DavidS

I Went to see my brother-in-law a few nights ago at a family gathering at his home. He has several surgeries scheduled over the next few weeks/months. He is wrapped up in gauze all over his arms and legs, and I suspect most of his body as well. He didn't move from his chair the entire evening, I'm guessing he would need assistance to get out of the chair due to both the leg break as well as the pain from the road rash. Listening to him recall of the accident was very different than what I observed, but I kept my mouth shut and let him tell his story. He is paying the price with the road rash and broken bones, I have no desire to add to his embarrassment in front of his family. My sister won't let him ride again anyway, and I'm guessing that he had to agree to that as a condition of his coming back to their home from the hospital. Sometimes we have to give up things we like to preserve the important things like your family and wife. I think he is choosing the right path, but I'm sure it is hard for him. His surgeries start this week, two mid week, and depending on the outcome of those potentially more down the road. Last night, my wife commented that I hadn't been on the bike since his accident, and that is correct. I'm not afraid or worried about riding, but my time off the bike has given me time to assess my skills and think about what I want out of my motorcycling experience going forward. I'm not 100% sure yet, but I've been looking into becoming a Motorcycle Instructor. I was a Scuba Instructor when I lived in Los Angeles years ago, and always enjoyed helping people learn how to safely enjoy sports that can be dangerous if not treated with respect. If there are any motorcycle instructors (past or current) that want to provide me with feedback, advice, or even just to tell me I'm crazy - I'm open to advice - either on the forum or in a PM. Meanwhile, I will be taking the bike out this coming week, likely tomorrow. Solo for now, I want to remind myself why I have always enjoyed riding so much, and hopefully start to settle on my motorcycle path forward. Thanks everyone for your kind words and advice, while I may not be able to respond to everyone, I appreciate all the advice and support from my friends here on the forum. Here's to keeping the rubber side down, a phrase that has new meaning for me going forward. Cheers.....

A few days ago, I called my brother-in-law to see if he wanted to go for a ride. He recently added a new bike to his collection and was happy to go out with me to ride around the mountains near Fresno CA. We headed up the mountains and were having a pretty awesome ride. We ran into a bit of traffic, due to some event at Shaver Lake in the mountains where we were headed, but it was a beautiful day for riding, and traffic was moving. We dropped down out of the mountains and started riding along some slightly curvy roads in the valley. It was a two lane road, with a small ditch on the right and a few feet beyond the ditch was a 3 foot barbed wire fence. By now I'm sure you can guess, but he got distracted with something on his bike, and as he came over a hill the road, there was an elevation drop, and he was caught off guard. I was riding in front, and didn't see him leave the road, but heard something that caused me to look in my mirror and saw his bike, and it wasn't oriented wheels down. I quickly found a place to turn around and go back, and when I got to his location several cars had stopped the traffic behind him. I parked my bike on the shoulder at the front of all the cars, slightly off the road, and worked my way down a short hill and over the barbed wire fence into a field. Honestly, he looked much better than I expected, definitely has a ton of scratches from the barbed wire, and his right leg (where he fell) looked pretty bad. I did a quick assessment and figured the leg was broken, and he had a ton of cuts and scrapes from the barbed wire fence. (Why do they put that stuff as fencing on the side of a road? I'll never know.....) I stayed with him while we waited for the EMT's and I tried to keep him hydrated and cool, not easy in the heat of the day with 100+ degree weather. While the heat was comfortable on the road riding 45-55mph, it was brutal on the road surface and in the field. The car who was right behind him called the accident in, and within 20-30 minutes, the EMT's arrived. They collected him and put him in the Ambulance and I provided them the necessary contact information and insurance details from his wallet. I made sure I knew which hospital they were going to, and that I had the contact information from the EMT just in case. Once they left, I called my sister to let her know that he had had an accident. She is a nurse, so the conversation was a bit different than I expected. I gave her all the medical information I could, and let her know which hospital he was going to. I told her I had all his personal belongings, and would keep them for her until she was ready. I let her know that I left his wallet with him, as I'm sure he would need identification and insurance cards when he arrived at the hospital. Then it kind of just hit me like a ton of bricks.I went back up to the roadside and using my personal Motorcycle Swivel technique, I rotated the bike around on the kick stand so I was pointed in the right direction. I did a personal check to ensure I had all my gear with me, and I hadn't left anything lying around, and finally took a deep breath, got on my bike, and headed back home. I talked to my sister today and she said he was doing pretty good. He has road rash over a lot of his body, mostly because he doesn't believe in wearing protective gear. He always makes fun of me for wearing boots, jacket and pants with body armor, leather gloves, and a full face helmet every time I go for a ride. I'm pretty sure he will never get on a bike again, at least not before getting a divorce from my sister. She told me his motorcycle was totaled, and the 3 wheeler he owns will not be started again unless it is for a test ride for someone who is going to purchase it from them. He has more than a few surgeries over the next few weeks/months that he will need to complete before he is fully healed, and I'm sure it will be many months before he is done with the medical visits and procedures. But...........He is alive and will likely fully recover from his injuries. I have had mixed feelings over the last few days. I know that he wasn't a very skilled rider, and I always tried to pick routes that are well within his skill level. He said he felt the bike start to shake and then he lost control. While I can't say this is wrong, I was just ahead of him and had just gone over a hill with a surprising drop after the peak. The dropped surprised me, even though we have both ridden this road many times. I think he was distracted lost control over the hill, landed wrong, and couldn't recover control. I think we all know the dangers we assume while riding motorcycles. I spent a few days assessing if it is time for me to stop riding, but I'm not sure I am capable of hanging up my boots just yet. My wife is supportive, but would prefer I didn't ride. I'm not ready to give up my motorcycle yet, I have a ride planned for tomorrow :). Be safe out there, it isn't always our fault, but we pay the price if something goes sideways.

My favorite as well

Wow, who would have thought that a thread on which lubricating oil is best would be controversial? Seriously, I think everyone has a different idea on what they prefer, and based on the number of lubricating products for motorcycle chains out there, I may be right. Personally, I use Maxima Synthetic Chain Guard, $6-7 for a 17.3 oz spray can. It does a good job, and is cheap, so I keep buying it. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that my choice is better than yours, I don't want to start any wars on this topic. This is just what I use, and why I use it. Let the fun begin!

I agree with PhotoAl - always make sure the markings are the same on each side, and keep the chain on the loose side, never tight!

Sometimes my bike clunks when going into first gear, sometimes it doesn't! If it bothers you, shift into first gear before starting the bike, then hold the clutch in and start the bike and take off. I just ignore the sound, my bike is 3 years old, and it doesn't seem to be hurting anything

I use the same remote on my bike, but I use the clip on the underside of the remote, and attach it to the cables coming off the right side of the bike handlebar. This puts the remote behind my wind screen, so it is less likely to be impacted by wind, and makes it easy to press and open or close the garage door.

Where did you get the box under your seat? I would love to add something like that to my bike..........

I carry the 19mm socket that fits the rear wheel bolt, and I carry a small socket bar which allows me to loosen the bolt to adjust the chain. For daily riding, I don't bother, but for longer trips, I always carry my tool roll, which has these items included. On my cross country trip, I adjusted my chain many times. I check and/or adjust every 400-500 miles, which is about a full days riding for me on a long trip.

Well, since your going out of town for a bit, I'd be happy to drop by and take your bike out for say 400 miles a day until you get back home..........

I posted this incident several years ago, but it bears repeating. I was riding into work at about 5:00am on I90 freeway in the eastern portion of Seattle and I spotted something stopped on the highway in front of me. I slowed down and saw fairly quickly it was a deer just standing in the middle of the road. I checked behind me to ensure no car was going to hit me from behind, but luckily there was no traffic that early in the morning. I must have stayed looking face to face with that deer for 4 or 5 minutes before it decided to move off the road into a grassy area dividing the east and west bound lanes. I carefully started going again, looking in the direction of the deer headed in case it decided to turn around and chase me, but it was too busy eating leaves from the shrubbery/trees in the median of the highway. Weirdest animal encounter ever, but neither of us was hurt, and I still made it to work on time. Just goes to show you that you always have to expect the unexpected when riding motorcycles.

I bought T6 yesterday at an O'Reilly's auto store in Clovis CA. I have been using T6 on my Tracer 900 GT since I bought it new shortly after it came out. And before that I used T6 on my FJ09 before I got the Tracer. btw, it was harder to find the T6 here in California than it was in Washington State where I lived before my move down to California. But I did find it at the 2nd auto parts store I tried, so unless I was just lucky, it seems like it is generally available. It may be a COVID thing that it is just harder to get now vs prior to the COVID issue

Wow, sorry for not keeping up with the posts, I really underestimated the time I and energy I would have after riding a full day. I have completed my ride, and had a blast. I was able to catch up with old friends from Southern California all the way across the southern portion of the US to Jacksonville Florida. (More on the return trip below) The map I posted on 4/13 above in this thread was pretty accurate from a route perspective and I was able to catch up with quite a few friends along the way. When I got to Dallas I spent a few days with a good friend, and then continued all the way across to Mobile Alabama and Jacksonville FL where I have some good friends who were kind enough to host me. After resting a few days in Jacksonville FL, I started my journey up through Georgia and Tennessee. I really wanted to ride the Tail of the Dragon, but the weather would not cooperate. I was faced with waiting 2-3 days due to rain and inclement weather, and decided I really didn't want to spend the time to waiting, especially with no real confidence the weather would lift while I was still around the area to complete the ride. I will always regret missing that ride, but honestly it was a good real-time decision, even if I am still disappointed. I headed back down to Huntsville Alabama, where I grew up, and stayed a few days with my old friend/boss when I went to school at University of Alabama. He has been living near Huntsville, so I decided to stay a few days with his wife and him. I took the opportunity to get a new set of tires, as my existing tires were pretty much toast, and had them do a comprehensive safety check to ensure I was ready to head back across the country. I don't have many (if any) friends in the middle of the country, and I saw most of the folks I wanted to see going the southern route. This really just left me just riding each day. I can't possibly communicate the nature of this portion of my ride. It is very flat, with straight roads that seem to go forever. The roads were unremarkable, but the small towns across the belt of America gave me many chances to talk to locals when getting gas or stopping for food/hotels. Having lived most of my adult life in big Cities (Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle) I had to channel my early life in Alabama to connect and talk to the local residents of the small towns I passed through. The people were shocked that anyone would try to do a ride like what I was doing, but they were helpful and provided all kinds of tips and suggestions, many of which helped me out immensely. This was truly the ride of a lifetime. Most importantly, I was able to ride for almost a month across the southern portion of the US, and back across the midwest of America on a motorcycle. I got to go where I wanted, no one to second guess or tell me I made a bad choice. I could eat where I wanted, and what I wanted, all while riding 400-500 miles a day. I met plenty of travelers who shared suggestions about where to go, what locations were worth visiting, and really just plain friendly folks who were interested in my journey. I'm not sure I will embark on this kind of a ride again in my lifetime, although you can never really say never..... Oh yeah, if you ever get a chance to ride a motorcycle through Denver CO in the spring, you will be treated to the most spectacular views of the Rocky Mountains anywhere. I almost crashed 100 times while trying to take in the mountains while riding a motorcycle. (not a good idea, but it wasn't possible to stop) Now I think I will stay off my bike for a few weeks and get used to normal life. One piece of advice I can definitely recommend is the Frogg Toggs rain suit purchased on Amazon. $40 for top with hood, and bottoms kept me dry at all times. light enough to wear over my regular riding gear, and after this long trip, doesn't even show any signs of wear. Honestly, I just started wearing these over my riding gear every day, so I didn't have to stop and change gear while riding. My trip was 21 Days riding with more than a few evenings visiting with friends.

I'm going to try to make the tires last until I get to Dallas, I will be staying with friends for a few days, so I can afford to have the bike in the shop for new tires. Otherwise, the bike is holding up well, no issues at all. I may opt to get tires that are better at eating up the miles instead of the sporty Michelin PR5's I have on now. I have about 800 miles to Dallas, and I can get the tires replaced while visiting my friends. I do notice some fatigue after riding a lot of miles a few days in a row, but some of that could be the desert heat too. Looking forward to getting into some "Cooler" weather, although I suspect the southern states won't really give me much relief.

Day 2 Parker City Parker City to Lordsburg NM. Same as Day 1, spent a lot of time on highways, especially around cities. A very long ride, and I am completely nackered as I write this in my hotel. Riding fun took a hit due to too many miles on the highways in the big cities. Will try to avoid big cities going forward. My tires seem like they are wearing a bit, I'm guessing I will need to get new sneakers somewhere along the ride. Hoping I can make it to Jacksonville, where I will be spending time with some friends anyway. Bonus is the amazing views as I ride through the country. We are truly blessed to live in such a bountiful country, and the mountains, lakes, streams, and other natural wonders really make me happy as I am riding through states I had previously known only from Interstates or Flying over on a plane.

First day was May 8th Fresno California to Parker Arizona - Packing was a bear, and yes I took too much stuff. With the Electronics and GoPro, it is a bit too much. I don't use the GoPro often, I may just pack it away and just ride. I enjoy the riding, not the filming. It was a long day, 458 Miles, but I enjoyed the ride and had fun. I did find that I spent more time than I expected on highways. Maybe better planning would have avoided this, but I couldn't find a good solution to stay completely off the interstates.

That must be one powerful lawnmower to cover the entire street with grass. Personally, I'd just check for traffic and ride further away from his yard while passing by. Life is too short to worry about people like this. Plus, riding on roads in the wet Pacific Northwest I had to deal with wet leaves in the roads, especially in the Fall months. It takes a bit more caution, but I never had any close calls due to leaves.

I'm planning on 666 on the way back, (although it goes north south, which makes it a bit difficult.) The route to the Dragon was determined by visits to old friends who are scattered from Jacksonville FL to Tail of the Dragon. Compromises, compromises...... I've spent time in the Smokies as a kid, but I'll go take another look and see if I can make it work. And thanks about the tip on Port Gibson road, hadn't heard of that. I'm not aware of any good riding in Mississippi, although that is probably my bias having grown up in Alabama. I will be visiting 4-5 old friends along the ride, so I will have plenty of rest places, and hotels for the rest. Thanks for all the feedback, much, much appreciated.

Courtesy of American Legend Rider - Best motorcycle rides in the USA: https://americanlegendrider.com/a/blog/best-motorcycle-rides-in-usa?gclid=Cj0KCQjwma6TBhDIARIsAOKuANyWRDBboCg0EIewTXMshoZ6bKWh5_dsdwFpKawiVoFmPeL1WL67pG8aAmeSEALw_wcB

Below is a screen shot of my West to East coast leg. I have rest days built in where I will visit old friends and spend the night. I'm hoping to keep the hotel costs down by mooching off of friends, but honestly, I really want to see them anyway, so hopefully it all works out. Notice I'm doing a full day stop at Tail of the Dragon to ride it a few different times. For those who haven't heard of that yet, just go google it, one of the best motorcycle (and dangerous) rides in the country. I found a list of 10 best motorcycle rides in the country (US) and I'm trying to hit as many as I can. I'll try to Update this Post as I make my way across the US. I should be hitting the road mid-May Cheers - David

I am planning about 400 miles per day, with stops at cities where I have friends living. I don't think I go more than 4 days in a row without a stop, and mostly 2-3 days. The first portion from the west coast through Texas is my biggest challenge with mileage, and there are fewer places to stop as well.

Well, some of you may remember me from my old riding days (and posting) from Seattle Washington. I retired about a year ago, and my wife finally followed. We moved to Central California, and have been enjoying the nice weather and good riding roads here in California. I have been pondering taking an epic cross country trip on my motorcycle for several years now, and I am about to pull the trigger and make this trip happen! I grew up in Huntsville Alabama, home of NASA and the Space and Rocket Center. While in college, I purchased a Yamaha Exciter 1 motorcycle and fell in love. After a few years I upgraded to a Honda CX500 Custom and rode that until I graduated from the University of Alabama. Upon graduation, sold my Honda, and moved to Los Angeles, California, got a job, started working, got married, and then my daughter was born. I agreed to stay off motorcycles until my daughter graduated college. Actually, I cheated and convinced my wife that the money for her education was in the bank, so I should be able to get the bike early. She wasn't excited about my logic, but did not complain. I started with the 2015 Yamaha FJ-09, and now ride the 2020 Tracer 900 GT. Now my daughter has graduated, and is working successfully in Los Angeles. My wife and I are retired and living in Central California. I have been thinking about a cross country trip for several years now, but it hasn't been possible until now. My wife has blessed the trip, and I am currently looking at routes, especially ones with good motorcycle roads, and places and people I want to reconnect with on this trip. I have friends scattered throughout the south and mid-west, so I'm hoping to be able to connect with friends and score a free nights sleep, as much as possible. I know I will have to spend more than a few nights in hotels, but that is ok with me too. I have been thinking about this for a long time, and I'm very excited to see some old friends and family along the way. I will be updating this post once I start my trek, starting in around mid May or so. Feel free to join my journey virtually, and I'll try to post as often as I can once I start the trip.

After 20+ Years riding in the Pacific Northwest, my wife and I retired to central California this past summer. I've found it hard to find any days I **Couldn't** go riding due to weather. Now escaping my wife's to-do list....... that is a very different thing altogether........

Just my opinion, having owned the FJ09 and the Tracer, but the FJ09 versions were a lot more hooligan in nature than the Tracer is now. Longer swing arm in the GT creates stability, but makes it harder for the front wheel to lift off. I miss that, but the other side is all the standard features you get on the GT which really should have been included on the FJ09. (but obviously would have increased the cost) If I had an older FJ09, I would keep it and upgrade the bits you want. I did have to sort through this process when I had to replace my FJ09 due to my accident. I miss some bits of the old FJ09, but I'm also very happy with my Tracer 900 GT.

I tried getting my bike bike after my accident, but the insurance wouldn't let me have it. I never got a good answer, but they cited liability and a bunch of legalese. They did let me have access to the bike to retrieve personal items in my cases, and that gave me a chance to get some of my aftermarket sparkles that I added over the years. Many of those items are now on my new Tracer 900. (Denali sound bomb horn, radiator grill, fuze box, and all kinds of other things.) Interestingly enough, a few months after I had the accident, I got a message on this board from a young lady in Belarus Poland who swore that she had my old Bike. I actually did some work when I was at Expedia in Belarus, but I never responded, as the chance that this was a scam was too high for me to even engage. Hope you heal well, and get back on another bike soon. David