Hailwood

Looks like Dave is planning on a longer ride, so I'm still going to target this route and rough timing. I'll be heading up that way regardless, so if anyone wants to join I'll swing by DQ. If there's not interest I'll just head straight out. I'll check back in the morning and make the call about the meetup then.

In honor of Mike Hailwood, one of the greatest roadracers of all time, and a damn fine human being. Just don't take it as an indication of my riding skill...

The NEO forecast for Sunday is looking pretty tasty, and I will definitely be out for a couple of hours - Curious if anyone else is interested in having a quick ride. I don't want to get too crazy heading South for the first real ride of the year, but I'm thinking a nice blast up OH-164 and back down OH-9 would be a good way to start. If there's some interest I'll post up a full route. This will not a quick ride in terms of pace. This is a fun/scouting/dust-the-cobwebs-off ride, and I plan on taking it quite a bit easier than I might normally. Figure 60 ~ 70 in the straights, and paying very close attention for gravel/salt/etc in the corners. If you're interested in going balls out, this probably isn't your ride. I'm thinking a noon start with about 3 hours of riding. Meet at DQ in Bolivar, and wheels up by 12:10. Here's the route I'll be taking: Link to Google Maps I'll check Sunday in the AM to see if anyone's interested, otherwise I'll make this a solo ride.

Yeah, I decided to go in a different direction. I'm still a huge fan of the N1k (although not the insurance rates for it) but ultimately decided that it was just a bit too similar to my FZ1. I certainly can't speak for the long distance comfort of th R1 as of yet, but my initial impressions are pretty positive other than a bit of heat while riding in town. Depending on how the first few long rides go I may look into some heli-bars and the Yamaha comfort seat, but overall I'm pretty happy with my choice.

At this point I've got it narrowed down to either the Leo's or a set of Arrows. I'm a huge Akrapovic fan as well, but with the price premium over the others, I'm thinking I might go with something different this time arond.

If I had the full 14 days, I think I'd be looking at a mid~late summer ride up to Nova Scotia and then take the ferry over the Newfoundland. With two full weeks you could do the whole thing without putting a tire on an interstate. Out West would be a fantastic ride as well.

Finally got out for a first ride last night before the rain hit again. This thing is a damn animal, and yet one of the smoothest engines I've ever experienced. And that noise! I kept ripping through the gears just so that I could blip the throttle and downshift. My plan of holding off on getting a set of pipes for awhile is quickly being re-thought... I can't wait for some better weather

I will second everything mentioned here - The Gen1 FZ1 is probably the best all around motorcycle I've ever ridden. Not only can it do pretty much anything out of the box from a long distance tour to a CORE ride, but the aftermarket is there to make it even further into anything you want.

Watched that earlier today... I cannot wait until the season opener this year :drool:

I've been lurking on the R1 forum for quite awhile. It's given me some great ideas for what I want to do to the bike.

They are racing the 1199 in Superstock this year to make sure they have a competative race platform before jumping into Superbike.

Man, that was an epic ride by Biaggi in race 2.

Yeah. 582 miles, bone stock and probably the cleanest used bike I've ever bought. With his asking price (and the Rossi colors!) I couldn't pass it up. It's actually too bad since I really liked your bike especially with those Leo Vince pipes, but I couldn't pass up this deal.

Watching now!

Mission Accomplished

Dang, I forgot that one - Definitely enjoyed Race to Dakar as well.

On Any Sunday Faster Long Way Down/Round Troy's Story Little Fauss and Big Halsy Easy Rider V-Four Victory The Great Escape (Just for Steve McQueen's jump) I still need to watch World's Fastest Indian.

I think I've posted a few of these before, but in the interests of maximum post-whoring:

I had the LSL on my Speed Triple when I went down a couple years ago and they worked very well to protect the frame and just allow the bike to slide and scrub off speed. It was pretty easy to get replacement parts for them as well. I've also heard pretty good things about the Motovation stuff as well.

I've bought quite a few parts from them in the past as well, and it's always been a good experience. Their prices on Pit Bull stands in particular were really good - I think I've bought 3 from them over the years.

:sadpanda: Too many RC8R's down at the hands of hamfisted Chris Fillmore wannabes?

Thanks. I had seen that one earlier today and got exited until I noticed that it looked like just about every piece of bodywork was scuffed. I might check it out anyway since it's so close to me just for fun.

R1-Forum is a big part of what I'm using to gauge pricing. There have been a couple of bikes on there recently that I would have been all over if they had been a bit closer.

Still on the lookout. I've checked out a couple of used bikes at dealerships, but most of them were in pretty rough shape and were overpriced to boot. I even looked into a new left-over 2010 from State 8 in the Fiat/Rossi replica colors that I liked quite a bit, but the cost was over what I'm looking to spend. I'm still hoping that Sniper gets Panigale fever