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Not that it matters and not that I expect anyone had noticed, but to those who sent me "where are you?" I would like to say I am back. Not only that I am officially returning to VFRD after nearly 2 months break but I have also ridden my Hawk last weekend and had FUN! Let me restate that; I had major fun riding! Something I have almost given up on. Most of you have been riding your whole adult lives and riding is not only a hobby to you, it is part of you. But I started riding three years ago and even though I have encounter some setbacks, till this spring I loved riding with whole my heart. However, I have always considered riding as my hobby. As a hobby which suppose to make my life better, more fun and more rich. Life is too short to do something which we don't fully love. My love of riding received a first major scar this spring: I lost a friend on the racetrack. He was a total stranger who offered me his help after I lowsided at CMP track last year. I still remember hearing his "Hi, my name is Todd, do you need help?" while I was duct-taping my roadrash from ripped jacket. He helped me straighten up the shifter and we kept in touch. The next time we saw each other was the day he died. With 9 months delay, I can say that Todd's death shook me more than I have realized. It rooted fear in me which was fueled by seeing and hearing about others getting hurt over and over again. If I was to summarize this year - it would be one big accident report. I became sensitive to every broken bone, every roadrash, every lowside. And even though I did 10 track days this year, I became slower and slower and slower. Suddenly, I have acquired this 'grandma' riding style on the road, frozen with fear that behind every corner there is car standing in my lane, or major sand trap or deer staring at me ... I was crippled with fear not only for me about also for my fellow rider. So, at the end of this year, I rode more and more by myself. I could not bear the feelings of responsibility for others on the road and my lines were crippled by my own fears. It all culminated this fall at WDGAH. In a freaky accident Love2rideh82crash was taken down by a truck crossing into our lane. I was done. I finished the weekend, locked the VFR into a garage and took a break. Until the last weekend, I pretended that motorcycles do not exists. As a last instance after 2 months break from riding, I decided to go to CMP track to see if I can still have fun. I also felt like I should go for the memory of Todd. I went and I had fun! I had much more fun than I expected and the most fun on track I can remember. Suddenly the whole track connected into an uninterupted line of turns and I felt one with the bike riding around! I was giggling like a little girl in my helmet and keep on giggling ever since Granted I was not the fastest one and through out the weekend, I have never exceeded about 60% of my riding abilities, but I had no "oh-shit" nor 'blond' moments. I could have maybe go faster, I could have brake later for the turns and I could have lean further, but I am no Rossi nor Stoner. I decided to ride for fun and I had amazing blast riding well within my comfort zone. I was proud of myself when, after bandaging Ricks arm, I was able to distance myself and go back to riding without the year-long fear. I did feel bad for him but the feelings were not crippling my lines nor my mind. And when a total stranger came to me and said "Hi, my name is Todd", my heart stopped for a minute though but I suddenly knew that my life went a full circle. I probably will never win MotoGP :idea3: , but I am back! :wheel:

I wrote this for one of the groups I coach for back in 2019. Members ask every year what it is like to be a CR and if it is something they should aspire to, but never more than this year. So, as I promised them, here are my thoughts on being a coach, track days, and riding in general. It is my hope that other CRs will chime in and that members will ask questions. Don’t be shy. Let’s start off with the elephant in the proverbial room. A number of members comment that they might like to coach to get free track time. Make no mistake, coaching isn’t free track time, and it isn’t just riding around all day at your own pace, working on your own skills. One of the negatives to CRing is that you’re nearly always off pace and it is hard to find the time (and energy) to get in sufficient Advanced sessions to keep your skills sharp. One of the great treats of coaching at the pointy end of the Intermediate group is pulling a guy who is ready for Advanced. When we pit in we both have the same eyes like saucers and giant smiles. CRs do this mainly because they want to give something BACK to the sport that has given them so much. I certainly feel that way. I’m at 297 track days with 34 CR days with N2, 27 for Turn 1 at CMP (now defunct), and 7 with Track Tactics (now defunct). N2 has legs… I have many friends that I share meals with, text/talk/e-mail with who I’ve met through track days over the years. You won’t find more friendly/helpful people. The CR meeting is at 6:45 each day, so we have to be up early. This can be hard if you’re staying off site like I do. It frequently means missing breakfast as hotels serve late on the weekends. No waking up at 7:50 and rolling through tech while your umbrella girl carries your leathers! 7-8 we register and tech bikes. Discussing the things we find is a post on its own! For instance, “I took it off because I never use my rear brake!” Many of us have spare bikes so that we’re not “down” at any point on the weekend, as that would create more work for the other coaches. For me, that means purchasing and maintaining two bikes (decent tires, oil, etc.). For other CRs and for me, that also means loaning one out to someone who’s had a mechanical problem with theirs. A number of coaches and members have ridden “scruffy” (my spare bike) to get through their day. It is a pleasure to be able to help someone like this (they pay for consumables and any damage done!). Because we generally run a lot of days and a lot of laps on any given day (I average ~225 miles a day when I coach), we go through a lot more consumables (tires, oil, plugs, pads, fuel, etc.). I can kill two new rear tires in a day at CMP at pace. This also means that we are more at risk of having an incident. While math isn’t for everyone, this all adds up financially and with our relationships. That means many vacation days get used for travel and riding instead of to the beach for a week with family. And it means, for many, days away from loved ones instead of with them. (Not to mention a loss of garage space!) Many have asked about pace to become a CR. My $.02 is that while one has to be capable of running a certain pace at any given track (including new ones you’ve never seen before!), other important skills are being able to manage traffic at speed, identify people who are a danger or who need help and address them quickly, and be able to give accurate, useful feedback to members without offending them. Everyone thinks that they ride like (insert favorite racer here) and takes a hit to the ego when someone tells them that there are things to work on. We’ve all had to break a few hearts over the years. We spend a LOT of time working with members and work with a lot of folks each track day. It is hard to remember them and how they rode, especially when we watch them on a bike and in their leathers but they come up to talk between sessions looking completely different. It is difficult to provide feedback once some time passes. If I average working with five riders in a session, riding double sessions all day, that’s ~140/weekend. My memory isn’t nearly good enough to remember specifics once I roll out for the next session. It is such a pleasure to provide feedback to someone and see them take it, implement it, and get immediately better/faster/safer on the track. My buddy Nick is one of those (rare) people. We talk between sessions. He listens to me, does what I ask, and comes in with faster times and safer lines. His improvement over just a few track days is staggering. We don’t provide honest feedback to make people feel bad, but to improve the overall safety (and fun) for everyone. Another great pleasure for a CR is to bump someone who never even knew that they had eyes on them. In my experience, many people who ask for a bump are the ones who make up their time with horsepower and have some skill gaps which they may or may not want to admit to or address. This is not always true, but it is common. I always tell them that it is much more satisfying to be fast on lesser equipment. (Don’t get me started on rider aids!) Stay behind better riders in the straights and see if you can match their other skills. After that, add the HP. Many riders buy big HP bikes which are much harder to learn on, harder to coach, and are apparently easier to crash on. 😛 I can still remember hauling the mail on my 600 and getting passed by an AMA guy, two-up, on an SV650 back in 2012. I don’t want to get past him, I want to be him. Those are skills that I admire and want. You should too. When I started track days back when we had to avoid dinosaur missteps, way back in 1998, I was “the fast guy” on the street. I led many rides at stupid pace on public roads. Some of you may be able to relate… At my first track day, I was one of the slowest riders attending. I distinctly remember getting passed into turn 1 at Loudon by a guy who looked like Santa on a BMW R-bike WITH side cases. I had a huge skills gap. I’ve been running a 600cc bike for most of my track days since 2005. Even this many years later, I’m still getting new best times at various tracks every year (on the same vintage bikes and frequently with a street rear tire). Road Atlanta and NC Bike this year and all VIR configurations last year. THAT is satisfying. Due to better skills and body position, I also go home less sore, or not sore at all, even after 200+ mile days one after another. Coaching…I love it. See you guys in the year of perfect eyesight (2020). Brad

Juniper Pass I took a day off from work and also from my bicycle training to take out the Veefalo one last time before the weather turns ugly, supposed to snow the rest of the week and possibly start sticking to the ground along the Colorado Front Range. I took a leisurely pace up hwy 105 toward Morrison and got reacquainted with the bike since its been over a month since I took any sort of twisties on it at all, hwy 105 is a scenic ride along the front range between Denver and Colorado Springs, its mostly easy fast sweepers and lite traffic so its a favorite road of mine when going north. Then I have to negotiate a bit of traffic near Highlands ranch and up hwy 470 into the mountains. I decided to take the Morrison Exit and try either Lookout Mountain or head up Golden Gate Canyon - this time it was Lookout Mountain, I was sort of making it up on the fly as I went along. Lookout Mountain is my old bicycling haunt from my days while I was working at Coors, its a killer ride and all uphill - I don't think I could do it today If I had to, not quite there yet! I saw a whole bunch of riders doing it though and wished I was in shape enough to be there doing it as well. 30 more lbs and I will be able to do it! On this day I would do it on the Veefalo instead. I took a video from the gateway to the top at the Lookout Mountain State Park, getting past riders, the guy in the green jacket actually pretty much astounded me with how far he had gotten in the short time it took me to set up my camera, some 3 miles at least and up to the gateway from the turn off at hwy 6! Amazing I thought. I took the first two turns slow then got more comfortable as I went up further, till I was doing well, I made some gearing mistakes and took the tight 15mph marked hairpins in the wrong gear so I lugged it a bit on one or two. Still enjoyed it though and then got off at the top and hiked over a rock outcropping for an overview of the road for the pictures below. Lookout Mountain - Golden Colorado Zoomed in Lookout Mountain Park top of the mountain From there I headed up interstate 70 to Idaho Springs for a beer at the Tommy-knockers brewery, I was the only customer in the joint - slow day for them so they treated me like a king! I got a nice tour of the place sort of impromptu, they made me a nice Pastrami sandwich on rye and with the brown ale it was fantastic. I must say the beer is much better there than in the bottles - its always good at the brewery. I am glad I stopped Tommy-knockers Brewpub Idaho Springs Idaho Springs Colorado Mashtuns and fermenters Rows of fermenters I finished my lunch and since the road to Mount Evans is right there I headed up Squaw pass hoping to get in some nice pictures I wasn't expecting what I found, ICE IN ALL THE SHADY PARTS Icy patches on Squaw Pass definitely taking it easy on that road There were some section where the ice covered the whole road for 300 yards or so I had to roll through it with my legs out to help keep the bike from sliding and falling over, I took it real slow. A Ford pickup was right behind me so I pulled over to let him pass but the guy was going slower then even I was so I pressed on - in places where I could see I just cut over to the oncoming lane and out of the ice where the sun was shining on the road more, but some places there was not alternative so I just had to go slow, good thing it wasn't slick but rather they tossed some gravel over the worst parts so I had some traction! I did stop for pictures in all the best spots Echo Lake at Mount Evans showing off my new plate Elephant Butte Park and Denver Close up Veefalo on Squaw Pass Juniper Pass Juniper Pass Mount Evans My route A is home B is Tommy-knockers lookoutmtn_hd.mp4

It's been a while since I have been here. A lot has changed. This forum, my life. I figured I would drop back in now that things have settled down for a bit and catch you up on my VFR's recent life experiences (you thought this was going to be about me? 😄). I hadn't been riding much as I made a move to a new department at my work and finally got into something I loved doing (IT)! My poor VFR sat in the garage after I spent the summer getting a lot of maintenance done. New chain, sprockets, upgraded the RR, and new tires. Work has been busy and never ending because I am essentially work on a 3 person team covering hundreds of lab computers so when I would get home I would cast tired glances at the VFR with hopes to get her out on the weekends. Those were always full though because I had to get everything I didn't get done during the week caught up before Monday rolled around. That's life some times. And then it all changed in one night. January 30th, 2021 at about 0245 all of us were asleep (Wife, daughter, 3 dogs, and one cat) when the hallway smoke detector went off. I don't want to go through all the details of that night but within 2 minutes we had safely evacuated all the humans and 2 of the dogs. Faulty aluminum wiring had started the back wall of the house on fire igniting the patio roof and the attic. I remember the fire department arriving within 4 minutes of the 911 call. I remember freezing in the 28 F night air because I was only wearing a pair of sweat pants. Thanks to the charity of my next door neighbor I ended up with a sweat shirt, jacket, socks, athletic sandals, gloves, and a beanie. In the course of the night the fire team was able to get my missing dog and cat out of the house unharmed (though I did have to put the cat on oxygen for a bit). It took almost 8 hours to clear all the hot spots and I have a gallery with all the associated photos that you can peruse for now. I would post them in here but I need to resize them so they are more appropriate for this post and I am not sure if they would be deleted by a moderator according to the guidelines. For now, know the house was a total loss and even the rooms not hit by the fire suffered extensive smoke damage. The garage took a pretty big hit but fortunately the VFR was located in the least affected area. Even then the smoke damage was intense. I filed a claim on my wife's car (also in the garage) first and they totaled it based on the extent of the smoke damage so I dreaded what that meant for the VFR. Still, I eventually mustered up the courage and filed a claim on the bike. I was shocked when I was told it was all good and the extent of "repairs" would just be a good detail which was under my deductible so I found a reputable one in town and had them tow it from the inspection facility to the shop. Apparently the tow truck driver thought that meant he could take it for a joy ride. He left the tank on empty, dropped it on the right side, scraped the paint off the nose fairing on the left side, ripped the battery cover off the bike (to jump it I suppose), damaged the heated grip on the throttle and had the audacity to tell the detailer when he was dropping it off how fast my bike was. Needless to say I was not happy and filed a complaint with the insurance company for all the damages which they ended up covering. The detailer, on the other hand, was all professional and for the sum of $400 (including a generous tip) my bike looked like it had rolled off the show room floor. Aside from what the tow truck driver did I was ecstatic. Driving it home was hard because the throttle has no gripping material so it was a bitter sweet reunion. I have had to buy a lot of new riding gear and we are currently in a rental home with a nice 2 car garage where the VFR is resting comfortably while I wait for a new heated grip kit to arrive. I did take it out for a Crest Road ride to give it a shake down and even though it was a beautiful day and the VFR ran great, the adhesive I had hoped would fix the heated grip from slipping didn't hold and it was a long ride home trying to keep the grip from rotating while maintaining a steady speed. Fortunately that should be resolved on Tuesday. Everyone is healthy and unharmed but one of our dogs passed away about 3 weeks later from an unrelated health issue. It's been a hard road this year but at the end of the gallery you can see there has been significant progress in getting the house ready for the rebuild. We are throwing in some remodeling into the mix and slowly working our way through replacing a lifetime's worth of stuff but our insurance has been taking excellent care of us (USAA) and we are recovering slowly but surely from the trauma of all of this. Next week looks like good riding weather and temperatures so I am hoping I can put some miles on the VFR and get some road therapy to help clear my head.

First ride of 2023 and it was wondrous-clear blue skies, minimal traffic, minimal gravel on the roads, but many trees down from the severe storms of Friday. Had to ride over electric lines a few times. This is a curvy ride about 20 minutes outside Nashville and it's one of my favorite roads anywhere. It was going well until I got behind Grandma in the white SUV. Unfortunately I couldn't safely pass her and missed the mini corkscrew, which is a steep downhill while curving L then R as it ascends another hill-best set of curves on the ride but there's another day. I am amazed at this 25 year old motorcycle and how closely it performs (in some ways better) than when new. GOPR1517.MP4

Today was a glorious day. Yesterday was a fresh oil and filter change so nothing would be in the way of my first two wheel therapy ride. Sunny in the mid 70's F. Little to no wind. Even the traffic was light. It was time to ride. A quick stop at the gas station and I was off. East on I40 got the bike warmed up nicely by the time I hit the Tijeras exit for a S14 run to clear out the cobwebs in my mind and body. My focus was on riding smooth, not fast. Of course, by the time I cleared my favorite S turns it was easy to see that smooth equals fast so I took it down a notch because I was catching up to a car. Not wanting to spend my ride staring at a bumper I dropped down 2 gears, hit VTEC and pulled a quick, clean pass. Shifted back up, stopped looking at the speedometer and went into smooth mode once more. Practicing riding my lines and a series of gentle sweepers that cut through the mountain canyon put me in the zone. I wasn't thinking of all the problems I had to face and just lived in the moment. The smile was back and, even now, it remains. Fresh air, open road, scenic views, smooth leans. Better than any doctor or pill to get me back in the world. I did not want to stop when I pulled up to the (now closed) Chamellion Cafe and did a turn about to repeat my ride back down the mountain. This time I went at a more sedate pace as I was in no rush to get home. I did drop a gear and get my lean on in those wonderful S turns at the bottom but the relaxed all the way through Tijeras where I took Route 66 all the way back to Tramway in ABQ. There I went north to Comanche and headed west to finish my ride. That was the fastest hour of my life and it was glorious. The VFR once again was faultless and I was feeling more refreshed than I could remember. Once home it was time to light the grill, cook up the family dinner (mine was a ribeye steak with sweet potato fries) and then relax with my wife and daughter. I brought my camera to take pictures but I couldn't bring myself to stop. Maybe next weekend where there is some talk if meeting up with an old friend and his 5th gen VFR. We shall see. 😏

How's this for a good start? Keep in mind, this engine is over 200,000 kilometers old. I started into it, over the weekend, and was going to go to town on it. Something this old SHOULD be showing signs of wear, right? It'd be in need of major work.....right? Well.....no, actually. The next time someone says to you that your VFR is getting a bit long in the tooth, keep this entry in mind. The cam lobes are literally unmarked. All of the warranty yellow marks are uncracked, and there's no real need to go any further, as far as i'm concerned. If I were made of money, i'd go for it, regardless....but i'm not. There are much better things to blow my hard earned on, than speculative rebuilding. The engine has no pair valves (none, as in the castings are left unmachined.), so that's off the list. The carbs are perfect, and all I need to do is hit the whole thing with some glass bead, to make it all shiny, and that's about that, for this bit. If it ever goes pear shaped, i'll drop it back out of the bike, and play with it then. For now, though, why fix something that isn't broken?

Got myself a VFR800 VTEC. Couldn't be much more stock. Gonna add to it from tme to time, anything I do I'll throw up on here

Its been three frustrating weeks now. I hobble about the house finding it uncomfortable to sit, stand or walk for too long. I count my lucky stars though and know it could have been much much worse. My decision to wear all the gear saved a LOT of heart ache. Here is the bike. Insurance has today told me that it's a total loss. I'm really sad about that, but not surprised when you see the damage. I won't have enough to buy a replacement new VFR, though I could likely afford a second hand one. However, replacing it while I still retain the Daytona is not likely to go down well with the Mrs. I am considering the idea of selling the Daytona and using the money from the insurance and the sale to buy a 2014/5 VFR. I will take some time before I decide that though. And here is the gear. My boots aren't here as they are barely scratched. My Kevlar jeans aren't here as they were cut up by the paramedics. There was a hand sized tear at the knee where my injury has occurred. Weird footnote - when my sister arrived at my place with my ruined gear last week, my wife commented (and she's a theatre nurse in a major city hospital) that she "always thought I was overdoing it with all the gear I wear riding" and that it was a bit silly and over the top really. She's certainly changed her opinion now! ATGATT saved my butt (literally, you should see the scuffs on the back of the jeans!)

A short video of part of my Saturday ride around the Leipers Fork area. https://youtu.be/V7KAjCDe9zA

Snippet of a fairly quick ride outside Bellevue TN. Ridge 5-6-23.mp4

So when last I left you, I had just finished up the valves (with the help of my buddy Tony) and needed to get some additional wiring taken care or while waiting for my exhaust to get back from Jet-Hot. ...well, Father's Day weekend was as good a time as any to wrap up my project! :fing02: It started Friday with a call from my girlfriend that I had "missed" a delivery from FedEx. "Crap! ...that's my exhaust!" After a couple calls to FedEx (the first being a very rude lady telling me I would have to wait until Monday for their next delivery attempt) I found I could drive the 30 miles to the Ventura, CA sort facility and pick up my package as long as I made it before 8pm! ...that's more like it! So while, chronologically I saw the exhaust before I did any new wiring on the VFR, you're going to get things in the order work was done, so let's flash to the bike. It needed some new wiring for both the heated grips as well as the Datel voltmeter in the dash. I decided to just run 2 pairs of 14g wire from the fuse box forward. With both pairs run and labeled I wrapped the whole mess in wiring tape and ran it along the main wiring loom to the back of the bike; overall it gives it a cleaner look, protects the wires, and makes future repairs a bit easier (since you can reuse the wiring tape). Here is the wiring where the two pairs split up; the toggle is for the heated grips, the other pair goes further forward to where the previous owner mounted the volt meter in the dash (a location I hate as it's unreadable, but I'm not ready to buy a new dash panel yet). The next issue involves the fuse box itself. It's a quality, marine grade, fuse box, but it was wired directly to the battery (bad if you leave your heated grips on over night in the middle of South Dakota, for instance). :mad: I don't have pics of my relay install (so sue me) but I wired in a relay at the rear of the bike, operated off the license plate light as a switch. ...hardly a critical light should something go wonky with the relay etc.. Knowing that I finally had the exhaust, I took a moment to work over the back of the engine case with my Dremel and a small brass wheel; with my DMV inspection coming, I wanted to be sure the engine serial number was clearly visible. ...it's a far cry from the corroded and caked in pounds of dirt, oil, grease and tar that it was a few weeks ago! ...so just to annoy you, I'm going to flash backwards slightly to the work week prior to getting the exhaust. There were a couple things I needed to take care of, and luckily, we have an old lathe at work. If you remember the beginning of this thread, there is a broken cross bar on my subframe, so I wanted to turn a steel bar that would fit in there vs. trying to weld the broken bit back into place. Also, I was missing one of the steel bushings in my left passenger grab-handle. Rather than spend $80 buying a new handle from Mother Honda, I decided to spend a whopping $5 at the Do It Center on a 3' length of "weldable steel" rod; this would be PLENTY for both projects. Here's my newly turned bushing (left) next to the OEM one from the right handle. And pressed into the grab handle. ...fits like a glove!!! Next would be the insert for the cross bar. I needed to tap it (kinda useless if I can't bolt into it). ...that should do it. It fit's just a little snug into the existing cross bar. And the length looks good. ...a little JB Weld and she'll be good to go!!! :cool: Ok, fine. Back to the exhaust. You remember this mess: ...well, how do you like me now? Thank you Jet-Hot! ...I even had them coat the heat shield since it was all marred up. I also got my 1300# Hyperco spring in the mail from HRP World. :smile: Installation went pretty good until I actually had to connect the main header pipe to the pair of connector pipes from the #1 & #3 cylinders. I just didn't have enough muscle to compress them down over the new gaskets. ...luckily, I DO have ratcheting tie down straps in the garage! :thumbsup: Yeah, that's what I'm talking about! They look pretty damned good to me! NOTE: If you're doing your exhaust, don't forget to slip the clamps over the pipe and up out of the way before compressing them down onto the gasket! ...no I didn't forget, but forgetting would suck, so I bring it up as a little reminder! :wink: Then I cleaned up all the shock linkage, and flipped the dog bone so if it continued to rub, it would at least rub on a a new spot giving me a little more life from the current dog bone. ...I have no doubt I'll have to replace this piece some day. Penske is installed, along with a new chain slider. ...time to stake the new chain! Chain Staking Slip the new chain around the drive sprocket and rest both halves on the rear sprocket with the bike in gear to prevent anything from moving. ...this makes life a lot easier! Here are the two halves with the master link in place and the "X-Rings" on and packed in the supplied grease (I love DID). I also love my Motion Pro chain staking kit (it's also really handy to have a 14mm deep well socket and largish socket wrench). Place the master link cover plate where it belongs (the grease should hold it in place just fine). Line up the chain tool so it lines up with both posts and slowly add pressure using your wrench until you feel it start to really press into place. The key to staking a chain is to go slow, and recheck your alignment with the chain tool over and over. As you add a lot of pressure (it takes quite a bit to force the plate over the posts) it will often slip slightly out of alignment. Once it finally seats over the posts it will suddenly feel much easier to press; be careful not to over press the plate, you only want it flush with the surrounding plates, you don't want to crush the O (or X) rings. To stake the chain, you need to change out to a pin and anvil in your tool (you stake one pin at a time). You don't need to destroy the pin, just slightly deform the ends. Remember how hard it was to press the plate on? There are no heavy forces acting on the plates to push them out, so the slightest deformation in the pin will keep the plate in place forever. Here's the completed master link. At this point, all that remains is to button up the bike. I have a box full of new hardware to replace all the either rusty / corroded, broken, missing, or just plain wrong hardware that was on the bike. I got lazy on pics at this point because I just wanted to get her put together. So here she is, done at last! ...ok, bike porn time, here's the VFR with her garage mates: So with her all together it was time for a little test run before cleaning up the garage and putting all the girls back to bed for the night. :cool: A romp into the Santa Monica Mountains (my back yard) gives me a good chance to shake her down. ...first note, the suspension is bOuNcY BoUnCy, especially in the rear. I brought some basic tools along to help make any needed adjusttments, and after dialing in a little preload into the front, it settles down a lot. I added some preload to the rear, and it helps, but I really need to reduce the compression damping a little and add some rebound damping. A run down Mulholland to PCH and back up gets the rear more in line, but still not quite enough rebound damping. I suspect a day of tweaking the suspension while running the same sections of mountain over and over and over will be in order. ...damn, that's tough work!!! :biggrin: Here's the old girl parked in front of the Rock Store in Malibu while I cool off in the shade after a hard days work! I hope this little thread helps someone out down the road! Cheers, Dale

Day #1 Im up at 5:45 to register for classes, get ready, and I’m out the door at 8am. The first 30 minutes go by uneventful as I drive through towns familiar to me on my way to the coast, but then something unexpected happened. As I am cruising along on the freeway, some unknown monster of the sky decided to release the most horrifying, gigantic crap of all time, and it hit my square in the visor, spattering everywhere. It gets on my jacket, on my tank bag, and in my chin vent, but this thing doesn’t smell like poop, no. This thing smelled like Satan ate a dead body then puked it up. I do everything in my power to suppress my gag reflex from this putrid pile of poop as I try franticly to get to the next exit as soon as possible. I pull into a gas station and rip off my helmet as quickly as possible and spend the next 15 minutes cleaning it off everything. An interesting start to my trip to say the least… After the poop incident, I make it to the coast and work my way up to my camp site. Damn were these roads fantastic. Hwy 1 up the coast were some of the most gorgeous roads I have been on, although you will probably be hearing that a lot from me in the next few weeks. The first 200 miles of my ride are amazing. I hit perfect windy roads along the coast, followed by forest roads. Then it started to rain. Luckily it was mist for most of the time, but I hit a few good downpours here and there. So the last 150 miles were slightly less fun. The rain lets up a bit just as I find a campground, and holy hell is it a gorgeous campground. I stopped in Klamath, CA after 348 miles. The campground is right on the bank of Klamath river, with the mountains in the background. After I set up camp and find some food, it’s about 5pm and I go to the club house to charge my computer and phone. Did I mention they had Wifi? Not exactly roughing it… After spending a bit of time in the club house, I pull up a chair right on the bank of the river and just relax for a few hours until the sun set. I then went back into the club house and played dominoes with old people for an hour, it was pretty awesome. Day #2 I wake up at 8am, slightly later than I would have liked to, and set off around 9. There honestly isn’t much to say about most of this day, I got into Oregon pretty quickly and the roads were really boring. They were quite pretty through the trees and a bit along the coast, but strait and not very exciting. I make it to my campsite around 4:30, I only did about 320 miles, slightly less than I would have liked, but I’m only about 220 miles from Seattle, where I am staying with some friends, so it doesn’t matter much. My campsite is back in the trees, but I am maybe about 100 feet from the beach, I can hear the waves crashing while in my tent. While sitting at my picnic table making dinner, a lady walking by invites me to her bon fire on the beach. I head out there and it is her, her husband, and their 4ish year old son. After a bit of talking and a few beers I find out they are from Vancouver, both ride motorcycles, and the guy had a VFR! What on earth are the chances of that! So we chat it up for about an hour as the sun sets over the water and the fire slowly dies out, then we say our goodbyes and back to the tent for me. Day #3 When I woke up Wednesday morning, I decided I as sick of riding up the coast. It had been pretty boring so far and didn’t look like it was going to be any more exciting, so I decided to head inland. After having breakfast in Tillamook, OR I headed up Hwy 6 through the Tillamook National Forest where things became a bit more fun. I rode through some long, smooth sweepers on my way north, and eventually turned off on a smaller road where I saw another motorcycle way up ahead. As I caught up, the guy on the Ducati noticed me and pinned it. I spent the next 15 minutes or so chasing him down. He then let me pass and we spend another 20 minutes with him chasing me before he gave me a quick wave and took off down a different road. Probably the most fun I have had with a complete stranger. After riding some of the back roads through the forest I had to jump on the freeway to get up to Seattle where I was staying with some friends. So the last 100 miles were all freeway, not too exciting. I only did about 250 miles but I’m pretty close to Vancouver now so it will be a short trip up when I leave. Day #4 I woke up around 9am and stuck around to help out with some stuff for the family I was staying with. I left around 2pm I think and had a pretty uneventful freeway ride up to the boarder, that’s when things got interesting… After showing my passport to the guy, I was asked to park and enter the building there, whatever it is. I was then questioned about my stay, what I was doing, where I was staying, the usual stuff I guess. But then they asked me to remove my jacket and boots, and take everything out of my pockets while 3 big guys are standing there watching me. He then says, “why are you so nervous?” not aware that I am nervous, or look nervous, I immediately become nervous. “There is only one reason you should be nervous,” he said. “You are hiding something.” Even though I know I am not hiding anything, I become even more nervous. He then asks me for the keys to my bike, and the passwords to my computer and my phone. For the next hour, I watch from inside as they tear apart my bike, looking through everything. They then come in with my computer and spend the next 3 hours running tests on my computer while four very large men stand around looking at it and occasionally looking up at me with not so friendly faces. A total of 4 hours later, I am released and have to spend the next 30 minutes packing up all my stuff that is scattered everywhere. When I get to the hostel that evening my mood gets better quite quickly. I get my room, and find a spot for my bike, then I head down to the hostel bar for a drink. As soon as I sit down an Aussie from Melbourne introduces himself and we have a few beers and chat for a while. Its trivia night, so I get on a team with 3 Aussies, one from Perth, Melbourne, and Sidney, and a girl from London, all traveling by themselves. After we fail miserably and Canadian trivia we have a few more beers then go on a quest for Poutine, and holy crap was it delicious. We then go to a pub down the street that had an awesome band playing some fun Irish music. After dancing for a while we all went back to the hostel to go to bed. The next morning I went down for the free breakfast. I ate and chatted it up with another Aussie, a Kiwi, three Germans, and a French Canadian. So far it has been a good trip. Did I mention one of my roommates snores really loud? Good thing I brought ear plugs. Day #5,6, and 7 I’m just going to put these together. I am having such a blast I cant handle it. This city is freaking amazing. I have been hanging out with Claire, the girl from London quite a bit, as well as Mark, a guy from Switzerland. For the most part we have just been walking around the city, eating food from all the fantastic food carts and truck that are absolutely everywhere. But today we went to Lynn Park where there is a suspension bridge and a few waterfalls that are really cool. While walking around we started talking to this girl who looked to be on her own. Her name is Flor, and it turns out she is from Guadalajara, Mexico and is babysitting for a family here for 3 months. She ended up hiking with us for the rest of the day then came back and partied with us for most the night. Its 3am and I just got into bed. Grandville, the main street here, has been completely shut down and there has been festivals going on all day. We met up with two of Claire’s friends from London who just got into town, as well as a few German guys, and all went out to some clubs and had a blast. My ears are ringing, I lost my voice, and I can barely walk, but damn it was fantastic So I am already beginning to modify my trip a little bit. I don’t think I will be going to Vancouver Island for Canada day, because everyone is convincing me to stay here and just go maybe the next day. So if I have the energy after Canada day, I might go and ride around the island, maybe not though because its like $45 each way, so I don’t know if I want to spend $100 to go to the island and back. Also, instead of riding strait up to Jasper and Banff on Tuesday when I leave I will be riding along the boarder and going to Osoyoos to meet up with Claire and her two friends Matt and Eliot who are both freaking awesome. I might stay a night or two there and then head up to Jasper and Banff, then meet them again in Calgary a few days later for the Calgary Stampede. I don’t know, I am rambling a lot though because of my slight state of inebriation… Ill post pictures later when Im able to figure out how my camera works again. Canada Day I ended up sleeping until almost 1 o’clock. I went down stairs and met up with everyone to watch the Spain vs. Italy soccer game, and then we all went down to the waterfront to check out everything that was going on. We discovered that it was Cannabis day, so we went over to the Art Gallery downtown to check it out. I have never seen anything like it. Vendors and people everywhere walking around selling weed, and joints and brownies and anything you could think of. All while the police were walking around and just laughing. At 4:10 they made everyone there, which was probably a good 500 people, sit on the ground, while they walked around throwing out free joints to everyone, and just passing out huge handfuls of weed to anyone with a pipe. It was absolutely the most mental thing I have ever witnessed. There was then a countdown to 4:20, and everyone lit up at the exact same time. Later that night we went down to the waterfront again to watch the fireworks and then came back for a few beers and bedtime. I am definitely glad I was able to experience Canada Day here, It was amazing Day #9 They day after Canada Day, (day 😎 I didn’t do much. It was my recovery day so I slept till 1pm, then just went out and walked around for a bit and got my stuff packed. I left Tuesday morning at 8am and had a pretty miserable few hours. It was pouring rain and my visor was fogging up really bad. After a few hours I pulled over and duct taped my face to my helmet so my breath wasn’t hitting my visor, which worked decently, but hurt like hell to take off. After a few stops to put on more layers and wring out my soaked gloves since it was 45 degrees, I started to get into the mountains and the rain started to let up a bit. I almost wished the rain came back though, because my gloves were still soaking wet, and it dropped down to 35 degrees. Almost freezing temperatures and a 70mph wind chill and I could barely move my hands. I ended up finding a little restaurant up in the mountains and I sat in there and held a hot cup of water for 30 minutes or so then took off again. It started to warm up after that and the road and scenery was gorgeous. I ran into another guy on a 5th gen VFR and ended up riding with him for several hours until I arrived in Osoyoos in the Okanagan area. There I met up with my English friends I met in Vancouver. We were on a farm just outside Osoyoos where a bunch of people from around the world stayed and worked on the farm for food and a place to sleep. Day #10 I woke up at 6am to go to work. We worked until 12 o’clock weeding and fertilizing squash plants. It really wasn’t too bad, and the views from the farm were spectacular. It seriously never got old looking at the mountains in front of us. After work we just hung out by the river, ate dinner, and relaxed. Day #11 I said goodbye to my friends and left Osoyoos in the morning to head to Banff. I decided to stay in a hostel there instead of camping. So far most campsites have cost me between $20-$30 dollars, and the Hostel was 36, so it was worth it. I also had so much fun meeting people at the hostel in Vancouver I thought I would give it another shot. I rode about 390 miles to get to Banff with pretty decent weather. It rained a few times, but it got up into the 70s a few times. The road itself wasn’t all that exciting, but the scenery was ridiculous, I have never seen anything like it. Day #12 This morning I decided to go for a ride up to Jasper. In all it was about 250 miles and it was gorgeous. I stopped at Lake Louise, Peyto Lake, and Moraine Lake, all fantastic. The weather was amazing, high 60s, low 70s the whole time. I met a couple on a moto trip from Chico on a Goldwing, and rode with them for a while. I had to do a bit of hiking to some of the lakes, which was hot as hell with all my gear on, but well worth it. It looks like I’m headed to Calgary tomorrow for the weekend to check out the Calgary Stampede. I will be couch surfing for the first time, which will be interesting. I’m pretty excited. I think I will be meeting up with Claire again tomorrow and hang out with her for the weekend. Day # 13 – July 7 I slept in a bit and then left Banff to head to Calgary. I got there around 11am and went to the guys house that I was staying at for the weekend. I was hardly couch surfing. The guy, John Smiley, had a guest bedroom for me to use with a ridiculously comfortable queen size bed I got to sleep in. We chatted for a while and he gave me keys to his place, then he gave me a ride downtown on his way to work. I walked down to the Stampede to meet up with Claire and her friends, an Australian guy and a Scottish guy, both really cool. We walked around a while and checked out the Stampede grounds, then went to one of the big tents where they had a DJ and a live band. We hung out there and danced for a while then watched the fireworks and went home around 1am Day #14 – July 8 When I opened my door in the morning John had left my some towels and a not saying he went to work and to call him if I needed anything etc. He was a super nice dude. I walked to the house where Claire and the other guys, Ryan and John were staying and we watched the Wimbledon match and then went down to the Stampede grounds for the rodeo. It was pretty much your average rodeo, but still fun to watch. Bull riding, barrel racing, the usual stuff. So I guess the guy that my friends were staying with, his girlfriend works at the Stampede and was able to get us into the Chuck Wagon races for free, which was pretty cool. I guess its kind of a Calgary tradition, but it was definitely unique. We were all pretty exhausted so after that we went back to their place and watched the fireworks from their balcony, then I walked back to where I was staying. I chatted with the guy I was staying with for a bit, bought him some beer for letting me stay with him, and went to bed. The weather all weekend was really nice as well, almost a bit too hot. I think it was in the upper 80’s and a bit humid. Day #15 – July 9 The next morning I went back to Banff and met up with Claire again. We pretty much just walked around and explored the town a little bit and hung out with some people at the hostel. I was able to find a pretty cheap helmet a few towns over so we could both go on a ride. Nothing really exciting happened today… Day #16 – July 10 We woke up pretty early, and packed up some food and stuff for the day then hopped on my bike to go for a ride. Claire hadn’t been to any of the lakes yet so we went to Moraine, Louise, and Peyto, the ones I went to before. We did a bit more hiking around the lakes though which was nice. That took up most the day then on the way back down from Lake Peyto we stopped by Lake Louise again and rented a canoe for an hour to check out the lake. It was a little pricey but totally worth it. We were able to make it all the way to the other side of the lake and back. We were both exhausted after getting back to the hostel so we just watched a movie and went to bed. Day #17 – July 11 Holy crap I can’t believe I have already been gone 17 days, It feels like my trip just started. Claire left to fly home this morning, and I packed up and got on the road again. I wasn’t all that excited to get back on the road after mostly just hanging out and having fun for the last two weeks, but I think mostly I just didn’t want to leave Canada. I went through some more nice forests and such on my way down to Montana, where I had much less difficulty at the boarder. I rode into Glacier National Park and found a campsite for the night around 4:30. I did about 320 miles today. It is really hot in Montana, I hit a few sections where its got up into the 90’s, which wasn’t that fun because my jacket isn’t very good in warm weather. Also, it was crazy getting here and seeing everyone else riding around on their motorcycles with no helmets, since you don’t need to where one here. Although I noticed it was just the Harley guys. I didn’t see a single Harley rider wearing a helmet. Most everyone else was though. Day #18 – July 12 I woke up a bit late and got on the road by 9am. I worked my way through the rest of Glacier National Park, which was gorgeous as expected and then headed south. The Going-to-the-Sun road through Glacier was awesome. There were waterfalls like every 50 feet just dumping right onto the road. Honestly, if I would have seen Montana first, I would have been blown away, but it really doesn’t compare to the stuff I saw in Canada. Its still gorgeous though. After getting out of Glacier National Park the scenery changed a bit… I hit the long, strait highways through the middle of nowhere, which never seemed to end. The nice thing though is the speed limits in Montana are awesome, 70-75 mph almost everywhere. Which was nice compared to the 90-100 kph speed limits in Canada, which is like 55-62 mph. So I made some very good time cruising at 80mph or so. In all I did 490 miles today, it was not exactly fun, but I made some good time riding 11 hours. Day #19 – July 13 Last night I discovered my bike wouldn’t start again. I woke up early and walked 3.5 miles into town with my battery to have it looked at. A guy at Napa Auto Parts put it on a charger for me for a few hours to see what would happen. I hitch hiked my way back to my campsite and was able start up my bike. I packed up all my gear and rode into town and back to Napa. I put a volt meter on the battery while it was running and it was reading 12.14, which means its not charging… great… So I said screw it and hit the road anyway around 2:30pm. I went through Beartooth pass and Chief Joseph’s pass, which are up through the mountains, what a gorgeous road. It was quite a drastic change in weather too. Within about 15 minutes it went from 90 degrees and sunny at 6,000 feet, to 40 degrees and pouring rain at 11,000 feet. It was pretty cool though, I just watched the altimeter on my GPS just keep going up and up until I broke 11,000 feet. Although the weather was crappy, it has got to be one of the most beautiful roads I have been on. It was kind of different though. The mountains weren’t as cool as in Canada, but in Canada I was riding around looking up at the mountains. Along the Beartooth pass I was in the mountains. I was literally the highest thing around (highest as in altitude,) and looking down on almost everything else. I made it through to Wyoming and found a campsite about 40 miles east of Yellowstone. The people next to me are pretty cool and we hung out and had a few beers. Now time for bed. Day #20 – July 14 I left around 8:45 this morning and headed for Yellowstone. It was kind of cool but I honestly wasn’t all that impressed. Half the park I rode through was all dead, burnt trees, and the entire park smelled like eggs. Besides the occasional steaming, bubbling pools of mud, there wasn’t much exciting about it compared to some of the other national parks I’ve been through. Day #21 – July 15 I packed up in the morning and made the decision to get home From Missoula, MT. So I hit the road expecting a long day, and a long day it was. I hit a few really nice roads through Idaho, but it was raining most the time so I couldn’t enjoy them as much as I would have liked. Once I got into eastern Oregon though I hit the strait two lane highways that seem to go on forever. Pretty much nothing exciting, lots of riding ect. I ended up getting home at 3:30am after nearly 20 hours of riding. What a day, but my bed feels amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fd02gNmQiY MC-routes in western Norway. The Fiord district. I´ve had several requests on what parts of western Norway is worth travelling on a motorcycle. In this blog, I´ll point to some of the more interesting routes for motorcycling in western Norway. Of course there are lots of other routes worth riding, not mentioned here. The Videos The videos are from the website RoadMC.com, a virtual clubhouse for me and my biker-friends. Since the site is not maintained anymore, I´ve got permission to publish the footage on YouTube. The quality could be better, as these videos are from pre- or early YouTube era, and the codecs from that time where not as effective as they are today. Click the projektor-icon, and then doubleclick the thumbnail for viewing in YouTube if you want to view in fullscreen. Full Size Sauda - Roeldal Full Size The Aurland Mountain Road The route from Aurland to Erdal is very scenic and if you want a rerun, you may take the Laerdal tunnel (15.3 mls long) back to the starting point. Banks of snow at the Aurland Mountain Road, (This bike is gone, crashed in 2005) The Laerdal tunnel Full Size The Sogn Mountain Road The Sogn Mountain Road is one of Norway´s more scenic roads, overlooking the peaks of Jotunheimen, the highest mountains in Norway. Sogn Mountain Road, Norway Full Size The Atlantic Road Full Size Lysebotn Having no footage from this route, I found this one on YouTube. Lysebotn, Rogaland, Norway The road down from the mountain is famous for its switchbacks including the tunnel at the bottom with its 180o corner, deep inside the rock. photo: Norwegian Tourist Office) Full Size Gaular Mountain Down Gaular Mountain, Norway Full Size

I put the VFR in for its service today to the usual shop. I had also booked the loaner, a old, but smooth running CB250, that is a bit of fun. 124,000km - a minor service as I got out of sync a bit by doing my last major about 3000 early. The loaner was still out with one of the other mechanics and not due back. They were apologetic but the service manager set off to find another bike. He came back with... "How are you with larger bikes" - the VFR is pretty much the biggest bike I've ridden, with only the Streetfighter 848 any bigger in capacity and nothing heavier. I was a bit concerned as I expected him to rock up with a Boulevard or something. "Uh.. ok... I guess", trying to figure out what he meant - higher capacity just means being sensible with the right wrist. A cruiser or something means a whole different style. He led me out to the lot, "Because I was going to let you take this" He pointed to a 2002 Suzuki Hayabusa. I swallowed ... that's a lot of bike. "Ok, I should be fine." I must have been convincing, but I have heard that it's a pretty nice bike to ride, makes a great sports tourer and I figure its about the same weight with a lot more go, and that just means sensible with the wrist. I can do sensible :) So without further ado (well ok there was still the copy of the licence, sign away my life on the paperwork etc) I was away. Work is about 5 mins from the shop, so by the time I was rolling in the gate it had likely barely warmed up. I came back out at lunch and set off for a short ride. I rode down the freeway for several kilometres playing with the gears and roll on accelerations. Pretty nice pickup and a great sound from the Yoshi pipe that seems almost derigeur for most Suzuki sports bikes. I turned off and headed back into the local shopping precinct, to see what its like through traffic. On the less busy back streets I found it pretty docile, but ready to roar with a small twist. But a nice linear pull away. After several blocks of first gear slow riding it started to warm up. Whilst the temps didn't climb much my legs were starting to get very warm as the fans blew the air from the radiators over them. Uncomfortably warm actually and I was glad to roll up the on ramp (passing a bunch of cars as I did, grin) and get the airflow. Back to work. Overall, I did think it was a nice bike. A lot more power than my VFR, very rideable though and easy to control. I don't think I'll rush out and buy one though. Still nice to say I have ridden one and happy to ride one again. Just didn't step of it with the silly grin that I did with the -600. Might have to look into pipes for the VFR though. Oh, the service ... found out my licence plate globe holder has burnt itself out. I've been suspicious of this for some time as the last 2 registration renewals have commented the globe was out and I was testing to see if it was bulb life or something worse. Bit strange, perhaps related to either the wiring recall work or the alternator failure. The part is on order. Here's to the next 125,000 :tour:

Today I removed the Pro-Oiler from the VFR. Not because I don't like it. I do! But I am selling the bike, and the new owner doesn't want it. Better for it to stay here where it can eventually get used again, than to go in the trash when the new owner of my VFR comes to pick it up next weekend. Meanwhile the TDM has been laid up all season waiting for brake work. First it was waiting for parts, and then the parts came in but by then it was full summer and I haven't wanted to take time away from riding the other bikes to work in a hot garage. While the TDM has been sitting there, the Scottoiler has leaked all of its oil out onto the garage floor. I have not worked on it, but my guess is that when I had to apply vacuum to prime it again, after I let it run dry last year, I drew in too much oil and I plugged the breather. As my garage heats and cools every day, it sucks up a little oil each night, and pushes it out onto the floor the next day. I'm sure it will be an easy fix, if I would just get around to it. But instead I intend to move the Pro Oiler to the TDM, since it is cleaner and easier to maintain and I now have one sitting on the bench just waiting to go on the bike. I'll be writing to the Pro-Oiler folks to see about getting the parts needed to fit it to the TDM. The oilers worked very well to preserve the chains; they made chain drive almost as trouble free as a shaft drive. I intend to install oilers on all my future chain drive bikes. They are definitely worth having. The winner of this comparo is the Pro-Oiler, but the Scottoiler is also a worthy competitor and you could do a lot worse than to use either one. Since I started this comparo I have seen two other interesting oilers reviewed in magazines. Note I haven't tried either, or seen them in person. But this is what I think, based on the information available. Cameleon Oiler This oiler has an electric pump, like the Pro-Oiler (and the Hawke Oiler). It is not as complex. It is programmed by choose a flow rate that will apply anytime the unit is powered up. You just attach it to switched power; no need to wire it into the speedometer circuit. So it's easier to install, but not as fine-tuneable. It also has an unique and ingenious oil reservoir; the oil is stored in a wide piece of tubing that you can attach to a frame spar or other out of the way spot. Which I think is clever. But the applicator is a single nozzle, and the tubing that leads down to the chain is a larger diameter than I think is optimum. I therefor predict that the Cameleon oiler will leak more than average, because you'll have to feed more oil to get it distributed, and because oilers that use that wider tubing leak more while parked. Not a big deal, just something to be aware of. Scottoiler eSystem (see image at top of entry) This oiler has an electric pump, like the Pro-Oiler, Hawke Oiler, and Cameleon. But it has a novel control mechanism. It uses a triple-axis accelerometer to determine when the bike is moving, and it uses this info to meter the oil. If it all works as promised, it should be easier to install and still offer very precise metering of the oil. I know that Scottoiler uses the small tubing that I have decided is preferred, so it seems like there is nothing in this package to dislike. It also displays the ambient temperature, which is like getting two farkles in one. The Scottoiler eSystem intrigues me, and if I were buying another oiler today I might go for it, in spite of it being the most expensive oiler on the market.