TNT
01-09-2005, 07:10 PM
These are Jim's words other than my comment in red.
It’s not a Valkyrie!!! However, it’s a blast to ride around here.
It was a cold morning as we suited up for our maiden ride, 35 degrees, unfortunately we unloaded the wrong bike off the trailer last night, so I got to put the first 22 miles on Renee’s new CB919. It was also very foggy which caused a problem seeing while riding. In a car you just turn the wipers on and viola you can see. On the bike I had three surfaces condensing water as we drove down the road, both sides of my face shield, and the outer surface of my glasses. About five miles from Mark and Rene’s the sun broke out and life was good. The swap was made, I adjusted the preload on the mono-shock, and we quaffed a soda and hit the road. I popped my first wheelie at the first right turn after leaving Mark and Rene’s. Vicki and pulled onto Hwy 310 and just as I was following I checked to my left and low and behold a car was coming. I had already started releasing the clutch so I was committed. On the Valkyrie I would just twist the throttle in this situation and the bike would jump forward smoothly and life would go on. In this case however the little twist raised the front wheel off the pavement about 6 inches, and since I was leaning into the turn the front wheel moved to the right about 4 inches and when it set back down on the pavement I was moving away nicely…smartly done I thought!!!
I didn’t know how much gas was in the new ’919’ so I gave her a shake, observed gas in the tank and decided to take a chance. We headed to Tellico Plains to pick up Hwy 68 south and proceeded towards Ducktown, Tn. About ten miles out my fuel lamp lighted indicating approximately .9 gallons of gas which I figured should be more than enough to see me to the Chevron station in Ducktown. The bike took four gallons of fuel which meant I had a full gallon left, and as I later found out, this was enough to travel some 40+ miles. Nice to know information.
We had plans to meet some friends in Turners Corner, Ga. for lunch but due the cold and fog didn’t know if they would still be there. Well, they were so we didn’t feel too bad. A parking place opened up in front of the restaurant so I moved our bikes up, Wayne took a look at my back tire and was impressed with the small size of my chicken strips. Vicki insisted I take the lead leaving the restaurant heading north on Hwy 129. Some may recognize Hwy 129 as Deals Gap, AKA Dragons Back Bone and more, but that stretch of road is several miles north of this location but from here north to Blairsville it’s quite the exciting ride too. I was pulling away from Vicki in a big way, (only because I let him) getting the “big head” showing my stuff when three guys on those race style sport bikes shot by me like I was standing still. Harrumph, we bald headed old men get no respect!!!
Anyway, we had a great ride today, I think I’ll keep the new bike!!
http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/500/134Jim919a.JPG
It’s not a Valkyrie!!! However, it’s a blast to ride around here.
It was a cold morning as we suited up for our maiden ride, 35 degrees, unfortunately we unloaded the wrong bike off the trailer last night, so I got to put the first 22 miles on Renee’s new CB919. It was also very foggy which caused a problem seeing while riding. In a car you just turn the wipers on and viola you can see. On the bike I had three surfaces condensing water as we drove down the road, both sides of my face shield, and the outer surface of my glasses. About five miles from Mark and Rene’s the sun broke out and life was good. The swap was made, I adjusted the preload on the mono-shock, and we quaffed a soda and hit the road. I popped my first wheelie at the first right turn after leaving Mark and Rene’s. Vicki and pulled onto Hwy 310 and just as I was following I checked to my left and low and behold a car was coming. I had already started releasing the clutch so I was committed. On the Valkyrie I would just twist the throttle in this situation and the bike would jump forward smoothly and life would go on. In this case however the little twist raised the front wheel off the pavement about 6 inches, and since I was leaning into the turn the front wheel moved to the right about 4 inches and when it set back down on the pavement I was moving away nicely…smartly done I thought!!!
I didn’t know how much gas was in the new ’919’ so I gave her a shake, observed gas in the tank and decided to take a chance. We headed to Tellico Plains to pick up Hwy 68 south and proceeded towards Ducktown, Tn. About ten miles out my fuel lamp lighted indicating approximately .9 gallons of gas which I figured should be more than enough to see me to the Chevron station in Ducktown. The bike took four gallons of fuel which meant I had a full gallon left, and as I later found out, this was enough to travel some 40+ miles. Nice to know information.
We had plans to meet some friends in Turners Corner, Ga. for lunch but due the cold and fog didn’t know if they would still be there. Well, they were so we didn’t feel too bad. A parking place opened up in front of the restaurant so I moved our bikes up, Wayne took a look at my back tire and was impressed with the small size of my chicken strips. Vicki insisted I take the lead leaving the restaurant heading north on Hwy 129. Some may recognize Hwy 129 as Deals Gap, AKA Dragons Back Bone and more, but that stretch of road is several miles north of this location but from here north to Blairsville it’s quite the exciting ride too. I was pulling away from Vicki in a big way, (only because I let him) getting the “big head” showing my stuff when three guys on those race style sport bikes shot by me like I was standing still. Harrumph, we bald headed old men get no respect!!!
Anyway, we had a great ride today, I think I’ll keep the new bike!!
http://bigbikeriders.com/photopost/data/500/134Jim919a.JPG