THR-Thumper
Member
Hello, everyone. I figured a quick ride report was in order after joining the site. I apologize in advance for the crappy phone pictures and crummy writing.
You all know how it starts; a casual phone conversation with a good friend, “Man, we should take a long bike trip. Yeah,someday we should do that. Well, how about this summer?” Those kinds of conversations have a way of snowballing. Pretty soon, it gets to be a very expensive discussion. Oh well, it’s only money, right? We decide to take a couple of weeks off and travel vaguely northwest. There’s some mention of Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. We need new bikes!
He’s an enduro guy. I like a little more comfort. He’s convinced that the new KLR is the perfect bike for traveling. I argue and it gets heated. He ends the argument by going to his Kawasaki dealer and paying cash for a brand new KLR with Givi bags. Now I HAVE to buy a new bike. My VTX1800 is fun, but I have the sport-touring bug and it must be taken care of.
Now begins the agonizingly glorious research period. Do I want the FJR? The Connie C14? Do I want an ST1300? Man, that BMW 1200GT is a pretty bike, as well. I lurk on all the boards. I spend hours on craigslist. I finally settle on the FJR. There’s a dude in McAllen, Texas with a nicely farkled black 2008 with 14,000 miles on her. I give him a call. He agrees to pick me up at the McAllen airport the next Saturday.
Saturday dawned bright and clear in Houston…a balmy 23 degrees. Checking the weather, I thought “It’s got to be warmer in McAllen, right?” Yep, it’s 24. Here’s my truck the day before:
Oh well…I stuffed my riding gear in my old army duffel along with a Glock 19 (I’m not flying to Almost, Mexico with 8 grand unarmed). A friend dropped me off at the airport. I checked my stuff and boarded a wind-up toy of an airplane. Check out my lonely seat:
A quick ‘plane hop had me in the McAllen International Airshack. It’s a very small airport, with people greeting new arrivals right in the baggage claim area. My duffel was the first on the conveyer, so I grabbed it, found a restroom, loaded up the sidearm, and went out to find the seller, Ricardo. We located each other and jumped in his car for a quick ride across town. He pointed out the border crossing as we drove back to his house. Ricardo proved to be a very nice guy. Not at all the drug-lord, bike money thief that my family was afraid I’d encounter. After a few pictures, paperwork signing, and money counting, he helped me get packed up and on my way. Thanks, Ricardo! Here’s me as I was getting ready to leave:
I was on the road by 3:00 PM with just over 350 miles to go to get home. The temperature had climbed all day and it was a pleasant 55 degrees as I left Ricardo’s. I’m terribly dependant on GPS, so I was a little lost as I left his house. I had no idea where I was, but hey…new bike. I figured I’d just ride around a bit and get a feel for the motorcycle. I had a handheld GPS in my bag, but I just used the mapping feature on the iPhone to find 281 North. Entering the freeway was when I fell in love with this bike. Wow! I got on the throttle in 3rd and was immediately going 90. I was actually slowing down as I jumped up to an appropriate gear. The last semi-sport bike I owned was an ’02 Interceptor. I thought that bike was fast, but it was a slowpoke compared to this one. I actually yelled “WOOHOO” inside my helmet! After riding a bit and getting acquainted with the motorcycle, I stopped at one of the fruit stands that line the freeway in the Valley. Oranges are delicious:
I rode north on 281 through the Border Patrol Checkpoint (“Yes sir, I’m a citizen), and stopped in Alice for a Whataburger. For those of you who aren’t blessed with Whataburgers in your area, I’m sincerely sorry. The area from Falfurrias to Alice is absolutely empty. The roads are great, but almost completely devoid of traffic. They’re also very straight. My GPS recorded my top speed, but I think it was probably lying. I turned east towards Robstown at Alice. I needed to get over to Hwy 77. Traffic picked up a little through this area. By the time I hit Refugio, it had gotten dark. I decided to stop for coffee and to put the liners in my gear. I got out my phone and found that it needed a charge. I had forgotten to bring a car charger with me, so I got to sit around the Refugio Burger King drinking coffee, warming up, and surfing this site on my iPad while my phone charged. When I finally got in touch with my Fiancé, she was a little concerned. I was using the Google Latitude application because I’m too cheap to buy a Spot tracker. My location hadn’t changed since the phone had lost power so she thought something bad had happened. Anyway, I got her calmed down, got the gear back on, and got gas for the first time:
With the sun long gone, the temperature was dropping fast. My Olympia gear performed great, though. I never got truly cold. The lowest temp indicated on the bike was 35 degrees, but I was snug as I got back out on the road. The area between Refugio and Victoria was completely inundated with hundreds of deer lining the roadway. Ricardo had installed HID lights on the bike, however, so I had plenty of warning. I highly recommend these lights. This bike does NOT like to ride along at 60, by the way. It was hard to run that slowly. Finally the deer disappeared as I got on 59 North in Victoria. It was a straight shot from here, with a great freeway and few other drivers on the road. I really enjoyed this section of the ride, even though I was still a little on edge scanning for deer. I stopped in Wharton to call and let everyone know I’d be home soon, but they were again tracking me on Google Latitude. I finally pulled into my subdivision at 9:30 PM. My Fiancé and her toddler were shivering in the cold waiting in front of the house for me. That was nice. I got the bike bedded down in the garage and went inside to hot chocolate and fresh made cookies. All in all, a pretty good day. The Corbin seat made the ride easy. I was never uncomfortable or cramped. It was great.
So, I have a couple of questions for the board:
• I need a GPS and mount. There’s a RAM mount on the bike already, so I just need the cradle. Does anybody just use the glove box socket for power or do I need to wire the GPS directly into a lead somewhere?
• Why is the centerstand so hard to operate? I’m a fairly muscular guy, but I think I might be doing it wrong.
Thanks for reading and thanks for a great forum. See you all around…
You all know how it starts; a casual phone conversation with a good friend, “Man, we should take a long bike trip. Yeah,someday we should do that. Well, how about this summer?” Those kinds of conversations have a way of snowballing. Pretty soon, it gets to be a very expensive discussion. Oh well, it’s only money, right? We decide to take a couple of weeks off and travel vaguely northwest. There’s some mention of Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks. We need new bikes!
He’s an enduro guy. I like a little more comfort. He’s convinced that the new KLR is the perfect bike for traveling. I argue and it gets heated. He ends the argument by going to his Kawasaki dealer and paying cash for a brand new KLR with Givi bags. Now I HAVE to buy a new bike. My VTX1800 is fun, but I have the sport-touring bug and it must be taken care of.
Now begins the agonizingly glorious research period. Do I want the FJR? The Connie C14? Do I want an ST1300? Man, that BMW 1200GT is a pretty bike, as well. I lurk on all the boards. I spend hours on craigslist. I finally settle on the FJR. There’s a dude in McAllen, Texas with a nicely farkled black 2008 with 14,000 miles on her. I give him a call. He agrees to pick me up at the McAllen airport the next Saturday.
Saturday dawned bright and clear in Houston…a balmy 23 degrees. Checking the weather, I thought “It’s got to be warmer in McAllen, right?” Yep, it’s 24. Here’s my truck the day before:
Oh well…I stuffed my riding gear in my old army duffel along with a Glock 19 (I’m not flying to Almost, Mexico with 8 grand unarmed). A friend dropped me off at the airport. I checked my stuff and boarded a wind-up toy of an airplane. Check out my lonely seat:
A quick ‘plane hop had me in the McAllen International Airshack. It’s a very small airport, with people greeting new arrivals right in the baggage claim area. My duffel was the first on the conveyer, so I grabbed it, found a restroom, loaded up the sidearm, and went out to find the seller, Ricardo. We located each other and jumped in his car for a quick ride across town. He pointed out the border crossing as we drove back to his house. Ricardo proved to be a very nice guy. Not at all the drug-lord, bike money thief that my family was afraid I’d encounter. After a few pictures, paperwork signing, and money counting, he helped me get packed up and on my way. Thanks, Ricardo! Here’s me as I was getting ready to leave:
I was on the road by 3:00 PM with just over 350 miles to go to get home. The temperature had climbed all day and it was a pleasant 55 degrees as I left Ricardo’s. I’m terribly dependant on GPS, so I was a little lost as I left his house. I had no idea where I was, but hey…new bike. I figured I’d just ride around a bit and get a feel for the motorcycle. I had a handheld GPS in my bag, but I just used the mapping feature on the iPhone to find 281 North. Entering the freeway was when I fell in love with this bike. Wow! I got on the throttle in 3rd and was immediately going 90. I was actually slowing down as I jumped up to an appropriate gear. The last semi-sport bike I owned was an ’02 Interceptor. I thought that bike was fast, but it was a slowpoke compared to this one. I actually yelled “WOOHOO” inside my helmet! After riding a bit and getting acquainted with the motorcycle, I stopped at one of the fruit stands that line the freeway in the Valley. Oranges are delicious:
I rode north on 281 through the Border Patrol Checkpoint (“Yes sir, I’m a citizen), and stopped in Alice for a Whataburger. For those of you who aren’t blessed with Whataburgers in your area, I’m sincerely sorry. The area from Falfurrias to Alice is absolutely empty. The roads are great, but almost completely devoid of traffic. They’re also very straight. My GPS recorded my top speed, but I think it was probably lying. I turned east towards Robstown at Alice. I needed to get over to Hwy 77. Traffic picked up a little through this area. By the time I hit Refugio, it had gotten dark. I decided to stop for coffee and to put the liners in my gear. I got out my phone and found that it needed a charge. I had forgotten to bring a car charger with me, so I got to sit around the Refugio Burger King drinking coffee, warming up, and surfing this site on my iPad while my phone charged. When I finally got in touch with my Fiancé, she was a little concerned. I was using the Google Latitude application because I’m too cheap to buy a Spot tracker. My location hadn’t changed since the phone had lost power so she thought something bad had happened. Anyway, I got her calmed down, got the gear back on, and got gas for the first time:
With the sun long gone, the temperature was dropping fast. My Olympia gear performed great, though. I never got truly cold. The lowest temp indicated on the bike was 35 degrees, but I was snug as I got back out on the road. The area between Refugio and Victoria was completely inundated with hundreds of deer lining the roadway. Ricardo had installed HID lights on the bike, however, so I had plenty of warning. I highly recommend these lights. This bike does NOT like to ride along at 60, by the way. It was hard to run that slowly. Finally the deer disappeared as I got on 59 North in Victoria. It was a straight shot from here, with a great freeway and few other drivers on the road. I really enjoyed this section of the ride, even though I was still a little on edge scanning for deer. I stopped in Wharton to call and let everyone know I’d be home soon, but they were again tracking me on Google Latitude. I finally pulled into my subdivision at 9:30 PM. My Fiancé and her toddler were shivering in the cold waiting in front of the house for me. That was nice. I got the bike bedded down in the garage and went inside to hot chocolate and fresh made cookies. All in all, a pretty good day. The Corbin seat made the ride easy. I was never uncomfortable or cramped. It was great.
So, I have a couple of questions for the board:
• I need a GPS and mount. There’s a RAM mount on the bike already, so I just need the cradle. Does anybody just use the glove box socket for power or do I need to wire the GPS directly into a lead somewhere?
• Why is the centerstand so hard to operate? I’m a fairly muscular guy, but I think I might be doing it wrong.
Thanks for reading and thanks for a great forum. See you all around…
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