After all the questions about pickups and rental cars and trailers and...

[230RN]

Well, it's kind of a standing joke as to how come Hawaii has Interstate Highways.

[Chuck Dye]

You hit the wrong pedal.  Actually, the handbrake is more fun.  Most fun is a hole in the floorboard and a good supply of random heavy junk.

How about a couple of kids in the wayback with a five gallon bucket of industrial peanut butter and the tailgate window cranked down?  The fool even tried his wipers!

[Ben]

So Monkeyleg hasn't posted in this thread for a few days. Should we start taking bets on what small town jail he got himself locked up in? 

[Doggy Daddy]

I'll vote Pahrump.  But it won't be the jail that he's stuck in.   

DD

[MrsSmith]

One thing I've never gotten around to doing in my life is just throwing a bag in the truck and heading to direction "X" through multiple states just to see what I can see.

Ben, you have to make time for this! There was a time in my younger years when I kept a bag in the trunk just in case, and it got a lot of mileage. There's just something about turning the key and heading out, going wherever the road takes you. I haven't done that in years. And it just occurred to me that there's absolutely NO reason why I can't do it now - kids on their own, no spouse to explain myself to... hmmm...

Wonder if Monkeyleg went past the salt flats and tried for his own land speed record? I tried but the rental I was in didn't like that idea as much as I did. Maybe next time.

[Monkeyleg]

I'm in a La Quinta in Albuquerque. Their internet access is down, so I'm connecting with my Blackberry. It makes old 14K dialup connections seem blazing fast.

No arrests. No stops (yet). I did come close today, though. I punched it to get past some slowpoke Harley riders, and was up to about 100 mph when I saw a light bar on top of the brown Ford ahead of me. It was a trooper. Don't know how I missed seeing that, or how he missed clocking me.

North of Escalante Utah is the Escalante Stairs, a mountain that's about 8,000 or so feet at the peak. The road going through the Dixie Forest is all twisties, posted 25 mph. I was screaming through them. It was like an SCCA course. I realized that the car corners faster than a Harley (and goes faster, too) when I came up on a group of riders and they couldn't go fast enough for me. They had to pull over to let me pass. Buncha tough guys.

[Ben]

Ben, you have to make time for this! There was a time in my younger years when I kept a bag in the trunk just in case, and it got a lot of mileage. There's just something about turning the key and heading out, going wherever the road takes you. I haven't done that in years. And it just occurred to me that there's absolutely NO reason why I can't do it now - kids on their own, no spouse to explain myself to... hmmm...

Wonder if Monkeyleg went past the salt flats and tried for his own land speed record? I tried but the rental I was in didn't like that idea as much as I did. Maybe next time.

Yeah, I definitely do need to just do it. I've actually been thinking about substituting my normal Fall fishing trip to the Eastern Sierras and Nevada with a road trip through a few states. Heck, I can always still bring my fly rod with me. :)

[230RN]

...and was up to about 100 mph when I saw a light bar on top of the brown Ford ahead of me. It was a trooper.

They must be behind the times in Utah. The newer light bars are barely --what? --three inches high? --and almost invisible.

I realized that the car corners faster than a Harley (and goes faster, too) when I came up on a group of riders and they couldn't go fast enough for me. They had to pull over to let me pass. Buncha tough guys.

Maybe I am (was) just a lousy rider, but  bikes at road speeds are not as maneuverable as a car despite legends to the contrary. 

Except maybe in the sense that you can do a lane change with your eight foot bike into the nine foot gap between the cars in the next lane.  After making a casual, devil-may care, very brief and deliberately sloppy hand-signal, of course.  With one imperious index finger to point the way.

You can do a quick maneuver with countersteering to avoid a pavement hazard, but you end up after that operation going the same way in the same track anyhow. 

"Tough guys."  Heh.  Probably lawyers and accountants and CEOs with 2.3 kids each and one on the way and a litter of puppies to sell and $500K homes in subdivisions with 10K square foot lots.

And two-car garages stuffed with lawnmowers and edgers and maybe some woodworking tools and a table saw and a Lexus with just enough space left over for their bikes.

And a swing set in the yard.

Oh, and $300 shy of their limit on their Mastercards.



Terry, "Sounds just like me," 230RN

[bedlamite]

I'm in a La Quinta in Albuquerque.

Make sure you take that left turn ...

North of Escalante Utah is the Escalante Stairs, a mountain that's about 8,000 or so feet at the peak. The road going through the Dixie Forest is all twisties, posted 25 mph. I was screaming through them. It was like an SCCA course. I realized that the car corners faster than a Harley (and goes faster, too) when I came up on a group of riders and they couldn't go fast enough for me. They had to pull over to let me pass. Buncha tough guys.

Welcome to my world. Harley's don't have the clearance to lean enough to go a decent speed through a turn, even the new XR1200. With sport bikes it depends on the rider, most don't have the skills necessary to take advantage of the bike. Put a decent sport bike and rider up against your Mustang and you won't be waiting for him, the only real advantage a car has is in braking.

[MrsSmith]

Yeah, I definitely do need to just do it. I've actually been thinking about substituting my normal Fall fishing trip to the Eastern Sierras and Nevada with a road trip through a few states. Heck, I can always still bring my fly rod with me. :)

Yep, fly rod is portable. Do it!
I have a girl's weekend on Okracoke Island scheduled for late September. Think I'm going to take the long way back to Savannah on the way home. There are some great roads between here and there.

North of Escalante Utah is the Escalante Stairs, a mountain that's about 8,000 or so feet at the peak. The road going through the Dixie Forest is all twisties, posted 25 mph. I was screaming through them. It was like an SCCA course.

There's a road like that in Tennessee headed north to Lake Cumberland in KY. I've seen plates of spaghetti with less twists and turns. It was a blast to drive it!

[Tallpine]

the only real advantage a car has is in braking.

Well, that - and a heater and air conditioning 

[Monkeyleg]

Welcome to my world. Harley's don't have the clearance to lean enough to go a decent speed through a turn, even the new XR1200. With sport bikes it depends on the rider, most don't have the skills necessary to take advantage of the bike. Put a decent sport bike and rider up against your Mustang and you won't be waiting for him, the only real advantage a car has is in braking.

I know that, Bedlamite. That's why I said "Harleys" and not sport bikes.

Most Harley riders never get near their maximum lean, anyway, something that drove me nuts in the mountains in WY around Sturgis time.

[sanglant]

Well, it's kind of a standing joke as to how come Hawaii has Interstate Highways.

they were going to build a bridge to CA, but later decided they didn't want it go down with them.

[230RN]

Me:

Maybe I am (was) just a lousy rider, but  bikes at road speeds are not as maneuverable as a car despite legends to the contrary.

Bedlamite:

With sport bikes it depends on the rider, most don't have the skills necessary to take advantage of the bike. Put a decent sport bike and rider up against your Mustang and you won't be waiting for him, the only real advantage a car has is in braking.

I would dispute that in the sense that unless you have time to "set up" for a sharp turn, you are going to continue in a straight line and end up in the ditch.  Now I'm no knee-scraping rider, and maybe I'm wrong, but I believe a sudden unexpected turn will defeat any rider.

Am I wrong?  Since I'm not a knee-scraper?  I mean all this is aside from a power U-turn, which a car will do, but not a bike.  I mean the kinds of roads Monkeyleg was talking about (And I'm aware that those riders may have been holding it down for the sake of the less-experienced riders in the group.)

Hey, I'm willing to admit I'm wrong, but I still think a bike, regardless of brand or type, cannot outmaneuver a car in surprise situations at road speeds.



Terry, 230RN

[Fitz]

as a sportbike rider, I think you're right. On sport tires, your contact patches are small, and you only have two of them

[Boomhauer]

There's a road like that in Tennessee headed north to Lake Cumberland in KY. I've seen plates of spaghetti with less twists and turns. It was a blast to drive it!

The Dragon's Tail.

[Monkeyleg]

The Dragon, Dragon's Tail, or the proper name, Deal's Gap. It's a really challenging ride even for experienced riders.  A 12 mile stretch of two-lane with about 300 switchbacks and 2nd gear turns. On average, two dozen riders a year die on the stretch. At the gap is a motorcycle motel and campground, and in the general store is a collection jar for the county helicopter rescue team.

If you should decide to ride it, do it early in the morning while the maniacs with the kevlar suits are still sleeping.

[bedlamite]

The Dragon's Tail.

I went there again in early June. Avoid it at all costs on the weekend, Monday through Thursday it's pretty clear. The Saturday morning I was there, I ended up helping clean up 3 wrecks. One stretched Hayabusa hit the hard parts and lowsided, and two Harleys. I ended up using a packet of Celox on one of the Harley passengers. She was leaking pretty bad, a tank top isn't good protection when you run wide and hit a cliff.

From US129 photos:



My knee touches at about a 40mph average on that road.

[Monkeyleg]

Damn, Bedlamite, you ride like a pro.

[Boomhauer]

She was leaking pretty bad, a tank top isn't good protection when you run wide and hit a cliff.

I'm continually amazed by the idiots who wear nothing more than thin cotton (and no helmet) on a bike, or worse, put their kids on the bike with nothing more than a half shell "helmet"...what do these people think is going to happen when they end up sliding across the pavement after being thrown through the air after a car in the oncoming lane turns in front of them? Denim burns through very quickly in a slide.

Road rash is simply very bad friction burns...all that time in the hospital could be avoided with the proper leathers or quality textile gear.

[bedlamite]

Thanks Dick, it's amazing what a trackday with a good instructor will do for your riding skills.

Road rash is simply very bad friction burns...all that time in the hospital could be avoided with the proper leathers or quality textile gear.

QFT. And a helmet.

[Tallpine]

Leave off the helmet and you might avoid the hospital stay 

[KD5NRH]

Some guy in a Toyota SUV was on my bumper  , so I hit the pedal. Next thing you know I was doing 120 mph.

Cut the brake booster line and install a tee.  Run fuel line from the tee inside under the dash, with a ball valve and a can of Sea Foam.  That way you can clean your intake while driving.  The thick white smoke cloud just lets the tailgaters know it's working :)