keithu

I have nothing to add to the other wise words shared here, except to add my sympathy and wish for a full recovery.

Yep. We still live in the "starter home" we bought back in 2000. By the time we could finally afford something bigger our kids had moved out, at which point we realized this place is actually a good size for just the two of us. We have room to build another garage and likely will at some point. I suppose we could chase the American Dream and buy a huge McMansion somewhere, but I kind of like being 51 and on the verge of not having a mortgage payment anymore. It makes buying $25k motorcycles a lot easier. 😎

I may yet decide to keep the FJ-09. With almost 50k miles on the clock it won't have much resale value and even less as a trade-in. My big problem right now is storage space. I have just a single car garage, and much of it filled by a work stand and a half-assembled YZF750. A two bike garage consisting of the YZF and RT makes more sense to me than the FJ and RT. The latter two are just too similar in purpose.

@wanderer it sounds like you're having a great trip! Good call on crossing from the coast to the Willamette Valley on OR-34. You got to enjoy the nicest stretch of the Oregon coast, and OR-34 is the best way to cross the Coast Range: Excellent motorcycle road with very little traffic. Bummer that you missed WA-20 though. I rode it the last weekend of September 1996 during my first official "Saddlesore 1000" ride. I encountered cold and rain for 60-70% of that ride, but WA-20 was blessedly dry when I crossed.

Yes, the tubular handlebar is a $225 option on a new factory build, although I don't think many people order it. The salesperson at the dealer was unfamiliar with it. She started looking through the parts catalog to see if it was a mod that could be easily done at the dealer, but the parts tally quickly added up to ~$1500. I plan to farkle this thing pretty heavily, so the tubular bar seems like a good thing to have.

That will never happen, I promise. 😂

By the time I was 25 I'd already owned two BMWs. They weren't nice ones like this though. 😁

Thanks! Going from a Yamaha to a BMW I might need it.

Technically nothing, since they won't take a deposit until a build date is confirmed. But after adding a top case and state license fees this should be a ~$27k USD transaction. Thankfully there's no sales tax in Oregon, so the state fees for title and four years of registration should be ~$300. I've never spent five figures on a motorcycle before, and this will blow right through that barrier. 🤑

After much agonizing over various options, I rode over to the BMW dealer today and ordered a 2022 R1250RT. They have a couple due to arrive in the next eight weeks, but I wanted a very specific equipment set so I ordered a fresh build from the factory. Now I have a 5-6 month wait, unless there magically happens to be another unsold triple black RT with the Select package, tubular handlebars, and high seat option already in the USA somewhere. It should look like this: Initially I was leaning towards the S1000XR or Multistrada V4S, with the RT a distant third. Then I had chain issues during the North by Northwest Rally and decided it was time to switch back to shaft drive for a while. Some people will probably find it ironic that final drive issues drove me towards a shaft drive BMW, but so be it. I'm feeling lucky. 😎 I suppose the FJR1300 might have been a safer (and cheaper) choice, but it's even heavier than the RT and I'm not a fan of the FJR ergos. I haven't ridden an RT in quite a while, but in theory the R1250RT rider triangle is very similar to the FJ-09. I put 5700 miles on a 1997 R1100RT, so although the bike has changed quite a bit since then I am familiar with the basic format. Time to start de-farkling the FJ. Unfortunately I don't think I can spare the garage space to keep the FJ-09, especially considering I would probably almost never ride it. ☹️

Thanks for the offer! I'm no ballerina however, I wear size 47-48. 😁

Good info @2and3cylinders . I was just looking at the Alpinestars Web Goretex. I'll have to see if my LBS can order them.

The Matrix WP seems worth considering. Which ones do you have?

Sorry, wrong thread. ( . )( . )

Rather than dredge up the old "What boots are you wearing" thread, I'd like to start an updated inquiry of boot recommendations. My five year old Sidi Gavia boots ceased to be waterproof last week, so it's time to replace. Mandatory criteria: * Must be waterproof. Recommendations from people who have tested their boots' waterproofness preferred. * Must be reasonably comfortable for walking. Yes, I know they're riding boots first but sometimes I ride to a place and then walk around a bit. I have some old Aerostich CBTs and while they will probably last forever, any walk of more than 50 yards in them causes blisters. The Gavias were pretty good for walking. Recommendations?

Still not sure, I can't find anything visibly wrong with it except for tight and loose spots. A new chain is on order and should be in next week.

North by Northwest is moving to Colorado next year, but it sounds like the organizer of the West Coast 66 will run a traditional rally based in Oregon around Memorial Day next year.

That's the first logical explanation I've heard for the short plug interval. But given that almost nobody here ever reports ignition system problems I suspect the 8k interval is still overkill.

I spend a lot of time on the Oregon coast amd yeah, I'd stay in Newport over Lincoln City any day.

Yep, you have to be careful at night. I actually prefer a place like eastern Oregon at night. Yes, it's dark and there's a lot of wildlife, but there's also little to no traffic so I don't have to contend with glare from oncoming cars. My LP550 lights throw a crapload of light down the road, but even so I cruised at 53-54mph on roads signed at 65mph. My eyes aren't what they used to be and that's what felt safe. I used to hunt deer near John Day, all in the name of rider safety of course.

I rode the 2021 North by Northwest Rally based out of Bend, Oregon last week. This was a 60 hour endurance rally. An endurance rally is basically a large scavenger hunt, where riders are given a huge list of possible places to visit, all with varying point values. The Iron Butt Rally is the most famous event of this type. Riders must decide on a route that takes them to places they want to go and/or provides the highest possible points total. The prize if you win is a trophy, nothing else, so it's all for fun. I've done many such rallies over the last 26 years and I always end up visiting new, interesting places I probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. We got our rally packs Thursday night, and the theme was "Ring of Fire." Most of the bonuses were related to volcanos, some of which were part of the geological ring of fire that circles the Pacific rim. Bonus locations were scattered throughout the Pacific Northwest, down into California, and as far away as New Mexico. I put together a route plan in Basecamp that looked like this: This route should have been very doable in the 60 hours allotted for the rally, and it gave me contingency options if something went wrong and I needed to take a more direct route back to Bend. We started at 5:30am Friday morning (Sep 10) amid a rare late summer downpour in the central Oregon high desert. My little FJ-09 looked out of place among the massive touring rigs favored by everyone else. Rainy 5:30am start in Bend, Oregon I started executing my plan, heading north to collect some volcano bonuses including Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Hood, then up into Washington for Mt. St. Helens and a few others. Most bonuses required a photo showing my rally flag (I was #29) and some other specific elements. Reading comprehension of the rally pack was key. Warner Peak near Enumclaw, Washington The rain stopped mid-morning, but I'd forgotten what a time suck western Washington could be. I was executing my plan flawlessly and on schedule, but it still felt weird to not get out of the Sea-Tac area heading east on I-90 until about 4:00pm. I burned across the state and through Idaho, collecting a few more bonii before taking a high value rest bonus in Missoula, Montana. Wallace, Idaho I got a solid 7.5 hours of sleep in Missoula and awoke Saturday morning feeling great. Wind in Montana was strong (as usual) so I had to get creative when displaying my flag for some bonuses. In this photo I used a Roc Strap to secure the flag to my windshield. Crown Butte, Montana I continued south through Montana to West Yellowstone, then turned back west through Idaho. Evel Knievel's gravesite in Butte, Montana West Yellowstone, Montana Near Craters of the Moon in Idaho When I rolled into Vale, Oregon for a visit to the Bates Motel, I noticed my chain was starting to make some noise when off-throttle. Vale, Oregon By the time I stopped for gas in Burns, the clicking noise was getting louder but it still hadn't registered in my brain that this might be a problem. I really should have stopped in Riley to inspect the chain carefully, but I was focused on my plan and continued south on US-395 towards Lakeview. Concern continued to gnaw at me though, and when I got to the intersection of the Christmas Valley Road I decided to stop for a detailed inspection. The intersection of US-395 and Christmas Valley Road is unimaginably dark and remote at 3:00am. When I removed my helmet and ear plugs I could hear a lot of movement out in the pitch black desert, including a bunch of coyotes who yipped unhappily at the two-legged invader. I know coyotes usually don't attack humans, but they were close and their yip-yip-yipping was a little nerve wracking. Pushing the coyotes to the back of my mind, I switched on a flashlight and went to work inspecting the chain. I didn't see anything obviously wrong; all the o-rings and rollers looked okay, and the ScottOiler was keeping the chain well lubed. But there were now noticeable tight and loose spots in the chain. I felt it was safe to continue riding, but for how long? I knew every mile I continued further from Bend might be more time I had to wait for a rescue if the chain failed, so I made the difficult decision to cut off the rest of my plan and head straight back to Bend. Eastern Oregon has more wildlife than traffic late at night, so even with my massive PIAA LP550s blazing across the desert I set the cruise control to 54mph. I hit at least two kangaroo rats, and had to swerve around a couple of rabbits and coyotes. I didn't encounter any deer, thankfully. At this low speed it took me a while to get back to the barn, but I rolled into Bend without incident just after 6:00am. My final route looked like this: I settled into a booth at the local Black Bear Diner for some steak and eggs and started on my rally paperwork. The rallymaster saw my Spot track and came to check on me, so I told him about my chain worries. We agreed that it was the right decision. After breakfast I checked into the hotel early for some rest and a shower. By the time other rally participants started rolling into the parking lot seven hours later I was refreshed and smartly dressed in a classy aloha shirt. Despite skipping the last couple hundred miles of my plan I still placed 9th overall, which I'm pretty happy about all things considered. I rode 2210 miles in 48.5 hours, and executed a plan that worked exactly as I'd hoped. The rally itself was great fun and extremely well organized; kudos to the NIITWIT (Not In It To Win IT) crew for putting on a first class rally with excellent food and great route options. The organizer says the North By Northwest Rally will move to the Colorado Springs area next year, and if anyone is interested in this sort of thing I heartily recommend it. My Spot track and windshield aftermath:

If you pile enough farkles on the handlebar you can't see that the fairing is crooked. Follow me for more pro tips.

I still haven't washed my FJ since Ely. I basically can't see through the windshield. I was going to wash it last night but then my son came over wanting help with an oil change on his truck. I thought the oil change on my Tundra was a PITA; nope, the F150 with 3.5L Ecoboost is worse. 🤬

It's probably worth nothing that many of us with 2015 FJs had misaligned fairings too. There are probably still old threads about this topic on the forum somewhere. It looks like the handlebar is turned very slightly when you're riding in a straight line, but it's actually the fairing that's off center. Mine is still that way but I got over it a long time ago. Of course, my FJ was a <$10k bike, not $20k. 😎

To me a 900+ pound motorcycle is insane. But when I'm out touring on my FJ-09 the Road Glide and Wingabago crowd look at me as if I'm the one who's crazy. Two weeks ago I actually had a couple of pirates tell me my FJ is "no good for the highway." This was after I'd already ridden 800 miles that day. 🙄 Everyone likes different things though. More power to 'em.