2006 Vintage rally at TWO, Suches GA

[Huron52]

I thought you might want to go back.... Start off at the shady valley store and go the four directions...

I was through there the second weekend in September.

The FJR Eastern Owner Meeting was in Boone NC.

[MartyA]

seems the photoreflect server is used by all the professional photogs there at the Gap, but the links to get to the albums you can create are all different, even though the photos are stored on the same servers. For those who didn't get that link to work try this one:

http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?adisp?a=330358&t=1

[sixtysix]

Fox news Atlanta is doing a story on fast bikes in the GA mountains...part 1 yesterday and part 2 today, I think there may be a part 3 as well, Even GT is in it.

See it on the web at

Part 2 - North GA Part 2

Part 1 - North GA Part 1

If those links don't work then just go to http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/
and scrol through the days new stories and you will find part 2, then you can link to one through the related links section.

[MartyA]

parts are true, but wow what a good example of yellow journalism!

"...an accident every 2 days..." and later "...emergency services are stretched thin..." What they only work every 3 days?

I can drive a cage at 15 MPH and then film all the bikes passing and then make it look like that's what happens all the time....

Remark about one rediculous speed found on one clip on the internet and then apply it to EVERYbody going "...into blind curves..." Like everyone can wheelie at 200MPH into a blind curve...

Yep sensationalist journalism at its best.

By the way going 45 MPH on a road posted at 45 and then doing 45 in a curve with a "recommended" speed of 25 is not illegal in any state. BUT, if you do that and lose control you can be cited in PA, several paragraphs in the code apply to speed commensurate with experience and how far you can see and react to road hazards and how short a distance you can stop if you have to...

[jetmechmarty]

The report clearly stated several times over that most motorcyclists were in obedience to the law or riding safely. Over and over it was pointed out that the offenders were a minority.

I was run off the road myself by some at the 650 rally in Sept. I ride up there often and they do bring the heat and bad publicity to all of us.

Yes, they are selling commercial time. Boring stories don't sell!

[jetmechmarty]

Speaking of marketable stories! Did you hear about the motorcycle mangling chipmunk up on north US129? Maybe we could sell that to FOX NEWS!

[Ralph Meeks]

The 153 mph story doesn't work for me. The setting and circumstances just doesn't make sense. It was probably more like 105.3 mph.
Neat part about G.T. and T.W.O. though.

raff

[jimboreeno]

motorcycle mangling chipmunk

Yea right... who'd ever believe a story like that!?

Killer chipmunks.... thought I'd heard it all...

[MartyA]

Yeah yeah yeah....

For those really interested, I washed out the front end on a curve at the Dragon. It was our 3rd trip through, the second trip was completely alone, and we were alone again - no one in front of us and no one behind us. Sally had said something so I slowed just a little to answer her. We came around a curve, and REALLY I was not going that fast, out of the corner of my eye spotted a chippie move out about a foot or so from the edge of the road, and I kinda covered the front brake while just throttling down and talking to Sally.

It sure looked like his path an dmy front wheel's path were due to intersect. He then suddenly reversed his course with a little feint and off he went back where he came from. I was not in a panic, did not feel like I panicked, but I flinched I guess, I must have grabbed more front brake than I ever intended. The front wheel made a sorta 'erp' sound for a second and down the bike went instantly. Completely unexpected. I am guessing we were doing 15-20 MPH maybe at that moment. We rode it down, the bike slid about 2 feet on the road and about 2 feet on the grass with Sally and I on top, then suddenly stopped, then I slid over the windshield with Sally riding along on my back. We slid about 2 feet further in the grass. Unfortunately we didn't have 2 feet to slide as the grass ended about 1 foot further, and the cliff started. Then we slid about 30 feet down the cliff.

I got up and slid another couple of feet. Sally got up and did the same. No matter what we tried to do we kept going DOWN the cliff. It was still a long way down there, so we stopped trying to climb up, did a quick personal assessment and neither of us was hurt at all (later we looked - no bruises or cuts or scrapes or anything.)

So there we are unable to move, hanging on to some roots on the side of a mountain cliff and the bike 30 feet up there looking lonely and confused. After what seemed like an hour, more likely a minute or two, a guy finally stopped and yelled something down, then I yelled something up, he yelled some more down, this went on for a bit, then he did understand that we were find and one yell "Hey set that bike up on the kickstand will ya?" Then Officer Moore of Tennessee's finest showed up we exchanged some more yells for a while (they did not realize they were dealing with deaf grandparents in helmets in another time zone) and he finally understood we were fine and then I understood he wanted to call a tow truck. As cool and as respectful a voice as I could muster I yelled up to him we were old but not that old could you just toss a rope?? He dug out a big roll of some seat belt webbing and gave a mighty heave and was about 20 feet short. A second attempt was more successful. He tied on to a tree up there and I tied Sally on down here and she walked up the cliff. Mostly the same with me, a mighty toss from the nice OFficer Moore and I tied on the 'rope' and had my opportunity to climb the mountain.

We got to the top, sat on the guard rail (yeah it was that close) to catch our breath (hey YOU ever climb a mountain in full motorcycle gear??), chatted a bit, I took my helmet off to thank the nice officer and show him that I was in fact a grandparent and of course show him the photos of my brothers the cops in NJ, and we talked about some local petty criminal they were staking out at some shed nearby, how tough it was to be a cop anywhere and so on.

The bike was in a little depression so with the fine Officer Moore helping we tied the webbing on the forks and pulled it up the foot or so to the edge of the road. Then I put my helmet on again, thanked him for the mountain climbing lesson and shook his hand and the hand of the nice fella who had first stopped and exchanged yells up and down the cliff, I started the bike, everything worked ("Officer Moore, is the left signal blinking OK?" hoping to further impress that we were cool) and then headed back to CRoT.

There was no shaking, no excitement. I was not reacting like shock or anything, and neither was Sally. The bike was fine, I exercised it a bit on the way back just to be sure. The mirror was still adjusted fine, the signal worked fine. In retrospect it was actually more interesting than scary or dangerous, mostly due to the much reduced speed when the front washed out. The damage is only a bit more than a parking lot mishap. HEck the tank bag was still attached. It would have been nice to have slid across a short field instead of down a cliff, but oh well. We could have slid into the guard rail about 10 feet further up the road and that would have kept us on the road. I still don't quite understand how easy it was to momentarily lock that front wheel. I do have over 10,000 miles on the bike and I am fairly familar with the controls. And really at that moment I was going slower than the first 2 trips through the Dragon that day. So I say to myself Ah Krap be more careful next time dummy and continue to ride. Sally has not given up on me or Ilene either.


I went online to flatoutmotorcycles.com to get prices, just to see if I was going to call the insurance folks. I went down the list and got to about $900. All damage is on the left side.
Fairing
Handle bars
Lt radiator cowling
Engine side cover
Grip and bar end
Graphics
Tank (small dent, some paint scratched, no chips)

Biggest ticket is the tank around $320. The fairing has a hole in it, must have been a rock sticking out of the grass that caused the bike to suddenly stop sliding and let us keep sliding off the bike.

I did call the insurance company. The insurance guy took anything with dust or a scratch and his total was $1,900. He must have thought the pegs were scratched in the accident cause those were on the list also. The slider protected the motor so that was OK, except for a scratch in the one cover. The mirror and signal look fine, if you get real close you can see a tiny scratch on the signal lens, and I still cannot see anything at all on the mirror, but they are on the list also.

So with taking off deductible I should get enought to fix the whole thing. Its all bolt-on replacements anyway. I might manage some upgrades to the suspension and maybe some jets....

In addition I got $360 for the 2 helmets, which were in great shape - only mine had a little chip from Sally bumping it. If I recall I paid $69 for each at the Cleveland motorcycle show last January. We'll be going there again this coming January and pricing helmets.

See y'all next year...

[sixtysix]

Glad the insurance worked out OK....$320 is cheap for a tank. They didn't count the scratch on the frame? Has to be more than that.....

[MartyA]

Oops sorry the tank was $420 complete.

Scratch on the frame must not have been an issue with this guy.

Fairing is $128
Decal - Yamaha calles it "Graphics" (the "FZ1" on the side) $87
Lt Mirror $49
H/lamp assembly $125
These are on-line prices from a M/C dealer using the genuine Yamaha microfiche.

The insurance for these examples:
Tank $530
Fairing $201
Graphics $132
Lt mirror $72
H/lamp assy $163

I called a local stealer and he had the prices higher than the insurance listing. I don't deal with this guy.

Don't need the mirror, headlight only has some bugs on it, nothing else. He has the left footrests for $125 don't need them either.

These are all bolt-on items so he said I could do the work myself, if I wanted and had time.

[jetmechmarty]

chippy incident

Marty, I hope you don't think we'd be dishing you this much crap if you'd been injured. I wish you could have heard the first words I heard you say when you got back and how they sounded from my point of view. "IF I HAD A GUN I'D HAVE SHOT THE SON OF A B*%#H!"

Imagine the story I was waiting to hear!

[Huron52]

Interesting story.... I can see where it could have been a lot worse...

If one can learn from this it will be worthwhile.

[MartyA]

Yeah it can always be worse. I guess that is why I think anyone without at least a helmet is nuts. Look what caused me a momentary indiscretion.

And yes I can take it... Blast away.

Just wish it was coming up on summer not winter up here.

[jimboreeno]

jetmechmarty is RIGHT!

I sure would not be giving you ANY gief if it had been any worse!!

Given your statement though........

And yes I can take it... Blast away.

...which I am sure you will come to regret...

I will tell you I have done extensive research into chipmunk behavior. After reading your detailed account about the erratic and seemingly unexplainable behavior of this particular chipmunk, I returned to the area to try to determine what might have been wrong with this little fellow.

I observed a chippie in the same general area darting out into traffic and terrorizing passersby then running for cover! I tracked him day and night and finally found his lair. He lives in a commune of motorcycle-hating hippie-types. Apparently they are responsible for feeding various news stories to the press about crazed motorcycle riders

AND they are attempting to train KILLER CHIPPIES.

I was able to snap a photo of their training methods before I had to run for it!

Beware...this is pretty disturbing stuff!
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proceed at your own peril!
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