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The Savage is an evil machine for long distances.

It is a fun, simple bike that is light and narrow and fantastic for around town and shorter trips.

But I am not woman enough to ride a Savage across the state much less the country, I think SCGurl is being very smart. It would just hurt no matter how many alterations she made to try to get around it. It's time for a second, long-distance bike! And...if you were to find yourself with a better long-distance machine, you might change your mind about the conference...
(I'm from Charleston, that stretch of interstate up to Ridgeville is insane.)


Well, Daytona's out of the question this year as I have nobody to go with me. So, that saves even more money for the AMA conference. Lion, you're in MD right? When it gets closer, you wanna finalize routes and cross paths somewhere around day two? I'm definately good for at least 600 miles a day of interstate, probably 450 or more on the side roads.

coffee_brake wrote:The Savage is an evil machine for long distances.

It is a fun, simple bike that is light and narrow and fantastic for around town and shorter trips.

But I am not woman enough to ride a Savage across the state much less the country, I think SCGurl is being very smart. It would just hurt no matter how many alterations she made to try to get around it. It's time for a second, long-distance bike! And...if you were to find yourself with a better long-distance machine, you might change your mind about the conference...
(I'm from Charleston, that stretch of interstate up to Ridgeville is insane.)


Well, Daytona's out of the question this year as I have nobody to go with me. So, that saves even more money for the AMA conference. Lion, you're in MD right? When it gets closer, you wanna finalize routes and cross paths somewhere around day two? I'm definately good for at least 600 miles a day of interstate, probably 450 or more on the side roads.

It's not the bar as much as it is I feel like the whole bike is going to vibrate apart. The gel gloves work well, but it's an all-over shaking that's getting to me. My mirrors worked themselves loose on the Ridgeville run.

And it's the best reason I've got for bike shopping sooner rather than later-just dunno which one yet I will be keeping the S40 for the rush-hour commute, though.

If not this year, there's always next year! (Or I could threaten to come bug ya, coffee-you're not that far away )

It is the nature of a single-cylinder bike to vibrate very badly.
My husband just picked up a KLR 650 (another single) and he likes it just fine, but for long distances you really have to take measures to combat the vibrations.

Lots of people think that in-line four-cylinder engines are just for race-bikes, but they are also very very smooth and I LOVE them. I've ridden the BMW twins, parallel twins, Harley twins, and lots of singles, but nothing pleases me like the inline fours and the V-fours (like the VFR and my fantastic Vmax). On my inline fours I can ride all day for days on end and never leave the saddle except for the bathroom and the sleeping bag. They're just "my thing."

You're going to have a great time hunting your bike!

Hey next time I'm headed to Charleston I'll PM you, I really really need some Duke's Barbecue!

Don't rule me out as a possible fellow rider yet, LL and c-b! I'm taking the ERC, bought the "Ride Like A Pro" DVD, and hubby & I are taking the ASMI class this weekend on motorcycle accident preparedness. I put 150 miles on the Versys in 2 wet, windy days and hardly noticed. Would have kept riding if the hands weren't freezing. And, after today, the temp goes up above 40 degrees, YAYYYYYYYY!

SC, I had to change bikes, too. For me, it's the Versys. Managed to get it lowered to 29 inch seat height, so I can at least touch down enough to walk it backwards while seated. But it's top heavy, so while the gearing is friendly enough, it would not have been a good first bike for me. But it's a great bike now!

cb - I'm open for routes. My one "really wanna do" is see the Arch in St. Louis.

Planning, planning, planning....

P

The traffic might be rough, but I'd like to see that arch closer than this, which I took on the trip last year:



My buddy let me ride his new Versys around the parking lot, what a sweet-handling machine! After a cruiser it's top-heavy, but for a good all-around motorcycle it's not top-heavy at all! You're gonna love it for the long haul!

I guess St. Louis traffic is going to be mucky for a while--there's an above-average amount of construction from what I understand. It also has a higher-than-average crime rate.

Yup, love the Versys. Love, love, love it. And that's when it's cold out. I'll love it even more tomorrow, when it's 55 degrees!! 'course, I dropped it today practicing slow-mo manuevers. The hard saddlebag is scuffed, and the clutch lever a little dinged, but that's all. I should have stopped practicing a minute sooner, but, noooo, I was so pleased with how small I could circle, I did serpentines close to a curb. The curb was only a mental issue--I never touched it. But I had lost throttle, and instead of using more throttle, I went and looked at it. Amazingly, it was still there . . . and down we went. Poor bike. I apologized to her.

SO... been plannig, and thinking and researching.

I expect to make St. Louis late on Day 2 of my ride to Colorado. I want to see the Gateway Arch up close, get some pictures, then head west of the city and get a room for the night.

Now you other "easterners" who are thinking of making the trip... we could meet there and head west.

EDIT: At the least, we could meet at a hotel west of the city, and start out together in the morning. Waiting around in the Arch parking lot, after a long day's ride, isn't sounding like a good idea, today. A good concept, but . . . We'll be coming from different directions, and traffic and what not, could spread out our "window of convergence" to several hours.

Pam

Meeting at the Arch--now that is a cool idea!!

MZ33 wrote:I guess St. Louis traffic is going to be mucky for a while--there's an above-average amount of construction from what I understand. It also has a higher-than-average crime rate.

Yup, love the Versys. Love, love, love it. And that's when it's cold out. I'll love it even more tomorrow, when it's 55 degrees!! 'course, I dropped it today practicing slow-mo manuevers. The hard saddlebag is scuffed, and the clutch lever a little dinged, but that's all. I should have stopped practicing a minute sooner, but, noooo, I was so pleased with how small I could circle, I did serpentines close to a curb. The curb was only a mental issue--I never touched it. But I had lost throttle, and instead of using more throttle, I went and looked at it. Amazingly, it was still there . . . and down we went. Poor bike. I apologized to her.

versys is a very cool bike