SilvrT

Never felt any heat. Would need to unhook the m/c trailer before backing up the 5er ... that's not a problem, hooking it back up could be LOL Will be making every effort to park in places where backing up isn't required.

In most states you can; however, some stipulations apply such as overall length. Florida is one that doesn't allow it but it's somewhat of a grey area when it comes to private individuals pulling an RV (non commercial application). The issue I now have to deal with is the load capacity of the bumper on the 5er. I may have to get that beefed up. As well, I need to consider the issue around unhooking/hooking the trailer back up when the bike is on it. Not sure how that's going to work! Have been putting some thought to that dilemma but haven't quite worked it out in my head yet. [if there's a will ... there's a way] Maybe we need to switch to a toy hauler eh? LOL

Got this one for $3k US ... they sell for anywhere from $4500 to $5500 CAD back home.

So here were are, touring the USA, stopping here and there and occasionally renting a bike. Way I figure it, if we keep going at this rate, we'll have bought and paid for a bike a few times over by the time we get back to Canada so ......... We went and bought something just to be able to ride whenever we wanted to .... 2005 Kawasaki Nomad 1600 FI single family owned with 28,000 miles. In mint condition with the only mod being V&H mufflers. Now we'll need a trailer to tow it behind the 5er!! NO LONGER BIKELESS :dancefool:

I agree with @Condor ... straining to maintain speed is a strain on me ... BUT ... who really needs a motorcycle that has so much power the average ( or for that matter, the above average ) rider can barely handle 1/2 of that. I don't know what the power specs are on the GL1800 Wing but of the various bikes I've owned, it was the easiest to ride/drive on long distances. Effortless power, no strain or work or gear shifting involved. In BC, Canada we have nothing but mountains and that Wing could do 100 mph all day long with ease up the longest and steepest mountain passes we have. I doubt it's power was anything near that new Kaw that probably weighs 1/2 that of the Wing.

Ahh yes, the hills are getting steeper and the head winds are getting stronger and the riders are getting heavier .... gotta have more HP to travel at the speed limit.

Since this is my thread I hearby declare that hijacking is allowed .....

Heard about it from our girls who live in Van and my son who lives in Surrey but works in the interior and drives home every couple weeks. We're basking in full sun and 25 - 30 degree celcius ... hope you're smilin! LOL

Congrats!!! Hope you enjoy it. If you find the heat to be an issue, consider removing the catalytic convertors which (if it's like the Victory) are in the header pipes. That, IMO, is where all the heat is generated. Also consider installing a power commander with auto tune. Both of these mods made a huge difference for me on my Victory,

Either that or they haven't been on-line since. Today I saw an RSTD parked amongst some Harlys. We were in Tony's Seafood Restaurant. Not long after we arrived a group of bikers came out of the back dining area and as I sized each of them up I somehow pegged one of them to be the owner. Sure enuf, he had to come back in to grab something he forgot so I caught his attention and asked him if he was a member here ... "nope... never heard of it" he said and away he went although we did get to exchange some quick convo regarding his bike and what we had. In any event, his was a 2005 that he'd bought brand new and absolutely loved it.

Yup and in many gas stations across the country you also have to pay for air LOL

Seems many folk don't realize that Cedar Key is nowhere near the "Florida Keys". We are appx 3 hrs north of Tampa. To answer your question though, there is no evidence of any weather related damage in this area.

As we were leaving the thriving metropolis of down town Cedar key, FL on our way back to our campground this afternoon around 2:20 PM I spotted someone on an RSV heading towards all the action. Who are you? Are you a member here? If not, you should be. I almost made a U-turn and tracked you down but our pool and a margurita were calling me....

Don't know about wages in USA but in Canada, folks spendable income has been increasingly diminishing for several years, Wages have not kept pace with living costs and taxes have been increasing. A quote from the National Post in August, 2014... "[h=1]Canadians pay 42% of income in tax — more than they spend on food, shelter, clothing combined[/h][h=2]Since 1961, the average family’s tax bill has rose by 1,832%, dwarfing increases in the costs of housing, clothing and food, according to a Fraser Institute report"[/h] On top of that, prices of vehicles and specifically motorcycles are ever increasing. Very few people can afford to buy a new bike nowadays so that is why there are so many financing options out there. Low interest rates, no payments for 6 months, 5-6-7 year loans, no credit/bad credit... they don't care ... heck, I've seen car ads saying "New to Canada --- no problem --- we can put you in a new car today" ... it's all about 'payments per month'.

ya, has something to do with "addiction" LOL

As we were passing thru Panama City Beach today on our way to our Florida destination we noticed there were many, many bikes around. The we saw a "Harley Demo Rides" sign so we hung a right, found a place to park our rig and discovered it was "Bike Week" and there was a ton of thing happening including..... Indian Demos so off we went to where that was, got ourselves into a "bikes only" parking lot by accident and had to do some skilful manouvering to get turned around and out of there and we thought for sure there's no way we'd find a place to park ... turned a corner and voila` ... Yup, to make a long story short, we got to demo an Indian today. Nice bike alright but to tell ya the truth, I'd buy a Harley, a Victory, a Honda, maybe even the new Yamaha (but not a Kawasaki) before I'd buy the Indian. Why? Noisy engine, wasn't as smooth as a Harley, byt the end of the 20 minute ride the inside of my leg was almost fried ... had to hold my leg wide away from the head pipe to prevent it from getting burned and ... just like my Vic was in the beginning the Indian has a tendency to "lurch" when riding very slow just when you back off the throttle ... seems to be more associated to downshift into 1st. Anyhoo ... here we are ...

I wonder if they made it easier to change the air filter? What a PITA that is on pre-2018 model!

That Sux! So glad you and I got some riding in when the weather was good. We're now down in N'Awlins (New Orleans) and it's full on SUN right thru Thursday ,,, some cloud Friday, rain Saturday (we'll be heading for Florida by then).

You can do it in a couple ways.... From your cell phone ... if it's a newer one, it will have a WiFi "HotSpot" that you turn on. It uses your Data so you got to be careful what you do in the internet. You can get a WiFi hotspot device from places like AT&T. I have one and it's relatively inexpensive and you can Pay-as-you-Go https://www.att.com/shop/wireless/att-prepaid-mobile-hotspot.html Also, when in an RV campground, you can connect to their WiFi but it's usually not very reliable or fast.

We sold the house and most of our larger furnishings to be able to afford what we've got and what we're doing. We now take our "home" with us wherever we go! LOL Some words of warning for anyone ... we bought a roof mounted satellite dish connected with Shaw Direct programming. Worked fine for about 6 months, even in the USA ... then all of a sudden it stopped. Error message was "Receiver has lost satellite signal". The SAT dish was locked onto the 2 Shaw satellites. Since we're down in Tennessee, Shaw would do nothing for us so had to pay a few hundred $$$ to get a local technician to diagnose the issue ... seems the receiver box is the problem. Again, Shaw would not assist other than to say they would ship a replacement to our "home" address on file which of course is now in Vancouver, BC. I told Shaw to cancel our account and I went out and bought a portable dish and receiver and signed up with DISH Network and now have 120+ USA channels plus all local channels which adjust to our location ... all that for about $600 CAD whereas the roof mounted dish cost us close to $3500. Moral of the story: do your due diligence in researching products/services/support when buying a SAT system for your RV as well as where you will or will not get TV reception. We initially financed our 5th wheel over 10 years with a "no payment for 6 months" ... that then allowed us the time needed to sell our house. Once it sold and just before the 6 months were up, we paid off the loan. All it cost us was the interest on those 6 months which wasn't a lot. Insurance on the 5th wheel is relatively inexpensive ... I'll get back here later with what it cost once I dig the papers out.

Very nice! Is it a diesel pusher? We've been toying with the idea of trading our 5th wheel in for a class A but what we're looking for in features and what's available kinda puts us out of the budget ... WAYYY out! LOL

Seems to me one is rated at the crank and the other at the wheel ... which one do you think is the crank? FWIW my Vic was dyno'd and showed 89.02 HP and 107.48 Tq At The Wheel btw, do you have a link to the ad for your 99?

will do Dale but only a hug... *wink*

It was comparable; however, the Vic has a better seating position especially with the larger floorboards. The HD steering in low speeds wasn't quite as good as the Vic as the front wheel seemed to want to turn on it's own more. Handling the Dragon was no problem, you could whip the HD from a full lean tight Right to a full lean tight Left with ease. Wind around the knees was more obvious that the Vic. Folks complain about noisy shifting on the Vic but the HD was more clunky. Other than that, I quite liked the bike.

We'll be in FL Nov 1st. Our first location will be Cedar Key for a month. After that we're not sure yet but we don't plan on heading west out of Florida until Feb 1st. That said, nothing is written in stone and that's the beauty of it all.