Joshua Tree National Park

[BusyWeb]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Hey Busy,

Was that the Chevron in Morongo Valley? I think I stopped at the same place for gas! Got me some chocolate covered Donettes and a coffee before hitting the park.

Originally Posted by Moedad

Us local SoCal riders need to meet up for a canyon ride/photo shoot, get some action shots of us on our bikes.

Hi, Mr. Alan.
I don't remember the name, but I guess so that is.
It is just 20 miles before the north visit center entrance.
Bike >>> $5
(yesterday, some special NO FEE at entrance but collect when leaving(???), ha ha ha... did you pay it?)
Cage >>> $15
Anyway, I will go again under some better weather condition.
Hope, we So-Cal GZiers can geather together in near future.

[patrick_777]

Take your time with a comparison. Get some miles on the FZ first to really get the feel for it. Did you get rid of the GZ as well or keep it?

It's a very good looking bike, and one I've considered getting myself to take the place of both the Ninja and the GZ.

[alanmcorcoran]

Yeah, biz, we gassed up at the same place. I paid the five bucks at the entrance. This introduced Yet Another Tricky Motorcyle Maneuver:

The entrance is on a slight uphill. You pull up to a little window. Normally, when I pull up to something, I have both hands on the bars and both feet on the ground. Well, you can't fish five bucks out of your pocket with both hands on the bars. Since I have not got in the habit of shifting into neutral, I had to keep my clutch hand on, which meant I had to let go of the brake, which means I had to one foot it, cause I had to use the rear brake. I almost pulled it off, but, I had to bring my brake hand over to the clutch to get my glove off - and that's when I treated everyone in the booth to my horn. I didn't realize it was me right away - my thumb I used to pull off my glove also was pushing on the horn. Not sure if you guys have ever heard the horn on a Strat, but it's reminiscent of of 1950 Buick. The lady in the booth thought it was an impatient driver until I told her it was me.

I think my weather was nicer than yours. Not sure if you made it up to Key View point, but it was kind of chilly up there on Sat. Snow patches all around. But sunny all day and overall a pretty good ride. Did you ride through the whole park or just the north loop? I came out on the 10 about 22 miles east of Indio. A book I have recommended a continuation to the 111 but I was already running late and wanted to get home before it got fully dark out.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

I had to keep my clutch hand on, which meant I had to let go of the brake, which means I had to one foot it, cause I had to use the rear brake.

So, what did we learn from this little bit of drama ??
Maybe that the side stand would have been a BIG help ??
:poke2: :whistle:

[alanmcorcoran]

Uh, what? Side stand will kill the engine unless you are in neutral. See "not in the habit of shifting to neutral."

[alantf]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Uh, what? Side stand will kill the engine unless you are in neutral. See "not in the habit of shifting to neutral."

So what? I think you'll find a little button somewhere that says "start engine". When you're ready to move off, do the following 3 things together!

(assuming you're in 1st gear)
1) with left leg, kick up sidestand.
2) with left hand, pull in clutch.
3) with right hand, press start button.

With any luck releasing the clutch whilst opening the throttle should see you on your merry way.

Not exactly rocket science!

(I hope I put that politely & inoffensively)

[alanmcorcoran]

Well, yeah, that pretty much describes how I leave the house every morning. There's no argument that it would be less tricky to shut the bike off and park it and then fish around for the money, etc. The thing is, there is a giant line of cars waiting to get in and, ideally, you want the entrance fee transaction to be more like a NASCAR pit stop, not a roadside picnic. Given that I couldn't pull this off without beeping the horn, I may have to lower my sights next time to something I can manage.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

Uh, what? Side stand will kill the engine unless you are in neutral. See "not in the habit of shifting to neutral."

That is pretty lame, even for you!
You CAN shift into neutral when necessary, can you not ???
When you need to fish in your wallet for money is but ONE of those times. :biggrin:

Of course, on the GZ only neutral would be needed as you can easily balance IT without the side stand. The Strato-behemoth is probably a different story. :poke2:

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alantf

Not exactly rocket science!
(I hope I put that politely & inoffensively)

Oooooooo.......I detect a bit of sarchasm.
Careful, wouldn't want to offend anybody.

SOME people have been quick to tell ME that, so I feel obligated to pass it along! :popcorn:

[Moedad]

Originally Posted by Easy Rider

In this instance he might've been better off to kill the engine and let the transmission keep the Strat from rolling away since there's a slight hill at that entrance station to the park.