Premium Member jimf Posted May 18, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted May 18, 2015 Rode from Boston up to Stowe, VT, zig-zagging across the Green Mountains last Thursday. As I turned onto VT100 the engine came out of break-in. I gave it a good caning over VT17, which I ran west to east and there wasn't a single car the whole way. Beautiful. Friday morning I rode up through Smuggler's Notch and found that with the peg feelers removed the right hand centerstand touches down first. Not (quite) sure on the left yet. :-) Then across the Kancamagus Highway to North Conway, NH. Saturday was a fast loop out and back through western Maine, taking air on Hurricane Mountain Road both out and back. Sunday was back through the Kanc and some backroads before slabbing it back to Boston to watch my daughter perform in Richard III. I liked the bike a lot before it was broken in. Now that it is ... wow. Fantastic. Having finally had the chance to ride it hard I can't even complain much about the stock suspension; it's still a kick in the wrists over frost heaves, but get the oil good and hot and it's not so bad even on pretty rough roads. It tracks pretty well and there's enough rebound damping for me. Holy @#$%^ is it easy to ride this thing fast. Not sure my license is going to be safe. Pictures to come. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
root Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Sounds like a great ride. I'm hoping to do a big ride next weekend but I don't have all the details ironed out yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deersSlayer Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Saturday was a fast loop out and back through western Maine, taking air on Hurricane Mountain Road both out and back. Holy @#$%^ is it easy to ride this thing fast. Not sure my license is going to be safe. Pictures to come. That was a good short loop Saturday Jim! I went to the same meet, but came down from Canada. Put just over 1,500 km on the bike over 2 & 1/2 days. I did a lot more passing on the FJ than I ever did on the Street Triple R. I'm very happy with my purchase, but I'm looking forward to the Seat Concepts. It's not the worse stock seat I've owned, but the last 3 hours on a 10 hour day I start moving around a lot. FJ-09, 690 Enduro R. Back Roads. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowflake Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Jim F, you'ver hit alot of my favorite roads. I was up in Lincoln last week and Bear Notch and Hurricane Mtn weren't open yet. You must have timed it just right. I just picked up my new FJ on Saturday and am looking forward to evaluating on those same roads soon. I love the VT gap roads, and the NH Whites. Just rode my FJR across the Kanc and up 16 from Jackson to Gorham, east to Bethel. Nice country up there. Glad to see you cover that kind of distance on the FJ too. Looking forward to getting past the 1000 mi. break-in on my new FJ. See ya around.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deersSlayer Posted May 18, 2015 Share Posted May 18, 2015 Jim F, you'ver hit alot of my favorite roads. I was up in Lincoln last week and Bear Notch and Hurricane Mtn weren't open yet. You must have timed it just right. Hurricane is open, Bear Notch is still closed. Much further West, Hurricane Mtn in the Eastern Adirodacs is open year round. It's a great tight twisty roller coaster road, but still 'covered' in sand from winter. I had a clear run over the Kanc late Friday afternoon - had to make a few passes, but none of the cages slowed us at all. Passing is very easy on the FJ. 8-) FJ-09, 690 Enduro R. Back Roads. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted May 19, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 19, 2015 The odometer as I turned onto VT100 on Thursday afternoon: The FJ in late afternoon just before blasting through VT17, where I encountered not one single car: Packing "light" on the FJ: 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted May 19, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 19, 2015 Friday morning started with this cow staring at me during breakfast. It was pig for breakfast, stop staring at me! Pit stop at the Marshfield Village Store: I left the FJ in the care of this Sachem: 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted May 19, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 19, 2015 Just over the New Hampshire border is Bear Pond. I took a quick break to take a couple of pictures: Lunch was at the Gypsy Cafe in Lincoln, NH. They had opened that morning. They had this most excellent chocolate cake trifle: 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted May 19, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 19, 2015 Stayed at Will's Inn with thirty or so of my closest friends: Two other FJs, both red, also made appearances, one owned by our very own deerSlayer. Also, this brandy-new Triumph: 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted May 19, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 19, 2015 Dinner was at the White Mountain Cider Company where they serve most excellent Canadian beer: Another friend showed up on a Cagiva: That's about all the pics. A good weekend. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted May 19, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted May 19, 2015 Jim F, you'ver hit alot of my favorite roads. I was up in Lincoln last week and Bear Notch and Hurricane Mtn weren't open yet. You must have timed it just right.I hadn't thought to even check if Bear Notch was open and I tried to go through from the Kanc. There's a small bridge that's currently under construction and you can't see what's on the other side during the approach. A car and I surprised each other on the bridge and I had to back-paddle out (which I'm emphatically not good at). I hit the closed gate not long after. I ended up going to the end of 112 and turning onto 302 out into Maine and then back on 113 to Hurricane Mountain Road, my first run of the weekend. I only got air a few times on that first pass, but ran it once more in either direction the next day and might have gone a wee bit faster then :-). The FJ is a seriously good bike for that kind of thing. Hurricane Mountain Road is getting pretty beaten up, and lots of area roads are in bad shape after the harsh winter and the FJ's suspension isn't ideal for that, but it still tracks pretty well and I sure did get some giggles out of it. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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