Somebody stop me!

Thruxtonian

Thruxtonian

Street Tracker
"But I will warn you of a potentially very expensive situation that can arrise from the trip, at least it did for me.
When I got back to Tampa, I sold the house, moved back up here to NC. and have no regrets "

We love the area, and are planning to move there in a few years if the market recovers...

KingBear, I know where you're coming from. The GW is definately set up for this sort of ride, and it's really no slouch in the mountains. I'll do a lot of peg scraping for sure. And I'm not really to worried about leaving my buds behind. Two on V-Star 1100's and one on a H-D Touring something. Slow riders, all of 'em. They'll be behind me no matter what I ride. (and I'm not saying I'm great, but 2 of the 3 have never been to the mountains, and the 3rd went last year, so I know his pace).

I guess what Iceseven is saying is closest to summing up what my thoughts were, where KingBear is my voice on the other side. I've been touring for about 15 yrs, starting on a Yamaha 750 Seca (anyone remember those) then a PC800, and the GW. I think part of me wants to reconnect with the elemental appeal of motorcycling, and in a way I believe that a little suffering adds to the overall experience.

On the other hand, I have the GW, which is made to tour, was purchased for that purpose, and has honestly been collecting dust the past few months since I got my Bonnie carb issues sorted out. It's really a great bike, and I tend to forget just how good it is, and how well it handles, until I take it out again.

By the way, I don't intend to make ANY changes to the Bonnie for this trip, if I should decide to take it. No touring screen, special seats, anything. Just bungee a waterproof bag on the seat rack and I'm off. I have no desire to turn the Bonnie into a tourer, since I have one of those. If I do this, it's all about leaving that stuff behind.

By the way, Chris in NC, we'll be staying in Fair Play, SC on Lake Hartwell. One day we're planning to go to Chimney Rock, not really sure what else. Prob do my usual loop up 441 to Franklin, then 64 back to 28, maybe a day on the Blue Ridge.
 
C

Chris in NC

Street Tracker
Thruxtonian said:
We love the area, and are planning to move there in a few years if the market recovers...
Click to expand...

You don't really want to do that.. the area really sucks.. I mean it REALLY sucks.. in fact, I'd highly recommend that NO ONE move to the area.. ahem..

Thruxtonian said:
By the way, Chris in NC, we'll be staying in Fair Play, SC on Lake Hartwell. One day we're planning to go to Chimney Rock, not really sure what else. Prob do my usual loop up 441 to Franklin, then 64 back to 28, maybe a day on the Blue Ridge.
Click to expand...

Consider this.. (map recon it) Take 178 to where it meets 215. Take 215 north to where it junctions with 276. You can either turn west on 276 and run into Waynesville, or turn right/south on 276 and take it to Brevard. You won't hate yourself in the morning.
 
M

MES

750cc
unless it's a 1st or 2nd year GL, take the Bonnie.
If you can drag your pipes around the corners on the yacht, then take it. It's a good conversation starter.

Those early GLs make some nice sleads.

550 miles is just not that far on a Bonnie. That riding the slabs shit has got to go.
+1!! on a throttle minder of some sort.

550 miles on the slabs? I'de sooner have a bolt gun put to my head.
drop me in place, put me on a hook and run me through the line.
 
Iceseven

Iceseven

750cc
These guys are the Stettner brothers, they rode from Chicago to Estes Park Colorado all through the night on their 20's Indians, then bought some hardware store rope and climbed what is now called Stettners ledges on Longs Peak, a classic climb in Rocky Mountain Nat. Park.

I say ride on Thrux!!!

stett1.jpg
 
ricky

ricky

Street Tracker
TC_Dick

TC_Dick

TT Racer
ricky said:
If you still have the stock seat on your bike, I won't stop you either.
You'll turn around and get your GW.
I could barely ride on the stock seat for a full tank. What a POS!!!

I now use a Corbin. Small windshield, full coverage helmet & TOR's.
Life is good.

:cheer:
Click to expand...

You still using that Gf&L I sold you?
 
Thruxtonian

Thruxtonian

Street Tracker
MES, yea it's a 2001 1800 ABS, and it'll drag parts much more willingly that I will. In all honesty, not to bash my friends but I could ride a Honda Rebel and leave my buddies in the mountains! One of the guys, the one with the H-D, I was talking to him the other day about mileage. The other two guys are always complaining that they only get 120 miles on a tank, so I asked the Harley rider how many miles he gets on the highway. His reply; "no idea, I've never emptied the tank on a ride". We're not talking about hardcore touring guys here.
 
TC_Dick

TC_Dick

TT Racer
Thruxtonian said:
Ok, I'm counting on all my Bonnie friends to save me from myself. In a few weeks I'm taking a trip with 3 other guys from the Orlando area to upstate SC, near the GA/NC state lines. Should be about 550 miles, mostly interstate. It'll either be hotter than hell or pouring rain. Probably both. We then have 3 days to enjoy the mountains, then we do it all over again to get home.

Now here's the problem. I have a 1800 Goldwing in the garage, with ABS, XM radio, GPS, and expansive waterproof luggage; but for some reason I'm really tempted to take the Bonnie. I guess part of the reason is the other 3 guys are riding cruisers, and two of them have less than a 120 mile range between fill ups. Also, all my other bikes have been to the mountains, whether ridden or towed, and it's sortof a bonding experience for me.

In addition to giving up the mentioned creature comforts, my biggest concern is wind noise (just a small flyscreen) and fatigue from fighting the wind. Also the spokes/tube tire combo worries me a bit just because I haven't toured on tube tires in decades, if ever. And I wonder how much my carb tuning will suffer due to the higher elevations (up to about 6000' from sea level) Of course there are obvious comfort issues, and the lack of dry luggage. The extent of my luggage space will be a tourmaster tank bag and a roll-up dry bag bungeed to the seat rack.

The wife thinks I'm crazy for even thinking it, since I have a "touring" bike ready to go, but since she's not going on this trip, there's really no better time to try it if I decide to.
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Go with the Bonnie.

This is what I'm doing from August 5th to August 21st:

http://tinyurl.com/qz255x

and we may trade missoula for glacier nat'l park.
 
Thruxtonian

Thruxtonian

Street Tracker
"Zip tie the rear spokes before trip to prevent spoke blow-outs(God forbid)."

Forgive my ignorance, but zip tie 'em to what? I don't understand. Perhaps this is why I haven't had a spoked-wheel bike (or chain drive either for that matter ) in years until recently.
 
Thruxtonian

Thruxtonian

Street Tracker
Ok, it's been raining for 48 hrs straight now, and looks like another 24 to go. This won't be fun whatever I'm riding...good thing I have a few weeks yet.
 
KingBear

KingBear

Hooligan
Thruxtonian said:
"Zip tie the rear spokes before trip to prevent spoke blow-outs(God forbid)."

Forgive my ignorance, but zip tie 'em to what? I don't understand. Perhaps this is why I haven't had a spoked-wheel bike (or chain drive either for that matter ) in years until recently.
Click to expand...
Zip tie them to each other. Run a tie around the points where they cross so if one breaks it will (hopefully) stay attached to the adjacent spoke instead of running itself through the tube.
 
M

MES

750cc
"Zip tie the rear spokes before trip to prevent spoke blow-outs(God forbid)."
Click to expand...
And all the other spoke breaking comments.
(the below comment is not directed towards anyone particular and I just used a GW as an example :) )
Ya know, I rode 550miles 2 weeks ago on a bloody whim and no more thought about zip typing my spokes together than I did about needing a Goldwing to cover the distance.
I must not be too abbynormal as the other 2 people didn't feel compelled to tie their spokes.
Yah, our wheels have spokes,....SO?

And besides, zip ties are for Nancy Boys. Real men use safety wire.

just practicing for when I'mm old a grumpy.
Get off my lawn:w
 
BlueJ

BlueJ

Blue Haired Freak
Jeez Louise. I've averaged 100 miles a week since I got my Bonnie 2 years ago, including a couple 500 mile days and plenty of 100+ mile days. Zip-tie the spokes? This is a REAL mototcycle, not a toy. In this country of litigation and Big Government protecting the Little Guy, there's no way you could sell a bike that was so unreliable you had to think about zip-tieing the spokes....

And safety wire is for nerds. Real men use duct tape. And WD-40.
 
JimVonBaden

JimVonBaden

Street Tracker
MES said:
And all the other spoke breaking comments.
(the below comment is not directed towards anyone particular and I just used a GW as an example :) )
Ya know, I rode 550miles 2 weeks ago on a bloody whim and no more thought about zip typing my spokes together than I did about needing a Goldwing to cover the distance.
I must not be too abbynormal as the other 2 people didn't feel compelled to tie their spokes.
Yah, our wheels have spokes,....SO?

And besides, zip ties are for Nancy Boys. Real men use safety wire.

just practicing for when I'mm old a grumpy.
Get off my lawn:w
Click to expand...

Stainless safety wire will be nearly invisable, and not cause rust issues.

As for the distance, 550 miles is really a nice day's ride on nearly any bike. Slap on a sheepskin seat cover and go, but skip the bungees and get ROK Straps, much safer, especially on a spoke wheel bike.

http://www.rokstraps.com/

Jim :cool:
 
D

drlapo

Hooligan
wiring spokes together is an old (very old) trick used by enduro riders in the 50s and 60s
I had not thought about in 40 years
 
DandyDoug

DandyDoug

750cc
Safety wired my spokes as a precautionary thing a couple years a go. I still check and tighten them several times a year. Usually find one or two that need a tweek, nothing drastic. IMHO it's just first ecehleon maintenance, like checking oil levels and tire pressures.
 
Thruxtonian

Thruxtonian

Street Tracker
Ok, so I'm a little ignorant about spoke maintanance...I guess I should check 'em anyway. I have heard one way to check is just lightly tap each with a wrench and see if they make the same tone, like tuning a guitar. Is that what you are doing, or actually going around each nipple with a spoke wrench and checking for hand-tight?
I tell you one thing, I hope it's not like this when I go. It hasn't stopped raining since 5pm Sunday for more than 10 minutes. I think we've had something like 25 inches of rain, everything is flooded, potholes everywhere, and had 3 tornado watches since last night. This is like a REALLY early hurricane season!
 
M

musicswapshoppe

Rocker
Actually the easiest way to check them is to rotate the wheel when lifted and run a pen along spokes while it is totating. The tune is a sort of thunk when any spoke not tight. Otherwise the pitch is the same
 
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