First big Ride (planning)...

I'm planning a heavy ride on Friday, about 200 mile round trip and about 5hrs total ride time. :eek2: This may take longer because I'm planning on stopping for a bit here and there, to rest up, grab a bite and take some pics. Nothing as nice as some of the scenery that the rest of you post but I'll try (This is New Jersey after all).
I've been going over the bike and making sure that everything is solid and I'm cofident that this first big run should be fine and the Widow will perform in all her awesomeness. :riding:
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...100_4099-1.jpg

I'll post a detailed ride report the following day, wife permitting :lol8:

Wish me luck!

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Originally Posted by Gardo

I'm planning a heavy ride on Friday ... I'm planning on stopping for a bit here and there, to rest up, grab a bite and take some pics ... New Jersey

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Hey Gardo - first off, good luck on your first major ride.

NJ? Ain't that Tony Soprano's turf? How about some pics from inside Bada Bing? I'm sure we'd all appreciate that fine scenery!

Safe riding on your cool mount - arrive home safely, without any spilled blood, and you're still a "made" wiseguy!

Sounds good. Enjoy your time and reserve some more you have planned. After that toss the clock on the road like in Easy Rider :naughty:

Every good trip start with that ritual.

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Originally Posted by Lao Jia Hou

Hey Gardo - first off, good luck on your first major ride.

NJ? Ain't that Tony Soprano's turf? How about some pics from inside Bada Bing? I'm sure we'd all appreciate that fine scenery!

Safe riding on your cool mount - arrive home safely, without any spilled blood, and you're still a "made" wiseguy!

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Ayyyye forgettaboutit Ohhh Marone dis guys want badabings, but der aint no badda bings anymore LoL

its actually Satin Dolls and I live 15 minutes from there. Most days it looks like the Ukrainian Uglies championship

Haha the Bada Bing, I pass by it everyday on my way to work and Gardos description is right on. Once you get away from north Jersey it's actually really nice, they do call it the Garden State afterall.

Good luck with the ride Gardo, my butt would go numb after about 125 miles on my Dyna with the Bare Bones seat so make sure you take some good breaks and keep well hydrated. The best part about going with other dudes with bigger bikes is you can store all you crap in their bags

Have fun, looking forward to how the Widow performs. If she does well on this trip it would set aside some of my reservations. I'm done blasting around on the highway around here, it's just way too dangerous. I really like the slower 50ish back roads, the heist should do well on those, it would probably keep me out of trouble too without having all those ponies and torque of my other bike.

thanks JK3, I readjusted the seat tonight and WOW what a difference. Took it around for 20min or so to get the feel of it and man its better.

i'm planning on back roading it to bloomfield and jumping on the GSP for 25mls (40.23km) then down Rt.1 for another 10mls (16km) and stay on Rt130 for 53mls (85.3 km) then though some of the side streets to Pit so its really 97 miles total (156.1 km total) one way :scooter:

the way I recon it should be a nice clear day and there's just enoug on those roads to keep me from getting bored on the ride. I also am cheating, since I plan on doingthe Americade run this year i picked up some padded Super moto shorts to slip on under my Jeans, as an experiment :deal: :thumbsup:

I think you should hit all the spots in 'Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle'

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Originally Posted by culcune

I think you should hit all the spots in 'Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle'

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I love White castle have one 5 minutes from me might need to make a run over there later
Okay just got in from my ride and trip to PIT Motors. Tougher than I thought. I'm really worn out so I'll post my report tomorrow.
the batteries in the camera gave out half way through the ride but I still have great video more tomorrow.

On the way out
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/100_4110.jpg

Below is some of the mapping of the ride I did yesterday
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...rx/ridemap.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...x/ridemap3.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...x/ridemap4.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...x/ridemap5.jpg
I clocked just about 100 miles on Heist in one direction. It was an interesting day, it was colder than the weather reports stated off the bike, kept warming my hands by the engine when I would stop at a light or in traffic, and the ride took longer than I expected.
During the ride I hit traffic which slowed me down do to road work, I had a road crew guy blow debris at me and the bike (not fun). I hit a section of highway that felt like they put in a speed bump every 50 feet, one caught me un aware riding to the top of the hill and it felt like I was airborne for a few moments. And a woman on a cell phone nearly tanked me when she swerved into my lane. One other thing I didn’t account for was wind. I was pretty buffeted at times but I just tucked in and rode through.

I did manage some video but my batteries died on the camera about half way through the trip. I still managed some good video.

The total ride time was 3 hrs with 2 breaks, one for gas, about 10 minutes, and the other for a bite to eat and rest, 30 minutes. Needed to relax the hands and legs, this was by far the longest I have ever been on a bike.

Some of the things I did before my trip down was checked the bike and did a once over on everything, didn’t help my heat shield which rattled off on the ride down.
I had to wear my half helmet and goggles since my full face was over my brother’s house.

List of my gear:
Long sleeve winter grade mock neck under armor
Full padded kidney belt (The bike is a ridged frame)
Leather jacket
Heavy denim jeans
Helmet/goggles/gloves
Kidney belt
Fork bag (contained another camera and my new tail light, and tools)
Carmex lip balm (if you have an open face you know how those lips start to feel)
Blackberry (the all important mobile, to let folks know I was okay)

I left at 11am and got to the Shop at 2pm. I did quite a bit of highway driving and the bike preformed much better than I could have hoped for I was cruising at 60 – 65 mph and the bike had more to give. At one point I looked down and I was hitting 80, slowed that iron pony right down. I was surprised that I wasn’t getting much or any vibration from the bike. Al from PIT told me the motor has a counter balance.

I had made my first stop about 35 minutes into the trip, for gas and a bottle of water. My next stop, I stopped at a BK for a quick burger, fries and some much needed rest and a Bio break, and more water. This was almost 2 hrs into the ride and that was about 2/3 of my trip down. Now the camera was locked in the fork bag and I totally forgot to take it out to snap some shots. But the video will collaborate my story.

The final leg of the trip, the sun was coming out and felt I pretty good. The stop to rest really paid off. It was a nice stretch of Highway, open and fairly clear. When I arrived at the shop Brett just shook his head and called me a mad man. Al was smiles from ear to ear.
Here on my 250 heist ridged frame I did this ride in non optimal conditions and the bike performed very well. Now at some point I lost my heat shield

After BSing for a bit we put the bike on the lift and checked it out and she was as sound as a crystal bell.

Then I got to work on her and cleaned up the engine area,

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/100_4143.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/100_4142.jpg

replaced the heat shield

http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/100_4153.jpg

and got to working on the rear light.

That was a pain in the @$$ that was. The light is SAE on a metric bike so with the help of tom from the Weaver group I modified the stock bracket to make it fit sanded it and repainted the piece.
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/100_4141.jpg
http://i122.photobucket.com/albums/o...t/100_4135.jpg

I also got to play around with some of the custom Heists that they are building and checked out the Misfit, Hooligan and Ace.

By the time we were done it was getting late and time for me to go home. The trip back was longer and exhausting, but I got it done and was home by midnight, half frozen and road weary.

All in all I would do it again.

:thumbsup:

Way to rock it madman.

Hey you lost your air pump too. Nice. Your bike is really looking good.

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Originally Posted by Kb96gt

Hey you lost your air pump too. Nice. Your bike is really looking good.

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Damn thing just rattled right off :lol8:
seriously I still have it... in a box :naughty:

Gardo,
Looks like you had a nice ride to PIT and back. Damn charcoal canister fell off too.

Gardo - congrats on a successful first journey & thanks for the pics & descriptions.

That NJ traffic seems civilized and sparse. Ah, the luxury of having people stay in their own lanes.

Love your new tail light - looks great & very classic. Overall, your bike is maturing into something quite nice.

And IMHO, a ride is most enjoyable when one feels that "afterglow", good or bad. :lol8:

Dear Gardo,

Great report and thanks for the whole psychological profile of the ride. Love hearing what goes through people's minds as they go through this learning curve. Didn't you say you'd not been a bike for years? Sounds like the verdict is in: You're hooked.

One question: Is that thing a chick magnet or what? What kind of responses are you getting from other folks on the road? OK, that was two questions.

keep it coming!

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Originally Posted by euphonius

Dear Gardo,

Great report and thanks for the whole psychological profile of the ride. Love hearing what goes through people's minds as they go through this learning curve. Didn't you say you'd not been a bike for years? Sounds like the verdict is in: You're hooked.

One question: Is that thing a chick magnet or what? What kind of responses are you getting from other folks on the road? OK, that was two questions.

keep it coming!

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10 years to be exact, back then the longest ride i did was 10 miles before I dropped the bike,
1. it was too much bike for my first bike (it was my buddy's track racer)
2. I had no idea what I was doing

wrecked the bike but walked away unscathed but didn't get right back on. Now look at me

Boy is it ever I'm getting a lot of attention and now more so because the bike

got the initial ride vid up on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L2izFjglms

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIn4ZlKzDPc

Gardo,

Great thread, you drove right by my house on RT 130 on your way down there. A quick question, what did you think of the other bikes they will be releasing soon. The Misfit really looks interesting to me. Thanks for the great reports and reviews.

Ray Goeke

Hey Ray,
First up welcome to the boards and thank you. I really liked the Misfit, but its not my type of bike. I prefer forward controls and not really comfortable on a bike with standard controls. All in all the bike felt good. the Ace is old school and comfortable. Perfect for those leisurely Sundays with a partner on the back. Nice and strong ride, again not my type of bike.

they have them on display at PIT to be checked out. I think Mike from Cyclehouse in Fork River will be carrying them but dont quote me on that LoL

Thanks for the feedback. I hope to get down to PIT next week and check them out.

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Originally Posted by rfg1925

Thanks for the feedback. I hope to get down to PIT next week and check them out.

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Enjoy man they are fun bikes, any questions ask away.

Good report Gardo, looks like she was ripping along nicely on the Parkway! And yes you are a madman haha! The route you took would tire me out on my cushy Dyna, not the nicest roads after the winter we had. Definitely a good test for you and the bike, it was pretty damn cold that day. For me it's more of a mental thing dealing with all the maniac cagers out there and keeping your head on a swivel.

Do you think the bike has enough power getting up to speed/merging on those on ramps and getting you out of potential dangerous situations? I know she's not made to be a highway cruiser or have much torque, just trying to get a feel for the bike.

Next time you go down there you should jump on Rt 539 for a bit. Awesome 2 lane road that goes through some farm areas and the pine barrens. Great scenery, freshly paved with a 50mph limit. Feels like your down in Virginia or N. Carolina not NJ.

Oh the kidney belt is a great idea with the hardtail, never thought about that one. The air cooled motors are nice hand warmers too.

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Originally Posted by JK3

Good report Gardo, looks like she was ripping along nicely on the Parkway! And yes you are a madman haha! The route you took would tire me out on my cushy Dyna, not the nicest roads after the winter we had. Definitely a good test for you and the bike, it was pretty damn cold that day. For me it's more of a mental thing dealing with all the maniac cagers out there and keeping your head on a swivel.

Do you think the bike has enough power getting up to speed/merging on those on ramps and getting you out of potential dangerous situations? I know she's not made to be a highway cruiser or have much torque, just trying to get a feel for the bike.

Next time you go down there you should jump on Rt 539 for a bit. Awesome 2 lane road that goes through some farm areas and the pine barrens. Great scenery, freshly paved with a 50mph limit. Feels like your down in Virginia or N. Carolina not NJ.

Oh the kidney belt is a great idea with the hardtail, never thought about that one. The air cooled motors are nice hand warmers too.

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thanks JK3, it was taxing on grey matter, I was mentally and physically exhausted. My buddies tell me its different when you ride with a group, so I'll see when i head to Americade.

JK3, yes, yes I do. The GSP is not a walk in the park even in a car but she handled it well and maintained. Might take a ride down the shore and get a better feel for it :riding:

Will need to map out 539 out and try it, thanks man.