First of all credit for this setup goes to @vfrpaul who did this to his first CB1100 back in 2013. I had talked with him about his setup but since I didn't have the fabrication skills he had I didn't get around to figuring out small saddlebag mounts.

Yes, now you can find some very nice ones from Japan but of course I just had to find something CHEAPER and free shipping doesn't hurt either.

So off to eBay like usual and found some generic adjustable saddlebag mounts (about $38.00/pair with free shipping) that I could attach to the outside of the grab handles under the seat. Used a pair of spacers from my unused Puig wind screen mounting hardware, some replacement stainless steel bolts from the hardware store and reused the stock nuts.





For the solo bag (I only need a small one to carry water, etc.) I followed @vfrpaul's advice and got a Willie & Max sissy bar bag (again about $38.00 with free shipping) which would seem to be kind of small but when to put it on our bikes they're pretty good sized.

Bag is mounted using black cable ties, not glamorous but pure function.

It's sagging a bit on the test ride so I later added more cable ties to cinch it up higher and keep it from getting too close to the muffler.



Convenient enough to use, just a little too small for my usual insulated water bottle filled with ice and water. Wasn't a problem on my previous bikes with huge hard bags (CTX1300, R1200RT, Street Glide)! Guess I'll cram the bottle in there or use a smaller one.

That weather flap is one reason the bag doesn't work well on the left side which is where I first tried mounting it. Plus when I thought back on how I used hard bags before I always put things in the right side or high side bag since the covers always seemed to work better on the high side of the bike.



The saddlebag mount and bag are offset from the seat grab handle, rear shock but the back of the bag snugs up against the turn signal. The mounting bolt heads for the saddlebag mounts do poke the back side of the bag so later I found some nylon caps that I popped onto the bolt head to save the backside of the bag from wearing through.



Overall shot to give you a better perspective of the size of the bag. Figuring the whole setup totaled $80.00 that's a lot cheaper than fancy leather designer solo bags! Also should have more muffler clearance once my long awaited Staintune shows up from Australia.



Aloha,
Huladog

Many of us travel with water, soda, coffee, or tea (see The Ferret's Seat Time report titled "Riding to warm up" for a few photos of one of his tea breaks). I would be interested in knowing what types of containers riders use for their beverages, be they hot or cold, and how they carry, mount, or otherwise store that container on their bike so that it does not leak or spill. Please include any brand names and mounting suggestions.

Wasn't sure if this should go in the "Accessories" category, but it seems more like gear to me.

Was 30 degrees when I took off on this morning's ride but the roads were dry and clear. About 15 miles into my ride I came across one of those photographable "milestone" moments Ptero talks about ..(look at the odometer)

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/ST%20ride%20Jan%2017%202016%20013_zpsooviu3l9.jpg.html]

Anyhow I was riding over to one of the local State Parks to sit by the lake and drink a cup of tea. It's one of my favorite rides. 60 miles round trip, with several of my favorite curvy roads and one giant downhill (or uphill depending on direction riding) sweeper curve. There is a picnic table by the lake I like to sit at, and depending on time of year you get to see waterfowl, swimmers or ..nothing. Today it would be nothing.

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/ST%20ride%20Jan%2017%202016%20017_zps4rsoxzi0.jpg.html]

As I sat there drinking my tea, it started snowing pretty hard.

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/ST%20ride%20Jan%2017%202016%20025_zpsdr7rc8ub.jpg.html]

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/ST%20ride%20Jan%2017%202016%20021_zpsxg8gahua.jpg.html]

It takes me about 20 mins to drink a thermos of tea. In that time the heat from my electric jacket liner and heated grips had worn off and I was starting to feel the cold. I thought I need to get back on the bike and ride so I can warm up . Sounds crazy right? lol Made me laugh.

Good gear makes all the difference for riding in this kind of weather. Here's the cockpit of the ST. Little square controller on the right sticking out of mitt controls the heated grips. Controller for heated jacket liner is in right pocket of tank bag. Snowmobile mitts keep the wind off, creates a pocket of warmth with the heated grips which allows the use of thin gloves. Fairing and windshield block the cold wind.

So, started the bike, punched the heated grips button for 40% power and let them start heating up, placed the empty thermos in the tank bag. Plugged my two wires for the jacket liner in and turned it to about 75% power climbed on and took off. Before I made it a mile I was toasty warm for the ride home.

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/ST%20ride%20Jan%2017%202016%20019_zps68dplgpm.jpg.html]

The snow flurries weren't sticking to the road and the roads were still fine. By the time I got home it had started to accumulate on the deck, but still not on the driveway or sidewalk. Don't imagine it's going to amount to much.

[url=http://smg.photobucket.com/user/theferret111/media/ST%20ride%20Jan%2017%202016%20029_zpsoglzw3ax.jpg.html]

I am diligently looking for a CB to call my own. I see that bikes with even 300 miles on them have bronzed headers, so it seem to occur pretty quickly. Some bikes with several hundred or a few thousand miles have dark speckles in the bronzing and some seem uniformly bronzed. Do the speckles suggest that the bike was mistreated? Thanks.

Phew... spent all morning summarizing and calculating and chewing nails. Finally completed my 2015 Income Tax Return.

Now I can get back to the truly important things in life - like riding and planning my April Hill Country trip.

Still evaluating luggage but I'll probably pop for the Tourmaster Select saddle bags, they seem to be the best quality. And with 10 liters of capacity per bag, adequate for a 3 to 4 day ride.

I looked at the larger 20 liter units... but for me, may be over kill.

I have 200 miles left, so I'm already thinking about the first service. I've begun making a list of those items I'd like checked and/or adjusted. I've read through several of the threads covering oil types, weights, etc.

Temps may get to low 50s today... if I have a chance, would like to get my bike out for a front brake test and practice. Maybe even rub some wax on, wax off.

Sorry... a bit boring post, but 4 hours doing tax related junk has wound me up, hahaha.

IF I had lots of xash and place to spare a 2nd bike, this would be it









I was a fan of the previous generation but this looks even better imo.
Styling wise its a love it or hate it kinda bike, but I like it.

And its Ducati's first ever belt drive ....however dunno if thats a good thing to be the first ever in somethin


Specifications
Engine
Testastretta DVT (Desmodromic Variable Timing), L-Twin, 4 Desmodromically actuated valves per cylinder, Dual spark, Liquid cooled
1262 cc (77,0 cu in)
156 hp (114,7 kW) @ 9500 rpm
95,0 lb-ft (128,9 Nm) @ 5000 rpm

Transmission
belt drive
6 speed
Slipper and self-servo wet multiplate clutch with hydraulic control

Chassis
Front: 3,5"x17" Pirelli Diablo Rosso II, 120/70 ZR17
Rear: 8,00" x 17" Pirelli Diablo Rosso II 240/45 ZR17

Front brake: 2 x 320 mm semifloating discs, Radial Brembo monobloc 4-piston M4-32 callipers and radial master cylinder, Bosch cornering ABS
Rear brake: 265 mm disc, 2-piston floating calliper, Bosch cornering ABS

Wet weight: 247 kg (545 lb)
Seat height: 755 mm
Wheelbase: 1615 mm (63,58 in)
Fuel tank capacity: 18 l

Warranty
24 months unlimited mileage
Maintenance service intervals: 15.000km/12 Months
Valve clearance check: 30.000km

What do you guys think? I added a poll

This is a piece about using Google Maps Engine to draw enduring route maps. To the best of my knowledge, if you don’t have a Google account, it won’t work.

I’m doing it because the rally planners were interested (see here.

I’m not very adventurous, so, assuming I decided to make a surprize visit to the US this year to visit Bland of all places, chances are I’ll fly again to Atlanta and look up my mates at EagleRider. From there I’ll probably revisit the scene of a couple of last year’s triumphs and then make my way to Bland.

So, if I wanted to draw a map to show you blokes where I went, and for you to be able to look at on the web so you can zoom in here and there, this is how I’d do it.

Caveat: These instructions could be clearer. I know that, but I’ve deliberately walked you through the sort of process I’d go through to show you a couple of the quirks and how you might deal with them.

Picture 1—Open Google Maps engine [url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/]here, [url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/]https://www.google.com/maps/d/ and select <Create a new map>. At this point, if you have a modern web browser, it can be quite handy also to have the normal Google Maps app open in another tab. Makes it easy to look things up.



Picture 2—You should see something like this. You’re looking at the Solomon Islands because that’s where I am as I write. Sorry to rub it in for the winter-bound Yanks, but it’s very hot here.



Picture 3—Get yourself to Atlanta, GA.



As I’ve made more of these maps, I’ve found the easiest thing is to build up a collection of waypoints to or through which I’m going to travel. I usually start doing that. Pay attention because I’m only going to give you a couple of examples.

Picture 4—First of all, I’m going to locate EagleRider at Marietta. As a first step always try the Google Search in the Maps Engine App. So—



Picture 5—Select the first entry (because it’s the one you want) and press <Enter>. You see this—



You can see it has saved a green pin in a layer on the left. Layers* are nifty things you can turn on and off if you want to conceal or show data on the map. I want to keep the location so I click where it says <+ Add to map> in the box above the green pin.

Picture 6—You can see that creates a new untitled layer on the left and there’s a red pin there. Excellent.



Picture 7—Now I’m going to head to the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge, but I know if I leave it to Google to calculate a route, I’ll never get to go the way I want. So I’ll prepare a couple of way points. Let’s try one at Neels Gap. Repeat the search process and again add the result to the map. Should look a bit like this.



Picture 8—I can’t wait any longer to see what will happen, so let’s start creating the route. I’ve circled the <Add directions> tool.



Picture 9—First click on Atlanta-Harley in the <Untitled layer> and then click on the <Add Directions> tool. A new layer will be created with “Atlanta-Harley” in the first text box marked A.



Picture 10—Either click on the pin for Neel’s Gap or start typing Neels Gap in the B text box. If you choose the second of those options, wait until the red pin saying “Neels Gap – Untitled layer” appears and then select it.



Picture 11—Bingo! A route will appear.



Picture 12—If you like it, well and good. If not, you can change it. The easiest way is to point your cursor at the route and you’ll see an empty circle appear. It’s a bit like the following picture where you can see it says <Drag to change route>.



Picture 13—In this case, I want to go via Jasper—just so I can show you how this can work. Drag the route up towards Jasper and it will recalculate like this—



A caution at this point: I’ve found changes made by dragging the route can disappear when you come back to work on the map later. You’ll see an example of this later in the tutorial. They can then be difficult to recreate. Hence waypoints; they’re often a bit more time consuming to make at the outset, but helpful in the long run.
Picture 14—Anyway, that’s still not what I want to do. I want to head up 52 to Ellijay, then up 76 to near Morganton and then through Suches to rejoin 129 south of Neel’s Gap. So I’m going to create a couple more waypoints.

Zoom in until you can get a good clear view of where you want the waypoint.



Picture 15—I was going to show you here how to select the pin tool, but I decided to change its name to “Waypoints”. Here’s how to do that.

See next to where it says <Untitled Layer> there are three vertical dodts? Click on them and three options appear.



Picture 16—Select <Rename this layer>, type <Waypoints> in the box and press <Enter>.



Picture 17—To select the <Add marker> tool (circled below) you must first make sure the <Waypoints> layer is selected (when it is you can see the blue vertical line at the side). To select it, just click somewhere in the box. The select <Add marker>.



Picture 18—Place a pin where you want the route to pass through. In this case I’ll put it on 515/5/76 just north of the junction with 52. This is what happens—



Picture 19—I choose to change the name from “Point 4” to “52/76”; but whatever you press <Save>!



Handily, you can see the map coordinates in the bottom left of the text box. It’s possible to copy them, but it’s not as simple as just highlighting the numbers for some reason I haven’t figured out. It may just be that I have a very poor internet connection.

Picture 20—Then select the directions layer (called “Directions from Atlanta-Harley to Neels Gap”) and select the <X> next to Point B (Neels Gap). That will delete it and you can replace it with the point we’ve just inserted. If you can’t remember how, see Picture 10.



Picture 21—Of course, the darned thing has now taken you the wrong way again and you either have to do the drag the route thing all over again or (and this is what I’m going to do) insert another waypoint near Dawsonville to try to get the map engine to hold to the route I want to take.



You can see I’ve stuck in a new waypoint (see pictures 18, 19). I’ve then deleted the route to “52/76”, selected “183”, then 52/76 and reset the route. One of the good things is that the waypoints don’t have to be in order you want to travel in the “Waypoints” layer That makes it easier to add them as you go along. You do, though, have to delete and re-enter the route if you add waypoints.

Picture 22—At this point, I know that I’ll need a couple of extra way points to get to Neel’s Gap the way I actually want to go there, so I’ll create them and enter the route. You can see the end result here—



If you want turn-by-turn directions and distances, click on the three dots after “Directions from Atlanta-Harley to …” and select <Step-by-step directions>. It’s 155 miles; and the riding time is 3 hours 27 minutes.

Now I’ve got to Neel’s Gap, I’m stopping for a cup of tea. Being lazy, I didn’t enter my route to the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge, let alone Bland, so I settle down with my tea to do it. But I’ve left my laptop somewhere and trying to do it on a phone is agony, so I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with these instructions.
Actually, there’s a couple more things:

Storage: Because you’re working on line and have to have a Google account, the Map is being constantly saved to the Cloud while you’re working. That’s a good thing; but, because it lives in the Cloud, you need an internet connection to view it.

Sharing: Usually I want to be able to share the map so members who want to can view it and drill into it a bit if they want. Here’s how to do that.

Picture 23—Click where it says <Share>.



Picture 24—Give the file a name, a description if you want and press <OK>.



Picture 25—On the next screen, select <Change> where I’ve circled it.



Picture 26—I choose to allow anyone with the link to access it. That allows anybody with the link to look at it, even people without Google accounts.



Picture 27—Select as follows and click <Save>.



Picture 28—Finally, make sure the <Link to share> is highlighted and that you copy it. That’s the link you’ll need to point others to your map.



This is the link https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z...p=sharing.

Clicking on the link above should take you to my completed map.

Good luck.

* A note on layers—A layer is a collection of like things—points, driving instructions, etc. You can turn whatever it is they display on and off with the relevant check box. Be warned, though, there is a finite number of entries in each layer. So when you’re plotting driving routes, you may run out of points and have to start a new layer to keep going.

There is also a finite number of layers you can use in any one map. I think it might be 10, but don’t quote me.

END NOTE After I finished writing this, I went on with the map. I did a ride along the Dragon and back and then off to the Blue Ridge Parkway where, just past the turn off onto 151 north (Pisgah Hwy), I got stuck. For some reason, Google Maps will simply not let me go along the BRP past that. It knows more than me. So, like many a motorcyclist getting tired late in the day, I changed tack and went the quickest way through Asheville.

Hope all that helps.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Honda-CB/2916616...1874342813

I learned, almost the hard way, to use the REAR brake for slowing while making a low speed turn.

I was making a slow left turn into my driveway arriving home after my ride yesterday and during said turn I (what I thought) gently applied the front brakes to slow the bike down to a walk... should have used the rear. Dang things acted like they were locked up and the front end vibrated and the tire skidded, Ugh. Fortunately there was a bit of loose gravel for the wheel to slide on, otherwise I may have had a bad experience. I immediately let off the brake handle then even more gently tried to apply the front brakes again, same thing - front end bounced and the tire appeared to lock up.

That was the first time I've experienced this...

I've used the front brakes in slow turns before without mishap... or so I think, without the things doing this "wheel lock" bit. But maybe it was my turn angle or something.

I got stopped okay, straightened the bike up and idled down the driveway to the storage building, lightly applying the front brakes to test them. They still felt a bit "grabby".

Not sure what to make of this...

Next outing I'll get the bike up to about 25 mph or so and retest the front brakes to see if something's amiss.

Some of you may not be following the recent news about the recapture of El Chapo. I haven't followed too much of it, but I am familiar enough to know the gist. I did catch wind of this interesting piece about his escape tunnel and the modified motorcycle built to ride on rails that were installed in the escape tunnel that was built under the prison where he was. It is impressive!

Here is a story which has a video imbedded in it. YouTube video at the bottom.

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/07/15/el-ch...on-escape/