Boog
Traveling Story Teller
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2013
- Messages
- 8,487
- Location
- Dumfries, Virginia
- Ride
- 2014 R3T, RAMAIR, Full Viking Dual exhaust
Well now, I have completed my first long ride on the R3T; 675 miles on Thursday at 10.5 hours of total time and the same coming home on Sunday. That equates to roughly 64 MPH average most of which was on the super slab. I did five stops there (3 for gas) and four stops back (again, 3 for gas) with an average of 38 MPG. (Cruising speed was slightly over the posted limit; wink, wink, nod, nod). I can sum it all up in two words: “Monkey-butt”.
Leaving home early on Thursday found me in a mix of cold drizzle or steady light rain for the first two hours. I opted out on wearing my Frogg-Trogg rain gear as I know it gets relatively hot in a short time. (That was a goof up as I had to stop an hour into the ride to get hot coffee to warm up). I didn’t get wet though as I wore leather chaps and an Arcterex wind breaker over my mesh jacket. I shed those at the first gas stop as it was getting nice and warm by then. However, the fog in the mountains around Waynesboro, VA was pretty intense. Traffic going over the mountain had slowed to 20 MPH and it was still hard to see the guy in front of me.
Around hour five I started to notice that it was really getting warm. Temp showed it was 88F and humidity was high. Shortly after that is when I became reacquainted with the term ‘monkey-butt’. I was only half way and starting to think that Triumphs new and improved seat for 2014 wasn’t going to cut it. (I wonder how bad the previous seat is…).
Just before hitting the Tennessee line in Bristol, VA, I saw the first breasts of the ride. As I was closing in on the left-side of the car in the right lane, I saw the girl in the passenger seat pull her shirt over her head. As I pulled even with them and accidently rolled the throttle back, she was reaching for another shirt from the back seat which she promptly put on; but not before I got to smile. I think she works out.
A few hours later in Cookeville, TN while gassing up, a van with tinted windows was on the other side fueling. The girl in the back was changing her shirt too. Sun was on the opposite side of the van; bless her heart.
The rest of the ride to my Uncle’s house was just hot.
While there for two days, they took me all around the area and I have fallen in love with middle Tennessee. There are so many little roads to explore both in the low hills and up in the mountains; a virtually motorcycle haven of good roads. A local motorcycle shop called S&G in Columbia is worth visiting just for the history he has in the store. He rebuilds bikes of any brand and has many custom items for sell or to work for you. He has old Triumphs, a Flying Squirrel, a few BMWs and lots of vintage HDs. He even had one of the ultra rare 1977 Confederate baggers… I went to his shop mainly to buy a seat cushion for the ride home. He had an Airhawk unit but wanted $180 for it; a little outside of my budget for the trip. I tried the local HD dealer but they were out of their Zephyr brand air cushions. I ended up buying a fake sheep skin at Hobby-Lobby which did improve the ride home but still not good enough.
Speaking of the ride home, it went well with the temp only hitting 78F. With the new seat cover in place, I really didn’t sweat that much but then again the temperature was ten degrees less than the ride on Thursday.
I decided to take a sit down lunch break in Glades Spring, VA at the local Wendy’s on Rt 11. About half way through, I noticed a black and white R3T rolling on the gas headed north on Rt 11. I wanted to chase him down to say hello but was nowhere near fast enough to suit up and head out. He was pouring the go juice to it anyway.
Back on the super slab, I kept looking for more boobies to pass the miles away but no one was willing to me out.
I have a Scala Rider G9 headset for helmet to helmet communication and talking on the phone. It also has an FM receiver which really worked great along the route. Whenever a station became weak, I simply hit the button to scan to the next until I found one I wanted to listen too. I also have a few songs on the phone which I listened to but they got old after awhile; time to add more I suppose.
I hit grooved pavement in a couple of places going down and coming back where a milling machine had chewed the asphalt up for a new layer later. Going slow, 10-35 MPH is kind of a pain on this stock bike. Hitting the grooved stuff at speed was a little better but still somewhat wobbly.
Over all I am well pleased with the bike’s performance. Several times I needed to pass some slow joker who was barely doing 80 in the passing lane and wouldn’t pull over to let me pass. So when the chance would open, I would give the bike its head and hit 110-120 in nothing flat to scorch around the dolt. I only had one biker being unfriendly along the way. I saw him on a CBR rolling down the on-ramp and really giving it hell to catch up to me. I think I was rolling comfortably around 85 when he caught up to me on the right side. He was wearing his gym shorts and a tank top and a full face helmet. He looked over at me when he pulled alongside and just shook his head. I didn’t think much of it until he leaned over and gave it the gas. At first I thought I would let him go since he is on a CBR, but the inner sailor in me said “Hell no”! I caught him a second later and as we were rolling through the ton he wasn’t letting up. I expected to give up around 120 but he suddenly had some serious head-shake around 110 and backed off real quick. He kept it upright and I just motored on. Not sure what caused his shake but I think he soiled his shorts…
When I got home, I was dryer than the first trip but still had the numb bum. I have been looking at getting either an Airhawk cushion or maybe beads as they are cheaper. In any case, I’ll let you guys know my opinion of whatever I buy.
Leaving home early on Thursday found me in a mix of cold drizzle or steady light rain for the first two hours. I opted out on wearing my Frogg-Trogg rain gear as I know it gets relatively hot in a short time. (That was a goof up as I had to stop an hour into the ride to get hot coffee to warm up). I didn’t get wet though as I wore leather chaps and an Arcterex wind breaker over my mesh jacket. I shed those at the first gas stop as it was getting nice and warm by then. However, the fog in the mountains around Waynesboro, VA was pretty intense. Traffic going over the mountain had slowed to 20 MPH and it was still hard to see the guy in front of me.
Around hour five I started to notice that it was really getting warm. Temp showed it was 88F and humidity was high. Shortly after that is when I became reacquainted with the term ‘monkey-butt’. I was only half way and starting to think that Triumphs new and improved seat for 2014 wasn’t going to cut it. (I wonder how bad the previous seat is…).
Just before hitting the Tennessee line in Bristol, VA, I saw the first breasts of the ride. As I was closing in on the left-side of the car in the right lane, I saw the girl in the passenger seat pull her shirt over her head. As I pulled even with them and accidently rolled the throttle back, she was reaching for another shirt from the back seat which she promptly put on; but not before I got to smile. I think she works out.
A few hours later in Cookeville, TN while gassing up, a van with tinted windows was on the other side fueling. The girl in the back was changing her shirt too. Sun was on the opposite side of the van; bless her heart.
The rest of the ride to my Uncle’s house was just hot.
While there for two days, they took me all around the area and I have fallen in love with middle Tennessee. There are so many little roads to explore both in the low hills and up in the mountains; a virtually motorcycle haven of good roads. A local motorcycle shop called S&G in Columbia is worth visiting just for the history he has in the store. He rebuilds bikes of any brand and has many custom items for sell or to work for you. He has old Triumphs, a Flying Squirrel, a few BMWs and lots of vintage HDs. He even had one of the ultra rare 1977 Confederate baggers… I went to his shop mainly to buy a seat cushion for the ride home. He had an Airhawk unit but wanted $180 for it; a little outside of my budget for the trip. I tried the local HD dealer but they were out of their Zephyr brand air cushions. I ended up buying a fake sheep skin at Hobby-Lobby which did improve the ride home but still not good enough.
Speaking of the ride home, it went well with the temp only hitting 78F. With the new seat cover in place, I really didn’t sweat that much but then again the temperature was ten degrees less than the ride on Thursday.
I decided to take a sit down lunch break in Glades Spring, VA at the local Wendy’s on Rt 11. About half way through, I noticed a black and white R3T rolling on the gas headed north on Rt 11. I wanted to chase him down to say hello but was nowhere near fast enough to suit up and head out. He was pouring the go juice to it anyway.
Back on the super slab, I kept looking for more boobies to pass the miles away but no one was willing to me out.
I have a Scala Rider G9 headset for helmet to helmet communication and talking on the phone. It also has an FM receiver which really worked great along the route. Whenever a station became weak, I simply hit the button to scan to the next until I found one I wanted to listen too. I also have a few songs on the phone which I listened to but they got old after awhile; time to add more I suppose.
I hit grooved pavement in a couple of places going down and coming back where a milling machine had chewed the asphalt up for a new layer later. Going slow, 10-35 MPH is kind of a pain on this stock bike. Hitting the grooved stuff at speed was a little better but still somewhat wobbly.
Over all I am well pleased with the bike’s performance. Several times I needed to pass some slow joker who was barely doing 80 in the passing lane and wouldn’t pull over to let me pass. So when the chance would open, I would give the bike its head and hit 110-120 in nothing flat to scorch around the dolt. I only had one biker being unfriendly along the way. I saw him on a CBR rolling down the on-ramp and really giving it hell to catch up to me. I think I was rolling comfortably around 85 when he caught up to me on the right side. He was wearing his gym shorts and a tank top and a full face helmet. He looked over at me when he pulled alongside and just shook his head. I didn’t think much of it until he leaned over and gave it the gas. At first I thought I would let him go since he is on a CBR, but the inner sailor in me said “Hell no”! I caught him a second later and as we were rolling through the ton he wasn’t letting up. I expected to give up around 120 but he suddenly had some serious head-shake around 110 and backed off real quick. He kept it upright and I just motored on. Not sure what caused his shake but I think he soiled his shorts…
When I got home, I was dryer than the first trip but still had the numb bum. I have been looking at getting either an Airhawk cushion or maybe beads as they are cheaper. In any case, I’ll let you guys know my opinion of whatever I buy.
