Diary

Oklahoma City to Amarillo, Texas

Posted by Blue on 2 August 2012

Posted in: Diary. Tagged: Amarillo, Oklahoma, Route 66, Texas.

Leaving Oklahoma City a short while after a much bigger group of Norwegians and Swedes, we headed off towards Amarillo (as we knew the way…), stopping by the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum.

Oklahoma Route 66 Museum

Then a stop for lunch at a Chinese buffet restaurant, eating with some of my new friends, Angelo and Manuel with Davide and Loredana and a great fortune cookie message:

Fortune Cookie

Arriving in Amarillo, we were collected by Cadillac limousines with bullhorns mounted on the bonnets – no worries with Health & Safety here, it seems – to be taken to the Big Texan Steak Ranch and its 72oz steak challenge (which I declined to take). Good steaks though, and possibly the biggest carrot cake I’ve ever seen!

Big Texan Steak Ranch

Springfield, Missouri to Oklahoma City

Posted by Blue on 1 August 2012

Posted in: Diary. Tagged: Galena, Kansas, Oklahoma, Route 66, Springfield.

Leaving Missouri, we headed through the SE corner of Kansas, stopping in one of the bypassed towns, Galena, for some photos.

Then into Oklahoma with its “heat advisories” given it was 115Â°F/46Â°C. This was to be a common occurrence for the rest of the trip, with temperatures aboveÂ 100Â°F every day, hittingÂ 115Â°F throughout Oklahoma, Arizona and the Mojave Desert in California.

Along the way, we met a biker from Toronto called Giles, who was semi-permanently on the road these days.

Sadly, our hotel for the night had a problem in the kitchen that even with its chef(s) who’d walked out and cover from other staff failed miserably: after a late 2 hour wait for food, it was awful so we didn’t pay and went to our rooms hungry and tired.

Springfield, Illinois to Springfield, Missouri

Posted by Blue on 31 July 2012

Posted in: Diary. Tagged: Meramec, Route 66, Springfield, St Louis.

Leaving Springfield, we headed off towards Missouri and the Mississippi stopping for photos at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge.

On from there, we headed through St. Louis which was hot. Very hot. So hot that after a number of stops and starts, the Electra Glide got a bit tired and emotional and the engine management system decided to take a lie down and refuse to let the bike work. After a while, it decided to come back up, though the idle speed was too high, but at least I could continue my journey.

We stopped for lunch at the Meramec Caves, rumoured to have been the James Gang’s hideout. I’m not surprised they were caught, given they weren’t exactly camouflaged (see photo).

We also stopped at the Elbow Inn, Devil’s Elbow, which is a fabulous biker bar with hundreds of bras hanging from the ceiling!

Finally we reached Springfield, Missouri after a long 360 mile day in the saddle.

Chicago to Springfield, Illinois

Posted by Blue on 30 July 2012

Posted in: Diary. Tagged: Chicago, Route 66, Springfield.

Our first stop, after the obligatory journey’s start photo, was breakfast at Lou Mitchell’s.

Let’s Go!

Lou Mitchell’s

Then we headed off down Route 66 to Springfield, IL via a nuclear power station(!), Wilmington with its Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad, Dwight and Pontiac for lunch.

Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad

Dwight

Picked Up the Harley

Posted by Blue on 29 July 2012

Posted in: Diary. Tagged: Chicago, Electra Glide, Harley Davidson, Route 66, Woodstock.

…and it’s not the one I chose.

Having had the Road King Classic as my first choice, I was a little disappointed when we turned up at Woodstock Harley Davidson after an hour’s bus ride to collect the bikes to be told that as they were out of Road Kings I’d have to ride one of their fleet of Electra Glide Ultra Limited bikes instead.

Woodstock Harley Davidson, Illinois

I consoled myself by thinking about being able to hook up my iPod – bought specially for the trip – to its sound system but was horrified when I saw the colour: “root beer”, aka ‘horrendous metallic brown’.

Harley Davidson FLHTK Electra Glide Ultra Limited

A ride back into central Chicago with traffic jams on a hot day revealed that it started to pink when hot…

Arrived!

Posted by Blue on 28 July 2012

Posted in: Diary. Tagged: Chicago, Route 66, United Airlines.

Well I’ve arrived here in Chicago at the start of Route 66. My fellow travellers will be gathering later today and the plan has changed slightly in view of the high temperatures around at the moment: we will be picking the bikes up on Sunday morning rather than Monday, so we can be on the road first thing Monday morning.

The flight was fine but it did take United Airlines 35 minutes to check my bag in which, coupled with the mile walk to the gate, meant I had no time to grab a coffee and breakfast at 6.00am. Grr!

US immigration was also sadly on a par with the UK Border Agency so more delay getting through there, exacerbated by an Air India flight which seemed to have mainly wheelchair-bound passengers…

Off to explore now, I think!

Kawasaki Day at the Ace Cafe

Posted by RHM on 22 April 2012

Posted in: Diary, Kawasaki, Photos, ZRX1200R. Tagged: Ace CafÃ©, dyno, Kawasaki Day, London Marathon. Leave a Comment

Today was Kawasaki Day at the Ace Cafe London. It was also the Virgin London Marathon and where I live the roads close at 8.00am. Despite GT taking part in the marathon – she managed a 4:00:44 finish time! – I headed off before the road closures to the Ace Cafe for Kawasaki Day, celebrating 40 years.

Of course, 11 and 23 mile markers en route were too good to pass unnoticed so I hoisted celebratory wheelies as I drove through!

Getting to the Ace at 8.00am I grabbed a cuppa and breakfast and then decided to have the ZRX dyno’d again now I’ve put some miles on it and the results were very impressive: 163.2bhp and 98ft/lb which even beat some poor bloke with a shiny ZZR1400 and Akra pipes!

Here are some photos too:

ArdÃ¨che Valley, June 2011

Posted by Blue on 3 July 2011

Posted in: Diary, ZRX1200R. Tagged: ArdÃ¨che, Eurotunnel, gorge, Massif Central, valley.

As something of a dry run for the US trip, three friends and I planned a week’s holiday to play in the Gorges de l’ArdÃ¨che in France. Sadly, Purge had to cancel a few weeks before the trip for family reasons so that just left Matt, Yox and me.

The trip started early – very early: 5.00am – on Saturday, 25th June with a quick dash to the Eurotunnel terminal off the M20. Cold and wet, so I put my Hein Gericke waterproof overjacket on, not bothering with the Belstaff waterproof overtrousers which had struggled to get over my Alpinestars SMX boots and the kneesliders on my leathers.

Soggy and chilly at Eurotunnel Terminal

Matt and Yox

But we arrived and filled up with petrol before heading to find our train had been cancelled, setting us back half an hour before we’d even set off. The plan was to be in Joyeuse around 6.00pm if possible…

After the first few “splash and dash” stops to fill the bikes with petrol and us with coffee, it had warmed up and dried off so we could stash the waterproofs.

Sun Shining on the Righteous!

We soon arrived at the Hotel les CÃ¨dres in Joyeuse despite being a little late – the hotel rang me to see if we were arriving soon when we were 150 miles away but that didn’t take us long… – and we checked in to a warm welcome and were told where the bikes could be parked safely. I’d stay there again.

Hotel les CÃ¨dres

The most precarious toilet in the world?

Sunday 26th and we went off to play in the Gorges de l’ArdÃ¨che: a great ride up and down the twisty roads of the Gorges de l’ArdÃ¨che – max 104mph – then three beers, a very large vodka before more beer. And Dinner… We’d also stopped earlier for a light snack lunch. Matt had managed to cut his arm overnight and Yox managed to get stung by a wasp en route.

Bikes at the Gorges de l'ArdÃ¨che

Panorama: Gorges de l'ArdÃ¨che

Matt's Wound!

Yox's Sting

Light Lunch...

Monday 27th and with temperatures still in the high 30s, we decided to do an even longer day: heading up to Le Puy, then Mende, then Villefort and back and all by the twistiest, most scenic routes we could find. And we weren’t disappointed. Neither were we disappointed by the ice creams at Rosiere when we got back.

Bikes in the sun

Lozere

Omnomnom!

Tuesday 28th and we decided to go for a few hundred miles again to see the Foster-designed Millau Bridge. Millau Bridge via Ales then Mende, Villefort and back. 39C+ Lots of twisties to enjoy. Cold beer and hot pizza to finish it off!

Yes it was as hot as it looks

"How lost are we?"

Heavy Engineering

Millau Bridge

Panorama: Millau Bridge

Matt had turned French...

Wednesday 29th was our rest day. So we spent it whitewater canoeing for 24km down the ArdÃ¨cheÂ itself navigating a few sets of rapids along the way. Fortunately, we were taking our protective clothing seriously…

We took our protective headgear and eyewear very seriously...

Matt had some issues with droopage

Compare and contrast

Yox pops his cork (note shorts torn to shreds when we capsized earlier)

Alpha Bateau

So yes, we did capsize in one set of rapids and I was hit by another canoe whilst scrabbling over the rocks (still underwater) to steady the canoe for Yox and me to get back in. Fortunately, the sun was out and despite the suntan lotion, my battered shins got sunburnt! Which meant I didn’t need to concentrate on the bruises and cuts or the aching arms

Thursday 30th and we went for a bimble about back in the Gorges de l’ArdÃ¨cheÂ again, stopping more frequently for photos this time. Still managed 80+ miles.

Once a Rexer, always a Rexer...

Yes, it was very hot

Ah, the usual!

Journey's end for the whitewater canoe trips

Friday 1st July and we realised we’d enjoyed the twisties in the Massif Central so much we should do them again and there were still a couple of routes we’d not tried before. So off we went for a 160 mile ride…

Bloody taggers!

Saint-Julien-du-Tournel

Yox's boot: proof of twistyness!

Saturday 2nd and back to the UK. Leaving a little after 8.15am, we made it back to the Eurotunnel with a couple of hours to spare, so we caught an earlier crossing. According to the TomTom SatNav unit, 688 miles on Saturday, average speed of 75mph, maximum speed of – cough – 122mph. That’s 2,111 miles that week, average speed of 59mph and a maximum declared speed of 135mph. “Declared” because the TomTom doesn’t display maximum speeds over that, so the 155mph and climbing I saw on one section of road – private, obviously, Officer! – didn’t register.

Welcome Home Blue Rex!

Posted by RHM on 14 May 2011

Posted in: Accessories, Diary. Tagged: Akrapovic, Dymag, tuning. Leave a Comment

Well today I went to collect the ZRX from PDQ post-fettling. And yes, I think it looks great!

Larry mentioned that Nick had test-ridden it just to be on the safe side after they’d achieved their best-ever dyno results for a ZRX1200R on standard carbs/bores. I’d asked for a 44T rear sprocket as before and Larry suggested it would be sensible to go back to a 42T at some point as Nick had come back wide-eyed and declared it a tad berserk… We’ll see tomorrow!

PDQ Dyno Results

Posted by RHM on 9 May 2011

Posted in: Diary. Tagged: dyno, tuning. Leave a Comment

Well the results of the engine work and fettling at PDQ are in: up to 158bhp at the rear wheel! Well done to Larry and the team.

Dyno Chart

Also interesting is that that was up from 130bhp before their engine work and after I’d fitted a full Akrapovic system and rejetted it myself a while before.

And to put all that into context, it was dyno’d standard but with an Akrapovic end can in July 2005 and put out 114bhp (up from c. 108bhp as standard at the rear wheel).

Blue Rex

Blue's Kawasaki ZRX1200R Blog