2014: What did you do WITH your NC700 today?

[Fuzzy]

Occasionally walk by it between mill and office to see it sitting lonely and unridden. Not the best way to spend a beautiful Saturday. I give it a pat on the seat and go back to work.

 

[Troyba]

I rode up into the mountains to take advantage of the spring weather to get a little hiking in. The sky was a little cloudy and it was windy, but all in all a great day to get out and enjoy the NC!


Letting the NC take a break while I headed out for a hike


Looking back down the ridge


Umatilla River in NE Oregon

 

[bamamate]

Got muddy


But I saw this

 

[Fuzzy]

Managed to avoid the lunch invite today so I could go for a ride. Took a little extra time and clocked 55 miles of back roads in southeast Georgia.

Checked out Altamaha River Park.


On the way back spent some time on a dirt road. Starting to get more comfortable off pavement.

 

[Bug Dr.]

Got muddy


But I saw this

I know right where that is. I see you got the Shinkos put on. Do you like them?

I almost went up there yesterday. I should've sent you a text.
Mike

 

[bamamate]

I should have sent you a text. Ate breakfast and tires were calling me to try them out so I hopped on to ride around town and then decided what the heck I'll go brave some mud. They were great on damp dirt and half dry mud. After the valley it got really wet and slippery. In the switchbacks right before the bridge I basically locked the rear and slid through them. Even ran through some icy patches. I had several miles of mostly first gear and legs in outrigger mode. In that stuff they were slipping around a lot but they never gave up. I was impressed with how well they cleared out. I was exhausted by the time I hit 123. Front brake and fender were packed with mud. Found a stick and dug a bunch out before hitting the road. I'm editing video of it.

 

[Fuzzy]

Got muddy

Great pictures and story.

One caution on your jacket location. I used to hang mine on top box on another bike until one time I carelessly let a sleeve rest on the hot muffler. Ruined the jacket and left a mess on the muffler. Now I hang my new jacket on the wind screen. Can't tell how close yours is in the picture, so be careful.

 

[bamamate]

Didn't think about that. Thanks Fuzzy!!

 

[670cc]

Got muddy

If we meet up at the SGT, I'm going to be very cautious about following you off the paved roads!

 

[SergeantChuck]

Didn't think about that. Thanks Fuzzy!!

I hang mine on the trunk all the time. Lately anyway. I face mine the other way with the neck toward the windshield. For whatever reason the sleeves don't get close to the muffler. Give that a try if you like hanging it there because I know I do. I made sure I had clearance. I have the OEM trunk too so maybe that makes a difference.

 

[Bug Dr.]

I didn't go because I figured there would still be ice around Treat. I'm ready to ride to Low Gap on dirt (mostly dirt) and reward myself with another belly full of good grub.
Mike

 

[TheEdge900]

Took the bike and the wife on a weekend trip to Rio Rico, AZ. First major two up trip. The NC did well, but gas mileage hurt on the way down traveling two up, 80mph with a headwind. Road some back roads to Patagonia Lake and Pena Blanca Lake. Also first time taking the NC in dirt, and it didn't do too bad, especially with the stock tires and being two up.

My wife also loved the trip. It was our first motorcycle only weekend trip and she enjoyed just sitting on the back absorbing nature as we rode.

Here is the only picture I got of the bike on the trip, from the hotel room as we watched to see if the rain storm was going to hit us.

 

[johnparker903]

drove the bike to work for the first time today. 80 miles in 40-45 degrees had my fingertips frozen by the time i got to work. im rocking an old set of scorpion gloves so its time for new ones!

what a blast!!

 

[davidc83]

I rode mine to work today:



It was only 34'F at 530am this morning with a expected high of 63'F today. Tomorrow's high is expected to be 72'F but Wednesday, cold front and rain/snow/sleet with high in the 40's-wtf!!!

 

[PadrePoint]

I picked up my new NC today (Wisonsin) since we FINALLY got above freezing. Didn't have too much time available but sure enjoyed my first ride.

Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk 2

 

[670cc]

Today, had the first rides on the bikes this year!

Did 15 miles on the GL1800, 65 miles on the NC700X. I had so many mods to try out! Best of all was the hand guards and heated grips!!

Ahh, it's good to be back . . .

 

[Fuzzy]

Learned how to use my tire plug kit.

 

[mercurydog47]

Uh, I didn’t really keep a log of the Baja 2014 trip. Here goes: We, (I on my NC700 DCT and my pilot colleague on a BMW 1200 GS) crossed the border at Tecate and spent our first night in Ensenada at the Hotel Villa Fontana right downtown with gated parking and a perfect location with OK rooms and AAA prices. About $55 Despite our repeated solemn assurances to ourselves that we would not ride at night we found ourselves a little short of daylight on the first day and presto! We were riding at night in Mexico.

I got subjected to extra scrutiny at the border where the bike’s registration was checked against the VIN on the frame. No big deal but I later noticed a lot of vehicles in Baja with either no plates at all or California plates which hadn’t renewed their sticker in almost a decade.

Our next day we got on the road to Catavina and got there with a little daylight to spare. Only word there is that El Rosario is a mandatory fuel stop because the next reliable fuel is in Guerrero Negro about 328 kilometers away. There are gasoline salesmen alongside the road in Catavina selling gas out of jerrycans but the word is that the quality can be suspect, especially for a fuel injected system. The NC 700 needs more fuel!! I arrived with 1.2 liters of fuel in the tank. I had two bottles in document cases inside the sidecase frames but I didn't have to use them. The desert ride is great but the extensive amount of trash on either side of the road does get to be a little annoying. The trash density does ease up south of El Rosario.

Our next jump was to San Ignacio where we had a rest day. Hotel rooms are in short supply at this time of year because of whale watching tourists so a reservation is advisable. We ate breakfast at the Ignacio Springs B and B run by a Canadian couple who put on a whopper of a breakfast for $12. Unfortunately, we had to stay in town but we found a good place that was just built with absolutely modern rooms for $500 pesos. There is one restaurant in town run by the Canadian couple’s daughter and it is quite good the other restaurant is Rene’s and is quite terrible. There are a couple of taco stands on the square but they don’t have beer which can be solved by stepping over to the corner store and getting your own.

We then ran the rest of the way to Loreto in one day and stayed two nights at the Oasis Hotel on the beach. It was fine and relaxing.
Our trip home was pretty much a reverse route on the GPS.

We found that most of the North Americans we encountered in Baja came from Canada and they were old hands at being there. Prices were reasonable, a taco at a taco stand costs about 20 pesos which is about $1.60—more or less the same as what it costs in Sonoma in the Mexican part of town. Roads were certainly good except the speed bumps in town and on some of the curve approaches were somewhat annoying. The roads are not really engineered for sport bike riding so it is essential to take it easy. Plus, as a foreigner you are certainly obliged to obey the laws perhaps just a teensy bit more than the locals. Watch all the stop signs and stay close to the speed limit and all should be just peachy.

At various spots there are army checkpoints which usually constitute a wave-through but a couple of them require you to open up your bags. Not much you can do about that but smile and do what they want.

For the most part we smiled as noted above and got through everything with minimal problems. The lurid expectations of theft, drug gangs, kidnappings and police corruption were not encountered on this trip. The Honda performed just fine but I sure wish the gas tank was about 1 gallon bigger. The realistic range is about 240 miles to fumes so I guess my two spare bottles would have gotten me about another 30 miles. I sure is distracting to have the reserve indicator on for so long.

There—that’s my log. Next trip is to Romania-Bulgaria-Greece-Turkey in June but I will be with a commercial touring company and will be using a Suzuki V-Strom 650.

 

[iSlander]

What I did was I got my bike home

 

[max cooper]

On tuesday, I took a ride on the back roads around here. It was 60+ degrees and today it is dropping to the single digits and snowing like crazy. Shoveled the drive 4 times already. Good timing ride wise. And it felt soooo good !!