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Did a thing with a few buds from work: Seattle to Neah Bay and back, about 300 miles round trip. But the highlight is these about 50 miles right here. 50 miles (100 round trip!) with hardly a straight section to be found. So many corners of all types on lush coastal forest roads with beautiful views. Highly recommend this ride to any PNWers. The ragtag bunch:  (Ninja 650R, Scrambler 900, R1200GS) Guinness fucked around with this message at 04:02 on Sep 8, 2013 |
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Sep 8, 2013 03:56
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I rode out to that general area last year to pick up a couple parts for the wife's XL175. Good riding on the peninsula. The road around Lake Crescent is great, too. I have fond memories of that area; we went through on my wife's first multi-day trip down the WA and OR coasts where she caught the motorcycling bug in a big way.
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Sep 8, 2013 04:15
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kenny powerzzz posted:And to be fair the long way round guys go through some really tough terrain while the adventure prone guys did not. Not that I don't agree that they had a massive (overkill) amount of support, but the Long Way Round trip took place 7 years before the Adventure Prone trips started. I can't speak to the full history of "adventure bikes", but I have to imagine LWR came before the benefit of what has become a pretty large, modern "adventure" market, community and knowledge base. There, of course, were round-the-world trips prior to LWR, like The Ultimate Journey, which started their trip in 1999, taking 4 years for a much more complete tour of the world.
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Sep 8, 2013 05:11
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SimplyCosmic posted:Not that I don't agree that they had a massive (overkill) amount of support, but the Long Way Round trip took place 7 years before the Adventure Prone trips started. I can't speak to the full history of "adventure bikes", but I have to imagine LWR came before the benefit of what has become a pretty large, modern "adventure" market, community and knowledge base. And Adventure Prone guys did the trip on cafed-out hipstermobiles from the 70s. Which frequently broke, giving some excitement. They didn't have fancy luggage mounted perfectly, they had universal saddlebags that kept rubbing on the tires and melting on the exhaust. Everything else got lashed on the back of the seat, a packing method I can relate to. And they didn't set up a whole office beforehand with a bunch of paid employees to plan the route and handle things, they just picked some roads, quit their jobs, and went. After getting their bikes into working order in the apartment parking lot. I've got a shitload of respect for them to make that trip on such old bikes. The Long Way Round guys went through much rougher terrain (well, they did through Asia) and more countries, more language barriers, etc. But they were also able to whip out $1000 in cash to buy a brand new motorcycle when the cameraman broke his. Also, the Adventure Prone guys had more interesting banter/commentary, imo. Maybe that's what happens when you don't necessarily have a public image to keep up. I did note that smoking was a constant theme in both series. Given my own motorcycling experience, I think there's something about bikes that makes you want a cig. Guess riding really is like sex.
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Sep 8, 2013 05:20
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It should be mentioned that Long Way Round filmed a broadcast quality, 7 episode television series during the trip, which also had a tight schedule.
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Sep 8, 2013 08:37
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Ola posted:It should be mentioned that Long Way Round filmed a broadcast quality, 7 episode television series during the trip, which also had a tight schedule. I'm glad you mentioned it, because everyone seems to forget or gloss over that point while moaning about how it wasn't a "pure" experience and they weren't hardcore enough. Of course not, it's loving TV!
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Sep 8, 2013 08:49
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Coredump posted:Hey as I was typing up my little review of the bike I had an idea. Should we have a thread dedicated to quick reviews of things? Well we've got the gear thread, so I suppose a bike/non-clothing bike stuff review thread wouldn't be out of place, but I doubt it would get enough traffic to be viable (except for the inevitable holy wars)
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Sep 8, 2013 20:00
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goddamnedtwisto posted:Well we've got the gear thread, so I suppose a bike/non-clothing bike stuff review thread wouldn't be out of place, but I doubt it would get enough traffic to be viable (except for the inevitable holy wars) Put it on the Biek Wiki?
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Sep 8, 2013 20:04
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Terra Circa did the Long Way Round trip before them, on DR350s, and made it into a documentary at the same time. LWR production apparently consulted Mondo Enduro when planning the show. http://www.mondoenduro.com/terracirca.html It's really worth a watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsThRs3RwhA (Trailer)
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Sep 9, 2013 13:51
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 You goddamn kids have no respect.Read the original: http://www.amazon.com/Jupiters-Travels-Years-Around-Triumph/dp/0965478521 Ted Simon did it first, did it best, and then he did it again when he was 70.
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Sep 9, 2013 23:32
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I'm finally posting my mini review of the Aprilia Mana GT I rented over the weekend. Jesus. Also I apologize for dropped words or mangled grammar. I tried to proof-read as best as I could.   Rental Place: Rider’s Hill in Dahlonega, GA Rider: timid, cautious type that is rusty from not riding much this season. Also huge. (lol goon) Route: Blood Mountain to Richard Russell Scenic Hwy Comparison Bike: 2003 SV650 frankenbike Rider’s Hill is in fact on a big rear end hill off the side of the road. First thing that happens to me on the bike is I just get done with my orientation on the bike and I’m riding down the hill to hit Hwy 60. I have a small panic attack as my brain shuts down for a second not knowing how to stop the drat bike. I’m so hardwired to bring in the clutch with my left hand to bring a bike to a stop that not having the clutch there on the Mana caused a mini panic as my brain didn’t know what to do. Finally as a last resort I clamped down on the front brake and the bike came to a stop without stalling, without drama at all. It’s one of those little things you have to unlearn, like trying to mash down the imaginary clutch pedal in a car with auto transmission after driving stick for so long. Which brings me right to the best part of the bike, the transmission. Aprilia uses various terms to describe the transmission on this bike to dance around the fact that it’s a CVT some with fancy gizmos. The transmission’s party trick is the variator can hold certain ratios to simulate gears when you go into sport shift mode, but really there's no reason to bother. I'll explain why. Pull out into traffic? Just give the throttle a twist and in just a few seconds you're up to speed. No shifting, just a continuous pull of power until you're up to the speed you want. From there on just concentrate on speed and steering. In the mountains especially it was a revelation to always be in the right rpm for power, never having to worry about shifting etc. The bike's 70 hp felt plenty to pull hard from corners as I was never left wanting for power. Although since this was a rented machine with a $1500 deductible on the insurance, that may have tempered my desire to really romp on it. Plus I'm rusty as hell since I haven't really ridden much this season. There is a slight delay between rolling on the throttle and the power coming in. It’s not the direct connection between throttle and machine like on the SV. However, the sensation is a lot like my old GS500 in higher gears where you roll on the throttle and wait a few seconds for anything to happen. In that respect the Mana GT was much more responsive. The bike does add some bells and whistles to the CVT to try and dispel any scooter comparisons. The transmission has aforementioned ability to have the variator (is that the right thing?) hold certain ratios on the cvt. This means you can switch to a manual mode and switch gears up and down with buttons on the left handle. I tried it for a bit, but faced with having to worry about keeping the bike in the power myself, especially without a tach! Yes the bike doesn't have a tach what the hell? But worry about keeping the bike in the right rev range, or having continuous smooth power always? For me manual mode was a 15 minute experiment and then I never hosed with it again. Also, the left hand controls on the bike, with the buttons for shifting, display mode switch, etc. was way too loving crowded for the shift buttons to fall right to hand in the little time I had the bike. I kept hitting the horn when I wanted to shift up. I left shifting alone in that case, especially since the bike did it so much better. The other thing the bike does is the drive modes for cvt operation. There's 3 drive modes, sport, touring, and rain. Touring is the main mode and what I left the bike in 99% of the time. Sport moved the bike's "rpms up in into the powerband", but really sport mode made the bike buzzy and angry for no discernible reason. Rain mode is supposed to soften power delivery but in practice it felt just like touring mode. In reality I played with the drive modes little because in the back of my head I knew I was on bike where the electronics were designed by Italians. I trust Italians to make brakes, steering, etc. because those deal with going fast. Electronics on this commuter bike hybrid? Yeaaahhhh, let me not push my luck. The handling of the bike was pretty good although I was pretty conservative with my ride up and thru the mountains. Felt nicely sprung, no excessive dive, etc. The brakes were pretty grabby for me in the 24 hours I had it. I'm sure I would eventually get used to them. The ergos were nice and neutral on the bike. You sit pretty up and down with the bars a comfortable reach in front of you. Leg room might be cramped for some, I'm not sure if I'm the best judge of that. The seat. Sometimes I loved the seat, sometimes I hated the seat. It’s miles better than the SV's flat saddle. I think my rear end has gotten soft from lack of riding. Nothing fixes that better than riding a pedal bike. Jesus.   The false gas tank storage compartment is super handy. No it won't fit a full face helmet, but all the poo poo that normally inhabits my pockets, like sunglasses case, phone, etc., I can toss in that storage compartment like it ain't no thang. Its even has a light that comes on so you can see in there at night, neat! Going back to my SV, shifting sucked so bad! Especially once I got out of the mountains and back into town. The Mana was so easy to point and shoot where I wanted to go in traffic. Although, on my ride back thru the mountains I appreciated the SV's more aggressive ergo's for going thru tight turns and the brakes I could breath on to modulate speed. The SV also inspired more confidence to push harder in the turns than the Mana, but that could be its my bike so I don't have to worry about loving up someone elses machine. So, if I was going to use a motorcycle as my main mode of transportation, especially if I was in an urban area, then this bike would be top of my list. That is if I didn't get a scooter instead. Scooters can do 90% of what this bike does for 70% of the price, as long as you can get over your crippling social anxiety of being seen on a scooter. Also, shout out to Rider’s Hill. It’s an awesome motorcycle shop/rental place. Everyone was friendly. Ian, the guy who set up my rental, was super nice about getting the bike ready for me because you are apparently supposed to call the day before which I didn’t know about. Oops. Also they let me store the bike I rode up there in their shop overnight so I could take the bike that day. Can’t say enough good things about the experience I had there.
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Sep 10, 2013 20:43
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I guess you can get struck by lightning while riding and survive it. I was out in it at dusk, it was pretty gorgeous. Didn't even consider the chance of being struck (Washington lowlanders are apparently useless when it comes to both snow and lightning). http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021764645_rainyweatherxml.html quote:The Zapalacs, from nearby Winlock, Lewis County, felt reverberations in their Ford F-150, but when the motorcyclist slowed down and changed lanes to the right, they thought the lightning must have missed him. They slowed down and watched as he continued to move across the lanes, all the way onto the right shoulder. That sort of floors me. Gets struck by lightning, pulls over to the safety of the shoulder before collapsing. I think he evaluated and executed that one on autopilot.
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Sep 10, 2013 23:22
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Do American police motorcycle squads usually give officers the option of wearing gear? When I think of Euro motocops, I picture someone with some hi-viz textile suit and a white modular helmet, but almost every US cop I've seen has at most a 3/4 helmet, gloves and maybe some boots. I was driving behind one today that had nothing more than a black half-helmet. Is that just part of the gig, so you match other officers and look police-y, or do forces typically also let them wear something closer to official ATGATT if they want?
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Sep 10, 2013 23:31
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Their job is public safety and response, personal safety would come after; that's the job. They don't wear full face helmets so they can simultaneously communicate with particular individuals at traffic stops and be ready to hop on the bike mid-stop and respond to an emergency. I do notice many of the county deputies and state troopers in my area wearing official-looking riding suits that appear to provide some protection, as well as modular helmets so that they can flip it up and bark demands. I can't remember the last time I saw one NOT wearing some sort of high-viz vest if not suit.  Photo sperging: why do they each have their brake foot down? Seems better to cover the brake when you're one-footing, at least that's how my dumb rear end operates. clutchpuck fucked around with this message at 00:14 on Sep 11, 2013 |
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Sep 11, 2013 00:08
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Lol you live in bizarroland to me, Cops here wear a 3/4 and that's all, and probably only so they have a radio. It was hard to even find a pic but this on looks like they only have a 1/2 helmet. 
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Sep 11, 2013 00:27
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Coredump posted:biek review Very nice writeup, I was just curious why you rented it? Was it just to try it?
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Sep 11, 2013 00:28
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Cops around here:  The short answer as to why US cops are often dressed like they're riding a horse is "tradition." Which is stupid. Some of them argue that the US is hotter than the EU, particularly the UK, but that's another rubbish response. The "I need to show my face" argument is blown up by flip-lids. The longer answer probably has more to do with the very deliberate Venn overlap between police/fire and Harley riders, which also overlap with the "let's dress like people in the 50s did" and "ARE FREEDOMS" types and overlap very little with the "Hi-viz and mesh are good ideas" crowd. This ADVRider thread was going back and forth on it for a bit: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=914807
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Sep 11, 2013 00:41
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Cops in NZ all have BMW riding gear and flip helmets with police insignia/checkerboard on the helmets, riding gear etc. Every bike cop I've spoken to gave me a miniature lecture about how you'd be a fool to ride around half naked. Also one of them complained that he wasn't looking forward to them retiring the R1100/1200 because of the possibility of switching to a Japanese bike with inferior handling 
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Sep 11, 2013 00:47
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Slavvy posted:Cops in NZ all have BMW riding gear and flip helmets with police insignia/checkerboard on the helmets, riding gear etc. Every bike cop I've spoken to gave me a miniature lecture about how you'd be a fool to ride around half naked. I love seeing cops split like crazy over the Harbour Bridge. Do you know what they'll change their bikes to, if it's not BMW?
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Sep 11, 2013 01:08
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Odette posted:I love seeing cops split like crazy over the Harbour Bridge. Do you know what they'll change their bikes to, if it's not BMW? He seemed to think the Kawi concourse was in the running but I really don't know. That being said the majority of bike cops I've seen are surprisingly crap riders so I think the various budgetary/fleet maintenance considerations would probably be more important than the finer points of handling.
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Sep 11, 2013 01:23
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Odette posted:I love seeing cops split like crazy over the Harbour Bridge. Do you know what they'll change their bikes to, if it's not BMW? How'd that test go anyway? They going to bring it in fulltime?
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Sep 11, 2013 01:29
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 Lots of variety on swedish cop bikes, more than I thought. Cops here are mostly on Pan Europeans, FJRs, K1300GTs and F800Rs. Both painted and unpainted ones. First time I saw one of those unpainted FJRs I did a double take, since I've always considered unpainted cop bikes the product of bikers with an overactive imagination. This is also why I haven't completely dismissed reports of bike cops on 690s...
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Sep 11, 2013 03:09
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American bike cops are shamed by bike cops in every other developed country. I remember seeing pics of Moscow cops in full gear and modulars. I think it's because of the influence of Harley culture that they don't dress up here.
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Sep 11, 2013 03:25
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Dang. Dark divided highway, some kind of sportbike flew past me, full wheelie with no lights whatsoever. Came out of nowhere and scared the complete poo poo out of me. A few hundred feet out, I saw him briefly flip his headlight on for a curve, then flipped it off again. I don't get it, and you have to plan ahead to ride like that much of a dong, unplugging taillights and low beams.
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Sep 11, 2013 03:45
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Shimrod posted:How'd that test go anyway? They going to bring it in fulltime? NZ=/=Australia. Splitting is legal here, even though most people don't know.
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Sep 11, 2013 03:59
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An email update from Sena reminded me of this question asked 6 months ago:Ola posted:I'm trying to research the bluetooth comms market. [...] I want a thing where two people can listen to the same thing, then have a voice activated intercom on top. According to Sena, their latest beta firmware for the SMH10 will allow "sharing music with an intercom friend using Bluetooth stereo music during a two-way intercom conversation."
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Sep 11, 2013 04:04
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Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:American bike cops are shamed by bike cops in every other developed country. I remember seeing pics of Moscow cops in full gear and modulars. I think it's because of the influence of Harley culture that they don't dress up here. Most bike cops in the US are still dressed like cops on horseback dressed. Thats where most of it comes from
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Sep 11, 2013 05:23
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eddiewalker posted:Dang. Dark divided highway, some kind of sportbike flew past me, full wheelie with no lights whatsoever. Came out of nowhere and scared the complete poo poo out of me. A few hundred feet out, I saw him briefly flip his headlight on for a curve, then flipped it off again. Bikes built before some sometime in the early 2000s in the UK still had headlight switches, so whoever your squid was could have retrofitted a headlight switch if lights on was the mandatory (sensible) default in your neck of the woods. First time I discovered this was when some guy on a BMW tourer was behind me in the tunnel at Heathrow, and I noticed his headlight was out. I politely mentioned to him when we parked up that his headlight wasn't working and he looked at me like I was an idiot and told me that's because it was switched off. I thought "who's the loving idiot riding a grey motorbike on a grey winter morning with no lights on!"
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Sep 11, 2013 05:53
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Slavvy posted:NZ=/=Australia. Splitting is legal here, even though most people don't know. When you said Harbour bridge I assumed you meant Sydney. My bad.
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Sep 11, 2013 07:11
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SimplyCosmic posted:An email update from Sena reminded me of this question asked 6 months ago: Thanks for posting that! Looks like you can't talk over it, but not bad for a software update.
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Sep 11, 2013 07:22
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Italian cops tend to look very...Italian.  
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Sep 11, 2013 08:38
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An Italian bike cop on a BMW, what manner of heresy is this? They should all be on Moto Guzzis!  Danish motorcycle cops are very similar to their Swedish colleagues (even their helmets are high-viz yellow now). I think they're in the process of upgrading their bikes, though. Some of them will be getting K1600GTs, apparently. 
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Sep 11, 2013 13:07
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For a brief moment, I thought those were turbochargers hanging off of the engine guards.
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Sep 11, 2013 14:03
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Safety Dance posted:For a brief moment, I thought those were turbochargers hanging off of the engine guards. Sadly no. Twin turbo FJR1300s would be quite entertaining.
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Sep 11, 2013 16:33
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nsaP posted:Very nice writeup, I was just curious why you rented it? Was it just to try it? Pretty much.
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Sep 11, 2013 16:56
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:Most bike cops in the US are still dressed like cops on horseback dressed. And a fair amount of them hate the idea of wearing gear.
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Sep 11, 2013 19:08
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These are the normal Police Scotland bikes for Glasgow, but I bumped into a couple on policed-up DRZ's. Complimented my rim tape  (which is better than my first interaction with them, two of them pulled up either side of me at a red light, "You get that bike on Friday?!" "y-yeah" "BRILLIANT! HOW YOU FINDIN' IT WEE MAN?!" "G-good" "We're gonnae filter through this, ye wantae follow us?" "ummmm" "Suit yourself!") e: The gently caress, where did that avatar come from?
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Sep 11, 2013 19:41
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So in a few weeks I'm headed East. Gonna raft the Upper Gauley in WV with some bros then ride around WV and VA for a bit. Any recommendations? So far the plan is: Got a buddy who raft guides and can hook us up with a cheap run down the Upper Gauley, which for the uninitiated is something like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCH1sdrucF0&t=96s or search other youtubes. After that I'm riding round WV and VA in that area, prob with the big brown bear hnasty. Any suggestions for roads around there? Everything I see on the maps looks amazing so I'd like some input from people who have ridden em. I plan on spending a few days there regardless, so it should be good. http://goo.gl/maps/dul9h Seems like you can't go wrong. The "back of the dragon" is the main attraction. VA trying to get in on the US 129 bandwagon. Looks good tho. http://goo.gl/maps/ISNLw nsaP fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Sep 12, 2013 |
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Sep 12, 2013 09:19
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Finnish bike cops: Nah they're more like this guy  They mostly have white marked Yamahas (FJR) and some unmarked R1s/other sportbikes.
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Sep 12, 2013 09:22
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Wootcannon posted:These are the normal Police Scotland bikes for Glasgow, but I bumped into a couple on policed-up DRZ's. Complimented my rim tape That's loving hilarious. My two encounters with police bikes were watching one get knocked into the oncoming lane by a gust of wind and the one who gave me my ticket  Also that avatar is boss.
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Sep 12, 2013 09:32
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