For some reason....

....I like this photo, even though it was taken back believe in 08. Just shows a great time back when. . That's RW 99 5th gen with my 97 4th on FS25, back side of Mt St Helens, probably one of the wickedest roads in the state . What's interesting to me is how I now have a 5th gen, who would have guessed that one. Looking at this shows a fine comparison. Good times indeed.

 

The first is the 97?....love that fairing with the holes above the signals..they both look sweet...

 

The louvers! The louvers! I love the louvers! And that, what is it a sideways "V"? That bike is awesome.

If I didn't read a zillion stories about maintaining carbs, I would have thought I got the wrong VFR.

Do you carry those cones with you for picture taking opportunities?

 

Yep, that correct first one is a 97 4th gen Love that bike best of the lot. Carbs? what issue where there. I had this baby dialed in, never a hic-up, in fact when RW rode it he thought it was smoother than his 5th. Now that I have one, I can agree, not that the FI is bad, I do get the move to FI , even the RC45 had that, but I wouldn't have hesitated to get another 97 had I found one clean, 4th gens are getting hard to come by. They are also a tad more sport, a little bit more compact. All Honda really needed to do was to update the head light, the motor was pretty much spot on, less IMO was missing 250cc, now we have the 8th gen. LOL. Don't ya know you're suppose to pack cones around letting people know your a hazard. Actually in this case FS25 has a lot of frost heaves here and there besides crazy pavement too, they are marked with cones and orange paint. Makes this road all the more challenging. This cone is to make one aware that just off the fog line it's a 12" drop. If I was to turn around 180, it's straight down off a cliff, say a couple hundred feet, so going off here would hurt big time.

 

I want one !!!!! Sandbag time $$$$$$$

 

What a dumb piece of road that is with such a drop off from the edge of the asphalt, they wouldn't get away with that sort of crap out here, you put a wheel wrong there and you are history

 

For those curious enough, here ya go a bit on the infamous road http://roadsnw.com/rnw/135/comment-page-1

 

Interesting read, thanks for that

 

If the road is the one I am thinking of, it is a Forest Service road, not a highway.

Watch out for frost heave!





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Here's another view.

 

RVFR, I have been there several times. I will explore my picture archive to find some shots.

The PNW (including Idaho) and NorCal has the best riding on the continent.




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Looks like an awesome area to ride. Nice pics too.

 

Oh please. I am from "out here" and it is no different.

 

4th gen always felt smoother, and made you feel more connected to the bike. Almost feeling inside the bike. 5th gen you are riding on the bike more, rather than in it.

If that makes sense.

Sounds like somebody might be selling their 5th gen soon.

 

I've ridden those roads two or three times now. They are simply orgasmic. And ya. You don't want to go off the pavement. But what was said here, they are not highways. They are mountain roads that are closed in the winter. You want your suspension in good order if you are going to tackle those aggressively. If you don't ride right to the top, past Spirit Lake, you have missed out on some of the best. But like what was also said, watch for the frost heaves and the sink holes. They are usually circled with red paint but when you are hard on the throttle, you come upon them quite suddenly while burning the corners. I swear that I bottomed out my shocks a few times each time I went, this past September being the latest time.

Nice pix Jay. Gonna have to ride down there soon for a brew. Just renewed my annual insurance so I am good to go.

 

Frost heaves?

 

Frost heaves = where the ground underneath the pavement freezes over the winter, thereby expanding, and forcing the asphalt above it to rise. Could be an inch, could be 6 inches.

We get these all the time in jersey, from back roads to highways. usually when the spring thaw comes, the frost heave will settle down and the road resumes a somewhat normal surace, but there may still be a residual heave there, or say a crack in the road.

Out here, it seems that from heaves occur in bunches. So you're traveling along a nice smooth surface, and all of a sudden its like rumble strips on the road. Very unsettling, especially if you're in a corner. Suspension - whether on a bike or in a cage - can have a tough time keeping up with it.

They are not fun.

 

LOL dry.. funny. Here's an aftermath photo on FS25. FS25 doesn't have a good foundation, for the most part it's an old service logging road that got a fresh coating of pavement after the 1980 eruption. The whole FS 25 was a beautiful ribbon of asphalt in the 90s. Now that it's had time to settle and the traffic count has quadrupled, there are a lot of sink holes and heaves from the frezz and thaw process example ... It's still a great road just not as great as it was.

 

Another one that's a goodie. I found this one the hard way, as it was not noticed due to lighting conditions HOLY Shit! I stopped and brought the marker out, you can see the scuff from vehicles bottoming out, hard to tell in the photo but that's about a 6-8" drop in a 10' area, now imagine taking this corner at speed and finding this. all though it is a Beautiful feeling sweeper.

 

While on the subject of this infamous road. Here's a section that got washed out a few years back. you can see what's left of the road on the right. The excavator is on the road. This was a nice sweeper of a turn with a bridge in the middle. in this photo you can barely see a line where the road heads to the left out of the photo. The creek in the photo now a lot larger went under the bridge that use to be there. Now picture this all lush forested. Just another reason why the road is what it is.