BigLenny

Great White, Make sure you buy the Frogg Toggs from a bike shop. They are thicker and designed for conditions like high winds and such. If you buy them from a sporting goods store, they won't perform as needed. They are thinner and designed for fishing and stuff.

Who are you callin a pie butt???

Lemme see here....whats the word.......hmmmmm.......oh yeah, I got it!! JEALOUS! Thats the word I was thinking of. LOL.

My wife and I use Frogg Toggs and have had great performance with them. Last year we rode in a down right frog strangler for 2 1/2 hours and they kept us dry.

Billmac, I highly recommend the Ultimate Seat! They sit a little deeper than the Mustang, and my wife and I can ride the hair off of our 2007 RSTD and never have ill effects. I have on many occasions ridden a full tank of gas on our long vacation trips, stopped to fill up with gas and not gotten off of the bike while my wife ran into the store to grab us a drink or snack. When we first bought the bike, the stock seat was killing us. I looked into the Mustang Seat, but I didn't like how it pushed me forward in the saddle. Mustang was popular of course, but I wasn't real impressed with it. I ran into a guy who was riding a Valkarie and had an Ultimate Seat on it. He ranted and raved about the seat. I went on Ultimateseats.com and bought the rider and passenger seats, and both backrests, and it changed our world! Very comfortable with memory foam in them. Ultimate will even stitch something in them if you want them to. Take a look at them.

Glad yer back Bob. Now, stay! Stop the running back n forth! Stay! LOL.

Funny funny.

This is not the year that my wife and I will be taking an extended bike vacation. I've had two surgeries in the past 5 weeks, and in August my wife is going to be having a serious surgery that is going to require her to be off work for 8 weeks. So, our work vacation time is going to be mostly used up with health stuff. However, for the last couple days or so, I've been tossing the idea around of riding up to the St Joseph area on the Saturday before the International Rally and hanging around through Monday night to get to meet as many folks from the forum as I can. I would ride back to Little Rock on Tuesday. I have been on this site since 2008 and I've never met face to face with any of the fine folks we have here. It's just a thought right now. If I do, I'll be sure to pay my registration fee and buy some raffle tickets before hand. Just letting anyone who might be going know whats rattling around in my brain. Wait, I just remembered; I have met someone form the forum. About a year ago Venture Far stopped by and he and I went to dinner and had a great visit. Neil is a cool cat.

Hope everyone has an awesome 4th. God I'm so thankful for this country we enjoy!

Congrats AZ! You bought a fine machine. As I stated in my earlier rambling post, that 40th anniversary one with the red and black two tone sure makes my clickity go clack.

The draw of the Venture for me first of all, is, it has the same high quality built into it that the Goldwing has. Yamaha is like Honda in that they really focus strong on quality first. This is evidenced by the recent Consumer Reports study that ranked Yamaha as the #1 ranked brand for motorcycle quality. I have had 6 knee surgeries, so the feet forward position helps me quite a bit with comfort. The bike is narrower than the Goldwing, so when I stretch my feet out on the highway pegs, I don't feel like my hips are pushing their limits on how wide I can spread my legs like the GW with it's wide fairing. But, I would say the the single main thing I like about a Venture, or the RSTD that I ride is; nobody really knows what you're riding. You can see it in peoples eyes when you tell them what you're riding, that they really don't know. They'll usually nod their heads like they kmow, but they really don't. They have no clue that the bike is a V4 either. And that turns me on because it takes me out of the sea of sameness that Harley riders, and GW riders are in. It's kind of an exclusive club that only a few really "get". LOL. That's why I kinda like Victorys too. Uncommon stuff that are out of the norm of what everybody and their grandmothers are riding. I wish they would water cool them. I would bite on that. As for me, I'm gonna wait and see of those spy photos turn up anything in the fall before I pull the trigger on my next bike purchase.

Honda's motorcycles are just like Honda's cars; unsexy. But Honda is fine with that. What their focus is, and has always been is very high quality. Take a look at a 2015 Honda Accord. Very good looking car on the outside, but very institutional on the inside. But, and this is the "but" that Honda gets off on, that sucker will last and last and last until you get tired of driving it. The Goldwing is in the same Honda vein. Good looking bike, some of it is kinda institutional looking (dash and controls), but that bike is built to run forever, and with a fine precision that most bikes aren't. That is simply Honda's MO. There is a reason I have a Honda self propelled mower, a Honda generator, a Honda pressure sprayer, and a Honda tiller. Their stuff is high precision, high quality, starts everytime. But sexy? Very seldom. Honda Goldwings have been the gold standard for a long time because of their quality. They aren't WOW looking bikes, and there are so many of them on the road, that to me that makes them kinda common and bland. However, I will say, the 40th Anniversary Edition Red/Black one with all of the blacked out stuff and two tone paint like Gary's bike is certainly getting close to "sexy" for Honda. LOL. I dig that look. So, if you're the type person that totally gets off on your bike being a precision machine that does everything very well pretty much all of the time, and you don't mind riding a bike that a bazillion other people have, then the Goldwing should be right in your crosshairs. It's a phenominal bike. I love the GW. It doesn't fit my 36" inseam. The front of my knees rub against the fairing and that drives me nuts. So, thats' the main reason one isn't in my future.

He needs to check for corrosion on the battery cables. When my bike died back a few months ago and started doing what he said his was doing, I had my son come and get me and we trailered the bike home. One day after I got it home I disconnected the battery cables from the battery and there was corrosion underneath that i couldn't see. I cleaned the posts and the cables and the thing has started and run like a champ ever since.

Good-ness! After reading all of the posts above on the different things you must or must not do to make beer, doesn't really sound like something human beings should be drinking. LOL.

Man! I'm glad that was cleared up. I didn't know what that meant either, and I was afraid to ask because i thought the "F" might be a naughty word. LOL.

Yep. Been there done that. BigLenny pointer: Always remember to remove your disc brake lock before leaving in front of everyone at the entrance of the hotel. Don't ask me how I know.

Awesome! Glad to hear your home, Jeff! Man, sounds like they put you through the ringer. Relax, relax, relax. That's the order of the day for the next 6-8 weeks.

I'm 52. My mind is usually feeling 20 years younger, but my body feels like its 9000 years old.

Praire, I get what you're saying. I'm not meaning that we live on the super slab all the time. I will use them when I need to. But, when we are on them, I feel pretty safe, even though I know nowhere on a bike is safe. Hate that you had that bad accident. That would make anybody leary about the interstate if they have an incident like that. I have a customer I call on that was on his bike and got t-boned really bad in an intersection. It about killed him. He told me that after he took months to recover and finally got back on a bike again, he would totally freak out when he approached intersections. To the point where he found himself figuring out routes that had the least intersections. I guess anywhere you have a crash, it's gonna leave you leary of that particular venue. Whether its the super slab, secondary roads, or intersections.

Ya know, when we first got our bike 8 years ago, my wife used to be a little freaky about riding on the ick-spressway, as y'all call it. Lol. But, I read an article in one of the bike magazines that produced some pretty impressive stats showing that the interstate highway is considerably more safe for motorcyclist than side roads and two lane highways. It made a case that even though the speeds are usually (not always) slower on secondary roads and highways, there are a ton more obstacles and variables to deal with. Things like: side roads entering the highway, intersections while going through towns, and two way traffic to deal with. And only the yellow line (18 inches) between you and a passing car going the opposite direction. It even took into the fact that secondary highways have many curves that gives you a chance of making a miscalculation and missing the apex and having an accident. Secondary highways having more wildlife on them, etc... An interstate highway can be a tad daunting for some folks because the speeds are high, and yes, every now and again you pass one of those loud tractor trailer rigs, but, besides not having to deal with the above mentioned issues, the main thing that makes an interstate highway safe is, everybody is going the same direction. Way back then, I showed my wife that article and she understood it. Now, when we're running down the super slab to save time, she's very compfortable, and is usually reading a book, texting, or occasionally snoozing. Just 2 cents about our experience.

Correction: From Moab, take Hwy 128 east, not west.

Chaharly, I'm so excited for you. You're gonna see some awesome stuff. Zzyzx hit on a good start of a route for you. Take 285 to Poncha Springs. Then go west on Hwy 50 to Montrose. This will take you up over Monarch Pass, around Blue Mesa Reservior, through Gunnison, then to Montrose. Make sure before you get to Montrose, you got to Black Canyon of the Gunnison. It's about 10-15 miles bofore Montrose on the right. Amazing place to see! Leaving Montrose, go south on Hwy 550 all the way to Durango. This is the famous Million Dollar Highway! Be sure to check out to real cool towns on this stretch: Ouray, and Silverton. These two mining towns are cool places to stop and grab some grub grub and memorabilia. Leaving Durango, go west on Hwy 160 and check out Mesa Verde NP. Real cool Indian history. Then, keep heading west on Hwy 160 and check out 4 corners just to say you did. Its a monument where 4 states meet, but, just as important is it is where 4 major Indian nations meet. Then continue west to Kayenta, AZ. From Kayenta, head north on Hwy 163 to just past the Utah border and go to Monument Valley Park. It's on the right. Unbelievable beauty. Lotta John Wayne info there. Then keep heading north on 163 to Hwy 191. Take Hwy 191 to Moab, UT. From Moab, go just north of town and go to Arches NP, and Canyonlands NP. MAKE SURE YOU GO TO CANYONLANDS NP! Arches is cool to see, but Canyonlands is akin to the Grand Canyon with some unbelievable views. Stunning! After seeing Arches and Canyonlands, head back south toward Moab and before you get to town, take Hwy 128 west all the way to I-70. Rider Magazine ranked this hwy oen of the best motorcycle rides in America and i agree. It runs right alongside the Colorado river for miles. Pleanty of camping areas too. When you get to I-70, head east back toward Denver. You will go through Glenwood Canyon, and that area is rated the most beautiful stretch of interstate highway in the nation. The Canyon gets so narrow, they had to stack the interstate lanes on top of each other. After that, you can go wherever. LOL. It's all beautiful out there.

Jeff, I'm prayin for ya. As I've mentioned to you before, I havetwice had the ablation procedure you're about to go through. It's gonna be a long tiresome day, but I have all the confidence in the world you'll be fine. It's nerve wracking anytime they're gonna be messin with the ole ticker. But modern medicine is pretty amazing at what they can get done.

Still waiting to see heat shields on the front corners to protect it from the exhause heat. Making me nervous. LOL.

Very cool Eck!