Full Throttle Touring - 150 through the Rocket City

More fun than a barrel of Monkeys?

It wouldn't make sense for me to buy one of these but I want one. I even fit on it pretty good.



The seat is real comfortable, much better than most bigger bikes.

Uh Oo! That Like getting gone already?

That's what it looks Like.

Yeah, and he must be out taking sunset pics with the Monkey and putting about 200 miles on it this evening! Man that dude likes to ride!

Yep it looks like the Like will be getting replaced soon, like after around 30,000 miles. At the rate I'm going that will be pretty soon I've got nearly 800 miles on it in just over a month in the middle of winter. What's going to happen when it warms up and I can go on some long trips?

I took a bazillion sunset pics. I'll post those in a bit.

After running errands around town on my Majesty I got out later on my Like for another ride. I headed over to Wheeler again because the Like is a surprisingly fun on gravel and dirt roads. There are some people on this forum who advised against getting a scooter with such small wheels. I'm happy with the 12" wheels and handling of the Like. I am having some issues with the ABS. The discussion on that is in the Like 150i thread in Battle Scooters.

30 MPH or more is no problem on smooth gravel roads like this.



It would be sunset soon but I couldn't get to my normal sunset viewing spots on the Tennessee River due to flooding so I headed to a different spot. It was a bit muddy getting there.



I have never seen the water level this high.



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I decided to head to a different spot. Heading back out the way I came.



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That wasn't the spot. This is my sunset spot. I took 127 pictures, most of them at this next spot. I won't post all of them



I was here for about 20-30 minutes as the sun set and the scene changed.

This guy looked like he was having fun as he came by.



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When I got home I had 794 miles on the Odometer. Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer than today. I haven't decided where to ride or which bike but it will probably be a longer ride.

You gonna take a ride in the snow tomorrow?

I hadn't thought about it but that sounds like fun

The big snow "event" that they practically shut down the city for turned out to be a non-event. No snow, not even all that cold. It was around 35 and sunny so of course I went out for a ride. I just rode to Wally World and back so no pics.

I just saw a snowplow. In middle Georgia!!!

Did you get any snow down there? I flew through some heavy snow on my way to Memphis last night but there was nothing on the ground here when I got back.

Nothing here but some rain this afternoon. It was 51 today. No ride had to work. I'll be glad when I can retire so this work thing will quit interfering with my riding. 10 more years if I make it that long.

Nope, only half a day of rain. The sun was bright and shining at 4:00 PM

Last week I went on a short ride. I rode out to where the Toyota plant is being built. The northward road, for what it's worth, is no longer there. Just the big lot. Greenbrier is going to make a mint.

Anyway, I hadn't ridden much, and the battery was slow to crank. By the time I got there, stopped, and asked a worker if the road had been removed, the bike wouldn't crank. Of course, they didn't have jumper cables so I rolled the bike away from their truck and hoped it would gather itself and just give me a little more juice. Then, a security guard came up; I didn't know he was security initially so I asked if he had jumper cables. He responded, "yeah, but I want to know how you got here." in a accusatory tone. Uh, no gate, muddy public road (or it used to be), muddy motorcycle. I guess he couldn't connect the dots. Anyway, he was nice enough after that and he helped me jump the bike. I was on my way.

I did notice that the fantastic tech at Freedom Power Sports who did my maintenance (yes, I prepaid) had removed the battery cover and lost the rubber grommet the cover snaps to. Apparently it's common to lose those with techs who aren't paying attention and/or don't care about losing them, but getting one is going to be more than challenging. The part number is 61138532186; there are two for sale on eBay right now, both from Germany. One is like $13 plus shipping or I can order 6 for $27 plus shipping. I found the part on BMW's online system and they cost only 3.95 or so. But if I order just one, it's like $7 shipping. Crazy. I know what I need.



Quick side story: I ordered a Shoei helmet from FPS. In like 2 weeks it still hadn't arrived; they said they were hard to get, and at the time the model was new so I gave them some slack. Then before it even came in, they called and said someone was there to buy my helmet, and unless I gave them half down over the phone, they'd sell it to him when it did arrive. That is, they were going to sell the helmet I'd ordered to someone else before it even gets to the store. I said go ahead. I was not happy. I ordered it online and got it three days later. Never again, I said. A second example is I ordered a few BMW parts (cracked turn signal lenses) from them that took a long time to arrive. Odd. I checked online, and the BMW distribution system pointed me to Pandora's in Chattanooga. I ordered another set of what I wanted from them. The ones from Chattanooga shipped to them then to me before the ones I ordered before that ever made it to Freedom Powersports. I cancelled that order. Their parts department has done nothing but let me down.

I ended up buying this very small but very powerful jumper pack to help me out if my battery is indeed short for this world: https://amzn.to/2MHaanf At $49.99, it's totally worth it.

Today, I rode my bike to work. It was cold but bearable. My old Bilt jacket has a liner but my nicer Olympia does not. Guess which one this genius chose to wear today. That's right, the incorrect one. It was cold cold cold. There were only a couple of very small patches of ice (except the big block in my helmet of course). Good ride though. It's always nice to de-stress from work by yelling at the top of your lungs at all the bad drivers. I'm very mellow when I get home.

The charging system was at 14.4V the whole way home today, even with the grip heaters on full-blast. So it probably is my battery and not a weak alternator. We'll see. (It is under warranty still, but I'll have to deal with Freedom...)

It looks like a thaw is coming from our frigid weather. It should be in the 50s this weekend. I posted up a potential ride for Saturday on the MA forum: http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=3351.0

I'm also considering a weekend trip to Deal's Gap this weekend. I can't do both Deal's gap and the local ride so I'll make a decision soon. Back in 2011, when my Super 8 was still new I did a weekend trip to Deal's Gap in the winter and had a great ride. Ride report here: https://advrider.com/f/threads/scootin-through-deals-gap-318-curves-and-11-horsepower.670468/

This time of year there little traffic or Law Enforcement to spoil the fun If I do this I'll truck the new scooter to the area on Saturday and find a cheap motel Sat night and ride again on Sunday. I may do something similar to the ride report in the link.

Decisions, decisions

Sounds LIKE a win, win, Win!

New forecast shows rain coming in on Sunday so I'll just do the local ride on Saturday. The ride will be on Tennessee back roads with lunch at the Delina Store. Details here: http://www.motorcyclealabama.com/rides/index.php?topic=3351.msg30409#msg30409

I'm in! (Or that's the plan.)

I normally ride year round but this year has started better than any year I can remember. I rode 29 out of 31 days in January and over 950 miles. Maybe I had a better January when I lived in Florida or California although I doubt I rode as many days. I'm hoping this is just the start of my best riding year ever