Key West Winter Ride Feb 2014

[Cobia]

Ditto on what Phil said. I made it home at 2:55PM on Wed. although I had to go 50 miles further north !!! Truth be said, we got off the Tpike to fuel up on Sample Rd close to Phil and Jonathan's and I decided to push on while they went to lunch. I was concerned about the front that was coming through and didn't really want to deal with riding in the rain. Sure enough, it started pouring a couple of hours after I arrived home with a 20 degree drop in temperature, hardly t-shirt riding wx.
Once again, many thanks to Jeff for putting this together and being such a gracious host throughout. Had a great time with everyone and it was a pleasure meeting Ted and Heather. Sorry Brent couldn't make it, it would've been a hoot to have him along.
Great ride, great people, great weather, great environment. What else can you ask for. Happy Birthday to me !!!

[Cobia]

Hey Jonathan,
Is it my playback or did you compress 3 days of riding into 30 seconds?
I couldn't really appreciate anything going by so fast...???

[bikerphil]

Yeah that is a fast video, you can quick double click on the pause/play and look at a bunch of still photos.

[JeffH]

Trip Update:

I have ridden the XS11E 1,712 miles so far on the Key West ride. Stopped in Gainesville Florida tonight. Another 350 miles will get me back to Atlanta tomorrow (Sun). Bike has been running fine. No issues. Before the trip I was worried about taking the "Ride of Shame" on the Greyhound bus to get home. Looks like it will make it home under its own power. Still have those 10 lingering items to fix but so far, so good on this trip.

A couple stats. In the 1,712 miles ridden I added 1/4 quart of oil, just cuz. That's not bad. Maybe 1/2 quart oil burned in 2,000 miles.

On the MPG front, mostly getting right at 40 MPG at most fillups. The best I got was 45 MPG going down A1A with a lot of 50 MPH with some 55 MPH and 45 MPH sprinkled in. The worst was 35 MPG, zipping along the south Georgia roads and then again 35 MPG going to Sarasota bucking 20+ MPH headwinds at highway speeds. So it boils down to riding sporty gets 40MPG and riding nuts gets 35MPG, right in the MPG range of what most are reporting.

Non-Ethanol Fuel. Didn't have too good luck with that. Got 90 Octane Sunoco Non-Ethanol. It caused pretty bad vapor lock at every stop.
Hard to start when engine warm/hot. Switched back to Shell or Exxon 87 and zoom-zoom fired right up as always when hot. Same with
some other Non-Ethanol I'd gotten earlier. No impact on MPG and made bike really hard to start. I ride all year round and burn a
tank every couple weeks so maybe a bit overblown issue as it relates to me. (Plan is to do some research on the water absorption rate of 10% ethanol fuel at given ambient temps / humidities).

So, fun ride - fun trip. Always good to get together for a ride. Great to see all those that could make it this time.

Jeff

[JeffH]

Saturday Ride

Had a great ride up from Sarasota today (Sat). Mainly all back roads I'd never tried before.
The likes of Lorraine Rd, Rye Rd, Wauchula Rd........... Parrish FL, Mulberry FL, Polk City FL.

Met up with ESjr in Groveland then we took a ride up to Leesburg for Lunch. He brought his Venture out today.

Following ES up Villa City Rd. Very scenic & picturesque, with curves too!


Also met an XSive named Don that lives in Tampa. Has a Special. He was pleased to see an XS11 out on the highways taking a long trip.

Jeff

[thumperjsa]

Hey Jonathan,
Is it my playback or did you compress 3 days of riding into 30 seconds?
I couldn't really appreciate anything going by so fast...???

For the ones that don't know how to slow it down, I repost here a newer one I did at a slower frame rate.
http://youtu.be/CFTPWXmyu14

[thumperjsa]

3 out of the 4 XS's together in Florida City

[thumperjsa]

I wanted to add that Phil helped me wrench a little more on my bike today. Found both pickup coil wires on the left side (top) were broken. Probably why I kept feeling like it was dropping cylinders on my several times on the ride when I would release off the throttle and then open it up again. Also he synced the carbs for me (two right were good, two left.. ehh).

After all that, took it for a short ride, let's just say I wish we got to this before the ride to Key West as its running so much better. Probably would have got better mileage on it too.

We also got around to playing with all the wiring connection from stem to stern (kill switch to battery anyway). Hopefully cleaning all the contact will stop the issue I had with no spark to start every once in a while. Noticed that at one point today when the intermittent problem started, voltage to the TCI was just under 9 volts while battery was 12.5 v.

Seems to be starting now better since cleaning all the connectors on the sides and under the tank. We shall see how it goes from there.

We also modded my spare TCI and toolbox to move the TCI to that location inside the toolbox versus sitting loose under the side cover.

Phil has been my savior so far with this bike with all the wrenching he has been helping me do on it.

As for the Key West Rally. Had lots of fun with everyone on the road. Great to see everyone and enjoying the walk to Mallory Square and down Duval Street.

Funny though, but Phil was the only one without some kind of issue the entire time. Must be because of his skills.

Looking to try and make the rally up north a bit with Phil and perhaps others from Florida later this year. About time I push myself to ride more than 200 miles in a single day.

-Jonathan

[ESJr1642]

Had the pleasure of meeting JeffH for lunch on Saturday. He was making his way back home through central Florida and was kind enough to stop. WHAT A QUALITY GUY!

Hope to make more trips to meet up with fellow XSer's!

Ernie

[JeffH]

HOME .......
Arrived back in Atlanta just after sunset. Key West and return was 2,055 Miles. No issues, never needed to get out any tools.
It sure was fun to meet up with everyone and do some riding. We will maybe have to do something like this again next year.

In the meantime, it seems there sure are some good Rallies in the works for 2014. More great XSive riding opportunities

Jeff

[MPittma100]

Reliable

HOME .......
Arrived back in Atlanta just after sunset. Key West and return was 2,055 Miles. No issues, never needed to get out any tools.
It sure was fun to meet up with everyone and do some riding. We will maybe have to do something like this again next year.

In the meantime, it seems there sure are some good Rallies in the works for 2014. More great XSive riding opportunities

Jeff

Just goes to show you how reliable these 11s are after 30+ years. Simply amazing. And the best part is that they keep getting people together to ride them - The young and not so young. Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun and what better place to ride this time of year?

Mike

[JeffH]

Just goes to show you how reliable these 11s are after 30+ years. Simply amazing. And the best part is that they keep getting people together to ride them - The young and not so young. Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun and what better place to ride this time of year?

Mike

Yup, just takes some time and a few bucks to sort out the issues and replace busted parts. End game is "Go Ride" and hopefully get to a Rally.
It certainly is fun meeting up with other XSives. Day Ride or Rally, any ride is good.

Oh, Spring has started to pop at least in North Florida and South Georgia. Trees in bloom. Even had some Pine Pollen on my bike.
Spring will hopefully make Summersville in time for XS East and 1,000 Islands by XS North.

Stopped here in South Georgia for picnic lunch. Why ride the super slab when you can be at places like this.
Rode up from White Springs FLA to Perry GA on US129. Almost had the road to myself ALL day. Very little traffic.


Guess that's a wrap on this years Key West ride.
btw: don't laugh at the luggage. It is tough to prepare for riding in temps from maybe 32 to 90 + I was gone almost two weeks.
Plus carrying coffee and carry other amenities on board.
At least I didn't tote the 12 cup coffee maker like I did in 2010 and 2011.

Jeff

[MPittma100]

Full Load

Yup, just takes some time and a few bucks to sort out the issues and replace busted parts. End game is "Go Ride" and hopefully get to a Rally.
It certainly is fun meeting up with other XSives. Day Ride or Rally, any ride is good.

Oh, Spring has started to pop at least in North Florida and South Georgia. Trees in bloom. Even had some Pine Pollen on my bike.
Spring will hopefully make Summersville in time for XS East and 1,000 Islands by XS North.

Stopped here in South Georgia for picnic lunch. Why ride the super slab when you can be at places like this.
Rode up from White Springs FLA to Perry GA on US129. Almost had the road to myself ALL day. Very little traffic.


Guess that's a wrap on this years Key West ride.
btw: don't laugh at the luggage. It is tough to prepare for riding in temps from maybe 32 to 90 + I was gone almost two weeks.
Plus carrying coffee and carry other amenities on board.
At least I didn't tote the 12 cup coffee maker like I did in 2010 and 2011.

Jeff

Now that is a load! You may have to start looking for a trailer. I'm sure that you and the bike handled the weight well. I like the background in the picture.