Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Was Lois Pryce there?

I think last year, but not this year…

https://www.abrfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/ABR-Festival-2022-Schedule-Fri-Sun.pdf

Out for a little rip late afternoon… 😎

1 Attachment

Sexy pic!

Your rear end might be nicer but mine is bigger. Amazing what tyres made in this century can do for handling and brakes that (finally) work. Really really like this bike.

1 Attachment

Very nicely prepared. You must have put a lot of time into it.

Cheers nick, might have spent a few hours tinkering on this one.

Nothing better than a road bike which has had all the tweaks which are usually only done by a race team. Mass produced bikes are always a compromise. If you put the time and money in you can enable the bike to be as sweet as the designer intended. Even if you only change the front master cylinder and hoses you can get so much extra riding joy.

You can follow progress here if it's of interest. Totally agree, have an EBC clutch soaking in some oil waiting to go in then that should be it for mods until the winter rolls around. Okay, maybe a quick shifter if the clutch install is a success we will see.

Just a reminder here because otherwise I know I'll forget

https://www.drwheelbuilding.com/

Wheel building wheelbuilding wheelbuilder

We made it. 860 miles in three days on the gnarliest roads and tracks in no-cal. Mountains, insane heat, freezing fog and a frankly absurd number of hours in the saddle. Despite spritzing out a quart or so of Oil the last two days, the little bike made it around without an issue. Astonishing bit of engineering. Moto Melee is absolutely worth doing if you ever get a chance: a mostly terrific group of people hammering the oddest assortment of bikes in between beer and wrench sessions, through some of the greatest scenery in the US.

5 Attachments

Oh and for anyone interested - 72mph tops, cruise at 60 aside from the up hills. Handling was crudely effective, especially on the very bumpy sections - certainly enough to embarrass some much fancier machinery. I haven't held a throttle wide open for that long in 25+ years. They sound insane when revved - like race bikes, far different from the later 180 crank motors. Nearly everyone loved them.

Was it in the Olympic Peninsula?

Nope, that's Washington. It was all in California - San Francisco to Red Bluff on the first day through Sonoma, Napa, Lake Berryessa and Stonyford. Red Bluff to Fort Bragg via the Lost Coast on day 2 and in and out back down the coast to SF on day three.

You have some amazing scenery on your doorstep. I feel lucky to have ridden around the National Parks once in my life, hopefully I'll get to do it again sometime. I should put Moto Mania on my list.

Ah. I've bicycled the Lost Coast without ever discovering what it was called. I stayed pretty much on 101 and 1, except for a detour from Mendocino to Ukiah. I'd love to go back and do more of the minor roads. Plus the Olympic Peninsula, which I bypassed altogether.

Sounds like a memorable trip for sure. Almost equally impressed with that road surface, looks like a race track.

More than the Aprilia?

There are some great bits - the coastal 1 is generally in excellent condition, it's the roads inland and out on the LC that are variable. The lost coast is the bit of Humboldt that includes the King ranges - it's bypassed by the 1 and 101 which turn in after Rockport. Apparently the cartographers / road builders got that far and thought 'fuck that, we'll go around!' It's an incredibly rugged mix of broken tarmac, dirt, huge drop offs, cold ocean breezes on the coast and blazing hot gangster weed grows inland. Humboldt county in general feels pretty lawless. It's an interesting spot.

I think so yeah. The Aprilia was epic over 70mph, but anything under it was hard work which I couldn't really square in my head.

Not many people doing high speeds there, I think they laid that surface for the benefit of the many cyclists, who bimble along two abreast taking in the aroma of the Redwoods! Low speed limits too. Could be very tricky trying to make the most of it on your 'sickle. Better to go to rural Spain, where all the locals have deserted the farmland to live in cities, leaving behind some very squiggly roads resurfaced at huge expense with EU money. You can go mad. Miles and miles of Brands Hatches, with one car per hour coming the other way.

The 36 from Red bluff to the 101 near Fortuna is sportsbike paradise. 99 miles of incredible twisties - too fast for the poor little 175, though I had a laugh on some of the downhills.

Humboldt county in general feels pretty lawless

When I was there it was full of grumpy ageing hippies growing weed. Strangers not welcome, because they might be narcs. Nobody's chatty in the coffee shops in Garberville. And they're paranoid about low-flying planes.

Yeah since weed went legal in CA, there is no enforcement, even the Feds seem to have given up. It's seriously wild west, if swapping horses for lifted diesel pickups. Quite the scene.

The GSXR looks absolutely fabulous btw. Very jell.