Gathering the Goose

[LowRyter]

Good memory, John! I was indeed wondering about folks' experience with different fairings.
https://wildguzzi.com/forum/index.php?topic=123448.msg1904729#msg1904729

In the end, I realized that you can pretty much wait forever looking for the "perfectly" outfitted California. Ultimately, I decided that the base bike is what matters. There are a lot of folks who feel that a sorted Hydro is the pinnacle of this era. Pete Roper, whose opinion I value a lot, wrote the following on another forum:

"The Hydros are LOVELY. If I was a Cali sort of person I'd have a Hydro over any of the others. Preferably an EV with tubeless wheels and all the bling. The motor is the one they SHOULD of put in the Norge!!!!"

When I found "an EV with tubeless wheels and all the bling" with a serious Wildguzzi pedigree AND excellent upgrades, it seemed like a no-brainer. If the OEM fairing is a disaster, I can try a Plexifairing in due time.

Given that I'm 5'8", I tend to fit most bikes reasonably well, and the factory wind protection usually works. Fingers crossed it's the same for the EV-T.

  Obviously I know about EVs.  I think the CalVins had the Norge/Breva engine now that you mentioned it.  It's got a little more kick.  Enjoy your ride, you seem very enthused.

[inditx]

And the journey begins!
Ride safe my brother!
Jack aka inditx

[drdwb]

Watch out for this guy, they’re out there. No sheep skin here. Just thought I’d provide an image to stick in the visual cortex, actually surprised no one beat me to it.  Good luck Mwethr, safe travels, above all enjoy the ride.

[inditx]

Thanks a lot, I can’t unsee this!
Aarrgghh!

[Mwether]

Great day! Wifi is wonky here, so I'll just post a quick update.

Jack and Candy are tremendous folks. It was an absolute pleasure to hang out with them!

We had a great meal in Bonner Springs, KS at Third Space Coffee.
https://thirdspacecoffeehouse.com/

And then, after repacking at a snail's pace, I finally got on the road.

Now hanging out in Versailles (say, ver-SALES) MO.

A few pictures from the day.

Dopey Grin Gold Medalists!


Got 120+ miles on half a tank. Not bad!


Versailles is the county seat of Morgan.


Some Morgan Co. history


Very cool old theater


Thank HEAVEN, I was in my room when this storm came through. It was a doozy.


Hawthorne Inn: Great Rooms, Crappy Wifi


Great Micro-Brewery two blocks away


Tomorrow is going to be a long highway slog. "Fast(er) miles, not good miles."

[Mwether]

All is well!
Pix from Day 2 to follow shortly!

ETA: Alas, internet tonight is worse than last night, and I can't do much via the phone.
Will do a proper ride report from home. 

[Mwether]

OK, this is certainly NOT indicative of how the bike's been performing, but we achieved TSR (Total Stalk Ruination) yesterday!



I left Kansas with one broken and taped. The other unbroken one was taped as a precautionary measure. Now it too has given up the ghost.

Not only has the twenty-year-old plastic succumbed to 20,000 miles of vibration, but it's also very difficult not to clonk the stem when you're installing or removing the bags. Still, if this is the worst problem, I'm golden! 

[guzzisteve]

Glad to hear from ya. It is real hot here.  My signals blew out of my fairing at 130mph, both one week apart and next week a rear went droopy. I gat all 4 new, good for another 20 yrs. Ride safe.

[Mwether]

Home safely, after the last 325 miles today.

Here she is, parked at work, six miles from the house.



What a great three days! I met some super folks and saw a beautiful swath of our bountiful nation. (More pictures to follow.)

The bike did superbly for 900 miles. The only hiccup was on the first day, when there was a weird stuttering episode about 100 miles in. The engine pulsed three times, like it was running out of gas, and never did it again. I don't know what that sorcery was?

After two and half solid days of travel, the majority of it on interstate highways, I'll probably organize my thoughts about the bike itself in another post. I have so many things swirling in my head, I'm not sure where to start.

Initially, I'm not convinced that "high speed" slab work is what the bike is BEST at, but I need to reserve judgment, until I get the windscreen sorted. I don't think the current one is working for me, and its shortcomings may be signifiant enough that they color my impressions of the whole bike from 65-80mph. A screen that punches a clean human-sized hole in the passing lane would make a world of difference. Maybe the OEM would do that for me? But it would likely be hotter than the current one with all the cutouts.

On the other hand, the bike is a dream from 35-60 mph.

[rocker59]

Initially, I'm not convinced that "high speed" slab work is what the bike is BEST at, but I need to reserve judgment, until I get the windscreen sorted. I don't think the current one is working for me, and its shortcomings may be signifiant enough that they color my impressions of the whole bike from 65-80mph. A screen that punches a clean human-sized hole in the passing lane would make a world of difference. Maybe the OEM would do that for me? But it would likely be hotter than the current one with all the cutouts.

On the other hand, the bike is a dream from 35-60 mph.

I hope you enjoy the bike.  Had I kept it, my next step would've been to remove the factory fairing and the leg guards.

The fairing looks great, but has poor aerodynamics.  I actually prefer nothing to that fairing.  My naked T100 Bonneville has been refreshing.

So, too, the leg guards.  In the winter they're great, but they hold a lot of engine heat on the rider's legs.  Very uncomfortable to me for anything over 80-degrees.

Before you spend money on windshields and fairings, remove the fairing and leg guards and ride it for awhile. 

[Mwether]

Before you spend money on windshields and fairings, remove the fairing and leg guards and ride it for awhile.

The only problem with this wise advice is that, alas, I don't want a naked bike.

I bought the thing as an LD highway tourer and will be disappointed if I can't get it to excel in that application.

To your point though, I might be MORE disappointed if I throw a bunch of money at it, and it STILL won't run calmly and quietly down the highway!

[Tkelly]

I had a Memphis Shades color matche screen on my 97 California and it was great at high speeds ,up to 100.I m sure you got a bargain on the bike ,spend a couple hundred on a different windshield.