Dallasca & Big_Jim59 Take a Ride

It was supposed to turn into a nice day in North Texas after 11:00 a.m. The weather forecast said increasing temperatures and partly cloudy. Instead we got overcast skies, high humidity and highs just touching 50. I know that to you guys up North this is a balmy spring day but I will tell you I was pretty cold on my way to the rendezvous. I live about 65 miles from Paris, where we were meeting, and it was a cheerless ride. I even stopped off and dropped a whole $6 on an added sweater layer from the Dollar Store. Jeff and I meet up in Paris, Texas along with his friend from work (sorry I didn't get his name) with the intent of taking a ride somewhere. We are desperate for winter to be finished and will grasp at the mere promise of a nice riding day. We hung out, kicked tires and decided to head out but the Busa had other plans. It died in the parking lot and resisted all attempts to relight it. It was determined that the battery was flat and possible the R/R was to blame. His buddy was seriously pissed and I don't blame him. At least it had its fit in the parking lot and not out of the open road.

We waited for his wife to bring the truck and then the two of us soldered on. We rode a fun, curvy (for N. Texas) loop. It was all great stuff. We got a chance to exercise the VFRs pretty well. Well, we did get the tires warmed up which is saying something. We discovered, via Jeff's GPS, a serious defect in the speedometer calibration. I have suspected this for some time but it was born out both by the GPS calculation and by the fact that at one point we were even being passed by RVs. Seventy miles an hour is actually just under eighty on the speedo dial on both our 5th gen bikes.

Jeff's bike look fantastic in person. If you have been following the thread: Attempting to bring back a VFR that was left for dead. You will know how much work he has put into this bike. You can see from the picture and the contrast of his shinny example and my dirty yellow bike. The pictures he posted on-line do not do it justice. The Plasti-dip makes for a nice finish and the bike looks amazing.

Something funny: Coming from Leonard to Bonham on highway 78, I overtook and passed a woman on a very nice Honda CT90. She was running every bit of 50 miles an hour. I passed her, waved and wondered where she could be going? "Probably headed to Bonham" I thought. I didn't think any more about it. I got to Paris and we fiddle farted around talking bikes and pushing the Busa up and down the parking lot. We were just getting ready to leave when Jeff said "look at that." There she was, the lady on the CT90. She had not only made it to Bonham but she had covered the 40 some miles from Bonham to Paris and was apparently on her way to Hugo OK or maybe parts further north. You just don't see bikes that small too often crossing the Texas plains.

 

Glad you get out and about at least, too bad the Busa couldn't roll with ya. Me, I had to work this weekend and it was gorgeous outside here in So. Cal too, unfortunately I was stuck at my computer for most of the weekend. I did manage to take a ride to join some old coworkers for lunch and reminisce about the good old days when we ran the office. Hopefully next weekend it'll be a riding weekend for me, the good news I made enough to put towards some riding goodies!

BTW, Dallasca's bike looks pretty good, especially if that whole paint job is Plasti-dip!

 

Cool that you guys could get out for a ride, is it starting to warm up a bit? Yeah, Dallasca's bike does look good, miss the red and blue wheels though :biggrin-new:. Did some gigs a few months back with a kid that used to ride down from the next city (about 100Kms) on a 125 with his guitar on his back.

 

Good to see you out and ride Big Jim :thumbsup:
How is your back and your legs? I know you have some issue in the past :noidea:

 

The back and legs are much better thanks to a Sargents seat, lowered Buell pegs and a throttle lock. Now I am more relaxed. I have been exercising more and the legs/knees are more limber. It was a fun ride. All the time I was shivering and riding up highway 82 to Paris I kept thinking, "in a couple of months this road is going to be so hot I won't be able to stand it." Summer's coming!

 

What is really impressive is the red. I have tried rattle can paint jobs and I have had good luck shooting gloss black. This has required many many coats of black followed by wet sanding and eventually rubbing and polishing. I have never had good results with red spray paint in a can. It always had a washed out look plus the "red" can vary from can to can even in the same batch. The red Plasti-dip on the other hand looks glossy and really red.

 

Ride Video from my GoPro such as it is. I apologize a head of time since it's really boring.

[video=youtube;goTbbC7e5cI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goTbbC7e5cI&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

Well I guess its time I ad to the fun of the thread!! lol I didn’t even know you had made one about your visit and the ride or I would have chimed in sooner. First off thank you Jim for the complement. I’m very happy with the results. I had fun on our little 50 mile or so ride and look forward to the next one. I wish you could have made it up north with us this week. But maybe better you didn’t. I suffered a major rear tire failure and almost slid into a guard rail at 50 mph. God and my guardian angle had to have had something to do with me regaining control of that slide that would have surly resulted in a possible care flight off the mountain. I was even able to ride the back part of Talihina parkway to Mena, ar. About 10 miles of twisty road were we found a new rear tire. Even though it cost me $290 and a 3 hour wait I had to have the same brand tire that had gotten me to town. No Shinko would have held up to that abuse so another PP2 went on her. 680 miles in 2 days is what we ended up riding due to the extra cost of the tire. Not the 1100 in 3 days but it was spectacular views and the best switchbacks I have ever rode.. . I don’t want to hijack your thread about another ride just teasing ya so you make the next one.. Oh and now you all know why I always have a helmet on when there’s a camera around.. lol

 

double post so I self deleted it... well kind of

 

You didn't hijack the thread. You were a part of the ride. I wanted to get your side of things but I forgot to let you know I posted this. Sorry!!! I am glad that tire failure didn't cause serious damage to you or the bike. It sounds like you have to pay full retail for that tire and then some. The trip sounded like a bunch of fun. Was it pretty cold?

Oh. . . the video shows what a real gray day it turned out to be. It didn't seem that dark but I guess it was.

 

It always had a washed out look plus the "red" can vary from can to can even in the same batch.