Robin: This episode of the Riding Obsession podcast is brought to you by DriveWeather. Be safe and check road weather conditions using the DriveWeather app. See wind and weather information at each point of your trip. Visit driveweatherapp.com to learn more. And also by John DelVecchio's Cornering Confidence program, a self-paced interactive online course that brings more enjoyment and assurance to the twisties.

Travis: Their website is corneringconfidence.com If my battery dies, I'll let you know and we'll start over. How much battery you got? One bar. You got one bar? Yeah.

Robin: Do a good change of fucking batteries. That's not, we're doing, we're going to be doing a full bucket.

Tim: All right, off hold. All right, so off hold, hit stop. Recording.

Robin: Why am I not phasing you? I don't know. You got the fire going. Yeah.

Tim: Well, it's hard to not face the fire.

Travis: It's burning nice and clean. I thought it was going to be smoky, but seems okay.

Robin: Good wood. Apparently the guy that sells the wood, he can't keep it on his property. Like I don't know if he's not legally allowed to or what the story is.

Travis: There's a lot of weird regulations about wood.

Robin: Yeah. Some DNR shit.

Travis: Yeah, and actually it's probably like illegal for you to bring that if it was near your campsite because it crossed the county line, but.

Tim: Yeah, I think there is a a radius from where you harvested it that you are not allowed to bring it outside of.

Robin: Talk about, I forget what the word for that is. Micro, it's like micro environment. Microcosmic.

Tim: Yeah.

Robin: It doesn't matter.

Tim: They're just trying to stop you from transporting unhealthy bugs.

Robin: Invasive, invasive species. From county to county though, see that's weird.

Travis: Well, just like it's a delineated line that's like clear to understand, right? It's like, okay, we want to like stop these things from moving too far from their origin points. How do we delegate that and like saying like you can't bring it out of the county is an easy way to use an existing border to regulate it, right? It's like, or it might be you can't bring it 50 miles from the origin point or whatever, but it's like that's so abstract.

Robin: Yeah. This is a motorcycle podcast, right?

Tim: Not yet.

Robin: Oh, yeah.

Travis: Give me the intro. I mean we're talking about firewood. That's the motorcycles, uh, you know.

Robin: Well, Joe Godin just got his first set of murder hordens. Yeah. No. Yeah, and they are massive. They caught one and grabbed it by the back and it was just the size of like your index finger.

Travis: It's like a cicada.

Robin: It's big.

Tim: Seriously, that is the creepiest damn thing.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: I am really happy. I haven't seen one of those in person.

Robin: So with that, uh, I'm some guy, uh, are you important?

Travis: Who's on first?

Robin: What's your deal? I don't have a deal. This is probably a podcast. Do I need a deal? Maybe about cars.

Travis: Do you want to make a deal?

Tim: I think i've seen that show.

Travis: Yeah, don't forget about the Monty Hall Paradox.

Tim: Oh, what's the Monty Hall Paradox?

Travis: It's an actual like mathematical, um, proof, the Monty Hall Paradox, where it's like you're given a choice of three and you pick one and then you're given the option to, and then they take one away and then you're given the option to to change your choice to the other one that's left.

Tim: I have heard this.

Travis: Mathematically, statistically, it's in your favor to always change.

Robin: Yes. Okay, so let's talk bikes.

Travis: I do remember that.

Robin: Let's talk bikes. Three bikes. There's a bike behind you. We're going around. We're going around. There's a bike behind me. There is. No, I'm saying three bikes. Which bike is the right bike? Three bikes for each of us. Which bike's the right bike and we take one away. We'll start, we'll start with Tim because you're actually kind of in the market.

Travis: The one who's most likely to buy a bike in the next year.

Robin: Yeah. So tell the story here. You got the Svadbilen. Yes. We rode trip sevens, which eventually we'll talk about.

Tim: Yes.

Robin: I mean you rode the seven riders, seven states, seven days TRO tour and now you're like, okay, I'm done.

Tim: Right. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I, that was a big part of it. I did my best to make this bike fit me.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: And after, what, it was 10 days on the bike because I did a little there and back. Yeah. Like, like I can't get that, that seat to work. That seat does not work. It's a little bit small for me.

Robin: I mean, unless you upset the geometry, right? Because you, you want to sit where you're intended to sit. Right.

Travis: No, it's just more like my ass hurts.

Tim: Yeah, my ass hurts. The, the seat is very square, especially up at the nose of the seat where it's the tank.

Travis: Which is where it puts you most of the time.

Tim: Yes. Where it wants to put you. So you are on these, you've got these hard corners digging into your legs. And after 10 days, I, I was done. Like it wasn't quite like pressure sores bad, but wasn't all that far off.

Robin: Pressure sores.

Travis: Not to mention that you like.

Robin: That's a good term.

Travis: Burned half the oil out of.

Tim: I did, I did lose not half, but one third. Or damn close to it.

Robin: A third of the oil burned out.

Tim: So I was on the dreamer.

Robin: On a relatively new modern. Yeah.

Tim: So after the trip, the tour was officially done and I'm riding home, put about two hours in on the bike and pull over and go, it's kind of running a little rough and noisy. I should look at my oil. Got some top end noise. And you know, normally let it, like the procedure on this is get it on a level surface, which of course never, nothing is ever.

Robin: Never is. Level.

Tim: And then wait a minute or two for it to cool down just a little bit and drain a little bit. And then you tilt it up vertical.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: Vertical, there was no oil in sight glass. I had to lift, I had to tilt it towards me about 15 degrees before I could see the little sludge bubbling up. And this bike only holds 1.7 liters. I was down about 500 milliliters. So half a liter down in, so roughly a third of the oil had blown by the rings or something.

Travis: From, from just running at high highway revs.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: Highway speeds. 400.

Tim: And not even. That's a six-speed, right? Full high speed. Yeah, six-speed. So I don't think I ever really exceeded 80 miles an hour. So we're not talking super high speeds either.

Robin: Well guys, inform me here. Learn me something here. If you're low on oil by a third, the remaining oil, won't it be operating at a much higher temp?

Travis: Yes. Yeah, you're gonna, you're gonna stress the oil that's left.

Robin: It's gonna be less viscous.

Travis: It's gonna be, yeah, it's just, you're just gonna, you're just gonna burn it fast. Like you're gonna wear it out and break it down faster. Yeah, which is why I like my Honda, which is a way under stressed, you know, air quotes 700.

Tim: Yeah, what's that take, like five gallons?

Travis: It's like whatever, 665 cc or whatever it is.

Tim: It takes about as much oil as a V8.

Travis: It takes a gallon. It takes like, it takes like four liters of oil. And I think some change if it was bone dry.

Tim: Yeah.

Travis: And only revs to like 6,000.

Tim: Right. So you could probably stretch that thing to 12,000 miles in between oil changes.

Travis: Yeah, I mean the factory recommended is 8,000.

Tim: The CB500X was about the same oil volume as the 700 motor.

Travis: Oh, yeah. It just ran forever.

Tim: It was, it was I think 3.9 liters, but you could put four in it and overfill it. Just empty the bottles. Just don't drain every drop. That's over a gallon. Uh, I mean, there's a little smaller than a quarter. Just under, just under a gallon.

Robin: Okay, just shy of a gallon.

Tim: Yeah, I think that it would end up being like, 0.9 gallon.

Robin: Let's just say that that's, that's one of 30 million. It's one of 32.8 reasons that I want to make sure that I keep the beamer. Yes. It takes exactly, exactly a gallon of oil.

Travis: So I can get the big bottle.

Robin: Get the big bottle.

Travis: One big bottle. Put it all there.

Robin: And then hold it over and wait for it to finish dripping. And then you just set it aside. It's just convenient. Yeah, but don't worry. They made up for it other, in other ways.

Travis: Yeah, if you don't change the light bulb, it'll never work again.

Robin: Oh, yeah. Don't bother with LEDs because that, oh, that's that's too futuristic. You can't possibly. Although I did find a solution for that.

Tim: So yeah, so like the sad thing is I really like the styling of this little bike. It's got the old classic round headlight. Mm-hmm. It's got a fairly neutral stance.

Travis: But it's a cool like modern LED round headlight.

Tim: Yes. Yep.

Travis: It is. It's got the angel eye thing going on.

Tim: Yeah. I like it. You know, it's very, it's a very hipster thing and I don't really consider myself all that hipster.

Travis: Would you do the Vitpilen? Is, I mean, is it any different on the Vitpilen as far as the chassis and the seat?

Tim: No, no, like the 390? It's the same bike.

Travis: No, the Vitpilen, the 701.

Tim: Oh, the 701 is, uh, yeah, because there's a Svart and a Vit of each size.

Robin: It's only hipster because of the way you have it set up. So, no, not even, I've been told it was hipster.

Travis: No, it's a hipster, but it is an urban style bike.

Robin: It is an urban style bike, but also.

Travis: It is the Danish furniture of motorcycles.

Robin: The thing about hipsters is that hipsters will set things up in a way that it's logical and it looks good and it actually makes sense as a rider, but then they'll use it to do really douchey things like ride 15 feet to the next next craft beer festival.

Tim: Whereas you're actually on the bike. I will beat the hell out of this little bike.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: Like I, like, you know, on the big trip, I'm, I'm chasing, you know, your bike that's 1,200 cc.

Robin: Yes.

Tim: Street Triple, Tiger, was that a 1050?

Robin: 1050.

Tim: Yeah, and then, uh, an FZ09. So, I'm chasing big bikes on this little bike and I'm the biggest guy of the bunch. So, you know, I am stressing the shit out of that little motor.

Robin: Yeah. So, we had a little man big bike and big man little bike.

Tim: Yes.

Robin: Completely, you know, I've got all this shit up front. Um, man, okay.

Travis: Yeah. So, yeah, Robin's like, what, 5'8", 5'10"?

Robin: I'm 5'7". All right. I'm 5'7", and I'm riding a 1,200 cc, 575 pound BMW.

Travis: Yeah. But that's. If you're new to the pockets, it's an R1200 RS. Yes. Uh, is that the liquid cooled? It's a liquid cooled. Is it the 1250? No.

Robin: No, it's, it's a, it's a liquid cooled motor. 1,200. The 1250 also is. The waterhead. Yeah. The, the 1250, I have no interest in. It looks to me like the new BMW Ninja. It's the Ninja 1250.

Travis: It's a little, two transformers.

Robin: A little bit. It's.

Travis: Yeah.

Robin: They just did some things to make it edgier and it didn't really do many.

Travis: Meanwhile, Tim is, what, 6'2"? 6'3"?

Tim: 6'2". And I.

Travis: Over 200 pounds.

Tim: This bike outweighs me by 60 pounds.

Robin: He picked it up when he arrived to put it in his pocket.

Tim: Yes. That's so. Yeah. So I am a big guy. I'm not exceeding the gross vehicle weight rating that is intended to be rated for a driver and a passenger, but. Yeah.

Travis: Yeah. But with luggage. With luggage.

Tim: I'm getting there. Yeah. I'm at the maximum preload on the shock. And, uh. I exercise the full travel of the fork. Usually just accelerating and decelerating.

Robin: Did you feel it? Did it ever fully compress and knock?

Tim: I knocked it.

Robin: Um.

Tim: When we, uh. Did our thing over, what was the 4th? No, 14th?

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: When was it we went for that ride out in the, uh. Bayside of Spring Green?

Robin: Something or another tour. The, uh.

Tim: Yep.

Robin: The, the Supercycle to Badass Motorcycle Making Positive Incredible Power Rally.

Tim: Yep. Show up if you want to.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: I don't care what you do.

Robin: There's no plans. Don't, don't make me do anything. I will see you there.

Travis: No one's invited. Everyone's welcome.

Robin: No reason. Yeah.

Travis: Excuse me. Yeah, it's okay. Yeah. Now, now the wood. Now that we're burning through my, my, my kindling. It's a little. Yeah.

Tim: Yeah. A little smoky.

Robin: You all right?

Tim: Yep. All right.

Robin: Well, I like this idea though. Um. Originally, my intention for this episode was for us to talk Trip 7's hard. I really discussed that tour, but honestly. I, I think. Well, we've done it a couple times. We've done it a couple times. This one was different. We'll talk about that a little bit, but we'll condense it. I'd like to go around three bikes each.

Tim: All right.

Robin: Okay. So, so he's got.

Tim: Three bikes you want?

Robin: The three bikes you want, and then we'll process of elimination.

Travis: All right. You want, or did we include the one you have?

Robin: Well, if you want the one you have, we'll include it. Because I'm there. I'll be that guy. Okay. Yeah.

Tim: All right. Me too. No, I am absolutely the guy with the multi-bike syndrome. I, on average, over the last. At least. The last eight or nine years I've gone through. I've had a different bike every year. I've bought a bike every year.

Travis: Well, because you had the DRZSM. Yes. And then you had the CB500X. Yes. And then you had the Africa Twin. Yes. And now you have the, the, the Spark Pylon.

Tim: And the 650GT.

Travis: And the BMW 650GT.

Robin: That's a special, that's a special order though. Because that's like, that's you and your lady.

Tim: Yeah. You got that specifically for comfortable.

Travis: For that. To help riding.

Tim: But I am not a stranger to special purpose bike buying. The Africa Twin was that. I had a trip in mind. And that is why I bought that bike.

Travis: Okay.

Tim: And why I outfitted it.

Travis: We did cover that in a podcast. His Out West Canadian Rockies.

Robin: Yeah. It was a big podcast. Go through the whole episode.

Travis: Go through the, the archive and find it.

Robin: Yeah. If you go to the archives and you talk, you'll look up, it was Tim Cici, a big 5,000 mile ride. 8,000. 8,000 is what I said originally.

Travis: Wisconsin out west to California via Utah up through Washington. Up into Canada. Over the ocean for a little bit.

Tim: Alone.

Travis: Back. Solo. Well, no, part of it was two up with, with Sylvia.

Tim: Yes. Part of it was two up with Sylvia. She met me in, uh, just outside Sacramento.

Travis: That was when you saw the bear on the Jeep trail. Yes. With your, with your girlfriend on the back.

Tim: The first time we've been off road together. I take her up this nasty, loose, like off camber Jeep road.

Travis: Like in like the Sierra Nevadas. Yeah. California.

Tim: In the area they call the lost coast.

Travis: Yeah. Like right up off, like BCA.

Tim: Right in the middle of like the pot growing capital of California.

Travis: Oh, yeah. Where it's like, get off my land. Get out of here. Northern California. Yeah. Northern California is all about it.

Robin: You get out of here right now.

Tim: We got watched. We got approached. Uh, and Yeah, we, they, they wanted to know why we were there and what we were doing and If they had to worry about us Okay, we're all like we just saw bear You should be running type.

Travis: Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, check out the podcast. The last podcast is there.

Robin: It's a whole episode And it's, it's actually two episodes.

Travis: But yeah, so you bought the app between just for that ride essentially.

Robin: Yeah. So let's hold on Everybody stop digressing. That was a two. We gave you two episodes of that topic and you just use it.

Tim: We're done. We're done.

Robin: Bikes you've never owned Three, which one are you going to go? What direction?

Tim: We just covered why the current feeling is kind of not the current craving is the Yamaha XSR 700 which is a gorgeous.

Robin: That is an excellent.

Tim: So we're basically like staying stylistically Along the same lines as the smart feeling like neo-retro kind of hipster bike.

Robin: Yeah Well, it's a standard profile bike with some very basic elements. It's injected though, right?

Tim: Yeah.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: Oh, yeah It's I mean that it doesn't have a lot of complicated electronics.

Travis: I think it's got abs abs is it and then fuel injection And there's no rider modes. There's no traction control Good, it doesn't have a six-way.

Robin: I am you all of the possible power I can deliver is the mode Yeah, then I say that's okay.

Travis: That's That's every reviewer says says that's like a gem that motor is just a gem.

Tim: Yeah So I the only caveat is that I have not sat on it yet I don't know if I actually fit on it any better than The little 390 i've got you're surprisingly good with a tight peg position though.

Robin: Yeah, you got good knees.

Tim: I am pretty comfortable. Yeah Pretty flexible still even getting older.

Travis: Yeah, because really it was just like Hauling your leg over the after twin was a problem.

Tim: It was yeah, you know, i've got a history of some back problems so like an upright Ish riding position is important for me so that's that's the current like obsession i'm like You know, I haven't quite gotten to the point of downloading the service manual a level of obsession Okay, which I did for this bike just to see how much of a pain it is. Yeah.

Travis: Yeah, it's like Pro tip if you think about buying a bike download the service manual. Yeah, see how much of a pain it is to work on exactly apply oil to 17 locations Just change the air filter first remove everything that's not the air filter, right?

Tim: Yeah, well, this is basically a ktm, but this is a little very easy to work on bike Nice like the air filter almost no plastics. Yeah, like I seriously like I Use the key to take the seat off and then there are I think six screws to take the cover off the air filter That's not bad.

Travis: That's like almost as easy as like the drz.

Robin: Yeah, man. I gotta take off my entire front end Yeah, I gotta get I gotta go all this is a good setup For this little bike.

Tim: I mean this is this is basically a dirt bike with different clothes on it Which you proved you put street tires on it and rode it like a street bike Yeah, it's the same as the duke 310.

Travis: Yep, 390 the duke 390. Yeah Does rc use the same?

Tim: Yeah, and they just came out with a adventure version As far as like engine character, I really like the 390 Oh, yeah, I mean I just rode a little bike.

Travis: Yeah, it it it it is peppy and fun and exciting to ride like Like I just took it out You're hanging out. I just took it out. Yeah, and I was like I I bet Like if like if we side-by-sided my mc700 is faster, but man it sure doesn't feel like it when you're riding And part of it is because it just feels frantic it's light it's nimble and it's It's spinning that engine on top of the front wheel starts twitching like it'll do whatever. No, it feels totally stable, but it just It's if you're like is this unstable and then you like give it a little shimmy It's like oh, that's a totally shame. But when you're getting on it, you're like this feels like it's unstable Yeah

Robin: It's responding to everything you ask of it

Tim: Yeah, it really is like if you want to go around a corner you move your butt like half an inch left

Robin: Yeah, or you just look before flickable It's flicking before you've decided that that's the definite point

Tim: Yeah, if you just turn your head that way it just goes but yeah, but if you are really taking a corner hard You really do need to get your body in the right position.

Travis: Oh, yeah, because it's tall. Yeah Fireworks, excuse me. So I just squirted some uh, the the woods a little wet So I just put a little layer of fluid on it and that was fun Yeah, if anybody doesn't know we're hanging out in front of travis ron's garage with a fire pit set up.

Robin: We're chilling Yeah, so here's some crackling in the background. That's that's what that is But do you still you still there's a question? Okay, so that's one.

Tim: Okay, so this is one bike the xsr And i've got a bit of a hard-on for the yamahas right now the tenere 700 which is the yeah The adventure version which is the same motor spoke front wheel It's uh, is it a 1921 or it's a it is an 1821.

Travis: Yeah, it's a it is dirt bike Configuration.

Robin: Yep. 1821 spoke Uh square luggage it comes with a hard case.

Tim: It doesn't come with any luggage. There's no factory luggage Yeah, you can you can outfit it. However, you know, i've used the same luggage that I just bought for the yeah soft bags and Or i'm sure moscow motor will have something or yeah, well just use what I bought and everyone will have something so I I've i've bounced between Small motor big motor quite a bit like I did the vstrom 1000 then I went to the drz And then I went up to the africa twin and then I went to the five or wait. No, I went to the 500 And then to the twin rz 500 twin. Yes So, I mean like I kind of flip-flopped so aiming at the 700 is kind of the mid mid level Maybe i'll be a little more settled I keep saying that and I never am But yeah, but it's going to have enough power But still be small.

Robin: Yeah That's uh, there's a there's a crossroads there. There's a certain eq point where it's You know in music we have what's called mastering Where all of a sudden the eq is exactly where it needs to be and anything further Now it's too heavy and not powerful enough You know, so you gotta or it's not Vice versa. I don't know. Yeah Yeah, in a nispy spot.

Tim: I'm a massive nerd about this stuff like I Like I will break it down like i'll compare bikes Like on all the specs and like include my weight in the categories. Yeah, so that like I know how many like horsepower per pound how much torque per pound It's that engine is hauling around so you can feel the g's just in your so you got a spreadsheet with a Yeah, so like I actually did the math and this little uh, 390 was actually pretty close to the cb500 in terms of power to weight ratio With me on the bike Injection man. Yeah modern injection and So and this is the highest compression motor i've ever had. Oh, yeah, it's like 12.6 to 1 Do you have to run you have to run premium in it? You should Like it'll retard the timing like huge if you don't it'll figure it out, but yeah, you're supposed to yeah Like there were times on the trip where there's none to be had you you it's you've got You know 87 you've got four pumps of 87 and then diesel.

Robin: Yeah on the other two But there's also some kind of smoked meat.

Tim: Oh, yeah.

Travis: Yeah jerky everywhere Just throw a little kerosene in it and that'll bring the octane.

Tim: Yeah so those two bikes You know because I I still have a craving for a little bit of 80v 80vs of riding although i've Gotten more and more comfortable doing that on street bikes Yeah, like dirt roads and stuff. Like yeah, we're not talking about single track or you know, rocky nasty stuff We're talking about a fire road.

Travis: Yeah, you can just do what you can just do on on on that on the On the husqvarna or yeah, I mean I do it on my nc700x which like looks like an adventure bike But it's not like it's not like rubber. It's a standard body position, but it does have six Suspension, that's the only thing Which isn't even that much Yeah, I think the xsr has five.

Tim: Yep Or like 4.1 5.1. Yeah Yeah Well, that's two bikes if I would go for a third i'd go for a dual sport Okay, go with a wr250r We're gonna keep in the yamaha craving but go even smaller so you're dedicated That would be your only bike Would you just have just the wr well, I guess in the scooter no the only bike that wouldn't work yeah, like It's like i've been missing the woods riding.

Robin: So that's a side dude. That's a side plate. That's yeah So it's a side plate.

Tim: There's no realistically like the other Like We're looking for a dirt cheap klx 250.

Travis: Yeah, nice.

Tim: It's kind of what's on the background, but I don't see that if you got a wr would you take the uh c650 gt on the trip seven store the scooter the maxi scooter No, no, I don't think I would okay, so let's clear the I would probably like put street Tires and go sportsman supermoto. Oh, i'm a wr250.

Robin: That would be cool because then we have a hero bike We have a superman bike who's just gonna be like, oh, sorry Yeah, it's like i'll go up the hill at 30 miles an hour.

Travis: Yeah Because yeah, like you on a w I mean the wr is maybe the perkiest of the 250 dual sport. Yeah That you can get in america.

Tim: Yep It's also got some of the best suspension on the stock because this ktm doesn't make anything that small right?

Travis: They do they do. Um, that's dual sport. That's illegal.

Tim: I think so. So there's yeah, they've got a 250 a 350 Yeah, i'm pretty sure they've got a 450 and they've got a fire.

Travis: So outside again, I guess again in a ktm. It's like Well, like with you on the 250 What's that thing?

Robin: pegged on the highway 70 Probably date scarily Scary oh If there wasn't a crosswind, yeah We okay. So you're gonna like it'll be just as composed as this thing. Yeah bigger wheels, right?

Travis: Yeah, well if you supermoto it though, right?

Robin: Yeah We got two 17s on there Yeah, yeah, it's I mean it'd be the same as this.

Travis: It'd just be a little taller Well, that's okay.

Robin: So is that bike type typical a really good version of that bike platform have a suspension? That is that good where just what's it got 10 inches?

Tim: It might have more than that Damn it might be 11 I can't remember for sure.

Robin: Yeah Okay, I mean it's might be like 11.

Tim: I think it's 11 with like 11 inches clearance or something like that And so it's it's not one of those ones where like you hit the bump stops. You're hitting the belly pan.

Robin: Yeah That's stilt maneuverability going on where you're right.

Travis: Yeah, I mean that's basically what I had with drz It was like yeah, I mean you you ride it differently than you would like a sport bike. Yeah

Robin: You kind of throw it onto you more yes, but that's where the stability is also coming from it sounds like yeah nice

Tim: yeah, like a it's like when I rode the drz like I had a couple occasions where I leaned that over far enough that I had to Make sure that I had my toe tilt to dip into the engine or to keep it from rubbing on the ground

Travis: Yeah, or you gotta do the like the berm Yeah

Robin: Yeah, instead of tucking down you gotta put your leg out to offset the balance because yeah if you you're

Tim: Leaning it over that you're in danger of hitting a peg. You are way the hell over Yeah, because you're so high off the ground.

Travis: Yeah, the peg's 10 inches off the ground.

Tim: So it's like way over but that was uh, like 90 degree day on Street rubber.

Travis: Yeah, super sticky on good tarmac.

Tim: Yeah, I was yeah that was Riding at the top of my game. Yeah kind of day Mindoro cut nearly scraping the pegs Yes I have a new route.

Robin: We have to ride the three of us. Yeah. Yeah, we I call it, uh the wild wild cat cuts And it's where I tagged this deer two days ago So so we'll come to that. We'll come to that.

Travis: So the wr doesn't count or do we already have you?

Robin: No, i'm not counting it not counting the wr. Okay, you'd have it's let's we are a sport touring website Wr is is side piece delicious delicious side order, but you need to be able to travel many states You want to go you want to go to missouri and then you're heading over to montana You might do the mountains of the dakotas like

Tim: If budget was no hindrance no hindrance, we're talking the newest bmw

Robin: The the gs 1250 adventure whatever it is the 1250 gs.

Tim: Yeah. Oh my lord. That's a fun bike Yeah, I got a chance to test drive one last summer And with the quick shifter and everything I would like that is a stupid bike. It's so much fun It's just a fucking great train.

Travis: Yeah You have this the rsb. I mean even the gs does the same. Yeah It's got all the same take it off and the guys like do crazy stuff on those off road and like yeah Wheelie over gullies and shit.

Tim: Yeah

Travis: Because you just you you pilot it

Tim: Yeah, yeah This is This is one of those bikes that like if it gets a little offline it's going to take you for a ride

Travis: Yeah, and you but if you have the skills to control it like Like you can't muscle it through a thing like you have to you have to finesse That you have to finesse the controls and let the giant rhino you know uh freight ship, um ocean hauler Ocean freight ship like you just point it in the right direction. It's going to go through it But you got to make sure that you yeah, that is the right direction.

Robin: Yeah Freight ship that has the admiral at a helm, right?

Travis: It's not a captain's machine It is it is the aircraft carrier. You're not the cruiser.

Tim: Yeah, it's you know, but it's still like a almost 600 pound bike that you could Realistically hop over a logo. Yeah Like that you could actually go I can get over that You know pop the clutch and get the front end up and go over.

Robin: Yeah that qualifies Yeah, that's a good that okay, so we have the we have the big beastie 1250 gs.

Travis: Yeah, so we went up with like Realistically xsr. You can get one used. Yeah. Yeah Six grand.

Robin: Yeah, we all know you well enough that we know you're gonna do some seriously badass stuff with it Yeah, you're gonna you're gonna do the tim clark thing.

Travis: Well Unless you unless it's the 1250 you're gonna redo the whole suspension, right?

Tim: Yeah, right Yeah, I might end up doing that with an xsr. Anyways.

Travis: Oh, yeah. Well, yeah because they're garbage Suspension is garbage.

Tim: It's known to be garbage. Yeah. Yeah sorry, I I always view those things with a little bit of skepticism because the uh, the internet forum warriors Are always going to tell you you got to spend your money on this and this and this and that's all like oh you got first thing is get rid of this exhaust because no and I don't like to Personally don't like to fuck with exhausts.

Travis: No, it's pointless.

Tim: It's like yeah, it's like Unless you're doing a full system in a tune.

Travis: It's like I'm going to spend three hundred dollars on a can so it sounds louder. Yeah on a loudener now, but I have heard that like the mt09 the xsr or the mt07 the xsr700 it's like If you're a you know, 150 160 pound rider you just cut like half an inch out of the Out of the spacer. Hmm because it's like it's like there's no sag in it. Oh, okay Yeah, but then you're such a big guy I'm gonna sit on and it's gonna be sitting at you know, 40 you were just 45 Anyway, just like you just like you've done with like you did with the uh, the cb and the even the effort went.

Robin: Yeah Yeah, so I really do admire the way you make a bike yours. Oh, thank you

Tim: But yeah, it's like when I The drz was the first one I did the suspension on or I put the right spring weights for me And there was enough enough adjustment in the clickers that I could get the dampening pretty good pretty good and I was so sold that like Any bike that i'm going to keep for a serious amount of time is going to get the seat suspension redone It is by far the best performance upgrade you can do.

Robin: Nice.

Tim: The drz supermoto was unrideable for me In stock suspension. It was seat that soft.

Travis: No the suspension.

Robin: No, I was about well. Yeah, I was about to say though the tires suspension Seat I'll even i'll even wait on the tires until I burn a set off.

Tim: I don't I get that I don't get all that worked up about that.

Robin: I get that i've heard people that like like oh my gosh This is such garbage i'm gonna but the trifecta the combined selection. Yeah is a really excellent way Those are really great first priorities. Yeah.

Travis: Oh, yeah first priorities. Yeah.

Tim: Yep suspension seat tires Yeah is going to get you 90 percent of the way where you want or at least me That's yeah that's gonna let me you know ride the terrain I want to ride It's going to you know be composed whether just cruising or hammering it into corners or even like hitting uh washboard gravel roads That sort of stuff, you know that it's gonna behave predictably You know might not even not might not be awesome, but it's going to be predictable

Travis: Yeah All right. Well Yeah, and then like the super the the the t7 Just came out. You're not gonna get one to use they're 10 grand. Yeah, which is a great deal That's not bad, but that's 10 grand plus probably suspension plus another 12 1300 in suspension You have no idea how happy I am to owe To owe only four digits on my bike now.

Robin: So if you make your first payment you owe four digits on a brand new bike You Vestiges.

Tim: Yeah, so I but because I know how I am with bikes I'm gonna get sick of it or i'm gonna see something that catches my attention Yeah, the next i'm trying not to spend that much so you gotta pick the right machine.

Robin: Yeah, but you pick okay So that's your three for the sake of my production effort Travis move onward.

Travis: Okay I got my nc 700x my 2014 nc 700x Which I love and like like 90 percent of the time it is like everything I need I love how much it hauls. I just put I'm gonna try my best to write a thing up for the site. I really hope you I just bought some I got like a last year Someone on like the owner's forum on facebook was selling the gv Easy lock luggage, which is like the kind of crappy um Like thermoformed soft case so it's like rigid soft case Um, it's the easy bags. Yeah, but it was like it was like 50 bucks and he'd chip it to me The bags were shot. He he must have downed his bike because they were clearly in an accident But I really just wanted the luggage rack so I could put soft luggage on if I wanted to And then this this spring winter it was like covid I was bored and like online and I got And I had a 20% off harbor freight coupon And so I went online I ordered in yellow the big apache harbor freight watertight Cases that are like pelican cases, but they're harbor freight And I figured out I like got home depot stainless steel Cabinet hardware and bent it and screwed it on and made it mount to the luggage rack

Robin: This is an apocalypse diy project that looks really good

Travis: And I needed no I did not need these bags for anything because like when we did trip sevens the frunk on the nc 700x That's built in like where the gas tank should be there's watertight storage and then I have a 35 liter Uh gv top case on the back. Okay, so so it's all the storage. I I need any so why? Because I was bored And yeah, so So now I have all this I love the nc I love like all this stuff I did do the suspension So I I put gold valves on the on the uh, race tech race tech gold valves on the on the conventional forks Um, I don't I'm trying to remember I have to look at my notes and see if I upped the oil weight I don't know if I did I think I went stock oil weight but with the valves and it was and it really changed the bike around like Like it was way, you know, it was under Under rebound and over compressed Yeah, so there's too much with the conventional fork. There's too much compression damping So if you hit a if you hit a hard edge It really jolted the bike and then when you return from it, it's sproing Which is the problem with with conventional suspension is that it's like you have one Dampening dynamic and it's like it's always going to be too hard for the compression and not enough for the rebound.

Robin: May I Yeah, the thing about suspension is this Anybody listening to this All you want from your suspension is an appropriate response to a bump Followed by a single reaction that leads back to normality You don't want a repeat spring effect Where you don't want it to bounce?

Travis: Yeah, you don't want it to hit and then rebound and then rebound But you also want it to soak up the initial and that that the hard part is like it's got to be soft enough to soak it up and then It's um rigid enough essentially to to not Pogo, which is why ideally you want to have a fully adjustable suspension. Yeah, you want a cartridge system or Which is what which is what like gold valves essentially emulate in a conventional rod type Wait, did you put gold valves in there?

Robin: Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's what you just said.

Travis: Yeah.

Robin: Okay.

Travis: Sorry, you know me I don't listen to shit Yeah, which like the gold valves the nice about the gold valves is like they they give you a high speed low speed compression adjustment Even though you can't like do it on the fly or without taking your forks apart.

Tim: Yeah Yeah, it is a take it apart re-shim it.

Travis: Yeah Put a different spring in.

Robin: Tim do you want another beer because maggie can get you home?

Tim: No, no, no.

Robin: I'm Okay.

Tim: No, thank you.

Robin: Yeah.

Travis: Well, I can I can't quite done with this one. I can ride the uh, you can I will drive you home. You can ride in the back Right on the back. Yeah How are you getting home of your bike? I don't know you were saying um I think the two of us would overload the gross weight. That's smart.

Tim: Yes, it would I don't know if like Sylvia and I barely fit on that thing together. Yeah You're a little bigger than sylvia, so I don't know if we'll both fit on that thing He's got to hold me close man. Yeah, I do have a little nice little uh grab bar in the back there So do I be sitting on top of that?

Robin: This episode of the riding obsession podcast is brought to you by drive weather be safe and check road weather conditions using the drive weather app See wind and weather information at each point of your trip. Visit driveweatherapp.com to learn more And also by john del vecchio's cornering confidence program a self-paced interactive online course that brings more enjoyment and assurance to the twisties Their website is corneringconfidence.com

Travis: Um Anyway, so yeah, it's like I and I can shred this bike gravel roads bad weather beautiful roads like I can keep up with anyone anything but a straight line, right like Yeah, because it's not the fastest bike in the world. It's like 50 horsepower, maybe 50 pound feet of power the torque comes in and right off the right off idle and it's got a flat torque curve So it's like nice if not the most exciting because it red lines at like 6300 rpm, right? It is uh under square over square uh It is over I can never remember how that's supposed to work. It's got a longer stroke than a bore So it kind of rides then it's under square the engine works more like a like a big v-twin cruiser Yeah, um, which I most of the time I like like it's very it's very practical But it's not super exciting the motor it's I mean it's fun on a good road, but over square You never get on it and go. Oh You know Unless you unless you're really railing a fun road and then it's fun Um, I was gonna say that.

Robin: Okay. So what travis is talking about? You want a really twisty road with a couple cups of coffee in your system?

Travis: Yeah, he can lead Oh, yeah No, like well, we I we just did we just did this the ride the other day in uh highway m there in uh Iowa county or whatever it is Um that was just repaved.

Tim: Oh That is beautiful.

Travis: I was I was hooping in my I was hooping and hollering in my helmet. I was I was literally going woohoo in my helmet. Did I say it?

Tim: Yeah, I Yeah, i'm waiting for the the So like there's that section of them and then there's another section further towards boscobell. Mm-hmm that is Historically been nastier Yeah in terms of pavement, but I think it's better in terms of corners Okay, if that gets repaved that will be if they do all of them, then we need to that'll be nutty We need to hand this off to both you guys.

Robin: We need to revamp This is for the double helix.

Travis: Yeah, I want I want to zazz up the the post boscobell part of that the reason Okay, so the post boss.

Robin: Oh, yeah, I know why we did it because it's supposed to be like a lead tour We're going to take it easy after lunch and yeah Yeah, the problem is I also I couldn't find another way to make it a loop I tried to check out some roads that were Would uh, but they go the other way Yeah, but they ended up being all gravel. You would have loved them.

Travis: Oh gravel's fine There was a lot of gravel because there's a lot of like hollow and hill roads that yeah Probably don't start gravel, but definitely become gravel in the middle There's a couple that are some of my favorite roads in wisconsin.

Tim: No corner.

Robin: Sorry. I'm my bad I was gonna say I really do want the the return to be fast like I want it to be long high speed full tuck sweepers That was see that thing that was like I don't really like to go faster than like 65 70 Same here.

Tim: I and it's yeah, it's For me, it's about kind of risk profile of higher speeds out there Because we do You know, the deer jumps out and you're doing 70 versus 45.

Robin: Did you notice the open field of view?

Travis: Yeah Well, yeah, they're all open And it's like those roads are also like the single letter. They're the big roads, right? So There's like the trees aren't right on the edge of the road like there's yeah, that's why I did that There is like I was saying i'm on the bike.

Tim: That's frantic at 80, right? You know, so it doesn't really lend itself very well to high speed sweepers. It's It's the nasty hollow Did you have a good time second third gear titan?

Travis: Yep, that's good. Yeah, same thing on the mt. Like I mean, it'll do 80 but I mean it'll do you know all day Whatever I can do 80. Yeah, and it's not even frantic. Yep, but it's like, you know, this bike pulls from You know 35 to 60 Awesome.

Robin: We're still on bike one.

Travis: Yeah, the one that he owns it does not pull from 60 to 90. Okay Is this bike one? This is bike one. Okay, so bike one is the one that you own and I really like it I really like it and I I mean, I just wish I had like a more top end and like 10 more horsepower Which brings me to bike two Which which will be short. This is why i'm planning this i'm thinking ahead the xsr700 Here we go.

Tim: Have I talked you into it?

Travis: No, I was looking at before you even talk about it. Yes um But yeah, because for the same reasons it's like I mean, it's you can customize it pretty easily That motor is supposed to just be a peppy little gem Um, you know essentially it's it's torquey It's the same sort of like 270 degree crank parallel twin, but it revs up to Whatever eight nine thousand rpm instead of cutting off at six and a quarter Like the nc does yeah um You know still in a way probably a little lighter than the nc even doesn't have the frunk It doesn't have the storage, but I love the the pack mule nature of the nc.

Robin: Yeah. Yeah.

Travis: Um But uh, you know, they they just they look cool And it seems like they're just fun. But yeah, it's like the first thing I would do is Redo the forks put gold valves in it Maybe put a nitron shock on the back Um, you know see how the seat is so that's yeah both you guys have that Definitely Definitely love that the nc-700.

Tim: Yeah. Yeah the I mean none of the uh, the xsr I really like the you know, it's it's a motor that's really tractable at lower speeds from what I hear Yeah, but you can I mean it's got power when you want to get out Really gonna be so much that you're always babying your throttle position.

Travis: Yeah Yeah, you know you can be a little more reckless with that Yeah, which I like but like like the nc I can just crack open anytime anywhere even on a gravel road and it's fine Like I'll break the rear end loose. No problem, but it's like not gonna be so dramatic that like gets me in trouble um On a tangent and it doesn't count because you can't buy it in the united states If I could get the tracer 700, I would get the tracer 700.

Robin: Yes. Yeah, okay

Travis: So semi-faired with bags, they don't sell here Because they don't I don't the market research says that they won't show enough of them to bring it

Robin: I would not reach the point in time where we can do like a a custom order online and order the bike to the states We wouldn't be able to title in wisconsin Oh god if you

Tim: A little bit better, you know, there's so many hoops that you've got to jump through every model Make available.

Travis: Yeah, it just wouldn't be worth the paperwork headache. It's like, okay. Here's this $7,000 bike and you're paying $12,000 to get it shipped over And then all the title and it's going to take a year to get a title on it And how many units do you sell in the u.s?

Tim: 5 000 of 10 000 bikes I mean like oh, it's a like for how many bikes would you sell?

Travis: Oh, like if they brought it over if they brought it over Yeah, you know that's part of the problem mid-sized sport touring is not a segment and Power sports is just a struggling industry to begin with. So the subset. Well, yes and no I mean there's there's been growth mostly but mostly in like the adventure segment. Yep Yeah, the three-wheel and the three-wheel segment.

Robin: Yeah No

Travis: um, so the tangent is if the tracer 700 ever So yama if you listen to the if you're one of the 300 people who listens to this podcast um We get hits man bring the dumb ass show gets a lot of listens bring the tracer 700 over i'll sell my Nc and and buy one um third bike, I mean honestly Probably the tracer 900 It's more but it's like to like talking to you about some of the headaches you've had with your beamer um And some other things it's like I don't know if I want Traction control throttle by wire engine modes, you know engine map modes um You know all that stuff So like because like you either like it has to be the way Like you have to get the bike and it just has to be the way that you want it Um because Kind of second after the tracer 100 would be the the 1050 xt The new vstrom 1050 xt. Yeah But also the vstrom xt is like five grand more for some reason Like the tracer the tracer is so cheap. Yeah, and I don't understand why Um, and the gt comes with the quick shifter and the the all the bells and whistles and the luggage That's not that and it's like three grand cheaper than the xt because it comes in at like 12 000 or something like that Yeah, like 12 or 13 000. Yeah, I think I think it's I think it's 11 9 9 9 Yeah, and the xt is like 14 9 and doesn't have bags.

Robin: Yeah, this is a three really good examples I love that you touched on the whole idea. That's like, you know, they're making bikes where You can't interact with it um You can't look at anything and think like well, it's obvious it's right there remove the thing and you get it Or you can tune it or you can adjust it Or you can tweak it or it's like what you can But like you gotta take it to a place and they gotta have the right computer.

Travis: Oh, hold on I need to get flying over Actually, that might be a twin prop It was a twin prop turbo prop, yeah, I think it was just twin it was a twin the uh, but yeah the um Yeah, that's the effect.

Robin: What I was trying to say. Was that like you can't um Nothing.

Travis: It seems more like the bike was built by ai You know, well just built by people smarter than me Um, you know, so it's like yeah, like the mc the xsr Like there's no like it's fuel injected whatever but it's like if you want to just like hook up some Or relay to the battery and put some lights on or whatever. It's like it's not going to screw with anything Yeah, it's like, you know, it's the engine's pretty basic to work on Um, as long as you don't want led that's way too much. Yeah That's things like yeah, you can put an led ball in it. It doesn't know that there's an led doesn't care. Yeah, you know, you can um You know, it's not going to tell you that. Oh, it's due for a service You have to like take it to the dealer to turn the light off.

Robin: This is due for a service like No, no, no, you just have to spend 300 bucks on a tool Yeah, or that yourself because that's yeah, we're transitioning slowly to robin here.

Travis: Yeah, that's so that's what i'm saying It's like because which is dumb. I don't know why motorcycle because like so I mean this truck For example, I mean this is a 2008 I think 2007. Yeah, but it does the like You need an oil change and you'll say but it's like you can like I think you turn the ignition on and off three times and like pump the gas and it turns like there's a way and it's In the manual. Yeah, not the repair manual the owner's manual that comes in the glove box Oh to turn off the oil change thing when you change the oil just just do this thing and it turns it up, right?

Tim: Versus the husky will let me reset the service counter But it's like every thousand kilometers every 600 miles It nags me for service because you need to lubricate the chain Inspect the brakes.

Travis: Yeah Like shit, you should just do every ride. Yeah That's hard.

Tim: So it's and yeah, that one's got a little bit of the can bus stuff in it. Yeah And it's yeah, it's good It's smart enough that it's got a lcd dash that'll tell you some fairly sophisticated messages But in it'll just say can failure Like why not just tell me what the fucking problem is.

Travis: Yeah, or even just say Failure code 21.

Tim: Yeah Let me look it up and look at or look at owner's manual the owner's manual hasn't listed like yeah, so About a month or so ago I stopped pulled over Was fussing with my phone had the bike running Started to overheat a little bit and check engine light came on And i'm like Turn it off turn it back on everything sounds fine. Nothing i'm like I don't know what your problem is Whatever i'm gonna just ride so right home and then Sit down and talk with robin about it and we're like well you got coolant like yeah well Where's your overflow? So we did finally find the overflow and it was dry. No, it was full Was it the overflow full it was full? Well, you mean wait, no, the the overflow is different from the actual storage.

Robin: Yeah. Okay. Sorry.

Tim: Yeah, so we're like For some reason it was pressurizing the radiator It wasn't dumping into the overflow So it was just giving like an overpressure warning so we just Cracked the cap let it bleed off pressure When it was cool And light turns off everything's good.

Travis: Yeah, like why couldn't you just tell me You know cooling system even it's like cooling system here. Yeah, give me somewhere to start Yeah yeah, no, but that see that reminds me of the uh We're on tangent before we get to robin here when I had when I had the big one the cb1000 big one Which is big one, which is which just which just ran hot.

Robin: Yes, right?

Travis: Like it was a liquid cooled thousand cc From the early 90s, right 18 inch wheels Yeah, it was based on the honda hurricane Cb1 cbr1000, but it was the naked version go back to the podcast.

Robin: We talked about it was pronounced the hurricane or the huracan It's not a lamborghini hurricane, okay hurricane, I don't know where I got that.

Travis: Um But um, you know the hurricane it looks like a refrigerator on wheels Uh, so they did they did a naked version of that there's a whole story it's great look it up if you want Um called the big one. I had one and it was like it was funny because it was imagine 90s naked Bike right like it looked like and motorcycle. Yeah, it kind of looked like the 919, but it was just like six inches bigger in every direction really So just to just look at one if you look at a picture one, you're like that looks like a normal bike But then if you saw it in real life park next to another bike, you know, it's like why is this so big?

Robin: I'm, pulling my bandit up next to it and I was like What third gen no second gen bandit second gen bandit 1200 Yeah, your wheelbase was like an inch and a half deeper in the whole the whole bike and this is a naked bike It was like four inches longer than his favorite bike machine. Yeah Even what? Yeah.

Travis: Yeah anyway, so But it's like yeah, like and it comes up on the forums like people get a new one and they're like Oh, yeah, like the end like when i'm driving in city traffic the temperature gauge gets like three quarters and then the fan kicks on And everyone's just like yeah It does that that's how it works and it's like and it gets real hot and I like my legs start burning. It's like yeah. Yeah That's normal. It's fine. It's totally safe And it's like some guys will like rewire so the fan kicks on earlier i'll put like a different sensor in or like But it's like no, that's just how the engineers designed it and it's totally cool and it's totally it's not going to overheat um Anyway, so robin dean Robin three robin the deer dean the deer dean.

Robin: So I tagged a deer two days ago deer slayer This is the second time i've hit a deer And keep kept my bike two wheels down and they both took place in almost identical scenarios. Well except for the mindset So in 2014, I was running with travis before we met Yeah, I think yeah, we've maybe talked about this on pies before but we can go over it Yeah real quick. So because I have a favorite moment of that So I was uh, we were near to governor dodge in wisconsin. Yeah, I took a sweeping left. It's on the double helix Is it? Oh, yeah. No it is right?

Travis: Yeah, because you come over the hill and then you make that hard left to go over the bridge Let me tell the story.

Robin: Yeah, so I take this lefty and uh, The way we started on this ride was I was pissed that I got there late I was late and I wanted to start because we were camping in governor.

Travis: Shut up No, i'm feeling for kevin We like dropped off we kind of like set up our tents And then went for a ride before we like really like making we want to make we didn't want to set up camp before after Dark, right?

Robin: Yeah, so I'm apologizing. I'm sorry, man. Something got caught up. I'm late. We arrived we set up camp I'm like, come on, let's get a ride in so we jump on the bikes and we we go forth Do no harm And so I think we're about 40 miles in or something. I don't know We take a lefty and uh A yearling jumps out. It's about the size of a great dane and Tags my band at 1200 Now this was rider mindset.

Travis: So I just want to say like so i'm following robin And he had a pretty good lead on me. So he kind of goes around this like big left hand bend It's like on a hill and then it kind of comes back upright and I tuck in i'm coming around this left hand bend And I see a turn signal spiral down the double line Like on the inside of the turn I see because i'm like turning I see See debris spinning in the road and I come past and I see it's a turn signal I'm, like did robin like lean so hard he knocked his turn signal off and then I look up and he's just Dead stopped middle of the road and I get on the brakes and pull up next to him And he's just he's the bike's up and he's on the bike And he's just stopped and he's just looking and just holding the bike and like this

Robin: I had to pry my fingers off the grid But yeah, I mean we were riding pretty hard today, but not that i'm not hard to describe the the signal And so rider mindset is what tagged that.

Travis: Yeah. Yeah hard to say that's a dumb thought right?

Robin: That doesn't make sense That means you crashed So I I really wasn't in the right mindset that day now this ride when two days ago I was in the right mindset I was um Will you grab me one? Yeah, I was in the right mindset I was uh riding, uh With I was maintaining a 33% buffer on the skill set for safety. I was by myself so I wasn't really Uh, you know, I knew that this was a major threat i'm alone. It's it's about 5 15 p.m And i'm on county u just just outside of bostown wisconsin. This is a great road This is an excellent ride The biggest difference I want to emphasize Is that my mindset was on safety I was being professional You're on nifty for safety I had my I had my speed.

Travis: I have a nifty for safety.

Robin: I had my my uh, I had my survival in In mind, you know And so I was right along there. Uh Right along you um At this hour, it's the witching hour on deer easily the witching era. Yeah, it's like what like four or five o'clock Yeah, so no, it's five. Yeah, it's about five o'clock So I am definitely thinking when I see a curve that suggests to me 45 miles an hour I'm doing 45 miles an hour Yeah came up over a blind right? Uh took it about five under the suggested speed At the top of this blind right I saw the entirety Of A an easy left followed by another blind right? I had full field of view And I took the left And in a perfect 90 degree angle out comes another deer Puts itself right in my path of travel. I compress the brakes. I'm like Yeah, no, no more than that Keep going That's it Fumes it'll burn, you know, i'm i'm threshold breaking When I see this deer because I have no escape path to the right And the left is oncoming around a blind right? I'm not going to do that There you go. You lit up trap. Okay so I'm just on the brakes And I this saved the bike the bike is the bike is going to survive And that's excellent because I love this bike so this is bike one I tagged a deer on my bmw r1200 rs It's the first one as we're recording.

Travis: This is what two days ago.

Robin: This is two days ago This is my first bmw it is my last bmw But it is the bmw that I absolutely am in love with this bike is Phenomenal, and i'm really glad I own it I will never do that again. I will never buy that brand again So that's how it went down let's call that bike one i'm bringing this bike back, but part of the reason this whole topic Travis brought up that theory that what was the monty hall paradox the monty hall paradox, which is excellent This bike the timing is excellent because the bike itself is has to be brought back It is a safe to ride machine right now. I can get on it and ride The plastics will go right back on but they are cracked And it's it's a there's not a good way to repair them.

Travis: Then they're they're bmw priced, right?

Robin: So i've got a real debacle on my hands as far as cosmetics are concerned I'll deal with it. The insurance is taking care of it, but That brings me to what were my other what are my other options and I here's what I came up with so far During that ride Before the deer I thought about the bandit I was like man. That was I I just I man that bike was so easy It was fared. I customized the shit. Yeah, you knew it inside Now I knew that bike from front to back better than nobody knew a bandit Not the second gen at least better than me screw type valves all the so whatever I started thinking about that basic Oil cooled easy to work on. Absolutely. Here's what I know I love that platform. I love that profile. Yeah, I love the profile of the bike online. I love a a half to fully fared uh Uh sport large displacement Maybe large I would do an 800 Yeah, i'd even do a 750 You know, I looked at the seven the 765 the triumph street triple 765.

Travis: Is that number two?

Robin: That's That is probably number two. Okay, so number two Number one is my bmwr 1200 rs Bring it back And I listened to audio slave bring them back alive. This is the bike Number two is going to be the street triple 765 Because they make a big beautiful windscreen for it, which by itself is a fairing. It's a fixed headlamp It's a little tough to get to some of the parts you have to you have to sync the throttle bodies I'm about to do that for margaret's bike. It's a little tedious. It's got a lot going on But you can you can access it I'll take it You know, I could make a seven six five into a Half fared sport tour. Yeah Soft bag sport tour and I wonder could you throw like a daytona fairing on it or probably the handlebars you get in the way You could probably fabricate mounting points for a daytona fairing if you just had some some Bolt attachment points and then flex down to a different bolt attachment point that would allow it Because it's the same bike essentially same motor.

Travis: So I don't know if the the frame has the same like has there's holes there to bolt on daytona fairings Again, that's a good question And then you could get like, you know ebay chinese race fairings Yeah Well, that'd be great the what that would be great.

Robin: Just get some basic bullshit fairings. You can always swap out Yeah, yeah, I like this get them for 150 bucks vinyl wrap them and get a couple of them I think this is not a bad platform to consider I'll tell you what the next bike after this one Oh, that's what's happening That's where we're going. Yeah And All right, so I like that idea. All right, so bike number three that bike number three is Fuck all give me the uh zero sr slash s I quit your stupid combustion Thousands upon thousands of parts moving give me an electric bike And trust that they're going to update the tech and that the tech on my bike will be uh swappable Go full electric. I would I would Honestly, if I if if the platform were available, I would switch those out and i'd go from the beamer straight to the sr slash s Zero sr slash s all the way You could do multi-day tours Well, what could I not if the tech develops Well, I mean if the charging stations were there and you planned it accordingly you could do it. Yeah You guys remember what i'm saying tomorrow tomorrow. No. Yeah tomorrow tomorrow. I would have to like three years from now, maybe You guys know those three gentlemen that we somehow impersonate in podcast form Yeah, they did an episode where they had an electric car and one mr Hammond had to take everybody to really bad tourist locations that sucked because he had to find a charge point.

Travis: Oh, yeah.

Tim: Yeah no, see I I still think it'd be an amazing thing to have a What is it the fxs the super moto? as a commuter Right. Oh my god.

Travis: It'd be like a 60 mile range or something. Yeah Yeah, but they're actually not that expensive either No, no, they're not that light. They're like they're like under 300 pounds.

Tim: They're like 250 pounds Yeah, they they look like they're so much fun. Oh, yeah, but yeah, and it's just like really really fun for 60 miles That's a good third bike. That's a good.

Travis: Yeah, that's a good like go just terrorize town like Yeah, i'm gonna ride on that bike path for like half a mile hit a staircase and get back on the road Yeah, yeah, absolutely you're like Yeah, yeah, we could do the stupid shit that I used to do on the drz But not make a bunch of noise and you can do it sneakily. Yes Yes, you can go you can go the places that you don't yeah, that's like a good like third bike Are you sure that's not your that's there you go.

Robin: That's your side order side order.

Tim: Okay. Yeah, so like I I am the Person that someone gave shit because on the 500 cbi Cb 500x. Yeah, I uh, I went over the middle of one of those traffic circles Oh, yeah Oh fucking hilarious, yeah Is it was like? It was it was a group ride. It was jeremy and I and uh, a couple people. We just met like the thursday before and uh a guy one of the guys He was on a full super sport ducati Fully fared wearing full race leathers with the damn arrow hump on the back For why?

Travis: Why is he doing this for a street ride? Because he's got the money. He needs to buy ten dollar espressos.

Tim: Yes, because his name is paulo Was he good in the corner?

Robin: He was yeah. Yeah, he was all right.

Travis: He didn't walk away.

Tim: He didn't walk away from ten hundred five hundred So if we're talking like A corner that you could take at 90 miles an hour In a full lean.

Robin: Yeah.

Tim: Yeah, he was good.

Robin: Okay I mean, so I he's a racetrack.

Tim: He was a track Kind of guy. Okay, he could do track Um on my 500 on a rough wisconsin back road.

Travis: I left him in the dust yeah, and we talked about that the other day it's like Street riding is a whole different skill set.

Robin: Yeah. Absolutely. I'm so glad you said that.

Tim: Yeah So I like I am Like i've been on these wisconsin back roads Since 2006 You know then They still haven't repaved them. Yeah. Yeah, some of them they don't you know They just throw a little chip seal on it and call it good.

Robin: Yeah You know as soon as my bike well as soon as i'm just riding that bike again I want us to go do this wildcat cuts run and i'm going to give you guys a gravel version. I'll do the non-gravel Actually, no, i'll ride the gravel with us. I'll ride the gravel with you.

Travis: Yeah, you've seen me do it.

Robin: I love it You can do the gravel just fine. I'm usually thinking about the people behind me.

Travis: Yeah, i'm not gonna have anybody behind me Yeah, yeah, if it's just us then we can go because too that was When they were repaving highway, um, the last time you and I went out.

Robin: Yeah

Travis: And it was just like it was just loose gravel that goes under the pavement and I was like Beer and I like and then I got to the end and waited five minutes for everyone else Yeah, because i'm just like cool stay I stood up on the pegs and i'm getting the back end up going around

Robin: Yeah

Travis: Yeah, so and you were waiting for them and I was like i'm just gonna i'll just see you guys at the end because this I can't pass up this opportunity

Robin: That is one part from this deer incident That i'm wondering Was that the deer that did that because i've taken a couple of scouting runs where I found some gravel and I was like Well, I mean, I know I won't keep this part But let's go ahead and then I rode through it And then there's there's one section of the tank cover that cracked and i'm wondering if the gyrations

Travis: Caused the thing. Oh, I mean, they're definitely all broken because the deer but that one like that one part maybe who knows my baby from hard riding or whatever, but Yeah, it's the uh, I forget what we're talking about. Tim was talking about Riding over a roundabout.

Tim: Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're straight over the middle of it. Um, so yeah curb like curbed sidewalk curb and then like a gravel mound that is probably like 30 foot diameter and Packed up like six feet high So yeah Just to fuck with the guy or what was the I I was in back I was in back I didn't realize anyone even knew what I was doing. I was just fucking around because I was bored Because this guy like took one of the most boring routes to get to the twisty roads Very beautiful We took 113 all the way up 113 is amazing. It has a turn It's got four lanes There's four. There's a fair amount of Um entertaining roads in between here and Where do we turn off? Uh, we ended up around wildcat. Okay is where we were headed. You've got a bajillion Good roads between here and there. Yeah.

Travis: Yeah, so that's why I was bored I mean, I guess if you're on like a time crunch you won't get up there and hit some roads But you guys want to go ride the road?

Robin: Where is it the other side of the state?

Tim: Okay, let's hurry up Let's take 14 get on 14 and just go straight Yeah, so this was the day that Like they handed over the lead to me the second half of the day And they got sick of my shit Was this? Yes, I didn't take them down Yeah, it was one of those ones where it's like oh this road looks great on the gps You go down and it's like lovely lovely lovely and then like two miles of dirt like Hmm yeah, well i'm familiar with this situation. What do you guys want to do? You want to do the dirt? You okay? they were like Like I don't mean to peer pressure them.

Travis: Oh, it's just like it's like I know this I know I know my tiny honda has an x In the in the name, but it's on sport bike rubber. It's on. Yeah.

Tim: Yeah. I'm i'm on like on the like Pr4s that are almost cooked.

Travis: Yeah, you know almost no tread on them at all 120 70 17 front and a 160 60 17 rear.

Tim: Yeah, and I was just like it's no big deal It's gravel road, whatever, you know, yeah, I mean same thing on the nc.

Travis: It's like Because that's the thing by the end because too like now the the brand new 500x has a 19 inch front. Ooh, yes so adventurous, but it's like yeah, yeah, it's like that's like nc's everyone's like It's got a beak on it for some reason But it's like this is this runs the same tires as a ninja 650.

Tim: Yeah Honestly, like out of the bikes that i've owned and sold Like the 500 is really high on the list of bikes that I wish I'd kept. Yeah, like I in I did 24 000 miles on that bike in two years.

Travis: You got one and you got the suspension sorted.

Tim: Yep. Yeah, and Did a tall seat on it?

Travis: Yeah road yours and it was I have to say it was it was more exciting than my 700 because it had that buzzy peppy motor that revved out You know, I do like those the 700 makes more power. I know it does. Yep.

Robin: It doesn't feel like it I love riding with both of you guys in general. I don't see anything ever change in that But it was a serious a unique kind of thrill Actually, they all have been depending on which bikes you guys own So let's look at that one It was a unique scenario when I decided to try to run my very first big tour ever And he decided to go because you hit me hipped him to it And he brought that cb500x Look where we are now. That was one of the most amazing moments riding the blue ridge parkway Way faster than we should have been Oh, yeah, especially on the blue ridge.

Tim: It's so heavily patrolled it was rude We got a clear run for almost a whole day.

Travis: Yeah Doing like 70 on the vrp.

Robin: Oh more 70 was idle You know if we got a good cook up we were doing about 75 80.

Travis: Oh, yeah, dude That's like on the vrp there that what's the speed limit 45 35 35 is the speed limit?

Robin: We were over double the speed limit We were coming out of the corners at 60 we would take three minute breaks to make sure the group was okay Which was being led by margaret at that point And she was still like brand new to anything involving even trail braking. Oh, by the way maggie dean margaret dean is Is formidable the right word she's becoming She's becoming She I mean she was right there on the Last time I was out with you guys and m was all gravel Yeah, she was right there with the rest of the posse once you guys eventually caught 25 minutes at the end.

Travis: So our Our street triple that's ballsy.

Robin: Yeah on a lowered street triple was zero Are you okay? Yeah, i've got my music going. I'm having a great time Back end is like facing her You know, she's got the whole back. Yeah. No, i'm having a good time She did that interview with john delbecchio, yeah our previous episode And she immediately, you know, she had read the whole book So she has become a trail breaking Hooligan She's just they pushed push into the corners constantly and and i'm really really impressed So so she's been taking she's my i'm married to her. So i'm always still worried but I don't like i've been taking it way less easy in a Duo ride when she yeah, like I just looked back and she's like that was a good one Why oh, hey, there you are and she's just cooked it cook this shit. It was really She's she's something special that woman anyhow You guys mind if I wrap it up because I gotta pee like a racehorse. Um Yeah, anything anybody else wants to you guys can talk i'll go Um, yeah, well still here monty hall paradox, right?

Travis: Let's go back through. Yeah, let's do it. So xsr. Yep t7 1250gs. Yes Which one do we take away?

Robin: Oh, that's right Take away the one we know he wants No, xsr The t7 then t7.

Travis: Yeah, 1250s is too expensive.

Tim: Yeah too expensive too big.

Travis: Yeah Well, I i've i've got such an affection for small light easy to push around bikes, yeah nice All right, how about you travis we got nc xsr Tracer 900 lose the tracer 900 I'll probably just keep the the nc 700 Also like, you know the two children really limits my budget you have a really reliable bike that you know Well that rides you ride its ass off.

Robin: Yeah You got no beef. You got you got no problems.

Travis: I had that machine. Yeah All right, robin. So he's got we got the the r1200 rs or the street triple 765 or um What was my third option what was my third bike did you get to the third Did I get to the I don't think you got to the third Did we change it off of your third bike?

Robin: I don't remember. Oh srs Oh zero zero. Yeah. Yeah.

Travis: Yeah You know, well because I know the one you want is just you're gonna fix your 1200 so I know 1200 that insurance whatever it doesn't work out. You gotta get rid of 1200 Make them think Do you do is the future now? Or do you go with the triumph? i'm going to Why do you change your answer?

Robin: I have to go i'll have to go with the triumph I have to go with the triumph And and that's because I wanted to give you a solid answer It's like but really he would buy a sprint st 900 from 10 years ago. That's not wrong Yeah, I might that's a 1000 by the way, oh well It's actually 1050 or some shit no the sprint they got the tiger 1050 motor in it I thought it was a sprint st. Yeah, the triumph sprint st has got It's a thousand cc's on the label Maybe it's the 900s, you know, it is But honestly if i'm going to complicate it with my answer then i'll try to keep this short I would make a business call to zero And then I would probably end up stuck with the triumph Yeah, i'd make a call and be like look guys. We did a whole episode about how much we love you We think you're awesome. But here's my here's my dilemma i'm running a struggling operation in a difficult category of Motorcycling i'm willing to give and they are offering down payments uh Advanced on top of the blue book value of whatever bike you trade in so I could trade in my bike They would pay it off and give me a download or a A down payment amount. Yeah to buy an sr slash s That is gold. The problem is I run a sport We gentlemen the three of us yes are the central figures in a sport Touring and when you can only do 100 miles at a time that is not touring.

Travis: Yeah, so with that for the rotting obsession.com I'm, robin dean.

Robin: I'm tim clark and i'm travis burleson From the campfire in front of the travitron garage.

Tim: This is the part where robin chatters and I don't pay attention Safe travels everyone safe travels everyone.

Travis: We'll fix it in post

Robin: This episode of the riding obsession podcast is brought to you by drive weather be safe and check road weather conditions using the drive weather app See wind and weather information at each point of your trip visit driveweatherapp.com to learn more And also by john del vecchio's cornering confidence program a self-paced interactive online course that brings more enjoyment and assurance to the twisties Their website is corneringconfidence.com