Fall Colors 2015

[touringman]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply Wardie. In many ways, your description coincides with my experience in riding my DL 650. It isn't a power house, but I seldom have a problem keeping up with more powerful bikes in the twisties.I attribute that to ground clearance and weight, as well as the real world performance of the engine. I say real world, because there is the necessary balance between the geometry of the bike when mated with the engine. The Vstrom focuses its power and torque together to provide excellent performance through the range of the type of riding I enjoy, and I assume you may be saying the same about the CB500X. I researched your choice of luggage, and found that to be very appealing also. I have several Givi Monokey bags to choose from as a top case, and the soft bags with an internal waterproof liner should work well. For around $600 the bike could be outfitted with good touring luggage. My Vstrom has a strong appeal for me, but I'll continue to scout out the CB500X. A beg factor is that it's 50 lbs. lighter tan the Vstrom, which is no porker. Thanks again, Syd

[wardie]

Wardie,

 



"I already had five other people in my group for Saturday.  The larger the group, the more stressful it is for me.  Adding two additional riders, both new to the group, was more than I was able to do."

Norm Kern

Norm,



I like your sense of also keeping safety at a premium and I completely understood your rationale. No harm, no foul looking forward to bending some curves sometime with your bridgade

[wardie]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply Wardie. In many ways, your description coincides with my experience in riding my DL 650. It isn't a power house, but I seldom have a problem keeping up with more powerful bikes in the twisties.I attribute that to ground clearance and weight, as well as the real world performance of the engine. I say real world, because there is the necessary balance between the geometry of the bike when mated with the engine. The Vstrom focuses its power and torque together to provide excellent performance through the range of the type of riding I enjoy, and I assume you may be saying the same about the CB500X. I researched your choice of luggage, and found that to be very appealing also. I have several Givi Monokey bags to choose from as a top case, and the soft bags with an internal waterproof liner should work well. For around $600 the bike could be outfitted with good touring luggage. My Vstrom has a strong appeal for me, but I'll continue to scout out the CB500X. A beg factor is that it's 50 lbs. lighter tan the Vstrom, which is no porker. Thanks again, Syd

That's my point..it's light and flickable and in the twisties it's about  keeping up cornering speed. There's hardly a decent straightaway in WVA (that we were on) so as long as I keep her "on the pipe" and mo-joing through the corner she'll keep up. Now if you're asking me to pass at 80 mph I want to plan this a little. That's where I miss the liter bike. I can go for a week with my Blaze /Bags Connection soft bags and fake GIVI top case. I'm trying out an Air Hawk. As a former Busa, Rockster and CBR 900 pilot I loved my Corbins but can't stand the look of one on my bike so I'm trying the hawk and will report my findings to the group. When I next see you plan on taking my bike out for a ride and see if it's something for you.

[touringman]

If the good Lord leaves me here, I'll be in Lewisburg on Wed. again next year. I'll get my stuff in order, and be ready to ride on Thursday. The last couple of years, I've been fortunate to have Doug Pippin and Mickey Tyler to ride with. You are welcome to ride with me-us on Thursday, Friday, and or Saturday if you like. I detest riding with more than 5 in a group, so let me know somewhere down the road. I'd love the opportunity to swap bikes with you, and give the Honda a try! Syd

[touringman]

By the way Wardie, I've been using an Airhawk for 3 years now, and it's been the best thing since sliced bread! I have the cheaper vinyl bladder in mine, because I wantedt to test it before spending the big bucks! It doesn't leak, and the adjustability of the ride is awesome. Like anything else, you have to work with it for a while to get it right. Syd:-)

[wardie]

The instructions say to inflate at maximum and sit on it, then slowly deflate till you have 1/8" of air/compression in it. I don't want to feel like I'm rolling around so 1/8" much be correct. Your opinion?

[touringman]

I didn't measure it per say. I let air out until I reached a stage that felt comfortable to me, and then gave it a real world test on a long ride. I made several adjustments along the way to find a perfect balance for me. This balance may vary from bike to bike, because of the different configurations of the seats. I use it on as many as 4 bikes with good results. I do attempt to leave enough air in it to cushion the top from the bottom. It just seems rational that the abrasion of one rubbing against the other might shorten the life of the cushion. Good luck, Syd

[stevegrab]

Bill (buckeye56),
Glad my talking (loudly I'm sure) about what we did that year at FCR paid off for you. Some of the first MC trips I made before joining the HSTA were with a friend down into that area of WV, we used to stay at a small motel on US250 in the town of Bartow (Hermitage Motel) which has closed since then. There are still things I want to see there, like the road that runs from Cass to near Bartow believe its called Back Mountain road and heard it provides nice views of the big dish at the observatory. Last I heard it was one of those "WV roads" 2 lanes of gravel with one lane paved (counts as a paved road).

We bugged out Saturday morning, for a very long ride home, that's why you didn't see us.

Norm/Wardie,
I've known Larry for a number of years now, he isn't that active in our NE Ohio group since he's usually very busy with his radio gig and following the MC industry events for it. But he has been to Mail Pouch a few times, our plans didn't align this last year to ride together. At FCR he showed up on Friday, and we went down on Thursday. Saturday we headed home while he was trying to find somebody to ride with.

I know what you mean about having others join an already large group. Even if my group isn't that large I'd like to know a little about those riding with me before bringing them in. Others are different, but I know most in the MSTA generally ride in smaller groups and with people they ride with regularly. Good to hear that everybody understands the reasons.

[normkern]

Bill (buckeye56),

I know what you mean about having others join an already large group. Even if my group isn't that large I'd like to know a little about those riding with me before bringing them in. Others are different, but I know most in the MSTA generally ride in smaller groups and with people they ride with regularly. Good to hear that everybody understands the reasons.

The whole group riding thing is kind of a sticky subject. Most group riding is what I call "social group riding" where the basic intent is to be as inclusive as possible. There are many problems with this approach and it doesn't work for me.

I call what we do "interest group riding" to distinguish it from the rest. Our riding centers around specific common interests, such as pace, passing etiquette, frequency of stops, etc.  The key difference is that in social group riding, the group adapts to the newcomer, and in interest group riding, the newcomer adapts to the group.

In social group riding, our rules would seem strict and unfriendly, but our group has self-selected to be people who like our particular rules. For example, we want to avoid things like the "slowest common denominator" (one person who is much slower and holds the group up all day), people who enjoy the "gas game" (not starting with a full tank of gas, forcing extra gas stops) and smokers who want to force everyone to stand around in their gear on a hot day while they smoke, etc.

It's nice to do the social group thing, but you can take on strangers and wind up riding a whole season, never getting to ride the way you'd really like to. It's a big problem when people know you're into navigation and sees you as a navigator/ride leader that frees them of the need to learn to use a GPS or try to follow written instructions. Everyone wants to "tag along."

Interest group riding works best for me.

Norm Kern

[Patmo]

Very well put, Norm.  Do you mind if I copy this and post it up on the Ky-MSTA FBook site?

[RIDEMYST]

Norm, no truer words were spoken! -JEP-


Sent by using these little bitty keys on my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DirtFlier]

When I was working Registration at Fall Colors, a rider asked me "Who's leading the ride tomorrow?"  I politely told him that we don't have led rides and only ride in small groups.   I'll never understand why some people have a need to be led somewhere because it's certainly not my idea of fun.  :-(

[HawkGTRider]

When I was working Registration at Fall Colors, a rider asked me "Who's leading the ride tomorrow?"  I politely told him that we don't have led rides and only ride in small groups.   I'll never understand why some people have a need to be led somewhere because it's certainly not my idea of fun.  :-(

While that doesn't work for you, it does work for a lot of people. At STAR we asked people to volunteer to lead groups of a size with which they were comfortable. These rides were broken down by levels of "enthusiasm" so that even if you didn't have a riding group, you could probably find a small-to-large group with which to ride in a flower sniffing-to-hard charging manner. It worked pretty well. I expect we'll be doing that again with some tweaks.
Like clubs in general, we are a social group. If you don't have riding buddies, most still don't want to ride alone. I feel like it's more of a feeling of being included than needing to be led. If people found their way to an event, they obviously know how to find their way from one place to another. My guess is that it's the desire to be part of something that leads a person to ask about led rides.

[Patmo]

It's been my experience that people that are "new" to an area are much more inclined to look for a "led" ride.  People more familiar with the area, because of prior experience, are more willing to either go out on their own or become the leader.  Expereience leading a group usually leads to more comfort doing it, but the catch is that it can only happen by doing. 

[fz1grl]

When I was working Registration at Fall Colors, a rider asked me "Who's leading the ride tomorrow?"  I politely told him that we don't have led rides and only ride in small groups.   I'll never understand why some people have a need to be led somewhere because it's certainly not my idea of fun.  :-(

While that doesn't work for you, it does work for a lot of people. At STAR we asked people to volunteer to lead groups of a size with which they were comfortable. These rides were broken down by levels of "enthusiasm" so that even if you didn't have a riding group, you could probably find a small-to-large group with which to ride in a flower sniffing-to-hard charging manner. It worked pretty well. I expect we'll be doing that again with some tweaks.
Like clubs in general, we are a social group. If you don't have riding buddies, most still don't want to ride alone. I feel like it's more of a feeling of being included than needing to be led. If people found their way to an event, they obviously know how to find their way from one place to another. My guess is that it's the desire to be part of something that leads a person to ask about led rides.

For me it's having someone to visit with at stops, take breaks with and eat lunch with.  I'll never ever be the fastest rider but I love to ride.
I'm a willing ride leader but most folks don't want to ride at my pace.  I can find my way just about anywhere and have even in Europe so it's not for that reason that's for sure.


I've been leading a Sunday Funday ride out of my dealer's here in OKC and that is maybe the only place i'm actually faster than the rest of the group but then they are 75% cruisers and 20% adventure bikes.  Once in a while I'm not the only one riding a sport bike which is how they see my bike.