wanderer

Where did the member map go? Anyone know if it is still on the forum if you know how to find it?

Let's go on a date before we sleep together! I love some quick couple night trips to the Sierras, so yes, worth thinking about such an expedition. IMO, 2 nights is much better than 1 night; for a 1 night trip it is hard to get far enough from San Diego. I'll be a bit busy for a few weeks. Aug 13-14 daughter's bday weekend. 20-21 is her last weekend here before returning to college, and we've promised we'll go sailing together. Then Aug 27 - Sept 4 either I satisfy my dream of returning to Montana on the motorcycle this year, or I am stuck at work and we can do a day trip in SD on the weekend.

@ItsRichieRich, my profile pic is stopped at stop sign, and yours is knee dragging. So you definitely ride faster than I do. But I'd be up for it :). @jamespz03 and I have met met up a handful of times, our furthest venture was Borrego Springs. A lap of San Jacinto is about my longest day trip (with a stop in Idyllwild and a zip up 74 from Palm Desert, possibly including a side scoot to Palomar). Most recently most day trips have been simple excursions to Palomar with a stop at Josie's Hideway for a burger and non-alcoholic beer.

I like the CC on my Tracer 900 GT. I would try ACC, but I don't think I'd like it because it just enables you to pay less attention. It doesn't seem as safe as working out your own speed. In long haul light freeway traffic I use CC but still modulate up/down to match speeds, which forces me to pay attention. Not being forced to pay attention makes it much harder for humans to pay any attention. I would hope any ACC adjustments would be nice and slow, or a sudden de/acceleration would be quite disconcerting since you have to balance on the bike. When I first tried the CC on the motorcycle, one thing I noticed that made me uncomfortable was passing cars at a steady constant speed. What I realized is that when I am in charge of the speed, I always add a small jet to quickly get out of the blind spot. Obviously I would never do any CC for my California lane splitting! As to specs, Tracer 900 GT is 475 pounds (wet w/o side cases), Tracer 9 GT is 485 pounds. This is a strike against 9GT for me, but still below my 500 pound threshold. On the other hand, the 9 GT has a 5.0 gallon tank vs 4.8, and that is a small plus. Any additional gas is a boon. I find the 9 GT side cases ugly. They look awkwardly shaped to use, but I'd have to try in order to see. I've always liked the smallish 22L FJ09/Tracer900 side cases. Both in looks ("doesn't make my butt look big") and function ("not wider than my handlebars").

$70 + shipping (from San Diego CA) Sidi Canyon Gore motorcycle touring boots, size EU42 (US 8.5). Purchased new January 2020 for $325, about 19 months and 11,000 miles of use. Great shape, the most noticeable wear is on the left sole. (It is worth noting that eventually new lug soles can be purchased for the boot and installed by a cobbler.) https://www.sidi.com/en/touring/256-stivali-canyon-gore-tex.html Great boots, easy on, hard protection for shin and ankle, comfortable, good looking. Great for walking around, even a short hike. I love the boot but they were a little too small, I replaced them with exactly the same except in size EU43.

Welcome fellow San Diegan!

I'd think the real question here is all about the two up aspect. I find the passenger footpegs crowd my feet (2019 Traver 900GT), and I expect it would be even worse with an actual foot on the footpeg. This is something you can easily check in the dealer. (I modded mine by removing the rear footpegs, since I never do two-up)

Yep! Thanks!

If I knew a quick easy way to resize images inside the post after seeing them in context, I'd scale them down a bit. The only way I know is to edit them before posting, which is too much effort.

Here I am posing at the Posey Post Office. Noteworthy for this trip was that the SQF Complex Fire of 2020 attacked Ponderosa from the north. The Windy Fire of 2021 attacked Ponderosa from the south. Ponderosa appears to be OK. But there are road closures. Going through Posey I meant to follow the forest road all the way north to M-50, but the road was closed due to fire recovery. I wasn't interested in going dozens of miles and turning around at a fallen tree or locked gate. Looping back out and around, stopped at the Old Stage Saloon for lunch. Then headed north to CA SR190, south through Ponderosa. South of Ponderosa the damage of the Windy Fire is evident. Ever on the look out for obscure roads, I noticed on the map that Breckinridge Rd from Caliente-Bodfish Rd (already rather obscure) goes through the mountains. Fun little road and maybe a nice out of the way place to camp.

I took a quick weekend trip Friday May 13 - Sunday May 15. Friday evening: San Diego to Bakersfield, superslab get-outa-town. Saturday: 200 miles of exploring, up into the obscure road through the Glennville to Posey area, then looped back out and around to CA SR190, past Ponderosa and down the Kern River to Johny McNally's. Sunday: South down the Kern River, Caliente-Bodfish Rd, over the tiny windy Breckinridge Rd, then jet on home through Tehachapi and down I-15. Before I go any further, I want to report a Tracer 9GT sighting in Ponderosa CA around 4pm Saturday May 14th. Could this be you? As I cruised by, I noticed the bike and thought "that looks like mine!" I stopped, bought a cookie and Red Bull, walked around, but no-one (more precisely, "no two") looked like the proper owner of the bike to introduce myself to.

Asking $50 plus shipping. Worth much more! Sidi Canyon Gore motorcycle touring boots, size EU42 (US M 8.5). Purchased new January 2020 for $325, about 19 months and 11,000 miles of use. Great shape, the most noticeable wear is on the left sole. Note that eventually new lug soles can be purchased for the boot and installed by a cobbler (I've done this quite successfully with Armada Gore), but these are nowhere near needing new soles. https://www.sidi.com/en/touring/256-stivali-canyon-gore-tex.html Great boots, easy on, hard protection for shin and ankle, comfortable, good looking. Great for walking around, even a short hike. I love the boot but they were a little too small, I replaced them with exactly the same except in size EU43.

In short, I also would recommend health insurance. Of course, in principle insurance is statistically on average not worth it if you feel you can afford to self-fund the large negative outcome (hence the insurance companies make money). However, in the US health insurance also tends to act as a health service and negotiator. Health providers will overcharge, the insurance companies negotiate it down. If you are self funding, the providers will overcharge you and you'll have a hell of a time negotiating it down on your own. Of course, if you are unable to pay the full amount, they may settle for only what you can pay (i.e. close to all your assets), like the 20-something year old pancreas anecdote. They may have asked for $2M, and perhaps would accept a $1M payment from insurance or whatever the uninsured patient can afford up to $2M. Taking into account this negotiating aspect, I believe health insurance is worth it, even in the statistical average, in the US, for anyone with assets (20-something may get away without it - young, healthy, few assets, a lifetime left to build). And as others have said, I certainly would not rely on the other driver being adequately insured. They may also just hit-&-run. Nor would I rely on myself not making one mistake at a really bad moment. Nor would I rely on nothing coming from out of the blue like a cancer or heart condition. Actually, if considering retiring on some amount of assets you should even look in to umbrella insurance. So your assets are protected if anyone sues you for whatever.

The horror.

My preference is a pretty low profile tank bag with a large window for paper maps. I tend to sort on the smaller capacity tank bags when I search. I've used the Fly Racing Street Mini Tank Bag for a while and been reasonably satisfied. Capacity-wise (nominally 2.5L from the spec), it is perfect for me; enough to hold charging cables, a USB battery, phone, sun-glasses, a mini flashlight, leatherman style multi-tool. The map display window could be a bit larger (nominal size is 10.25” L x 7.5” W x 2” H). This thread prompted some searching, and I am considering upgrade to the XKursion XT Co-Pilot Tank Bag. At 6.25L, it is frankly larger than I really want in terms of capacity. But the size is 8 1/2" W x 11 1/4" D x 4" H, and I think that even though the map window is only marginally increased it would actually be a notable improvement for me. I'd just prefer it was less than 4" high.

TRACER! TRACER! TRACER! Don't want to lose you from the forum.

Good to know it is going well, good luck resolving it.

good luck!

Should be fun to test it out!

Yeah, a couple of years ago when I was in that area, I found I enjoyed the nearby roads I'd never heard of more! There is also the ridiculously low speed limit and enforcement on the Snail of the Dragon.

I have Dainese Scout Evo (Scout 2 update at RevZilla), and I've really liked them. I was comfortable down to about 40F on my recent PNW trip (with the standard Tracer 900 GT hand guards and heated grips), at which point I was just on the edge of minor discomfort. I did get these OBR Adv Enduro ¾ Grip Mitt, and I tried them on the trip at 40-50F (along with the Dainese gloves). I didn't like them too much, because they were flapping around like crazy at 65mph+. Maybe if I figure out a way to dampen the flapping. But generally I've been ok with the Scout Evo gloves anyway. If I expect cold on a tour, I usually take two pairs of gloves and swap according to temperature of the moment.

Yes, great trip! Too bad about the weather, but even that has its pleasures. There is something satisfying about being in the geared up cocoon, intent on the road and avoiding hazards, puttering away. As I cruised down a nominally boring 395 and the Sierra receded, I thought about how zen it is sometimes just to focus on the road ahead. And then in San Bernardino and Riverside, lane splitting in the slow traffic, again there is a zen like focus on making safe progress. When done with balance, every aspect is pleasurable. (I would not want to be stuck in Riverside traffic every day!!)

continuing ... Thursday, Enterprise to Lakeview, 410 miles. I took OR244 to cross over to US395. I'd describe this as more scenic than exciting. (Wednesday would remain the best day, places I must revisit when it is drier). There was a little excitement along straight flat sections of US395 where my watch might or might not have recorded speeds into triple digit mph. I find a huge difference from 90mph to 100mph in terms of general stability and sketchiness, which has been universal across the few bikes I've experienced (I don't really think it is a T900 thing). Just the plain wind forces and consequences of a little bump or rabbit in the road. Along 244. I was amused to see some curves in US395 labeled by mileage. why some? why not all? It did not seem that the named curves were any more noteworthy than other curves. I reached the middle. Long straight fast 395. Friday, Lakeview to Bishop, 436 miles. Lakeview looks a bit depressed. Shuttered storefronts and all. I started the day with a run up into the hills from Noni's Trailhead (looks like a memorial for Noni who seems to have died in a bicycle/automobile incident a few years ago). Nice trails, and a little butte with a great view just a couple miles in. The ride was US395, with the little bypass around Susanville, and a minor diversion along NV 208 & 338 to prolong my stay in Nevada. 395 by Goose Lake. Overlooking Monolake. Impressive wall of smoke in the distance. It filled the whole valley for 10-20 miles around the June Lake exits. Saturday, Bishop to San Diego, 343 miles. At this point I am on familiar ground and decided to minimize distractions and just get it done. However, it is becoming a tradition for me to stop in Randsburg for a milkshake. The Joint in Randsburg is hopping.

I can calculate approximately. Hotels ranged from $80 in Republic to $235 in Missoula, if I recall correctly. Average about $150, for every night except Brookings and Portland. I usually ate two meals, a breakfast and a dinner. Dinner always sitdown, usually a bar & grill, includes some beer. maybe it is $50 a day. At 45 mpg, 83 gallons; at $4/gallon, $332. Total maybe about $1050 lodging + $500 meals + $332 + miscellaneous snacks and drinks from the service stations. It's approaching $2000. Some of the eating out (but not every day) I'd have done at home as well. My wife will see it all totaled up on the credit bill eventually. My wife does associate me with all the gas stations on the bill. She once asked me what a gas charge was, I stared and stared and couldn't figure it out, and then she said "oh wait, that was my credit card! I just always associate the gas stations with you!"