Bay Area: Alice's Restaurant (Woodside, CA)

[Gone in 60]

When I drive through country like that, and I'm by myself, it's a perfect time to listen to a podcast, or a Ken Burns documentary. You don't need to watch those, it's mostly just audio with archive photos. I listened to his whole WW2 series between Utah and Illinois once.

 

[the Ferret]

See Id be worried listening to something in my helmet that Id miss a strange noise my engine was making right before it cause catastrophic damage.

 

[Gone in 60]

See Id be worried listening to something in my helmet that Id miss a strange noise my engine was making right before it cause catastrophic damage.

You ride a Honda... what kind of catastrophic thing can possibly happen?

 

[the Ferret]

Knock on wood knock on wood knock on wood

 

[rdprdp01]

[quote="the Ferret" pid='271146' dateline='1759237139']
Just bring lots of money for gas lol. I just returned from northern California ( visited Lassen Volcanic Natl Park). Gas varied from $4.49 gal to $5.19 a gal depending on location and scarcity of fuel stations. I filled up before I left home in Ohio @ $ 2.87 a gal. Last night I filled up here for $2.75 a gal.
[/QUOTE]

So I true. I have paid $6 per gallon. It is a good thing my CB1100EX is able to achieve 50 MPG!

 

[Gone in 60]

Just bring lots of money for gas lol. I just returned from northern California ( visited Lassen Volcanic Natl Park). Gas varied from $4.49 gal to $5.19 a gal depending on location and scarcity of fuel stations. I filled up before I left home in Ohio @ $ 2.87 a gal. Last night I filled up here for $2.75 a gal.

So I true. I have paid $6 per gallon. It is a good thing my CB1100EX is able to achieve 50 MPG!

Oy! Eventually Mrs. G and I will be moving to the San Diego area, and gas it more expensive than it is where we live. Not looking forward to that, but who knows, that's quite a few years away still.

 

[rdprdp01]

Just bring lots of money for gas lol. I just returned from northern California ( visited Lassen Volcanic Natl Park). Gas varied from $4.49 gal to $5.19 a gal depending on location and scarcity of fuel stations. I filled up before I left home in Ohio @ $ 2.87 a gal. Last night I filled up here for $2.75 a gal.

So I true. I have paid $6 per gallon. It is a good thing my CB1100EX is able to achieve 50 MPG!

Sadly my friends, gas prices are on the rise in the San Francisco Bay Area. I am certain that the cost per gallon will exceed $6 USD before Christmas.

In comparison, the cost per gallon in Austin, TX, another liberal enclave in the United States, is $3 USD per gallon.

The costa delta can be explained easily:

California government officials will issue a permit for a fuel station but not a petroleum refinery.

More miles are driven in California than any other state.

Gas has to be refined elsewhere and imported, adding cost and transportation costs and I suspect greater emissions.

With respect to the well-intended policy makers, the real impact is less money for working-class families.

It is a good thing the total cost of operating an over-built, incredibly reliable, air-cooled CB1100 is low no matter the cost of a gallon of gasoline.

 

[Nachodaddy]

While many stations in the Phoenix, Arizona, US, area will advertise their cheapest fuel at around $3.25, anything better will cost you closer to $4.50. I think it has a lot to do with what the market will bear as well.

 

[emptysea]

See Id be worried listening to something in my helmet that Id miss a strange noise my engine was making right before it cause catastrophic damage.

Preface:  I'm not trying to convince anyone to have or not have audio in their helmet.

In all the time and over all the miles you've ridden, how many times have noticed a strange sound your engine was making and were able to stop your bike before it caused catastrophic damage?  And, of those times (if any), how many of those strange noises were soft enough that you wouldn't have heard it with audio in your helmet?

Also --- you can tell the median age of this group is getting up there with all the comments about gas prices. LOL

 

[Gone in 60]

I've noticed that any time that I don't wear earbuds and can hear the sounds my bikes make at low enough speeds that wind doesn't drown out mechanical noises, I am bemused by what I hear. The Triumph makes a sound like Mom's old sewing machine. The Enfield makes a staccato belt through it's Indian-made mufflers, and the CB1100 makes a low thrum through the Staintune. Each engine makes it's churning, tapping way through life.

When I took a shake-down ride on the Triumph last weekend after completing the valve shim changes and related cam removal, I thought I purposely rode through the slow streets without any earplugs to listen carefully. I thought I heard something different, but pulling off and putting ears next to the running engine, it was all my imagination.

 

[Cormanus]

Speak up everyone. Please?

 

[the Ferret]

See Id be worried listening to something in my helmet that I'd miss a strange noise my engine was making right before it cause catastrophic damage.

Preface:  I'm not trying to convince anyone to have or not have audio in their helmet.

In all the time and over all the miles you've ridden, how many times have noticed a strange sound your engine was making and were able to stop your bike before it caused catastrophic damage?  And, of those times (if any), how many of those strange noises were soft enough that you wouldn't have heard it with audio in your helmet?

60 years riding on the street, 36 motorcycles (incl 1 rental), 7 different manufacturers, an estimated 875,000 miles, 48 states, 2 provinces of Canada, 5 countries in Europe and I've never had a catastrophic motorcycle engine failure but all I can tell you is, in my head, the worry is real   :hilarious:

 

[Gone in 60]

I have only seen one catastrophic, and actually spectacular engine failure.
Driving up the 101 with Mrs. G in the Calabasas area, which is the route one would take if they were planning to drop down into the Malibu Canyon roads, like Mulholland, Latigo and the other famous and fun twisties. You'll typically see sports cars and sport bikes on the 101 in that area, which is a very wide and fast freeway, heading toward the exits to the roads that drop into the canyon.

Mrs. and I were cruising along at around 75mph when a BMW S1000RR passed us like we were standing still. While Mrs. was commenting about how unsafe he was, and I was assuring her that I don't ride like that, we saw a huge cloud of smoke up ahead, and all of the cars ahead of us were braking hard.

Looked like our BMW friend must have crashed. As we kept travelling, we could see a distinct trail of oil, and aluminum chunks twinkling as they tumbled down the freeway. The oil trail veered off to the right shoulder, ending where the BMW sat, upright on its side stand, with about half of the engine missing, and the rear tire coated in oil.

 

[Cooldrum305]

Great pics David of Alice's and Skyline (the road). You can also ride Skyline north too Highway 92 to take you out too Half Moon Bay.( Avoid it though during the pumpkin festival in October) 92 connects to Highway 1 and you can take your pick, south to Santa Cruz or north to San Francisco and beyond.

Another route from your place is catch 84(Livermore) to the Dumbarton bridge, north on 101 to Woodside road and catch 84 through Redwood city and Woodside road which takes you up to Skyline and Alice's (84 and 35 intersect there) 84 continues out to La Honda to highway 1 too.

The bike culture at Alice's has changed through the years. The sport bikes use to park at the Trading Post across the street and the cruisers at Alice's , things change I guess. There's been many press releases of vehicles staged at Alice's and car commercials on 84 too.

We lived in Newark before Sun built campuses on either side of the Dumbarton bridge. Then Facebook, now Meta came in and changed everything on Bay Front expressway. One thing that didn't change was the wonderful road access to the many roads in the area.

In Portland, I often ride to the Columbia river gorge on the historic highway (30) You can ride the interstate (I 84) but you just miss so much. The waterfalls, the fresh air sent from the forests, and of course, the bends of the open country roads, it doesn't get any better. Good memories of living in the BayArea with many new roads to discover in the Pacific NorthWest. Thanks for a Great Job on preserving the CB1100 forum! Russ