[dsn_klr650] nklr (long) saturday ride blue ridge parkway

[Jim Jackson]

Hey all! Spent Saturday morning and early afternoon with me on my A13 and a friend on his Suzi Intruder 800 cruiser. Spent most of the day on the road to and from the Blue Ridge Parkway. We really had a blast. If the guy on the yellow BMW dual sport is on this list I have only one message for you: Don't let me catch you parked anywhere. There is no excuse for driving like that in a 35 mph zone. You just about knocked Eric down with that pass. Anyway, on to more pleasant topics. Saw another A12 or A13 heading south while we were heading north. Leading a Ducati or Buell? Anyone on the list? Did you run into rain heading south? We got soaked going north. Good to see you out there! I'm pretty inexperienced in regards to street bikes but Eric and I swapped for about half an hour. Wow what a difference. Much smoother and more grunt from 55 but that bike seemed really tippy. How do you guys on cruisers ride in a crouched position for so long? I found myself wanting to stretch my legs after 10 minutes. Its strange being able to reach down and touch the ground. Also, with no fairing I was expecting lots of wind noise. Nothing. Magnitudes quieter than my Kawi with stock windscreen at 55 to 65. I was very surprised to say the least. I find that my Kawi tall model is quieter up to 70 or so but faster than that and the buffeting wind wants to rip my head off. The shorter model is good for sub-55 and that's about it. Think I'll take another ride this weekend without a windshield. Through the turns I found I was eating him up. No surprise I guess. I could go about 30% faster than him on any given turn. An impression only since I was nowhere near my mild limits and he said he was 80% or more of his comfort level. Is Chris Krok reading? I was thinking all the way home about temporarily pinning some dowells on the bike at the handlebars, fairing, front fender, behind the rider and at the tail light. I could secure yarn to them in 2 inch increments and take front and side pictures at 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75 mph and see what the Kawi original, Kawi tall and Rifle windshelds look like with me on it. Make-shift wind tunnel. Is this feasible? Asking you because your signature has "wind tunnel" in it... I also realized while riding the 800 how truly bad our brakes are. Hitting his was like a brake should feel. Pressing mine are like stepping on a plum. I'm going to bleed them again. Going back to the Hawg waving thing I found that by myself no HD guys would give me a second look. With Eric, EVERYONE was waving. Hmmmmm The gripsters I have are the 90/10 models and I can never remember their designation. My impression of them in very wet are that they are solid. I didn't push it too much in the turns but I broke hard once and they didn't miss a beat. This was also my break-in for my new Darien jacket and pants. Synopsis: Jacket is AWESOME!! Pants came off after 10 miles. Not just hot. SOOOO darn hot I couldn't stand it. I know how bad it is to do this but I'm planning on holding off breaking these in till the fall when we go below 90 degrees. Can anyone recommend chaps or something cooler that won't make me look like I should be singing with the Village People while on my bike? The only bad things all day were the Beemer driving stupid, Eric backfiring once in a turn and me thinking he lost a tire and following him around a slow moving car once and coming into a turn WAY too fast. The front was skittering over the pavement and the rear locked a couple of times while I was pumping it. We stopped after that and decided that we will ALWAYS pass individually. I felt awfully stupid after that one. The folks we passed were not too pleased either and they had a right to be angry. Happy Trails fork brace is definitely on my list now. That and a brain apparently. Well, that's about it. I'll post pictures when they are developed. Saw LOTS of trails. If anyone is interested in a weekend trip randomly checking them out let me know. Told you it was a long post... Later, Jim Jackson II A13 - South Carolina ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com