| Author | Message | ||
     Zane |
As some of you know, I’ve been trolling for a cheap way to get a bike from Dallas to Tampa. The reason is because I bought a new to me XB12XT from Badweb’s very own Slowride. First off I need to tell everyone that this may be the ultimate motorcycle. Lots of power, very agile and comfortable. Anyone that has never owned an XT has my pity. I flew out last Monday morning to Dallas Fort Worth with a short stop over in Houston to change planes. When I left Tampa it was clear blue and in the upper 60’s. Just perfect. Landing in Houston it was raining and winding and cold. I got stuck in Houston for an extra 2 hours before I the flight continued on to DFW airport. Micah Wright (Slowride) picked me up at the airport and drove me to meet my new baby. He treated me great. He dealt with the delay without batting an eye and spent a lot of time going over what I needed to know about my new baby. Thanks Micah! The bike is red and had 6008 miles on it. Part of the deal involved new tires and an oil change. Micah promised the bike would be ready to ride home and he was good to his work. I found the XT to be in almost pristine condition. I left his drive way about 5:30 pm and headed east on US 380. I wanted to stay off the Interstates at first for a couple of reasons. I haven’t ridden much in the last two years so my proficiency was low. Also this was a bike I didn’t have any time on so I know I wasn’t going to ride it well. I used US 380 and then turned south on US 69. I rode until just after dark and made it as far as Lindale Texas. I stayed that the Best Western right at the entrance to I-20. In all I’d say I made about 150 miles the first night. It was cool by the time I parked it. The weather channel said local temp was 36 degrees. I love heated grips! Was on the road by 8:30 the next morning. Temp when I left the motel was 38 degrees but the sky was clear blue and no sign of rain. I got on I-20 and road until I got to the Louisiana boarder and stopped for a stretch at the welcome station. I had not gotten my helmet off before some one came up to me and wanted to talk motorcycles. I loved it. Seems as if every time I stopped, some one was eyeballing my Buell. In Shreveport Louisiana I turned south on I-49 and Alexandra. I was tired of interstate so I got off of I-20 and took Louisiana State Route 1 south. By now it had warmed up nicely and I was comfortable. This part of Louisiana was beautiful. Very rural and it’s clear that agriculture is king. I saw miles and miles of what looked like sugar cane. This is a very pretty part of our country. I stayed on State Route 1 until I got to 190 and took that into Baton Rouge and onto I-10. I-10 though Baton Rouge was a parking lot. Not really a large city, it took me more than an hour and a half .to get past BR. It was cool crossing the Mississippi river though. Got a great view of the skyline on the east side of the river and saw a lot of barge traffic. The parking lot lasted until after I had gotten onto I-12. Once past the construction in and around Baton Rouge, it was clear sailing. Made good time on I-12 and the traffic wasn’t bad at all. I drove until about 9:00 and stayed at a Motel 8 in Pascagoula, Mississippi. I was one tired puppy by the time I stopped for the night. I did go out once. I went out to get a burger to eat and even splurged and bought a beer to drink in my room. I ate, turned on the TV and promptly fell asleep. The beer went to waste. By the way, don’t bother with Motel 8. It smelled and the hot water was luke warm. Wednesday morning I got on the road about 8:30 and pushed eastward. Pretty soon I was going past Pensacola. I know that area since I went to school there (University of West Florida). It’s changed a lot since I lived there. It was at the rest stop just east of Pensacola that I had the most interesting meeting of the trip. An oblivious biker and his wife (?) were at the rest stop, stretching their legs. He was pretty inked up and just had that “don’t screw with me look”. They were riding a Black 1990 Ultra Classic. I pull into the parking space next to them and start to take off my helmet, gloves and jacket. He calls over to me: “Hey is that there one of them Buells? Can I look at it?” Yes and sure you can. We talked motorcycle stuff for about 10 minutes and he saying how he’s rebuilt his motor and it has 60,000 miles on it since. Then he asks me where I’m coming from and I tell him Dallas and headed to Tampa. He just says “Boy! Give me your hand.” These things are meant to be ridding and you’re honest to God using it for what it’s meant for. If there’s anything I hate it’s a mother****in’ poser. Some of those mother****in’ posers only travel 100 miles to bike week and have to put the bike on a trailer. They don’t deserve to own a bike. I hate them mother****in’ posers! He went on in that vein for about 10 more minutes. Seems I struck a nerve. I didn’t laugh until after they had left to rest stop. Anyway I followed US 19 south down to the little city I live in, Dunedin. Dunedin is on the west side of Tampa Bay right on the coast. From Slowride’s garage to mine it was 1178 miles. I was really nervous about this ride. I haven’t ridden much in over 2 years and worried I was getting in over my head. I’m 56 and not in as good a shape as I once was either. But I have to say the XT took great care of me. One of the few issues I had was that my arms and elbows got really tired, stiff and sore. After almost 1200 miles my butt and back were in great shape though. I have some degenerative disks in my lower back and expected to be hurting by the time I got home. No problems at all. I’m both surprised and grateful. I tried to cruise between 65 and 70 and for the most part stayed in that speed range. I did peak once about 85 mph but didn’t stay there long. The XT averaged 49 miles to the gallon and it used maybe 4 oz of oil. I’d say that’s pretty good. Another issue I had was the buffeting from the wind. I used the tall windscreen throughout the trip. Traveling behind large trucks, even at a safe following distance was hard. I caught a lot of mixed wind on my torso from them. That felt a little scary until I got used to it. Also the bike is so light that I was pushed around by the wind a lot. Passing a semi was scary at first. I also noticed that the XT is harder to maneuver when pushing it around. My last bike was a Blast so the dead weight feel was pretty noticeable in comparison. That’s just something to get used to. This bike is everything I expected it to be and more. More than enough power to cruise all day, great comfortable and easy to ride. I found a few curve on the way home but nothing that came close to challenging the XT. Just think about the curves and the bike takes you though them. This is a great bike and even though I’m poor right now, it’s worth every penny. I’m in love! | ||
| Blake |
Great report Zane. Micah is good people.  | ||
| Smoke |
great job Zane! enjoy the XT! tim | ||
| F_skinner |
"Micah Wright (Slowride) picked me up at the airport and drove me to meet my new baby. He treated me great. He dealt with the delay without batting an eye and spent a lot of time going over what I needed to know about my new baby. Thanks Micah! " Yep, Micah is the best. I spent a few hours at his house and enjoyed his company all the way to GA and back. Good ride report. Enjoy the XB Zane. Frank | ||
| Dynasport |
Congrats on the new bike! I'm not too far from you in Brandon. I have a 10 XT and agree that it is a great motorcycle. As far as the wind buffeting goes, I added Palmer brackets to my stock screen and the combination works great for me. I have talked to some people that still had issues with buffeting with the stock screen even with the Palmer brackets and went to the screen Palmer sells as well with good results. I recommend buying the brackets and trying them with your stock screen to see how it works for you. I keep the brackets in the top position for the best results for me. Enjoy the ride and stay safe. Dan | ||
| Etennuly |
Sorry to see you had to 'actually go get it'.  Sometime circumstance and fate can lead you into a great trip. That Micah fella, well I would ride with him even if he was on a Goldwing! Glad you had a great trip and nice job on the report. I guess I need to let you Central Florida guys know the next time I am coming down on my Uly. My son lives in Brandon area also. I lived in that area for many years. | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
great ride report.... Micah is good peeps and its fun to make him say his name 3 or 4 times... hey, I'm damn near deaf if there's a bunch of background noise... sorry Micah... now change your profile info.... you are a part of the Big Bad and Dirty now | ||
| Geforce |
Zane, Sounds like an awesome adventure! Glad to see you are enjoying your new bike. As for those semis... I ride an 1125r and I also have an XB12Scg. I have noticed that the XB doesn't put up with wind buffeting as much as my 1125r does. Here's my tactic for semis and large trailers on the interstate... I pass them ASAP and I don't hang out for long next to them. I once had a semi tire explode right next me as I was passing it on my 1125r. When I say right next me, I mean I was lined up with it, and it exploded about 5-6 feet away from my right side and pelted my riding gear, helmet and bike with bits of tire. I was fine, but the adrenaline rush that commenced was enough to make me pull over and try to calm down. Anytime I do long interstate trips... if I can't pass them, I let the trucks stay way ahead of me and I hang out until I can pass. | ||
| Zane |
I've put about 50 miles on the XT since I've been home. Not only is this a great road bike, I'm finding out it's a great around town bike too. The ride home from Texas was a great experience. I've never done anything like that before but I can see some shorter road trips in my future. I can't get enough of this bike. | ||
| Aeholton |
Good report Zane. I'm in Palm Harbor. I've followed Micah around north GA and TN during Buelltoberfest last year. He's a very good rider and much faster rider than me, even with his son on the back. You need to plan on attending Buelltoberfest this year. I'm Buell-less at the moment, but will be attending with my R100S. Let me know if you want to do a day ride someplace around central FL. Micah - Whatcha riding now? | ||
| Paint_shaker |
Central Florida here. | ||
| Zane |
Thanks for all the kind words about the write up. It was a great trip. My son is already talking about a trip the east coast of Florida this week end. I figure "why the heck not?" For the first time, tomorrow night I'm going to bike night and won't have to take the cage. Very excited about that. I plan to get there early to get a prominent parking spot. That way every one else can lust in their heart over my motorcycle. | ||
| 86129squids |
Congrats, Zane! I doubt you could have done much better than Micah for procuring a schweeet Buell. It's Farkling Time!!! | ||
| Whisperstealth |
Way to go! Once you feel really comfortable, open her way up. And hang on | ||
| Fast1075 |
Congratulations on the new bike Zane!! If you want to go ride give me a holler. Harry | ||
| Zane |
Harry, I'd love to ride with you but give me some time to get proficient enough to not embarrass myself first... lol | ||
| Fltwistygirl |
Congrats on the new bike, Zane. Hope it brings you miles of smiles. Off to a good start! "I once had a semi tire explode right next me as I was passing it on my 1125r. When I say right next me, I mean I was lined up with it, and it exploded about 5-6 feet away from my right side and pelted my riding gear, helmet and bike with bits of tire. I was fine, but the adrenaline rush that commenced was enough to make me pull over and try to calm down. Anytime I do long interstate trips... if I can't pass them, I let the trucks stay way ahead of me and I hang out until I can pass." Yikes, Geforce, that's some scary stuff. Wrong time, wrong place, glad u made it thru unscathed. I worry about that on the interstate and try to never lollygag near the big rigs. | ||
| Luftkoph |
Thats good advice geforce and fltwisty just don't hang around transports, and pass them as fast as possible,I've had tires blow out and the bend and break 3/16" thick 6" I beams on the trailer frame cross-members and a 1/4" steel bracket that weighed around 20+ pounds that was welded to the frame, was sent sailing thru the air. With tires costing upwards of $400 each truckers don't like it either but it happens | ||
| Slowride |
~Zane~ You did it buddy... Congrats on a great ride report... and now you know the rest of the story (to borrow a line). The Buell experience is what keeps me coming back time and time again. I can't count the number of times I have pulled in somewhere on a Buell (M2, X1, 2 Uly's, CR) that I have been approached by HARD CORE (ahaha, lol) tatt'd biker dudes with their roach (uh, I mean ol Lady) on the back of their Scoot, splaining away about all of these dagone posers, rubs and corp sissys riding their chrome sleds. I laugh to myself as I tend to be more of the ADVRider type with a good job and good vacation so I can take those 14 day 6k mile road trips once a year, but hell no... they won't find out I am a corporate sissy boy brining out my rub suit for the 1st time all year. Nope... I am a dagone Iron Butt ... butt burner, with certs to prove it. I hang em on my license plate dontchaknow! As for the rest of you Buellers... aww shucks... you guys know how to make a fat grown redneck cry like a baby... well all of you except Wolfridgerider, fooker made me almost spew my coffee all over my keyboard. I just flashed back to that night in the barn workin on the HD riders sporty he threw off the cliff and remembered you asking what my name was... ahahaha... I thought you were drunk Marine~! @ Adrian - I am riding the Honda ST1300 right now..  So, Zane... saddle up that Uly, put the short shield I gave you on that girl and get your butt to Buelltoberfest in October and I will take you around the mountain a few times. |
