my first longish haul in an 06

Well, yesterday I had to attend a conference in LA and I live in yuma 4.5 car hours to drive 275 miles of slab, and here are my lessons learned.

The seat absolutely sucks! Funny thing I had ordered a corbin and 60 miles into the trip found out it had arrived but I would not turn around, my mistake!!

Don't drive in downtown LA on a trip it may be fine for commuters, but when your doing the 2 hours in traffic to go 50 miles and youve got another 225 to go it absolutely sucks.

The bike performed wonderfully, I have heli bars so my wrists did not hurt much and thre away my helmet on the return trip because it was way to noisy. Opted for an ICON alliance which is far better. I heard ICON helmets were loud but it fit my head great and that is most likely the real difference.

I wore armor and gloves and when the day gets hotter that can be uncomfortable. Its the crazy time of year that it dips into the 30's at night and swings up to 70's in the day time. Layering is the key.

California drivers are crazy, but fun. Stop and go traffic to 90's and back again, over and over.

The buffeting from the wind changed when I filled up my tank bag and changed helmets, it was far better with the ICON helmet than the Fulmer modular. The "dirty" wind behing 18 wheelers sucked over 75 but you got used to that.

Largest lesson, the Ergo's are the Key, if something does not fit right you wont notice it in short commutes but on the open road for a couple hours it will drive you nuts.

 

I spent two weeks and 3000 miles on the seat, I just had to vary my position often to keep from getting sore. If you saw some of the road bike seats I ride on, you would know why I consider the stock 6th gen seat luxurious!

Being in SD and LA every now and then on business the traffic patterns baffle me. Stop...Go-Go-Go....Stop...Go-Go-Go.


Glad you had a good trip!

 

sounds like a nice trip..lucky u is! I gotta wait another month or more..

.Once thing I have found (for me) is I never get used to any ergos till i have at full day under my belt.then the next day I know...I used to change everything based on my short rides, then one day i had no choice and did a 700 mile day on what i thought was a uncomfortable bike , and the rest of the trip everything felt great..the last 6 bikes I have owned have been all wonderful stock once I got that first day outa the way..especially my vfr's.they are the first bikes I find more comfy stock than any mods i tried....been lucky lately that way... cept that POS windstrom thing..never was a cure for that thing...


so I bet u are waiting for the nicer weather then lookout!!

 

Sorry Nozzle, obviously, not being a California native like us, you don't know that the universe does, in fact, center and revolve around the great state of California. :tongue:

 

Robert, I used to drive that chunk of slab a lot when my family lived in Yuma. I'm sure it haven't improved at all. (I lived out on the mesa near Summerton, a fact I've never admitted publicly.)

Even after the seat upgrade, a good idea that saved my buns riding to new york and back, is the cyclist shorts with gel inserts in the sensitive regions (ie. taint/gooche and butt-bones). Definitely worth the 60-80 bucks.

 

I gotta hand it to you guys with good backs. My VFR gets uncomfortable after 60 miles, even with Heli's.

Two years ago I almost bought an SV650, but that went by the wayside with other bikes. Yesterday I looked at a (barely) used one at the dealer and I couldn't believe how much more comfortable that thing is. There's even a 1000cc model with 116hp...hmm.

 

Of course NORTHERN California is the better half! :biggrin: All the great roads are up here and our traffic is marginally better. Can't beat being able to lane split! :thumb:

 

^^^ I'm not a big fan of heli's either, me and Reg switched bikes in NorCal and I felt like I was riding a Harley with ape handlebars when we was in the twistys...