Road Trip - Help me get Miss Venture home!

[DragonRider]

Hope you can make it to the Tail of the Dragon@Vogel in August, right in your back yard...........then you can show off that nice new ride of yours and meet lots of members................

Tail of the Dragon IV @ Vogel - VentureRider.Org

[Bob Myers]

Thunderstorms expected across most of this area tomorrow.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=40511

[RandyR]

Well, James should be on his way soon. looks like one storm front moving east of his route now, but another over Illinois headed his way. If he's lucky, he may push south between the two rain fronts.

[GaThumper]

Here I am! I made my goal of reaching Maysville KY this evening, although it took riding the last hour and a half in the rain. The Frog Togs did great, but my Rockport boots are definately NOT waterproof! I'm drying out in the room now waiting on Pizza Hut to deliver my pizza and planning my ride for tomorrow. I'm hoping I can get south in the dry, but after today I'm pretty comfortable with the Venture. Took a little getting used to the big girl, but I'm a happy camper!

 

I brought an XL bike cover with me and when I arrived I stretched it over the bike using the antenna and windshield for support and dried the bike a bit with a towel and then folded the antenna and covered her up for the night. Tornado warnings southeast of Lexington, but just a light rain here now.

 

I looked the tire over and decided as long as I was aware of the wear pattern (center has decent tread, sides are more worn, one side worn worse than the other... alignment?) and was careful it should make it back home where I can use my normal tire shop. They give almost internet prices and charge only $45 for installation and balance of two tires with the wheels on the bike. They also have a no-mar tire changer, and are very careful with the wheels. It's a mom and pop shop too, so I really like sopporting them.

 

Bike, ran good, didn't handle terribly considering the rear shock is bad, maybe there's still some oil in there? It's got the whine, but I can live with that knowing why it does it.

 

Pizza's here, I'll going to eat and work on the route for tomorrow and check back in later!

 

Thanks Again! to everyone for al the help, especially Don for checking the bike out for me. You guys are the best!

 

James

[Nighthawk II]

One of the guys in our riding club had the same wear pattern on his bike and when he had it checked, found out that it was caused by riding on mostly straight roads and hiways. The taper of the asphalt caused the sides to wear more than the middle. After he started riding on our crooked southern roads the tires wore more evenly. But to be on the safe side you might still have it looked at.

Depending on what time you leave there and how good of time you make, I would guess that you should make it into my area about 10 or 11am. If you have any problems just give a shout.

[GaThumper]

Just looked at the weather for tomorrow. Kentucky looks like it will be pretty dry, but Tennessee and Georgia may be pretty wet! I'm probably going to just go over to Lexington and hit I-75 and super-slab it back to Knoxville/Sweetwater. The guys are still planning to meet for some ribs in Sweetwater, so that's my plan, too. If the weather's bad we'll just hunker down somewhere and make a run for home when we get a chance.

 

Catch you later!

James

[Bob Myers]

We have an emergency breakdown to make a couple shafts for, when you get to Lexington call me at 253-2259 and I will advise if I can ride to the state line with you.

[GaThumper]

We have an emergency breakdown to make a couple shafts for, when you get to Lexington call me at 253-2259 and I will advise if I can ride to the state line with you.

 

Will do! I hope to hit Lexington by 10:00 if I get up and get going by 8:30.

[Mariner Fan]

James,

 

Good luck on your trip. Hope you stay dry!

 

BTW, I used to own a 1978 GS1000C (It had the wire wheels). Man, I loved that bike!

 

Bob

[GaThumper]

James,

 

Good luck on your trip. Hope you stay dry!

 

BTW, I used to own a 1978 GS1000C (It had the wire wheels). Man, I loved that bike!

 

Bob

 

Thanks! I love my GS too. It's the one bike that I don't think I will ever sell. I just ordered all the seals for the tach and cam tensioner and will be pulling the valve cover this month to check the valves and (hopefully) stop a little oil leak that it developed last year.

 

I'll stay as dry as I can! Should be OK starting out in the morning from Maysville and on through Lexington, but it looks really iffy for Tenn and GA. Tomorrow I'll be sure and stop and put on the rain gear BEFORE my pants legs get wet. This evening I waited about 30 minutes too long to put on the Frogg Toggs. I kept hoping I would get out of the rain but it got worse instead of better. I'm REALLY glad I stopped whe I did though, by the time I got to the KY state line it was coming down pretty hard.

 

Catch you Later! I'm off to check the clothes dryer and hit the sack.

 

James

[Freebird]

As for the tires on the RSV, remember that those are Bridgestones and most of us here really hate those tires. I wouldn't worry much about the wear pattern as you don't know what kind of riding the previous owner did, how close he watched inflation and the fact that...as I mentioned...they are the dratted Bridgestones.

[GaThumper]

As for the tires on the RSV, remember that those are Bridgestones and most of us here really hate those tires. I wouldn't worry much about the wear pattern as you don't know what kind of riding the previous owner did, how close he watched inflation and the fact that...as I mentioned...they are the dratted Bridgestones.

 

Good point! It just seemed wierd to me that one side was noticebly more worn than the other? I don't know that I've even noticed a m/c tire wearing that way. Nevertheless, she'll be getting new shoes soon, probably Avon Venom or Dunlop Elite.

 

Heading out soon, just getting packed up now. I'll check in tonight.

[Bob Myers]

Weather is looking funky down south;

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=40511

 

http://www.wunderground.com/US/TN/Knoxville.html

 

I'm at work already, been here a while, the shafts are looking pretty involved, don't know if even 11am will work

[GaThumper]

Safe and sound and DRY in Georgia. Got in about 8:30, had a full day of riding, and by God's grace I remained dry ALL DAY LONG! I knew the route from Maysville KY through Lexington and on the the TN line looked pretty good, but based on the forecast I was planning on getting plenty wet going through TN and wouldn't have been surprised to see some really bad storms and have to take cover.

 

I talked to Bob while I was gassing up in Paris KY and he was looking at the weather forecast on the computer and said I was headed for some rain. I went ahead and suited up for rain and headed for Lexington. Based on the forecast I decided to hit I-75 at Lexington and super slab it all the way to Sweetwater.

 

I passed in the TN at and fueled up at Jellico and I was dry as expected, but from there to Sweetwater I was expecting anything. Still no rain, farther and farther south and no rain. OK maybe my windshield got washed once or twice, but the rain suit was completely unnecessary. About 10 miles north of Knoxville I hear a wierd noise and wondering what kind of alarms were going off on the bike, I realized I was hearing my cell phone ringing. I just keep on riding and then I hear it again, and again, and again. SO by now I figure something is going on, so I take off my right glove and very carefully unzip my rain suit and armor and get my cell phone out of my shirt pocket and look at missed calls. First was my wife, second was my sis-in-law, and two were 423 area codes that I didn't recognize. So I'm thinking something must be going on, maybe I'm driving into a tornado, or there was a family emergency, or one of my friends coming up from Georgia to Sweetwater had crashed, or... something was wrong.

 

So I pocketed the cell phone and took the next exit to return some phone calls. Called my wife and she was just wondering if I was at Sweetwater yet. Called my sister in law and it was my brother, "Where are You?" I told him where I was and he said I had just threaded the needle! There were some strong cells passing through and I was riding in between the really bad weather and the bad weather. He couldn't believe I was still dry, and he said if I continued, there was a chance that I could slide on through to Sweetwater.

 

Called the last number and it was the Lodge at Tellico. My two friends were there, with no cell service, and soaking wet! They were forced to pull over and said if they hadn't arrived when they did, they were about to just pull off the side of the road and hunker down! They apparantly road right into the mouth of a monster storm cell and said they were riding at 10 miles an hour when they spotted the Lodge at Tellico. The folks there let them pull the bikes under the porch and wait it out. They decided to go ahead and eat there instead of riding on up to Sweetwater as planned and I would keep on coming down 68 to Tellico Plains and meet them there.

 

So I rode on down I-75 to the Sweetwater exit and continued down 68 to The Lodge at Tellico where I arrived still dry and ate some REALLY GOOD BBQ pork, fresh cut home fries, and very tasty corn fritters! mmmm mmmmm GOOD! We had a nice ride back down from Tellico and stopped a couple of times to stretch. At one stop we decided to put on the rain gear since it was sprinkling rain when we got ready to leave. Sprinkled on us for about 5 minutes and was not enough to need the rain suits then it quit. Next stop we took off the rain gear and rode on back home. Got our windshields washed just north of Blairsville, but didn't get wet at all. We parted ways at Turners corner, me headed on down 129 to Cleveland, and Alan and Tim headed down through Dahlonega to Cumming.

 

I pulled in at the house with about 730 miles total for the two days. That's the most miles I've ever logged in two days. The Venture did great, no real problems with the bike at all, including the shock and the tire. She marked here territory all along the way, so I guess the shock still has some oil in it. The tire whined when cornering and was quiet when traveling in a straight line. I'll be getting her some new shoes soon. And I'm going to consult with a suspension expert friend of mine about the shock and probably order the Works shock pretty soon.

 

I didn't take any pics Friday and just a few today due to the weather, but I'll post a few later.

 

Thanks again to all of you! I had a great trip and look forward to seeing you on the Highways and the Byways.

 

James

[GaThumper]

A few pictures from today.

 

This is The Lodge at Tellico. Cabins for rent and great BBQ.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g158/jbmaynard/Yamaha%20Venture/IMG_0066.jpg

 

Tim's Harley backed up by the two Ventures

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g158/jbmaynard/Yamaha%20Venture/IMG_0070.jpg

 

Alan's 1st Gen checking out the new kid on the block

 

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g158/jbmaynard/Yamaha%20Venture/IMG_0072.jpg

 

And here she is, my 2001 RSV

 

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g158/jbmaynard/Yamaha%20Venture/IMG_0073.jpg