Motorcycles? I see a pattern!

That had to be a really great trip.

Let me think--started riding at 14 (I am now 59) on a Honda 50, then bought a Honda 250 scrambler, followed by a long dry spell. At around 30 I got the bug again and bought a Yamaha 650, followed by a Kawa 750, a Yamaha 550 Vision, then another dry spell. The bug bites again and I am on a Honda 750 Interceptor, then an 800 Interceptor on which I routinely scared the **** out of myself. I then rebuilt a 1983 BMW R100RT 60th Anniversary Edition (frame up restoration) on which I put many miles in Texas, N.Mex, Ariz, Colorado, and Utah. Last bike was a 2000 R1100RT that I kept in my brothers hangar in Northern AZ. Used to fly out in the Mooney (pre RV9), saddle up the RT and his R bike, and head for ----wherever-- for 1 or 2 wks--great times.

Sure wish I still had that old 83 RT--a BMW collector came along and tricked me out of it--he offered way too much money!! It was not real fast and did not brake or handle like new bikes but it was easy to maintain/tune, was extremely overbuilt, and just had a "personality" that I liked. Nothing better than to put your head down behind the screen and listen to those two opposed boxer pistons humming along at 75 mph after spending a couple of hours tuning that engine. I plan to buy/restore another, maybe a 95 model (last of the airheads) in the future.

[/URL]
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BTW, Janie got tired of riding behind me on the old Yamaha, said she could do this, got her license, and has had a Kawa 550 and a Honda 650.

Many great memories.

Cheers,

db

Don't forget...not all Harley's are air cooled anymore! Porsche designed a fantastic high revving liquid cooled engine that puts out a gob of HP on the Vrod's. I sort of consider them the RV of the Harley world - that being the best of both worlds.

My biased 2 cents as usual!

Cheers,
Stein

My R1200GS

[/IMG]I have owned bikes all of my life. This is by far the best I have ever ridden or owned.

I am back to square one

The only two wheeler I can afford now. It brings good memories from middle school days. I had owned two "Riga" mopeds in late seventies.

My Suzuki DRZ-400S dualsport



Set up for desert trails and street legal. Did the Desert Dash in Anza Borrego last year. 300 miles of dirt in 2 days. Lots of fun.

Trip writeup here:
http://www.overthehills.com/Events/Desert-Dash-2009/

'86 rg500-- BMW '04 r1150rt

we need more picts of bikes by planes.

Here's a picture of my 2006 Honda VTX 1800 Neo. It's for sale, waiting on it to get started.



A shot from the rear.

I read somewhere pictures wouldn't show unless I have 5 posts. Here's my 5th. Do they show up?

N999ZA said:

I read somewhere pictures wouldn't show unless I have 5 posts. Here's my 5th. Do they show up?

Click to expand...

Andrew you links are live and when I click on them I can see your Honda. However to post pictures here you have to upload them to a third party website like SmugMug, PhotoBucket,ImageShack or similar. Check upper left corner of the forum, Doug explained the process very good.

Started out on a Toyoka mini-bike in the 60s. Worked up through dirt bikes, street bikes et cetera. Even had a 1949 Russian M-72 with sidecar from Irbit Motor Zavod (IMZ). Current bike is a Yamaha R6, which I raced with until retiring from the sport a few seasons ago. Now its back to dirt biking with a Yamaha WR250F and a few track days on the racebike. Hanger is full of bikes. The R6, the WR, a TTR225...



If you ain't riding or flying...you are WRONG. ha

Hmm. I've got the pictures uploaded to an external website, but not in the typical way. Maybe the problem is that the path to the pictures does not end in a typical file extension (*.jpg, for example). (It's http://www.vtxoa.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=281&pictureid=1452)

Most of my photos are in Picasa anyway, so I should be okay for future posts.

Sorry for hijacking the motorcycle thread. Ride on...

'07 Suzuki Bandit for me.

So why is it that a lot of airplane people also ride bikes? Huh, I wonder.

Bikes forever

2001 Triumph Legend Triple 900

and

Mint 1978 Honda CB360 (just can't bare to think of not having it in my hangar)



Mark

So why is it that a lot of airplane people also ride bikes? Huh, I wonder.[/QUOTE]

I don't have a RV yet, but it's on the short-list of things I'm going to take on in the next 10 years or so. First I'm hoping to build a FFR Cobra, but that's a story for another day.

I've been riding for about 3 years (I am still a wee lad at 22 years old). My first bike was a Nighthawk 250, which I kept for about 4 months before getting a Ninja 500R. The Ninja 500R has seen ~20K miles with me in the saddle, including some 3K mile road trips, a few trips to the smokies, a track day or two, and a good deal of commuting.

Here are my two favorite things - my girlfriend on board my 500R at my first trackday -


And here's me on my bike during a trip to the Ozarks a few summers ago.

Track days...

I have done a couple track days with my sons... The oldest is 22 and he's fast... My youngest is 17 and is learning.... I was on my CBR1000RR this day but have sold it since. Fast fun bike but not very comfortable for long commutes....

This is my oldest, Orey....


Andrew, the youngest


And here's ole Dad....


A good day... Fun was had by all...

N162RV said:

I just finished reading Doug?s article on how fun the miata is on a twisty road. I can imagine it's a hoot BUT if you really want to have fun on the twisties, you gotta have a hot bike. I'm not talkin a dressed Harley or a Honda Goldwing. I'm talking 600's or liter bikes, Busas and the like.
....

Click to expand...

OK, I've got to bring this back to cars. A few years back a bunch of friends and I were staying at the Topoco Lodge at Deal?s Gap. (If you don?t know what Deal?s Gap is, look it up!)

It was Saturday night and I went inside to get more ice for our beer. All the car guys were sitting in the parking lot talking smack about the day?s runs. Keep in mind, these are all guys who I raced with and there was a mix of Miatas, Z3?s, Boxster S, and one new STi. All of us where running street tires to boot.

As I walked in, I noticed three new Triumphs parked by the door. These were all race bikes, not cruisers. After grabbing some ice I invited the three bikers to join us for a beer. One of them commented, ?I thought you car guys didn?t like us biker types.? To which I replied, ?We are all gear heads, come on and have a cold one.?

Walking out, the 20 something pointed to my car and said, ?Whose car is that?? I?m thinking Oh ****, did I run him down and get too close. Anyway, I admitted it was mine and asked him why he was asking.

He replied that in the morning we were lined up to exit the parking lot, fastest to slowest. I was in front of the line and when we pulled out, he said he wacked his throttle trying to pass the entire line because he didn?t want to get stuck behind a bunch of slow cars. (I never knew he was back there.) I made the first turn at the base of the dam before he could catch me and kept going. He went on to say that he couldn?t catch me and that I wasn?t pulling away and that had never happened to him before.

I was thinking no big deal; I would regularly run down and pass crotch rockets in The Gap. It was then that the older gentleman introduced me to Greg. He was the VP of Marketing for Triumph N.A. and his day job was racing their bikes. He was on a completely tricked out 650, custom suspension, built motor, race tires, etc. Apparently when I walked in they were trying to figure out how it was that he couldn?t catch me with is bike.

The next morning three of us gave them rides through The Gap and at some point Greg looked over at me and said, after we flew through the Gravity Cavity he understood. While I couldn?t out accelerate the bikes I didn?t have to slow down for the turns. He said I was easily doubling his speeds through the turns. Keep in mind, in The Gap all the turns are on camber and never once did I spin a tire or slide the rear end out. However, I was hauling butt and promptly left the other cars way behind. And for the record, my car had been tested up to 1.2 G?s with the race tires and the street tires, the brakes were not stock, and the very sticky street tires I was running would only last me about 10K miles of fun driving.

Some time back I gave up going to The Gap because there were just too many racer wanabees on both bikes and in cars to make it any fun. That and the cops have gotten serious about slowing people down in there.

Remember, the fastest part of any car (or bike) is the lose nut behind the wheel. A good driver and take a crappy car and make it perform. A bad driver in a good car is a danger to everyone. A crappy driver in a crappy car is pure entertainment.

All that said, a good bike would be a blast. I just wonder how long it would be until I would kill myself.

Scratch that last post. I sold the car, in its barely street legal form, to the son of my first performance driving instructor. I just heard from my DI that his son tail ended someone with it three months ago and was too embarrassed to let me know.

The least he could have done was spun off the track and hit an armco barrier but to tail end a Honda Element, the indignity of it all. I'm so depressed!

The good news is that he wasn't hurt. Which I'm thankful for since I had replaced the steering wheel and there was no airbomb on the aftermarket Momo. Well, I guess the six point harness w/ 3? belts did what it was supposed to do.

Started at 12 with a Servicycle, how many know where it was built. Then a 1949 " little Harley", built somewhere in Europe I think. Fast forward to 1955 and a beautiful Black Triumph Thunderbird. Later a Yamaha XT 500 Thumper, And now a Yamaha 700, Maxim X.
4 cylinders and 20, count 'em, valves.
At 74 years old my Daughter has said that I should not ride it, so I'm thinking about it.
Closest to flying some people ever get. If I can just finish the RV-8.
Paul
VAF

bikes, cars, and planes

Looks like a lot of common ground around here besides RV's.

Lived on bikes since I was 12 (starting with a 1980 Honda XL100) until recently ... when I sold my iron butt ST1300 to finance the wing kit. In between there were a line of others... '83 XL600, '84 CX650E (Canadian/European bike, wasn't imported to the States), VFRs, XR650R, RC51....

Even had a 2001 Miata (talk about full circle).

Alas all the bikes are currently gone, unless you count my kid's Yamaha TTR50e, and the Miata made way for a more family friendly vehicle.

Lots of good memories with those machines long past, but before I have another there's some expensive airplane parts to deal with in my future

This is why I haven't gotten much done on the RV-9A this summer. Just bought this new bike a month ago. Yamaha 950 Tourer. 2009 was the first year for this bike.

Planes & Bikes

I started riding in 1957 with an old 1939 Harley 74, hand shift, foot clutch; and was the coolest dude in school with that bike and a 1938 Chevy coupe - paid $50 for each one!

Several bikes between then & now riding a couple of Sportsters.

Currently, I'm in NY, doing the Catskills and the Adirondacks while the Fall leaves are so pretty; and the RV-3 & RV-4 are resting in my hangar in Memphis.

Yeah, I know, nobody needs two bikes and two RV's!

Barney, from Memphis

Guilty

Took me a while to find a decent pic, but here is one of my two bikes. It's a 2006 Suzuki GSXR600. My other bike is a 2000 HD Fat Boy.



Just for fun I've also included some pictures of me at the two day California Superbike school in Las Vegas. What a blast that was. Those Kawaskis were setup very well.

Enjoy them together

I enjoy my airplanes and motorcycles together. I fly with a 225cc Yamaha in my belly pod and ride someplace new every weekend. I can land at any small airport and be on the roads 2 minutes later. It?s no Harley or Sport bike, but it hauls my girlfriend and I down the highway to anywhere we need to go.

The motorcycle helps us get more out of our airplane. We used to get frustrated that our top-notch airplane only took us MOST of the way. Now it?s easy to reach any destination and we even have more fun getting there!

I?m very interested to hear what you guys think; the good and the bad. Many of the features and specs are the result of your suggestions.





www.MotorcyclePilot.com

For those times when I can't fly .....


Its not a speed thing, too dangerous down low.

When I cant fly ...I can still fly.

Toy Box

GS in Aus.

Too long since I did this.
Try again.

GS in Australia.

Weight

RVnoob said:

this is a fantastic idea.

what is the weight addition of the whole package?

Click to expand...

Bike (220 lb) + Pod (45 lb) + hardpoints (3 lb) = 268 lb.

The RV-10 hauls my girlfriend and I, full fuel, motorcycle and pod.... with a couple hundred pounds left for baggage. I don't carry passengers in the back seats very often, but when I do, the pod stays at home. In fact, I often keep the pod on the hangar floor beneath my airplane and attach it (30 seconds) only when needed.

I sometimes use the pod for camping gear, bicycles 2x4s, skis, etc. It carries about 250 pounds and keeps it near the CG.


More Info at www.MotorcyclePilot.com

I also ride bikes (not that you'd have guessed it ).

I currently have a CR250R for MX and fast off road, a couple of dual sports and a TL1000S. I also have a habit of buying bikes for trips, then re-selling at the end (at least for now while I'm in school).

Here's my most recent CR MX pic


Off roading at 13k feet +



The Bandit 1250 (summer trip bike 2009)


Honda 919 (summer trip bike 2008)


And the trusty TL1000S set to go skiing


DR250SE (use it to buzz around the Boston area)


I'm lacking any good pics of the 350.

Here's a write up of my last trip - good times, Oshkosh, Rockies (on and off road), some MX, some flat track, 7k+ miles on the road bike and a few days in Baja
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=507038

And the summer before I made a loop around the eastern half of the country (9k road miles).
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=367703

1960 Norton Manxman

For when I have more than one passenger.

Classic Norton

flybye said:

For when I have more than one passenger.


What a fabulous classic.

Pete.

Click to expand...

BikePilot-- I spent a good part of the afternoon yesterday reading through your ride reports on ADV. Great stuff!!! It really inspired me to plan a trip like that of my own.


As for me, at the moment I have a 2002 Yamaha R1, 1968 Triumph bobber, 1993 RM125 (restoring), 1986 BW80, 2004 CRF50. I like play bikes I guess? I've owned all kinds of stuff in the past... a few old Hondas (84 CB700S, 76 CB400/4 etc), an old ZX-6R, and a couple dirtbikes. I'm partial to 2-strokes myself...

Motorcycling is a really rewarding hobby that can be done very cheaply if you want. I'm 25 amd after paying for rent and my car I don't have too much left over for hobbies (this is the reason my RV has not started yet). Some of the best bikes i've ever owned I had less than $2000 into. My R1 being the exception to that, even though it isn't worth much anymore. I'll never sell it anyway, so I don't care

After seeing that beautiful Norton I thought I would give it some proper company. Here is my 1966 Triumph 650 TR-6R. This is a work in progress and not finished yet.

What a fabulous classic.

Pete.

Click to expand...

Thanks, rebuilding this bike was my last project before the plane. It had sat in a barn for fifteen years. Giving kids a ride in a sidecar is a bit like their first flight. They often walk away with a new ambition. A parent said to me one time "Thanks, now I have to pay for flying lessons AND a motorbike"!

Wilkie said:

Guilty also.

I've been riding for 22 years. Been coast to coast twice doing the iron butt thing.

Sold my second Concours last year and all I have left is my ZRX1200.


Wilkie

Click to expand...

The ZRX is quite possibly one of the best street bikes ever built! I had an '02 for a few years and sold it to buy an 1150GS. Bad move. The boxer engine just didn't give me the "zip" I wanted. But I have a GSX-R750 track bike so I get my real speed fix from that! It's faster than my (non-RV) airplane!

I had a Honda 400four, a 1968 Norton Atlas,600suzuki and a yam fzr1000 in my riding career. Must find some pics. I rebuilt the Norton too...

Frank

2001 Harley Davdson Fat Boy.



I just sold it!

PRIME said:

BikePilot-- I spent a good part of the afternoon yesterday reading through your ride reports on ADV. Great stuff!!! It really inspired me to plan a trip like that of my own.


As for me, at the moment I have a 2002 Yamaha R1, 1968 Triumph bobber, 1993 RM125 (restoring), 1986 BW80, 2004 CRF50. I like play bikes I guess? I've owned all kinds of stuff in the past... a few old Hondas (84 CB700S, 76 CB400/4 etc), an old ZX-6R, and a couple dirtbikes. I'm partial to 2-strokes myself...

Motorcycling is a really rewarding hobby that can be done very cheaply if you want. I'm 25 amd after paying for rent and my car I don't have too much left over for hobbies (this is the reason my RV has not started yet). Some of the best bikes i've ever owned I had less than $2000 into. My R1 being the exception to that, even though it isn't worth much anymore. I'll never sell it anyway, so I don't care

Click to expand...

Glad you liked it! Quite right re the cost - bikes are quite inexpensive. My whole summer trip cost very little - just some fuel and food really. I either camped or stayed with friends or folks from bike forums. I made enough on the re-sale of the bandit to cover the tires, accessories and luggage so effectively had a free bandit for the summer.

I love two strokes as well - all my dirt bikes but two have been two strokes (those two are dual sports and sadly they don't sell truly street worthy two stroke dual sports in this country - my CR250R is technically a dual sport now, but it is not exactly a good street bike).

The '93 RM is a great bike. First year of that body style and of the Twin Chamber forks. Amazing it took everyone else so long to adopt that technology. Honda was the next and used it from 97+, the rest didn't jump on the bandwagon until the last couple of years.

I put together a video of this past racing season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mntQ9wpzET8

All pictures and onboard filming is done by me.

Awesome video. I like those tracks quite a lot too - considerably more natural terrain than most of the amateur tracks I've raced. The quasi-SX style stuff is fun, but my favorite is a nice rolling natural track with big fast sweepers and such. Of the tracks I've raced I think my favorite has been Budd's Creek. You look to be a very smooth and controlled rider as well (even the ending looks to have been more from crossing lines than a botched turn). Line up a bit further to the right next seas if they'll let you

That's nice quality footage from the helmet cam. Do you know what kind of video equipment was used?

We shipped another motorcycle to an RV-10 owner last week and it has some improved features. In addition to the catch-can, which prevents fuel spills during flight, we added a 12V fuel pump. Instead of draining the catch can, we just push a button and watch the fuel transfer back to the main tank.

BikePilot said:

The '93 RM is a great bike. First year of that body style and of the Twin Chamber forks. Amazing it took everyone else so long to adopt that technology. Honda was the next and used it from 97+, the rest didn't jump on the bandwagon until the last couple of years.

Click to expand...

I'd have to agree. I had a '95 RM years ago, thats why I bought this '93 (same body style nostalgia). I've owned and ridden much newer stuff, but I don't race, so old stuff works just fine for me. My next dirt project will be a quasi service honda 500cc build. I'd like to find a blown up 450R and stuff the 500 oil burner in there. why? well... why not?

I had two CR500's (and my dad had another) - probably the slowest way around a track, but still a lot of fun. If you are shopping for engines different years have quite different personalities. The 85-87 pulled really hard with particular emphasis on low-mid range. They were also rather hard to start. By '90 (I never did ride an '88 or '89) the cylinder gained decompression ports and the kick-starter got a different ratio that made starting much easier (I weighed 135lbs during my CR ownership so this was much appreciated). The motor didn't have the low-mid grunt of the '87 but still had plenty of power. It revved a bit more quickly and felt snappier overall. I think I preferred this as it made the bike feel a touch lighter. It did require a bit more rpm to get the job done. At Budd's Creek I'd leave the '87 in 4th for almost the entire track and just dab the clutch a touch out of the slow corners and even at near-idle rpm it'd light up the rear wheel and churn its way out though the loam. The '90 was happier if I dropped a gear and let it rev a bit more. The '92 was back the other direction just a bit - not quite as quick revving and snappy as the 90, but perhaps just a touch more low end power. I don't think there were many if any changes to the motor in subsequent years. All years suffer from chronic piston breakage I think. I'm told that it has something to do with poorly thought out squish characteristics and that head work fixes the problem. I found that switching from the stock cast slug to a forged wiseco fixed it for me. I did break two stock pistons (one on the '90, one on the '92), both with very low hours (hadn't even worn out the oem tires yet). The '87 had a wiseco in it when I bought it.

Service honda is now doing KX500AF's as well which look really nice. The KX500 motor has an exhaust valve and plated cylinder which should allow a bit more performance and flexibility. Of course a bit more complexity too.

I dearly loved my '93 KX250. I think it was easier to ride and more forgiving on natural terrain than my current CR - I'm pretty sure I would still turn faster laps on the old KX on tracks that aren't tremendously SX-oriented. The CR is a load of fun too though - astounding motor and a chassis that just soaks up the hardest hits with no deflection or even much bottoming. Its a bit more demanding to ride though.

David Shelton said:

That's nice quality footage from the helmet cam. Do you know what kind of video equipment was used?

Click to expand...

All the pictures were taken with a rebel T1i (the quality doesn't show through the video, but the actual pictures are really good quality) and the camera used for the helmet camera, is a GoPro Hero Wide... They of course came out with an HD version not long after I bought mine lol. All footage and pictures are what I took.

Somehow I have missed this thread......

Frankly bikes are way ahead of planes on my toy list. I love flying and all that goes with it but I live on 2 wheels.

Somewhere along the line in high school I had the sense to go to college and bail on what MIGHT have gone well racing motocross. That was a long time ago on short suspension Hodakas and then Huskies.

After a long college-medschool layoff I started racing again in the late 80s and then going to Baja in 1990. What a can of worms that opened!!

We ran a Baja 1000 team in the early 90s that peaked in 1993 with a 5th in open pro. That spurred a more concerted effort in 95 and nearly got us all hurt as we pushed as hard as possible to beat the 93 effort.

For years we trail rode the course, prerunning select sections and avoiding the no fun stuff--50 miles of sand whoops,etc etc etc

Then we turned 50......for the last 3 years we have run the race with a series of mishaps.....rider failure, tire failure, this year a blown apart cooling system.

Baja is the coolest off road riding I have ever found. The race is the biggest challenge I have dealt with in sport. Anyway you find to participate is a ton of fun---and best of all you are in Mexico with the perfect weather, food, people, etc etc wtc

So then...favorite bike?...big dirt....XR650r-autoclutch, big lights, go anywhere

trails? CRF230....BBR240 kit

dual sport?...GS800

street?...GS1200 or ST1300

vintageMX?....Honda XL350-Powroll 440-Champion frame

Best looking bike?....Triumph X75 Hurricane

Never again? .......CR500 on a SX leaning course---no more triples, no more 125 kids clipping my helmet with footpegs.

I just had my first Baja experience last summer - spent two days riding down there with my sister and a friend of hers on XR400's. Had a fantastic time! We entered near Tecate and pieced together bits of the old 250 and 500 courses to take us all the way to Mikes and back. I think we covered a touch over 500 miles in the two days. I definitely want to go back and would really like to take more time and make my way all the way to Cabo.

BikePilot- Thanks for all the info on the 500's! I had no idea they changed so much over the years. I know i'd probably be faster on my RM with the suspension done right, but something about riding the 500 wide open down a fire road or wide trail, rear tire sideways throwing a 50 foot roost trail just gets me going! Talk about a brute!

This thread is some good motivation- I need to get back out to the shop and finish up my project bikes, especially the RM (it's in a million pieces. stripped and painted the frame along with engine rebuild top and bottom among other things... basically all new). I need a springtime dirtbike!