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It is. Zeigler Motorsports in Kalamazoo can eat my entire rear end. ~2500 miles total. First mistake I made was trying to take scenic roads from Kalamazoo to Deals Gap. There really isn't anything in the lower peninsula, Ohio, Indiana, etc that I haven't seen already or want to see. As a result, I spent almost the first day getting barely to northern Kentucky and staring at construction cones the whole way, including a standstill in Ohio for long enough to almost overheat the bike. I wanted to spend the second day actually at Deals Gap enjoying myself but I spent most of the day getting to it instead.    A 300? KTM supermoto parked just behind me. For my run up the hill, I was briefly following a newer Concours but he took a pull-off and I had the uphill to myself.  So no fun, then.  This jacket felt like a second skin; I was comfortable even in the desert heat to follow. The downhill stretch sucked big time. A cruiser was up front of a line of him, some stanced Florida Lexus, and me. He didn't take any of the pull-offs and led us on a merry 15mph downhill chase. Then I rode until I got near a campsite. I decided Skull Island was appropriately named, so I headed there. Beautiful riverside campsite, and it had showers.   It sure is, creepy shower stall. It sure is. Tennessee was the longest highway drive, but the mountain passes made for interesting interstate. Beyond that, there wasn't too much going on. I took a sketchy hotel in Ozark, spent the next day at an average of 90mph until New Mexico, and then more boring freeway until I-17 in Arizona. I liked that little stretch. I'm planning on taking a different route back. I hate that I was on a schedule for this trip and the return trip; I wanted to see stuff, not just sit on I-40 until I died of old age. Revvik fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Aug 26, 2017 |
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Aug 26, 2017 19:09
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I lived in Ozark for a summer. Spent a whole lot of time in that part of the state, still do when I go home. You were right at the jumping off point for some of the best riding in the country. Understand the need to keep moving though.
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Aug 27, 2017 01:06
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HenryJLittlefinger posted:I lived in Ozark for a summer. Spent a whole lot of time in that part of the state, still do when I go home. You were right at the jumping off point for some of the best riding in the country. Understand the need to keep moving though. I'd love to know more, though I'm uncertain as to how much time I'll have for getting back. Hell, even ANY recommendations for the ride back would be great. I figure I shouldn't have to spend two days straight on the same interstate this time, since I don't have a several hundred mile detour to Tennessee.
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Aug 28, 2017 06:59
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Where are you traveling from and to again? On the return trip I mean.
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Aug 28, 2017 14:24
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Phoenix AZ to Kalamazoo MI
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Aug 28, 2017 17:22
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If you go back through Arkansas, pretty much any route through the Ozarks east of I-49 and north of I-40 is great. I always have this problem of coming up with the must-ride roads when talking to people about riding in the area. They're all just so good, and I never really take the same route twice when traveling. Point to point, there's always 3 or 4 options with twisty scenic roads that are within 30 minutes to an hour of each other in terms of total travel time. Avoid Springdale-Rogers-Bentonville entirely if you can, but Fayetteville is pretty good. It's a good stopover town for food, at least. Hwy 412 is a divided four-lane between somewhere west of Springdale to about Hindsville IIRC. Pretty much every other road up there is good, though. Every road passing through the Ozark National Forest is great. I like Hwys 23, 16, 21, and 7 especially. Hwys 27 and 9 will get you east out of the Ozarks and up into Missouri relatively quickly and are scenic. Specific destinations I like: Ponca/Boxley Valley is on the Buffalo National River. There's an elk herd that just roams around the highway in the valley. Very pretty. Mountain View is a neat town, every road into and out of it is scenic. Great food, and it's a destination for anyone into folk music and otherwise mountain living. There's the Ozark Folk Center there and you can see candles being made and old dudes carving things and other bits of Ozark heritage. Good place to spend the night, plenty of free/cheap camping around there in the forest. If you pass through Leslie, there's a good bakery there just outside of town on Hwy 65. Hard to miss. I dunno, that's all pretty disjointed. When you're back in the area, feel free to pm me and I could tell you what's cool near you in terms of food, camping, roads, etc. I'd ride through with you if I still lived there.
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Aug 28, 2017 17:50
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Content
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Aug 28, 2017 17:55
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Other then going North along the Rockies, or up along the The Great River Road, most travel out in the midwest sux. As stated, west Oklahoma, into Arkansas is nice through the Ozarks.
Skreemer fucked around with this message at 18:54 on Aug 28, 2017 |
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Aug 28, 2017 18:47
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Got out for a ride this weekend. It was pretty.  The Rizoma bars / grips / mirror (lol, they shipped me two left mirrors, should have the right-side one today) transformed the bike's ergos. Today I dropped my rearsets a couple of holes down before the ride in to work, and it's even better. Tonight I'll move them forward a hole or two and re-set the shifter / brake lever height appropriately, and then the Monster will actually be comfortable to ride for long distances while still having lots of clearance for corners! Amazing. Only took 6 years to sort.
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Aug 28, 2017 19:16
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I've had a bunch of bikes small and large throughout the years but at this point I'm just at a couple of small displacement things to hoon around in the woods and on back roads. I would like to pick up a new BMW G310R when they actually hit my local dealers later this year but for now... 97 Suzuki DR350SE, only mod is a large Acerbis gas tank to actually get some range, since the stocker was the size of a peanut. Traded an old Honda hatch for it last year straight up. Only had to put a tire, chain and front brake pads on it since.  2010 Sachs MadAss 125. Been wanting one of these for years just to gently caress around on and one finally popped up on the local CL. They weren't sold new around here so this is the only one I've ever seen. Motor is a Chinese copy of a Honda 125 but it runs sweet and actually hit 67mph indicated on a downhill. Cruises around 55 with no problems whatsoever and it's just goofy fun. Lots of double-takes from Harley and sportbike guys as I ride by in full gear with the throttle pinned open.  
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Aug 28, 2017 20:51
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Those Sachs look so neat, I wonder if I should just switch to mopeds since I never leave metro Los Angeles. The FZ is too fast for 99% of the riding I do. I know Sachs has been making bikes for a really long time. I do need to be able to split on the 10 though.
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Aug 28, 2017 21:28
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A MIRACLE posted:Those Sachs look so neat, I wonder if I should just switch to mopeds since I never leave metro Los Angeles. The FZ is too fast for 99% of the riding I do. I know Sachs has been making bikes for a really long time. It's like a Grom but for normal sized people. It's got a 125 engine and 4 gears. I have a feeling the MadAss 50cc would be pretty terrible but I've been Loki v the 125 so far.
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Aug 28, 2017 22:00
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Imperador do Brasil posted:I've had a bunch of bikes small and large throughout the years but at this point I'm just at a couple of small displacement things to hoon around in the woods and on back roads. I would like to pick up a new BMW G310R when they actually hit my local dealers later this year but for now... But why?
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Aug 28, 2017 23:29
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builds character posted:But why? Comedy option: it builds character.
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Aug 29, 2017 00:03
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I don't know if the 310 is made for dirt or gravel if that's what you want it for, seems to be urban commuter oriented. But the Crf250 rally looks pretty awesome for that. I wish I knew what roads were open to the public in SoCal, dual sporting seems way better than dodging traffic on wilshire and poo poo
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Aug 29, 2017 04:16
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the 250 rally is on my radar for where/what i'm going. Looks to be a pretty rad little moto.
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Aug 29, 2017 04:22
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I thought this was a nice video about it https://youtu.be/SINyNWwFvFk Obviously you could do all this on an old dirt bike but if we're talking about new dual sports I think it's really tempting
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Aug 29, 2017 04:29
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Drove around Snowdonia in north Wales yesterday, loving amazing roads out there.     
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Aug 29, 2017 11:11
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Imperador do Brasil posted:Because I don't need a 200hp race bike or a 700lb full dresser at this point in my life? I've done fast bikes. I like going in the woods and hooning around on the farm roads. The G310 is like an R3/CBR300/Ninja 300 in size but no fairings. Sorry, I don't mean to be down on a bike you're excited about. I just don't get the market for the G310 (to say nothing of the G310GS). Seems like a more expensive version of existing bikes that has BMW branding and all the associated expenses and hassles. Which is why I'm genuinely curious about why you want that vs another bike. It's certainly not a woods bike and for hooning around on farm roads and woods I'd think something like a WR250X would be better, no?
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Aug 29, 2017 13:47
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builds character posted:Sorry, I don't mean to be down on a bike you're excited about. I just don't get the market for the G310 (to say nothing of the G310GS). Seems like a more expensive version of existing bikes that has BMW branding and all the associated expenses and hassles. Which is why I'm genuinely curious about why you want that vs another bike. It's certainly not a woods bike and for hooning around on farm roads and woods I'd think something like a WR250X would be better, no? It's just a bike I'm considering. I have two now which is enough but as we all know enough is never enough. The G310R is cheaper than the CBR300 ABS, the R3, and the Ninja 300 ABS. Like i said and showed above, I have a bike for farm roads and woods (DR), but it'd be nice to have something for the paved back roads that handles well, can hit more than 60 but isn't overpowered, looks cool and doesn't break the bank. Imperador do Brasil fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Aug 29, 2017 |
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Aug 29, 2017 15:19
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Imperador do Brasil posted:It's just a bike I'm considering. I have two now which is enough but as we all know enough is never enough. The G310R is cheaper than the CBR300 ABS, the R3, and the Ninja 300 ABS. Like i said and showed above, I have a bike for farm roads and woods (DR), but it'd be nice to have something for the paved back roads that handles well, can hit more than 60 but isn't overpowered, looks cool and doesn't break the bank. Any of the sportbike 300's would do that from OK to relatively well. I ran a Duke 390 as an around town bike until my Bandit got wrecked. It still does everything I ask of it but just a bit slower. I've been on the Ninja 300 and the Yamaha R3 as well, and the R3 seemed to be a be better IMO, had a touch more "go", and was easier to turn in the corners. I just happened to have like the looks and handling of the Duke better. Also look at the maintenance if you can. When I change the oil on the Duke, it has three drat filters for the oil alone. A complete oil change kit costs 50$. That's for something that takes less than 2 quarts of oil. Here's the "kit" http://www.ktm-parts.com/90238015010KIT.html
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Aug 29, 2017 17:41
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Keket posted:Drove around Snowdonia in north Wales yesterday, loving amazing roads out there. Neis! It is really pretty out there.
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Aug 29, 2017 18:29
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Skreemer posted:
Hey, that's an upgrade from the LC4 which had a cartridge filter, spin on filter, and two screens.
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Aug 29, 2017 21:53
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I have commited blasphemy. What was once a kawasaki vulcan 900 is now, well, a kawasaki vulcan 900. But with some extra bits. It's now as Indian as I am: a little bit but not really.   Also I just realized I need to clean up my yard, drat.
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Aug 29, 2017 22:13
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After completing all my maintenance tasks besides the valves I installed some 2012 FZ1 decals on my '06. The originals were removed when I got it so I went for the more modern ones!
bobbert fucked around with this message at 22:40 on Aug 29, 2017 |
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Aug 29, 2017 22:35
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As Nero Danced posted:I have commited blasphemy. What was once a kawasaki vulcan 900 is now, well, a kawasaki vulcan 900. But with some extra bits. It's now as Indian as I am: a little bit but not really. That looks surprisingly good (aside from the tassels, kill yoruslef) but seems like it needs a stripe or something on the front guard to break up that acre of red.
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Aug 30, 2017 01:42
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Keep the tassels and maybe add a monkey fist
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Aug 30, 2017 01:47
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fringe on the saddlebags requires fringe on the bar ends fringe on the bar ends requires a unicorn paint job and playing cards in the spokes
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Aug 30, 2017 02:08
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Jazzzzz posted:fringe on the saddlebags requires fringe on the bar ends The only kind of tassels I'll consider:  The fender definitely needs something to fill it in, I'll figure something out.
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Aug 30, 2017 02:30
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Bicycle: Giant rear end screwt a month in Mustang: Nail in tire literally on day 1 Ninja: Survived 700 miles. 
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Aug 31, 2017 18:28
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i pretty much always buy my rear tires with insurance now. i've gone through 3 pilot power 3s this year on the tuono because of all the lovely loving contractors and blue collar mother fuckers scattering their improvised caltrops everywhere
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Aug 31, 2017 18:37
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I wanted a stupid small bike, so I got this thing: Size comparison to Tuono 
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Aug 31, 2017 22:44
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Imperador do Brasil posted:It's just a bike I'm considering. I have two now which is enough but as we all know enough is never enough. The G310R is cheaper than the CBR300 ABS, the R3, and the Ninja 300 ABS. Like i said and showed above, I have a bike for farm roads and woods (DR), but it'd be nice to have something for the paved back roads that handles well, can hit more than 60 but isn't overpowered, looks cool and doesn't break the bank. Versys 300 looks pretty cool/capable and is like $5,500 new. Edit: There is a on two wheels YouTube video with that and the crf250l rally and it compares well even with light offroad. The crf only has 21hp, which seems low even to me for a modern bike. dreesemonkey fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 23:17
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Buhbuhj posted:I wanted a stupid small bike, so I got this thing: While I prefer the first gen, I am absolutely giddy every time I see a grom. Probably gonna be my next bike. Please keep posting pics and thoughts on what it's like to live with one day to day.
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Sep 1, 2017 00:11
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Coydog posted:While I prefer the first gen, I am absolutely giddy every time I see a grom. Probably gonna be my next bike. Please keep posting pics and thoughts on what it's like to live with one day to day. Cons: My pedal bike is faster.
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Sep 1, 2017 00:33
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I'd imagine it's really unsafe because it's not as powerful as your 400hp Mustang, right?
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Sep 1, 2017 00:37
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Coydog posted:While I prefer the first gen, I am absolutely giddy every time I see a grom. Probably gonna be my next bike. Please keep posting pics and thoughts on what it's like to live with one day to day. KTM not impractical enough?
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Sep 1, 2017 01:38
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I like a challenge. edit- The grom can accept a top case easily, though. And presumably doesn't have as sensitive of a throttle. Coydog fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Sep 1, 2017 |
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Sep 1, 2017 01:46
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dreesemonkey posted:Versys 300 looks pretty cool/capable and is like $5,500 new. I appreciate the heads-up on the Versys but I don't need another dual sport/adventure bike. I have a DR350 which, even though it's crude, does the job. I am looking at a small sport bike. I might even buy a used CBR250/300 or an R3. I want something a little sportier but I don't really need a 600+ sportbike.
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Sep 1, 2017 17:54
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Coydog posted:While I prefer the first gen, I am absolutely giddy every time I see a grom. Probably gonna be my next bike. Please keep posting pics and thoughts on what it's like to live with one day to day. 1 Day ownership report. I have 40 miles on it and everyone seems to love it. It gets way more attention than my Tuono does. Needs a pipe though, it's so quiet. The only way I can tell it's still running is from vibes unless I rev the piss out of it(you basically always have to do this).
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Sep 1, 2017 22:48
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