Arkansas Get together... the XJ files!

[trbig]

I just got back from a ride... thought I'd report. Enjoy....

Page 1.

I finally got my bike motor put together Thursday. I took it on a test ride Thursday evening and all seemed well, so Friday morning I loaded up some things and headed east with the intention of meeting Vincer (Vince) and Bigfoot (Harry) from the forum in Eureka Springs, AR.... in a roundabout way.. lol.

I left town @ 10:30am and rode about 5 miles, and immediately hit a front that dropped the temp from high 70's to the 50's in less than a mile with spits of rain. So I pulled over and donned rain gear and continued on. I rode 100 miles east to Talihina Oklahoma. The skies looked pretty threatening, so I called my wife and asked if this was something that looked like it was going to blow through, or stick around. She told me it was supposed to rain until midnight there. I didn't want to wait around and see, so I fueled up and continued on.

It was sprinkling just a bit on me as I turned and headed up and over the Talimena Trail. Within minutes, I was up into the mountains and into a cloud bank! There would be no time trials going across the Trail this day, Hobbyman. The road dipped down below cloud level at one overlook and I got this pic... notice the rain to the left side.



Except for a couple clearer spots at low points, the entire ride along the Talimena Trail was in pea-soup fog. I had to stand up on the pegs for most of the ride since my windshield was fogged up, and while looking over the top of it sitting, I couldn't see out far enough to see the ground... maybe 20 feet of visibilty. This was absolutely miserable, hypnotising riding. Did I just see movement to the side there?? Did I imagine it?

I FINALLY made it to the Queen Wilhelmina State Park. I went inside and got a cup of coffee and an Arkansas State map. Just a hint... the state maps aren't located in the lobby. You have to ask the staff behind the counter for one. As I was leaving, I was walking across the street in front of the lodge and there was a slight break in the clouds for a second and I got this pic of it.



Pretty nice, HUH?? lol. Remember this was a CLEAR spot!

I continued on the few miles left into Mena Arkansas. As I decended out of the clouds, I was hit by a slight shower for about 10 minutes. This was to be the only actual rain for the whole weekend on me. Several sprinkles... but the rain held off for us. The Talimena Trail is 55 miles long, and it took me over 2 hours to ride it. It was one of the most miserable nerve-racking rides I have ever been on, and don't wish to experience that again. I fueled up in Mena and called Vince to check on him. He was just getting off work and they would be leaving shortly to ride south to meet me in Eureka Springs, AR.

Next.. page 2

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I continued on north out of Mena headed to Eureka Springs. The ride was mostly un-eventfull until I filled up in Ozark, AR and continued north on HWY 23 onto what is famously called...



Ahhhh the Pig Trail. This stretch of road doesn't have the views that the Taimena Trail has (Minus the fog), but I feel it by far surpasses it in curves, twists, and roller coaster-like elevation changes. Unfortunately, the road was a bit damp, so I couldn't play too much. The road is all you get here... no shoulders, no guardrails. Just 2 lanes with the edges sluffing off down the hill on many parts, so be careful.

For much of HWY 23 here, rivers and creeks run along side the road. It's a rocky area which causes many places of the creeks to be in turmoil as it arcs and curves along the road. I didn't take any more pics along the trip this day since it kept threatening to rain. Digital products and water aren't the best of friends.

I fueled up about 27 miles out of Eureka Springs and it just all hit me. Most of you probably don't realize the luck I have had with motors and transmissions on this bike. Thinking back, I think this is the 6th motor change I have done on this bike... not counting the 3 times I had this one in and out in the last 2 days before this ride. The carbs are out of synch a bit, but it is rideable. It has some sputters and low power on takeoff, but once the mains kick in, it is the smoothest piece of machinery I have ever been on. Rolex has nothing on this thing. I thought back to the Viagra commercials that you hear the warnings of, "If you find yourself with an erection lasting longer than four hours, contact your doctor immediately" At that point, I probably should have called a doctor! lol. I was just so relieved and excited to have this thing running like it was meant to after all this time. Here's a shameless pic of it. Stock XJ's have the cylinders black and head silver... I went reverse with that, then polished up the edge of the fins.



Anyway... On to Eureka Springs. I had checked the yellow pages and tried to find a room for the three of us. This little town had 67 hotels/motels listed!! I got a few of the "A"'s called and settled on the Apple Blossom Inn for $42. The people are extremely nice and the whole town is biker friendly. Here's a shot of the room with a king bed.



Vince and Harry rolled in about 9:30 or 10pm. We chatted a bit and went to grab a pizza at Pizza Hut. We went back to the rooms and had a couple liquid refreshments and hit the sack shortly after since it had been a long day for all. They had @ 230 miles in after working all day, and I had close to 400 miles.



Next, page 3

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Saturday, we woke to some beautiful weather. We loaded the bikes up and went to have a buffet breakfast just down from the hotel. The bikes weren't hungry yet, so they waited here for us to finish... in order are mine, Vince's, and Harry's.... all three are XJ's.



We headed south on HWY 23 to go back down the Pig Trail that I had come up on. The streets were dry today, and everything is so new and green right now..







It's hard to see, but here's one of the creeks along the road..







Don't critique my one handed riding here, but I here's a small movie of some of the Pig Trail.





This is apparently the Arkansas way to mow your grass. We saw this time and again on our rides. They tie the horses up to a stationary obect and let them graze..



Here's a few shots on the road.. and of Vince and Harry behind me.







And here's just some pics during the ride.

























Potty Break...My bike on the left, Vince's in back, Harry's on the right.




To be continued....

[trbig]

Page 4... final.

We continued south on HWY 23 to HWY 16 and headed east. HWy 16 is a very hilly area with GREAT sweeping curves and very little traffic. I was apparently having too much fun riding, because I didn't take any more pics this day?? After HWY 16 meets HWY 7, we headed south. After probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 miles of twisties, a few sections of straight-away on this road before Russelville were actually welcomed.

Vince had lost an exhaust flange nut along the road somewhere. We tightened up the remaining one good, but were concerened about that one holding the flange kind of crooked, and all that weight and bouncing being delivered to just one stud. We stopped in Russellville for lunch and called around looking for a Yamaha shop. There was some confusion on this as they had moved to a new shop. I spoke to them and told them that we were on the road, passing through with some antique bikes, and asked if he thought he might be able to help. He said they didn't have anything in stock, but to come by and they would try to find something to fix us up. They couldn't find any type of nut to help, but they did go in the back and come up with a couple different lengths of bolts and washers to use if the final nut came off. We would need to remove the studs in the head and use the bolts and washers to tighten up the flange. Luckily, this wasn't needed. The one stud held and didn't seem to leak. They wouldn't take any money from us and were genuinely glad to help. They went out of their way to help a few guys on some old bikes that were just passing through, when most shops now days turn their noses up at them since they were't made in the last 5 years. If you are EVER in that area, visit Valley Power Sports on Main Street out past Walmart and tell Robert in parts hello. We told him about the site and said we would let you all know about them. These are the types of people we need to stay in business!!

We eventually rolled into Hot Springs. We stayed in a townhouse out in Hot Springs Village, north of town. Fully furnished and much better than a hotel... plus $87 split 3 ways for a place to stay is tough to beat!! We unloaded the bikes and rode into town for a bit, then out for pizza and a couple beers. The evening was really nice, so we went back to the place and sat on the back balcony and chatted... drank a few more beers. We heard noises in the woods by the deck and shined a light out there. There were three deer and a racoon right next to the back yard... but they didn't like the light and took off. Either that, or it was Vince pointing his finger and saying "BANG!" lol. We went to bed shortley after. Total days mileage was @ 260 miles.

Next morning, we got going and went to Walmart for a few things. It sprinkled off and on and forcast said 60% chance of rain. We went to Sonic for what was supposed to be a quick bite to eat. If you are ever in the area by the front gates of Hot Springs Village... choose ANYWHERE but Sonic! The slowest service I have ever seen (Over 20 minutes with only 3 other cars there) and their breakfast burritos were literally half the size of anywhere else I have had them. I asked the lady if this was normal size since everywhere else they were much larger, and she said, "Everybody says that!" Ummm... huh?!? LOL.. Seems to me that if everyone is saying that, then maybe there's a problem??

We ate what was served and headed north up HWY 7 again, then west at Ola to Havana. From Havana, head north on HWY 309. You won't be disappointed. This is a road that is worth going out of your way for. Mt. Magazine is a huge lump of rock sticking unexpectedly out of the somewhat flat plains in this area. It kept trying to rain, but I did get a few pics once we got to the top. Great hills and curves on this road! From left to right.. Vince's Harry's mine.



Here's a few shots from left to right of the view...













Here's a pic of Vince. "Can you tell I have 15 layers of clothes on??"




Harry and Vince




And finally... a parting shot of Harry. Men!!! The world is our bathroom!! : )




My final mileage for the day was @ 340 miles, Vince and harry's was closer to 420. They just called and said they made it home safe... so all is good. Great weekend, great riding, and great friends. This area in Arkansas is hard to beat. I hope to see everyone who can make it on June 7th for Bob's memorial ride.

Vince and Harry... see you guys soon.

Tod

[29desertniteyes]

I could feel the ride...........

Hey great pics!!!!!! while reading, I felt as if I was right there as well. check out this link and see if you might want to see about putting some of the information in the magazine about the ride. might be surprise how many more would like to read about the ride and a few pics.
http://www.behindbarz.com

[Paintman]

Ride

Great pics and commentary LOL i have ahelmet cam when i ride my CBR1000 it will make ya sea sick when ya watch it i loved the one handed video clip sounds liek a good weekend
John

[Wildkat]

VERY cool!

Looks like a great ride! Glad you were able to get the bike going so you could enjoy it... and SUPER glad the bike is running the way you want it to... Hopefully, this is not a temporary condition.

and thank you for the shot of the bikes rather than the alternative when you were all taking your... ahem... potty break...

Oh yes... by the way...

They couldn't find any type of nut to help

Sometimes, not just any nut will do... sometimes... you have to find one that knows something about bikes....



Glad you're home!
(well... glad you made it back to OK)

[prometheus578]

Nice report, TRBIG.
Nothing to poke fun at..., but I enjoyed it anyway.

[trbig]

OK, I did send a link to the ride report to that behindbars.com and this was the exchange:

===========================================
I know it's a bit out of your normal riding area and you probably get a ton of these to read, but here's a link to a ride I took with with a couple friends this weekend. All three of us have the old '82 Yamaha XJ1100's. There's even a crappy video to watch! lol.

Here's the link...

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=17380


I hope you enjoy it. Use what you want... if you want. I have the full size pics of everything if needed, but it's only from a 5 mpx camera.



Tod

=================

Hey Tod,
Thanks for sending over. I am going to read up on it and maybe in the next issue we can include some of it.
There was some really cool picks on there, too! Somebody has quite the eye for photography!!!
Thanks, Deb

======================


Naw... you just take 500 pics at 80mph and hope a few turn out! : )


I might add... The Yamaha XS1100 is celebrating it's 30 year anniversary of it's original release in 1978. They were made from '78-81, and the XJ1100 has basically the same power plant but was only released in 1982 in the U.S. and two more years in Canada. California emissions crud killed them. They were the first true super bikes.


Bob Jones of Merriam Cycles was a die hard XS11 fan and even wrote books on them. He championed this bike more than any other person to the public. They have a very large following still with over 3,000 active members in our forum on the web site alone.


Bob Jones passed away a couple months ago and there is going to be a memorial ride for him in that area we were riding in Arkansas on June 7th where they will be spreading his ashes at an overlook on HWY 7.


It may be a pretty biased opinion, but there would be a pretty good story to write about the XS11 on this anniversary. Even the die-hard Harley guys approach and say "I remember those bikes. Man, they were FAST!"



Just a suggestion.



Tod

======================


I'll let you know if they send anything else.

[Poprock]

Congrats, Tod, on getting your bike sorted out. Kong still awaits installation of a new head. Of course it keeps raining and snowing around here so it's a little hard to keep enough enthusiasm up to do the job. Great ride report. I'm going to have to go somewhere and send up a Coastie ride or just a Tillamook County one. Kinda like Arkansas only moreso.

[Bigfoot]

Tod,
Nice ride report and I am glad that you made it home ok. I ended up with 997 miles for the weekend. Considered riding around for the final three miles before going home but my butt was screaming at me by then. I need to charge up my camera and see if I have any decent pics to add to the post.

Harry

[HobbyMan]

Boy does that look familiar I am drooling right now but you can't see it. Those roads are AWESOME. Did you run the trail at night this time?

[Bigfoot]

The entire weekend was awesome (except all the time we spent waiting on Vince). Looks like I might be able to make the trip again on June 7th for Bob Jones's memorial.

[vincer]

Now why do you have to start pointing fingers??