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Now I want a 'Ring Taxi kind of ride, but with a Goldwing on the Isle of Man. Preferably narrated by Guy Martin.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:06
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Backov posted:I don't know why people are always so surprised that YES, Goldwings are motorcycles too! Doesn't mean they're a good choice to be trying to drag a knee on especially on public roads. I don't recall anyone saying they couldn't go through a set of twisties but you'll never get me to agree that it's safe to be flopping a giant bike like that around and dragging your floorboards just because you think you need to prove something to a certain group of riders.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:07
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I guess we all forgot that big bikes are extra dangerous.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:09
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Big bikes? No. Goldwings grinding off their sweet color matched floorboards on busy curves? Pretty sketch if you ask me.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:15
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Ignoring the fact that wings come with pegs and not boards, I don't know if it's any less sketchy than running through the gears with the front wheel in the air on public roads, riding up and down stairs, off loading docks, or dragging pegs on public roads with any other bike I can think of.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:35
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GSXRMikeS posted:LOL, never did I expect to see that, and I rode deal's gap before... Goldwings and other large sport touring bikes are very capable of embarrassing sport riders when piloted by skilled riders. It's always amusing to me when sport bike riders are surprised that my big 800+lb bike is right on their rear end through the twisties.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:40
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To the degree there's any argument at all, it's whether the 'wing and other barges have the safety margin at those speeds that a smaller, sportier bike does. Something like a Street Triple at that pace could come around a corner, see a jackknifed car, wreck, oil slick etc and have a lot more braking and maneuvering margin to avoid an accident, or so the theory goes. It's more an argument that -no one- should be pushing a pace like that on public roads with extensive blind curves, but if you think that you're not bombing the Dragon in the first place. The street is a terrible place to push the performance envelope because there are just too many unknowns waiting to bite you in the rear end. Going up and down stairs, jumping loading docks etc is rather explicitly taking your shenanigans away from where you might endanger others, albeit in a less formal venue than going to a track.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:45
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I just see it as something you don't expect because it's a huge bike.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:49
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clutchpuck posted:Ignoring the fact that wings come with pegs and not boards, I don't know if it's any less sketchy than running through the gears with the front wheel in the air on public roads, riding up and down stairs, off loading docks, or dragging pegs on public roads with any other bike I can think of. ^ None of those supermoto focused things are done with other people in the oncoming lane or with anyone else around for that matter but that's fine. You should know by now how hypocritical owning a supermoto is by reading all the posts on this forum. Even the people agreeing with you on this big bike thing do that same poo poo and you know drat well we all, at times, ride too fast on public roads. I won't demonize someone for doing so even if it's not the smartest idea. However most people choose a bike that is "safer" to do so on. I'm not disputing that the goldwing doesn't possess the capability to turn I'm only stating that with its size and large luggage components it seems pretty sketchy and doesn't leave a lot of room for error. There's no increasing lean angle in an emergency which is what freaks me out and as stated if you catch a running board, peg, or big piece of luggage on the road you're done. This shouldn't be misconstrued as "big bikes suck" which is not my point. E: Snowden rather succinctly made these same points.
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Jun 4, 2013 22:50
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So, I have 48 hours until my 2 week fly and ride with the wife. I thought about starting a thread here, but I don't want to be stuck trying to manage threads from all the different forums I'm a member of. So if anyone is interested there's a ride report thread here on adv: http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=892924 I also have a tubmlr set up at madcatyoji.tumblr.com. This is the longest ride I've ever attempted, I'll be honest I'm absolutely spazzing out over it. Today has been a roller coaster, this morning my boss told me that the system showed I didn't have enough vacation time to take the trip. It was a system glitch,but I thought I might have a heart attack.
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Jun 4, 2013 23:50
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Right there with you, I am effectively 72 hours from my two weeks off for a Seattle-Austin-Seattle trip. However this time (and this is uncharacteristic of me), I am ready a full week in advance. Clothes and toiletries packed, bike oil changed, brand new tires (well maybe 150 miles on them). I am not scrambling to get my wheel bearings replaced and fuel pump wiring fixed 3 days before departure, like I was before Sturgis last August. I am happy that I decided to fix the fueling, too. 45mpg vs. 32mpg will make a big difference in fuel costs overall. This will also by my longest trip by a long shot. Our Sturgis runs are usually about 2500 miles, and I've done that 3 times. After the first time, we get into Sturgis and talk big about how we want to just keep riding. The Texas run is going to be 4400! We'll HAVE to keep riding. Bonneville salt flats, Salt Lake City, west slope Rockies, pretty much all of New Mexico, and more Texas than I ever thought I'd see... I am buzzing with anticipation. If you like riding and seeing stuff, a cross-country tour is pretty much the best thing you can do. You'll have an excellent time. Stay relaxed and hydrated, don't let little things get you worked up. Something will probably go sideways at some point, just be ready to roll with it. I've had to detour away from mid-August winter weather in the Rockies and had a bike poo poo the bed on me 800 miles from home... both trips were still great. Also, take pictures. E: keep an eye on the storm outlook, too. There can be some mean weather north of Texas, your rote might depend on conditions. Are you going through Roswell NM at all? I'll be staying overnight there on the 11th and maybe again on the 16th - if you're there too maybe we should grab a cold beverage someplace. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 00:07
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clutchpuck posted:Right there with you, I am effectively 72 hours from my two weeks off for a Seattle-Austin-Seattle trip. However this time (and this is uncharacteristic of me), I am ready a full week in advance. Clothes and toiletries packed, bike oil changed, brand new tires (well maybe 150 miles on them). I am not scrambling to get my wheel bearings replaced and fuel pump wiring fixed 3 days before departure, like I was before Sturgis last August. I am happy that I decided to fix the fueling, too. 45mpg vs. 32mpg will make a big difference in fuel costs overall. Woot trip buddies!  I love to ride, I always have. The only concern is my wife and her back, but I've done everything that can be done to make her comfortable. Worst comes to worst I'll send her back home on a plane. I've got a nice size hydration pack set up s we can both use it on the bike to help us stay hydrated. I am slightly concerned that the wife will have to pee every 5 minutes, but I'd rather that than her getting heat stroke. I'm pretty good at rolling with the punches and luckily my grandpa is an amazing mechanic (and the bike is still under warranty) so I think we'll be good. I'm sure my wife will be taking more pictures than a tourist bus in New York sponsored by Canon. Ride safe man!
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Jun 5, 2013 00:13
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I'll be curious to know how the Connie does with your wife's back. My GF has a bad shoulder, and riding two up on my KLR for more than 30 minutes was painful for her.
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Jun 5, 2013 00:50
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Safety Dance posted:I'll be curious to know how the Connie does with your wife's back. My GF has a bad shoulder, and riding two up on my KLR for more than 30 minutes was painful for her. I'm hoping it'll be all that and a bag of chips. She's a damned trooper. She did the roughly 500 miles to Monterrey and back over a 3 day weekend in 2009 for the motoGP race on the back of my R1.
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Jun 5, 2013 00:53
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Tenchrono posted:Are gangs of goldwing riders a thing? I was making a delivery and saw about 12 Goldwings with both riders and passengers perfectly outfitted in high vis gear and headsets on full faced helmets making what looked like military hand signals to tell each other where to go. I wish I saw more poo poo like that. It would be heartwarming. Instead I only see litters of Harley owners, all wearing fake helmets to show their disobedience to tyrannical authority, all blipping the throttle as they stop in perfect formation at traffic lights.
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Jun 5, 2013 01:14
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Ponies ate my Bagel posted:I'm hoping it'll be all that and a bag of chips. She's a damned trooper. She did the roughly 500 miles to Monterrey and back over a 3 day weekend in 2009 for the motoGP race on the back of my R1. Arms around your waist the whole time, or does she use grab handles next to the seat?
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Jun 5, 2013 01:18
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Safety Dance posted:Arms around your waist the whole time, or does she use grab handles next to the seat? It really depends on the bike. Once she's comfy and we're cruising she shifts between holding me and either grabbing the bike or a hand on her knee.
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Jun 5, 2013 02:12
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Raven457 posted:Goldwings and other large sport touring bikes are very capable of embarrassing sport riders when piloted by skilled riders. It's always amusing to me when sport bike riders are surprised that my big 800+lb bike is right on their rear end through the twisties. Whoa man, said I was surprised. I think that the rider of the 1800cc Goldwing in that video was awesome. I've ridden the 1500cc ones, and they are smooth as hell. When I was riding deal gap though (yes, on my GSXR750) I sure the hell was not thinking that I would love to be doing it on a 780lb Goldwing at the same angles and speeds. I commend the guy that can achieve that riding skill on any motorcycle. However, I still do not agree with any hard part of a bike touching the road surface... just does not feel safe at all. GSXRMikeS fucked around with this message at 02:36 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 02:32
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Wife will be fine on the Connie, it's you that I would have the biggest concern about.. or did you say it was a Corbin already? If so, no worries I don't think comfort will be a big issue. Regarding the Wings, I had a Harley friend of mine over a few weeks ago and we were bullshitting. He's actually pretty cool and has actually been banned from the local harley dealership because he calls them on their bullshit (and price gouging of unsuspecting dupes). Anyhow, he's worked on his bike out a bit and as far as harleys go I guess it's pretty good.. so he was telling me about the time he and met a guy on a recent wing and they dragged. Keep in mind he's a proud all-american harley guy, but he said the best he could do was keep up in 2nd, after that the wing absolutely wiped the floor with him, wasn't even close and could corner a gently caress of a lot better too. I know it's largely preaching to the choir here, but I thought it was pretty cool coming from a  harley guy.
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Jun 5, 2013 05:08
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GSXRMikeS posted:When I was riding deal gap though (yes, on my GSXR750) I sure the hell was not thinking that I would love to be doing it on a 780lb Goldwing at the same angles and speeds. I commend the guy that can achieve that riding skill on any motorcycle. However, I still do not agree with any hard part of a bike touching the road surface... just does not feel safe at all. I don't like dragging hard parts either - it tells me I'm doing probably doing something wrong. Either I went in too hot, or I'm out of lean angle, or my line is bad, or I'm not moving my body like I should be, or some combination of the four.  I get the impression from reading a lot of people's posts here and elsewhere that people just expect all big tourers to drag parts all over and just be slow in general, since that's how huge Harleys are. Under normal conditions, that's not the case at all - the 'Wing and most of the other import tourers are very capable motorcycles and I've seen them walk away from me and other riders without dragging a peg or missing a beat at all... usually while being ridden by guys old enough to be my father or grandfather. YellowWolf was taking it to the extreme in his videos, at one point he was doing 11 minute runs on his Goldwing. I certainly didn't drag anything on the Dragon, but I sure wasn't doing less than the speed limit either 
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Jun 5, 2013 05:19
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So some time ago I got a 1979 Honda CM400T. It's fun as poo poo to just throw around the little one-lane pavement roads back here around Livermore, but I'd really like to try poking around on some dirt roads with it too. Back home in Washington, you could find publically-accessible dirt roads every drat place. Out here in the East Bay, it seems like everything interesting is behind gates--especially what appears to be the bed of the old Transcontinental Railway up in the Altamont hills. San Francisco area riders, do you know any dirt backroads around the East Bay where I could poke around?
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Jun 5, 2013 05:41
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Pham Nuwen posted:So some time ago I got a 1979 Honda CM400T. It's fun as poo poo to just throw around the little one-lane pavement roads back here around Livermore, but I'd really like to try poking around on some dirt roads with it too. Back home in Washington, you could find publically-accessible dirt roads every drat place. Out here in the East Bay, it seems like everything interesting is behind gates--especially what appears to be the bed of the old Transcontinental Railway up in the Altamont hills. Carnegie OHV. Seriously, just putt around the green trails.
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Jun 5, 2013 07:01
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MotoMind posted:Carnegie OHV. Seriously, just putt around the green trails. Ok... always seems drat busy there, I figure because every fucker in Livermore has a pickup with Monster stickers and a 2-stroke in the back (seriously I think it must be standard issue upon high school graduation or something). I didn't really feel like dealing with those douches and paying the entry fee only to find out that, oh, holy gently caress, this old bike with these old tires and this old suspension is absolute poo poo on anything but a paved road.
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Jun 5, 2013 07:21
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slidebite posted:Wife will be fine on the Connie, it's you that I would have the biggest concern about.. or did you say it was a Corbin already? If so, no worries I don't think comfort will be a big issue. I bought a Corbin for it and it's already installed along with the Corbin backrest. I also lowered the passenger pegs since she has long legs. I wish I could have done a taller windscreen, but meh wind didn't bother me on the DRZ...
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Jun 5, 2013 16:26
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Got the Shiver back! 
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Jun 5, 2013 20:01
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Pham Nuwen posted:Ok... always seems drat busy there, I figure because every fucker in Livermore has a pickup with Monster stickers and a 2-stroke in the back (seriously I think it must be standard issue upon high school graduation or something). I didn't really feel like dealing with those douches and paying the entry fee only to find out that, oh, holy gently caress, this old bike with these old tires and this old suspension is absolute poo poo on anything but a paved road. Yeah but imagine how you'll feel when you roll through there despite all that.
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Jun 5, 2013 20:10
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clutchpuck posted:The RK needs a new crank position sensor. Easy peasy, he's been putting it off. Hopefully it's in stock somewhere. Well, Road King is ready for the trip and the primary chain on the Buell is nowhere near too loose. Wouldn't be surprised if it's the crank after all. He says he's going to ride the Harley this summer and drop the motor on the Buell to fix the crank, mod the case, and bore/stroke it. Should be pretty crazy when it's running again. He put an upgraded CPS on the RK so it starts easier and runs smoother now. Last thing to do is get my goodie bag in order:  ... add to that a tire pump and torque wrench. How reliable do you suppose those digital ratchet adapter torque gauges are? If I pick one of those up, I save a good bit of torque wrench space. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Jun 5, 2013 |
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Jun 5, 2013 20:25
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Why are you bringing a torque wrench?
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Jun 5, 2013 21:21
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About the only torque wrench-requiring thing I can foresee having to do on a longish trip is an axle bolt. And if you're changing tires, you're probably at or near a tire shop that's stocked with tools anyway.
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Jun 5, 2013 21:27
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In case I need to change the belt. I can do it roadside on the side stand, but it's important to torque the rear axle properly or I'll chew up the wheel bearings and new belt. The belts on the Uly are pretty much time bombs so it's something I need to consider.
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Jun 5, 2013 21:28
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Why not do the job in advance? If you're going to need to deal with the belt, deal with it now. Nothing like rolling on the throttle only to have your bike spit part of it's driveline onto the road when you really need to be going forward. You at least don't have to worry about a chain taking out a chunk of your engine cases or leg, but it still seems to make a lot more sense to just change it in advance. Also, it makes me laugh you're carrying an extra ECM - I get it, but it's funny. I wouldn't do any long trips without a plug gun and probably a rope type kit too, in case of a long cut in the tire. I'd also toss half a dozen C02 inflaters in so I don't have to pump the tire in the heat.
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Jun 5, 2013 21:49
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Probably won't need to deal with the belt, knock on wood. They're "lifetime" parts that can fail without warning (especially on the long-wheelbase Buells) or get cut by debris, so having a spare is a smart idea. I'm not concerned with my current belt failing so much as I'd hate to be stuck somewhere without one, when it only takes 30 minutes to swap in a spare. Good call on the rope kit and CO2. I think my wife has a few canisters but I'll double check it. I noticed the underside of my saddle contacting the ECM connectors and fixed it, but in case my fix wasn't as good a fix as I think it is, I don't want to be stuck in the middle of Idaho (been there done that) with a useless ECM. It's the size of a thing of deodorant, not a big deal.
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Jun 5, 2013 22:03
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Got the Shiver back! That's just counting your CC's for you!
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Jun 5, 2013 22:32
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clutchpuck posted:Well, Road King is ready for the trip and the primary chain on the Buell is nowhere near too loose. Wouldn't be surprised if it's the crank after all. He says he's going to ride the Harley this summer and drop the motor on the Buell to fix the crank, mod the case, and bore/stroke it. Should be pretty crazy when it's running again. List of poo poo you need to make it past the bar on a harley.jpg
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Jun 5, 2013 23:08
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It's a Buell, so it isn't like I have the Harley dealer network behind me - pick a part: it's a week out, might as well bring it. Plus I am super loving paranoid from my Yellowstone trip where my Vstar exploded and I'm not camping so I have the space to be prepared for the worst. I should add an umbrella to the list. I'm optimistic though. Last trip I went on, the Suzuki and Ducati shat the bed. Both Buells and the Harley made it there and back without drama.
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Jun 5, 2013 23:38
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If you're comparing against Suzuki and Ducati reliability the bar is set pretty low.
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Jun 6, 2013 00:12
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They say those Multi 1200s are dependable though! This trip, all the bikes are either >50k mi or will roll over 50k mi on the way down. I fully expect the BMW to poo poo its clutch spline, the Harley to lose yet another airbox, and the Buell to finally succumb to entropy.
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Jun 6, 2013 00:16
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What BMW?
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Jun 6, 2013 00:28
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My wife's 2002 R1150R.
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Jun 6, 2013 00:52
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Just did a clutch in KT1200 with 136k on the clock. Not a job for the faint of heart but the bike was very well designed with the intention of being worked on. Every time I think I'm never gonna be able to get at a bolt I would just lean back and BMW had put a hole through 4 different pieces to let me get a 18in extension right in there. I liked it. Not my style of bike but its sure was comfy and rode nice.
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Jun 6, 2013 01:52
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