Blitz

Man, that was an incredible ride. Pretty sure I'm well over 350 miles on the day. And if God put together a perfect day for motorcycle weather, it was today.

Thoroughly enjoyed it fellas.

Leaving now. Looking like 1:15 to the bucket. Maybe a little later.

I'm at Pony.

Early is on time fellas. Where are you guys? I see you're running late 

43 minutes ago, what said:

Ok @jacobhawkins, @Blitz @JustinNck1

 

Meeting at Pony at 11:15 fueled up and ready to ride - kickstands at 11:25 to get to Muskie by 12:45-1:00. After that we can either run the shorter route or the longer route depending on what people feeling like doing for the afternoon, and be back in Cbus by 6 or 7. 

 

I got about 110-120 miles with .75 of a gallon left out of the first tank of gas on the CBR so fuel stops will be every 100 or so unless someone has a real gas guzzler. 

Copy. 

And while I am occasionally known to be unfashionably late....I'll be on-time and ready tomorrow. See you guys in the morning!

30 minutes ago, what said:

If you want to meet somewhere else and have a suggestion, that's fine. 

 

As long as they aren't squids and know to ride their own pace its all good. Not sure what my pace is going to be like to be honest, just had Hoblick set up the suspension this afternoon and the bike feels good but this will be my first time really riding it so... not planning on mach retard or anything. 

They're not squids. I have confidence that they'll do ok, but one can't predict everything. I'll reiterate the rules of how we ride and they're adult, and respectful, enough to follow them. Should be a good day.

7 minutes ago, what said:

I think at this point it's just you, Jacob and myself. Meeting Justin down at the bucket. 

I've got two meeting us at IP. One male, one female. Both are decent riders, but not quite as experienced as we are. The girl works for the AMA magazine in town.

Hey guys, something to keep in mind.

Midwest Connection, the local hooligan street stunting/ law breaking ride, is meeting at 11 am at Pony.

If there's only a couple of us, no big deal. But if we have a group, we might want to change the meet spot.

5 minutes ago, MidgetTodd said:

Dragon back and forth for days is excellent fun if you're doing the appropriate pace. 

And they do...

But how about we switch it up for a day and check out the Cherohala? Or maybe Wolf Pen Gap? 

12 minutes ago, what said:

Back way to bucket https://www.google.com/maps/dir/39.9310659,-82.7896119/Big+Muskie+Bucket,+OH-78,+McConnelsville,+OH+43756/@39.7509915,-82.667608,10.21z/data=!4m24!4m23!1m15!3m4!1m2!1d-82.5931981!2d39.8429171!3s0x8838736df233d1cb:0x28469ad8b7b3b361!3m4!1m2!1d-82.3385465!2d39.8298544!3s0x88380435e199da63:0x281b0bf1ce1d1a3!3m4!1m2!1d-81.9903751!2d39.7563185!3s0x8837e3a5c8f95acd:0x1e544f65363b3f35!1m5!1m1!1s0x8837d86308288063:0x7c499df11fbf29ca!2m2!1d-81.731279!2d39.6992689!3e0

 

20 minutes longer than slab, but no slab and get into twisty stuff a little earlier. Meet at Pony @ 11:15 work for everyone?  Say 12:45 at the bucket and go from there. 

 

@Blitz @jacobhawkins

If I could show you the conversations I'm having about routes with other riding acquaintances for a Sunday ride. I'm having to fight vehemently to ride 669 instead of 70, 33, 13 or 37. Same group that refused to do anything but ride back and forth on the Dragon for 5 days....  

Anyway.... I'm fine with that route and most anything that follows.

So happy to see an OR Saturday ride. I'm in. What time are we leaving Columbus guys? And where do you want to meet?

Might join this one. Saturday's a good day for me, and it's been a while since I've ridden with Jacob. I'll look to meet in Otsego. Tip: 83 sucks through the Muskie bucket area. Chip seal has ruined it for a few years, it seems.

I don't know what all this "timer" "stopwatch" business is. If you guys are racing....then RACE.

8 riders at the start line with a flag man. Checkered flag at the finish. First man alive across the finish line wins. Only sport bikes allowed. No less than 1000 CCs because this isn't that chump change 600 CC middleweight nonsense. I don't know why you all are even mentioning SENAs. No weak ass helmets allowed. And the same goes for gear. T-shirt and flip flops/ tennis shoes or go home. Last one across the finish line is sacrificed to the motorsport Gods.

You guys really need someone to organize this thing.

1 minute ago, jschaf said:

Now you folks have got me second guessing & concerned about reliability& everything else. Always been Japanese I4 guy up to now,  My wife's had a little M696 Ducati & that was a hoot to ride so I'm thinking a big twin with over 2x the HP with sensible ergos  & modern electronics would be a double hoot.  I'm aware that back tires would be a pay to play consumable. Then Tony throws in the Triumph factor.  I had no idea about the Street Trip 765 RS until you mentioned it Tony.  Definitely worth checking out, although only (lol) 121 Hp at the crank is a light bike (366 lb dry, probably 405 ready to ride with a full tank) & looks super fun.  + I'm 6'2" & haven't even sat on said Triumph yet. My take on reliability is to stay away from the Apes & the BMs (although that S1000R is hot & can be had for a good price).  Know nothing about the MV Agustas but am wary. Ducati's & KTMs are equal in the reliability Dept, & Triumphs are slotted in there between the Japanese & Ducati + KTM.  Correct me if I'm wrong (I know you can't help yourself anyway.) This isn't going to be a decision by committee anyhow but it's interesting hearing all opinions. Keep em coming.  Thanks.

Have you looked into the FZ10?

2 hours ago, Tpoppa said:

This could be good or bad, depending on the wife I guess.

....or depending on the day.

Early on into my motorcycling career I noticed ear ringing. Looked into it, and found that wind noise inside a helmet can reach volumes in excess of 120 db. That's loud folks.

Now, I'm uncomfortable riding even short distances without hearing protection. When Shannon and I got the Senas to communicate, I noticed I had a hard time hearing the speakers inside the helmet. So I've wired earbuds into the helmet to the Sena, and I use noise isolating foam tips that attach to most earbuds. They work great. They cancel just as much noise as ear plugs, and I have my wife hard wired into my brain for all two-up riding.

I did a lot of research to find these foam tips. There are alternatives that cost more, but none of them are better.
https://www.amazon.com/Rebound-Fidelity-Earphone-Earbud-Tips/dp/B01H6IEPDG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500571560&sr=8-1&keywords=earbud+foam+rebound

On 7/17/2017 at 8:49 AM, Tpoppa said:

 

You are describing the 1290, Tuono, or S1000R (not RR).  The riding experience on all 3 would be fantastic, but the ownenership/dealership experience on the KTM or Ape might not be so great.  I'd give the BMW the nod for that reason.

If it was me & was looking to  buy a brand new bike for "demon releasing 500 mile street rides,"  I'd be taking a long hard look at the FZ10 or Ducati Supersport S 

Unfortunately, according to consumer reports, BMWs are the least reliable of new motorcycles. Anecdotally, I've seen more BMWs (3) have catastrophic failures on rides than any other brand. As nice as they seem, I definitely don't trust them more than Aprilia...though that's not saying much.
https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/02/17/is-harley-davidson-the-worst-motorcycle-money-can.aspx

Seems like Jim is in the same department I am, in terms of what he wants. Naked baby!  At the top of my wish list right now is the Tuono 1100 RF, and a very close second is the FZ10. That motor in the FZ10 screams, and the touring edition with some  bags has got to be one amazing motorcycle. Plus, the FZ10 is only 12,999 brand new.

https://ultimatemotorcycling.com/2016/07/21/2017-yamaha-fz10-14-fast-facts/

This video review of the FZ10 is incredible: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiEMPDeS3Ls

I also love the look the white and blue MV Agusta Brutale 800. Sexy as shit. Fit and finish is jaw dropping. But, perhaps a little too exotic.

6 hours ago, Qman said:

So theyd rather have loud and slow cruisers holding up traffic than sportbikes flying by that dont affect them in the least, other than perhaps being startled.?

Apparently. Though, honestly, I think they'd love to look for any reason to mow people down. The hilljack trucker had homemade "Stomp on this flag, I'll stomp...." stickers in his rear window. Total tool.

I had my life threatened by two groups of hilljacks on SR 78 on Sunday. I swear, I'm no longer riding without a GoPro and a gun.

A buddy and I come up behind a jacked up truck. He starts swerving, and driving on the yellow line or in the left lane. It's immediately apparent he intends not to allow us to pass him. So my buddy goes around me on his S1000RR...the fastest bike of anyone I ride with by far, and gets on his ass. He starts to go left around white truck hilljack and is almost pushed off the road. He makes it past. Then I do the same thing, except my pass was more sketchy and around a blind corner, cause ol inbred didn't have the nuts to cross the center line there.

So we are ahead of him and start to pull away when we come around he next turn and there's a stop light and a one lane road for construction. This is in the middle of nowhere near Burr Oak. Now, I see we're going to have to stop with this blow hard right behind us. We get to the light and there are two cars to our front. We both are checking our mirrors to see what he's doing to do, and as soon as the door to his truck opens our kickstands come down and we dismount and prepare to defend ourselves.

'Ol' few teeth' starts in on us about how his wife got run off the road by us down on 78 last week, and how we're going to kill someone. I politely remind him that we weren't down there last week, he was the one driving on the wrong side of the road for miles, and that he also has a tail light out. This didn't curtail his anger.

Its then that I notice a man and a woman, both wearing cut off tshirts needing a laundering, both with less than a full mouth of teeth between the two of them, walking toward us huffing and puffing...presumably not from the slight walk up hill on their tired, tar filled lungs. But because they are angry too.

The man is closest to me and begins yelling at me about sport bikers on 78. He squares up and says "what's up then?!" as if he's like to fight. Now, had I taken him up on his offer, he'd be fistfightimg someone with full SNELL head and face protection and essentially wearing built-in brass knuckles. But I preferred to remain assault charge-less and declined. I would have wrecked his face. 

Then his fat wife says 'you try to pass us up here and we're going to run you over'. I think k to myself, 'I'm not taking the chance' and I wanted out of a situation in which I was steadily losing control. I quickly hop on my bike, ride through the fat couple. The fat man tries to grab me, then pushes me, and I ride through the red light, one lane road and attempt to leave. They hopped in their van and followed. I maintained a safe distance in from of them, while they tried to keep up dangerously.

i probably rode 10 miles and couldn't see my buddy behind me, and I had put a few hundred yards between the van and I. I could have put more but I was worried about speeding in case the incident had been reported. So I pull over at the state park to wait for my accomplice. 

Then I see the van taking aim at my bike. He pulls just past me, barely missing me as I pull away. I check my mirrors and he had jumped out of the van, fists in the air, saliva and foam shooting from his contorted lips. Ready to rumble....again, with someone that would have knocked him out in the first punch, and someone in which his direct punches to my helmet would have caused him more damage than I.

And I meet up with my buddy and we rode off...

We hadn't been down there in weeks. I don't know what these people were angry, but they threatened our lives. 2 groups of them. And it's not the first time. I am making some changes to how I protect myself while riding from now on. This event was the last straw.

I've owned 3 Aprilias. A 2001 RSV Mille, a 2007 and a 2008 Tuono.

Pretty sure the Mille had a sprag clutch going out when I traded it in...a $1200 repair. I didn't have the 2007 long enough to have trouble, but I've owned the 2008 since it was practically new. Always took care of it, and while it's had some electrical quirks, it's hasn't left me stranded. Yet. 

These bikes have common problems that the community knows about. I've been able to solve most of my issues. I'm working on one now and hope to get it ironed out. The point is, I never had to mess with my GSXR or ZX6R...at all. But the Tuono is a hell of a lot more fun and a hell of a lot more beautiful.

Im no motorcycle mechanic, but I'm handy enough to fix Aprilia problems...so far. And the sound and ride has been worth the trouble up to now.

So no, I wouldn't say I got a 'lemon'. I'd say I got an Aprilia.

Thanks guys. I'll look through all of this and make some decisions. And thanks Tim for posting maps! Much appreciated.

Hey guys,

So I'm thinking the wife and I would like to do a 3 day ride and I was hoping to get some suggestions for the route.

It would be nice to include some stops that aren't only motivated by the twisty roads that got us there, but twisty roads are the point of the trip. So don't leave them out in favor of the World's Biggest Corn Cob Pipe.

States in mind would be WV, TN, NC, VA, and KY. I may lean on Tpoppa's WV routes but would like to get out of WV and into KY too.

What do you guys think? I've never ridden multi-day from the back of the bike before, so I'm hoping to rely on you guys who do a lot of this.

1 hour ago, what said:

You don't like your engine cutting out at speed on the interstate?

"Get a Tuono" they said. "You won't regret it" they said.

On 6/28/2017 at 11:13 AM, kbrok said:

Get a tuono you wont regret it.  will be my next purchase unless I decide to  buy another grom

Eh...actually, you might regret it.

They're wonderful motorcycles, and there isn't a bike I've found that's more fun to ride....

...when it's running properly. 

When service lights aren't lighting up the dash like a nuclear launch alarm. When it's not stalling at stop lights. When the rear brake lever does more than provide very weak calf workout and no deceleration...

8 hours ago, jschaf said:

The XR is nice but I'm currently in the mood for a big f'n twin. Should be good riding next year If you're able to break away from the dog shows any.

Something Italian, perhaps?

PMd