How's the bike?

[HawkGTRider]

Here's a thread in which we can post most anything...maybe a reason to sign into the forum a bit more often. It could be a mini or long ride report or something you've done to your bike...pretty much anything moto related.

[HawkGTRider]

Saturday I rode to a town about 35 miles away (if you know the eastern Tennessee area, I rode from north of Knoxville to Maryville) for a backstage theatre project (only my 3rd day on 2 wheels in December). It felt good to get out on 2 wheels. So after a very rainy day Sunday and not riding, I contacted Roger W. (and he called Bill C.) Sunday night and suggested a lunch ride on Monday, a day which showed promise of dry hours.

Monday I shifted bikes around and pulled the Pacific Coast out. It hadn't been ridden since mid-November, so it was time. We rode up to the Clinch Mountain Bakery & Restaurant on US25E in Thorn Hill near Bean Station. And as the sign over the door proclaims, it has "World Famous Vinegar Pie". Look it up if you're not familiar with vinegar pie. We were primed for vinegar pie.
After a nearly 2 hour ride to cover the 71 miles (the majority of the roads we were on were somewhere between 1 1/2 and 2 unlined lanes with lots of curves and elevation variation), we found the restaurant parking lot empty as they were closed on Monday. A quick recalculation was done and we headed over to the Davy Crockett Restaurant on the northeast side of Morristown. I had one of the daily specials...chicken and dumplings with my choice of sides (mashed potatoes and green beans). Yum!
With the return trip having about the same aptitude, I got home around 4:15. The fuel topped off indicated mpg in the upper 40s...about normal for what the PC normally gets.

It was another somewhat dreary rainy day today and I only sorted through some stuff in the garage. I found the (recently purchased) front sprocket for the CB300F which is up a tooth from the stock item. In the stock set up, first gear is really low. With one tooth up, the folks on the CBR300 forum have found 1st gear to be a bit more useful. And while it's hard to beat the high 70-low 80 mpg it already gets, it might push it up just a hair more. :-) Perhaps it'll be a good project for another dreary day in the near future.

[Ride4MS]

Hello Geoffrey and everyone else.
Riding in December does not happen very often in Minnesota, at least if you don't want your bike to rust from the salt on the roads to melt the snow, which is coming down as I type this message.
About 10 years ago we took about a 200 mile ride in late November. I had not ridden in November since I was in the US Army at Ft. Bliss,TX, El Paso, as a Hawk Missile Technician. Rode all year long there. There were a few restricted areas at White Sands Missile Range that they would not let us ride the cycles, but we could drive our car there. And, I had a Top Secret Clearance badge.
When you said CBR300, it brought back memories of the CB350F, 4cyl. that Denise had bought used, while I was working as a Honda Service Mang. It had a leaky cyl base gasket and I listened to the Parts Mang when he said a 400 kit with pistons would be cheaper and work good.
It was a long winter project. One of the big changes was flat top pistons to dome pistons that required to CC the heads for equal compression. Also added a Hooker 4 into 1 exhaust and then also needed HD clutch springs as it would slip, just to name a few changes.
By the time I got it completed, it was faster in a short drag race than 750 Hondas and a 750 Kawi triple. And, it was hard to hold the front end down.
Denise decided to sell it as it was not as fun any longer, unless you were into a fast acceleration each time you started out.

[STLTHMSTA]

Sadly, my story is the same as last month's. 3 beautiful/wonderful bikes (at least to me) sat idle barely moving anywhere. I have to make sure I have the tenders on the batteries as modern bikes have lots of electronics that will drain it faster than simpler older bikes. I haven't even ridden to work in quite some time. I'm an analog man in a digital world.
Maybe a break in the weather will happen with the right timing and I'll be able to get out once in a while.
Now, that's not nearly as descriptive as Geoffrey's story but sometimes the true hurts. LOL

Good idea though Geoffrey.   TM

[NinjaBob]

Weather has been pretty delightful down here in Bayou Country! I have been averaging about 60 miles per day either just going for a ride or taking the long way to the gym. Taking turns on my 5 bikes so none will feel left out. WE have a couple of nice moderately hilly, twisty loops in the area with roads in good condition for the road bikes  and lots of rough goat trails for the KLX. Spending most of my miles on the Tracer 9 GT and as a result the R1200 RT is feeling a bit sluggish but she's great for those chilly days.

[HawkGTRider]

I'm feeling a little blue. It's now over 2/3 of the way to the end of the month and I've ridden a grand total of 3 days so far this month. That's pathetic! I have hopes for a couple of days of riding following Christmas (dry weather and warmer temps). Also, I anticipate riding down to Stockton, AL on the 29th for the "Last Big Ride of the Year" lunch on the 30th. So I may still end up with enough miles to sound respectable.
After Christmas I hope to ride my CB300F for a decent number of miles to get a baseline of mpg. I have a new front sprocket with a +1 teeth over stock, and I've seen folks recommending adding the tooth to make 1st gear a bit more usable. It'll also slow the rpms on higher gears by a small amount. If it happens to add a tiny bit to mpg, I'll not be disappointed.

[stevegrab]

Just coming to this thread a while after it started. I used to try and ride some in winter, now the bikes just go into full hibernation until the snow is gone and salt too. This year was a really wet and cold spring, along with some other things keeping me busy meant very few rides so far, none in March and only one decent half day ride in April. Now it is may, and hopefully time for some longer rides soon.

[HawkGTRider]

January was pretty sad with a whole 309 miles added to the odometers. Weather was stinky, so I sympathize with those of you that have a much shorter riding season than what we have in Tennessee.

February was a bit better with just over 1,000 miles ridden. But better things were coming.

March rolled in with some pretty decent days and several members of the "fleet" got some good exercise with 1819 miles added.

The North Georgia Classic started of the MSTA rally season in April. That good weekend and finally more consistent better weather pushed my riding to 2,186 miles for the month.
I'll be attending TriSTAR at the end of May and that'll be a good bump on whichever bike gets the nod for the weekend.

I used to think I'd do a LOT more riding if I ever retired, but it's actually been the opposite. I guess I consider my bikes as "tools" (as well as recreation) and I used to ride on my commute to work many days. I'd estimate I rode 12,000+ miles each year commuting. Now that I have a lot more time to ride, I actually find myself riding less than I would have guessed. Maybe it's a good thing that I continue to work part-time, because I can ride on my commutes to my theatre backstage gigs.

With several of the bikes being closer to "projects" than anything else, I'm going to try to resolve that issue. My Suzuki DR650 is in the shop right now getting a good evaluation on what is causing an oil leak. It's a fun bike to ride when I don't have to worry about the oil leak putting a spatter on my right leg where it blows off the engine. The BMW F650GS has finally had the speedo and ABS issues resolved (going back off and on for nearly 10 years). Yeah! It's good to get bikes running and trustworthy again.