Gravel, noise, and a business idea

[1moreroad]

I guess this is a little grumpiness.  I had a good ride yesterday.  I had a clean run at the best 5 mile stretch of twisties near my house that is never empty, AND they felt easy.  I had a very good cheesesteak sandwich at an empty bar/dance floor that caters to college students on weekends.  And I put 250 miles on the bike, which, sadly, is the farthest I've ridden in a day this year, cut short by a monsoon here in town that had scared car drivers pulling off to the side of the road and waiting it out.
 
But... Garmin's definition of an "unpaved road" and my definition are very different.  The FJ is actually fine on hard packed dirt and okay on small, round gravel that isn't too deep.  As expected, it doesn't do well in deep gravel with large rocks.  But Garmin routing repeatedly put me on various gravel roads.  I rode probably 15-20 miles on gravel not including re-routing.  Why, when the unpaved road avoidance is selected, would Garmin even try to route you on something they call "Off Road"?!
 
Yesterday was a reminder of all the noise on this bike.  This collectively is might be our #1 complaint.  The Laminar Lip is an improvement over stock, but I need to try something else.  What I really want to do is go back and ride an old ZX.  I do NOT remember it being this noisy.
 
And a business idea, free.  Bicycle manufacturers and 3rd party companies created a large industry fitting bicycles to their riders.  Google Guru or Body Geometry or Fit Kit.  We need someone to invent a similar system for motorcycles.  People drop $100 - $200 on a fit and then pay for a bunch of part changes.  Serious cyclists spend hours on their bikes, and so do we.  Cyclists would spend $$ and time sometimes just guessing what parts will make their bikes more comfortable, and so do we.  Cyclists can buy the parts they actually need after a fit.  If this inspires you to launch a business, I just ask for a free fit.
 
The rest of the family is out of town so I hope to get another ride like this in next week.  I'm really looking forward to it.
 

[aeg]

My TomTom Rider does exactly the same crap. I have selected to avoid highways and dirt roads because I prefer the twisty paved roads. But when I plan route option as Twisty it seems like the initial setup goes out of door. It will not bring me to the highways for obvious reasons (not twisty enough) but the phucker has no problem testing my motocross skills.

[xlxr]

This may seem like I am stating the obvious, but if a maps program takes you where you don't want to go, don't go there, just turn around.

[1moreroad]

@xlxr - I can go around, but the roads end up much straighter. That was a disappointment.

[aeg]

This may seem like I am stating the obvious, but if a maps program takes you where you don't want to go, don't go there, just turn around.

Thank you for your insight, but I was looking to get where I was going without arguing with the gps. The maps program does take me where I want to go, just not always on the surface I want to be on.