Bubba

Gotten a lot of pretty positive exposure in the motorcycle trade mags in the last few years. Bottom line, if you're looking for the latest/greatest technology and sophistication, buy something Japanese/German/Italian. That's definitely NOT the buyer the Enfield is gonna attract. It's a good looking--in a classic 60s way--basic motorcycle that'll get you where you want to go in relative comfort and style without seeing your same bike coming and going around every turn. There's a guy who rides one to the Sat morning Fuel&Coffee meet in Cinti and it's a very pretty motorcycle!!! If you're thinking of it as a commuter, it certainly will do the job; if you're thinking of using it two-up touring the Rockies, look elsewhere. But hey, I've worked my way thru a succession of 70s vintage Z1s, a couple of H-D FXRs, a '95 GPZ1100, late model CBR1KRR, FJR, and Zed1K, and my only bike currently, and one that brings me the most fun railing backwoods or riding week-long tours with luggage is a 650 WeeStrom....so what do I know about motorcycles? http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/royal-enfield/2014-royal-enfield-continental-gt-review.html

Based on your sig, I assume you're riding an FZ07. The best--and prolly one of the least expensive--seat mods for Yamaha seats is Eddie (Dirt Road) on the FZ1oa forum. Had him do my '09 FZ1 seat and it was like sitting on a tub of butter. Rode the bike to NC on a 6-day 2000 mile trip and never an issue. My ass was very appreciative!!! Check him out. Linky here: http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117406

Prolly depends on what your definition of a 'LONG' ride is.... If your talking about 4-6 hours of day riding on a weekend, bicycle shorts are gonna make a difference. If you're talking riding 350-450 miles a day for multiple days back-to-back, you're gonna need a new seat. Worst decision I ever made was to ride my CBR1000RR to NC for a 5 day trip on the stock seat. After 2 days, my azz was so tender I had to ride the CBR like a MX bike, standing up. Never again....

There's a kernel of truth/wisdom here, but there are other very simple options that accomplish the same thing as a shorter term loan. As was stated earlier, the accepted age-old mantra of "Buy the most expensive house you can afford" is prolly outdated and no longer wise, given the state of housing price fluctuation. And if you're kind of...ummm...middle age (my condolences--I was there a long time ago)....you really don't want to be carrying a mortgage into retirement, so a 15 or 20 year term is better and saves you a butt-load of cash over the course of the loan. However, once you sign up for a 15 year loan, you're committed to the payments and can get burned if you ever hit a soft spot in your monthly cash flow. We signed up for a 30 year loan--you pay maybe a 0.5% to 1.0% higher interest rate than for a 15 year loan--but we made double principal payments every month. This sounds like a stupid and expensive ploy, but the beauty is that the initial principal amount is very small compared to the interest portion and it cuts an entire month of interest off your final total, doesn't cost you much at all initially, and it shortens the final payment term by nearly as much as if you had opted for the 15 year term. As the loan progresses and the principal gets larger, you can continue to pay double principal or--if money is tight--only pay your normal monthly payment until your cash flow is adequate again.

Easily doable. However, gearing is only one of the issues with trying to use a sport bike as a tourer, tho. Seat comfort, cramped riding position, and wind protection are all a compromise. Only real issue with re-gearing is that most modern bikes drive the speedo off the transmission, so your speedometer will be inaccurate (if you gear down, indicated MPH will be lower than actual MPH) by whatever percentage you change the final ratio, i.e., going from a 15/45 (r=0.333) to a 16/44 (r=0.3636) results in a about 9% overdrive. Prolly not QUITE as bad as it sounds because a typical factory speedo calibration is usually about 2-3% high. To add to the above, you need to keep the total number of teeth on the final drive pretty close to the stock number of teeth or you'll need to cut or add chain links to alter the length. +/- one or two teeth shouldn't be a problem, but three or more is not likely to work without mods.

Dude, I've been a river rat since I was like 5. BOATS DO NOT FLOAT WITHOUT BEER ONBOARD!!!

Not gonna do the poll 'cause polls are meaningless. Do what you think is right and cool 'cause it's your bike and, well....fuc& everybody else and what they think. On a road bike, I seriously doubt that fork gaiters will make a damn bit of difference in the longevity of your fork seals. IMHO, fork gaiters are for MX and DS bikes. Go with your first thought. If you DO decide to go with gaiters, get the pink ones....

^^^ Reader's Digest Version ^^^ Midwest roads = crap!!!

Ireland: Oh no!!! Man, that looks like a hard hit...and with your new bike. That REALLY sux. Guys, Ireland has ridden with the southern OH crew--a mix of OR and LR guys--on a few of our NKY rides. Newer rider with good skills and the right attitude to ride safely. He was on one of Dice's NKY rides a couple of years ago when Ken--another OR rider--went down in a scuffle with a dog on his classic Zed1K. So sorry to see the carnage. I'm guessing that if you did walk away from that with only a few scrapes yesterday, you're feeling many more places that hurt today. When you feel up to posting an update, let us know how things turn out, dude.

Damn Joe, that bike is TOO PRETTY TO RIDE!!! Why don't you just bring it over and store it in my garage. I promise I'll keep it warm and clean and won't ride it....much.

Looks like the trails were pretty dry. Nice ride!!! What tires are you running? Shinko 804/805? Contis? BTW, your video was fine, but I could do without the "Rocky" music score. Made me feel like I should jump up and run 13.1 miles....

Ouch!!! Had a buddy that I used to do a lot of construction with (back in my younger days....) do the exact same thing. On a brighter, when you give the middle finger salute to a deserving soul, it'll be all the more dramatic.

Nope. The Cafe/Bobber genre is still hot, at least here in Cincinnati; it'll sell to somebody who wants to have THAT look without the hassle of doing the work. You might think about posting it on some of the sites that are more oriented to the bobber/scooter/hipster (gawd, I hate that word!) crowd. Try posting on the AFJ site; there are few folks there that might be looking for a hooligan bike. Not MY cup o' tea....I'm old and enjoy the luxury of a front and rear fender and definitely NOT big on the loud pipe thing, but as a short-mileage-sunny-day scoot, it's prolly fine. I do like the old school look of finned jugs, carbs and the simplicity of air/oil cooling. GLWS!

My take? The summer is already starting to wane. Those looking for bikes for this season have mostly bought already. The other problem is that--while you've made some cool mods to the bike--most of the work (cosmetics) that you've done was done to please you and your sense of aesthetics. Unfortunately, unless you find a buyer that thinks exactly like you or just happens to have the same taste in bikes, what you're done is either meaningless or even detrimental to the majority of potential buyers and thus, your mods have severely limited your market size. If you don't have to sell and like the bike, hold on to it and ride it for the fall, store it for the winter, and then roll it out next spring in late March/early April. As Tpoppa mentioned, that's when spur-of-the-moment purchases of motorcycles with tax refund money burning a hole in the pocket usually takes place.

Just a note for those considering... I bought the same pants several years ago and have ridden in them many times. These are constructed of VERY HEAVY material and quite hot for any temps over about 70 deg. Also note that, while the title states "Waterproof", they are listed as "water-resistant" in the text description, which is prolly more accurate. As for price, they are well built and a good value for the money and make a great 3-season pant--fall/winter/spring--but not for summer.

Keep the high pressure spray away from critical parts like wheel bearings, hubs, steering head bearings, electrical connectors, instrument panel. I'd rather ride a bike that looked like it hadn't been recently detailed than a showroom clean bike with dry/rusty/gritty bearings and sketchy electrical problems....

Duc is gonna cost you mo' money, mo' money in the long run, just like a very sexy woman! But then again, how can you argue against sexy?

Oops. Screwed up the order of the post. This is the beginning of Day 2 leaving from Lenoir City, TN. MoFo Road Show: Day 2 Bob apparently lives on his motorcycle, because he carries everything he owns with him, including the kitchen sink."Dammit! I know I left that stainless-steel double-bowl Elgin in here somewhere…" Left Lenoir City and rode to the Dragon via back roads (presumably why Bob's handle is what it is….) Obligatory Calderwood Dam overlook pic: Obligatory stop at DGR:

2015 MoFo Road Show: Day 3 Apparently I suck at photo-documentation, as there are no pics from Day 3, presumably meaning that it really didn't happen. Here's a few screen shots of the route we rode….IF we actually rode it. From Lyman, SC, we rode north on 9 to Lake Lure and then west on 74/Alt 74 past Chimney Rock Sp toward Asheville: We picked up the BRP north to 80, and followed 80 all the way to Bakersville: …and from there across Roan Mountain and on to 421/Shady Valley (Back of the Dragon) to Denton Valley Rd into Abingdon and on to Marion, VA: MoFo Road SHow: Day 4 From Marion, VA, we rode 16 north thru Hungry Mother SP (The Back of the Dragon) to Tazwell and then more back roads to Hamlin, WV. Last pic is my first and only attempt at a selfie, taken at the Moose Lodge in Hamlin, where I split up from Bob and Randall. They continued north to Athens, OH, and I rolled west on 3 and 10 to the AA Hwy and home. Apparently, the Boomer generation is unable to grasp the simple steps to put together a good selfie that the Gen Xers and Gen Y's are so adept at. Notice that there are no duck lips, no ominous sneer, just a scary old guy concentrating on pushing down a little button on a camera…. :lol :lol :lol :bang Rode for 4 days and 1450 miles and didn't experience any rain at all. Great ride with great friends!!!

MoFo Road Show: Day 2 (cont) Took 28 south (Hellbender), with a stop at the Iron Horse Lodge in Stecoah to check out the facilities… ...to Franklin, then across Elijay Rd to 107, then 281/Canada Rd and Charley's Creek and 215 to the BRP, then back down 276 thru Brevard and across the mountain to Caesar's Head SP and on into Lyman, SC, near Spartanburg to meet up with another MoFo, Kyle (Cowboy). View from Caesar's Head SP: Cowboy's ranch in Lyman, SC:

….the Devil's Triangle, the BRP, Roan Mountain, the Snake, and the Back of the Dragon. Wherein two naive boys from the midwest head into the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina and West Virginia to meet a couple of complete strangers from CraigsList….only to be greeted by the sound of banjos from the shadows of the hollers. DAY 1 Dice and I rolled south Sunday morning toward Lenoir City, TN, outside of Knoxville, to meet up with Bob Summers (BackRoadBob) from somewhere in Arizona and Randall Slone (TexRideStrong) from Dallas, both members of the CraigsList motorcycle forum. They were on a discovery adventure to experience the twisties of the Blue Ridge mountains, as they had heard we easterners had a few curves we were keeping secret from the rest of the riding community. Dice and I slabbed it down 75 to Corbin then jogged west across 90 and 700 to 27 south to Wartburg. Our first stop was at Brushy Mountain State Penitentary (closed in 2009) where the infamous James Earl Ray was incarcerated. We rode the switchbacks of Frozen Head SP and Devil's Triangle (TN116)… I even did a bit of gravel slinging on Walden's Ridge Rd, leaving Dice to fend for himself on 330. …and then on to Lenoir City to meet up with Bob and Randall, reassured that we were staying at the Kings Inn….not the Queens Inn! (Wink, wink, nod, nod) We rode over to a nice upscale boutique bar/bistro called Aubrey's--I rode bitch/squid with Tex--and then sat around on the motel porch later and had a few cold ones to break the ice.

There are MANY categories of what are called "adventure" bikes. The Tiger is a great bike for railing backroads and twisties and would certainly be a hoot on gravel FS roads and maybe some not-very-technical two-track trails, but it's a heavy bastard and there's no way I'd want to wrestle with it on any kind of single track or wet and slippery, or loose and sandy trail surface. As you gain experience, you'll find that the SECOND biggest determinant of what makes for a fun ride off-road--with the FIRST being experience!!!--is tires. Knobbies will give you much better traction in the gummy Midwest clay than a more street oriented tire; they will, however, make lots of noise, feel buzzy at highway speeds, and wear unacceptably quickly on pavement. The kind of stuff you'll want to play on is prolly gonna be in SE Ohio. Tons of FS roads out that way.

Derek: Pm sent.

I'll put in a plug for the AFJ Race Shop: http://www.afjraceshop.com 3926 Eastern Ave Cincinnati, Ohio 45226 (513) 321-2087 Brandon and Eric are good guys and know their stuff. I will say that if you can figure out what is wrong before you take it in, you'll be doing yourself a favor as far as money goes. It always costs more to drop it off at a shop with the instructions "It's broke and I don't know what's wrong….fix it!" From your description, it's kind'a difficult to diagnose anything, but if it's something binding in the rear suspension, I'd start with rear shock/linkage/bushings and go from there. Can't imagine why you think a rear rotor issue would cause suspension binding, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to take off the rear wheel to start looking for problems.