Gotta Ride!

[St. Stephen]

About 50 miles today.

 

This bike has not rolled the miles that it should lately, all on me. Staring at the RC in the garage I often say to myself that if I'm not going to lay down the miles, I should sell it. But then I ride it. No way! 

 

Today, back in the garage, trying to straighten my knees ...

 

 

[St. Stephen]

First overnight trip in almost 2yrs (finally!) for reasons you can read above. Headed south from Sonoma county towards San Diego county. Midway was Solvang--Denmark in CA. 

 

I can't believe how large trucks have gotten here in the U.S. Obviously all 20 million parking spaces should be expanded by 10 feet in width...

 

[vfrgiving]

22 hours ago, St. Stephen said:

First overnight trip in almost 2yrs (finally!) for reasons you can read above. Headed south from Sonoma county towards San Diego county. Midway was Solvang--Denmark in CA. 

 

 

 

 

 

You still hanging out around that area of SoCal?  I was just there a few weeks ago and a neat stop is the Honda HQ in Torrance.  This is the lobby... just park in visitor parking during normal weekday work hours and waltz right in.  No entry fee or anything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[St. Stephen]

Great photos vfrgiving! Of course I especially like the RC. I have heard great things about Honda HQ but have never been, thanks for reminding me.

 

This trip is to visit my son and family in San Diego County where I am now. Heading back north tomorrow morning, early Sunday being a good time to get through LA. Four days of riding, plus today off, about 1200 miles total--not super serious mileage but a lot of socal interstate. 

 

Tomorrow my plan is to finally visit the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum. They're only open 6 hrs on Saturdays & Sundays and despite having stayed in Solvang a number of times I've never been around when they're open.

 

I'll post some photos. I believe they have a Britten, an RC30 and some other V4's.

 

https://www.motosolvang.com

[Duc2V4]

10 minutes ago, St. Stephen said:

Great photos vfrgiving! Of course I especially like the RC. I have heard great things about Honda HQ but have never been, thanks for reminding me.

 

This trip is to visit my son and family in San Diego County where I am now. Heading back north tomorrow morning, early Sunday being a good time to get through LA. Four days of riding, plus today off, about 1200 miles total--not super serious mileage but a lot of socal interstate. 

 

Tomorrow my plan is to finally visit the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum. They're only open 6 hrs on Saturdays & Sundays and despite having stayed in Solvang a number of times I've never been around when they're open.

 

I'll post some photos. I believe they have a Britten, an RC30 and some other V4's.

 

https://www.motosolvang.com

Ah man, I wish I was home, I would have made it a point to join you to Solvang, as you would be passing through my neck of the woods on your way from SD. I’m on travel for work right now. I’m in Hawaii (Oahu) and it’s been nothing but rain since I got here.

 

There’s a Cars and Coffee event that they do once a month that is hosted at Honda HQ. Not only do you get to visit the museum you also get treated to special guest as well as all the cars that show up. Ride safe and enjoy Solvang.

 

Cheers,

D

[St. Stephen]

12 minutes ago, Duc2V4 said:

Ah man, I wish I was home, I would have made it a point to join you to Solvang, as you would be passing through my neck of the woods on your way from SD. I’m on travel for work right now. I’m in Hawaii (Oahu) and it’s been nothing but rain since I got here.

That would have been fun. I always have renewed respect for your LA commuting on two wheels whenever I ride or drive through LA. Yesterday heading south I sort of went around, 118-->210-->15. Tomorrow morning going north it's the 405. I might hop over to the PCH at Santa Monica once I have most of the city freeways behind me. 

 

Hope you get some time to enjoy Hawaii despite work and the weather.

[Dutchy]

Just checked my GPS.....  May 2023 - May 2024  14,874km

I donot have the GPS on all the time so I reckon 19,000km does it.

 

Come May 2025, the plan is to work 32hrs/week from 40 now.

Come May 2026, that will be a 40 year working life... time to retire.

 

But...................  health should play along as this and other threads remind us all off...

 

 

 

 

 

[vfrgiving]

6 hours ago, St. Stephen said:

Great photos vfrgiving! Of course I especially like the RC. I have heard great things about Honda HQ but have never been, thanks for reminding me.

 

This trip is to visit my son and family in San Diego County where I am now. Heading back north tomorrow morning, early Sunday being a good time to get through LA. Four days of riding, plus today off, about 1200 miles total--not super serious mileage but a lot of socal interstate. 

 

Tomorrow my plan is to finally visit the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum. They're only open 6 hrs on Saturdays & Sundays and despite having stayed in Solvang a number of times I've never been around when they're open.

 

I'll post some photos. I believe they have a Britten, an RC30 and some other V4's.

 

https://www.motosolvang.com

 

I didn't get a chance to visit Solvang, but I did stop by the Petersen Automotive Museum.  They have a number of bikes that all seemed to be on loan from the Barber collection out of Birmingham, AL.  I'll try to get out for their Vintage Days again this year.

 

I only got to hang around SoCal and family for a week before riding 2,600 miles back home.  My go-to "welcome to SoCal" ritual is to enter on I-8 to Ocotillo, then jump on S2 through Anza-Borrego to 78.  Take 78 to Julian for food and beer.  No VFR on this run.  I made the trip on Honda's largest twin.

 

[St. Stephen]

As promised here's a photo of couple of bikes that folks here are interested in. More to follow.

 

 

[vfrgiving]

Nice to see NRs get to hang with RC30s.  This is the 3rd pair on display I'm aware of now.  Solvang, Honda HQ, and I snapped this pic at Barber last year.  Look through the NR windshield.

 

[St. Stephen]

More from the Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum yesterday.

 

One thing that stood out to me re the NR was how wiiiide it is! There's a lot under that bodywork. Here's a photo from the front:

 

(BTW my RC-51 has exactly the same turn signals as the RC-30. Probably the same as 20 other Honda street bikes of that era.)

 

Even the tach says NR:

 

 

And one of my favorite race bikes, I've seen one once before:

 

 

Finally...

 

 

 

 

 

[St. Stephen]

Two more posts from this trip, this is the next-to-last. Some interesting/strange bikes:

 

Check out this motor. A cube four two-stroke displacing a total of 250cc. Two crankshafts:

 

 

 

The front of the museum. Very low key but also kinda cool.

 

 

When I was young I remember hearing about this fire-breathing monster. If you know the actual hp please don't comment, I want to keep the memory alive. 😉

 

 

 

 

 

[St. Stephen]

Tomales is a great spot on the PCH not too far from where I live. Lots of great roads in the vicinity, including Rt. 1 itself.

 

If you visit, stop at the Route One Bakery and Kitchen. Inside that top trunk is some of the best sourdough in the bay area. Apparently they made too much blueberry pie for Father's Day so, yeah, there's some other goodies in there too.  😎

 

 

[Lorne]

8 hours ago, St. Stephen said:

If you visit, stop at the Route One Bakery and Kitchen.

I love the stretch of PCH and nearby roads between GG and Bodega Bay. Didn't try the bakery but I've had a few nice coffee breaks at Tomales Deli next door. Here're pics from my 1st visit, back in 2007.

 

 

Edited June 18, 2024 by Lorne
rearranged the photos

[Grum]

On 5/22/2024 at 9:29 AM, St. Stephen said:

Two more posts from this trip, this is the next-to-last. Some interesting/strange bikes:

 

Check out this motor. A cube four two-stroke displacing a total of 250cc. Two crankshafts:

 

 

Wow. That ignition setup has to be a Rainy Day Nightmare!

[St. Stephen]

18 hours ago, Lorne said:

I love the stretch of PCH and nearby roads between GG and Bodega Bay. Didn't try the bakery but I've had a few nice coffee breaks at Tomales Deli next door. Here're pics from my 1st visit, back in 2007.

 

 

 

Well Lorne, as you can see they painted it blue. And I'll check on my next visit but I doubt the pay phone is still there. I'm still trying to find a spot in norcal that you haven't been to!

 

The bakery changed hands, more upscale, but it attracts a nice combination of two-wheelers: tons of bicyclists in lycra/spandex, and all sorts of motorcycles, from tour groups on HD's, to squids, and everything in between, all eating their great pizza. Everybody gets along.

 

And, because it's all about the photos, here's the other bike on Tomales Road about two miles away, and about 3.5 years ago:

 

 

 

 

[Lorne]

22 hours ago, St. Stephen said:

I'm still trying to find a spot in norcal that you haven't been to!

...

And, because it's all about the photos, here's the other bike on Tomales Road about two miles away

You can see a lot of a state if you visit often enough 😉

The scenery in that part of California does look like something out of a fairy tale, doesn't it? 

[St. Stephen]

100 miles today. The marketing folks call a lot of the north bay Wine Country, and man there were a lot of grapes growing on my ride. 

 

Lots of agriculture here, and you can tell what kind by how often you have to stop and wipe all the bugs off your face shield. Cows and chickens are pretty much 10 splats per minute, but around the vinyards no visual obstruction!

 

No, I did not taste:

 

 

[St. Stephen]

You've probably been in a similar situation:

 

A great stretch of road in front of you (PCH in this case). To the left: the way home after a fun 50 mile backroad ride. Straight ahead at least 20 miles of really great smooth, twisty pavement. Approaching the turn an RV and a truck were ahead of me as I headed south out of Tomales. So...inside my helmet I said, if they go left I should really go straight. They went left.

 

A good choice, and some luck, meant that the next 15 (or so) miles were motorcycling magic. The few four-wheeled vehicles in front of me used the turn-outs (thanks!). Michelin Power 5's still stick! Just buzzed all the way to Olema, kept meaning to stop and take a pic but, you know...

 

So, boring garage photo, back home:

 

 

 

 

[Lorne]

6 hours ago, St. Stephen said:

Just buzzed all the way to Olema

 Olema, eh? I was enjoying a solo ride homeward from Monterey in July of '03, and neglected to stop at Olema's one and only stop sign. I was looking for the turn into Point Reyes National Seashore and hadn't noticed a CHiP car right behind. Oops. Got away with a warning, tho.

 

No photo of that adventure, but here's one from earlier on that trip. Also on a VTR1000, but an F sadly instead of an R. This is a couple miles up Nacimiento-Fergusson road from PCH, near Lucia.

Edited July 17, 2024 by Lorne
hit return by mistake

[St. Stephen]

Hey Lorne. VFRD member Tirso and I traded comments a couple of years ago about encountering a speed trap at that same Olema intersection a year or two ago. Watch out! 

 

My Nacimiento-Furgussen shot from four years ago, pretty close to your perspective, when it was the only way to go south as Rt. 1 had washed into the sea:

 

[St. Stephen]

I had just purchased my 7th gen and the bags were back-ordered. I was living in the midwest at the time and my first overnight trip was to the beautiful and mostly empty backroads of north/central Arkansas. If you've been there you know: routes 123, 16, 27, and the absolute best, 341 aka Push Mtn Road. And I say that living now in northern CA, so that's good.

 

Not as much attention for the VFR1200F here on VFRD, we're mostly 8th, 5th gen and prior mentions these days, but I really loved my 1200. Seven years of great riding.

 

 

 

 

 

[Grum]

52 minutes ago, St. Stephen said:

 

Terrible amount of oil leaking from your bike mate. Better get that checked ASAP.

Lovely looking 1200.

[FromMaine]

I had a quick read of your original post, and really got it. It happens, life, circumstances, job, suddenly you have run out of riding season.

I shipped out my entire life, because thats what you do up here if you want to make a living. More than once I left early April to go overseas with 18" of snow on the ground to get extended and come back in Nov. with..........snow on the ground. It was tough looking at the bikes in the garage to say the least.

[FromMaine]

26 minutes ago, Grum said:

Terrible amount of oil leaking from your bike mate. Better get that checked ASAP.

Lovely looking 1200.

Grum:

You will stay after VFRD school today and write on the chalkboard 100 times.

"I will not make fun of other members bikes"

When done, erase it, and do it again.😁