November Ride From New Hampshire to Central PA and Back.

[dhgeyer]

Hey, Everyone!

I just got back yesterday from a 5 day ride to mid Pennsylvania and back. I had originally thought to continue to Winchester, VA, but decided that I had pushed my luck with the weather enough. It is mid November! I took the Kawasaki Concours, as it has a well protected cockpit, and plenty of power to run my electric jacket liner and gloves. I stopped in at Lewistown, PA to visit with Sharon and Richard Koontz. Sharon, as you may recall is that very determined lady who, with Richard's help, modified a GZ250 to fit her petite 4' 10" self. I have included some pictures of Sharon and her special bike below.

I did the ride down in 3 days, although the first was afternoon only. It never got out of the thirties until I was almost to Lewistown. When I left Bennington, Vermont at 8:30 Friday morning there was an inch of snow on the cars in the motel parking lot. It had melted on the roads, which were still very wet. I took Rt 9 to Albany, to the New York Thruway. I took Route 88 from Albany to Binghamton, going 70 most of the way, and even hit a couple of snow flurries, but nothing that stuck. Good gear makes all the difference, and I was not particularly cold.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn in Clarks Summit, PA on the way down, and on the way back. On day three I took Rts 81, then 80, then 11, then 522 to Lewistown. The visit with Sharon and Richard was wonderful. They were very helpful in getting the pictures I wanted for this forum, and even took me out to lunch! We went for a little ride, as the weather had finally warmed up to the lower sixties. Richard also has a GZ250, as well as a Sportster 1200. I had a great afternoon.

I did the ride back in two days. The mornings were very cold, but the afternoons were perfect. The ride along the Susquehanna River on Route 11 is beautiful, even this time of year. It was 29 degrees when I left Clarks Summit, PA the second day, so I didn't get on Route 81 right away, but spent the morning on Route 11. It is a beautiful ride.

Here are some pictures of Sharon, Richard, and the great GZ250 they built for Sharon to ride.


Sharon and her bike.


The front forks, raised in the tripletree to lower the front.


The old and new rear shocks. The replacements really lowered the back of the bike.


The old bars sitting on the replacements. Sharon was having trouble reaching the grips, but the new bars work fine.


The shortened sidestand. The bike was lowered so much that the sidestand, in its original length, barely leaned the bike at all.


The unmodified sidestand on Richard's GZ for comparison.


I had Sharon hold her bike level, and then had Richard do the same with his in exactly the same spot. With no tripod, I did the best I could not to move the camera between shots. Then I brought the two images together in Photoshop, with Sharon and her bike semi transparent in front of Richard and his. I lined the wheels of the two bikes up perfectly as a reference. You can see by this image that the rear of Sharon's bike is lowered more than the front, and the seat is considerably lower than Richard's.


Sharon now has a bike that she can ride comfortably, and can get both feet flat on the ground (with a little help from some good boots!).