Anyone modded the stock muffler? to ripen up the exhaust note?I see there are three allen screws on the end of the muffler,,,,hmmmm.

Has anyone purchased a set of these Paniers from Samurider, ASAHIanier case#AC40:CB1100. I like the retro looks and was wondering if anyone had a review they could share on them.

So today I took my son for his first motorcycle ride around the neighborhood.
I think he's hooked. Lol
[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/RobertB755/media/20150510_140804_zpskq2s2klb.jpg.html][url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/RobertB755/media/20150510_140858_zpsil2jof12.jpg.html]

It is with a heavy heart that I have listed my VFR800 for sale. I don't expect anyone on here to be interested. Just needed to share the sad news with my motorcycling brothers who know the pain of saying farewell to a beloved motorcycle. The sad reality is that my wife and I are saving to buy a home and paying down debt. Most days, the VFR sits quietly attached to a battery tender and I spend all of my two wheel time on the CB. As difficult as it is to say goodbye, it makes the most financial sense for us. If you do happen to know someone in Southern California who is interested in a VFR800 in great condition, shoot me out a private message and I'll be in touch. Otherwise, help me say farewell to a beautiful motorcycle:
[url=http://s51.photobucket.com/user/jamesfontaine/media/DSC9436-X2-1.jpg.html]
[url=http://s51.photobucket.com/user/jamesfontaine/media/DSC6977-L.jpg.html]
[url=http://s51.photobucket.com/user/jamesfontaine/media/09182014.jpg.html]
[url=http://s51.photobucket.com/user/jamesfontaine/media/08.02.2014%20Hwy%2094.jpg.html]

Ohh it's beautiful the behavior today , more soft gears,break's and motor !!

So, Ducati had a little demo event this weekend at a local dealership (Motor Cafe Sunnyvale). I decided to head on over and sign up to demo something. At first I was going to go with the 800-ish Monster but then the Scrambler caught my eye and I switched my pick to that. Very interesting choice!

Here are my impressions.
The bike's build is very small and narrow. It feels and looks small with me on it compared to the CB. But, it was really pretty comfortable to sit on! The bars are up pretty high, they were in a decent place for me.
As soon as I turned the bike on, I could feel the character of the engine thumping on the handlebars. Not overbearing though, and not in a bad way, but definitely a stark contrast from the smoothness of our inline 4.
There's a bit of jerkiness on the throttle in first gear but if you shift pretty quick it's not too bad. The engine braking feels pretty hefty, too.
Now, the interesting part.. this sucker gets up to speed with very little twist of the throttle, and pretty quickly and smoothly. Does not feel like it's going as fast as what the speedo indicates! I was very surprised how confident I felt on such a small and light bike, even getting up to freeway speeds. I don't know if I would trust myself riding around on that sucker!

Hitting a bump in the pavement on the freeway I got a bit of shock to the handlebars, so maybe the front forks were not set up very well, not sure.. been over the same spot on my CB quite a lot of times and didn't notice the same thing.

Very flickable and nimble, and it felt very grippy with the particular tires they put on it.
I would have loved to take it to some of my usual twisties, but they did choose a route with some freeway and some semi-residential twisties (though not as much uphill/downhill and tight corners as my usual territory). I thought it was really great of them to give us that sort of route though. When I did the Indian demo in San Jose, it was just a few blocks within the city, so this was a real treat.

I'm not running to trade my CB in for one of these, but I definitely, definitely see the appeal, and I think it is a superb little bike, really!

Yesterday was another unusually hot day here in SW Ohio. Upper 80's again. Anyhow I wanted to go for a ride and just felt like going "old school" like in this pic of my wife and I taken on our KZ1000 38 years ago in 1977

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/BikePic6.jpg.html]

I rode down to the local shop to see if they had any dark smoke 5 snap flat shields for my HJC CS5 helmet. They used to be all the rage. When I started working in shops in the early 70's we sold gazillions of them, clear, light smoke, dark smoke or yellow for $1.99 each. Well their was none on display, so I asked the owner if they had any. He went back and dug around in the back of the shop and found ONE...Paulson 5 snap shield for me, luckily dark smoke like I wanted and it was now $14.50. GADS! I'll take it. Looks very old school don't you think?

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/old%20school%20002_zpsllivcosn.jpg.html]

So now I was ready.. open face helmet with 5 snap shield, T shirt, blue jeans and gym shoes. Just like I rode for probably the first 8 years I rode (in the winter I would wear a wool sweater and Army surplus green coat over the t shirt lol), I think I was 23 before I could afford a Bates leather jacket, and real motorcycle boots.

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/old%20school%20006_zpsdbrrvhby.jpg.html]

Rode about 40 miles and it felt great...free actually, liberating from the usual heavy and hot body armor I most often wear. Plenty of cool air all over, face, body, arms, hands. Nice!

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/old%20school%20015_zpsrnuo3zlx.jpg.html]

Except for 1 thing....I had forgotten how many bugs and how much grit hits you when you are riding. It was ouch....ouch....ouch. Little hard shell bugs and road grit getting thrown up made it felt like I was getting sand blasted on my neck, chest and arms. Wow, we used to ride like this all the time, how in the heck did we do it? Was certainly happy I was at least wearing the helmet and face shield and long pants, otherwise it would have been a miserable experience lol.

It was fun, but doubt I will ride like this much again. I will at least wear a jacket and boots, even if I'm wearing the old school lid which I didn't mind wearing a bit.

Caveat for the safety guys:
I knew the risks I was taking by riding dressed like this, personally accepted the risk, and managed to come back home safely once again. I am not endorsing any one else ride with minimum gear. It was a personal choice I made on this particular day.
I understand some wouldn't be comfortable riding like this. I was. (well except for the getting sand blasted part lol) and encourage others to ride within their own comfort limits with regards to gear.




.

My cup of tea sat cooling on the kitchen bench while I contemplated the empty bottle sitting nearby. I felt dreadful. My eyelids felt like sandpaper, my mouth tasted like the bottom of a parrot’s cage and the idiot playing drums in my head was badly out of time and overly invested in his cymbals.

I sipped my tea and wondered how I’d come to be at the bench at all.

The door opened and there stood Dr Dactyl, suave in a T-shirt, shorts and a pair of sandals that would reduce his wife to apoplexy.

“What happened last night?” I asked cautiously.

“Mate,” he said, “you were so enamoured of the benefits of HUBRIS that you mixed a few mls with green cordial and drank it. Your wife locked herself in the bathroom while you ran around the house for 20 minutes screaming and yelling something about green fairies and then passed out.”

Cordial, lest it is called by other names in other parts of the world, is the overly sweet syrup that, when mixed with water, is given to children as a treat. Well, it used to be. Nowadays they probably just rip into the Coca Cola and Red Bull. Red cordial consumed at children’s birthday parties and the like, wires the children like a good snort of the old white powder and brings forward the moment at which the whole tribe becomes completely unmanageable. The descent from the high is ghastly for their parents once they get home.

Green cordial is apparently no good for Cormanus. Or was it the HUBRIS?

“Pass the Coco Pops,” said the Dactyl, “I’ve got some ground to cover today.”

Imagine at this point that you’re watching a 60s movie. The screen is shimmering and Dr Dactyl’s image is dissolving. As the screen gently regains its focus, two CB1100s are heading west out of the Coles Express, Mango Hill, leaving an untidy lake of synthetic 10W-40 motorcycle oil spreading across the apron.


If none of the foregoing made any sense, it’s not your fault. For the back story, see [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5703]here and [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5686]here.

We continue with me looking forward to sharing a few of my favourite roads with Pterodactyl. We have a day and a bit as he needs to be back over the southern border the following day and I have to be home early for another engagement.

Here’s a map of the day 1 ride.
[url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zE2kuVEGplwI.kTIaoc7OQjVk]

Google Maps is something of a challenge for the pedantic and simple of mind. Only 10 waypoints are possible in any one layer. Each waypoint has an alphabetical letter, but each new layer restarts the waypoints at ‘A’. Which means, of course, you can end up with any number of points starting with the same letter. That’s not much help if the area is strange to the viewer. However, I’ve tried this time to create a layer of waypoints which has been kind enough to add coloured flags with alphabetical letters on them.

My day stared at Pomona (the red coloured Point A) and I met Pterodactyl at the Coles Express at Mango Hill (orange Point B). Follow the coloured flags ignoring the blue circles with white alphabetical characters and you can see the route. It ends where it started: at Pomona.

Pterodactyl and the bikes at Mango Hill

My riding camera has a temperamental switch and for the two days of this ride seemed rather more random than usual in whether or not it would turn on. There are not as many photos as I would have liked.

From Dayboro © to Woodford (D) the Mt Mee Road is a lot of fun. Plenty of twists and turns to the top and then plenty more down to the bottom. The Pitstop Café near the top was again not open. From a culinary point of view this was no great tragedy, but there are great views down the valley to Brisbane. We stopped at the [url=http://braisenhussycafe.com.au/]Braisen Hussy Café in Woodford for a light lunch.

The start of the Mt Mee Road at Dayboro


A lookout on the Mt Mee Rd—looking north east. The Pacific Ocean is out there somewhere above the tips of the mountains. It doesn’t show in the photo, but it was windy and quite chilly on the mountain




CBs at the Braisen Hussy


The Cosmopolitan time wall at the Braisen Hussy

From Woodford we rode north along a flat, straight road to the foot of the Blackall Range. There are some pleasant curves to a ridge where we turned left onto the Maleny-Stanley River Rd (E). It’s a great climb up the hill until you reach the Postman’s Track (F) whereupon you find yourself on a steep, narrow decent into the valley below. It’s pretty enough, but it’s not a route I’d take if it were not for the excellent ride along the valley floor. It’s narrow, but there’s almost no traffic and it rewards a bit of effort.

Pterodactyl on the road


Postmans Track

It was a Tuesday, not a good day for cafés, so I couldn’t take Pterodactyl to the Bellbird Creek Teahouse, a very biker friendly haunt. So we kept going through Kenilworth (H) and then turned right along the Obi Obi Creek Road to Mapleton (I). There’s a little stretch where the road divides at the bottom of the major climb back up the range. It’s one of my favourite local stretches of road. Indeed, it was so good, and I was so irritated by the traffic that slowed us half way up, that I turned round, rode down the hill and we did it again.

Sadly, being a week day the road from Mapleton to Nambour (J), which has two great sections, was also depressingly full of traffic. But I admired the views out to the ocean. We stopped for petrol at Yandina (drat, I forgot to mark it on the map) I looked down and realised I’d reached another milestone. For those who read novels, the Australian author Peter Carey’s book His Illegal Self is set in part in the hills behind Yandina.

Another pocketful of cash for my friendly dealer. 36,000 kms is a service point. And they get to check the valve clearance. And, since I have the benefit of hindsight, I can add that it cost me a new set of tyres

Some pleasant enough back roads took us to [url=http://www.emilias.com.au/]Emelia’s Café at Gympie (M). It’s a great place. I once ate a plate of scrambled eggs with Tasmanian truffles for breakfast there. It was delicious. Our host, Giovanni, made us tea and we started chatting. I knew he rode a Ducati, but he said he had his Griso that day and disappeared. Moments later he pulled up outside and parked next to the CBs. Muttering something about posting photos of bikes rather than food for a change, he took off outside with his phone. His three photos can be seen [url=https://www.facebook.com/emiliascafe/photos/pb.282649158535083.-2207520000.1431246892./647619052038090/?type=3&permPage=1]starting here. Another bike arrived and Pterodactyl followed suit.

Pterodactyl returns from his expedition


By the time I limped outside, the fourth bike had gone, but these three looked very pretty as Pterodactyl and Giovanni discussed something very technical

Leaving Gympie we rode the pretty Cedar Creek Road (N) to Kin Kin (O). From there we were on the nearest bit of really good road to where I live. I went very slowly for a while to allow the utility in front to get far enough ahead that, when we got to the twisty bit, we’d have enough room for some sport.

From there it was home to Pomona for a well-earned beer, a salmon cutlet and a glass of wine or two. Mrs Cormanus, who had not before met Pterodactyl, greeted him with, “It’s nice to finally meet George’s imaginary friend.”
The following morning, with some regret on my part, we took to the highway to get some quick kilometres under our belts. That way Pterodactyl had a chance of reaching his planned destination that evening.

Last Blast, ready for action, poses in front of a banana tree


My bike’s magnificent and well-worn headers. Not even Optiglanz can touch them now

The day’s ride:
[url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zE2kuVEGplwI.krYg9FAKS9sQ]


On the highway—it was a really beautiful day


Finally! I manage to capture a picture of something in the rear-view mirror. Pterodactyl on the road to Australia Zoo


Crikey! There he is again

Leaving the highway near Landsborough, we followed the Steve Irwin Way before turning left at Beerwah. There’s a lovely climb to Peachester and then to the junction of the Maleney-Stanley River Road (G on today’s map and E on yesterday’s). After a short and agreeable section to the bottom of the hill, the road to Kilcoy © is not all that interesting. But, then, sometimes you have to ride less interesting roads to get to the good bits.

Coffee and an Australian meat pie at Kilcoy which also provided this glimpse of a couple of English gems out for a run. Sadly I didn’t get as close as the Ferret [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=5700]here, but you get the idea.


It’s a good ride around the ridge beside the Somerset Dam and then a quick and peaceful run through the countryside around the top of Lake Wivenhoe. There was next to no traffic and I spent a little time trying to get a photo of Pterodactyl underway, without the success I would have liked. In my defence: (1) I’m not as good as the Ferret; and (2) it’s hard to frame a shot when you’ve no real idea where the camera’s really pointing.




From Esk (E) we rode to Gatton along a road I’ve not ridden before. It was pretty enough, but not very challenging. Most of it was like this:


At Gatton we refuelled and said farewell. I’m curious to read Pterodactyl’s report on the road to Warwick as it looked interesting on the map.



The screen shimmers again and two CB1100s in a service station are gradually revealed, racing along the flat at Stanmore (just after point G on the map). The black one at the front is trailing a plume of blue smoke reminiscent of a 1960s 2-stroke.

‘Mate,’ I say to Dr Dactyl when we stop for coffee in Kilcoy, ‘I seem to be blowing a bit of smoke. There were times I couldn’t see you in the mirror. Do you reckon the HUBRIS oil isn’t quite right for the bike?’

Dr Dactyl gave me a mighty slap on the back, ‘Don’t you worry about that,’ he assured me, using the words of a now-dead but probably immortal Queensland Premier, ‘HUBRIS is the duck’s guts. It’s just cleaning all the crappy Motul stuff out of your bike. Mine did exactly the same thing for a day or so.’

We continued on. The smoke continued it felt to me like the bike was becoming a bit sluggish. At Gatton we refuelled and I waved farewell to the debonair Dr Dactyl. Was that a faint and maniacal cackle I could hear as he sped away into the distance?

Gatton lies at the foot of the Great Dividing Range and I spent a little time poring over a map wondering whether to ride up the range to Toowoomba and then back down a very pretty road into Esk. Sadly, time was against me.

I climbed onto the bike, turned the key, watched the dials do their thing and then pressed the starter. There was an almighty CLUNK and then nothing. My beautiful CB1100 was going nowhere.

When it comes back from the mechanic—well, if, really—I’ll give you a full report on what went wrong. The mechanic has not idea at this stage. She’s bamboozled. A little voice in my head tells me it might have something to do with the 4 litres of HUBRIS I poured into the crank case, but I can’t believe Dr Dactyl would sell me anything dodgy. Can you?

What would be the best way to put up some pics for this install? I have a bunch of pics and a few comments. Man ,do they sound great !

Had my Friday free so I went riding. Since I wanted to put a few hours and miles in I decided on Hwy 2 over Stevens Pass to Leavenworth for lunch, about 120 miles from home. At the last minute I tried to contact Gary (forum member) since he lives close to Hwy 2. But I might have not sent the message or something? ( Computer dummy here)Anyway a solo ride.
A glorious day it was. Left Seattle late enough to miss morning rush hour-9:15ish and via the "Ben Howard Road" got to Sultan, where I caught Hwy 2 at about 10. Just before the summit I passed a parade of antique and vintage cars, mostly open tops in the cool Mtn. air. Made me wish I could take pics like the Ferret, on the move. I thought about stopping at the top to snap some shots of the horseless carriages as they crested, but I didn't want to stop yet. Besides Hwy 2 is beautiful all the way up and down heading east or west, the summit itself is ugly for the 1/4 mile your on top. Too much pavement- I guess for exits to skis lift and DOT snow removal equipment.
So here's a few pics:
1) Leavenworth is on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mtns. which are a lot drier than the western slopes. They have a building code that requires everything to look like the Swiss Alps, kinda cute and kinda over the top touristy.
[url=http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jonz1/media/over%20Hwy2-%20May%208th%2015/IMG_5058_zps6fkx1mkt.jpg.html]
2)I did find some good mood food! It was the right place to eat. And to those of you who might be thinking that Washington State's newly legalized substance was involved-no it's just coffee, pastries, and sandwiches.
[url=http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jonz1/media/over%20Hwy2-%20May%208th%2015/IMG_5057_zpsg4fomeyd.jpg.html]
3)Getting my gear back on I noticed some nearby commotion and went to check it out. This is a pic of a large red butterfly the guys had just trapped in a plastic cup with a few leaves in it. I'd never seen anything like it. Not much in the focus dept. but the only other wildlife I saw was a dead deer on the side of the road.
[url=http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jonz1/media/over%20Hwy2-%20May%208th%2015/IMG_5056_zpsyh7z8zku.jpg.html]
4)Wenatchee River
[url=http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jonz1/media/over%20Hwy2-%20May%208th%2015/IMG_5059_zps17gy5qom.jpg.html]
5)I got some favorable comments on an earlier post about catching my refection in my mirror, so of course I over did the technique.
[url=http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jonz1/media/over%20Hwy2-%20May%208th%2015/IMG_5062_zpsn2umlwdl.jpg.html]
6)One eyed landscape
[url=http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jonz1/media/over%20Hwy2-%20May%208th%2015/IMG_5063_zpsbo12dp9y.jpg.html]
7)The CB looks like it wants a swim
[url=http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jonz1/media/over%20Hwy2-%20May%208th%2015/IMG_5060_zpsile3rhpr.jpg.html]
8)Back on the wet side
[url=http://s300.photobucket.com/user/jonz1/media/over%20Hwy2-%20May%208th%2015/IMG_5064_zpsbzurlubc.jpg.html]