Topic: 20 Rides 100miles or more, in 2020..

[pmanning]

Ride # [/b]4 - south from Tacoma through Steilacoom to Bucoda then back home through Tenino, Yelm and Roy. In contrast to the above post temperatures in the south Puget Sound area finally crept into the low 80s. This is the first ride I've done under completely cloudless and sunny skies. I even unzipped my jacket a little bit to get some cooling air in. I'm closing in on  500 miles since last winter's teardown and the bike is making me happy.

[BallAquatics]

Thought I was putting too many miles on the old bikes, so I picked up a 2012 NC 700X today.  VIN inspection, title, tags, and just putzing around, I went 129.8 miles  LOL

[PeWe]

Made a 199 miles (320km) trip today with wife on my brown CB750 K2.
I had the Ikon shocks at highest position so the ride was extra convenient.
Too low cause pain in hips, especially when accelerate. I understand those that buy taller shocks.
I suddenly remembered that highest position was the setting back in the 80's.

Photos when filled tank before ride, next refill and finally back home again. Mostly smaller country roads.

[ekpent]

 That was a long ride going two up Per. Sounds like a nice day with your wife, glad she is part of that world with you.

[Terry in Australia]

Good job Per, I ride my bike to get away from my wife, because I know she doesn't like them much, (the last time she rode on the back was on my K1 back in the early 1980's) but I'm glad you both had a good ride.

[PeWe]

Thanks guys!
I'm sure a smooth running stock CB750 is more wife friendly. Carbs and ignition in almost  perfect harmony.

She told me that she begged for her life when we took the blue K6 last year Not that much faster, the torque allow quicker acceleration.

[jakec]

Ok I got 9 rides now, didn't bother with the odometer pics because there is no trip meter on the 350. My girlfriend still has a broken wrist so we rode together on my CL350. Bike burns and leaks so much oil I had to add a 1/2 quart on the way home 

We stayed at this cheap ocean side motel. About 150 miles each way and we were back home within 24 hours.

[Kevin D]

That’s a nice looking CL Jake, but quite a gal! To double up with a broken wrist for a 300 mile overnighter, quite a gal! And allowing a smelly oilburner in the room!

 

[jakec]

I let the bike cool down for a couple hours before I brought it in. But yeah, she would normally be riding her own bike, but she has the cast on until August I think.

[Alan F.]

That's a great trip Jake, earlier I didn't spot the pic of the bike in the room. A+ for you dude!

[Terry in Australia]

That's a beautiful old CL mate, buy a bottle of Morey's or Lucas oil stabiliser and see if that doesn't reduce the leaking/burning thing. Half a quart isn't that bad really, I had a car with a Chrysler "Fireball" 318 V8 back in the 70's that blew so much oil smoke I used to run it on 90W gearbox oil just to reduce my weekly oil budget. The old joke, "Fill the oil and check the fuel" was particularly true about this car.

[Kevin D]

Ride #8, 116 mi, 46.6 mpg, 84f

I tried to get an earlier start today in the cooler air. It was 72f at 9am and I was ready to roll but didn’t get out the door until 950. My first stop was at Rosenau Honda to order my Christmas gift, a new helmet. There is not a thing wrong with my existing helmet except it’s age. At 9 years, It’s 4 years past the suggested replacement age. Do you all get new helmets when yours is 5 years old?
 The helmet took longer than expected, and as it was near lunchtime I invited my bride to meet me at Bode’s for a top notch reuben sandwich. Sorry PeWe no photo of the delicious corned beef. It was my wife’s first restaurant meal since March.
 So now it’s after lunch 115pm 82f, when I start my ride properly. There were whopper storms in the area yesterday and I saw many large trees blown down but none in the road. I also noticed the orange ditch lilies blooming, all along the country roads, which means it’s late July here.

[Terry in Australia]

Sounds like a great day Kevin! My 91 year old Ma bought me a new Nolan (Italian) helmet, to replace my crappy Chinese POS that I bought in 2015 to replace my old Nolan N95 flip front. The Nolans are great, I bought a 1 size smaller helmet this time, as after losing 130 pounds, even my head has shrunk. The Nolan is slowly loosening up, and I do feel more secure wearing it, rather than the wobbly POS Chinese knockoff.

[grcamna2]

That’s a nice looking CL Jake, but quite a gal! To double up with a broken wrist for a 300 mile overnighter, quite a gal! And allowing a smelly oilburner in the room!

For certain 

[jakec]

I only afford a nice helmet once it’s already 5 years old

[Kevin D]

 A 91 year old Mom is a Treasure and nice that she supports your MC endeavors Terry. My family supports my MC interest even though my bride will not ride at all. I have a 50 year old photo somewhere of my Grandma on the back of my CB. We went once around the block and that was her lifetime MC riding career.
 I have been wearing 3/4 helmets for all of my riding life. My current choice is HJC IS 33 with attached shield and built in/spring loaded sunglasses. I prefer the wind in my face but every once in a while there is a fat bug that can’t be dodged and my cheek hurts like hell afterwards, so the shield is down above 25mph. The shield is original from 9 years and not at all scratched after 20000miles of bug catching. The spring loaded sunglasses are terrific. I have tried every full face and flip front helmet in the store and every one required me to remove my glasses, a deal breaker for me.

[Don R]

  A couple years ago I was riding my wife to dinner on my 750 and she asked where did we get this bike? I said remember when we went out in the country, I bought it and we towed it to my friends house behind his repo truck, And you were so proud of me for buying it?  Wrong motor but an 11/69 K0 with 19/18" Lester mags for $650 and the guy sneered as he turned away with the money in his hand, thinking he cheated me big time.
  I sent him a copy of the bike of the Month picture last fall.
  Now I've got  my brothers bought new K4 he used to give rides to everyone at family gatherings.

[Terry in Australia]

A 91 year old Mom is a Treasure and nice that she supports your MC endeavors Terry. My family supports my MC interest even though my bride will not ride at all. I have a 50 year old photo somewhere of my Grandma on the back of my CB. We went once around the block and that was her lifetime MC riding career.
 I have been wearing 3/4 helmets for all of my riding life. My current choice is HJC IS 33 with attached shield and built in/spring loaded sunglasses. I prefer the wind in my face but every once in a while there is a fat bug that can’t be dodged and my cheek hurts like hell afterwards, so the shield is down above 25mph. The shield is original from 9 years and not at all scratched after 20000miles of bug catching. The spring loaded sunglasses are terrific. I have tried every full face and flip front helmet in the store and every one required me to remove my glasses, a deal breaker for me.

Thanks Kevin, I'm surprised that my Ma has lasted to 91, back in the 1970's 13 of my friends in our small home town were killed in car and bike crashes (mostly bikes) so she still shudders when she sees me on a bike. If I ride the 200 miles to see her, I never tell her I'm riding down, or she'll try to think up an excuse to make me drive the car, the poor old thing.

Anyway, I love the Nolan, it's not made in China, it's a good fit, it has the necessary sun shade thingy that made my prescription sunglasses obsolete (pity I still need them in the car) and the build quality is excellent. There is a removable chin piece that I haven't bothered with, but the visor goes all the way down to my chin, and can be removed without tools if I wanna go without it in summer. I'm not the best helmet model, so please excuse my ugly mug.

Terry's new lid by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[bear]

Nice helmet! Shame about the mellon.

[Terry in Australia]

Nice helmet! Shame about the mellon.

Thanks Brian, it's all about the helmet, not my beautiful moosh.....

[754]

Shame about your boat race .  .........said 754 with a Cockney accent...

[PeWe]

Terry, your helmet look comfortable for your warm climate. Tough look!
Retractable sun shield visor is very useful. My flip-up helmet has it too. It is a must have for me. Easy on-off while riding.

I had tinted visors before, good for daylight, not fun when riding in the twilight or darkness. Open visor getting insects in the face, eyes or rain drops that are a pain.

[Terry in Australia]

Terry, your helmet look comfortable for your warm climate. Tough look!
Retractable sun shield visor is very useful. My flip-up helmet has it too. It is a must have for me. Easy on-off while riding.

I had tinted visors before, good for daylight, not fun when riding in the twilight or darkness. Open visor getting insects in the face, eyes or rain drops that are a pain.

Yeah mate, the good thing here is that in summer it's hot regardless of whether it's the middle of the day, or middle of the night, so nice to be able to take the visor right off when I'm on a bike with a fairing that keeps the bugs out of my teeth, and enough vents to make it reasonably comfortable with the visor on when I'm on one of my old Jap bikes or Harleys. You're right, tinted visors on full face helmets are useless for most situations, but these drop down ones are great.

[RAFster122s]

Arai doesn't use internal drop down visors, they don't believe in interrupting the integrity of the helmet design to incorporate one. Their flip down is external and a optional visor system.
One difference between their approach and others.

[Terry in Australia]

Arai doesn't use internal drop down visors, they don't believe in interrupting the integrity of the helmet design to incorporate one. Their flip down is external and a optional visor system.
One difference between their approach and others.

Thanks David, I've only ever bought one Shoei helmet, that was back in 1982, and someone stole it. It didn't fit my head anyway, so wasn't fussed. I bought a new Bell Tour Star, it was terrible, worst helmet I've had (worse than the Chinese knockoff) The army issued me either Shoeis or AGV's and I always chose the AGV's, once again, Italian helmets, maybe I've got an Italian head? I think that like our choice of bikes, cars, protective clothing etc, we've all got our likes and dislikes.

I find it hard to believe that somehow Shoei can't design a helmet with an internal visor that can withstand their rigorous testing when other manufacturers can? Or is it that they can sell an optional visor system and screw the consumer out of a few more bucks for something the other manufacturers have been giving us for free? Yeah yeah, I understand, sponsoring Moto GP stars costs a lotta moola, so I guess they have to wrestle that last dollar out of their loyal followers? I think I'll stick with my Nolan, I've seen the episode of "How it's made" at the Nolan factory, and am pretty comfortable that my noggin is in good hands.........