Malibu CA, July 12th 2008

[FJRBluesman]

OK. Here's our ride report. First off I'm real tired and I'll edit and post more later. Maybe. Feel free to add your photos from the ride and comments, etc. Sorry for the poor picture quality, my camera just plain sucks. I'll get a new one soon.

Everyone that signed up to go on the ride showed. AWESOME turn out. :yahoo: LGFJR even showed up on his own to just meet up with us, that was great. This was the most people on a ride to date on our last 3 rides, 14 bikes and 16 people. Shoot, we had two Dan's, two Dave's, and two Tony's. All the rest us should consider changing our names to one of those three names. Nearly 40% of the people were from San Diego! Great job guys and gals! You are dedicated to ride.

FJRBluesman (Simon)

Cort (friend of Simon's, he was on a Suzuki TL)

DocDanDC (Dan)

Tonyrob (Tony)

Slappy (Jerry)

Ynotride (Dan)

MojaveFJR 2-up (Dave & Kelly)

03Silverbullet (Steve)

FJstaR (Tony)

Yorkmeister (Gary)

Neil San Diego (Neil)

amansker & Jillian (Andy & of course Jillian)

Low Level FJR Pilot (Dave)

LgFJR (Larry)

We all met up at Starbucks in Long Beach (LB) and left on time. We ran into a rather messy traffic jam within the first 15 miles. The bridge going over the LB water ways had construction going on and 3 lanes went down to 1 lane. We're bikes so we did what we had to, to get ahead. We started losing time and maybe I set up a too aggressive ride for the time and we needed fuel so we blew past the first loop of Las Flores and got fuel in downtown Malibu, this was our first real stop. We stretched and got back under way and went up Latigo Canyon heading to the Rock Store. Here we started losing people.

03silverbullet with his 150K mile FeeJ lost his front brake line and it was best that he limp home with only the rears working and leaking fluid from the fronts. Steve can explain what happened in the post. Latigo Canyon is CRAZY twisties, but fun, just ask anyone who's been on it. Extremely tight turns. The FeeJ was very nimble in the turns and didn't really feel heavy, it was a blast. The machine felt right at home being tossed round from turn to turn effortlessly. When you timed all this correctly with the turn transition, weighting and un-weighting the suspension, it was just smooth as silk as it should be, at one with the machine. We passed through the dreaded wall area of Mulholland and sure enough a rider was down. A couple fire trucks, CHP, etc, were on the seen. Once past that, the ambulance was tearing it up passing us in the opposite direction to get to the fallen rider. I talked to one of the guys riding buddies at the Rock Store when they arrived, and he said the injured rider was high sided and got some extreme air (Maybe that should be an olympic event along with drifting). He probably broke his foot and tibia, otherwise he was OK.

We arrived at the Rock Store and we found out we lost Steve. Jerry, Dave, and Tony finally arrived a little later. Maybe Jerry had to adjust his skirt kilt. Anyway we were all pretty much there. We looked at some real nice bikes and rested up and Larry informed us he was going to peel off and go to the Reagan Library. So now we're down two riders.

We headed to Malibu Canyon and made our way down the canyon and saw the recent fires that torched some state park areas, it smelled bad and looked bad.

We arrived at Malibu Seafood about 1pm and I think all would pretty much say that the 15 minute wait to order was worth it. The Fish & chips are the BEST!!! Some ordered chicken, bleghk! We relaxed on a terraced patio and had a cool sea breeze and enjoyed eating talking, and watching dolphins play in the ocean close to shore. My pix don't show it very well, maybe Andy got some good shots of them.

We then headed up Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) to Decker Canyon. That was crazy tight, even more so then Latigo but for less distance, and we also did Mulholland Hwy west, that was fun too. We ended up back at PCH farther north of course. Here we all parted ways to go home. Dan and Dan took off to Riverside. Dave & Kelly headed up the coast some more to cut in at the 126 and head back to Mojave. Andy & Jillian went up the coast to look for a place to camp, or maybe come back to Leo Carrillo State Beach camp site at Mulholland and PCH. I took off with the San Diego crowd to catch the 10 east and then go south on the 5. I lost the San Diego guys in downtown LA traffic. I pray everyone is OK.

The two-up riders did an awesome job, they were hanging in the turns with all of us solo pilots. Andy and Dave are excellent riders, and their pillions trust them well.

Lots of great twisties and fun with some great people. And to think, jordylad missed all this to moon the Amtrack train.

Nice to have met all y'all, and great seeing those that I have ridden with in the last few months. Take care, ride safe. Enjoy the pix.

The gang at starbucks.

Pit stop in Malibu.

Dan is glad we finally arrived at the Rock Store.

Gary & Larry are wondering when Hazmat will come clean up under this cool old HD flathead.

Lots of cool bikes parked at the Rock Store, especially that 2005 FeeJ!

FJR Forum Team huddle.

Lunch at Malibu Seafood

The San Diego bunch.

Tony & Cort talking Tech Geek junk.

I think Dave finally got a fishing pole to go catch his own fish.

Our lunch time view. Yep, it sucks living in Kalifornia.

I swear! There are dolphins in this picture, ask anyone!

 

[pegscraper]

Thanks for the report.

Those are our old stomping grounds when we lived Agoura Hills and T.O. ten years ago.

Wish we could have joined up but we were gearing up and packing for NAFO next week.

We will be up for some rides when we get back. See ya soon.

 

[dcarver]

Excellent report! Thanks and good ride everyone.

 

[FJRONAMISSION]

Love the coast shots... I'm from San Diego originally .... someday we will ride together........ FJRM :beach:

 

[FJRBluesman]

Reposted from the orginal ride posts.

Steve's front brake issue.

As some of you know, I experienced a front brake failure as I was turning into Latigo Canyon Rd.
Sometime ago I participated in a group buy for Speigler brake lines. I opted for the single line from the master cylinder into a T fitting with a line going into eack caliber. The bracket for this T fiting broke and the brake line leading from the master cyclinder to this T bracket came loose at the Bamjo bolt, causing brake fluid to leak out.

Thankfully, the folks at Moto Line in Santa Monica was able to take care of me and got me on the road soon. They replaced the 2 lines from the T bracket with ones that were a little longer as the old line were to short. They think that is what caused the problem.

Anyways, I am home safe and sound and looking forward to riding with you fine folks again.

Steve

MojaveFJR

Just want thanks for a good time. Kelly and I had a good time.
Made it home safe

LgFJR

Just wanted to say as the "extra guy" I thoroughly enjoyed the ride yesterday, and will hope to see you again in another thundering herd of FJR's.......the only down side was being barely able to keep up with about five or six of the fast guys on Latigo Canyon.......Simon and crew, and Mojave was ahead of me two up!......LOL.........back to remedial canyon carving school for me...........
Larry....

 

[weekend rider]

Nice ride. was wondering why no one had a surf board strapped to there bike? After all it is So. Cal surfs up

 

[DocDanDC]

That was an excellent ride! The twisties were indeed tight but the the camber and radius were banked like a race track. This is a great road to practice getting smoothe on. This was my first ride with my new PR2's and I would say they were great. Great tire for increasing confidence.

The seafood was great. We had a deckside view of the Pacific Ocean and 15 dolphins. I hope to ride up there again.

Thanks all!!

 

[GhostRider]

Glad everyone had fun!!!! Some day hopefully soon, I will have a life again. Damn Malibu fish house.

 

[ynotride]

Great ride guys. Big Thanks to our fearless leader and organizer Simon. That last loop on Decker Canyon was sweet. I managed to take 4 pictures all day.

 

[Neil San Diego]

Had a great time. Thanks to all who joined us on the ride, especially FJRBluesman for setting it up.

I started the day by meeting Andy (amansker) and Jillian in Vista at 6:30. We rode up to the Camp Pndleton rest area to meet up with Slappy, FJStar and Low Level FJR Pilot.

Jillian and Andy, patiently waiting on the others to arrive

We got our group together and met up with all the others at Starbucks in Long Beach.

The first rest stop in Malibu. Gotta top off the tanks before we work our way up the canyons.

FJRBluesman taking a picture of me taking a picture of him, taking a picture of... (as Cort watches over the proceedings)

Our two non-FJR ambassadors of good will for the day:

A few pictures at the Rock Store

And finally, a few dolphins for the animal lovers

Thanks again!

 

[FJRBluesman]

And finally, a few dolphins for the animal lovers SHARKS!!! those are SHARKS!! AGHHHH!!!

Fixed it for you. Don't remember our cover story?

 

[MojaveFJR]

We had a great time out there. Was good to get back on those roads. I used to live down in Oxnard and do those roads about twice a week in the evening on my R1. Always loved those decreasing radius turns on Latigo and Decker Canyon. On the way home we altered our course. We did hit the 126 as planned, took a stretch in Filmore, then headed to the 5 S then to the 14. As we were in the HOV lane in a spirited manner I noticed a white sedan with a blacked out grill approaching my 6 in a more rapid fashion. As it closed I noticed the push bars on the front. FUDGE.... MR CHP crossed the DBL yellow out of the HOV and then proceeded up to Sand Canyon. WHEW... Once again the stealthiness of the FEEJ proves viable. h34r: Kelly and I came up Bouquet Canyon where we had the canyon to ourselves. We pushed it rather aggressively and I had two toe scrapes. Great way to finish the day. Kelly is a most excellent pillion rider. Don't even know she is there. Have to check every once in awhile to ensure she didn't fall off.

350 mile day for us and worth every mile.

Thanks FJRBLUESMAN for putting this on.

Next time lets skip the traffic.

 

[jordylad]

It looks like I missed out on a great ride, oh well, I made my bed.......

The Mooning was a bit of a bust, we were raided and the party was closed down. We stuck around and still had a good day, but if I'd known.....

Next time.

 

[tonyrob]

Once again thanks for allowing an interloper on the ride..... I peeled off after the Decker Canyon loop, and we were all supposed to fill up in Malibu, but we ended up getting split up.

So to those I didn't get to say my farewells to, here's a virtual handshake :yahoo:

Thanks to Simon for setting it all up, Neil for keeping in contact with me so we could hook up on the freeway (without stopping!!!), and Jordylad for keeping his big fat arse a long way distant from this group.....

Tony

 

[Slappy]

Simon, thanks again for putting this together. No ride is ever perfect but that was as close as it gets. Tonyrob thanks for keeping the group together WHEN EVERYONE LEFT US AT THE GAS STATION. You led that ride through the canyon at a perfect pace. It was an amazing day with amazing people. As always its not just the road that makes the ride its the people you share it with. Thanks to everyone for showing up.

 

[amansker]

A great day - thanks for setting this one up and taking the lead Simon. I was cursing you as you started splitting lanes on the bridge over the Long Beach Port with 13 bikes in tow, but evidently you knew what you were doing! We made it without a hitch and the views from on top were impressive.

It is always hard to keep 14 bikes together through all that city, but everyone stuck together, waited, etc. and it worked out just fine. Good job gentlemen.

Really nice pace in the canyons - spirited, but sane. My first time on those loops and they were great.

All the state camping was full from the coast to Ojai. We were fortunate that a couple of young hippie types saw us looping through a camp ground and offered to let us stay in their camp. They were fun, we were happy, and it was a great camp spot with the sound of a river rushing nearby. Left on 150 to 126. Though only a short distance, 150 out of Ojai has some world class curves.

We ended up with a 500 mile weekend and the camping gear rode well. More importantly, the FJR was relatively comfy and the new Motoport kevlar mesh pants exceeded my expectations.

Posted some photos:

https://manskerconsulting.com/gal/v/personal/malibu/

This was originally a photo of Tony and the sign, but Tony was boring so I cropped him out. Some great food and views in Malibu.

 

[jordylad]

.... but Tony was boring so I cropped him out.

Sorry guys, I should have warned you about Tony.

I see you learn quickly however.

Nice job on the cropping amansker, that's what I normally do with my photos with Tony on too.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Next time lets skip the traffic.

I apologize for the traffic. Also sorry to those that took the 10 east to 5 south and got in that nasty mess due to an accident in the north bound lanes. We also lost each other there, strange.

A great day - thanks for setting this one up and taking the lead Simon. I was cursing you as you started splitting lanes on the bridge over the Long Beach Port with 13 bikes in tow, but evidently you knew what you were doing! We made it without a hitch and the views from on top were impressive…..…..It is always hard to keep 14 bikes together through all that city, but everyone stuck together, waited, etc. and it worked out just fine. Good job gentlemen.

Gents you're all welcome! I had a great time, it was a blast like slappy says, it's the people that also make the ride, this one was awesome! :yahoo:

Items to mention:

1) I had no clue they were working on the bridge in Long Beach. Sorry for the lane sharing I took a quick poll and most said GO! It was not far but we made it, and I didn't have camping gear.

2) I took so much side streets so you could see more of the coast. Lesson Learned: Next time we'll just slab it all the way and save an easy hour and spend more time in the canyons.

3) 14 bikes got rather large for a single group and I hope no one mind that we stopped frequently to make sure we stayed together.

4) I tried my best to ditch slappy at the gas station, but dawg gone that Tony, he's a local in Malibu and saved you guys, rats! I should have had a different sweeper.

5) jordylad - Tony was a great addition to our ride. Now you have to earn yourself back into the fold since Tony made up for you and your moon-shine misadventure.

Andy - This says it all. SoCal in the summer!

Thanks everyone for a great day!!!! :yahoo:

 

[Low Level FJR Pilot]

This was a great ride! Thanks Simon for putting it on and keeping us all together, even though you did try to leave Slappy and I back at the Shell station. Thanks Slappy for sticking with me while we checked the base to my Givi and to Tony for hanging back to insure we got to canyon carve. The base has a crack going all the way through just above the bolt hole, I will post my findings in a different thread.

Niel, Jerry, Simon and I rode the 10 to the 5 mess and I guess we thought Simon was saying goodbye, because we were clueless as to where he went. Then we decided to lane share and totally lost Jerry (I agree with Neil, we need to change his name from Slappy to Lightspeed). We stopped just North of Jordylads Pub and rested for a few, then rode down to the 78 where I said by to Neil and then I dropped back home via Fairbanks Ranch and some smooth twisties on San Dieguito to Del Sur. Got home at 6:30 so it made for a 12 hour day on the bike but boy was this fun.