Posts Tagged ‘motorcycle’

Motorcycle Camping Part 3 – The Trial

April 6, 2021

This should be the last post about the motorcycle camping trial run, in other words the testing in real time before the serious stuff starts. At this point everything I can think of is packed, food, toiletries, clothes, cooking utensils, heater (this was in March and still cold) extension cords, table, chairs, firewood, etc etc etc…. In other words had the trailer hooked up, bike and some supplies in trailer with the remainder in the cab or back of the truck.

Lets go——we had reserved camping sites at Karick Lake South for March 4 through the 8th of 2020. Five days to test out this setup, see what was missing and what could be left behind on the next outing. By the way Karick Lake camping is near by (25 miles) and is a really quiet and well taken care of campground. It has a fishing pier, bath rooms, showers, and hiking trails. Each campsite has electrical hook up and water. For those with RV and trailer campers there is a dump station on your way out.

Backed in on arrival

As you can see from the photos, when we arrived it was dreary looking, foggy, raining, and on top of that the wind was blowing pretty good also. Those photos were taken around three in the afternoon. That was not going to stop this camper however, we were going to stick it out no matter what. In fact turns out most of the five days we were there it was like this, cold, damp and for normal people some might have called it miserable.

Next it was time to setup, unload the bike first, then inflate the queen size air mattress, unpack the blankets, hook up the water hose, plug into electricity, turn on the heater, build a fire and get ready to prepare some food. The RV you see in the right side of the photo below is my brother and sister-in-law. They camp in style with all the comforts of home. 🙂

It rained really hard that night, the camper directly in front of me was camping in a tent and riding a motorcycle. Met him the next morning as he was packing up to leave. He explained it was pretty rough since his tent flooded and he only had a few dry clothes to change into. He was from Mississippi and was headed home that morning hoping he could stay out of most of the bad weather. Not likely though, storms were brewing all across the southern states at that time.

Even though is was miserable, had a great time with my brother. We hiked almost every day, cooked and ate a lot, sat around the camp fire which we kept going strong for the entire time and talked about anything that came to mind. Learned a lot on the trip, some changes I might do and other things I could do without. In other words, I packed way too much stuff. 🙂 Even though the weather was not nice still had a chance to take a few short rides on the motorcycle which for me is always fun.

Will post a two minute video below of one ride as I was leaving the camp site and out of the campground to the main road. Camera was mounted on rear of the motorcycle. Turned off the sound because it was so windy.

Soon we will catch up from the past and start posting about what’s happening now, but first I will need to catch you up on what has happened since this camping trip, maybe more camping, more rides, more photos and videos. So be patient with me, we’ll get there I promise. Will close this post out with a few more photos of that campsite. It was a blast and a learning experience for sure!

Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Stay tuned, hit that follow button to be notified when next post publishes. And if you feel the urge, you can share this on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Thanks for reading. 🙂

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Motorcycle Camping – Part 2

April 2, 2021

In the last post kind of explained what would be necessary for me to purchase in the area of a trailer to do all the things I needed to do with it. Like the motorcycle search which took a while, the trailer search began. After a couple of months searching, found the trailer I’d been looking for and it was probably about 1.5 miles away. Was a six by twelve foot single axle trailer, covered, with drop down rear door to use as a ramp and side door for entry when you didn’t want to drop the rear door down. Was large enough to carry the Yamaha and all the other stuff I thought was necessary.

Once the trailer was in my possession it was time to set it up and make it mine. First had to find a motorcycle chock that would accept the front tire of my bike and hold it up without support. Of course you have to use tie downs before you move it and that meant tie down hooks in the floor were needed. Turns out it already had some tie-downs.

Next thing I did was add electricity. Wired in an on/off switch, light, and a wall plug. Placed the plug-in down on the under side of the trailer easily accessible so it would be easy to run an extension cord and plug it in so you would have lights and electrical power inside the trailer. Most of the campgrounds I would use have electrical hook-ups, water, bathrooms and showers.

Also built a little area in the nose of the trailer to store things so they wouldn’t move around and even put a rod across the front of the trailer in order to hang clothes, jackets, helmets, and whatever else needed to be hung up. Also devised a way to mount the spare tire on the wall. When I say nose of the trailer, forgot to mention that it is V shaped in front which actually makes it pull easier due to the shape it will split the wind better. Will put some photos below.

When all of that was done, time to see how it would feel pulling it with my truck, bike loaded. Hooked up the trailer, loaded up the Yamaha, tied it down securely and took off down the road a few miles to test how it pulled, felt and then on returning making sure the bike was still secure and had not moved. Did some quick turns, faster than normal stops just to see if anything would go wrong with the way I had it setup.

Result, it pulled great, bike stayed in place and it appeared that the trailer, bike and me were very close to ready for a trial run at camping. Well not quite, still had to buy/gather up some supplies. Food, clothes, camp stove, utensils, paper towels, cleaning products, air mattress, sheets, blankets, pillow, heater (it was cold), charger for phone, extension cords, water hose, table, chairs, coffee, coffee pot, hot chocolate, firewood, matches, gas for stove and lantern. Believe me there was probably more but I really wanted to over pack and see what I really needed on this trial run. There was a lot more minor items packed I’m sure but you get the idea. 🙂

Funny thing is my brother and sister-in-law were going to be camping in the very next campsite in their RV to assist me with anything necessary but the idea was for me to test this out as much as possible on my own. Plus we would only be camping about 25 miles from my home at Karick Lake South so if necessary I could run back home quickly should there be something missing. LOL

Will have to finish up this camping experience on a motorcycle in the next post as I don’t really like to make these post too long and boring. There will be a part three to this story posting soon. See some of the trailer photos below.

Wheel chock mounted inside
Front nose of trailer
Rear door
Electrical hookup
Ready to Load

Off subject a bit but just got notification that Viking Bags is running an Easter sale at 20% off. For how long it lasts I have no idea but this is the place I go to when I need saddle bags, sissy bar bags, or any type of motorcycle luggage you can think of. Viking Bags- World Largest Motorcycle Luggage Manufacturing Company, Offering over 700 Key lockable Saddlebags and pouches with hardware.

Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Stay tuned, hit that follow button to be notified when next post publishes. 🙂

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Motorcycle Camping – Part 1

April 1, 2021

Camping is another of my passions these last few years. Probably influenced by my brother, sister-in-law, and one of my first cousins all of which are avid campers and love the outdoors. Even before the Yamaha was found and purchased had thoughts of traveling on the motorcycle, not staying in hotels but rather camping overnight, saving money and doing something enjoyable at the same time. (Doing this while recovering from bypass surgery done in January of 2019.) Side note: they told me I shouldn’t be riding a motorcycle for at least the remainder of 2019, too much vibration? It came up in conversation with one of my nurses who rides. 🙂

I’ve seen where other people have camped during their travels on a motorcycle carrying all they required, tent, sleeping bag, food, clothes, etc…. but for the life of me I could not see how to carry all the things I would need on a long journey possibly multiple states and weeks at a time. Maybe it’s because my requirements are many in that I really like to stay as clean as possible, eat well, and sleep in more comfort that just a tent and pad to lay on? 🙂

Since I had not done a lot of camping alone in a long time my first task was to basically figure out what supplies and and other requirements would be needed, yep, made a list. This list of course came from conversations with my camping experts, brother, sister-in-law, and first cousin who I actually visited in TN back in August of 2019. Had never been to Tennessee so it was quite an experience. Spent a week with my cousin and then a week with my best friend from high school days who also lives in Tennessee, another area of the state. Saw sites and things of interest that I had only seen in books and TV. It was an awesome trip. May go back someday on the motorcycle.

Okay, sorry I get side tracked sometime so back to the process of making the list, food, bedding, clothes, toiletries, fire wood, tent, etc etc etc….. no way in hell was that all going on a motorcycle.

First thought was maybe I should consider a small RV camper that was self contained and then tow my motorcycle on a trailer behind. That way I could camp at great places for motorcycle riding, have a place to sleep and ride the area during the day. Great idea right? Yes, good idea but way too much money involved in finding the right RV. Way out of my budget, so that was discarded after a few days maybe weeks of looking and thinking about the situation. Remember these thoughts were before finding the right motorcycle right price.

Then it hit me, I already had a truck, all that I needed was the right trailer to tow the motorcycle one I could use for carrying all I needed plus a place to sleep after unloading the motorcycle. So the search began, needed to be a covered trailer at least twelve feet long and inside height of six feet or more. Also had to have a style door that when lowered would be a ramp to load the bike. Timeline: This planning was happening during and after my trip to Tennessee, August, September, October and into November of 2019.

First things first, had to make a decision on one of the many motorcycles that I had been looking at and researching. FOUND it, 2005 Yamaha Roadstar XV1700 located at Rucker’s Auto and Cycle Sales in Enterprise, Alabama. This was somewhere in the first week of November 2019. Had to go see it, turned out was a beautiful bike, had lots been done to it recently, and was in excellent shape mechanically and otherwise. Even had a cup holder, phone mount with charger. Perfect for me and fit into my price range. It had all the bells and whistles I wanted and more. Owner Danny Toole was very nice and worked with me on every question or concern I might have. Even helped me at the local Credit Union to get financing. Long story short, Danny loaned me a trailer (didn’t own one at that time) to bring the bike home which I did on November 14, 2019. 🙂

Day I brought it home.

This post is getting long so will cut if off now but stay tuned for Motorcycle Camping Part 2 coming out soon! 🙂

Remember not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate) that loves to ride motorcycles. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions. Stay tuned, hit that follow button to be notified when next post publishes. 🙂

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Dash View

March 28, 2021

Think I said in the past that experimenting with the video in various places was something that I found interesting and well just needed to be explored since I’m all new to this.

Below I posted a video from a much different view. Camera mounted on top of helmet, pointed down toward the dash area of the Yamaha. Please understand I’m certainly not looking down at the dash area while riding since that would end up in disaster for sure. Eyes always on the road, in fact looking out as far as you can see in front and watching all side views to boot. Even more so than in a car.

This video was recorded on April 15, 2020 on my way to my favorite place to walk, Florida’s highest point. Actually walked about four miles that day and then went riding afterwards for an hour or so after.

Video gives you an idea of what the dash was like on that beast, had all the accessories a person could ask for on a motorcycle. 🙂 Notice that’s all past tense now…. later post will explain.

Yamaha Dash View

Hope you enjoy these little videos. Still trying to post more on my My youtube channel. so if you get a change drop by and check it out, and if you wish please subscribe to be notified each time I post another one there. Talk with you later, next post coming soon.

Until then, remember I’m not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate only) that loves to ride motorcycles. Stay tuned and hit that follow button so you’ll be notified when the next post hits the web. 🙂

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Rides Tracked & Recorded

March 27, 2021

Partially true. It was hard for me to remember to record ALL my rides or even a large percentage of them since my main goal was to just get out and ride. That little camera I mentioned in the last post would run out of battery power after a while so some of the rides that I was trying to record didn’t make it to the end. In some of my first videos had the camera set to make 5 minute shots, then switched it to 3 minutes and even some I recorded at 1 minute intervals.

I would then pick one of the better intervals of some rides and post that short video to Youtube. Not really a youtuber like so many are and certainly don’t own the professional equipment it requires to make quality youtube videos but if you want to see what I’ve posted so far this is My youtube channel. Hopefully I’ll get better at it and post more in the very near future. With that said if you want to subscribe and be notified when that happens feel free to do so. 🙂

By the way, “Tracked” was also mentioned in the subject line so yes that is another thing I do on some rides and it doesn’t cost a thing. There are free aps on your phone that can record your route and some are actually geared for motorcycles. The one I use most often is “My Ride”, it was developed by Yamaha Motor Europe. When you start your ride just turn it on and it records not only your route but some other interesting tidbits also.

Occasionally I’ve used “Rever” which seems to be popular with a lot of motorcycle enthusiasts but honestly I prefer the “My Ride” ap. In fact I’ll post a photo of a “Rever” ride I took. The three minute video excerpt in the previous post was a short clip of the ride tracked that day.

Rever has an upgrade option as most free applications do which of course would most likely provide more and better info but for my purposes just sticking to the free version.

Will have to say there are some interesting rides I’ve tracked which I will share with you later. One that is especially interesting is the one recorded on June 14, 2020, day of my accident. Stick around I’ll make a post someday about that entire day since there has been a lot of questions about it.

Until then, remember I’m not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old man (by birth certificate only) that loves to ride motorcycles. Stay tuned and hit that follow button so you’ll be notified when the next post hits the web. 🙂

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The Riding continues…

March 25, 2021

The more I learned about the bike from reading, riding, cleaning (constantly) and doing maintenance the more I fell in love with that beast. It was so much fun to ride. Now keep in mind my preference is to ride alone, that way I make my own decisions, go where I want to go and at the pace that makes me feel comfortable.

Funny thing is I started inventing reasons to ride, making excuses to go to the store or go visit some place around here I had not been in a long time, etc. Most of the time there was absolutely NO destination just go ride make a turn on perhaps a road not familiar and then another and another until I had no idea where I was. See the thing is on a bike you’re never lost just taking the long way home, which was always the case with me.

Now when I said riding alone was my preference didn’t mean that I’m anti-social, well some people say I am so what they heck, maybe that fits. 🙂 Actually riding with one or two other bikes might be fun on occasion but large group rides for me would not be my cup of tea.

As I started racking up the miles on the Yamaha, got the idea I might like to remember some of those rides in the back woods by video recording some rides. Great idea except equipment was needed to do that. Certainly wasn’t going to spend the kind of money that some do with the GoPro cameras etc. In searching found this Cheap Camera on Amazon. Of course it wasn’t the best quality but it came with a box full of different ways to attach it to the bike.

Really wanted to attach it to the handle bars but that was impossible since the front fairing would block it from view. On a few rides I mounted it to the engine crash bar on the right side which was ok except for the noise it picked up from the engine. Tried mounting it on the left side a couple of times and even attached it to the rear of the bike once to get a view of where I’d been. 🙂 Mounted it to the top of my helmet but the sticky mount that was suppose to hold it was weak at best. It flew off once and had to go back and find it.

Even though the camera wasn’t very professional it was under fifty bucks and did the basics of what I needed. It did have settings to change up a few things and took some testing to figure out what was best in this situation. Have to say that for the money it was pretty decent until I mounted it on the front of the fairing for a better view one day and at about 65 or 70 mph, that sucker flew off and I knew it would be impossible to find it since it was so small.

I’ll post one of the segments of a video that I recorded back in Feb of 2020 while riding in South Alabama. This time the camera was mounted on the crash bar so if viewing you might want to turn down or even off the sound. LOL

One thing to remember is I’m not an “Old Biker” by definition, just an old guy that loves the wind therapy of riding a motorcycle. “Old” only in relation to my birth certificate, much younger in my mind. 🙂 🙂

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Starting to Ride the Road Star

March 25, 2021

After learning all I could about the bike I really just wanted to get out and ride forever. Started off with a few short rides maybe fifteen to twenty miles each. That was fun but after a few days I needed more. Increased the riding time little by little each day that weather permitted and even some days that weren’t so nice. 🙂

That bike handled great, was a little heavy feeling at first on curves and turns but getting more accustomed to it’s response was fun and exciting when you found the right sweet spot for every situation. Bike had plenty of torque and power but always felt like it could use another gear higher. Was a five speed and would cruise easily at seventy five to eighty miles per hour but sounded as if it had a higher gear would have been better.

Previous owner had installed an after market Kuryakyn 9421 Pro Hypercharger air filter system. When you twisted the throttle that puppy would sing sweet sounds your way. Since I’m a firm believer in proper maintenance, noticed on the invoice where the previous owner had it worked on, they only showed replacing two of the four spark plugs. Yes, it is a V-Twin engine (only two cylinders) but it has two spark plugs for each cylinder. Well just had to check them out and replace all four at once, don’t believe in side stepping part of the job, lets do it all the right way. 🙂

Immediately searched Amazon and found the correct plugs instantly NGK Spark Plug DPR7EA-9- Set of 4. Installing them on the Road Star was a treat for sure, involved removing the gas tank and then using some mechanical skills to pull the plugs from those deep wells in the cylinder head and replacing them. All in all not a hard job just took a few to figure things out and was sure the next time they needed changing would be much easier.

According to the owners manual and the repair manual it recommended changing the oil every four thousand miles at most. Well usually I go a tad overboard. After about three thousand miles figured I needed to try my hand at changing the oil and filter. After all, I had the repair manual with detailed instructions and honestly I’ve always been mechanically inclined so shouldn’t be much of an issue, right? LOL

Really the toughest things about it was finding the correct drain plugs to drain the oil and then getting the oil filter off in such close quarters was more difficult than expected. As with the spark plugs, first time is the hardest so I learn quickly and instead of the normal oil filter I replaced it with a K&N HP filter. K&N Motorcycle Oil Filter: High Performance, Premium and if you notice it has a built in nut on the end which makes it much easier to get on and off in those tight situations.

I’ll just say it here I really like the K&N products for motorcycles, cars, trucks and other equipment they make products for. On top of that Amazon carries quite a few of their part numbers. Check it out …. Other K&N Filters and Products

The Spark Plug change, oil & filter change both happened within a weeks time when the bike had approximately twenty eight thousand plus miles in mid April of 2020.

Hope you stick around for more posts upcoming. Just hit the follow button as we will have more events to tell you about and maybe even some product reviews, some good and some not so good. 🙂

OH, almost forgot, below find some photos of this much talked about bike the Yamaha Road Star XV1700.

  • At Lake Jackson in Florala, Alabama

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The Yamaha

March 24, 2021

So as I stated in the last post my long awaited adventure on a bike started with the purchase of a 2005 Yamaha Road Star XV1700 touring bike. Shouldn’t say that’s where my adventure started actually since it really started a few years earlier when I had the thoughts in my head and then it got really intense when actually beginning the process of searching for the motorcycle.

Then of course after making the purchase and bringing that beauty home it was time to learn all I could about the bike, take it out to the back pasture, do some shifting, turning, just getting the feel. Honestly I was a little apprehensive as it was a big bike, weighed in somewhere around eight hundred fifty pounds, and to top it off I hadn’t ridden any motorcycle in the last ten to twelve years. Wanted to get the feel to basically see if I could handle that monster before I took it out on the road and totally embarrassed myself. 🙂

The previous owner had just had the bike worked over before he put it up for sale. Had a new gas tank, new tires, front forks had new seals installed just to name a few things. Also had a new belt, yes it had belt drive instead of a chain. He actually provided the receipt where all the work had been done. Bill total was somewhere around $3800, so I knew the bike had been really gone over and everything possible had been either replaced or repaired. That bad boy had hardly a blemish anywhere. Chrome was shiny no scratches, same with paint job. Beautiful for sure, even though it had like 25,000 miles on the odometer and was a 2005 model, it did not show it’s age.

My next task was find an owners manual and a repair manual online so I could learn more about the mechanics of it. Was able to download an owners manual for that year which helped with some of the questions in my head and next step was to order a repair manual for that specific bike. Pretty sure I purchased it from Amazon which might surprise you about them. Amazon has tons of stuff for motorcycles, I’m proof positive. Here is the link to their Clymer Motorcycle Manuals…. https://amzn.to/2QuMatn

Couldn’t stop myself from cleaning and shining it every single time I walked passed it parked on my carport. Found a great product for waterless cleaning and polishing. It was called Original Bike Spirits also found on Amazon, sorry I don’t have the photo or link for it but just put in Bike Spirits and I’m sure it will pop up. Two cans for about $15 if my memory is correct. Oh and you can use it on anything, chrome, plastic, glass, leather, etc. just about anything but cloth and it does a fantastic job.

Yes I wanted to learn more and more about that bike but I also wanted to get that honey out on the road and feel what I hadn’t felt in a long time. Some call it “wind therapy” and I certainly have to agree. Post is getting long so tell you more about this bike and my experiences in the next few posts upcoming. Stay tuned.

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