A ride around Tampa Bay...

[ride4now_imp]

I'm leaving Treasure Island tomorrow morning... heading north through Palm Harbor then over towards Wesley Chapel. From there up toward Brooksville and then over and down to Port Richey and then south along the coast back to Treasure Island. This will be my first long ride on the '14. I have a whooping 120 miles on her now... which should double or maybe triple by the end of the day Sunday. I installed the NC Deflector Shield I took off my '13 today... it fit fine. Pictures and a ride report tomorrow night.

[emptysea]

Enjoy the ride. Looking forward to the report

[the Ferret]

Enjoy!

[ss2wheels_imp]

Ride4now, does the deflector shield have nylon mounts for the handlebars so they will not damage the chrome or are they some kind of metal?

[Cormanus]

Look forward to the report.

[ride4now_imp]

Ride4now, does the deflector shield have nylon mounts for the handlebars so they will not damage the chrome or are they some kind of metal?

Ss... Unfortunately the mount is metal to metal. And it did ding
the bars on my 13. I didn't notice it until I took it off... kind of
like a deep scratch. It only did it on one side, so maybe this time it'll
not do it on any side. I thought about wrapping the bars with some
kind of film, but couldn't come up with anything that would've been
invisible and still offer a good layer of protection.

[StackMan_imp]

use a piece of bicycle inner tube, cut just big enough to cover the clamps

[ride4now_imp]

I left this morning around 9:00 and got back around 5:30. I covered 176 miles and according to
the nifty gas mileage computer... averaged 51.5 mpg. Pretty good. I left the beach and rode up toward Palm Harbor, then headed west on Trinity to US41. Then north on 41 to SR50. West on 50 to US19. Briefly south on US19 to Little Road, then West on 54 to the Harley Dealer in Pt. Ritchie. Needed to buy some Plexus... The Love Bugs are back!!! Then down McMullin Booth road to Tampa road, then out toward the beach. Cruised out on the Dunedin causeway to checkout the sights, than back south towards home. In the middle of this... 2 stops at Starbucks, one stop at a place for lunch, the Harley dealer, and then the gas stop. The more I ride this bike, the happier I am that I made the switch. That 6 speed trans is amazing... the seat is very comfortable... and the bike just feels right. I still don't think it would be a good tourer, but for me around the west part of Florida, it's perfect. Maybe someday I'll bring it up to Georgia to see what it's like in the mountains... but for now, it makes a great local bike here in Fla. Here's some photos including a close up of the Deflector Shield which I just mounted.



The first stop...Java time...



A selfie....



Off the Dunedin Causeway near Honeymoon Island...



I love those twin pipes...



Love Bugs... had to keep the shield closed for obvious reasons...



Downtown Cleawater... I hope Honda brings the rack here soon
before I ruin the seat. I don't know how anyone can get used to
keeping a bag on the seat. You can't swing your leg over it...






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[the Ferret]

Nice pics! Beautiful bike. Gosh I agree the bike is just so right.
I love the twin pipes too.

With regards to the tail pack, I step on the left footpeg to give myself the clearance for mounting and dismounting, or use the jump thru method.

I hate love bugs! First time I ran into them was on a tour to Florida..with an open face helmet. Thank goodness for a Vetter Fairing. They made filling up with gas a major pain. Nasty bugs!

[emptysea]

Great pics! Glad you're enjoying the new bike I just did an 8 day ride on my CB and it did great as a touring bike.