PacWestGS
10-02-2005, 08:15 PM
WARNING: THIS NOT A NEW THREAD, READ AS YOU MAY!
Ever heard the phrase "If you don't like the weather, give it five-minutes it will change"? :huh
Well that happened to me yesterday when I was taking the (loaner) F650GS Dakar back to the shop so I could pick up my GS. :cry :D
I had this bike since Friday evening and it rained on me during the trip home, the 650 felt small and uncomfortable :dunno so I came straight home and parked it over-night. :brow
Saturday, the skies are blue, :clap but white clouds are abundant everywhere. :violin It looks like a good day to get to know a new friend. :buds I met a buddy of mine and rode to work with him (he's on a XR650L), back streets and highway, speeds over 60 and lots of short residential turns. Fun factor X7. :dance
Take the long way back home and many shortcuts through known off-road, jeep trails and fire-breaks, a few stream crossings and my new friend and I are getting along just fine. In fact we've bonded. :hug Fun factor X8. :dance :brad
Well, I'd been dry so far and got the loaner a little dirty, so I came home and gave it quick cleaning before returning it. The sun is out and feels great, I leave my house just ahead of my wife (she in her Jimmy and we're going shopping after). Down the (country) road about five-minutes there is this huge black cloud hanging over the road, Oh well, going to get wet. (I'm wearing a Moto-cross helmet and goggles; my full-face is in the Jimmy) Bang, sting, wait that's not rain, that's ice, I'm driving headlong into a hail storm at 55-mph, Oh well, it can't be to bad or too long, I keep going, visibility drops to a little over a half-mile, then a quarter-mile, the edges are turning white, then the whole road surface is white and getting deeper (I guess 3/8 to 1/2 inch). I flip on the four-ways to keep the vehicle behind me aware of my location. My face is burning and I'm using my left hand and visor the best I can to fend off the pellets. I'm thinking I should stop and let my wife catch up, NO, I might get hit, I've slowed to about 40-mph and I just pick a good thick spot on the road and kept going. I'm thinking this bike is rock-solid, un-phased, and I'm glad it has ABS although I have no plans to use it. About a mile down the road it begins to rain, heavy, this I can deal with, but my goggles are all fogged up inside and out, I kept going to the dealer and eventually got back to clear blue skies and warmer temperatures, but that was one freaky storm for such a previously nice day. Fun factor X0, :doh pucker factor X7. :eek
The preceding paragraph took ten-minutes of time to go ten-miles, of a 25+ mile trip.
I put 105 miles on a ’05 F650GS Dakar and now I want one for those for local days the GS is just too big for, and the YZ426 is just not legal to use. :lol :lol :jester
Ever heard the phrase "If you don't like the weather, give it five-minutes it will change"? :huh
Well that happened to me yesterday when I was taking the (loaner) F650GS Dakar back to the shop so I could pick up my GS. :cry :D
I had this bike since Friday evening and it rained on me during the trip home, the 650 felt small and uncomfortable :dunno so I came straight home and parked it over-night. :brow
Saturday, the skies are blue, :clap but white clouds are abundant everywhere. :violin It looks like a good day to get to know a new friend. :buds I met a buddy of mine and rode to work with him (he's on a XR650L), back streets and highway, speeds over 60 and lots of short residential turns. Fun factor X7. :dance
Take the long way back home and many shortcuts through known off-road, jeep trails and fire-breaks, a few stream crossings and my new friend and I are getting along just fine. In fact we've bonded. :hug Fun factor X8. :dance :brad
Well, I'd been dry so far and got the loaner a little dirty, so I came home and gave it quick cleaning before returning it. The sun is out and feels great, I leave my house just ahead of my wife (she in her Jimmy and we're going shopping after). Down the (country) road about five-minutes there is this huge black cloud hanging over the road, Oh well, going to get wet. (I'm wearing a Moto-cross helmet and goggles; my full-face is in the Jimmy) Bang, sting, wait that's not rain, that's ice, I'm driving headlong into a hail storm at 55-mph, Oh well, it can't be to bad or too long, I keep going, visibility drops to a little over a half-mile, then a quarter-mile, the edges are turning white, then the whole road surface is white and getting deeper (I guess 3/8 to 1/2 inch). I flip on the four-ways to keep the vehicle behind me aware of my location. My face is burning and I'm using my left hand and visor the best I can to fend off the pellets. I'm thinking I should stop and let my wife catch up, NO, I might get hit, I've slowed to about 40-mph and I just pick a good thick spot on the road and kept going. I'm thinking this bike is rock-solid, un-phased, and I'm glad it has ABS although I have no plans to use it. About a mile down the road it begins to rain, heavy, this I can deal with, but my goggles are all fogged up inside and out, I kept going to the dealer and eventually got back to clear blue skies and warmer temperatures, but that was one freaky storm for such a previously nice day. Fun factor X0, :doh pucker factor X7. :eek
The preceding paragraph took ten-minutes of time to go ten-miles, of a 25+ mile trip.
I put 105 miles on a ’05 F650GS Dakar and now I want one for those for local days the GS is just too big for, and the YZ426 is just not legal to use. :lol :lol :jester