The curiosity factor.

[nhmaf]

Yesterday I had to travel in to see one of my customers - it is approximately 80 miles each way from my house to their R&D facility   It was a very pleasant, sunny day, so as I usually do on such occasions, I chose to ride a motorcycle for the commute and save some gasoline $$.   But, instead of taking my Kawasaki Concours like I always do for such trips due to its great cargo capacity, I decided to try to pack everything I needed into a back pack and hopped aboard the R65LS.   My back is still kinda aching from carrying that darn 22 pound oscilloscope and other bits on my back for all that time, but it was great to be riding the little airhead.   What I hadn't counted on so much was the curiosity factor making the ride rather annoying:

Much of the trip can be covered either by backroads or by interstate express highway.   As I was running a bit late, I took the interstate highway over for much of the trip.   Usually cars fly along this highway at 70-75-80 MPH.  IT can be a long and very sparsely populated stretch of road sometimes.  But on this trip, I found that when I rode at 65 (which seems a bit more vibratory for Tillie, the R65) I would have cars lined up behind and beside me, all wanting to gawk at the tall goofus on the antique motorcycle.  I presume that they were much more interested in the Henna Red R65 than the guy in black leathers riding it.  I'd speed up to 75 MPH and lose them, but then I'd eventually gain a collection of other, higher-speed gawkers, and would slow back to 65 to encourage them to move on without me - sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.   This doesn't happen on the Kawasaki.   By the end of the commute in to work, I was averaging about 80 MPH.  I was very pleased that Tillie handled it all in stride, and is actually quite smooth at 75-80, though I wasn't happy about continuously collecting a "posse" of cagers with me.    For the ride home, I took mostly back roads at a much more sedate pace - it was dark, but I was mostly alone as we wound our way through the countryside at 50 MPH, scanning the road ahead for deer and moose.

Do you find that you get alot more attention (solicited or unsolicited) from people riding in cars when you are on your airhead versus when you are on other bikes ?

[MrRiden]

The ol' R65 gets lots of attention on the road or parked with the sport bike kids over by the local college. I think it even pissed off a chum who's Wisconsin tractor bike becomes invisible in the presence of old German iron. I do notice folks seem to hang along side on the freeway rather than pass like bullets [I know it's not from the R65's blazing speed!] Lets face it, it's a peculiarity and the same thing that makes people look and smile has me riding and smiling!
rich

[Ed Miller]

I've never noticed that, but maybe you guys have prettier bikes.  

[montmil]

My R65 attracts quite a bit of attention; especially when it's parked in the school district's "motorcycles only" facilities. Passerbys ask about the vintage, mileage, me, etc. No questions for the ricers parked with me. That's a BMW for you!

I do think the tank badge is highly recognizable by the unwashed as being "special". I get a lot of Harley riders waving at me even before I give 'em the traditional "two wheels on the ground" wave. Neat-O!

Monte

[suecanada]

No doubt about it, LRB gets all sorts of good attention which I am pretty chuffed about when I'm parked. Haven't noticed that I get more attention when I'm moving. Too slow?? Anyway, LRB gets more attention than even my new F650GS twin did when it was NOT even available in the States yet!! There were more twin F650GS's at Gillette than LS's!!! I never saw one LS. Tillie does look pretty nice...has really pretty good henna red paint...much better condition than LRB. But he's a guy. I bet Tillie and LRB would make a wonderful couple and just maybe we'd get a brood of LLRBs/Tillies.  

You mention, Mike, taking Tillie up in speed. Well, did I ever tell you guys that I was mightily impressed with the speed Semper Gumby and Not-so fast-Ed and company were going when I ran across them in western NC just after out Gathering of the Clans Rally???  I'm now thinking that LRB is quite happy to go 75mph??!! Probably smooths out. I guess I baby LRB and that has me fooled into thinking I need a bigger CC bike. Comments please. I should be very happy with LRB with a decent little windscreen like got burned! I just have to speed up and not baby him so much.

[nhmaf]

Sue,

Since many parts of the R-series bike were designed for larger displacement cylinders pushing a bit harder I think that for the most part, the R65 is very understressed.
The pistons are lighter and the stroke is shorter so as long as everything is in proper form it should be fine even if it is spinning 800 - 1000 RPM faster than
an R100 powerplant.  I could be wrong, but it seems the bike really does like it between 5000 - 6000 RPM.   It could also be a matter of tuning & carb adjustment
too.   I keep reading about how disliked the R65 was here in the USA when our national speed limit was 55 MPH, because apparently the R65 had some vibration at that speed.   Tillie is actually very smooth at 55 MPH, but gets noticeably buzzier around 65 MPH.   Wicking it up a bit more to about 72-75 MPH she gets pretty smooth again, and oddly enough seems very smooth at 80, though perhaps I am too busy looking out for blue lights to notice any vibration !   I prefer to ride the R65 around 55 MPH or so, on rural 2-lane roads with lots of varying curves - it really seems most at home there.  The piston stroke on the R65 is about 12% less than the R100/R90/R80 models, so for a given RPM, the total piston speed in feet/minute is 12% less than the big bike.  But, the final gearing is on average 12% - 15% "shorter" on the R65, so as to longevity & wear things probably all even out, from a cylinder and associated engine bits perspective.  My R100RT certainly felt more comfortable - or perhaps I should say "I felt more comfortable on it" when just slabbing it at 75 MPH, partly because of the size/ergonomics of the larger framed bike and also due to the world famous fairing, versus dealing with the windblast on the basically naked R65LS.  

If one could "breed" motorcycles, I'd see if I could match Tillie up with a Guzzi 'round here and see if we could get any " BMG LeMans" sort of offspring out of the mating !
I always like the look of those MG 850 Lemans models...

Bigger engines aren't always better - but when I see what you were getting for fuel mileage on the "650" GS that was really a detuned "800" I am thinking that engine displacement alone shouldn't be the deciding factor - with the modern convenience of efficient fuel injection you were averaging 50% better mileage with 25% more HP than we can normally get out of the R65.    I'd say those are very attractive improvements for a long distance rider like you !   On the other extreme, I cannot understand why anyone can possibly need 1800cc or even 2000cc V-Twin engines just to haul their butts around the boulevard, or even across the country, while dealing with 1 qt of oil consumption as "normal" every 2000 miles.  Somewhere in between, there has got to be an ideal "medium" for you !    I would say that LRB would do very well in many cases where you are riding, but when you've got to keep up with some of your friends who have long legged super-slab bikes, LRB will be more tiring for you on those jaunts than a similarly geared bike.   I can certainly see you back on another F650 GS or maybe even an F800ST in a year or so !

[not-so-fast-ed]

The Mono seems to have lost the 55-65 MPH vibes that I've heard of on the twin shockers, and is pretty smooth at speed.  I did encounter a little uncertainty in the high banked sweeps at 75-85.  Gumby & I think I need to tighten the swing arm a bit.  I'll find out when I do the trans spline lube.   :-/

I've been in the same position with compliments from the strangest sources.  The classic Airhead look still draws the crowds.  

Ed

[Melena]

I know I've had looks from the Harley crowd standing around their bikes while I was passing by them.  It seems that riders of all brands like the old airheads.  But I haven't really noticed people slowing down around me to look at the bike.  Could be that's because this is California.  

I saw a really pretty toaster tank R60/5 the other day parked up under the shade out of the sun at the grocery store.  Of course I had to go look.  The guy was on his cell phone so I just gave him a thumbs up and then went into the store.  When I was leaving he was walking in, so I got to talk with him for a minute.  He  said that most people have no idea what he has but that it's really neat when someone does.  It's always fun talking with someone like that.

I've done the super slab on my bike.  I was scared to try it at first.  I felt pretty exposed on these freeways here.  I was mostly concerned about keeping up with the traffic and not getting run over.  It worked out fine.  But since I don't have a really great fairing I do get the wind blast and it makes it tiring to do for very long.  I do get a bit of vibration around 4500 rpm, but it is only for a short rpm span.  She really likes between 5000 & 6000 rpm.  In 5th gear, you can be really hauling down that slab.    The bike does better at it than I do.  

[suecanada]

Hey Mike I have given some thought to another F650GS BUT I also thought the ST with the belt drive would be quite OK and get rid of that one evening chore while travelling..the chain lube!! AND every 13,000 miles one has to consider a new chain along with new sprockets at say over $150.00 at least! Along with ew tires, lots of miles in a season can drain Ya! Plus there is the hassle of doing the change out job.

I have been having fun reading about other bikes...the Moto guzzi's are right up there because of the accessibility of their valves!!! I hate the thought of checking valves on these other style bucket/shim valve bikes. It's too intimidating and takes so much work to do!! What about these hydraulic self-adjusting valves I hear about. What bikes have those??

[nhmaf]

I don't know if they'll import them to Canada or not, but the new "retro" V-7 Moto Guzzi is apparently a good ride for shorter riders, and it has the air-cooled V-twin MG simplicity and shaft drive and fairly low center of gravity.   Only a little more oomph than your LRB and OK gas mileage too..   I am also thinking that I may never buy another chain drive bike again, unless I somehow get interested in dirt riding again (but that seems more of a younger person's thing).  Belt drive would be OK with me too.

Many of the Japanese liquid cooled V-twin cruisers have the hydraulic, no-touch valve lash adjusters.   It is hard to get hydraulic valve lash adjusters to work well in engines that can spin much past 7000 RPM, but most V-twin cruisers of both liquid or air-cooled persuasion will never see that.  And of course, the Milwaukee-powered machines, as well as the Polaris-powered Victory bikes.   Honda did have a very nice air cooled 700cc 4 cylinder model in the 80s -early 90s - a CB700 SC here in the states, and it may also have been sold as a 750 Nighthawk S or SC in Canada  (but beware there were other 750CC Hondas with earlier similar styling that were shim under bucket, older style engines) that had automatic hydraulic valve lash adjusters and it had a redline of close to 10K.   It was apparently a pretty bulletproof engine and bike, but like a number of Hondas its styling was too plain vanilla for mass bike-market appeal.   A friend of mine owned one, and it was a nice bike, though it was a bit of a semi "standard, semi-cruiser style machine - it did most things quite well but wasn't controversial looking.   I think that there are other bikes out there with hydraulic valve lash adjusters, too, but they aren't nearly so common as they are in the V-twin cruiser market.    

I like my 1998 Kawasaki Concours because it surprisingly has screw-type adjusters for its 16 valves - it was built the same way from 1986 - 2006.   It takes me hours longer to adjust the valves on it (much stuff has to come off) then an airhead or a Moto-Guzzi would, but at least I don't need to buy boxes of specialized shims in the process.   I can deal with having a complex computer, but I like having relatively simple vehicles that I can work on without paying someone else $80/hour to learn on.   The new version of the Concours look very stylish and have incredible amounts of power and safety features, but are even more complicated than any modern K bike you can imagine - as much as I like the looks of them, I don't think I'd ever buy one, as the only prayer one has to tune the thing up is to take it to a dealer periodically for $800 tuneups..