East central IL-West central IN

Finished the first ride fron BN to Chicago. All went great except for stop and go traffic from LaGrange road on 55 to Chicago Ave on 41 (LSD). Took an hour.

The stock seat is very comfortable for the four hour ride and my CorTech bags worked great and so easy to mount and remove from the bike.
 
BDazzler said:
Time to think about riding in IL and IN again. We will get some warm weather with out rain one of these days. I was able to get over 300 miles in last Monday.

I'm just checking to see if anyone else in the area is looking to get a ride together. I'm good with a day trip and meet up. I have a Scala Rider G4 system. If anyone else does, we could connect for bike to bike communication. My wife and I use them all the time.

I currently work three 12 hour night shifts a week, either Mon, Tue, Wed or Wed, Thu, Fri 7pm to 7am. Baring any family obligations and given enough advanced notice, I'm fairly open. Wed and Thu are out because I work EVERY Wed night. Shoot me a PM for a phone number or just post up here.

Gary, I hope to meet up with you on a Sat for a trip to the Linton BMW shop. Those yummy donuts and coffee need a home, and I have a lot of space for them ;)
Click to expand...

Anytime Troy ! We had 17 people at the BMW shop today. Three of them rode in and the rest of us drove . . .. :deadhorse:

I can't wait for the weather to break so we can RIDE !!
 
pilot8127 said:
Anytime Troy ! We had 17 people at the BMW shop today. Three of them rode in and the rest of us drove . . .. :deadhorse:

I can't wait for the weather to break so we can RIDE !!
Click to expand...

I was actually in Terre Haute today, but we had to bring the wife's car to Sam's club to get new tires. I stopped in Thompson's and drooled over the FJR and Super Tenere.

There were a few motorcycles out, even in the sprinkles. I hope to visit in a few weeks. I'll see how the weather is in the wee hours in the morning for the next few Saturdays.
 
Sounds great Troy. The next few Saturdays will surley have to warm up and dry out eventually? heh,heh, Then,,, it's ride time !

I was actually talking to the guys at Wilbur's (in Linton) just yesterday about that YAMAHA FJR1300 !! They said that it was SILVER, and that it really looked sweet ! Mhmhmhhmhmhmmh . . . .. .

I am going to have to go take a look for myself. . . . . . . yup. I am going to do it . . . . :thewave: I need to see if the old knees can handle the riding position. I know I would really LIKE the POWER . . . !

BTW, I have the shop cleaned up for when you stop in !!

:cheers:
 
I'll be riding tomorrow (Friday 5/24/13) in the morning and early afternoon if it's not raining, like predicted. I don't have a direction picked out yet. Anyone else in the area have the day off? :dontknow: I'd be happy to meet up. :Rockon:

I'm going to ride with out my Corbin for the first time. I'll have the Top Sallerie seat I just got. It seems very different, but I think it will be good. I was thinking of heading toward Champaign and Bloomington, IL way, but I could just as easily go toward Terre Haute and Indy direction. I have no set plans, but I'd like to look at a few motorcycle shops to drool over new bikes and check out some gear. I'm open to suggestions. :icon_beer:
 
Man, I wish I could stay out later, but my kids have awards night Friday night. I'll have to be back before 4:30. :( I hope you get to ride. It looks to be a great day for it. I'm sure I'll stop by Sportland if I come up that way.
 
I will be at the U of I on Friday morning (approx 10:30am)opposite the Assembly Hall catching up with some fellow instructors. If you get up this way it would be good to meet up mate.
 
Vagabond said:
I will be at the U of I on Friday morning (approx 10:30am)opposite the Assembly Hall catching up with some fellow instructors. If you get up this way it would be good to meet up mate.
Click to expand...

That sounds about right for me distance and time wise. :woot: I will look for you. I'll be on my 2007 cobalt blue FZ1. I guess you also have a cobalt blue 2007 FZ1. It will be chilly, starting in the high 40's and ending in the mid 60's. I have my light smoke ZG Double Bubble on now, but I will change out to my light smoke ZG Sport Touring or maybe my clear V-Stream. I will most likely have my soft saddle bags on, as I still don't have a tank bag. I hope to see you. I'll PM my cell number to make meeting up a bit easier. I hope to see you tomorrow. :sport12:

PS I'll be the fat guy in a black Speed & Strength jacket with black gloves a black Shoei RF-1100 with graphics, jeans and black A* Ridge boots.
 
BDazzler said:
That sounds about right for me distance and time wise. :woot: I will look for you. I'll be on my 2007 cobalt blue FZ1. I guess you also have a cobalt blue 2007 FZ1. It will be chilly, starting in the high 40's and ending in the mid 60's. I have my light smoke ZG Double Bubble on now, but I will change out to my light smoke ZG Sport Touring or maybe my clear V-Stream. I will most likely have my soft saddle bags on, as I still don't have a tank bag. I hope to see you. I'll PM my cell number to make meeting up a bit easier. I hope to see you tomorrow. :sport12:

PS I'll be the fat guy in a black Speed & Strength jacket with black gloves a black Shoei RF-1100 with graphics, jeans and black A* Ridge boots.
Click to expand...

Well, it doesn't look like I will make it out at all today. My daughter (11) has been throwing up this morning. It's a daddy daughter day at home. Sorry to miss out meeting anyone. We will try another day.
 
OK, as it turned out, my daughter went back to school in just enough time for me to go meet Ian and out twin 2007 cobalt blue FZ1's. The similarities don't stop there. We both had the Zero Gravity Sport Touring screens, I have the old T-Rex sliders, he has the newer ones. We both have stock exhausts, but would like to just do a slip-on so we don't have to mess with PCIII or PCV. We also would like to get a shorty brake lever and a full length clutch lever. I mentioned that Ride It Moto will allow you to order 1 short and 1 standard, so here's the link. They also have levers that are adjustable length and adjustable folding, but I think I just prefer the regular levers. I'm sure I kept him longer than I should have, sorry about that. We had a great little talk for such a short time. I hope we can get a little riding together soon. I had to laugh a little when I discovered we are both interested in the new FJR 1300.

I wish I had time to get more pictures, but I only took one. It's Ian gearing up and our FZ's with a very nice silver Honda 919.

View attachment 14845


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
Last edited:
I am in Rochester IL, and would love to join one of the rides sometime. I went to Litchfield To Neihouse Cycles open house last weekend for the open rides. I got a chance to ride the FJR1300 and it was sweeeet! Only complaint was the amount of bar end in the mirrors. If I could buy onther bike that would be it. I also road a Super Tenere, it was a fun ride but not the bike for me, gears were kinda clunky I thought. Anyway if you are planning any rides or anyine is heading this way for the TT Races let me know.
 
Rx_FZ1 I'd love to get together and ride. I haven't ridden the 2013 FJR (Gen 3), but I have ridden a used Gen 2 (2007) FJR. I loved it. It was very smooth and comfortable. I'm in love with the electric adjustable windshield. I haven't ridden a Super Tenere, but like the idea of some dirt road capability. I grew up riding dual sports and do miss the "go down any road" ability.

I DID get to ride a Bolt yesterday in Champaign at Sportland. It was mostly what I expected, mediocre power, typical V-Twin low grunt that runs out fast. What I didn't expect was how well it handled. It was way more nimble that I would have expected. The pegs drag, but give more clearance any other cruiser I've ridden. I could ride this bike because it has the 'mid-controls' and not the crazy forward foot controls. I could even stand on the pegs with ease, so when you go over railroad tracks, your butt doesn't have to suffer with the 2.8 inches of rear shock travel. It was well mannered. I hit a 2 mile stretch of interstate and back. It merged fine and I think I made it up to about 75 with no issues.

One thing that seems out of place is the big, round digital display that is too dark. It has large seedo, clock, odometer, and 2 tripometers with right thumb buttons to select between clock and mileage counters. The mirrors didn't stay in place well, but I'm sure a good wrench could fix that. I'm no cruiser fan, but I could ride this bike. It could make an OK commuter and would fit in with the other HD's around here. I was tempted to pull it into the HD dealer and let them tell me why the HD was better, but I didn't.

I'll see if I can add some photos from my phone to this post. I have pictures of many bikes I'd like to have. :drools:
 
"I'm in love with the electric adjustable windshield." Me too! Had to make myself stop playing with it so I could enjoy other aspects of the bike. It was so nice to be able to go full on car windshield down to an almost naked version with hardly any wind protection in about 3 seconds, while still moving. I did not get to ride the Bolt but I did get to "Assemble" one. They had a bike build contest to showcase the ease of customizing these bikes. You had to put both fenders and the tank on in under 55 seconds to qualify to win one later on. I did it in 1.05 and got a can coozie, lol. You should come over for the event next year! its a fun time and about the only place you can ride multiple new bikes just to try out, without the intention of buying one. Hopefully We can get together on a ride this summer, let me know if somthings forming. Have a good one.
 
OK, the wife and I were planning a trip to Galena, IL, but the weather is a bit crappy and it's over 6 hours away. We are still doing our 2 day, 1 night trip, but we will be headed west to Hannibal, MO. We will head out toward St. Louis and hit just north and then take 79 north about 65 miles to Hannibal. We should get there about 7-8 pm, if we make decent time. It will be around 244 miles. On the return trip, we will cut over toward Lincoln, IL and then south, east on 121 through Decatur and back home.

:yes:

We are leaving in a few minutes. I'll try to post up some pictures from my iPhone tonight. I'm not sure how many I will take. Wish us luck, safety and dryness.

Thanks!
 
Here's our bikes as we leave under gray skies and a very slight mist. Jodie has a medium tank bag to add to her bike, but everything else is in my Bags-Connection saddle bags.

I switched back to my Corbin for the trip. I know I can go 300 miles on it, but I'm still not sold on the Top Sallerie seat. I thought about putting my larger V-Stream windshield back on, but I'm not taking the GoPro, so the light smoke ZG ST will work. I'll get a little wetter if we hit hard rain, but I'll dry. I now have water proof boots.

View attachment 15014
View attachment 15015
View attachment 15016


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
We made it to Hannibal, MO. We are in our hotel and I haven't slept for 18.5 hours. I'm still feeling pretty good, but I'm sure I'll crash hard when I lay down. We made it just shy of 300 miles today.

View attachment 15024
View attachment 15025
View attachment 15026

We got a little turned around in St. Charles, MO and Jodie was forced to ride her Ninja 250r on the interstate for the first time in moderate St. Louis traffic. Not a fun way to start, but she did great after she calmed down.

Since we wasted some time lost in St. Charles due to our planned roads being covered in water, we were still riding at sunset. We did take some time for a photo with it.

View attachment 15027
View attachment 15028

And finally at the hotel.

View attachment 15029

I have a few more pics to post, but TapaTalk limits to 6. That may be a good thing. We are being bad (what are you thinking?) and have a Pizza Hut pizza on the way. Time to eat, sleep and recharge for the 300 mile trip back home!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top