A pre-ride Ride Report

[music man]

I am leaving bright and early in the morning to go on a 4-day 850 mile trek from Hot Springs Arkansas to just below Baton Rouge Louisiana and Back, On two different motorcycles!

I am going to ride the GZ From Hot Springs To my hometown of Monticello Arkansas (which is about 130 miles one way), then from there I am getting on a 87 Honda Goldwing and riding it from there to Baton Rouge & back, then Back on the GZ to the house. My Brother-in-law owns the Goldwing, and he can't ride anymore (he had to have several surgerys on his hands) so the bike is just sitting there waiting for my butt to get on it.

Anyways, tune in Tuesday for a post trip report if you are interested.

Later

[IRingTwyce]

When do you anticipate being in Baton Rouge? It's not too far from where I work. Maybe 90 miles. Let me know, and I might be able to ride up and meet you.

[music man]

Probably Saturday night, we are actually going to St. Amant, But you will have to post up a message within a couple of hours, cause i will probably not have time to check in the morning and I will be cut off from computers till tuesday.

[patrick_777]

Good luck man. Enjoy that Wing.

[IRingTwyce]

Hm. Doesn't look like I'll be able to make that. I'm still 150 miles offshore, and won't be back for a few days yet. Enjoy the ride!

[alanmcorcoran]

Music,

Have you ridden a Gold Wing before? I would be very interested in your perspective on the differences in riding experience on the big bike (I'm assuming it's an 1800cc) and the GZ.

A Gold Wing was the first bike I looked at. I'd only ever seen them on the highway before. When I sat on one in the Honda store, I realized the idea of just buying one and heading off into the sunset was a little stupid. Now that I've got a few months and a few thousand miles under my belt, I'm still not sure I could handle one. I've kind of adjusted my sights down a bit to a Shadow as my next step, but I'm curious to see how you adapt to the big jump in weight and power.

[music man]

Alan the goldwing i am riding is a 1200cc, and i will give you a full report when i get home i am borrowing a puter at the moment, but i have ridden a shadow before(a 600cc), but so far it is actually EASIER to ride than my gz is believe it or not, but that is because i already have riding experience on the gz. It would have probably been a suicide mission for you to have gotten a new goldwing right from the start or one like the one i am riding for that matter, as they(the new ones) weigh almost twice as much as the one i am riding.

Like i said i will give a full report when i return, later.

[music man]

First of all I am sorry it took so long to write this, I am in the process of moving to a new house and that combined with this trip just hasnt left me much time to do it.


Alright here goes, Right of the bat I made this trip longer than it already was when I got up Friday Morning, Got all My gear loaded up, got on my bike and rode 30 miles from my house only to realize I left my F@#$ing cell phone and had to go all the way back to the house and get it. :bong:

So I ended up going 90 miles Friday Morning to eventually get 30 miles from my house. But on to the story. It ended up being absolutely perfect weather for the whole 4 days, a little chilly in the mornings and at dark, but i didn't do much riding in either. So I ended up at the end of friday when all was said and done going about 180 miles to get to Monticello Arkansas (My Illustrious Home Town :lol:), Right before I got to Monticello I noticed that the GZ had sprung a leak, The Shaft that your clutch cable connects to (the Name escapes me at the moment, that goes into the top of the engine, the gasket was dry cracked and started leaking, it wasn't too bad though so I pushed on) (plus Monticello is almost 100 miles from the nearest Suzuki shop so I was screwed anyways), it only lost an ounce or two of oil by the time I got home, so no big deal.

When I got there I went and visited a few friends and what not before it got to late and went to my sisters and went to bed, got up at 6 in the morning and went outside to look at the Goldwing that I would be riding (yes i had never even seen a picture of this bike much less rode it), Loaded up my stuff on it (plenty of storage space, like a freakin' car) My sister (Marie) showed me where everything was at and I fired her up and off we went.

My Sister lives about 10-12 miles from Monticello, Where we rode to to meet up with my other sister(brenda) (who would be late for her own funeral) and by the way has put 9,000 miles on a Honda Shadow 600, starting from never being on a motorcycle and is still scared of it(more on that later). So brenda shows up and off we go, Man Riding that goldwing was great it just glided down the road like a car, you could be going 75 and it felt like what 25 feels like on the GZ, Unfortunately that is where the fun ended.


My sister brenda could not get a grip on riding down the highway, me and my other sister would run off and leave her, then have to stop and wait on her, over and over and over again. She was a danger to us and herself and Honestly should not be riding a motorcycle, but she won't listen to reason, Don't get me wrong, a 52 year old woman getting a motorcycle and teaching herself to ride it, I give her that much credit, but you have to know when to call it a day, she actually got on the freeway in baton rouge, cars going 75-80 miles an hour, and she slowed down to about 30-35, and expected us to stay with her, she is lucky she is still alive, we ran off and left her because we had to go at least the speed limit, stopped to call her and find out where she was, she was crying and lost, it was horrible riding with her.

Back to the Goldwing, it rode like a dream, very little wind, stayed pretty warm behind all that fairing and windshield, seat felt like a lazy boy recliner on my butt, When I got back on the GZ it felt like i was sitting on a concrete bench compared to that seat, It got dark on me on the way back to Hot Springs and I almost froze, it was very cold, I instantly missed the Goldwing windshield.

That is about the extent of my story, I am sorry that is it so jumbled, but I am not as eloquent as Alan and others on here, but maybe I got my point across alright, I loved the Goldwing, and it would have been a awesome trip had it not been for my sister brenda, Me and my other sister have already planned to take another trip without her, (sorry sis).

At the end of it all, 1,031 miles on two different motorcycles in four days, One day the bikes didn't move, so actually 3 days of riding. Later.[center:11kurp3d][/center:11kurp3d]

[music man]

I don't know what happened but when i submitted this all my paragraphs fragmented all over the place and it won't let me fix it, so it is all f@#ked up. they were all tabbed and everything now it just went poof.

[alanmcorcoran]

Dude, paragraphs are fine. Here is what I read:

GET YOURSELF AN EFFING GOLDWING ALAN!

(Also: Never ride with your sister on the freeway.)

Thanks man. Sorry about Brenda. You should never make your sister cry. Not good for anybody.

[music man]

I didn't make here cry, she made herself cry by not staying on the f@#king freeway, and following the directions we all three had in our pockets just in case we got separated, and my other sister was actually outrunning me on the freeway. And yes you would love it if you got a goldwing, I would suggest a older (and smaller one) like I was on, it was easily small and nimble enough (believe it or not) for everyday use.

[Water Warrior 2]

Music Man, thanks for sharing the ride. Gotta say this though. Get Brenda into a riders training course. I can't believe she is still alive after 9000 miles. She needs some one qualified to teach her proper riding technique. I do congratulate her for learning on her own but there is a limit to some peoples learning curve without instruction. By now Brenda should be wearing the bike like a layer of skin and feeling it like an extension of her body. There are too many skills she has never developed to make riding a real pleasure and a reason to sing. Here's a thought. Sign her up as a xmas present. It will be the best investment you ever made in her life.
As for the Wing. I do envy you. Almost had one many years ago but life happens. Also if you think the new Wings would be too heavy and clumsy compared to the one you rode......not. The 06 and up models are the best hands down. Lurk on a Wing forum for a while. You will be surprised at the comments concerning balance, low mass/center of gravity and parking lot exercises. Far easier to sit on and balance than my VStrom 650. And they are fast too. One of the fastest riders at Deal's Gap last year was on a 06 Wing pulling a trailer. They are a superb bike in every respect. I just do not have 30,000 CAN $ to make one mine.

[music man]

Oh I guess I forgot to mention that part, she did go to the MSF course after she logged about 3000 miles on her bike, she got up and left about midways through day one, because "she already knew everything they were trying to show her" and she doesn't like people telling her what to do.

Because see in her mind she rode just fine all the way down there, and all the way back.

[Easy Rider]

Because see in her mind she rode just fine all the way down there, and all the way back.

I think you have the right plan now.....unfortunately.

Gonna have to leave her out of your group rides or plan a route that she CAN deal with .......if there are any.

And when she asks why you left her out, tell her that you refuse to be a party to her suicide. I get the feeling that you may have done that already.

Sad situation. Maybe she would be better off on a scooter with a top speed of 50 or so and an automatic transmission. Then again, maybe she'd be better off walking.

[music man]

It wasn't the Route Easy Rider, she was doing that (slowing down to like 30-35) on regular highways also (which is also a suicide mission), it was just magnified when she was doing it on the freeway. So Picking a new route will not help, I just refuse to ride with her anymore.


Later