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- Week Our rides today.

I got out for a ride into middle Tennessee with a couple of friends yesterday.

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One of my friends just bought his first scooter, a Vespa Sprint. He had a Trail 125 which some consider a scooter but decided it was too slow for local roads. The Vespa has a nice boost in power and speed.

We rode a bunch of fun back roads but I took very few pics.

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We did some bike swapping so we all got to ride the other two bikes.

Lunch stop.

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I ended up with 155 miles for the day.
 
Did you guys catch the 6 finger right hand? easy to roll one handed with that kind of capability.

I wonder if that's AIs way to show it's not real.
 
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I rode to pick up parts at the dealer.

No pics, no excitement, but it was a ride.

Now there's salt back on the ground.
 
This was Monday, and it's been barely a ride, but it's been dead here, so give me a break.

Took a little test drive, just 10 minutes or so, to see if we wanted to make a trade. Tried to pick some interesting roads in the development because we were constrained by work. We went up the mountain, and I tried to work in a few turns and hills, as well as one "tight" turn around. there are some really nice roads here, but the speed limit is 30, and being that it's a development, I try not to go too crazy on these roads. Only got the GS up to 3rd gear, but most of it was firmly in 2nd. Plan to do it again on Friday to get a better idea on if we want to trade.


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The GS is heavy and the engine feels like a tractor, but it's got so much character that is hard not to love. My old 1150 was my favorite bike that I owned, and I've been curious to try the 1100 with the 5 speed and slightly lighter profile. We got on and my passenger disappeared into the bike. It's like she wasn't even on there. The telelever is also so good for riding two-up. No dive, which is very different from the tiger.

I've wanted another oilhead since I had to sell mine a few years ago, but I've also expected to keep my tiger 800 forever. The tiger is the best all-arounder I've ridden solo. For all the great times I've had on my old GS, if I imagine riding solo or rough roads the tiger is what comes to mind.
Main reason trading would really make sense for me is that I mostly ride two-up the last couple years, and the tiger is not good for that, especially the XC. Might just be an exercise in letting things go.

Here are a couple of pics of rides past, specifically ones that make me love my old oilhead and love my current tiger:

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Rode to a gymkhana practice in Brooklyn.

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Clearly, I made the trade.

The tiger is a tough bike to give up for solo riding, but I am happy to be on an oilhead again. Not my favorite at NJ Turnpike speeds, but I have other bikes for that. It's a lot of fun to swing around the practice course. Very difficult to run out of lean angle.
 
My fiancee and I have been waiting a few weeks to get a chance to ride (two-up) and have a day to ourselves. Finally got a chance on Saturday. We often try to have the ride include a decent coffee spot. For today's ride we picked scout coffee bar and mercantile in High Bridge. Even though that was what was planned for the day, I didn't get a chance to set a route, so we tried out the "adventurous" routing on the Garmin Zumo XT. It went OK, and got us there in decent time, although it did take us through Morristown. I'm sure I could have picked a better route, but in this situation it was very useful. Route was about 20 minutes longer than taking the highways down, and we got to just hop on the bike and go.


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After coffee we were actually pretty hungry. Popped down to Clinton to Los Tres Hermanos. I got the Chilaquiles.
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It was far from brunch, so the sign was not illuminated.

We were near a spot where I once crashed my CB in 2016. I hadn't ridden back there, so I decided to take that corner again. It was definitely tight and felt off-camber, though it doesn't look that way on google. I'm sure I had been going too fast that time, and I wasn't careful with my weight on the pegs. Dug the peg in. I didn't stop for a picture, so here's a link to the street view: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5W7Uv1PL7DTdzWEC8

From there we took the "adventurous" routing back home. All in all, not as good as picking roads you know, but I'm rusty with that area. Got us home right around dark

Itching to go back out. Dying to ride longer. Later this month we're doing a little weekend trip to help with that urge.
 
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Boris said:
My fiancee and I have been waiting a few weeks to get a chance to ride (two-up) and have a day to ourselves. Finally got a chance on Saturday. We often try to have the ride include a decent coffee spot. For today's ride we picked scout coffee bar and mercantile in High Bridge. Even though that was what was planned for the day, I didn't get a chance to set a route, so we tried out the "adventurous" routing on the Garmin Zumo XT. It went OK, and got us there in decent time, although it did take us through Morristown. I'm sure I could have picked a better route, but in this situation it was very useful. Route was about 20 minutes longer than taking the highways down, and we got to just hop on the bike and go.


IMG_6351-X3.jpg
IMG_6349-X4.jpg
IMG_6348-X4.jpg



After coffee we were actually pretty hungry. Popped down to Clinton to Los Tres Hermanos. I got the Chilaquiles.
PXL_20240330_204407304-X4.jpg


PXL_20240330_205610629-X4.jpg

It was far from brunch, so the sign was not illuminated.

We were near a spot where I once crashed my CB. I hadn't ridden back there, so I decided to take that corner again. It was definitely tight and felt off-camber, though it doesn't look that way on google. I'm sure I had been going too fast that time, and I wasn't careful with my weight on the pegs. Dug the peg in. I didn't stop for a picture, so here's a link to the street view: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5W7Uv1PL7DTdzWEC8

From there we took the "adventurous" routing back home. All in all, not as good as picking roads you know, but I'm rusty with that area. Got us home right around dark

Itching to go back out. Dying to ride longer. Later this month we're doing a little weekend trip to help with that urge.
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That looks like a great day! Nice helmets. 👍

It's always hard to tell angles and inclines in photos or Street View but that looks steep and off-camber to me. Nevermind the angles but you can see how treacherous it is based on the condition of the guard rail. :eekers
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I was totally fine from that one. The gear was shredded and the bike couldn't be ridden home though. That was a CB500X, and that crash inspired me to get something that fit my size and road riding style a bit better, which was a Triumph tiger 1050.
 
Boris said:
I was totally fine from that one. The gear was shredded and the bike couldn't be ridden home though. That was a CB500X, and that crash inspired me to get something that fit my size and road riding style a bit better, which was a Triumph tiger 1050.
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I’m glad to hear that!

The CB500X is at the top of my list for my next bike. How wasn’t it your size? Madmx showed me the cycle ergos website but I don’t have enough experience to really make heads or tails of the numbers. How did you like it otherwise?

 
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