The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
Technical Discussion => Ride Reports and Event Reviews => Topic started by: Semper Gumby on April 27, 2014, 09:12:44 AM
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Well its Sunday morning and there is 46906 miles showing on the odometer of a 1971 BSA Thunderbolt. I would love to be riding across the country on the R65 but this is a BSA international rally I'm going to. It's in Petaluma CA.
I'm in Atlanta. And there are no guarantees.
I would love to meet some R65 folks as I head across the country if possible.
As an enticement, I have an announcement -- I have the flag.
It rides with me. If I meet you I will pass it off to another BMWR65.org member. I should not have kept this so long but there it is.
Here is a picture of the bike you will be looking for:
(https://bmwr65.org/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi201.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Faa12%2FSemper_Gumby%2F2014%252004%252027%2520Ride%2520to%2520Petaluma%2520CA%2FDSCF7627_zpsd18611a4.jpg&hash=0362c4a25d8a1bc655bd9382626431c0d6ab6ad9)
Good luck y'all. ;)
My cell 404-791-0704
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So, Gumby. Have you, as yet, plotted a route on a chart?
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Well I went around the weather on I-40 by running down to I-10. Tonight I'm in Kerrvile TX. Tomorrow I will prolly continue west on I-10. I-40 looks too cold for a non-gerbing bike.
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Bill, sorry we missed you on the outbound leg. Let us know if you are coming back through north Texas.
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I'm in Tuba city AZ this morning. Aiming for I-40 at Gallup then east. Weather channel is all a twitter again with their name the winter storm thing.
Still have the flag.
My cell 4 oh 4 dash 79 one dash 070 four.
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Having dinner in Santa Rosa. Making for Amarillo TX tonight to be near the front for tomorrow morning. BP - Benton TX looks kinda south of I-40....
Windy as all get out. How do you Texas guy stand it? I got blown half way across a lane today in a 50 knot gust, Snowed on and rode through a dust storm so bad that the dust generated enough static electricity that I got shocked though my ear buds inside my helmet.
Jeepers. Next will be a plague of frogs right?
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I had 1.5 '71 BSA Thunderbolts, once upon a time... ;)
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No worries, Bill. The heavy stuff is ahead of you. Lines of storms from South Texas up into OK and AR moving east with heavy rain, wind and possible damaging hail. Find your self a safe spot to lay up if you're heading into this stuff.
Shoot, Crenshaw and I rode to last year's Boxerworks Rally in NE Oklahoma / SW Arkansas through several hours of pounding rain and a forecast that included, "scattered tornadoes". Can't have more fun than that!
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Bill, you're riding in the Texas panhandle where the wind never stops blowing. I feel your pain about getting blown around. Storms are moving across the South and be sure to stay on the back side. Looks like there is a cold front behind you and heavy weather in front of you.
http://www.wunderground.com/severe.asp
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If that BSA is as light as my Triumph, then it gets blown around more than my R65.
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Well I made it to Amarillo, TX. But first I had the ride of my life. Wind on my back, stars were out, temp was about 80 degrees. I'm enjoying looking at looking of fields of windmills in the darkness. You can't see them but they have their aviation red beacons all set to come on at once so the entire field lights up at once and then goes dark again. It's kind of eery. So this is all off to my right so I didn't notice the smudge on the horizon to my left. About San Jon NM the gust front hit and the wind on my back turns into a 40 knot crosswind with higher gusts. And the temperature drops 20 degrees in a mile.
It was blowing so hard I had to down shift to keep the bike running some wheres near 50 mph. And I'm wondering what next!
And then the angel arrives, in fact two of them. A pick-up truck pulls up next to me and blocks the wind. And I can get back to 65mph in fourth gear and run with my Denali LED high beams on. So I'm a handle bar width off this guys RH front door and the GPS says 70 miles to Amarillo (?) and we dance. There are tumbleweeds blowing across the road in front of us along with the dust, about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile visibility.
There were faster drivers out there that night. When one wanted to get by, the pickup would pull in front and move into the RH lane. After the pass he would go back to the LH lane and and I would move up to the door. At one point during one of the passes, an 18-wheeler CTI rig pulled up next to me and I got a moments rest (sitting up) next to his drive wheels where I knew the "quiet" spot would be.
I drove this way all the way to Amarillo that night - a solid hour of formation driving. When I got to Amarillo I could see the thunderstorms flashing in the darkness. But this was where my hotel was for the night so I stopped.
The next day I got up early and drove though the storm. About three hours worth of rain and some lightning between Oklahoma City and to about 80 NW of Little Rock AR where I turned the corner on the line and started working my way to Memphis. Then I headed SE out of Memphis to Fulton MS where I had ridden as far as I could into the darkness, and yet far enough ahead of the storm so I could stop, sleep and not have to ride out of it again.
That was only two days of some of the wildest riding I have ever done. :o
Home safe again after 6809 miles in the saddle over three weeks. I'll try to post up some links to picks.
This afternoon I ran some errands on the R65 shaking out the cobwebs.
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<snip>
Shoot, Crenshaw and I rode to last year's Boxerworks Rally in NE Oklahoma / SW Arkansas through several hours of pounding rain and a forecast that included, "scattered tornadoes". Can't have more fun than that!
Good to see that I'm not the only one who does this stuff.
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You ought to have a heck of an annual mileage count for this year.
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So, Bill. How did your Big Beeza handle the trip? Other than the wind issues...
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Hi Monte,
The Thunderbolt did fine. I had one flat in San Antonio on the way out. I smoked the clutch in San Francisco and had to baby it for the rest of the trip. I had an re-occurring exhaust leak on the LH header that resulted in the LH exhaust valve closing up. But other than that the bike ran really well. I believe I have it geared too tall and as a result I'm going to drop the front sprocket from 21 teeth to a 20.
Right now I'm gathering parts for the Triumph disc brake front end.
But the bike is really comfortable on the road and was good enough to go across the Tioga Pass 9950' msl without complaint. I am really pleased.
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How many miles do you have on that bike?