Full Throttle Touring - 150 through the Rocket City

This was my first brand new bike, purchased from a small dealer who was a neighbor of my brother-in-law.



You can still see images of the dealer's dirt track in a sat view at 40.005078, -90.401462. We rode but didn't take pictures back then. In fact, when we rode, we didn't take much of anything, including gear. I spent hours riding that new bike home in a cold rain that wasn't supposed to happen.

$12.50 for setup? They really fleeced you with those high dealer fees.

The Honda Trail 70 was my first dream bike.

It's cold and gloomy right now but good weather and a lot of riding opportunities aren't that far in the future. Here's a couple of things that just popped up on my radar:

Moab and Death Valley April 19-29. Those dates aren't exact because they don't include the trip out and back. I don't have a lot of details on this yet.

Tiny bikes in Tellico Plains 6-8 May: https://advrider.com/f/threads/monk...plains-tn-6-8-may-2021.1483106/#post-41577917

When I got up this morning it was snowing pretty good. I was hoping to get some snow pics but by the time I got out there it had warmed up and mostly melted. Oh well, I needed some bananas so I had an excuse to go for a ride.



.



.



I went into the grocery store and spent 76 cents on 3 bananas. Yeah I know you are wondering how a managed to carry all those groceries on my tiny scooter

The sun briefly tried to make an appearance.



Then I rode home. Not real exciting but I hadn't gone for a ride for a couple of days and I didn't want to come down with PMS.

A house with triple witches hat. Never seen one in the wild. Pretty spooky neighborhood!

How is the leg room on the Majesty? I found a really good deal on a 2007 at Mountain Motorsports in Roswell, GA. I was thinking about giving them a call and asking about it.

In stock form the Handlebars hit my knees in tight turns so I rotated the bars forward solving that issue. Now it felt like the bars were too far forward so I moved the rider seat forward about an inch. That decreased the legroom about an inch but its still fine for my 34" inseam. Other people have posted that they felt the Majesty was cramped. I think you will need to try it for yourself. I've been happy with my Majesty.

like @klaviator said. After trying his majesty, I also rotated the handlebar forward, big difference.

My last group ride was back in November so when @Thinwater posted up a short Sunday afternoon ride I decided to go ride. It looked like there were a few dual sport and adventure riders coming so I was thinking about riding my KLX however because of time constraints I would need to take the interstate most of the way to the meeting spot in Elkmont. On top of that it is middle of the winter and would be pretty chilly. So I rode a bike more suitable for interstate riding and with some wind protection.

At the meeting spot, the red caboose in downtown Elkmont.



We ended up with four riders: @Thinwater , @jrm927 , @Solas and myself.



If you're wondering what's going on in the above pic, @jrm927 took his bike off the centerstand and nearly dropped it before @Thinwater ran over and helped hold it up

Near disaster averted, we headed out to ride the back roads of Limestone county.



We encountered some psychedelic lighting.



Still a few leaves on the trees.

Limestone County has some nice back roads.



.



.



.



.

@Thinwater leading the way.



I have followed Stephen on several rides through Limestone County. I recognized many of the roads but still had no idea where we were much of the time.

An over the shoulder shot.



@Solas on his XT250 following me. He had about 500 miles of riding experience after buying the XT, his first motorcycle, about a month ago.



Since I was on a scooter Stephen stayed mostly on paved roads.

Mostly....



We rode a couple of dirt roads but the Majesty handled them just fine.

Looks like I will just have to enjoy it thru pictures. Darn. They look fantastic.

Another shot of @Solas . I thought he rode really well considering his limited experience.



Following Stephen on a roller coaster back road.



We finished at the same spot where we met.



We talked some then headed for home.

So the group ride was done. I took about as many pics after heading for home as I did on the ride. Some of those are still coming up......

Have you ridden a Burgman 400 or 600? I was just wondering how the legroom compared.

Glad to see @Solas got an introduction to riding with the group. Sorry I missed it.

I got back on the interstate to go home. Although the Majesty only has a 395cc engine, it just hums along at 70-75 MPH without feeling like it is even working hard. I was glad to have the wind protection because I was still pretty cold. I would have been really cold on the KLX.

It was getting near sunset and there were a lot of clouds in the sky.



My normal sunset spot wasn't too far out of the way so I headed there.



.



As it normally does, the view changed rapidly as the sun dropped.



.



.



.



By the time I got home I had ridden nearly 150 miles.

I have sat on the Burgmans but not ridden them. The riding position felt similar but the Burgmans seem to have more comfortable seats.

Glad you explained what was going on in the picture. I thought it was a ninja stand-off at first glance.

Klaviator nice pictures! I had a great time riding with you guys today. I appreciate you guys being so helpful and friendly. Thinwater chose a great route. I hope to ride with you guys again. ( I will probably still leave my blinkers on)

Sola Deo Gloria