Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Revised Garage!
The Bandit is still around. It's a long story. New to the stable is a Yamaha V-Star 1300! It's choice for long distance stuff. Just put Mustang seats on it and am looking forward to riding weather!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
All good things...
Well I've slimmed down my garage. Namely, sold the DR650 and the Bandit that's been in storage for ages. The Bandit I'm glad to finally see go, but the DR650 is another matter. I've hardly touched it since I got the Boulevard. I mean like, I think I've ridden it maybe 5 times since taking ownership of the Boulevard. A cruiser is what I should have gotten in the first place. I just prefer the long, exploratory rides right now. Trips to Yellowstone, rides through the mountains, etc.
Still, I'm a big wistful that I can't hop on the dirtbike any more and take to the forest service roads. In the year that I owned it (well, the 6 months prior to buying the Boulevard) I put some really great miles on it doing some really great rides. (It had 1,994 miles on it when I sold it.) Still, I spend most of my time on the streets now, wandering all over creation. Since I got the C50, I've put over 5,000 miles on it, and I hope to do a lot more before it has to be stored for winter.
In preparation for the "more riding" I've been adding various "farkles" to the C50. Namely, saddlebags (though I'm looking for better ones), highway bars w/pegs, Memphis Fats windshield, GPS mount... I have on order some Mustang seats, fender rails, Jardine passenger backrest, and a solo rack for when I ride alone. (Most of the time.) It's going to be the touring bike I always wanted. I'll post pics when the upgrades are complete. (Should be around mid-August.)
Still, I'm a big wistful that I can't hop on the dirtbike any more and take to the forest service roads. In the year that I owned it (well, the 6 months prior to buying the Boulevard) I put some really great miles on it doing some really great rides. (It had 1,994 miles on it when I sold it.) Still, I spend most of my time on the streets now, wandering all over creation. Since I got the C50, I've put over 5,000 miles on it, and I hope to do a lot more before it has to be stored for winter.
In preparation for the "more riding" I've been adding various "farkles" to the C50. Namely, saddlebags (though I'm looking for better ones), highway bars w/pegs, Memphis Fats windshield, GPS mount... I have on order some Mustang seats, fender rails, Jardine passenger backrest, and a solo rack for when I ride alone. (Most of the time.) It's going to be the touring bike I always wanted. I'll post pics when the upgrades are complete. (Should be around mid-August.)
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Yellowstone Weekend
Took a nice trip up to Yellowstone this weekend. Just got back and am dead tired, so I'm not going to post pictures and synopsis at the moment. I will post maps for the 3 days, though. Google Maps, again, I'm afraid, as braniac here (read: me) reset the logs on the GPS.
Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Day 1
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Day 2
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Day 3
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Sunday, May 11, 2008
Noice!
Yeah well, it's been a while. What can I say? Haven't done much *real* riding lately, but got out for about a ~225 mile ride today. I haven't gotten a bracket for my Boulevard yet to hold the Garmin, so I don't yet have the good ol' GPX files for exporting. But, I do have a link to a Google Maps page that I mapped out. You can find that heeya:
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It was a great day for riding. Overcast, but warm. There was a bit more wind than I like, but not so much as to make it uncomfortable. I took some crummy pics with my crummy iPhone camera, but they're really not much to look at. In fact, I hesitate to post them. Yeah, after reviewing them again, I'm just not even going to bother. The camera in the iPhone is just hideous. Don't even want to deal with it.
Hit a couple areas I've never been before, though. Namely, from Henefer, UT to Ogden, UT as well as Highway 150 out of Kamas. My intention was to take 150 up to Evanston, then 89 to Woodruff, then 39 back down into Ogden. My atlas shows those roads being closed for "winter" but I was unaware that in Utah, winter is considered to be all the way until the end-ish of June. Who knew? It was a shame, too, because the roads were perfect all the way until the closures. I can't believe that the roads mysteriously got bad after the signs. (In fact, judging by the lack of snow on the ground, I'm thinking they were just fine.) I was tempted to just keep on trucking, but thought better of it.
The area around Henefer is just gorgeous. Having never been there (or as far north as Ogden, for that matter) I wasn't sure what to expect. West of Henefer is just lucious green, though, and the highway down to the lake I had to turn around at (another road closure) was awesome. Definitely will be heading back up there at some point when the roads are open for the summer.
I'm thinking maybe later in the year I'll head back up my original route to Evanston, but perhaps just keep heading north to Grand Teton Nat'l Park by way of the "back" highways. I know, I know, it's a tourism nightmare during the summer, but I've wanted to go back up towards Yellowstone since I was a kid and saw it for the first time. I have so many places I want to go this summer, though, who knows if I'll get to it. Oregon is calling pretty loudly, too.
View Larger Map
It was a great day for riding. Overcast, but warm. There was a bit more wind than I like, but not so much as to make it uncomfortable. I took some crummy pics with my crummy iPhone camera, but they're really not much to look at. In fact, I hesitate to post them. Yeah, after reviewing them again, I'm just not even going to bother. The camera in the iPhone is just hideous. Don't even want to deal with it.
Hit a couple areas I've never been before, though. Namely, from Henefer, UT to Ogden, UT as well as Highway 150 out of Kamas. My intention was to take 150 up to Evanston, then 89 to Woodruff, then 39 back down into Ogden. My atlas shows those roads being closed for "winter" but I was unaware that in Utah, winter is considered to be all the way until the end-ish of June. Who knew? It was a shame, too, because the roads were perfect all the way until the closures. I can't believe that the roads mysteriously got bad after the signs. (In fact, judging by the lack of snow on the ground, I'm thinking they were just fine.) I was tempted to just keep on trucking, but thought better of it.
The area around Henefer is just gorgeous. Having never been there (or as far north as Ogden, for that matter) I wasn't sure what to expect. West of Henefer is just lucious green, though, and the highway down to the lake I had to turn around at (another road closure) was awesome. Definitely will be heading back up there at some point when the roads are open for the summer.
I'm thinking maybe later in the year I'll head back up my original route to Evanston, but perhaps just keep heading north to Grand Teton Nat'l Park by way of the "back" highways. I know, I know, it's a tourism nightmare during the summer, but I've wanted to go back up towards Yellowstone since I was a kid and saw it for the first time. I have so many places I want to go this summer, though, who knows if I'll get to it. Oregon is calling pretty loudly, too.
Friday, January 11, 2008
New Gloves & Jacket
It's been a while. No surprise, what with the nasty weather and all. The most riding I've done since my last post was to take the Boulevard into the dealer for the 600 mile / 2 month service. Sadly, I hit two months before hitting 600 miles. I'll even that ratio out more once spring hits.
In preparation for the winter, I picked up some of the new Tour Master Synergy heated gloves, and finally got a chance to pick them up while riding back from the dealer. They're definitely a mixed bag. They're quite warm in certain temperatures, but fail when used in the cold stuff. Really sad, too, because the fit and finish are exceptional.
When I rode back from the dealer, it was probably right around 30 degrees. Plugged in the gloves and fired them up, and they did provide heat fast. Unfortunately, while most of my hands were perfectly comfortable, my thumbs still froze. Specifically, the entire bottom side of your thumbs when making a fist take the brunt of the chill. It went pretty rapidly from chilly, to almost painful, too. I was really disappointed. I'm considering trying with some liners next to see if that helps. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm going to have to look elsewhere for sub-freezing hand warmth.
For Christmas, I got a Tour Master Coaster II leather jacket. I took out the jacket on a 50 or so degree day and it worked perfectly. The center of my chest got slightly chilled (where the inner liner doesn't cover) but other than that, it was great. The leather is quite thick and stiff, but it'll break in. The armor in the shoulders/elbows is good quality stuff. The back armor is the standard foam padding you'll find in many riding jackets. It looks great, and I'm sure it'll wear as nicely. I'm really happy with it. I looked at quite a few jackets, and while I didn't really "settle" on this one (the dealer only had this model in stock, and I like being able to try things on first) it was in the top 3 or so of the ones I was choosing from online. Was about $200, and I'm looking forward to spring when I can use it fully.
In preparation for the winter, I picked up some of the new Tour Master Synergy heated gloves, and finally got a chance to pick them up while riding back from the dealer. They're definitely a mixed bag. They're quite warm in certain temperatures, but fail when used in the cold stuff. Really sad, too, because the fit and finish are exceptional.
When I rode back from the dealer, it was probably right around 30 degrees. Plugged in the gloves and fired them up, and they did provide heat fast. Unfortunately, while most of my hands were perfectly comfortable, my thumbs still froze. Specifically, the entire bottom side of your thumbs when making a fist take the brunt of the chill. It went pretty rapidly from chilly, to almost painful, too. I was really disappointed. I'm considering trying with some liners next to see if that helps. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm going to have to look elsewhere for sub-freezing hand warmth.
For Christmas, I got a Tour Master Coaster II leather jacket. I took out the jacket on a 50 or so degree day and it worked perfectly. The center of my chest got slightly chilled (where the inner liner doesn't cover) but other than that, it was great. The leather is quite thick and stiff, but it'll break in. The armor in the shoulders/elbows is good quality stuff. The back armor is the standard foam padding you'll find in many riding jackets. It looks great, and I'm sure it'll wear as nicely. I'm really happy with it. I looked at quite a few jackets, and while I didn't really "settle" on this one (the dealer only had this model in stock, and I like being able to try things on first) it was in the top 3 or so of the ones I was choosing from online. Was about $200, and I'm looking forward to spring when I can use it fully.
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