Sarasota Florida to Berea Ohio!

[jjz28]

I grew up in Summersville and phil is right the speed limit is 50 and they put in the paper years ago that if you went 51, you would be stopped. I live in oak hill now about 30 miles south of Summersville and in between a town called Fayetteville (where the new river gorge bridge is) they are pretty rough on speed there too. Basically anywhere it says 50 on route 19, you need to do 50. I-77 is a very good rode. If you go rt. 19 to 77 there will be a .40 cent tall getting on 77 and then a $2 toll in Ghent. That is the only tolls. If you come through Charleston there will be 2- $2 tolls. Very good road though, kept very well and is mountainous but nothing our bikes cant handle in 5th gear loaded down.

[sparkfly88]

Well, just got into west Virginia. Staying at an inn... Couldn't find a suitable place to camp.

Bike runs soooooo smooth with the headers and pipes.

My god.

[jjz28]

where you at in wv?

[sparkfly88]

Well we got home on Wednesday night.

My bike made it to and from Ohio with slight difficulty.

When we got to Ohio number three float decided to stick, so I fixed that.
Luckily the guy that took us in has a full shop so I was able to tinker when I wanted. I sealed my valve cover with permatex rightstuff.. it leaked on the way up using 3/4 of a quart.

Something is making a metal to metal noise in my front wheel, sometimes a squeak, sometimes a grinding feeling, only when walking the bike though.

A colortune is in my future, when I switched the pipes over I think it's running a little rich. It doesn't seem to have much power at low rpms. I really gotta give it effort to get going from a stop.

Also,, with the new pipes on,I think I have to remove the center stand, it's lower than normal, and if I turn hard, ir tends to drag. Unless my suspension is just sagging...when I got the bike the previous owner had the preload maxed out in the rear.

I know I want different grips, the ones I bought are garbage, the moment they get wet from sweat or rain you can't grip them unless you want to death grip it.

On the way back a setup my bag as a back rest, which made the trip wonderful.

I figured out four different sitting angles to reduce butt fatigue, one is on the foot pegs, one is on the crank case, one is on the engine guards, and one is on the buddy pegs. If you keep rotating its quite nice. This is with an oe re covered seat though.
I'm going to be re foaming another pan for the saddle man king and queen style seat.

I want a better helmet with more ventilation And gloves that are more comfortable.

I want one of the tkat fork braces,, we were playing dodge the reflectors at like 3 am on the way up, and I can feel my front end refusing those maneuvers at 80mph. I could only imagine the wobble I will get if I need to really dodge something.

I think that about covers it.

[ESJr1642]

Welcome home, glad you made it safely!

Ernie

[Rasputin]

Nothing like a good long ride to show you what you would prefer such as grips. I also do the seat position and leg position movements and it helps loads. Good that you had a nice trip and are safe and sound.

[sparkfly88]

We kept track of the entire trips fuel usage,

His Honda 600 vlx got 50.8 mpg
My xs got 32

Pretty sad comparison, and I am determined to improve that number.

[GLoweVA]

We kept track of the entire trips fuel usage,

His Honda 600 vlx got 50.8 mpg
My xs got 32

Pretty sad comparison, and I am determined to improve that number.

Unfortunately at highway speeds the wind resistance is going to eat up much of the fuel economy. I've noticed on my SG with the fairing that at highway speeds I average 36, but if I'm tooling around town or even in the twisties (at medium speed like 40) that my MPGs go to 40+

The metal to metal in the front may just be the front brake pads. I'd say pull the pads out and take a look. You could probalby get away with sanding the pads down just a bit an letting them reseat. (something to try at least) If the pads are okay, then it may just be the caliper not fully releasing the rotor, so maybe a fluid flush may take care of that.

Thanks for the tip on the different riding positions. I'm planning on riding to XS SE and it's the first time I'm going more than 2 hours in the seat at a time. (500 miles there = at least 4 gas stops with my SG tank)

[sparkfly88]

Im planning on making a whole movie of our footage we made, but here is a little preview of what we saw.

Just as future reference, this was my first time EVER crossing state lines without flying.
Ive only lived in TN for 10 days by Gatlinburg when I flew there.

So this road trip was breathtaking for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_4Yi...c9J0QlKkHI4Zaw

[jjz28]

Im planning on making a whole movie of our footage we made, but here is a little preview of what we saw.

Just as future reference, this was my first time EVER crossing state lines without flying.
Ive only lived in TN for 10 days by Gatlinburg when I flew there.

So this road trip was breathtaking for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_4Yi...c9J0QlKkHI4Zaw

that's the stuff I see everytday I ride! it really is beautiful here in wv.

[sparkfly88]

Cough. I hate you. Cough.

WV was the best area the whole trip to ride in. What scenery. And the tunnel to VA was awesome as well. Lol.
It made me feel like I was in TRON.

[jjz28]

Cough. I hate you. Cough.

WV was the best area the whole trip to ride in. What scenery. And the tunnel to VA was awesome as well. Lol.
It made me feel like I was in TRON.

Yeah, I bet that tunnel sounded sweet. That's funny cause there is a very little underpass tunnel by my house and my bike sounds so good to rev while going through it and I told my wife, I bet that tunnel going to VA would sound awesome. I bet you went right past Beckley. That tunnel is on 77 about 50 miles from me.

[sparkfly88]

With my 4-1 pipe I had going up....passing under any overpass whatsoever was awesome.

With these Jardine, it sounds like an angry nest of Baritone Bees.