I went on a short ride with my father and a guy from the FZ1 board today. My pops decided to ride the ST1100 since he was having some problem with the EXUP valve on the FZ1. So, being the smallest rider and bike there, I learned many things over the course of the day. We ran through a few twisties on Lime Creek Road, followed by some high speed sweepers and a few low-speed sweepers on Park Road 4. It was an absolutely wonderful ride.
Things I learned:
#1: The GS can lean a lot more than you think. I learned to trust my tires and my bike today.
#2: Proper suspension setup makes a HUGE difference. Before I went riding today I brought the preload up two clicks to the number 6 position, and it made a very noticeable difference. The bike turns into the corners quicker and stays more stable through them too.
#3: There is a LOT of wind at 80mph. That's not an understatement. It's really windy!
#4: My Teknic Leather Sport pants are absolutely f%$king amazing. I don't notice wind on my legs, and they stayed warm throughout the entire day.
#5: The GS's seat is awful. Once we hit the 120 mile mark on our trip my ass started hurting. The seat felt like a rock, or at least a very very hard surface causing my posterier grief as it's never experienced before.
#6: If you really want to FEEL countersteer, ride one handed at high speeds.
#7: It takes a lot of effort to make quick lane changes with one hand on the bars, but it looks cool when you do it! :thumb:
#8: It's REALLY f%$king windy at 80mph.
#9: I learned how to deal with decreasing radius turns when I discovered I was running wide. I learned how to steer with my chin, learning the true meaning of looking where you want to go.
#10: I need new tires. My rear is already on the wear bar, and my front isn't too far behind. Pirelli Sport Demons, here I come! Radial tires!!!!!!
I had an awesome day. All you central Texans should PM me so we can ride together.
where are the freaking awesome pictures from an awesome day?? :guns:
I forgot my camera. We didn't stop at any "scenic" spots anyways. We stopped once at a gas station after Lime Creek Road (the super twisty section featuring LOTS of decreasing radius turns). After that we stopped at a Dairy Queen for lunch, then in the parking lot of a machine shop before heading home.
Good post. For what its worth, most of my best rides I've been on are photo-less. We were too busy riding and having fun to take pics, and I assume thats how your ride was as well :thumb:
well, there's no way for us to know it was an awesome ride... :(
Hey, I'll believe you regardless of the lack of pics. Had just a couple of comments to add to your numbers. On:
#3 & #8 - Wind Resistance increases proportionally to the cube of your speed. Such is the physics of riding -- you'll just have to get used to it until they repeal that law.
#5 - It's a bench seat -- "a park bench seat". Sadly, Suzuki doesn't pad the seat for touring use. Time for an Air Hawk?
#10 - Two millimeters. Put a penny in the tread, and if you can see the top of Lincoln's hair, it's time to replace the rubber.
PS. Your bum will be much better tomorrow.
#3 and #8 - gs runs in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n past 80mph mark :P
Quote from: JetSwing#3 and #8 - gs runs in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n past 80mph mark :P
Yeah, no joke. The F model felt WAY faster past 80mph. But I'm only ever really going that fast one day out of the week. Usually I'm having to scoot it around town where the nakedness pays big time. I dropped it two gears every time I had to wind it up to pass a car.
Quote from: RedShiftTwo millimeters. Put a penny in the tread, and if you can see the top of Lincon's hair, it's time to replace the rubber.
I went and did that just now, and I could see the whole damn top of the penny. Edge and everything. Tread depth is well under .5mm. It's just the center line, but I need to get it changed quick.
Yeesh! Get new tires before you crash like my friend just did. :(
80 MPH wind is pretty bad... But, nothing like 95 MPH wind. :o
Scoot your ass back until your tail bone is on the seat hump, lower your shoulders, drop your elbows, and lean forward a little. You'll see what I mean.
Yeah, I usually do a little tuck like that past 80mph just to get my chest out of the wind. It does a pretty good job too, especially since my helmet moves through clean air very nicely.
I put a flyscreen from a Buell S1 on my bike recently and I've caught myself riding faster than "normal' on the freeway because I'm not getting nearly as much wind blast. It's not as nice as a full fairing, but it was a definite improvement.
Quote from: JazzzzzI put a flyscreen from a Buell S1 on my bike recently and I've caught myself riding faster than "normal' on the freeway because I'm not getting nearly as much wind blast. It's not as nice as a full fairing, but it was a definite improvement.
how did you mount it? can you post up some pictures?
Yikes, LCR on the weekends... See any cops or downed riders? I'll head out there sometimes on a weekday, but on the weekends that road seems like it's crowded w/ every boy racer idiot on his R1 or Civic... Sounds like a good trip though. I did the ERC this weekend and re-discovered #1. I was scraping all kinds of stuff through the faster excersizes at the end of the day.
The game this Saturday isn't until 2.30... maybe we could meet up and ride before?
trey
Quote from: JetSwing
how did you mount it? can you post up some pictures?
I pussed out and bought the Buell mounting brackets for it (I wouldn't do it again, they're ridiculously expensive for what you get and would be pretty easy to make from some bar stock if you have the tools). Mounting brackets for the Cyclone M2 flyscreen bolt right up to the headlight ears without any drilling or filing, and will match up to the mounting holes on the M2, S1, and Blast flyscreens. I bought the flyscreen for ~$30 total off of eBay and they go for less quite frequently -- it's a cheap Chinese carbon fiber piece, not the greatest workmanship but the finish is good and the holes were in the right place.
My digital camera has given up the ghost, if I get a replacement this winter I'll post a how-to when I reassemble my bike after painting/powdercoating.
Quote from: treybradYikes, LCR on the weekends... See any cops or downed riders? I'll head out there sometimes on a weekday, but on the weekends that road seems like it's crowded w/ every boy racer idiot on his R1 or Civic... Sounds like a good trip though. I did the ERC this weekend and re-discovered #1. I was scraping all kinds of stuff through the faster excersizes at the end of the day.
The game this Saturday isn't until 2.30... maybe we could meet up and ride before?
trey
Yeah, Lime Creek on a weekend! :lol: We actually only saw ONE motorcycle out there, no ricers, no cops, and no downed bikes. It was a BMW K series we saw, one of the older models. He was going at a nice clip, too. We weren't going so fast as to scrape stuff, though. Never do. I'm not going to be pushing my bike that hard until I get some more seat time/skill. We're sporty, but not draggin' sporty. I'll see if I can scrape together a ride for this weekend. Maybe we can get ThirdMan to come along with us.
Good deal. Maybe the reputation it was getting for being crazy on the weekends has scared everyone like me off... Who knows? Although, tons of people were gone for the game... Saturday at work was pretty slow...
trey
Yeah. How would you feel about riding on Sunday? I'm never the one to plan rides, so I'm trying to work out a day with my riding buddy. If not, I'll plan one for Saturday morning.
Quote from: JetSwingQuote from: JazzzzzI put a flyscreen from a Buell S1 on my bike recently and I've caught myself riding faster than "normal' on the freeway because I'm not getting nearly as much wind blast. It's not as nice as a full fairing, but it was a definite improvement.
how did you mount it? can you post up some pictures?
check out
http://johnla2.tripod.com for a buell flyscreen install.
Sunday is fine except that I work until 2.30...
trey
#5. your a kitty cat.
1060 miles in 19.5 hours on RG's 91 rat bike w/ stock seat.
3000 miles in 56 hours on my 02 with the stock seat.
Quote from: davipu#5. your a kitty cat.
1060 miles in 19.5 hours on RG's 91 rat bike w/ stock seat.
3000 miles in 56 hours on my 02 with the stock seat.
Yes, but I most likely wasn't nearly as drunk as you were, nor do I have such ample padding in the rear. On the contrary. I'm lacking in the boo-tay department, if you will. Oh the problems with being a lanky white boy.
grow a ass, cracker.
I can't! I'm too skinny :(
then you need more beer.
The answer to everything.
achacol has 7 calories per gram + the 4 calories per gram of carbs so it's like super fuel.
Beer is totally super fuel.
I was on a beer diet for a while... $6 or less worth of food during the day... $4 worth of can beer at night. PBR, Rainier, etc.
Worked wonders!