DIY Saddle Bag Mount Project for my new bike ^^;

[BusyWeb]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Biz,

Show is "Hair", opens July 10 @ Chance Theater in Anaheim Hills. See http://www.chancetheater.com.

(Not for kids.)

Where'd you go for the 150 miler?

Hi, Mr. Alan.
The musical seems great.
I, personally, thought that some classical music performance; according to your personalities.. ha ha ha.
If I have chance/time, let me try it.
However one thing to worry, my body age was matured long times ago, but my emotional age is still kid.
Ha ha ha..

Saturday, I made test riding at;
los angeles -> malibu -> santa babara -> ventura -> los angeles (total about 160 miles)
At Sunday, at;
los angeles -> I 15 -> San Bernadino
-> Angeles Forest Hwy. 2 (full course about 80 miles and twisty??)
-> Hwy. 210 -> I 5 -> los angeles (total about 170 miles)
Aha, as Mr. Moedad said that Hwy. 2 is open fully.
And its on really good road condition, new pavement.
I loved this part of riding yesterday, some rocks(pretty big ones) on the road.
Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera..... , it has really good sights/sceneries at the north part of Angeles Forest Highway.
If you have a chance, try it. :roll:
It's first time that I have ridden through the CLOUD, about 7000 ft., couple of road sections were corvered with cloud (not the FOG).
Anyway, my mounting works well on both Windy Coditions and Heavy Loading, still... ...
And I like it myself... ha ha ha.

[alanmcorcoran]

Yeah I got to get out to that road. I'm waiting until the novelty wears off. I will probably try to hit it during the week.

The Strat isn't exactly built for the twisties, but I'm curious to see if my riding skills have improved at all after 6500 miles.

[Water Warrior 2]

Alan, you might be surprised what the Liner can do in twisties. It's mostly in your skill level. Today I got smoked in the twisties by my friend with a 1700 Vulcan. I in turn smoked a Yamaha 600 sport bike in the twisties. He was quit surprised when a 4 foot wide 650 Vstrom(large luggage) passed him on a curve. Straight line was much different. It's all about experience and skill levels of individual riders. Lynda could carve a better line in the curves than I can when she was on her GZ or now on her M-50. The GZ itself will not win on long fast sweepers but in it's own element at it's ideal speed it will more than hold it's own. It is more fun riding a slow bike fast rather than a fast bike slow.

[alanmcorcoran]

Yeah, I'm less concerned about the bike than my skill levels. I don't do a lot of that kind of riding, but you do tend to gradually get more comfortable leaning the bike over and maintaining stability via the throttle over time - even if it is mostly making left turns at a intersection. I agree the GZ was more nimble. Also, think it had higher ground clearance than the Strat. The other thing is, I weigh a little more than half as much as the GZ, but the Strat is way heavier than me, so it takes a lot more skill to have one's way with it.

I had one of my most challenging rides last week when I got to San Diego. A seven story, steep, super-tight spiral on oily concrete in a parking garage. Survived it without any unplanned contact, but it was hairy. The next day, I almost bit it in a parking lot with a "blind backer outer" (came out right in front of me) but although I panic stopped using the front brakes and skidded, something caused me to let go rather than lock them up completely (shoulda been on both brakes, but I guess I've lost that instinct already.) Skidded a bit, twice in rapid succession, but remained fully upright. Probably dumb luck but I like to think experience is kicking in after 6500 miles.

(The Strat has two giant disc brakes in front, tremendous stopping power, you have to respect it when you grab the lever.)

[Water Warrior 2]

Backing up safely should be part of a driving road test. Backing into a parking spot is far easier and much safer when leaving again. Just try to educate the driving public and see how far you get. Many drivers have no idea about the actual size of their cage. My first wife kept running into things at low speed in parking lots and our driveway. How the H&*$% do you have a head on collision with a garage ?? I always told her to walk around the vehicle and look at it. I did hope the size and shape would imprint on her memory but no dice.

[alanmcorcoran]

What seems to be the problem down here is:

1) All parking spaces are now designed to fit a Honda Civic or smaller.
2) There is only about six feet of space behind each car to "back out" into.
3) Mr. Econobox parks in between a Hummer and an Expedition and cannot see squatola on either side of him.
4) After he waits a random amount of time, he squinches up his eyes, clenches his butt and backs right into you.

Normally, I can see them coming, but this guy was completely masked by the Chevy Behemoth, or whatever oversized land yacht he was hidden behind, and he didn't do the typical tentative "mine-sweeper" feel-your-way-out. Just barreled right into the right of way. I was only able to avoid a collision because the bike can swerve a lot farther and quicker than a car. I just hope these gamblers don't have kids on tricycles in their neighborhood.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

Backing into a parking spot is far easier

I agree, but in the supermarket car parks you can't get the trolley between the cars, to load the boot (trunk?) so you have to drive into the slot so the boot is to the outside.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by BusyWeb

It's first time that I have ridden through the CLOUD,

Over here, when you ride up the twisty road, up the volcano "Mount Teide" you ride up through the clouds, then once you're through you look back down & all you can see is forest & cloud. It's just like flying without a 'plane.

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

What seems to be the problem down here is:

1) All parking spaces are now designed to fit a Honda Civic or smaller.

Yup, I hear you. The price of space for parking is high so the designers just make space for a small car. Along comes Mr. Macho with his big duelly 1 ton and creates complete caos.

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by alantf

I agree, but in the supermarket car parks you can't get the trolley between the cars, to load the boot (trunk?) so you have to drive into the slot so the boot is to the outside.

Very true. I am one of those folks who will park in the farthest corner from the store and hope all the open spaces don't fill up while I am shopping. Really quite amusing if you have a lazy passenger who hates walking.