falcongsr

OK 1st big motorcycle trip is coming. This will be my longest ride and first time taking a road trip on the bike. going to houston for a party on Sat nite. Managed to get Friday off work (woo havent had a vacation day off since June, and worked a lotta weekends)

Leaving Friday midmorning from Dallas, taking 45 down most of the way, probably exiting the highway around Huntsville for a late lunch and to explore Sam Houston State forest. Then probly southwest to Katy to hit I-10 and cruise into Houston in the evening.

going to shop for a magnetic tankbag tonite at the local cyclegear and mount the saddlebags. thanks to the saddlebags, i wont have to wear a backpack!

maybe i'll take some pics of the bags installed plus how i mounted my Valentine One since someone asked earlier.

big pete

Sounds like a fun little ride. How far is Dallas from Houston?

How much did you pay for the V1? I'm thinking about getting one for the freeway trips.

falcongsr

250 miles straight thru

i paid 450 with the audio adapter so i can pipe the audio warnings into my earplug headphones.

it really shines on the highway. too sensitive for the city but i still use it and ignore the falses.

it will never fail to tell u about a cop radaring, but it will falsely alert you to all walmarts

The_Head

Try turning off the X-band portion of your receiver and you wont get the false alarms from the automatic doors.

falcongsr

there is a lot of falses on K now also. including walmart doors. at least around here.

slylos

Man I envy you . . . Not only is my motorcycle broken right now, but I love taking long trips . . . Have fun and be careful, send us pics!

falcongsr

trip down to houston was awesome 365 miles and lots of exploring. backroads are so fun and highways suck!!! full writeup when i get back, riding home today - got some rain to dodge....

falcongsr

i had a great time, dodged most of the rain, found a hole thru the storm front today with the help of my dad looking at the radar on the internet and telling me by phone.

this was on friday. saddlebags, tank bag and radar detector mounted (on brake resivoir)

figment

Nice setup Joe.

Click on the larger bike image to see my V1 mounted with the H.A.R.D system on my 954.

http://figment.smugmug.com/gallery/31795/2/1105930

falcongsr

here is the story i posted at the DFW Sport Touring group ( http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/dfwsporttour/ )

Mounted the saddlebags around 1 am Thursday night, packed up Friday
morning and headed south around 1pm. Riding the highway wasnt much
fun, lots of trucks caused turbulence and tossed me around a bit.

By the time I got to Ennis I was hot and uncomfortable and thinking
this was a bad idea. Eventually the traffic thinned somewhat so there
was less buffeting. I fell into a rhythm with the miles and the
traffic and it started to get fun. I saw that highway 75 followed
alongside 45 and I thought it would be fun. I also saw the service
road for 45 was to my right and had no traffic on it, so i exited and
took that for a while. Eventually I got to Madisonville with signs to
75 so I headed that way. And thats when the fun began.

75 is basically devoid of traffic and stoplights around there. Its
just a fun 2 lane country road with a 70mph speed limit and good
pavement.

With 190miles behind me I saw a historical marker and pulled off the
highway. The historical marker took me to a church that was founded
in 1901 if I recall.
Here is the pic I took:

http://turbomafia.com/Arturbo/...3.jpg

Taking a swig of water and switching my headphones from radar
detector to music, I headed off and found my self in Huntsville just
minutes later.

I stopped in for a sandwich and some gas, and made plans to explore
Sam Houston Nat'l Forest. I took off south on 75 and made my way
through Huntsville to 190, which goes due east to Lake Livingston.
190 is another nice wide open highway with light traffic and tall
trees all around. It was a bit cooler among the trees even though I
had been hot on the highway. I explored around there, hitting some
fun 30mph curves while dodging the occasional motorhome. It must have
been around 5pm when I got out of there and took 1097 over lake
Conroe. I had read about 249 and 149 which are popular sportbike
roads coming out of Houston. 1097 hits 149 and I took that down into
the city.

I ended up with 365miles on the first day, arriving at 8pm. Average
speed was about 52mph with all the stops.

Had a good time with friends in Houston and headed home on Sunday
with lots of clouds, mist, and rain to deal with. Got on 45
north, and exited in Conroe for gas and to find 75, hoping it would
be as nice as on the way down. No luck. Lots of traffic, lots of
stoplights, and it was raining outright. I made my way back 45, put
the windscreen up, laid down on my tank bag and tried not get so
bored I forgot I was hurling down the highway at 80mph. The FJR was
certainly comfortable enough for a nap, which I am really suprised
at, considering my height.

It wasnt long out of Conroe I was out of the rain. Traffic was thin
enough and I turned up the wick a few times when I had a clear road
ahead. The needle licked 115 a few times, and the bike would have
kept on pulling but that was more than enough excitement for me. I
couldnt stop thinking about what would happen if I had a get-off at
that speed, or what a cop would say or do if he clocked me at that
velocity. Radar detectors have a way of convincing you of
invincibility. I need to work on this.

Stopped in Madisonville to warm up and call my dad, who could look at
the radar and give me an update on the weather. I knew there was rain
ahead of me but wanted to know where. Sounded like a solid line and I
could do nothing but take it easy or stop when it hit. Something
about the impending rain made me feel a sense of urgency, and I
continued my agressive pace out of Madisonville. I could see rain to
my left, and it looked like it was coming my way at a good 50-60mph.
I could see the rain falling sideways about 3 miles west of where it
was coming out of the clouds. It looked clear on the other side, but
this storm was coming for the highway and I was going to get hammered
with rain unless I got on the other side of it.

Long story short, it was raining directly above me but the rain was
falling to my left when I reached the rain's path. Got a few big
drops from the leading edge of the storm but I was dry again by the
time I hit the traffic in Corsicana. Down to one lane. Lots of people
getting tickets for running off the highway. Out of Corsicana it was
clearing up and cooling off quickly. Saw small patches of blue
through the clouds and actually had a bit of sun shining on me as it
slipped below the horizon at sunset. The sun felt good, even though
it was too weak to warm me up, it was reassuring that I had made it
out of the weather.

Rolling into Dallas I stopped for gas about 15 miles outside of
downtown. I was hungry but was more interested in getting home and
warming up. The gas station was warm but very little room and a van
full of kids had packed it full so I bailed out of there and got back
on the highway. Again switched from radar to music for the ride into
Dallas. It was neat to cruise by downtown in the fading light, with a
couple 737's coasting into Love field as they drifted overhead.

Trough downtown and up to Plano, I was happy to be on familar roads
and close to home. By then I was mentally fatigued even though my
body felt fine. Got home and unloaded the saddlebags and gave the FJR
a pat on the luggage rack. Awesome bike.

Joe

marmaladedad

Great write-up! Makes me want to trade in my F3 for a sport-tourer and ride!

falcongsr

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladeboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Great write-up! Makes me want to trade in my F3 for a sport-tourer and ride!</TD></TR></TABLE>

well i've seen people tour on cbr's and i've heard about old men on FJR's embarassing sportbikers in the twisties so just run what ya brung!