Chaharly

Just a few pictures from my trip, I'll post a couple of YouTube vids as well that come from Snapchat. We had an awesome time, left Thursday and were home by 1 Tuesday. Had an absolutely awesome ride with my dad. We always get along real well and have a pretty similar riding style. That is of course if I don't go chase some sport tourers doing 70 around some of those 35mph curves! That he was pretty upset about, but I gotta show them boys up in the mountains that just because I'm on an old touring bike doesn't mean its a lug. I mean its a first gen Venture for God sake! We stayed in Ft. Collins the first night and went up and around the dam since we didn't really go off a map I cant exactly remember all of the roads that we went on but we went over the pass at the Rocky Mountain National Park and got a few good shots of some elk. I've been over this pass before and lost my hat, but It didn't happen this time! We stayed in Breckenridge the second night and had a beautiful view of the snow covered mountains from the hotel. We ate at Moes Original BBq. They real excellent ribs. I have to say my favorite mountain highway that we road through was Colorado 133. We got on highway 82 from Glenwood Springs (I-70 is an amazing ride through there as well, at least for interstate. Just stay out during Memorial Day Weekend) and head east until you get to 133. Once your cross the summit at I think 10,500ft you cross over to what looks like an entirely different planet. I've never come over so many hills saying WOW in my life. From there we got down into the desert side of things where the temps went in the high 70s in the mountains to nearly 100 in Hotchkiss. While your on that highway 133 head east over to Marble. its a beautiful county road that leads to this really neat little town down in the mountains where they have a super sick bbq and bar. It was 3 in the afternoon so it was too late for lunch and too early for beer for us, so we did a U-Turn and headed back to 133. All of that state is amazing to ride through including the desert side. We stayed in Ouray, which is the start of the Million Dollar Highway, which is no doubt beautiful, but IMHO definitely over-rated. We took US160 east to Pegosa Springs and went up the Wolf Creek Pass WAY ON UP the Great Divide, trucking on dooooowwwn the other siiide! Wow that was a blast! We went through a fertile basin between Alamosa and Villa Grove where they grow potatoes and alfalfa, but due to the drought they haven't even planted half the fields. A lot of the streams were dry as well.. If Colorado doesn't get a bunch of snow next year the Farmers and Ranchers are gonna be in trouble!! The last super memorable road that we went on was County Road 62 from Grant Colorado to Georgetown on I 70. It takes you over the Guanella Pass which just so happens to be at 11,669Ft That was one of the most amazing roads that I've been on and when the 10mph switch backs say 10mph.. THEY MEAN IT! I wouldn't want to be on any other bike than my first gen! I got mileage anywhere from 30.8mpg, running 70 against a Nebraska headwind up to 45 cruising through the mountains, and my dad on my brother's 89 GL1500 with 93,000 miles got 28.5 on that same stretch I got 30.8 and he got over 50 in the mountains!!! They knew what they were doing when they made these bikes! I love my first gen because it really eats those corners well. There were a lot of times on those switchbacks that I would lose dad while just cruising, and I have to think its because of the overall length of the Goldwing. I was racing with the sports bikes and keeping my own as well as impressing a few of them. Then to top it all off when we were riding back the last 2 days we got rained on and I could sit comfortably in the rain and literally the only thing wet on either of us was our 3/4 shell helmets and our shoes. (My shoes AND socks). We had the CB intercom in use whenever we wore helmets (when Nebraska forced us, or when going through labor day traffic in Denver which is not a bad time to wear a helmet IMHO). I had my phone hooked up to the bike and had my GPS music and podcasts the whole time and the best thing was these old carbureted bikes ran better than the new carbed adventure bikes up at altitude. NOW THAT BEING SAID the altitude certainly had an effect on our machine's performance, Idle was down and the bikes were pigging out on all the rich gas, but to pull 45 and him to pull 50 while not running at peak performance says something about these two bikes as touring machines.

Puc! That's gonna be a ride for another day. My old man is NOT the gravel type... especially on his 1500 Goldwing!

I'm wanting 1/4 mile times people! Tour and sport mode!

When one door closes another one opens! Stick around on the site and feed us pics of that xj650

Acetone and donor abs plastic. Trust me

We'll be meeting there about noon. I'm sure it wont be hard to talk my old man into eating before we go! I actually live in wayne which is 30 miles east. I still gotta see your ride!! I most definitely will give him that slap on the back for ya! and I have to say that I totally agree with you, he's and awesome dude and I'm lucky to have him. He's the one who got me into the world of CTFW from before I can remember. I remember being the only kid who could say he saw Mount Rushmore from the back of a motorcycle. Time is short, and I understand that many people either don't get along with their parents, or even don't have one around anymore, and I'm blessed to have and love both my parents! We're gonna have a blast out there puc!

Anything absolutely must see out there? I've been out that way twice, but never for such a long period

We're gonna leave around noon on Thursday it's looking like. I live in Wayne which is 29 miles east of Norfolk. They got decent bbq in Norfolk too!

Yeesh! And I suppose if we're going from a $600 canoe to a $17000 motorcycle it's definitely best to not take chances!

I believe the paint protects the plastics right?

Thats one thing I didn't like about the Cross Country Tour our Polaris dealership had. Certain plastics, I think it was on the trunk... it's been awhile but it seemed real light

Can I ask what symptoms you were having that you noticed your timing advance was damaged?

Just wanted to share that me and my dad are heading out this Thursday for Colorado and we wont be back until Wednesday. He's gonna be taking my brother's 89 Wing and I'll be taking the 88 Venture of course. We're going to get hotels because my dad, being 64 says he's too old to camp, which will be fine with me. I told him he'll have to buy the hotel room with the hot-tub on the balcony over-looking the mountains! We go out to the hills together usually every year, and we've been to the Ozarks together but never Colorado. We're meeting in Norfolk, NE and we're pretty much just following the wind on any plans! I got the Elite 4 mounted on the front and have an ounce of balancing beads in it. We'll see if I can get more than 7k miles out of it before a nail kills it as well... I have a temporary patch for my fuse box that I'm going to have to fix when I get back, one of the tabs broke for the headlight fuse, so I've got it bypassed with a spade type fuse for now, but when we get back I'll definitely replace the tube style fuse box. All I have left before we go is an oil change, gap the spark plugs, and while I'm in there I'll synch the carbs. I'll have it all cleaned up before we go, but I can tell I'm rambling now... I'm just excited to rock and roll boys!

Its too bad my local dealership sold their brand new 2012 Vulcan Voyager, It was the white and grey one and it had sat unsold for 5 years. If I was in the financial shape I would have picked it up for sheer value alone, it was a major markdown from what they were actually new and I think it had like 60 miles. Next time I'm in there I'm gonna ask about it, and try to see what they got out of it

Now you know we expect a full review on her. Don't spare us the details!

Don't they say life starts in diapers and ends the same way???

There's a gentleman that owns one of those Vulcan Voyagers in the 2 tone red and tan (grey) and I think its an ABSOLUTELY gorgeous bike. I never manage to catch the guy to talk to him about it. He used to ride an RSV before, I think his was a 2011 two tone grey, and I'd always love to park my 99 purple and silver RSV next to his. I think its funny that I know the guys riding history for the last 5 years but have never talked to him... I just know he's got good taste in bikes!!

Honestly I've never seen anything like this!

Good on you man! Probably saved somebody's life!!! We definitely need more people like you on the road!

I Think saddlebum said it best. I actually copied the first part and posted it as my status on facebook as "motorcycle tip of the day" I hope you don't mind, I'll take it down if need be!! He knew he messed up, he was just on the defensive cuz I'm sure his adrenalin was going and he was embarrassed. We got the bikes back to his place and he felt really bad. He said he felt really bad about the bike. I told him the bike is just a beater... Its already got road rash on it from the PO and actually been repainted before. Who knows how many times that things slid across the ground. I told him that I was glad he's alright and I don't want to see it happen again, explained that gravel on pavement is marbles on glass, and he just didn't think FROM INEXPERIENCE not to lean coming onto gravel like that. Plus just like puc said... I'm sure glad he dropped MY bike and not the other way around As far as the bike goes. Its just fine, just ugly now!!! Its my wheelie machine... I bought it to beat it!!!

I wonder if there could be an option for paid members to post that they have parts for sale in the forums, but change the type of Thread it is so it only stays up for 21 days etc. That would keep the forums from being cluttered, because they would delete themselves, and only members would be able to post or see them. I agree with puc that stuff comes up in conversation and I've sold a lot of stuff that way. I like the way the classified section is set up, and I still definitely see people continuing to use it. I never post anything for sale, but I'm always looking for parts! Whatever you do is fine with me!

Hey guys! Been letting my good friend practice riding on the 919. We were out for a cruise last night and I was letting him lead. Well in our town there's a gravel road that goes past the fair grounds that we've gone up and down a few times. Until that night we had ridden it south to north where we had to stop at a stop sign before getting on the dirt road. He decided he wanted to ride it north to south coming off the highway. He was leaning into the turn going 15 or so and before it happened I knee it was gonna slide out. Sure enough the ass end slide out around the front wheel and down he goes... I gave him a good ass chewing about riding slow at night and when I tell him to slow down I mean it. I told him you can't lean on gravel like that, especially Iowa white rock gravel. Even on a dirt bike he wouldve laid it over on that gravel. I told him not to lift the bike up until we know he's not hurt. He told me I'm WAY too over cautious about things... I told him over cautious never sent me sliding across an intersection... Turns out he's alright, just real sore at work today. Moral of the story... be safe guys... I'll post some pics later

I would definitely talk to Rick. You'll probably have better luck narrowing the seat for better reach

Hopped onto my favorite parts site and they changed it. I can't figure out how to but motorcycle stuff anymore

Puc, I know you're a YouTube guy. Look up Aquachigger. He does allot of exploring with a metal detector and finds all sorts of really neat stuff