So I missed by blog last week. I really just didn’t have anything nice to say, so I kept my thoughts to myself.
Last weekend was a full weekend of riding. The weather was outstanding, and everyone had the weekend off after the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and a bare weekend with the IndyCar Series taking their first weekend off in six weeks!
At the home front, it was busy – busy riding, that is. On Saturday morning, a group of us met downtown across from the new Dunkin Donuts. Our original plan was to meet on the Circle, but there was a Lotus Car show that had the area blocked off.
The group consisted of six total riders on two Triumphs, three Suzukis and a Ducati. Paul Riley and Phil Sparks were the other to IMS employees that made the trip, along with Paul’s son, friend and Matt, a buddy of Phil and I.
Everyone was roughly on time, and we left downtown at 9 a.m.
We typically take the same routes when we ride down to Brown County. For the first leg of our trip, take a look at this route:
This route took us down Highway 37 until old 37, which is an nice warm-up road. You really don’t get into anything crazy. The one thing that kind of sucked was the fact that the road was slightly damp in a lot of the areas. Old 37 then runs into Bloomington. You then hop on 45, shoot around the north side of the town and head northeast on 45, which is probably my favorite road in central Indiana.
Be sure to turn the volume down on your computer. The audio isn’t the best, but you can see me leading the pack:
That stretch took us about 1.5 hours, and we stopped in Nashville, Ind., for some BBQ. Once we filled up with food and gas, we hit the road for our second stretch. Here is the route. We ride south on 135 around Brown County Park through Story, Ind. From there, we continue on 135 to IN-58:
We took a break at the 446 intersection and lined up the bikes. I’m on the far left, and Paul is on the far right in his orange Hayabusa.
Once we took a quick break and chatted with an ‘ol timer on his Harley Sportster, we rode up 446 across Lake Monroe. Once we got to Bloomington, the group split up. Matt and I headed for 45 again on our way home and the others went straight to 37 and went home.
Here is the ride home Matt and I took:
The ride was excellent. We started around 9 a.m., and I was at home by 3:30 p.m. I had plenty of time to relax before my family got home. That night, Megan went out for a wedding shower, so it was just me and the boys. Van and dog Rex hung out and watched a movie and called it a early night.
The next morning, I had baby duty since Mommy was out all night with her friends. It was fun; Van is in a great stage right now. I bet he will be walking on his own on my next blog.
In the afternoon, Megan had another baby shower that required her to take Van; this one was with the mothers and grandparents. I took the opportunity to hop back on my bike and take it over to storage and get my Scrambler out. I met up with Ron Pitman, another IMS employee, and we took a Sunday cruise around west Indianapolis. Here is our route, which I think is a great on if you want to stay close to the city:
From here we pretty much back tracked our route back to a parking lot at Raceway and 56th Street, parked for a few minutes and talked MotoGP. Buy tickets, ride to the track – it’s going to be a blast!
See you next week.
Jarrod
Before I get into the bike swap-extravaganza, here are a few things to note. The Scrambler is stripped down and is getting the wheels powder-coated as I type, and I had my buddy Ricky Howerton cut down my stock Tiger windscreen. The cutdown is definitely an improvement on the wind buffeting, but the cosmetics of the bike changed. If I were to re-cut the windshield again, I probably wouldn’t have been as dramatic about it.
Here is the story about the bike swap.
Bike Swap #1: Black Tiger for the Hypermotard
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is putting together a street team of three riders armed with Ducati Hypermotards. Two of them are headed down for the Honda Hoot, and one was left back at the track. Of course, I offered my services to break in the machine so I was able to take the bike home for the evening. I only put 26 miles on the bike, but it was enough to really “test” it – unlike my previous test ride at the Ducati dealership.
Like I said, I only put 26 miles on the bike, which means my test ride was pretty much to and from work this week. I took the long way home and made sure that I hit roads that I often ride on so that I could tell the differences. The Tiger and Hypermotard are nothing alike except for a similar power plant, 1100 and 1050 cc’s. The Hypermotard is much more rigid, much lighter (It’s like a bicycle!) and has so much torque! This thing is a unicycle!
Bike Swap #2: Hypermotard for Black Tiger
I returned the Hypermotard during lunch the next day because I needed to take the Tiger in to get my clutch looked at. I started to notice a weird noise when I engaged the clutch, so I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t eating the clutch plates up. I dropped the bike off at R. Falcone Motorsports here on 16th Street in Indianapolis.
The noise that I was experiencing was like I had a vibrating metal table and I put a bag of pennies on the table. It isn’t damaging yet, but I want to make sure the bike is all polished up before I head down to Richmond, Va., for the IndyCar Series race.
Bike Swap #3: Black Tiger for 2008 White Speed Triple
Luckily Gene Tomey (the GM at R. Falcone Motorsports) values me as a customer and felt bad that both my Scrambler and Tiger were in the shop. He felt so bad that he allowed me to take a loaner bike.
At first he walked the floor and pointed at this Piaggio super-moped painted in Peanuts cartoon characters! You know Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the gang? That was a quick laugh, and then he pointed at another Black Tiger or a fleet of Sprints. I felt that if I was going to get another bike, I might as well get something I hadn’t ridden before.
I asked about the Speed Triple, and he put me on it. The Speed Triple is a fast bike like the motard, but it really isn’t my style. If you haven’t already noticed, I like to be sitting straight up with my feet underneath me, not behind me.
Much like the motard, the Triple is really nimble, light and powerful, but one thing that I won’t do with this bike is put too many miles on it or “test” it. Since I doubt it’s a normal occurrence for the dealer to give drive-a-ways while the bike is in service, I wanted to instill a small bit of trust with Gene.
Jarrod
The Scrambler is back!
How about this weather? Crazy storms, blazing heat and gusty wind! Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I have been on my bike without a jacket. I am a big believer in having the proper gear on because “you just never know,” but it was something that I felt I could take a chance on.
During lunch yesterday, I ran down to the powder coater that did my wheels on the Tiger. While I was there, I picked up a couple of painted pieces to match up with the roulette green on the Scrambler. Oh yeah, by the way, I went ahead and got the Scrambler. In response to “oldracer27’s” comment, I went ahead and got it! Once I walked into the Triumph dealer and got close the Scrambler, I remembered all of the reasons why I purchased it in the first go-around before my buddy totaled it (he’s fine). The Scrambler is just stunning! Everyplace I went I was asked, “What year is that?” told that it was cool, a classic! It didn’t matter if the guy was on a Harley or a Sportbike, the Scrambler gets attention and it deserves it.
So back to my jacketless lunch adventure yesterday. I took a sample over to Triumph to see how the colors matched up, and it just didn’t work out. The roulette green on the bike has candy to it, and all of my powder-coating options just didn’t cut it. After chatting with the body shop, I figured that I would just go ahead and paint them to match perfectly. It’s not going to be as durable as the powder coat, but it’s going to look good!
This time around, I am going to get all of my customization completed before I event saddle up. Just before my buddy crashed it, I had the bike all lined up to get several items painted, put on and tweaked to turn my Scrambler into a Scrambled Flat Tracker.
So here is the list:
- New handlebars: I choose the Speed Triple Bars.
- Triumph Off Road Slip Ons: Great Sound!
- Bar end mirrors: Streamline the bike a bit.
- Paint the rims: Match the roulette green on the tank.
- New seat: The Scrambler has a heavy rear end, so I am going to trim it up with a new seat.
- Fender eliminator: The rear fender is big enough for a softail – it’s got to go.
Like I said, I haven’t ridden the bike yet and told the boys at Triumph to tear it down and start working on it because I don’t want to ride it until it’s completed!
My two readers might be asking, “How in the world did you go from a Ducati Hypermotard to the Triumph Scrambler?!”
Well, like I said above, the Scrambler is just a cool bike! Once I really started thinking about my options, I factored in price, usability, style and what I would use the bike for. They Hypermotard would have been fun, fast, agile, but my Tiger is all of that, as well. With the Ducati, I felt that my bike wouldn’t really be unique to me. With the Scrambler, it’s me, it’s got style that I know is me and will be uniquely mine once I polish up my mods.
So that’s why…
Jarrod
I rode the Ducati Hypermotard S. I was a little unsure about riding the S because I didn’t want to give myself any false expectations if I were to get the Hypermotard. As any rider will tell you, once you hop on the badder version you instantly get that urge to find justification to get it.
Well, luckily there really isn’t that much difference to a rider like me. Down at Carr Ducati, the only demo that they have right now is the S. The owner, Mr. Carr, told me that his son had just spent the weekend out at Putnam Park at an open-track day pushing the Hypermotard around. The bike was rigid, which I like, but let’s be honest, I really wouldn’t have known the difference. The ride was outstanding and the bike in person is still, to me, the coolest bike out there.
My fiancé doesn’t think the same. She still wants me to get the ole’ Triumph Scrambler and finish the project like I originally intended to. The bike was beautiful, well at least on my drawing. If I were to get the Scrambler again, the finished product would look like the picture. She insists that the Hypermotard is like every other bike. I insist that it is not! I guess she can’t see through the plastic, fast tires and Ducati style. I honestly think she just doesn’t want me to get another bike.
On my test ride I followed Travis, who was on a Monster. We zipped through a biz park and into Zionsville and right back to the dealer. It was a short ride but I understood how the motard handled. The bike corners effortlessly, has plenty of power and could be a unicycle if you wanted it to. I am not a wheelie guy but I could feel the lightness of the front end as I cranked the throttle.
The verdict is still out …
Jarrod
Test rode the BMW 650 Moto.
So lately I have been on this supermoto kick. I don’t know what it is, but for me riding in the push-up position just is fun! I like to sit up on a bike, and I really never understood why others like to be hunched over while cruising around.
Right now, I have a Triumph Tiger 1050. It’s bad, real bad and a great all-around bike, but as all riders will tell you … one bike isn’t enough. Ever since the Ducati Hypermotard came out, I have been drooling over it. The only downfall is that I’m not sure if I want to pay the “Ducati Premium.” Sure, it has Ferrari-like styling, but it’s just not my style to go after a “lux” brand. The Hypermotard is different, though. The sexy lines, lean and limber stance, it’s just striking. I haven’t ridden one yet, but I have sat on it a few times.
So in my efforts to find a supermoto bike that will suit the city streets, I gave my first ride to the BMW. I like the guys down at Victory Triumph and now BMW. I have always had a great experience with them. On the first day of business, I walked in and hopped on the 650 Moto. I thought, “This could be a lot of fun!”
In short, it is not for me. The BMW just didn’t seem like a smooth bike. A short, short first gear and a rumbling vibration that blurred my vision wasn’t that much fun. I remember when I first got a bike, I said, “There is no reason to get anything above 600cc’s.” Now I don’t know if I would get any thing under 900cc’s. I like the ease and comfort of an easily driven bike, the available power that can give you an effortless ride and the ability to scare yourself. With the BMW, I felt like I was constantly over-revving and rattling my eyes.
Since that ride wasn’t enjoyable, I almost crossed out the Suzuki 450 sm. I just can’t see that bike being better than a BMW 650. In my efforts to escape the lure of the Hypermotard and to settle for something that would work, I am worried that I am going to give a test ride to the Hypermotard and instantly ask what type of financing is available. It’s just one of those things that I try not to think of because emotion may make the decision for me.
Jarrod