Venturous

Never got a picture of my first motorcycle. I just wasn't into pictures then. It was a 1974 Honda XL250 I bought used in 1980. Fun little bike to get back and forth to work with and also to take just about anywhere offroad. It looked much like this...

I can testify to the importance of practice braking. In late 2002, I was still riding my '93 VR with linked braking and anti-dive. Then I bought my '02 Midnight and got rid of the VR. Once spring hit, I starting laying down miles with no effort to practicing anything with the new bike. With only 3000 miles on my new RSV, I got into a panic brake situation at 55 mph, The result? I grabbed a handful of front brake... instantly locked the front brake and went down hard. After 6000k in repairs, 5 surgeries, and metal to rebuilt my collar bone... I was back on the road again. The first thing I did was sign up for the MSF's Experienced Rider Course where I learned practice techniques for emergency swerving and braking. I make it a point each spring to spend time practicing both. Even though this bike and I have shared 120k miles together.. it is still important to renew that muscle memory for heavy braking in a panic situation where we are reacting not thinking about how hard to brake. Randy is so right. Practice practice practice!

Here are a few. First... me having fun with Dale Walklser at his Wheels Through Time Museum. Next, one from the Tail of Dragon. What I like about this photo is my then 11 year old was with me. I told him to watch for the camera guy and wave. He thought it would be funner to give me bunny ears over my helmet. First video is some back roads of east TN with my friends mark and Tim. Next video is on the Ohio Dragon (SR635) with a friend.

Nice looking Miata!

Heavy

Bass ackward

Pretty slick. I'll have to give that a try next tire change.

When I was younger... yeah, I could see me and Lisa trying that. But now that I have to get up twice a night, half awake in search of the nearest tree.... uh, no. I'll pass.

Just run the coastal roads in each direction from Gulf Shores. Nice scenic rides. I agree with the comment about New Orleans being a toilet. Should have saved the gas for another ride. LOL Taking the Ferry across Mobile Bay is neat. Good way to see oil rigs and such up close. Might even see dolphins... but not sure about that time of year.

I agree actually. It is absolutely nothing like a motorcycle... and wouldn't pass safety requirements to be a car. To me it would only fall in the category of a dune buggy.

I hope not. I want a motorcycle.

Usually ham, sweet taters and green bean casserole. This year I am trying a new twist by taking the ham and hickory smoking it while basting with a pineapple juice and brown sugar mix.

Thank you Don. I wish all clubs would follow this common sense policy.

Here is an email that the guys put out regarding the outage: On Monday, December 1 at 11:30 pm, our webmaster, Todd Barnhill, was notified of a ToS violation by our internet host IXWebhosting. Apparently one of our databases was supposedly overloading their server. Todd responded to the notice in approximately 30 minutes and then notified me of the notice. Todd informed them that we had hired a computer tech and he was in the process of going though our site in order to find and fix any problems. Since Todd had responded to their complaint in the appropriate amount of time we both felt we would be given time to correct any problems. At 10:08 am Tuesday, December 2, we still were in contact with IX and in fact were informed they were there to help if needed. However, shortly after noon that same day we received another notice from IX informing us that they had permanently suspended our account and our site was locked down. This is why you are unable to access the site. In the time since then, I have made repeated calls to IX in an effort to get us back on line. Finally on Thursday, December 4, I was informed that we would be receiving a complete backup of our files and databases from them. We finally received them on Friday and they were sent to our newly hired computer tech. Mike and Todd have since been hard at work downloading everything. Mike has also been given the authorization to find a new company to host our site. Hopefully we won't be down much longer. I apologize for the lateness of this but I wanted to be able to provide as much information as possible about the problem and the efforts to get the site back up and running. You have no idea how much effort has been put forth to clear this up. To those members that are due for renewal in December plus our November members, we will be providing extra time to you to get your renewals in to the club. You won't be cut off because of this problem.

Thanks. We did find a good deal on a new 5X10 tailgate trailer.

Your welcome... I've been getting a lot of use from my Gerbings this hunting season. Soon hunting season will be over and I can return to using them for what I bought them for.... motorcycle riding.

Oh, must be a change they made the last few years. Here is one place to maybe upgrade them... http://www.cyclematetrailers.com/page/page/5936288.htm

Are you sure they aren't already LED? I thought they were. Have to double check.

Since we no longer have a pickup truck... we decided to buy a utility trailer for those times we need to haul building materials, mulch etc. I am not the type who normally trailers my bike anywhere. In fact my RSV has only never been on one. My '93 was on one once and that was for service. But, it would foolish to buy a trailer I can't also use for the RSV. I know a 10' with ramp gate would work well. But Lisa wants the smallest trailer we can get by with since she may want to use it sometimes. I recall someone posted a while back how he used a smaller trailer by adding a bar to the ramp to hold it open at an angle. I am guessing that was a 8' trailer, but not sure. So... what is the smallest utility trailer you all have used for trailing a RSV? And how? Thanks.

You also mentioned it felt this way at 75 mph. While I know the bike can do this easily enough... and I ain't yo momma... IMHO, that is not real advisable. Just try to image the braking distance alone... My bike will pull my Time-Out at 65mph on interstate fine in 5th gear. But any slower or up hills... I drop to 4th. My Time-Out fully rally loaded is around 650lbs. That is with AC, extra room, and our gear.

Tires on my TimeOut say 60psi max, so I run 50psi and it feels good to me. If your bike feels 'loose' or 'floaty' that is most likely an issue with tongue weight... not tire pressure. You said the trailer by spec is 20lb tongue weight. DO NOT rely on that alone. You need to get a scale. I use a digital fish scale from walmart. I have found my Time-Out feels best with my RSV with a tongue weight between 25-30 lbs. Based on what you posted... sounds like a too heavy tongue weight. Spec weights do not take into consideration a lot of things such coolers, spare tires etc. Weighing your tongue weight is the single most important thing to do for a good trailer pull.

I found the red too hard on my eyes also, but it is nice we have the choice.

So sorry for your loss.