Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Monkeyleg on July 10, 2011, 11:56:30 PM
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After all those questions, I"m in Missouri right now, with my Mustang. Didn't take the bike for the trip to Utah.
I feel bad about asking all of those questions and then not even using any of the advice, but the more I thought about the bike, the more I realized it was a bad idea. The bike is 22 years old, and it's spent time in a dealership on every one of the last three or so trips out west I've taken. This time the stator went before I could even leave.
Even if I'd trailered it or put it in a pickup truck. when I'd get to the southern part of Utah, I'd be 200-300 miles from the nearest dealership (Vegas, Flagstaff or Salt Lake City). And, the bike is now old enough that a lot of parts are special order.
So, I'm in a car. But it's a fast car with fat tires for going around curves quickly ;)
Thanks for all of the help.
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Drive safe, have fun, and enjoy that Mustang the way it's supposed to be enjoyed: out of the garage!
Did I mention "drive safe?"
DD
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But, Doggy Daddy, everbody is doing 80-85. I have to go faster than them. ;)
Some guy in a Toyota SUV was on my bumper ???, so I hit the pedal. Next thing you know I was doing 120 mph.
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Drive safe, have fun, and enjoy that Mustang the way it's supposed to be enjoyed: out of the garage!
Did I mention "drive safe?"
DD
LOL, do want him to have fun or drive safe?
monkey leg, if you make it out to northwestern NV, holler!
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Are you anywhere near Lake of the Ozarks?
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But, Doggy Daddy, everbody is doing 80-85. I have to go faster than them. ;)
Some guy in a Toyota SUV was on my bumper ???, so I hit the pedal. Next thing you know I was doing 120 mph.
*heh*
That reminds me of the vacation SWMBO and I just got back from. We went to Maui. It was a package deal from Costco that included a rental car. We almost left with the standard car that the package came with. Had all the paperwork signed, keys in hand. Then it hit us. We're on vacation. We're gonna drive the road to Hana, and our guidebook tells us that if you're not in a convertible on that ride, you miss half of the scenery.
So we rented a 2011 Mustang convertible instead. There were a couple of times I let those ponies run... And I went from about 25 to 80 MPH in about half a heartbeat flat. Dang it was FUN!
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Exploring the West on a Wild Mustang - what could be better? =)
You coming up north at all ???
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FYI, Strings' bike is in the shop for a stator :laugh:
Have fun and don't get a speeding ticket.
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But, Doggy Daddy, everbody is doing 80-85. I have to go faster than them. ;)
Some guy in a Toyota SUV was on my bumper ???, so I hit the pedal. Next thing you know I was doing 120 mph.
I didn't say "drive legal". Driving safe, and having fun are not mutually exclusive. And, sometimes, sticking to the law while those about you are doing their own thing is NOT "driving safe". Thinking of the self-appointed hall monitor in the left lane doing 55.
DD
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LOL, do want him to have fun or drive safe?
Smartass! :lol: Read above ^.
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We went to Maui. It was a package deal from Costco that included a rental car....So we rented a 2011 Mustang convertible instead.
You went from Oregon to Maui in a rented convertible? Didn't you get a little wet?
DD
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Some guy in a Toyota SUV was on my bumper ???, so I hit the pedal. Next thing you know I was doing 120 mph.
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.
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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. M80's
FTFY. But ya gotta go up to the reservation to get 'em.
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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.
And make sure you're wearing your special jersey and have an Obama bumber sticker on the car when you do it.
DD
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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.
Or riding in a rusty tub of crap, sitting above the exhaust, with a can of tranny fluid....just a few drops makes a nice smoke screen....
>:D
After all those questions, I"m in Missouri right now, with my Mustang. Didn't take the bike for the trip to Utah.
I feel bad about asking all of those questions and then not even using any of the advice, but the more I thought about the bike, the more I realized it was a bad idea. The bike is 22 years old, and it's spent time in a dealership on every one of the last three or so trips out west I've taken. This time the stator went before I could even leave.
Even if I'd trailered it or put it in a pickup truck. when I'd get to the southern part of Utah, I'd be 200-300 miles from the nearest dealership (Vegas, Flagstaff or Salt Lake City). And, the bike is now old enough that a lot of parts are special order.
So, I'm in a car. But it's a fast car with fat tires for going around curves quickly ;)
Thanks for all of the help.
There is a stretch of I 10 between San Antonio and El Paso where the speed limit is 80 already....lends itself to hauling ass, but its very boring.
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But, Doggy Daddy, everbody is doing 80-85. I have to go faster than them. ;)
Some guy in a Toyota SUV was on my bumper ???, so I hit the pedal. Next thing you know I was doing 120 mph.
I remember back when I had my SuperCougar, heck even my LT1 9C1, being deep into the 100's and losing ground on the Interstate.
Wost thing I ever saw was a early-Eighties F150 with some teens driving passing me on the right as I was cruising at just under 110 (and getting passed on the left too) while their LF wheel was bouncing violently all the way up to the top travel stop and down in a frightening display of the Death Wobble. They exited where I was going to and I was gonna suggest they do themselves a real favor and at least put some shocks in the damn thing but they went left and I was going right.
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Are you anywhere near Lake of the Ozarks?
Ditto. If you come near KC, give me a ring. I'll take you out for some BBQ or something. =)
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At least this way Monkeyleg can tether to his cell and be surfing APS while he drives down...
LOOK OUT! :O
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There is a stretch of I 10 between San Antonio and El Paso where the speed limit is 80 already....lends itself to hauling ass, but its very boring.
Boring until you find out just how fast a speck in the distance becomes a DPS Trooper when you're going 115.
Apparently, he was only ticketing people who were speeding and not observant enough to spot him until they passed him because he went after the guy going the other direction who didn't look like he hit the brakes at all until the lights came on.
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"You went from Oregon to Maui in a rented convertible? Didn't you get a little wet?"
Nah. He used Interstate Highway H-1. Goes right into Honolulu.
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You went from Oregon to Maui in a rented convertible? Didn't you get a little wet?
:D
I'm in CO right now. Had just enough rain the last half hour before getting to my motel to mess up the car. Oh well.
I've never been through Kansas before (it's a dry state, and I always had beer at the end of the day). It's a pretty state.
I'm just hoping there's sun in Utah for the time I'm there.
No tickets, but came close. Trooper on an overpass just sticking out of the trees enough to clock a car, then radio ahead to another trooper to pull it over. Sneaky.
Trooper in KS was sitting in the median so that traffic could see him for two miles coming in either direction. I think he was feeling lazy.
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So did you leave the ball and chain at home and it's just you? Did you plan yourself an itinerary, or are you just kinda meandering to wherever looks interesting? 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.
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Drive safe and have fun. As others have said, it can be done. And if you still manage to get a ticket, at least make it worthwhile. =D
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Ben, for the first time in 20 years I have something of an itinerary. I know where I'll be tomorrow night at least. I have rewards points from American Express and my business debit card, and those points are paying for the motels and gas. I have to book a motel a day in advance.
No wife. I like travelling alone. I enjoy my own company. Besides, my wife ticks me off too much, she has no desire to see Colorado or Utah, despite having seen both from the air ("It's just a bunch of rocks"), and she doesn't like even a long day's drive.
Tick-off example: I've been telling her all year that I was going to Utah in July. When we got a dog a couple of months ago, I said I was going to Utah in July. Three weeks ago I started working on the bike, and told her I was getting it ready to go to Utah in July. She called around to see if there was a pet day care center that could take the dog while she was at work and I was gone. There wasn't.
She thought her boss might allow her to bring the dog to work and keep it in her office. She'd need to talk to her boss, she said.
On Friday night--July 8th,repeat: JULY 8th--I said I'd be leaving on Sunday for Utah, as the weather looked reasonably good (even for July). She said, "what am I going to do with the dog?" I said, "you mean you didn't talk to your boss?" Nope. She hadn't. I said too bad.
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Nah. He used Interstate Highway H-1. Goes right into Honolulu.
I did not know that.
DD
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Well, it's kind of a standing joke as to how come Hawaii has Interstate Highways.
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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!
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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? =D
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I'll vote Pahrump. But it won't be the jail that he's stuck in. :O
DD
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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.
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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. ;)
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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. :)
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...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.
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Terry, "Sounds just like me," 230RN
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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.
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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!
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the only real advantage a car has is in braking.
Well, that - and a heater and air conditioning =D
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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.
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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. :angel:
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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
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as a sportbike rider, I think you're right. On sport tires, your contact patches are small, and you only have two of them
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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.
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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.
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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:
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My knee touches at about a 40mph average on that road.
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Damn, Bedlamite, you ride like a pro.
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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.
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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.
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Leave off the helmet and you might avoid the hospital stay :P
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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 :)