Zach26

It's been a while since I've visited the forum since recruiting for the Air Force has kept me VERY busy (COVID has negatively affected this too, along with everything else. This might be the first year we miss our targets since 1999). Any updates on your opinions on the Pan America? I saw one in person for the first time a couple weeks ago and I must say it looks even better than in photos. What a great looking bike! 

On 9/10/2021 at 4:33 PM, knyte said:

FJ-09 = 462 lbs wet

Niken = 580 lbs

I can lift my FJ.  Don't ask me how I know.

Niken ?  I'm nowhere NEAR buff enough to pick that kind of weight up...that's going to take two ppl, for the most part.

You'd be surprised. I'm not big at all and I picked up my 760 lb harley off its side. It's all about technique. A 90 pound woman can pick up a 1,000 lb bagger harley if the correct technique is used. There's a video of it. 

I have a cheap one I bought off Amazon on my bike. It seems pretty sturdy and is made from aluminum. I decided it would be a good idea after a good sized bird hit just above the radiator and made me realize how exposed it is on this bike. If that bird had hit the radiator I'm pretty sure it would have done some serious damage. 

As the title says, I just wanted to tell you guys about an incident that happened to me today that could have ended very badly as a reminder to all of us to ride safe, stay vigilant, and practice important skills regularly.

First, I will describe the the road I was on and then I will describe the incident. 

The road: Here in West Texas there are a lot of back country roads with high speed sweeping curves, many of which are blind. This one in particular was a right hand curve that was lined with trees on both sides blocking my view of the exit. The speed limit on this road is 75 MPH and the recommended speed for the curve was 55 MPH. 

The incident: As I was approaching the turn at approximately 78 MPH I began to trail brake and slow to about 65 MPH, which was the speed I planned on maintaining through the turn. Well, I made it about half way through the turn when what seemed like out of nowhere a combine tractor appeared, traveling the opposite direction, and was blocking both lanes completely. I didn't have much time to react but since I already had my hand on the front brake I squeezed it harder to reduce my speed as much as I could hoping the farmer would move over to allow me some space but he didn't have much time to react. So my only choice was then to go off the shoulder and into the weeds at somewhere between 50 and 55 MPH.

I still have no idea how I was able to keep the bike upright over the transition from the pavement onto the gravel shoulder, through the weeds and brush and then back over the gravel shoulder and transition back onto the road. I'm generally a pretty careful rider (occasionally I like to do a bit of spirited riding) and I always make it a point to practice at least one important skill such as emergency braking, braking on a turn, swerving, or going to an empty parking lot to practice some slow speed maneuvers. I believe that this practice is what saved me from having my torso removed from the rest of my body by this tractor. This is the closest call I have ever had on the bike and the first one in quite a long while and it scared the crap out of me. As time slowed I had visions of me being cut in half by the tractor which was at about the level of the headlights on the bike. It wouldn't have been a pretty sight.  

Anyway, I hope this can serve as a reminder to all of us to ride safe and practice important skills regularly. 

You should be riding with ear plugs anyway if you want to preserve your hearing. The common consensus is that the noisy gears are just the nature of the beast and that there is no real "fix" for it. As far as I understand it the noise comes from the straight cut gears in the transmission and from the counter balancer shaft that triples have. 

Here's another photo in the sun light after I fixed the crease in the front of the bag that was bugging me. It looks even better now. 

2 hours ago, roadrash83 said:

@Zach26 That bag looks like it was custom made for the FJ. Do you think they can be used with the factory side cases on a 19 900GT? I would love to get rid of the GIVI top case and rack I put on.

I'm not familiar with the mounting system for the factory side cases so I can't say for sure. Based on some pictures it does look like the sides of the bag might interfere with the top of the side cases though. 

Yeah I actually ordered the 1450 at first but then realized the tunnel was too narrow so I ordered this one the same day. I'm still waiting for the wrong one to show up so I can return it. For it being universal for it almost fits like it was made for this bike. They also have the regular non "tactical" version. 

3 minutes ago, dazzler24 said:

I like the look of that!  What year bike do you have?

It's a 2017.

Just installed my new saddlemen 1620 tunnel bag and I think I'm going to like never having to wear a backpack. I'm still tweaking the mounting so that it's rock solid but still quickly removable but it's almost there. The only real negative is having to remove the passenger handles but they never get used anyway so no big deal. (Just noticed this is the wrong section. Mods, please move to appropriate section)

14 minutes ago, Clem Fandango said:

Cool Covers - The cover works like air-conditioning for your motorbike seat

---

The Cool Covers seat cover works like air-conditioning for your...

 

This has me curious. I might have to give this a try before buying a new seat. I think the main thing that causes me discomfort is the heat. 

1 hour ago, Heli ATP said:

I have to disagree with your assessment of the McCruise. I installed it on my 2017 and the step by step instructions made it easy peasy. If you can do a jig saw puzzle you can install the MCCruise but there is no guessing with the McCruise. And the manufacturers are only a phone call/email away if you have questions.

It works flawlessy from 1st gear through 6th. I spoke to a guy with a BMW GS1200 recently and he told me he could use his stock cruise only above 3rd gear. Having not ever had a Yamaha cruise control I can't comment on how good it might be, but I'm not giving up my McCruise for one.

I agree with you that McCruise looks like a great product and I have no doubts about how well it works. But as an add-on it doesn't look quite as good as factory integrated cruise control and is a bit expensive. However, event though is expensive, I'll probably be buying it in the future because it makes more financial sense than trading up just for that feature. 

The only thing that tempts me to trade up is the cruise control. Everything else is easy to improve and cheaper than getting a new bike (mine is about to be paid off). I know there are aftermarket solutions for cruise control (the only one I know of is mccruise) but it doesn't look as good as factory and it's quite expensive. My only other complaints with the bike are the seat, which is an easy fix just need to finally decide on one, and the suspension which isn't horrible but could use some improvement. 

I didn't even know this was a thing. I've used standard mode almost exclusively on my 2017 (bought new in 2019) since I don't like the abrupt throttle when going from closed to open in A mode. I have used B mode maybe twice in bad weather. I always thought that it just stayed in the mode it was in last. I guess I'll confirm for my own info in the morning. 

42 minutes ago, dazzler24 said:

According to the poll at the top of the post you are joining the ranks of the oldies. 😉  There's at least 5 people that are younger than you here (20-30) - that have polled.

Looking at this poll it's apparent that the vast majority, again who have polled, are between 50-70.  I know it's not a very scientific snapshot as there are all sorts of factors that come into play with doing these things but it's interesting.

The age demographic doesn't really surprise me for this machine.  More upright sitting position, touring capabilities, able to take two, lightweight, etc.

Haha for some reason, while typing my reply I was thinking it was the 20-30 group that hadn't had anyone yet, not the <20 group. I guess I'm just an old man in a young body lol. I always felt that way with the Harley too. I bought that at 23 years old. 

Add me to the list if folks interested in your experience with the Pan America. I've been flirting with the idea of adding one to the garage (after my move to NC) to replace the Wide Glide I sold a couple months ago. I'm starting to want to get into adventure riding and love what I'm seeing from Harley on this. 

31 here. Bought my 2017 new at 29 years old. Now I feel very young 😆. Anyone on here younger than me?

When, given a list of possible military assignment locations, you rank your preferences primarily based on how the riding is in each location. 

Thanks for the info everyone. You guys are making me more excited to get there. The riding around Abilene kind of sucks. There are only 2 routes relatively close to me that are really fun but they are short. I have to travel at least 3 hours to get to any decent roads and I don't often have the time to travel that far. 

5 minutes ago, fddriver2 said:

While I don't live there. I have been going there for a long while. More than 20 years off and on.  

Asheville is a cool town. An interesting "hippy" vibe.  30 minutes to the west is Waynesville A much smaller slower paced place. Some of the roads to the BRP are better than the BRP 215 and 276 come to mind. There are others. Wayah Road is another. The Rattler to Hot Springs is another good choice.

I26 between Asheville and Johnson City TN is as nice as Interstates get for views. The Tail of the Dragon is 2-ish hours away IIRC.

My experiences riding the area  are mostly from mid April through Thanksgiving. Rain can be expected anytime. Elevation is everything, Cold/cool up high, mild/moderate down low.

I was in Highlands NC (elevation 4,000ft) mid April and morning temps were high 30's to mid 40's, down in Franklin NC (elevation 2,000ft) much warmer.

Maggie Valley has "Wheels through Time" A must see.

Wayne Bush lives in Waynesville and has really good maps (road and off road) of the area.

Even bad roads there are better than most great roads here in South Florida.

Wayne's maps.

America Rides Maps

Wheels through time

Home - Wheels Through Time

Pack's Tavern for after the ride. Kinda Fire Department centric across from AFD station #1

Pack's Tavern: Downtown Asheville Restaurant for Casual Dining & Groups (packstavern.com)

Congratulations and happy riding!!!!!

I will definitely refer back to this post once I actually get there. I feel very fortunate that this is where I get to move to. I'm in the Air Force in school to be a recruiter and had a list of 15 places to rank from most to least desirable. This was my first choice so I guess I got lucky. I'm very excited to ride in some new places. Thanks for the info and remember to keep the shiny side up. 

So I'll be moving to Asheville, NC in August and I'm wondering how long is the typical riding season? I don't mind riding in cold and plan in investing in some heated gear but how often is there snow on the ground? Also, besides the blue ridge parkway, how is the riding in the local area? It looks much better than where I am currently (Abilene, TX). I'm excited about the move (aside from the housing market being insane right now) and Asheville looks like a beautiful area. Thanks in advance for any info. 

4 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

Tbh, I'd buy a cheap used phone instead of a GPS.  Tether to your iPhone for data, and just use it for the bike.  But people love their GPS's, so I suppose it depends what you're after.  

Then if it wrecks the camera, who cares.  Though again, my Samsung S8+ and S10+ have been fine for tens of thousands of miles.

If you get one with wireless charging, you can add a wireless charger to a ram xgrip for $20, so you don't have to screw around with power cables. 

Interesting, The phone that broke was a Samsung S9. My new phone is a S20 FE. Seems strange to me that the ones that have posted saying they have had problems had Iphones. And you have had no problems with your androids but my phone was an android. I guess I just have bad luck. 

13 hours ago, Wintersdark said:

Yeah, you need a late-model iphone for it to be a serious problem, something to do with how the hardware is designed.  AFAIK nobody has had issues with major Android phones unless they were recording video.  YMMV of course.

A good solution if you are going to handlebar mount is to mount in the middle of the bars, not towards a grip.  There's minimal vibrations at the clamps; the problematic vibrations get worse the further you get out from the clamps.

 

Yeah I've always had it mounted between the clamps. While cruising at 75 mph when I touch the mount there is some vibration still. It sucks because I really don't want to buy a gps. I didn't realize how expensive a decent one is. 

3 minutes ago, roy826 said:

Probably so I quit using the handle bar mount ram xgrip after my last iphone camera died. Quadloc supposedly has a damper built in. I just carry my phone in my pocket instead. I have a gps on the bars and my cardo headset when linked to my phone picks up any calls I need to engage in while moving. 

I may need to just get a cheap GPS then since that's the only reason I mount the phone on the bars. 

Last year my phone camera quit focusing and I would have to tap on my phone repeatedly to get it to focus. I dealt with it for a while but I just recently got a new galaxy S20FE. I have been wondering if it was caused by mounting the phone in my Tackform mount.

I had only been using the phone mount for about two months before the damage happened. I've been reluctant to mount my phone again because I don't want to mess up my brand new phone. What do you guys think, coincidence or damage caused by vibration on the bike?