Jump to content

RedRider

Expired Membership
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    3,190

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    3

 Content Type 

Everything posted by RedRider

  1. RedRider
    Traveling on a motorcycle requires and stimulates all your senses. Sight - There are no blind spots on a motorcycle. The sights on the way are often better than the sights at your destination. Sound - purr of the engine, bark of the exhaust, silence of solitude when you stop somewhere out of the way. Feel - Vibration of the bike, leaning into a nice corner, the rush of acceleration, the adrenaline of going into a corner a little too hot but pulling it out. Smell - The local fauna always has a distinct scent. The leaves in fall, the dust of cornfields in summer, the smell of the ocean, the dryness of the desert. Taste - Finding a place with amazing pies in a town with no stop light. A deli in the back of a general store that makes a great sandwich with home smoked meats. DQ. And, of course, the stimulated sense of wonder. Wonder why someone would bury cars in the ground (Carhenge), wonder why someone would cover a building with corn (Corn Palace), wonder why someone would put a huge stone statue in the middle of nowhere (Pierre Obelisk, Granville, ND). That's what motorcycling means to me. RR
  2. RedRider
    IIRC, Hamilton, AL has an NTN bearing plant. And most importantly, IS DRY!!!! Just a forewarning for folks taking advantage of your generous offer of hospitality. Mind you, I traveled regularly to Hamilton in the late 80's, early 90's. Things may have changed since then. It was a nice town with good folks. Sure it still is. RR
  3. RedRider
    Dan, Please be aware of the limitations of Google Maps. Your routing takes you to the center of each city. Likely, you intend to skirt around the outside and stay on the interstates as heading into the cities will kill your time. I plugged your route into Streets and Trips starting at the Irving Park train station. I rounded off the corners at the target cities and found the route is 1025 miles. This is also to Oberlin, not necessarily to Don's (or a gas station near Don's). 1025 is cutting it a little close, but is doable (if you have your route corners documented very well). In addition to the corners (StL, Cleveland), you will need to document a stop in Lexington and in Cambridge, OH as these indirect locations are imperative to make this route 1000+. Might I suggest a slight modification. Continue east on 64 to Charleston, West b'God Virginia and then head north on 77. Once you get to New Philadelphia, OH, you can kick NW and head directly to Don's. This route provides 1042 miles (again, to Oberlin, not necessarily to Don's). Assuming this route will take approx. 20 hours to ride (direct, non-stop is 15.5 hours), and you get on the road at 5am, you will be able to enjoy the beautiful ride thru WV and southern Ohio in daylight. As boring as most of these slabs are (I-55 thru Illinois is painfully boring), I-77 thru WV is wonderful. The documentation would be fairly easy with Start, St. Louis area, Charleston area, and End (along with all your gas receipts, signed forms, etc.). However you go - good luck. Should be a great ride. Wish I had time to join you. Hopefully, I can get to Don's next year. RR
  4. RedRider
    Congratulations on completing your SS1k. Well done. Now, go look for some rallies in the area. They are fun. Like a scavenger hunt while doing a SS1k. But watch out, they are addicting. Again, congratulations and welcome to the club. RR IBA 33089
  5. RedRider
    FYI, put the bike on the side stand and you don't even need to drain the oil. Now, you may want to drain the oil depending on how much you ran the slipping clutch. RR
  6. RedRider
    Glad Kirby mentioned this. Speed is not your friend. On the Venture, your gas mileage suffers as your speed goes up. To do this in 17 hours, allowing 1 hour for stops, you only need to average 62.5 mph. The key is to keep the stops to a minimum - both in number and duration. Also, driving at super-limit speeds increases your stress level and WILL make you tired. RR
  7. RedRider
    Good luck. Make sure you check out the Iron Butt Association website Archive of Wisdom. http://www.ironbutt.com/tech/aow.cfm Lots of good advise from folks that have BTDT and got the T-shirt. It's not that hard to do by yourself. With others, it makes it a bit more difficult. Make sure everyone is of the same mind when you stop for gas. Get in, get out. Keep the wheels turning. Another hint since you are stopping for dinner, let the waitress know you are on a timed run. Ask for their advise on what is quick but still good (quick cooked turnips would be a big fail). We expect a ride report. RR PS: Also make sure everybody knows the rules. If one wants to drop out, the rest go on (or whatever arrangement you make). All riders need to be clear on this before you take off. Otherwise, you sit around discussing it until you burn up your time. Also, remember this isn't that huge of a deal. If you are tired, STOP. Take a rest. Call it off if you need to. There are many more opportunities if you come back safely.
  8. RedRider
    If my bike were the color of the Barnett clutch I would have to get new riding gear too. And I would have to start wearing Crocs and put tassels on my handlebars. Not a very manly color. RR
  9. RedRider
    Yeah, I saw that. But the pretty purple would clash with the ratted out red. RR
  10. RedRider
    WooHoo! Ordered on Monday, arrived yesterday, picked up today. Installation will be on Saturday. Afterwards, hopefully, no more slippage!! Will post pictures. RR
  11. RedRider
    Ask the manager of the Wally World if they have cameras on the lot. They may. RR
  12. RedRider
    It also controls the extra noise from the back that sounds like "You're going too fast"!! RR
  13. RedRider
    Forgot to add - gas should be no problem. Never more than 100 miles (usually much less) between gas stops. Just make sure you fill up before going into the National Parks since gas is usually less expensive on the outside. Check the NP website for a map of DV (and any other NPs you will be visiting). They will show the gas locations within the parks. RR
  14. RedRider
    You actually will be more comfortable with a full riding jacket on. One item that works really well is to wear a long sleeve non-cotton shirt (like UnderArmor or LDComfort long T - really like the LDC stuff). Wet the shirt and keep your jacket closed with the sleeve cuffs loose. When you begin getting hot, move your arm out into the wind stream to fill the jacket. The evaporation will actually give you a chill. With the right undergarment and the jacket remaining closed, this will last for a couple of hours before you need to re-wet the T. Some of the Long Distance guys have gone so far as to buy a bag of ice and set it on their lap while riding. However, that is a little over the top and the guy that did this was running all day (1000+ miles) in 100+ temps. There has also been guys using a homemade under jacket sprinkler. He perforated a length of clear tubing and made a loose necklace from it. Plumbed it to a jug of water and hooked up a windshield washer pump. When he wanted to add water to his undergarment, he turned on the pump and enjoyed a cool shower. This is likely a little extreme for your needs also. A mess jacket or no jacket will actually pull water from you and make you much more uncomfortable. It will be like riding in a blast furnace. No fun. You are on the right track with maintaining your armored gear and having plenty of water. Have a great time. DV is amazing. Can't wait to go back (although, much more comfortable temps in March/April than July). RR
  15. RedRider
    OK, took a little ride this evening and visited Scooter Bob. Felt his clutch handle and it was the same as mine. Not a lot of free - flopping in the wind - play, but a small amount of movement before the clutch spring pressure is felt. I also checked the performance in 5th gear. It will pull for a short while and then slip. Going to go with the Barnett upgrade. RR
  16. RedRider
    It hooks up OK when starting out but begins to slip if I really hammer it. Riding like the old man I am, it is fine. When the young hooligan comes out, it slips. RR
  17. RedRider
    The holes in the reservoir are open. Made sure to check them when I did the fluid upgrade after putting on the SS line. I will go check the slack in the handle though. Not sure on that. RR
  18. RedRider
    This is even funnier. Your original count was 21. You were going all out with your digits to complete that count. RR
  19. RedRider
    I haven't really tried to hit is hard in the higher gears. Will do that when going for a short ride later this afternoon. While it has been only a short time since I last installed the updated clutch, it has been about 30-40k miles. RR
  20. RedRider
    One of the winter projects was installation of SS lines, including the clutch. I will double check the fluid level in the MC. While the slippage happens even when everything is just warmed up, this is still one of the troubleshooting items that should be reviewed. Good thought. RR
  21. RedRider
    Changed fibers and steels (had blued the steels). RR
  22. RedRider
    Just took my RSV out of the shop after winter upgrades. It is running great, however, ..... When I hit it hard, the darn clutch slips. I have an upgraded Skydoc17 spring and have done the Freebird mod. If I drive normally, it doesn't slip. But if I really hammer it, the clutch slips in second and third gear. I was travelling too fast at the time to see if it would also slip in fourth, but I'm sure it will. I am looking for a solution so I don't have to deal with this every couple of years. OK, the question is: Barnett clutch with coil springs? Is that the most solid solution? Getting to the point that I don't care about the cost. RR
  23. RedRider
    My inner KLR is coming out. RR
  24. RedRider
    I do. I can do back to back 1000 mile days in comfort (and have done so). Mind you, I also have bar risers, backrest, and highway pegs set up just right for me. But my butt is no longer the limiting factor to my riding distance. RR
  25. RedRider
    Backfiring could just be a carb sync. They will charge you for that. Should be a Maintenance Day down in the Houston area sometime soon. They will do the sync for beer. Hey Cupcake!! Get one of those scheduled for our friend here!! RR
×
×
  • Create New...