What did you do on or to your other bike part 2

[Ollie]

LOL I think he may have used the wrong formula.

[Gone in 60]

It is a pretty shade of blue. Maybe I should just use it to repaint the silver fairings. Then I’d have red and blue, and could go for a Superman theme on the bike.

Maybe the paint fades to silver after a few days… I should put the test soda can outside.

Paint can number three is on the way, the guy said he tested it and guaranteed it is silver…

[Cormanus]

I got a reply from their rep saying he personally mixed the batch of paint and has no idea why it’s blue not silver. Maybe it’s magically changing inside the cans.

I wonder what he was taking and where I can get some.

[the Ferret]

Paint can number three is on the way, the guy said he tested it and guaranteed it is silver…

We can't wait to see what color you get this time lol

[Lord Popgun]

Maybe he is color blind…

[Gone in 60]

He sent me a message:
"We put a dot of the paint color on the bottom of the can. Can you please look on the bottom of the cans you received and tell me what color you see?"
"Yup. Each can has a yellow stripe under it."

This just gets better and better.

[Gone in 60]

Did my first official commute with Superbird today. My pattern is going 60 miles to the office on Wednesday, then 30 miles to my Mom's house for the night to spend time with her, then 30 miles back to the office on Thursday, then 60 back home Thursday evening. For the whole trip, I'm traveling on two major freeways that flow at 70-80 mph, and can spend much of it on dedicated toll lanes that are separated from the main freeway and are free for motorcycles. The toll lanes are great, as they separate you from large truck traffic, many of which are gravel haulers. Where those lanes end and you're riding in regular freeway traffic, there are areas where traffic slows to a crawl, so lane splitting is a definite advantage.

In the mornings, there can be wide temperature swings, and in the evenings major head and cross winds. I've done the trip several times on the Bonneville and the Interceptor 650, but they lack frontal mass and wind protection. I don't subject my CB1100 to this commute slog. They don't struggle at higher speeds, and I've gone up a tooth on the front sprocket on the Enfield, but they are definitely working to maintain the speeds you need to go to flow with traffic, and I tend to keep those bikes in the regular traffic lanes where I can move in more of the 65-70 mph range.

I chose the NC to make this commute easier, and this morning's ride showed that it was a good choice. Loading was easy - my Givi V47 swallowed all of my work stuff including food for two days, and I put my change of clothes in the frunk. Sailed along in the toll lanes and split lanes as needed in the slow areas. I put wind guards on the handlebars which are a good help, but I might spring for some grip warmers. I added the accessory harness and ran two sets of wires up to the front and zip-tied them near the head tube, so they are waiting to power a pair of driving lights and grip warmers. Those will be the next projects. Pdedse, I might add those USB velcro-on warmers you referenced a while back as a test. For driving lights, most riders on this commute corridor run yellow lights, which stand out very well, particularly as you're going into the sun both ways depending on the season. 

The dash says I'm averaging 60mpg, not bad for these speeds I suppose. So far, very happy I made the choice to add this bike to my fleet.

[pdedse]

We've got a week of dry weather, bright sunshine...but that usually means high winds 'cause that's what's keeping the rains away.  Low 50s for the high, so I decided to inagurate the KLX300.  With not a cloud in the sky, I took off at 9:30am and headed for Madras, Oregon, about 2 hours away on the east side of Mt. Hood.  I wanted to ride a couple hours of whatever non paved surfaces I could find east of Madras, and if you were to zoom in on whatever maps, you'd find all sorts of interesting roads.


I chose Grizzly Rd. which heads SE out of Madras.  But...as soon as I started coming down Mt. Hood on the east side, all the sunshine gave way to fog...heavy, misty, COLD fog.  I wasn't suspecting that at all.  Lunchtime temp was right at 32, and I just about headed back home without unloading the KLX, but after having something to eat, I thought I'd at least check out the road.  And the road was too inviting to pass up.  I had a 40-50 mile route planned, but I knew I'd likely have to adjust that because that cold fog gets to me quick.

Found a park on the east edge of Madras, unloaded the bike and was on my way...to see nada




It was pointless to use the faceshield as it would immediately fogup.  I stopped about every 10 mintures to warm up my hands with the exhaust and dethaw my nose.  It must have dropped below 32 as I gained altitude because the fog would collect on my jacket and then chunks of ice would drop to the ground every time I got off the bike.

About 1/2 through my two hour trip the fog would clear for a couple hundred meters.  On a sunny day I imagine it would be rather pretty


Passing a farm house, a couple of large hounds barked their displeasure at my passing by and gave chase, but not today, doggies!


After about 1.5 hours, I began to head back to Madras.  


I was thinking I should have made note of the park where I left the pickup, but it turns out the same road that took me out of the hills lead me directly bac to the parking area.  Only about 35 miles, 2 hours total on the bike with lots of "where am I" and warm-up stops.

The bike is light and easy to maneurver.  I put on a taller handle bar, a set of bar-back risers that I originally used on my 2014 CB1100 Standard and lowered footpegs.  Felt pretty decent standing, happy about that.  I forgot my seat pads, so I felt naked w/out those, but otherwise a pretty decent ride considering the chill.  Hands and toes were numb for a bit, but got the bike loaded back and made it home while there was still some daylight.

[Ollie]

Damp and cold out is chilling! Like your KLX300.

[Cormanus]

Fog! Yech! Like the 26 in picture 1. Neat touch.