Leaderboard

I decided to pop in here and it's a dead zone! What's everyone up to? I'm still out in AZ, loving it here for the most part. I work at a Tribal hospital, which is classified as IHS or Indian Health Service. It's so much better than slaving away at a corporate chain. I do miss St. Louis though, and plan to come back once Covid is over. Hopefully with a bike so I can sneak out to some of my favorite places. I moved out here with no bike. Sold my FJ a few days before coming out. In June I got a used '13 1050 Speed Triple. I couldn't make up my mind if I wanted a real dual sport like an Africa Twin (there are a TON of forest service roads, primitive roads, etc out here) or another naked or a sport touring bike. After riding a new 2019 Speed Triple, used 1290 Duke GT, and used Ninja 1000.... I decided on the '13 Speed Triple. I didn't feel the 2019 was worth double the cost. I love my green one and the price was right. The 1290 I didn't like at all. It got very hot on the test ride, and I felt like it had no bottom end. Whack the throttle and it just lugs and tries to shake itself apart. The upper mid range was pretty impressive, though. The Ninja 1000 was great. I would have bought it if it wasn't dropped by the previous owner. It was butter smooth and felt the fastest, though by the magazine numbers it's the slowest. But one thing I like in motorcycles is low-mid range power and smoothness. My triples all had it, and so did the Ninja 1000. I also considered a Hayabusa.... I actually put a deposit on one but backed out for a couple different reasons. Funny story. To actually buy the speed triple I ended up driving to flagstaff, taking a greyhound bus to phoenix, riding the bike all the way back to my quarters, then catching a ride back to flag with a coworker. The sales guy thought I was insane. But I felt that was the easiest way to get things done 😂 Put about 4500 miles on Speedy from June to now. Two of my favorite routes are to go north past the canyon north rim and into Utah, through Zion park, then back down through Page/Lake Powell. Another is 89a from Flagstaff down through Sedona, Jerome, and Prescott. Both of these are about 400 miles round trip so the mileage adds up quick. I attached a pic of it in front of a random building I found just off the road on Hopi tribe land. The blue thing with a face is Tawa, which is the sun spirit. In Hopi mythology Tawa is the creator of everything ,basically. I think it looks super cool. Anyway, Speedy has been a fun bike. It sounds quite good with that Arrow exhaust. Lots of crackles and burbles on de-cel. Feels way more planted than my '99 Speedy or my FJ09 did. But I think it's a bit too refined, and lost some of that hooligan character. It's a little faster than the FJ, but the FJ was kinda fun in that it liked to rev out. The 1050, not so much. It's just a super linear powerband. I'm also living with 8000 ft density altitude, so everything feels way down on power. And on top of that, I have to ride 70 miles of highway (one way) for me to get anywhere interesting, lots of super slab. I wanted something with cruise control and that can't be added to the speedy. I tried the throttle locks. Everyone told me I would hate them and I did. They don't work. It'll slip off, or your speed will fluctuate wildly with wind and hills. So something with a bit more power and cruise control would be nice. Another big thing is dealer support. I've learned a ton from everyone here on bike maintenance and feel very confident doing pretty much anything myself... BUT...... I don't have a garage out here so that can make life difficult. I'm not one to pop a valve cover off and try to measure clearance when a sandstorm could happen any second. The closest Triumph dealer is over 200 miles away down in Phoenix. And there are none up in Utah. I bugged @SprintST and @Morbo about their bikes and what they thought. I was very interested in a ZH2 or the MT10. Also bugged @ZRX4ME about his thoughts. They were all very helpful. After watching several youtube videos and reviews, debating on value, and their input..... I decided to go with a 2017 FZ10. It's in San Diego. I'll go get it Nov 17th. I made the deposit and they're holding it. They made me a great trade in offer for my Speed Triple, and this particular FZ10 is the right spec. It's in the color I wanted, has the comfort seat, Pilot Road 5's, and swingarm spools already installed. Yamaha dealer is 70 miles south in Flagstaff. Plus there are Yamaha dealers up in Utah around Moab or St. George. By the numbers, it's quite a bit faster than my Speed Triple despite not that much more hp. The 100-200 kmh sprint is around 4-4.5 sec. Speedy is 6+. FJ09 is 7+. So this is going to be a different animal. Believe it or not, it's within a few tenths of the V4 Tuono, 1290R, and ZH2 in a 4th gear roll on 100-200 kmh. I'm sure those other super nakeds would eventually outrun it but I have no need to go that fast. All of my hooliganing below 200 kmh. Pretty excited to get it. Not sure how much I'll get to ride it this year. The temps are starting to drop to the 20's over night. I definitely plan on taking the FZ on some baller trips. My work schedule is changing to 7 on 7 off, or 8 on 6 off. So plenty of time to ride. I want to hit 191, Mt Lemmon, Tonto Forest, and Petrified Forest. Also want to head over to Cali. I'm hoping to do some of Angelas forest and/or Malibu after picking up the FZ10. It isn't that far out of the way to come from San Diego north to LA then back over... Like an additional hour or 2. Somewhere along the way I traded in my car for a Tacoma truck. So that should make hauling a bike easy. Even if it's too cold to ride, just load it up and drive to a warmer area of the state 😀 What's new with everyone else? Anyone else get new bikes or have any plans for one?

Hello buddy. I just clicked on the site and saw one post and decided to check it out. I enjoyed reading your post and have to say working 6 days on and 6 days off is ideal for a motorcycle rider. Not much happening here in Missouri. I did end up trading my 2017 FJ09 for a 2020 Mt10 with orange wheels and so far it has been fun. It’s stiil in a stock mode and i love the quick shifter on it. 2017 can have it as an add on. Wish you the best and hope to see you in Missouri when things get closer to normal.

Told ya my tire was fine...

I took a look at fixing the Chat window... there wasn't any hope of making it work. The add on software that enabled it has become so expensive that it doesn't make sense to keep it around and there really is no other chat app available as a plug-in to IPB. I'll keep looking. This was the first time in over a year and a half that I've looked at anything behind the scenes here and it all looks like a foreign language to me and I can't find anything that looks like what it used to. I may have some time in the future to look at things.

Thank you all for your kind words. I have been pulling photos for a video montage that will playing during his services. It will be available to stream at some point afterwards and I will post it here.

Who's going to the one and only MCRA event of the year October 10 and 11? They really need some more riders to come out, the attendance last year was low. I will be there both days! And setting up on Friday afternoon.

We're IN !!~!

Hannibal Ride May 22nd, 2021 Meet Time 9am Location. QT, 391 Main St, St Peters, MO 63376 Any other questions? 🤣

I should be able to make this.

Destination: Bixby Meet Time: 10 am Meet Location: Eureka QT unless it's still under construction. If it is, please suggest another option.

Great to see you guys still riding 🏁

FUN,FUN,FUN was had by all !!!!!

Good day Good ride! Thanks Khaled and Michele!

CORRECTION: Phillips 66 301 W 5th St, Eureka, MO 63025

It was very cathartic looking at photos and deciding those to upload for our church's A/V folks to compile into the video. The songs were ones I knew that were special to him (and me too). This process helped me remember so many, many wonderful times (among many other times/events that were not highlighted in the video).

Watched both this morning. Very sincere and nice to hear. Of course a very sad as well. The pictures were wonderful.

If you wish to watch his Memorial Services, they can be found by searching his name on YouTube. There are two services posted due to COVID limiting church capacity. While similar, the services are different as several different people shared in each service (there are a couple of people who shared at both). A nice video montage was also shown.

Kathy, sorry for your loss. You two had a good run together.

I'm always a step behind these days. Glad you found it. I hope you choose to remain on the page.

Donna and I will be there at the 10 am service, we registered. I am so dad over this.

Kathy I'm very sorry for your loss. We had some wonderful times together. Please don't hesitate to ask if you need anything at all. Michele and I will be there as I am sure the restof the group would. Thinking of you and the rest of the family during these difficult times.

There is a lot more on Facebook hope you can see it.

Kathy I am so sorry! I will be praying and thinking of both of you!

Kathy, my sincerest condolences to you and your family. Will be thinking of you both.

Kathy, so sorry this hear this news. I know that we all are saddened by this and I personally wish to convey my heart felt condlemces.Due to the pandemic I can not attend services but please know that I will be thinking of both of you during that time.

Wow that's quite a post. Congrats on the new bike. I have wanted one of those for a while but anymore I just do "need" what it has... I got 2018 Kawi Z900RS and have been enjoying it quite a bit. I still have my 2018 FJR as well... they both are suiting me well. I think you might be able to tell... but I don't think a lot goes on here anymore... most activity is over on the FB pages.

Try to come out Friday afternoon to help with set up. Any questions you have will get answered on the spot. Set up in the paddock area around spots # 20-22-etc. It's where we set up most of the time.

Yeah what he said

I don’t know if he’ll see it but I’ll still say it....Happy Birthday Crash! Have a Wheelie good day.

I'll be there! Only running on Saturday though. I'm super new and have never done a track day before, so any and all tips are welcome!

You should really check out STLAR Facebook page ... that info was all in there.