort.   Most of my decisions are taking into account how best to make my girlfriend happy as well as me.   Any bike will be a compromise, they always will be unless your uses are very narrowly defined.

Back to the touring bikes.   One of my first stops had been the local Harley dealer.   They had offered me a test ride on a bike that I was somewhat interested in.   They don’t have THE bike that I might be interested in, a 2009 FLT.   They only have a 2010 FLT Custom.    This has a short windshield and a lot of custom crap I would have to remove, and is missing a bunch of things that I want.    I got back to them and said I wanted to take the bike for a ride.  The guy says he can do that, but we have to talk prices and I have to agree to buy the bike if I like it.    Huh?????   WTF?????   He says his boss doesn’t want people to just go taking joy rides and wants to make sure I am ready to buy.   I WAS ready to buy, now?????

I went to the local Honda dealer to test ride a new Goldwing.   They did not have an ABS model, but the one they had included a GPS system.  Not something I want, but it showed me that it was not that anoying.   The ride of this bike was great.   There are things I like about the Harleys better, but as a total bike, the Goldwing is hard to beat.   It handles well, was quick and smooth, handled crappy roads well.     The sound system, which I really don’t want, sounded like it was speakers in my helmet.   Weird.   I could definitely get used to this.    The bags and trunk don’t hold any where near as much as the Harley.   The Harley with a rack on the trunk can hold a TON of crap.   If I got the Goldwing, I would either have to find a way to reduce what we bring on camping trips, or get a trailer.

Basically, the Harley, for the moment is out of the picture.   If I get a full up touring bike, it will be a Goldwing.

There are still some pretty good deals on new FJR’s.   The ST’s are pretty good deals used.  New, leftover Goldwings are available, as are used ones for decent prices.  Wee-Stroms are available new without ABS for chump change.

I have a date to ride an ST for a decent distance next week.   What I really need is a chance to ride an FJR.

Maybe I will just go for that $1,200 old concourse…..

These are the routes I took in the rally, along with a simple finish route that I could have taken had I not hit the deer. I probably would have finished with a much bigger route, but I had not finalized a plan yet. Had I not lost points in leg 1 for the bike issues and leg 2 for delays for helping out a rider, AND had gotten the points that I had in mind for the rest of leg 3 I would have been in the top 20, close, but not quite a top ten position. Of course, woulda, coulda shoulda, I don’t know where I really would have finished, but it is nice to imagine a great finish.

My actual Leg 1 route. Yep, Martha's Vinyard. There were at least 2,000 more points on my plan that I did not get due to the bike problems. I made some mistakes that lost me other points, but I think that is pretty standard.

My actual Leg 2 route. This was not my originally planned route. I helped out a rider and it threw me off my plan, psychologically if not actually. I was able to make up many of the points when I replanned, but I still think I lost a good 6,000 points anyway.

This was my actual Leg 3 route, up to the point where the Deer committed suicide using my bike. Again, this was not exactly where I planned to go, but re-planning on the fly made up for most of my errors.

This was the short, basic route that I had planned. There was at least a full EXTRA days worth of time available with this route, so I would have re-planned and gotten more points somewhere. This was just my fallback plan. I had a few other plans that would get me good points.

September 10, 2009

Not sure if anyone cares, but since I like writing these things and it helps me think, I am going to continue to relate my bike search stories.

Stopping at one of the local Harley Dealers to get a part or two for my Buell, I walked towards the new bikes.   The prices on the bikes, those that had prices anyway, were WAY over list.   A few of the sales people gave a halfhearted acknowledgment that I was there.   No one seemed to want to talk with the guy with a helmet and decent riding gear.    Just as well, as the best way to keep me from buying anything is to send a salesperson to talk to me.   Unless, by some wild stretch, they have a clue as to what they are talking about.

I stopped at the Manchester Yamaha dealer.   They had a used FJR Automatic for a fair price, but I am not really looking for an automatic.   There was also a brand new FJR in the color I want for $14,490.   I don’t know if this is out the door, but the 2010 models will sell for $15,190 and the 2009’s are listed at $14,490.   If I could get that out the door for that price it would be pretty good.   I can get a 2004 model barely used for half that, but the early ones had some small problems and I like new as I don’t have to worry about abuses other than my own..   The salesperson did not really know the bike, and said so.   Honesty is nice in this business.   I don’t know how their service department is, but they have been in business forever and the few times I have dealt with them (not sure if they have always been owned by the same people) they have been great.   The only scary thing is they are into a lot of brands and a lot of used bikes.   Still….

From there I went to Naults Honda.   Talked with the sales guy, who used to be a mechanic, and also knew the local LD Riders.   He understood IronButt riding and the value of a good bike.   We talked about the ST1300, but damned it’s expensive for what it is.   And it does not fit me especially well while just sitting on it.   I don’t really know what it is, but it just doesn’t feel right.   Gonna have to ride one.   We also talked about the Gold Wing.   As if I don’t hear enough great things about them from Sea Dog.   This bike feels pretty good sitting there, although there is little room for my toes when down shifting.   I suspect this can be solved by a longer toe piece.   They have a 2008 leftover Gold Wing that has some potential for reduced price.   The only two problems with Gold Wing for me are 1) there is SO MUCH bike there, and 2) they don’t offer anti-lock brakes without getting an upgraded bike with navigation.   This upgraded bike is almost $4k more.   They do have a test bike available.   I feel more comfortable taking a dealers bike out rather than a friends bike.   This dealer seems pretty good though and comes recommended.   Dealer support is a big selling point for a bike sale.

I crossed the road to the Suzuki Dealer.   They are getting a load of Wee Stroms in and are selling them for 6,595.   Not sure if this out the door price but that is $900 less than list.   I can test ride one next week.   The only unfortunate part is that it is a non-ABS model.   I have slowly come to grips with the fact that ABS is a good thing.   My playing with the Triumph the other day pretty much clinched it.   Man, can you stop quick AND controlled with that puppy.   I realize that in an ideal situation that an experienced rider can out perform ABS.   But emergencies to not happen in ideal situations.

By the way, I got my check for my totaled bike and gear.   It was $1,000 less than the FJR.

So where do I stand today?   Still confused.   I don’t think the ST1300 is in the picture.   It is $2,700 more than the FJR.   A nice bike to be sure, but it just does not quite grab me like the FJR.   I still have to ride one to be sure, but it’s pretty darned expensive.

So, even if I artificially limit my choices to the following bikes, it is a hard choice:  FJR, Gold Wing, Wee Strom.   Three very different bikes, but I suspect I will get 2 bikes within the next year, and these are currently at the top of the list.   Do I get the nice inexpensive Wee Strom for now, then think about either an FJR or a Wing for spring?   Maybe an FJR now, then decide between the other two in the spring?   I really don’t want to get three bikes.   What about used?   Hard to beat the new price on the Wee Strom.   Used FJR’s are pretty reasonably priced, but later model years are no great bargain.   Used Gold wings can be a pretty good deal, since most riders put few miles on them, and the price goes down after a number of years, even if they are low miles.   Still, there is the option of getting an older Concourse for small dollars.   I don’t want to get back to having a huge stable of bikes.   I want to have two reliable bikes in the garage.   I will never be able to sell my Buell for much of anything, so that puts one unreliable bike in the garage.   I need a bike that Irene and I can take decent trips on.   Even the Gold Wing is a bit skimpy on luggage capacity compared to the Harleys I have had.   We have grown accustomed to loading a bike up to look like the Clampetts moving to Beverly Hills.   Has anyone made a trailer hitch for the FJR?   An FJR with a trailer might be good for almost all of our riding.   As I have said in the past, renting for some of the bigger trips is not out of the question.

I just might end up having 4 bikes again.   One Buell, one used Wing and two new other bikes.   Or, maybe I should forget the Strom and just get an FJR, then later pick up a used Wing.

Oh hell, I don’t know yet what I want to do.

Here is a link to all my IBR pics, including some of me that I borrowed from others.

http://whereisbobl.com/pics/index.php?album=2009-08-ironbutt-rally

The question keeps coming up “do you run an Aux tank and how is it mounted?”.

Yes, I use a 5 gallon Jaz Cell from Summit.   This cell is (was) mounted on the back seat and plumbed into the fuel line that crosses at the front of the main fuel tank using a brass “T”.   This crossover tube is not on the 6 gallon tanks of later models.   The fuel comes out of the cell on the left side of the bike.   I used a plastic fuel shutoff valve from John Deere to cut off the flow.   The main fuel tank normally has two vents.   One is in the fuel cap, and only allows air in.   The other is a vent line at the top of the tank and only allows fuel and vapor out of the tank.   I plumbed this vent, without a check valve, into the vent on the fuel cell.   This keeps me from spilling gasoline all over the ground if I forget to turn the cell off.    The only problem this causes is if it gets fuel in it, it creates somewhat of a vapor lock.   No vapor will go in either direction.   If this happens and you have your cell off, then turn it on when you have, say, a half tank in your main cell, it will stay at a half tank  until all the fuel is out of the cell.   There is no easy way to stop this other than eliminating the fuel in this vent line.   This often clears itself if you stop, as pressure builds up in the main tank, blowing the gas out of the vent line into the cell.   If this is confusing, don’t worry about it, it is not important.   The fuel cell itself is vented out to the ground behind the rear wheel.   I used a small check valve that easily allows air in, but I “damaged” it just enough to also allow vapor out, but slowly.   In this way, the cell will not build up pressure, but it will also not splash gas out every time I accelerate.   It will still allow pressure to push fuel out if you over fill and just leave the bike there, so careful.

As far as mounting, for my application I first had to remove the passenger grab rail.   I put on a Tour Pak (trunk) relocation mount to move the Pak back a little so that I have more room.   This is not necessary, but without it you will be leaning back against the tank a lot.   You may like this, I don’t know.    I’ve run it with and without moving the pak, and having more room is a nice option.   I used the steel band mounts that wrap around the cell.   These can be purchased with the cell.   Instead of bolts, I used screw eyes from the hardware store to secure them.   I used four ratchet tie downs.   The pin on the end of the ratchet that normally has a strap with a hook was removed.   I then used a hitch pin through the hole and the screw eye.   For the front  ratchet I used a length of strapping around the engine guard and to the ratchet, putting both ends through the ratchet device.   For the back ratchets, I just used a shortened length of the tie down with a hook on the end which I attached to the lower part of the tour pack mount.   If you don’t have the permanent version of the tour pack mount, something else will need to be put here.   This all worked very well, but it is very close to the saddle bags.   If you are concerned about damaging the saddlebag lids, you will want to modify the mount somehow.   I suppose if you put a bar along the side of the cell then using screw eyes out at the end of this to move the location of the mounts.   If I did a lot of rallying, I would come up with a more permanent mount, or just make the main tank much bigger.   A real plus here would be to have a two piece seat.   With a one piece seat the cell must be removed to get at the battery or any of the electronics down there.    It comes off easy, but is still a PITA to do.

The IBR rules require the filler neck to be grounded.    I just grounded this with a wire and a connector to the ground of the bike.   If I were to do this again, I think I would pick a different style filler, one that is high up and would allow me to add a little more fuel.   I would get one with a vented cap or I would vent this fill extension.   The way the bike is set up now, to get maximum fuel into the bike, the bike needs to be standing.   This is easy enough for the main tank because you can do it while you are sitting on the bike, but for the cell, it is a b**ch.   You have to stand next to the bike, holding it steady.   I usually stand on the side stand for added stability, but in the end found a 2×4 and put that under the sidestand before I got off the bike.   The difference between having the bike standing up and having the bike on it’s sidestand is a quart of fuel.   That may not be much, but every little bit helps.   That is 10 more miles before empty.   Don’t forget about the foam.   The rules require the special foam in the tank to prevent sloshing.   I had thrown mine out as it uses up a decent amount of fuel and was unnecessary.   I ended up having to purchase some.  

I hope I explained this well enough.   I do not have any detailed pics of the mounting.   Feel free to ask questions if something is not clear.

The bike search began before I left Colorado but not soon enough.   There was a Honda Goldwing on the side of the road in town, but I did not see it until it was too late to buy it to finish the IronButt rally.

The next search began less than 12 hours after I got home.   My first stop was at the BMW/Triumph dealer in town.   Hobbling in, I noticed a used Triumph Tiger just itching to be ridden.  No interest in the BMWs, I drank that coolaide, and it gave me the runs.   At least the HD coolaide only gives me a belly ache.

The Tiger was great, a nice, well behaved engine.   Nice seating position.   I don’t care much for chains and there are not a lot of Triumph dealerships around, but I like the bike.   The only real issue for me is that it is a little expensive for what you get.

On the ride I found a 2004 Yamaha FJR for a good price, private sale.   A definite possibility.

The next place was the Harley Dealer.   I have been riding mostly Harleys for a long time.   They have treated me well, but I have issues with them.   Every time I think about dumping Harley, they change the color of the Cool-Aide and I end up taking another sip.   Really, the only thing Harley has to offer me is their touring lineup, and realistically, I would only get another one of these for my girlfriend.   Not that I don’t like them, but the cost and other issues makes them not quite what I am looking for at the moment.

So, I talk to the salesperson.   He seems to know nothing about the bikes.   I ask a bunch of questions that he can’t answer.   Fortunately the parts guy knows me, knows Harleys and knows mechanics.   My questions get answered, but I am not yet convinced.    Most of my concerns about the bikes have been corrected except one, belt placement.   The belts are put behind the clutch, which means a 3 hour ordeal to replace the belt, with some special tools and a real pain in the butt.   Not that I would mind water cooling, or at least oil cooling, but none of these are necessary.   The great thing about Harley is that they are cheap and easy to work on.   The PITA is that they need to be worked on.   When the valves on my bike stuck in Pennsylvania, I was able to find a dealer to fix them cheap and quick.   But why should a bike with less than 100K miles have a stuck valve?  And why would the other cylinder be at 30% in a leak down check?   This particular dealer tends to price things high.   In the past, when Harleys were heavily sought after, they would seriously customize them and then price them way over list.   Last time I went to this dealer and inquired about a bike, they wanted $4,000 over list for no apparent reason.   I was told they *Never sell for list*.

Anyway, they offered me a test ride, but I did not have time.   There are not many places that offer test rides, but most Harley dealers do allow it on some models.

I stopped at the local Honda dealer.   The questions I asked were answered by the dealer by him getting on-line and getting on the public web site.   Frankly, the guy was less than useless.   Just to check him out, I asked a question that anyone that knew Goldwings at all would have been able to answer, but the guy did not even know enough to answer that simple question.   I also looked at the Suzuki V-Strom 650.   They had plenty, and I am sure some kind of wheeling and dealing could have been done.

Understand, I am open to almost ANY bike, for the right price.   From a GN125 to a Boss Hoss Big Block Chevy V-8 bike.   But the bikes that I am actively looking at are on a short list.   For a big touring bike, it falls down to either a Honda Goldwing, or a Harley touring bike.   I have issues with each of them, neither suit me completely.   For other bikes, well who knows.    The Yamaha FJR looks good, as does the Suzuki V-Strom 650.   I have fallen in like with anti-lock brakes so that is a big plus on any bike.   The Harleys come with it for an extra $800.   The Honda Goldwing only comes with it if you get the mid-option model which adds about $4k to the price.   Many of the other bikes I am looking at charge a reasonable amount for the option.   Other bikes I may be interested in, used, for the right price are the Kawasaki KLR 650, an older Concourse and maybe a Honda ST1300.   As I said, a short list.

I have always looked for new bikes, as in the past, I have mostly looked at Harleys.   Used Harleys historically have been not much less expensive than new ones.   Used Harleys have also always been f*cked with.   No one leaves them alone, and they get them modified by people that should never be touching Harleys (HD Mechanics).   Now, with other brands, maybe used will be a good idea.

So, day two.   Stopped at the Harely dealer that sold me my last Harley.   The salesperson knew what he was talking about, and knew how to track down whatever I wanted.   Much more energy and smarter than the last place, and the bikes were a couple thousand less.

I wanted to take a test ride on a particular style bike, an FLT.   This is a little different than what I was riding in the past, but not much.   The particular bike they had ready for a ride was not exactly stock.   It had Screaming Eagle heads and cylinders to bump the size of the engine a bunch.   It had different cams and a set of VERY LOUD mufflers.   Taking it out for a ride was a trip.   So damned loud it embarrassed me.   I was most interested to find out how much wind noise there was on the highway.   There was so much exhaust noise, I could not tell.   As it turns out, there was less buffeting than my last bike, but was generally so much more wind that it was worse than what I was used to.    But the NOISE.   That damned exhaust.   People pay a lot more money for this kind of modification.   In my experience, with Harleys, if you roll on the throttle at 2,000 RPM, the bike gets up and goes.   Maybe not quickly, but it goes.   With this goofy bike, it would just sit there.   I swear, it seemed to slow down.   Anywhere below 3,500 RPM it was a dog.   Above that, it had a fair amount of get up and go, but it was so short lived and at such a screwy RPM level that it was slower than my older, smaller, stock bike in any real world driving.

So, where to go from here?   I don’t know.   Give me some advice.   Which dealers are best?   Which are worst?   What details should I look for, what should I watch out for.

You can participate in the de-Harley’ing of Bob L   What have you got?