Greetings everyone. As many of you know, I've been driving the bike around the continent for the past decade. Drive for a week or so, park it, fly home. Rinse and repeat. After this trip, I'll have 8 States I haven't been to on the bike.
I started out in Charlotte this trip and headed direct to the coast then followed the road down as far as Key West, across the 'Glades then up the west side of the handle to Tampa and across to Orlando where I spent three days. Last night after spending the day at Epcot I caught the launch of the Space X from 3 miles away!
The trip wasn't one of favs unfortunately. The drive along the coast really isn't that scenic, it's mostly straight, dusty, dirty, hot and humid,. I've never seen pollen so thick either. The cheek pads of my helmet looked like they were painted with spray paint after the first day. Worst of all however are the drivers. Florida is not a safe place for biking compared to most places. I lost count of how many times I came close to being road hamburger, I got pulled over by a Trooper in the Keys (ironically after almost being run off the road by a big pick up with oversized tires that passed me like I was standing still). Didn't realize you cannot show red or blue colured lights on any vehicle except in the rear. I have aux brake lights down the side that turn on when I hit the brakes - for visibility, Cop was nice and gave me a warning but we had a nice chat, HE said he used to drive but sold his bike when he moved to Florida. My Canadian lic plate often draws conversation and nearly everyone I spoke to said motorcycles and FLorida do not mix, including the several people driving Harley;s I spoke to,. That was an observation I made as well: in 10 days I saw one BMW 1000 RR, a Kawi sport bike and one or two small dual sports - no Yamahas or FJRs, but quite a few Harley's. Not surprisingly, few were wearing helmets or other gear, even the ones I spoke to that claimed Florida is no place for a bike.
Crossing the Everglades was a bit nicer as it had little traffic and there were a few places to stop and explore new wildlife.
I was overcome with the destruction in Ft Myers and area. I really feel for those people. It appears like there is no intention to rebuild and that most gave up and walked away.
Sarasota area was much nicer than any place I seen to this point. It was clean. modern and appealing. Tampa was the same; like a better version of the east- coast cities. Although, the drivers weren't much better. I'm glad I got a hotel in Orlando and kicked back for a few days as well. When I return, I will likely spend a day or two here again before returning to Tampa/Clearwater and leaving the State.
I was at Epcot the year it opened and haven't been to Orlando since. I managed to do every ride and catch almost every show in eight hours, Guardians ride was really cool but overall, it was a pretty over-priced experience.
I stayed at Epcot until closing and returned to the hotel, picked up my second flat in as many days, about a mile from the hotel no less. Plugged it, grabbed a tall boy, had a shower and crawled into bed. I quickly logged on to buy a ticket to Kennedy for today and observed that the Space X launch I had my eye on last week had been postponed until 12:30 am; 90 minutes from now. Damn. 45 mile drive to the Cape and I won't be home until 2 am. Could I do this and and still visit Kennedy the next day (today) on 6 hours of sleep and do the same drive? Ugh. Prolly not but when would I ever get another chance? I thought about it a few minutes and considered if I was fine to drive then geared up and headed to the Cape. The launch was a little less dramatic than I expected but still worth it. I didn't get to sleep until 2:30 and woke up today with a really sore throat so decided to relax in the hotel today and look forward to Kennedy when I return.
So now to the tire question. Two days ago, I went to the storage facility to sign my lease and unloaded some gear/weight. On the way home at about 75 mph, it felt like I was driving through wet cement; I immediately knew the problem. Pulled over and opened my TPMS app (should have done this BEFORE I started driving) and the rear tire was a 10 psi. FFS! I left my plug and patch kit in my tool bag at the storage place,. Fortunately, I still had my pump. It could only get the tire to 22 psi then the air escaped as fast as it went in,. I found the piece of metal and removed it then manage to get a twig in there with a pair of needle nose enough to hold the air at about 15 psi until i limped to a Walmart and bought a plug kit. From there it was easy. A bit of an inconvenience and a good reminder of Murphy;s Law but I wasn't to deflated; the PR5 was ready to replaced anyway.
BTW, these are two additions I brought with me this trip and they were both money really well spent:
TPMS
Cordless air pump
I had a cheap TPMS for the bike already but wasn't happy with it,. The one above works really well and it's good for both my FJRs.
I cannot say enough about that cordless digital pump. It does fit under the seat too,
So I posted another thread on advice where to get my tire replaced locally and I will repeat the request here. But, I still have a concern about the wear pattern. As you can see, it is very uneven and I am concerned why, I realize that in N america, the left side of tires on motorcycles wear faster than the right but this seems extreme. The bike has always had a mild pull to the left if I take my hands of the bar but it's been like this over a decade and i have never noticed such uneven wear on other tires. Any thoughts?
Thanks for reading. I enjoyed sharing.
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I started out in Charlotte this trip and headed direct to the coast then followed the road down as far as Key West, across the 'Glades then up the west side of the handle to Tampa and across to Orlando where I spent three days. Last night after spending the day at Epcot I caught the launch of the Space X from 3 miles away!
The trip wasn't one of favs unfortunately. The drive along the coast really isn't that scenic, it's mostly straight, dusty, dirty, hot and humid,. I've never seen pollen so thick either. The cheek pads of my helmet looked like they were painted with spray paint after the first day. Worst of all however are the drivers. Florida is not a safe place for biking compared to most places. I lost count of how many times I came close to being road hamburger, I got pulled over by a Trooper in the Keys (ironically after almost being run off the road by a big pick up with oversized tires that passed me like I was standing still). Didn't realize you cannot show red or blue colured lights on any vehicle except in the rear. I have aux brake lights down the side that turn on when I hit the brakes - for visibility, Cop was nice and gave me a warning but we had a nice chat, HE said he used to drive but sold his bike when he moved to Florida. My Canadian lic plate often draws conversation and nearly everyone I spoke to said motorcycles and FLorida do not mix, including the several people driving Harley;s I spoke to,. That was an observation I made as well: in 10 days I saw one BMW 1000 RR, a Kawi sport bike and one or two small dual sports - no Yamahas or FJRs, but quite a few Harley's. Not surprisingly, few were wearing helmets or other gear, even the ones I spoke to that claimed Florida is no place for a bike.
Crossing the Everglades was a bit nicer as it had little traffic and there were a few places to stop and explore new wildlife.
I was overcome with the destruction in Ft Myers and area. I really feel for those people. It appears like there is no intention to rebuild and that most gave up and walked away.
Sarasota area was much nicer than any place I seen to this point. It was clean. modern and appealing. Tampa was the same; like a better version of the east- coast cities. Although, the drivers weren't much better. I'm glad I got a hotel in Orlando and kicked back for a few days as well. When I return, I will likely spend a day or two here again before returning to Tampa/Clearwater and leaving the State.
I was at Epcot the year it opened and haven't been to Orlando since. I managed to do every ride and catch almost every show in eight hours, Guardians ride was really cool but overall, it was a pretty over-priced experience.
I stayed at Epcot until closing and returned to the hotel, picked up my second flat in as many days, about a mile from the hotel no less. Plugged it, grabbed a tall boy, had a shower and crawled into bed. I quickly logged on to buy a ticket to Kennedy for today and observed that the Space X launch I had my eye on last week had been postponed until 12:30 am; 90 minutes from now. Damn. 45 mile drive to the Cape and I won't be home until 2 am. Could I do this and and still visit Kennedy the next day (today) on 6 hours of sleep and do the same drive? Ugh. Prolly not but when would I ever get another chance? I thought about it a few minutes and considered if I was fine to drive then geared up and headed to the Cape. The launch was a little less dramatic than I expected but still worth it. I didn't get to sleep until 2:30 and woke up today with a really sore throat so decided to relax in the hotel today and look forward to Kennedy when I return.
So now to the tire question. Two days ago, I went to the storage facility to sign my lease and unloaded some gear/weight. On the way home at about 75 mph, it felt like I was driving through wet cement; I immediately knew the problem. Pulled over and opened my TPMS app (should have done this BEFORE I started driving) and the rear tire was a 10 psi. FFS! I left my plug and patch kit in my tool bag at the storage place,. Fortunately, I still had my pump. It could only get the tire to 22 psi then the air escaped as fast as it went in,. I found the piece of metal and removed it then manage to get a twig in there with a pair of needle nose enough to hold the air at about 15 psi until i limped to a Walmart and bought a plug kit. From there it was easy. A bit of an inconvenience and a good reminder of Murphy;s Law but I wasn't to deflated; the PR5 was ready to replaced anyway.
BTW, these are two additions I brought with me this trip and they were both money really well spent:
TPMS
Cordless air pump
I had a cheap TPMS for the bike already but wasn't happy with it,. The one above works really well and it's good for both my FJRs.
I cannot say enough about that cordless digital pump. It does fit under the seat too,
So I posted another thread on advice where to get my tire replaced locally and I will repeat the request here. But, I still have a concern about the wear pattern. As you can see, it is very uneven and I am concerned why, I realize that in N america, the left side of tires on motorcycles wear faster than the right but this seems extreme. The bike has always had a mild pull to the left if I take my hands of the bar but it's been like this over a decade and i have never noticed such uneven wear on other tires. Any thoughts?
Thanks for reading. I enjoyed sharing.
. Other than that, there are cycle shops everywhere. Look up the local Yamaha dealer or cycle gear and see if they have a tire in stock.
