| Author | Message | ||
     Maximum |
Just got the 1,000 mile service done on my 3 week old Uly, and am now preparing for a 1700 mile road trip from Fort Rucker, Alabama to Denver, Colorado (Home). I will be leaving in the morning (2/16) and have added a few items to make the trip more comfy: 1. Garmin Zumo 550 with XM services 2. Polly Grip Heaters with Heat-Troller 3. Warm-n-safe jacket liner with Heat-Troller 4. Parabellum 24" windshield 5. Olympia AST jacket with Ranger 2 pants 6. Aerostich Combat Lite boots 7. Misc tools and supplies For the most part I am staying off the interstates, and sticking to mostly secondary roads for the scenery (gpx file was too big to attach) If you see a guy with an obnoxiously loud Hi-Vis Olympia jacket, trust me...you can't miss it, that would be me!  | ||
| Windrider |
Max, Stay warm... avoid ice. Feb riding to Denver could be quite a risk! Happy Trails. | ||
| Crusty |
Thirty one years ago, I rode from Colorado Springs to Daytona for bike week. It was cold, and at the end of the first day, all I could do was lay in a tub of hot water to try to warm up. While the secondary roads undoubtedly offer much better scenery, Interstates are usually better maintained, and there's less of a chance of encountering ice. Have fun and let us know how it goes (or went, as the case may be). | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
You might also get a balaclava. That wind that creeps up under your helmet is a beyotch! I would also be looking for some heated pants as well. | ||
| Odie |
Just saw Maximum off on the start of his trip. He said he will try to post some pics as he progresses. It is COLD here this morning. 23 was the low last night. Ironically, here in lower Alabama is the projected coldest part of his journey. He's got some great 'keep warm' gear for sure though. Ride safe.... | ||
| Discodino |
Good luck | ||
| Red_chili |
We're getting chinooks today, and it's warm. The snow is fairly vaporizing. It will be cooler over the weekend but ridable. The streets in the metro area are dry but I hear nasty things about east of here... | ||
| Old_mil |
Good luck...you're going to be in for a cold ride. You might consider going to a sporting goods store and buying those little packs that you can use as sock warmers. They are supposed to last quite some time - though I've never tried them. Should help keep your feet warm. | ||
| Maximum |
Made it Louisiana around 7 pm tonight, where I am visiting with my in-laws. According to the GPS it looks like I covered 523 miles over a total time of 10:45, of which 9:16 was "moving time". So I spent 1.5 hrs getting fuel, food, bathroom breaks, and snapping a few pictures. Most of the day had temperatures in the 30's, and it got up to the low 40's for a couple hours late afternoon. The Warn-n-safe heated liner worked great! I never needed any more than 40-50% of the Heat-Troller's full range. The Polly grip heaters also worked great, but maybe too well as it appears that I burned a portion of my right palm.  For some reason the right grip get's about 10-20% hotter than my left grip, maybe because there is less rubber (thickness) on the throttle side. Oh, BTW Ft_bstrd: I did have a "Wind Stopper" balaclava, and it worked great. My face was not cold at all! I also wore a set of the "Wind Stopper" booties, which are supposed to help the feet, but I'm not sure how well they worked as my feet was the only thing that was cold during the low 30's in the morning. My legs were fine with only the Olympia Ranger 2 pants with liner installed. I took hwy 84 most of the way, which was certainly more scenic than Interstate 10. I am trying out the new Parabellum wind shield for the trip. I'm sure that it is providing a lot more wind protection, but it does have a mild amount of buffeting going on when my head is in my normal riding position. It is not bad, no pushing my head back and forth, but there it the low frequency oscillation going on around my ears. So I ordered some of SAENG's Micro-Swirl edging for the trip to compare the difference. It seems to have moved the buffeting back around 10 mph. Where it used to start around 60 mph, now it seems to be kicking in closer to 70 mph. But I'm not sure that the small difference is worth the $12 per foot. I will remove the strip tomorrow and compare again. The only bike problem I had was the right mirror worked itself loose, so it wouldn't stay in the correct position. I will have to tighten it up in the morning. I want to thank Odie for all his help with the bike while I was at Fort Rucker, and I am looking forward to getting that Spec OPS “Max” edition you are working up for me! Tomorrow is a relatively short day, as I have friends in the Dallas area that I will be staying with. Here are a few pictures from today’s portion of the trip. "Welcome to Mississippi"  | ||
| Maximum |
Civil War Mansion in Natchez, MS.  | ||
| Maximum |
On the Louisiana side of the Mississippi river, with the bridge back to Natchez in the background  | ||
| Sanchez |
Looks like fun! I have the taller Buell windshield, but I took it off shortly after installing it because of the head buffeting. The short windscreen's air stream hits me mid chest, and that works out alright. The taller screen moved the air stream up to my chin, which just caused too much turbulence. | ||
| Odie |
Maximum- sounds like your first leg went well! Glad to hear your gear is working well (except for the right side grip that works too well!). Good pics. Ride safe..... | ||
| Maximum |
This was my second day in Texas today. Yesterday I only did about 4 hours going from Louisiana to a friend’s house south of Dallas. The weather was in the low 50's, and with my insulated liners in the jacket and pants, I never needed to turn on the heaters. Today I did another 8 hours of riding from my Friends house in Palestine, Texas to the Days Inn of Dumas, Texas. The weather today was in the low 60's most of the day, so I decided not to use the insulated liners in the jacket and pants, but I did still wear the heated jacket liner just in case I needed it. Did not need the hand grip heaters at all, but did use the jacket liner heater a couple times just to break the chill a little. Although I decided not to travel via the interstates, I found that Texas highway 287 might as well be an interstate highway because it is a four lane divided highway with 70 mph speed limits most all the way, except when passing through the few small towns. So I was traveling between 70 and 85 mph most of the day. During short 65 mph trips last week I was getting about 45 mpg, but today I was getting closer to 40 miles per gallon. I'm sure these will improve as the engine continues to break in. I did some more buffeting tests with the Parabellum wind shield over the last two days. Yesterday without the SAENG micro swirl edging, and today with it again. There is definitely a difference. Without I begin to get mild buffeting around 60-65 mph, and with the edging installed it seems to appear around the 70-80 mph range. So the $12 per foot edging does work, but I'm still not sure if it works well enough to justify buying 4 feet of that material. I am however continually impressed with how easy it is to ride the Uly all day long. Absolutely Great Bike!!! There were some pretty cool things that I wanted to take some pictures of today, but you generally don't see them until you are past, then I don't feel like turning around. So here are a few new pictures for you all. Picture #1 - Welcome to Texas  | ||
| Maximum |
Looking back at Louisiana and the Sabine river.  | ||
| Maximum |
Stopped for the night in Dumas Texas Days Inn.  | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I'm envious of you but wonder how you keep your bike so clean. Oh, and where's the tour pack?? | ||
| Maximum |
Hey Electraglider: The bags were in the hotel room with me, a great deal to be able to pop them off in just a couple seconds. As far as staying clean, I have only cleaned my windshield on the trip. It helps by not having to contend with any rain! Now that I am home, let me work on the report of my last travel day...stand by. | ||
| Maximum |
Well, I made it back to Colorado on Monday, around 2 pm mountain time. The last day of riding was great! Started off from Dumas, Texas around 8 am and headed north on 287 through the western edge of Oklahoma, into the eastern plains of Colorado. When I started the temps were in the low 40's and it was forecasted to be 55 degrees in Denver, so I once again left off the insulated jacket and pant liners. When after getting into Colorado I noticed that it was feeling cooler. I went through a small town where the bank sign said 37 degrees, and my Zumo/XM weather said that Lamar was 34 degrees. But surprisingly all I had to do was crank my heated jacket liner and Polly grips all the way up and I was completely toasty! This indicates to me that I could probably do teens and twenties if I install the liners (not that I am looking to validate this anytime soon). After four days of experimenting with the 24" Parabellum windshield, I decided that I like the protection that it provided on this trip, and I like the difference that the SAENG micro swirl strips made. The difference was only noticeable above 70-75 mph, but I ended up traveling around 80 much of the trip. If I had to do it again, as far as the purchase of the Parabellum, I would still do it, but I would go for the 26" version instead. Because the angle of windshield, two inches taller only equates to about 1-1.25 inches of vertical increase (the whole a2+b2=c2 thing). More importantly, the additional height windshield would have brought the top edge closer to my helmet in the normal riding position, and this would have further reduced the noise by pushing back the buffet zone to a point behind my head in a normal riding position. The weather was great! Although a little windy in Texas, the coldest temperatures I faced the entire trip was when I started off from Alabama! I prepared for the worst, with my Olympia riding suit being rated extremely good in rain, but I did not encounter one single drop of rain on the entire trip! It started to get a little cloudy as I got close to Denver, and there was PM rain in the forecast, but I never encountered any moisture. My fuel mileage averaged about 42 mpg on the trip. I found that when I maintained speeds around 80 mph (plus or minus a few) I got approximately 40 mpg. But if I were to average around 70 mph (trying not to exceed 75) I got almost 50 mpg! I would have tried out a tank full while averaging 65 mph, but I choose to just get home a little sooner. The difference of 10 mph slower basically resulted in an increase in range of 40 miles! I pulled off for fuel at 165 miles, and the low fuel warning light had not even come on yet. Although I must say, the bike likes 80 mph! I needed no extra maintenance on the trip at all; no additional oil and no problems what so ever (other than needing to tighten up my right mirror)! Just put in gas and go. After 1650 miles over four days, and 27 hours in the saddle, I never felt sore or cramped the entire trip. In fact, a couple hours after getting home I felt like I could go out and ride some more! My final thoughts: THIS IS ONE AMAZING MACHINE! (Message edited by maximum on February 20, 2007) | ||
| Maximum |
Made it to Oklahoma, surviving the boredom of the flat terrain of North Texas and the occasional tumble weed darting in front of me.  | ||
| Maximum |
A sight for not so sore eyes, almost home.  | ||
| Maximum |
Huge windmill farm on the eastern plains of Colorado. You can't see it too well from the picture, but it was still totally covered with snow in this area (not the roads).  | ||
| Maximum |
Finally Home! Boy it sure was nice to see the Rocky Mountains again!  | ||
| Odie |
Maximum- Glad to hear you made it home safe and sound. Sounds like the bike did you well. Finishing up your pipe in the next few days and shipping out to you along with the fork springs. The other box left today via UPS. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Wow, Maximum! I had no idea you were missing your left leg! How did you shift gears?  | ||
| Naustin |
I gotta get out and ride...  Thanks for the pics... nick | ||
| Wildwilly |
Awesome pics and thanks for sharing a real world test. I've been looking at the exact Olympia suit you have, and now I'm going to purchase it. Thanks again for the great write up. | ||
| Snowscum |
Max did that edging help with buffeting 70-80mph? I have the Cee bailey 14+ on mine and get a helmet buzz about 70+. Not sure if you said where you bought that edging but where could I get some of that on the front range? Im in Broomfield. Glad you made it back ok! | ||
| Maximum |
Snowscum: I did feel that it made a difference above 70 mph, it was not huge but it was noticeable. Since you an I live in the same area, I would suggest that you borrow my edging and try it for yourself. The edging slips on an off with no problems. | ||
| Troyyz |
Maximum, Great to have you back in Colorado. In retrospect, I should have joined you on the adventure. Thanks for the excellent report on your experiences and the feedback on the all the gear. Picked up an Olympia ensemble today in preparation on my trip back from Alabama and am ordering the Polygrips tonight. Beautiful bike!!! Though I really doubt the orange one is really faster...  You know what they say, Black is beautiful!!! We have come a long way since our conversations/dreaming/scheming in Balad, Iraq. Thanks again for the inspiration and letting me ride on your coat tails. Welcome home! |
