motorcycle camping questions

[keith]

I did a 3 week tour on a motorcycle in the early 1980's. Went to England, France, Italy, Monaco, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Holland if I recall. The real reason for the trip was to take in the Monaco and Belgium F1 races, but the whole trip was a blast.

Did a mixture of camping and hotels. Breakfast and lunch was kept simple, maybe bread and cheese and snacks for lunch for example, then to a nice restaurant for dinner. I had a motorcycle with two Krauser panniers at the side of the rear wheel, and a soft tank bag. All my stuff fit in but it was tight. My other hobby was backpacking so I had a very compact tent and sleeping bags. The motorcycle (Honda CBX 550F) did well, but after a few hundred miles the rear chain started to stretch like knicker elastic. From then on, had to adjust the chain every time I filled up the gas tank.

Fortunately we had mostly nice weather. It rained cats and dogs in Belgium, so we stayed at the Sheraton in Brussels and dried out. Scariest moment of the trip was in Belgium, on a dry day. We were cruising at about 100mph and suddenly we hit unannounced road construction. The road surface had been "combed" prior to resurfacing, and the motorcycle just floated over the grooves. I tried to turn and the bike went straight. No kidding, I could turn the handlebars all the way to hit the tank in both directions, and the bike went straight. Not fun at 100mph. Slowed down to about 50mph and got some grip back, and it was fine after that.

Keith.

 

[tweeker43]

keith: i had a bad case of head shake on a dirt bike, but it was at a subtantially slower speed. this old dirt bike had a steering damper knob that was cranked to ultra-tight (because no one knew what it was). i was sure i was going down, and actually lost my grip on the bars. the bike started slowing down and the shake backed off and i saved it, but it took a good 10 minutes to pick the seat cushion out of my twitching nether regions.

i'd like to do the europe ride, but it will take some convincing to get my wife on board.

speaking of wives, msparks, i can probably get a beemer, then start towards virginia so i can live in your garage for the couple of weeks until my wife takes me back

someone mentioned an rz350; i have a 1970 yamaha cs3 in my garage as well. it's the predecessor to the rz/rd series. vertical 2-stroke twin, 22 horse. the oil pump is puked so i have to run pre-mix. a guy a worked with gave it to me if i would get it out of his parent's garage. had to find new pistons, rings, and points. totally stripped and rebuilt (with a lot of help). the petcock leaks, but otherwise it's good. nasty racing green. the guy who owned it before me left gas in the carbs for about 15 years.

so, another bike in the garage might be a problem. i'm working on a business plan to open a bike shop, so hopefully that will get off the ground and i can have some more storage space for toys.

[ January 28, 2004, 10:35 PM: Message edited by: tweeker43 ]