Topic: 22 Rides in 2022 - Frank's legacy rides on!

[Terry in Australia]

You're right Al, the RE 650 engine is a classic looking parallel twin, and would look good in an old school chop, for sure. Well as promised I got offa my arse and drove over to the storage place to pull the Triumph out of my unit for the ride. As usual there was a furniture truck parked in front of my unit, there were 4 or 5 Indian guys unloading it into the unit next to mine, but were nice guys and helped me pull the Valkyrie out first, then moved the truck so I could get the Triumph out, and the Honda back in again.

I was mindful of the black clouds and forecast heavy rain, and decided to do a different, shorter route to Broadford, to have a late lunch at the bakery. I stopped at the old CFA (Country Fire Authority, our volunteer fire brigade) depot and took a pic.

Rocket iii Saturday 29 October 1 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The bakery is a lot smaller than the one at Heathcote, so by the time I got there they'd sold out of hot pies but were happy to heat up some that they'd had in the fridge, but I'd spotted a cheese and bacon quiche, so bought a slice of that, and a cup of coffee. Not as exciting as an $18 (USD) burger, but for $10 AUD ($6.30 USD due to the current miserable exchange rate) for the quiche and coffee it was a good lunch.

Rocket iii Saturday 29 October 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

I rode back towards home and even though I got rained on a couple of times the weather wasn't looking too horrible, so I after refuelling the bike (and fuel was 30 cents pre litre cheaper than it was in Melbourne, for some reason) I took a right and headed north to Lancefield, then on to Romsey, back thru Wallan and back to the self storage place. The windscreen was covered in bugs and road grime, so I'll need to wash it again next ride.

Rocket iii Saturday 29 October 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Just as I arrived it absolutely bucketed down rain, a minute after I took that pic the rain was smashing down and I had to roll down the storage unit's door to keep me and the bikes dry, then when the rain abated I ran to the car.

Rocket iii Saturday 29 October 4 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Anyway, for ride #31 I managed to do just over 180 Km (112 miles) on a day when I thought that I wouldn't be riding anywhere. Tuesday is a public holiday for a horse race (The Melbourne Cup) and I'm trying to decide whether I'll take Monday off to have a long weekend, like all of the public servants I work with are taking. I probably won't as it's only going to be more weather like todays so no bike riding. No biggie, the sun has to come out one day.........

Rocket iii Saturday 29 October by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr 

[PeWe]

Terry, your Triumph look really cool and powerful. Nice design.
$18US burger will not be included in my rides. We have restaurants selling that type too.
$10US is my price range for most rides with a meal. Less is better

OK, Terry. Your rides will be my rides until mid April 2023 I look forward to read your reports.

I have a garage ride on stand planned when I have got new needles.

[70CB750]

#14 - 120 miles.  Hundred and twenty miles to buy a pound of Varget.  The market situation in USA reminds me of how we lived in bad old Czechoslovakia.  You wouldn't go shopping, you went searching for what you needed.  It was a miracle to buy something - just like USA today.

[jgger]

Well I probably ain't gonna make 22, but I did get number 5 done today. Nothing fancy, just a 119 mile trip ( 192 kms), to pick up some parts for my CL72. I was sidelined due to my hernia surgery but back now, and boy does it feel great to be in the saddle again. Plus I think I scored a deal with a headlight bucket with the speedo, light switch AND, the ring and light. Also got the kick starter with the knuckle and spring for $120 US bucks! It was all freeway from Corona to Torrance so no awsome fall pics like the rest of you guys.
This thread seems to put alot of requests for food pics, so since I'm such a cheap arse I stopped at Carl's Jr at mile 99 on the way home. So I thought some might want to see what fine American cuisine you can get 5 dollars! When you are tuned to run on unleaded this is what can keep you going!

I don't know where the next ride will be but at least it should include some better views!

[Trevor from Warragul]

I went for a ride on my Suzuki Bandit this afternoon. As I approached one of my turn offs an oncoming car flashed his headlights. I thought it might be cops, or a tree across the road, but it was this little fella!

[RAFster122s]

Trevor, that’s one ugly chupacabra…

[PeWe]

It attacks biting your throat and suck you dry. Do not stop for those!

[Terry in Australia]

That's a good sized wombat Trevor, I remember back in the 70's a mate of my brother (both RIP now) hit one on his CB450, and that was the end of that bike. I know another guy who hit one in a mini (a real mini, not the BMW ones they sell nowadays) and rolled it!

Thanks Per, the Rocket III is just awesome, the more I ride it the more I like it. The only problem is that it is so quick that I may have incurred the wrath of the constabulary on Saturday, I suspect that I may have ridden past a "Camera Car" (not a cop car, but a dude sitting in a car with a speed camera) at warp speed and if so, I might be walking for awhile. Hopefully it wasn't, but cranking the throttle on the Rocket III is a whole other experience from that of even a hotrod CB750, you can go from 60 MPH to 100 MPH in only a couple of seconds, but hey, that sounds like I'm making excuses for my anti-social behaviour, so I'll save that for if/when I go to court, your honour........ Anyway, it's been a great winter bike this year, I won't ride it as much as it gets warmer because it generates a lot of heat, but is lovely on a cold winter ride.   

Jim, good to see you're enjoying your FJR1300, I'd like another one (you wouldn't like them Al, tons of power and great handling, but less leg room than your RE) but I haven't seen another one as cheap as my last one, and I refuse to pay big bucks for one when there are so many good bikes around, going cheap. (like me....) We have Carl's Jr burgers here too, I'd say that they're slightly better than McDonalds, but to be honest I don't mind McDonalds as I can't eat much so a more expensive burger would be wasted on me.

Tomorrow's another public holiday so I'd like to go for a ride if the weather is fine, but we had a hell of a storm last night and the tarp on my "temporary Carport" that covers my KZ1000, RT360, 1969 Yamaha YSD6 and various tubs of parts, chainsaws, blowers etc was torn asunder (in the biblical sense) so I need to install the new tarp that I was hoping I wouldn't have to put up until summer. With my luck it'll be pissing down rain and I won't be able to do either.

[RAFster122s]

Hope "the man" doesn't send you a ticket or court date for your rocketing about...
Sorry to hear about the storm shredding your tarp, hope the new one lasts longer and you can get it installed without getting soaked.

There are lots of options for food and burgers in the Tucson area and many of the chains are not worth it to me. Plus rarely am I impressed by most chains burgers. In-N-Out burgers rarely disappoint and I would rather have one of theirs than any other chain's burgers. They don't offer you a ton of choices in burgers, only 3 types on menu..., and no bacon, but my arteries probably appreciate not having that.

[Alan F.]

Less legroom than the RE? I wouldn't have guessed that.

[Kevin D]

I’m not a lawman, but around here and to the best of my knowledge, a moving violation requires a face to face meeting between officer and offender. The city, the county, the state run speed traps on the I-275 racetrack nearby: one cameraman, several chase vehicles. Speed limit 70 but many at 80-85 and up. The MSP have some shiny new BMW R1200RT’s, outperforming HD for fewer dollars.
 There are stationary and portable “Your Speed Is ____ “ signs posted in problem areas, residential, construction zones, and I have seen officers lurking nearby. Does the cruiser have a receiver from the sign?
I don’t know, maybe the officer can make out the red flashing speed that’s posted. But no tickets issued from the speed monitor, just a “slow down” reminder. A pal told me that his game was to get the highest number possible posted on the sign.
 Hope you’re OK Terry for that roll on, and I’m sure you know that one of the advantages of the the 750 is that you can grab a couple gears at full throttle and still be well shy of a ton. I did a Z1000 ride a while back and got to $1.25 or better without trying.

[Terry in Australia]

Thanks guys, well I haven't had a knock on my door from the cops yet, so "so far, so good". To be honest I don't know what the procedure is with a seriously high speeding ticket here, if it's just a smallish one you get a fine in the mail, but if it's a "Go straight to jail" offence (which mine may have been, oops...) I would imagine they'd want to take you off the road ASAP. I might have been lucky though, there were a lot of cars on the freeway around me and so if there were two vehicles in the picture they usually throw it out because they can't determine which one was speeding, so I might be OK. If not, I'll be posting lots of pics of my bicycle, and will petition the regular riders here for a lower minimum ride distance......

More crappy weather today, I wandered outside around 11am and took another peek at the tarp on the temporary car port and saw that the rip was getting bigger, so bit the bullet and spent an hour or so replacing it.

Melbourne Cup Tuesday tarp install 1 Nov 2022 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Melbourne Cup Tuesday tarp install 1 Nov 2022 3 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

Melbourne Cup Tuesday tarp install 1 Nov 2022 2 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

The wife reminded me that I'd promised to check all the "vitals" on her little Hyundai as she's driving her 90 year old mum to some family luncheon tomorrow, so I checked everything under the bonnet (hood) and the tyres, pumped up the spare (that I don't think I've ever bothered to check in the 13 years we've owned it) and then took some Temgesic (equivalent to 8mg of Morphine) as my poor old back was singing a sad, sad song. The rain started just minutes after I finished the tarp install, so I'm glad that monkey's off my back. That Temgesic is good stuff, feeling no pain now, might have a snooze.

[Terry in Australia]

Less legroom than the RE? I wouldn't have guessed that.

Yeah, like most modern bikes the pegs are up higher for cornering clearance Al, I used to belong to an FJR rider group and one of the guys sold a "Highway Peg" kit that moved the pegs forward by 6 inches or so and down a little, but if you're 6 feet tall or more, your legs will get sore regardless of whether you have them or not, you're just moving them to a different, painful position. I only really had a problem on long rides like the 400 miles each way from Canberra to Melbourne that I'd do on a weekend when I was working in Canberra, around town and for shorter rides it was fine.

It's something to keep in mind with all modern bikes, higher pegs. I let Spotty (around 7 feet tall) ride mine on a Heathcote pie run a couple of years ago and he was in agony, he was trying to ride it by sitting on the passenger seat etc, but was not enjoying it. I think maybe you should install those pegs that you posted a pic of, and maybe buy the accessory factory touring seat, it looks a bit comfier than the stock one.

[Alan F.]

That's the plan, but maybe I'll monkey with my stock seat some first just to be cheap...

[jgger]

Alan, take a large towel and fold it different ways or layers put it between your seat and your runmp. You can gain probably 2 inches in height to see if you like it. As long as that doesn't cause an issue with being able to flat foot at a stop. It would be a cheap temporary test for seat height.

My FJR has the ability to set the operator's seat at 2 different heights, mine is on tha tallest. I'm 6ft tall on the button and it is comfortable for me. I have not experienced the leg issues Terry spoke of, but my longest ride so far has only been 170 miles. Plus I made plenty of stops along the way. That is the advantage to riding alone, you can ride your own ride.

[RAFster122s]

You don’t need to flat foot a bike seated on it to safely ride it, merely have to be able to have the balls of your feet solidly on the ground. Then if you lean the bike you can flat foot that side without the lean of the bike making the bike hard to hold for a reasonable weight bike like most of the cbs.

[Terry in Australia]

That's the plan, but maybe I'll monkey with my stock seat some first just to be cheap...

Yep, you could try buying a chunk of nice firm upholstery foam an inch or so thick and putting a sheepskin over the top Al, I did that on my BMW R100RS and it made a world of difference. Unlike Jim's FJR, mine (first model) didn't have an adjustable seat, but I had one on both of my BMW R1100's, and it did help a bit. The high pegs on my FJR weren't a deal breaker, they are a magnificent bike, and I wouldn't mind another one.

[Kelly E]

You don’t need to flat foot a bike seated on it to safely ride it, merely have to be able to have the balls of your feet solidly on the ground. Then if you lean the bike you can flat foot that side without the lean of the bike making the bike hard to hold for a reasonable weight bike like most of the cbs.

I don't know how tall you are but I'm 5' 5" and 130lbs. When I ride I wear my White's smokejumper boots so I can flatfoot my 700lb 94' ZG 1000 Concours as well as most of our other bikes. Tippy toeing a 700lb bike can be trying at times, like when there's a low spot where you tried to put down your foot.

[RAFster122s]

I'm 6'3", used to be 6'4", and Have not seen 130 since early high school days. 700-900 pound bikes aren't my idea of fun. Thought about a Goldwing but just don't want something that big...

[ekpent]

Obligatory 'picture by the lake' from a ride this afternoon on my 1200 Bandit. Gun Lake.Couple guys out fishing and a couple of water cruisers. Really quiet country roads and did around 90 miles before I headed back to mow up some leaves. Weather has been totally great here for some time in SW Michigan considering its now Nov 2nd.
  Good news is I don't have to show up for jury duty on Thursday so as the Kawasaki add used to say "Let the good times roll" ! Get it while you can around here.

[Kelly E]

I'm 6'3", used to be 6'4", and Have not seen 130 since early high school days. 700-900 pound bikes aren't my idea of fun. Thought about a Goldwing but just don't want something that big...

The payoff for the weight is the ability to to comfortably punch through semi truck wakes, gusty winds, less than ideal conditions and ride 300 to 400 miles a day for days in a row while carrying you and your stuff. Once rolling the weight disappears and my bike thinks it's a giant sport bike. I can do full lock U turns on it no problem.
Riding the big sport touring bikes is just a skill that takes a little practice. Once aquired the weight doesn't really matter that much.
My buddy and I take several trips a year on our sport touring bikes and it's the best riding I do all year. We have a system worked out so we can ride for days in a row without suffering heat stroke even when the daily temps hover between 90°F to 100°F. He spent 12 years working on the southern border for the US Border Patrol and knows a lot about working in 100°F temperatures.

[Kevin D]

Bonus ride 23    74 miles

We are catching a break with a high temp in the high 60’s today. It’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow, so maybe I will get another chance. Raking leaves at home will have to wait. The backyard maple is doing is doing its big drop and the neighbors 2 maples are sending their bright yellow leaves my way so I will gladly labor on Saturday if I can manage a ride tomorrow. I waited until the morning chill was off and made my departure after lunch.
 The Honda was a tad slower to fire but smoothed out and was running well before I left the side street for Six mile road and for the remainder of the ride. The best colors have passed since my last ride and the yellow tree tunnel on Hines was colorless, as was the Huron river bridge crossing, oh well. All of the horses were out along Seven mile and there are some new estate sized homes going up, one home has a 20 foot tall earth berm to separate it from Seven mile. On the way home I was following another motorcycle from a distance, and I was closing the distance, and it took several miles, as the rider didn’t want the distance closed. But I did catch up. It was some sort of v-twin, newer, I made out it for some sort of Japanese bike. Then the traffic ahead cleared at the traffic circle, and we both gave it the berries, and again the distance between us grew, rapidly, not what I expected at all. At the next flashing red, I pulled up next to the bike and looked at the engine: VRod? As we left the light and again he pulled away strongly then it sunk in that the bike was indeed avrod. 115hp, 12.0 s 1/4mi.
 Sorry, no photos, no meal, maybe tomorrow.

[Kevin D]

Obligatory 'picture by the lake' from a ride this afternoon on my 1200 Bandit. Gun Lake.Couple guys out fishing and a couple of water cruisers. Really quiet country roads and did around 90 miles before I headed back to mow up some leaves. Weather has been totally great here for some time in SW Michigan considering its now Nov 2nd.
  Good news is I don't have to show up for jury duty on Thursday so as the Kawasaki add used to say "Let the good times roll" ! Get it while you can around here.

Attaboy Eric, aside from the Bandit, not much color left in SW MI either.

[scottly]

Get it while you can around here.

It was cool and windy all day today, and it might snow here tomorrow. The weather generally moves from west to east, so that's good advice, Eric.

[RAFster122s]

Wasn't out on the bike today but took a couple photos of a burger I get sometimes when out for a ride and meal... It is located in a shopping center area, so surrounding area isn't really photogenic...
The infamous Double-Double from In-N-Out burger.

Sign has been up in window for a year, hiring starting at $16/hr going up to $19.50/hr for shift worker mgmt types I guess...
The rank and file line worker shift lead, not store mgrs, they make quite a bit more. Their employees work hard, are moving constantly and no standing about twiddling thumbs there...
Their food is fresh and tasty with good quality ingredients.