Hello All:
Besides the occasional track day and the hope of getting back on the drag strip someday, Sport Touring is really what i like. That is, riding with appreciation for the sport, while stopping to smell the roses. The FJR1300 was the Worlds Most Powerful Sport Touring Motorcycle for at least a few moments around the time I bot mine. And of course some will argue, but it was in the top 3 anyway. GPS confirms top speed with bags and fairing at over 140mph. RWHP of 125, torque near 100ft lbs. I love this bike. It was the 14th in the USA, the 2nd in Indiana.
With the bags off, there is barely a hint of bag carrying hardware, making a good sporting profile.
All sport tourers have some allowance for carrying gear. lately the designs have been remarkable. With an 8 year old FJR the original bag design hasn't changed much. Carrying handle up, the bag can be thrown on a motel luggage cart like a suitcase.
Handle down you can see how the tab has risen and that's what locks it on the frame. Simple.
Camping? Remove the soft inner bag and throw it in the tent. hard bag stays on the bike.
Yamaha tank bag with "Performance Touring" logo, cut to fit the contour of the tank, includes a pop up section raising capacity another 4 inches.
So loaded up, I head out to Marietta OH, 320 miles from Indy, Hotter than heck. Arrive without issue, if you ignore the misdirection from the clerk at the Speedway station. 4 miles form the Event headquarters Holiday Inn, it takes me 30 minutes to find it.
MSTA used to be HSTA (Honda Sport Touring ASsoc). Even though membership was open to all brands, Honda in the name was always a block to many. So after years of discussion, we changed to MSTA. I know there is a thread now about a club having serious difficulties. MSTA is over 20 years old, and politics and money has never been a problem. Fun and meeting people and serious riding is all I've experienced with MSTA. Google the PACE to see how we like to ride in grops.
Within hours of arriving I met Tosh Konya of Ohio retired American Honda employee I've known thru the club for 20+ years. Within mintues of that I met new member Matt Dennis from Philadelphia, 420 miles, and soon after that Katherine Becker from Ypsilanti MI, 330 miles.
Coincidentally, all three now ride the new to USA Honda NT700. A Hawk dirivative with integral side bags, fairing with adjustable shiled, and driveshaft.
We decided to ride together on Saturday. That's the way it works with MSTA. About 180 showed up, largest regional event ever (the national event drawss about 450). We all break out into gorups of 4 to 10 or so, and ride , then get back togeter Sat night for a banquet and parkinglot talk.
Here's a rest stop:
A stop at the Miner's Memorial. The Big Muskie drag line bucket in the background, largest ever made.
It was absolutely unbelievabel in size.
All four of us, I'm third from left.
The rides namesake, the Mail Pouch barns that we "fly by".
The Saturday ride thru the heartland was wonderful, green pastures, rolling hills, beautiful farms and rural homesteads.
Some other sport touring bikes, and some sport bikes thrown in. It took about 5 hours to go 200 miles.
And just what i wanted to see, a 1970s metal flake paint job, euphimistically called the "Bass boat"
The ride home Sunday was glorious, nearly 100 miles of supreme riding roads, before i reentered the world of superslab and headed home. A total of 820 miles for the weekend, about half being 2 lanes of the best riding I've done in a while.
When i first joined MSTA I was riding Phaedrus I and I hope to reintroduce Phaedrus II to the group by next spring
