Sunday bike rally

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Vatch
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Location: West Virginia, USA

Sunday bike rally

Postby Vatch » Mon May 08, 2006 7:35 am

Slimey Crud Run - Wisconsin

This event really brings out a lot of old bikes. (e.g. 1942 Harley, 1960's Nortons and Triumphs, etc). There were hundreds of bikes from choppers and cafes to GoldWings and cb650's (well, just 1). I saw only two other SOHC's. One was a '78 750 with a sidecar hooked up. I took a picture of that one. My 650 turned a lot of heads. It's in good shape if I say so myself. :D And in true form there I was fiddling with the carbs on the way out of the parking area. The choke cable plastic-black-whore broke, again, the day before. I rigged up a wire to open and close the choke, which worked marginally well.

I met up with a number of guys to ride with. One guy was going to take his recently acquired 550, but went with his Beemer. That left me on the low end of the displacement continuum. So I rode my 27 year old 650 with guys on R1's, Ninjas, R1150T's, V-Rod, Interceptors, and the like. Needless to say I was winding her out pretty good in an attempt to keep up, but she just couldn't hang in the corners. I think I need to check out my front forks, they were dipping pretty good going into corners at 70mph :roll: But I still did better than the V-Rod. I rode 'the ton' two times and clocked 275 miles. She did pretty well next to the modern bikes (save for the choke issues) and did it all with more style. 8)
'99 1500 Drifter

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Volker_P
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Re: Sunday bike rally

Postby Volker_P » Mon May 08, 2006 8:19 am

Reads like something really to have fun. :D
For the next time you could try to push the CB slightly into the corners. You loose some ground clearance but gain much stability for the chassis. At least thats my impression for the RC05.

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Vatch
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Location: West Virginia, USA

Postby Vatch » Mon May 08, 2006 1:06 pm

Do you mean lean hard to the side you are turning?
'99 1500 Drifter

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Volker_P
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Re: Sunday bike rally

Postby Volker_P » Tue May 09, 2006 1:18 am

No, it's opposite to the usual racers position: lean the bike a bit more to the turning side than yourself. I found a few degrees difference are sufficient. For me that brings big (maybe subjective) improvement of curve handling. I have quite high and narrow handlebars, so you have to find out if it also help for yours. Another advantage is that you have some spare ground clearance in case you need it to correct your line.
If not banked really fast and with force, the CB650 is not dangerous at curve ground contact, the footpegs come first (But I guess RC03 have them higher than RC05?) and again a bit lower it is already slipping on the center stand which usually slows down enough to come around the curve. It will not contact first on the engine and throw you off like other bikes might do. If you do not have too old tyres and the road is allright, you can also use the front brake in curves. The gound clearance rather than the tires limits the curves velocity, so there is some reserve to use (carefully) the brakes. Rear wheel goes blocked easily without noticing it, but you can get a surprising feedback on the release of the rear brake after which you might like to have some road width for corrections :wink:.
But be careful trying out, the chassis of the CB650 is old fashioned and soon close to its limit. It got (justified) negative comments already in the early 1980-s. An experienced rider might hold to less experienced on modern bikes, but the technical disadvantage is quite considerable. If you go riding with "fast" guys on modern bikes, you live very dangerous while they just do sightseeing. Be aware of that. They've got the technical gimmicks, you've got the style. :D

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Vatch
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Location: West Virginia, USA

Postby Vatch » Tue May 09, 2006 7:54 am

Thanks for the information, Volker. I have scraped the center stand two or three times. That is an uneasy feeling :shock: The tires on my bike are new, but they do not have the same profile or soft rubber compound as tires typically on modern sport bikes. I realized Saturday that technology from 3 decades ago just cannot do what modern technology does. The bike is very agile, but when riding with modern bikes it was lacking, understandably. I just need to remember that. I'll keep my style and pretty face intact :D
'99 1500 Drifter

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Volker_P
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Re: Sunday bike rally

Postby Volker_P » Tue May 09, 2006 8:24 am

Vatch wrote: I have scraped the center stand two or three times. That is an uneasy feeling :shock:

Don't worry, after some time welding new plates on the footpegs will become a regular maintenance work like valve adjustment or oil change. :lol:


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