1moreroad

Thanks for all of the advice. The restaurants are especially important suggestions. We can extend the trip up to 9 days.

I've got some buddies who want to do a lap of Florida and they've invited me to join. This will complete their 4 corners riding (AK, Baja Mexico, Nova Scotia, Florida Keys). We're thinking about the week of March 12 to 19. The loop I have is about 2500 miles. We can comfortably do 400-500 mile days and push 600+ if we have to, so I think 7 days should be enough with stops. We plan to meet in Montgomery, AL, head to St. Augustine then down to the Keys. @fddriver2, @builderbob, @britelitebob and anyone else: Is there any fun route down the Atlantic Coast? Is there anywhere we should absolutely avoid (thinking we use interstates to detour around Miami)? Is there a particularly good place to stay in Key West or should we stay on one of the other Keys and just visit Key West? Is there any good route on the west coast or the panhandle we have to see? We will definitely stop at Weeki Wachee Spring for the mermaid show (#2 priority after Hemingway's house). Is there any good street riding around Apalachicola?

About this time every year all three of my vehicles (moto, hybrid car, pickup) drop in gas mileage. Today it was the FJ's turn. Gas mileage suddenly 5+ mpg lower. It will sometimes drop into the high 30s cruising on the highway. Scared me the first time I noticed it.

Why not just an ATV or side by side?

Barber is definitely better than Tally but much more expensive. I've never raced but I did a weekend at Barber forever ago on a Ninja 600. I also never reprogrammed the speed governor on my FJ so I max out at 112. Good for Tally but slow for the Barber back straight. Never bad to remove the center stand, but I only scraped pegs at Tally. Maybe we need a group track day or weekend at Tally next year? Looks like they have days in April, July, and Nov.

That sounds like your offering to host an FJ09/Tracer regional meet in Chattanooga. When do you want us to show up? 😄

A Sportbike Track Time day at Little Talladega is a good place to start. $100 track day. They rent leathers. Novice category is not a school, but there is enough instruction that you won't be a danger to yourself or anyone else. And control riders are always available for advice. Again, not a school, so their advice is more personal experience than a particular teaching system, but they are all enthusiastic and want to see you improve. Bike setup is pretty easy in Novice or Intermediate - Water Wetter in your radiator, zip tie center stand, tape wheel weights and lights, pull a few fuses I think was it. For me, the hardest part is timing the track day with new tires since I don't have a tire changing machine at home. Next time you need a pair of tires, check the STT website to see if they have a Tally day coming up. Another $100 + $20 in Water Wetter and maybe $50 or $75 in leather rentals if you need them and you can have your track day.

Heavier fork springs for my weight (190#) and a K tech Razr shock sprung for my weight.

2015 FJ09 with 34k miles, updated suspension, Givi touring windscreen, O2 controller, OE hard bags and grip heaters and a few other extras. @stevesweetz also has a write up of his assessment of the Tracer 9 on this forum

100% agree. Very clear, just too small. I was staring a little too hard to look at traction control settings. Lots of info for the screen. Most bikes let you cycle through it. Definite improvement on the '15 although I'm not as enthusiastic as @stevesweetz(and I don't mean that in any bad way). But I keep vehicles long enough that every car, bicycle, and moto company would have gone out of business long ago if they relied on me as a their only kind of customer.

Yes and yes. 9 GT Nashville show write up I'll add that it was nice to meet Brett Tkacs. I watch his Youtube channel.

Like OP said, it is affected by suspension and wind. Wide handlebars with deflectors, bad aerodynamics (all of the buffeting we riders experience), quick steering, less weight on the front end, OE suspension at a price point. It happened to me once at about 90 on a rough road. Get your suspension set up right, and pay attention to not overload the back end at extra legal speeds so the front end doesn't get light. I do know it happens, but I think it's rare. Wouldn't stop me from owning this bike.

Who was the group? I've done a couple of days with STT, but not in years. Have to time my tire wear right to go.

They did. My buddy rode one before he rode the Challenger. He said similar to the Challenger but smaller dimensions (a good thing unless you're over 6'2) and better airflow. Engine were similar enough in regular riding as to not feel the difference.

We spent the day riding different motorcycles. The trade space was small with vendors but the show had plenty of moto brands willing to let us try their bikes. Triumph, Harley, and Indian said, here, follow this loop on your own and have fun. Suzuki, Kawasaki, Yamaha, Zero, and Royal Enfield all had guided (and mostly boring!) routes. Except for the Zero we got 15 to 20 miles on each of the bikes. We rode 150+ miles on demo bikes today. In no particular order: Yamaha Tracer 9 GT: an incremental improvement over the FJ09. Windscreen better but still needs work. Throttle better but, except for the Indian FTR 1200, still the worst throttle I rode all day. Don't feel like I need to rush out and buy one. Mine is good enough. I could not fit my size medium modular helmet in the side bag. All of the Triumphs had good ergos and good to excellent seats. Triumph Speed Twin: biggest surprise of the day. What a fun bike. Clean air. Lots of acceleration below 100 mph. Good ergos but the pegs are a little high. I could see buying one in a few years if I could be ok with the foot peg height. So small, quick to turn, and easy to ride that I didn't realize it was a 1200. Triumph Scrambler 1200 tall: fine. Vague front end (21" wheel and 80/20 tires). Lazier than the Speed Twin even though it's the same engine. Triumph Speed Triple: maybe the biggest disappointment of the day. No low end torque. Hard to turn. Felt bigger than it was (not in a good way). My buddy has a Street Triple 765 and it's a much better street bike. Triumph Tiger 850 Sport: good ergos. Ok windscreen until I got on the highway and then almost as bad as the FJ. Didn't feel as nice as the FJ. TERRIBLE VIBRATIONS. Motor had pull but in minutes my hands were tingling. I could not own this bike. Triumph Tiger 900 (Sport?) GT: same ergo/windscreen comment. Vibrations tolerable but the FJ motor is just better. A little vague steering. Smooth suspension. Ergos good enough that you could comfortably ride sitting or standing. HD Pan America: seat height lowering at a stop is a killer app. The other vendor reps were jealous Harley thought of it 1st. Liked the motor although my buddy said his kept surging at 4000 rpms. Shifter was stiff. Bike was fine. Electronic suspension was way too busy. Worst suspension of all the bikes we rode (except the Sportster rear). It had us vibrating and bouncing on a very good road. HD Sportster S: terrible ergos. Forward controls and minimal seat and I felt like I would slide off the back at 70 mph. Handled decently well but it's the only bike that hurt my back and hip today at least in part to all hits to the rear tire going straight up the spine. Looking forward you see the giant front tire just ahead of the gauge. Zero SRF: 1st bike I rode today. Neat bike. If I still commuted in LA, I would consider it but it would mean giving up moto trips. Very nice to ride around under 60. Starts running out of power around 60 - accelerates but not as well right when most bikes we rode were pulling hard. Good, clean air. Good handling. Good ergos but pegs are a little high. It's as heavy as the FJ but feels lighter. Indian Challenger: Rode this while waiting for the FTR 1200 to be available. It's HUGE. AND IT'S SOOO NOISY. WHAT? I SAID NOISY. The base beats of the engine and the buffeting of the windscreen was so NOISY. Raising the windscreen didn't reduce the noise but cut off the little airflow I had. Solution - turn up the radio and make it NOISIER. And whatever settings someone used - the radio sounded bad. How does someone ride this cross country? The bike was heavy off the sidestand. The reach was too far to the handlebars. The back rest leaned back so far it gave no support. And It cost $32,000 as equipped. I was actually surprised at the handling - much better than expected, and I never touched the floor boards down. Engine didn't care what gear I was in because of all the torque, but shifting took effort and planning. Indian FTR 1200 Carbon: ok bike. Reminds me of a Honda 929 or a similarly aged liter bike, maybe? Relatively light weight but makes you work to turn it. Follows a line after you get it turned into the corner. More vibration than I'd like. Decent ergos. Fuel surging was bad - hold a steady throttle and the bike would make little accelerations. Each shift made the bike jump even with the clutch pulled fully in. It was at just under ¾ of a tank and showing 70 miles to empty on the fuel computer?! Nice gauge - as good as the Triumphs. And Americans have figured out to make dead stable, usable mirrors even when the rest of the bike is vibrating.

William Faulkner mural

Anyone going? I'm staying with a buddy in Nashville to go see it. Haven't been to a show in over 15 years. Looking forward to demo'ing a Zero, the Indian FTR, and maybe a Versys. We'll go Saturday. Might ride out around Collinwood off the Trace Sunday mid- to late morning on the way home.

Is that 2 BMWs, 3 FJRs, and you? Went thru New River Gorge on my dad's Vulcan and I've always wanted to get back there on a sportier bike. Might have a chance for a quick trip maybe next summer.

Don't have any good photos of that area, but, no, I have no marks on the brace. How does the swing arm even get all the way up there? I'm not in front of the bike, but I can't visualize this.

I will never turn tech down and I appreciate the ABS and TC on our bikes. That said, I've never cared whether a bike has a particular tech from FI on motorcycles to disc brakes on bicycles. Very nice to have but lack of it will not stop me from riding 2 wheelers. And heated hand grips is always the most important piece of tech on any motorcycle after the engine and wheels.

At least on the FJ09s, there were accessory plugs under the front fairing but I thought most of them were booted for water protection? What part of Alabama?

Buddy of mine rode through on the way to New Orleans. Photo up in Vardeman, Mississippi, self-proclaimed sweet potato capital of the world. 🌎

So sorry. Good luck in surgery

Commuting home I saw a rider on an an older XR650 dual sport stopped at a traffic light. Not only was the guy completely flat footed in sandals, his knees were bent maybe 20 or 30 degrees sitting back on the seat! That's a tall dude!

My buddy has a new-ish RT1200 or 1250 and loves it. This after a lifetime where his least sporty bike was a Yamaha FZ1. With a good chunk of my riding doing long, straight commuting, I think about an RT or a Wing, at least until I see prices. Maybe one day...