The Blackbird is gone. Mostly. Back story here.

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

exskibum

~<>~<>~<>~<>~
Joined
Jun 27, 2005
Messages
3,140
Reaction score
651
Location
Lincoln Hills, CA
Gone, that is, but I'll still get to ride it on occasion (like in Utah soon).

I've had two Honda Blackbirds (CBR1100XX), a '97 that I owned when I bought my FJR new in April 2005, and then an '03 that replaced the '97 as my farkling got out of hand. Warchild was to blame for the over the top Blackbird farkling with his group buys over on the Blackbird forum he once frequented. The '03 had 3,000 miles on it when I found it, and it had 12,225 on it last week. I just haven't been riding it the last few years. In fact, since November 2011, I haven't been riding anything much, and not at all since Oct. 2012 -- my FJR needs some work (e.g., electrical issue) and I have had too much to do with the purchase of a short sale house, etc.

I have lots to do on the house, and a very good friend of ~25 years (good athlete, scratch golfer and one of the very best humans I know) is a licensed handyman with skills. I was once a journeyman painter and drywall taper, but Bob's got the full set of maintenance, construction and remodel skills. OTOH, he's busy, and no matter my begging to schedule my house for work for which I'd pay him, the ******* won't charge me, so on top of my procrastination, the house remains in need of much work to get it where I need it to be.

Bob has had his MC endorsement for over 30 years, but has been prohibited from owning, or riding a motorcycle during his marriage (~22 years). That is ending with final dissolution only weeks away, and I'll leave it at the very non-gender related observation that his soon-to-be-ex never deserved the very good guy she had all these years.

Now, we all know how psychologically therapeutic riding motorcycles and taking motorcycle trips around the country can be. Right? So I probably said something like "you need a motorcycle again." Hehehehe.

That apparently planted the seed, and we eventually struck a bargain in which he would help me get my house done this summer, including finishing the studio apartment beneath it. He's already contributed significantly since his marriage imploded last June. In exchange, I'd give him the Blackbird (sans Carrozzeria wheels, 4-2-1 Micron header and a couple other farkles) plus a helmet, textile jacket, tank bag and a few other necessities. The bike remains equipped with Traxxion Dynamics AK-20 front suspension, a Penske rear shock, Pazzo levers, and Clear Alternatives signal lenses. Also included are a new set of Michelin Pilot Road 2s mounted on the OEM rims whose outsides we stripped and polished, and my collection of new OEM replacement filters, plugs, pads, etc.

Ive been jonesing to do a ride to see the National Parks and ride the twisty roads of southern Utah for a few years and even posted about it 18 months ago or so, seeking routing and destination input. Still, I never got around to actually doing it. With Bob getting back into motorcycling, I felt an obligation to show him why we all grin at the mere thought of touring adventures like that (and I'd promised his sister-in-law that I'd help him achieve testicle reclamation from the attractive but monumentally controlling shrew). But alas, I'm a world champion procrastinator. So I thought about the Utah trip, but with ski season and a trip to Kauai taking my time, I did too little toward making it happen. Until . . .

Ten or twelve weeks ago, a trouble maker on this board e-mailed me to ask whether I'd ever done that Utah trip I'd blown hard about. When I wrote back to say "no" and suggest a discussion, I was told something like "don't write, just tell me where to meet you." With that kick in the ass, I finally got around to routing the trip and shifting into GO mode. Now we're 20 days out from departure.

Bob took a refresher MSF course a couple weekends ago, bought boots and gloves, and got the Blackbird titled and insured last Friday. On Saturday, I rode it to his house, ready for this trip, but available for him to spend some time getting used to it. He was over again yesterday helping me with the FJR prep, and grinning at being back on two wheels that perform like that bike does. His oldest daughter (almost 22) is obviously wowed by his new black bike, his 19 year old daughter is away at college and doesn't yet know about it, and the one-who-is-still-to-be-feared will surely throw a conniption fit upon discovering that Bob has acquired a long prohibited fun toy. She will probably have an aneurism at his audacity to be going on a 2,500 mile fun odyssey when that becomes known, so for now, it's still a secret in those circles. And of course . . . I'm pretty obviously the culprit here.

Somehow the world seems a little more right in all of that.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Fantastic post! Bring the camera on your adventure. And if your buddy can capture the she who used to be obeyed conniption and post it here, so much the better.

I don't know much about the Blackbird, but it looks like a lot more sporty, than touring. Are there hard luggage options?

 
Somehow the world seems a little more right in all of that.
20 days ?!

Holy yikes

bike.gif


 
Fantastic post! Bring the camera on your adventure. And if your buddy can capture the she who used to be obeyed conniption and post it here, so much the better.
I don't know much about the Blackbird, but it looks like a lot more sporty, than touring. Are there hard luggage options?
Well, Bob is 10 years younger than I am, but I've both explained the yoda position and promised that we'll trade off when he needs a more upright respite on my FJR (like across Nevada).* It is probably best described as a GT bike, sportier than the FJR, but not really a sport bike. There are hard luggage options, and a couple ways to bring the bars a little higher and more rearward (Heli-Bars and late model VFR 800 bars), but he'll be using my soft Cortech tailbag and side bags for this trip. He's also been schooled in layering, hydration and packing for a tour (as well as having been taken on a shopping trip for such necessities).

There will be 3 riders with cameras on this trip, so there will be pics, but I don't know anyone brave enough to film the nearly certain conniption fit. As one familiar with this situation noted a couple days ago, there's an expression that "you don't kick a bull in the ass just to hear him roar." Bob and I are both mindful of that sage advice.

* I've toured on the Blackbird and have done 400 mile days on it. But that pales in comparison to the (certifiably insane) moderator here who set the BBG record with 7 (or was it 9?) consecutive days of 1,500+ miles on his 2002 Blackbird in Nevada in June or July 2007.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Good on you for getting Bob back on two wheels and with a bitchin road trip to celebrate the newly minted free man.

Looking forward to RR.

The world does indeed feel just a bit more right today.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mary Ellen -- I never seem to see a rule 10 violation until it bites me in the a$$. I do know a trouble maker when I see one, though.
bye.gif


And so . . . I'll leave it to you and Howie to duke jimmy kick it out. Poor ******* isn't the brightest bulb on the board, though -- not just that he's called you out, but he remarried (NOT a typo) the woman to whom he was referring. At least Don gets it that much of this thread is about reclaiming testicles, and not about trying to get them kicked flat. Sheesh, Howie!

fool.gif


Still, my favorite truism from the war of the sexes (passed on by a woman) is "the problem with men is that they just don't get it until you tell them." In spite of knowing and regularly asserting this, women are always expecting us to be mind readers. WTF is up with that?
tonguesmiley.gif


 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ray Parker singing

"I Ain't Afraid Of No MEM!"

ghostbusters-6-logo-primary.jpg


(amazing how one can measure bravery in the 1800 miles between me and Mem!)

 
And what of the KLR?
Non running since 2008
Prolly sitting in some dark corner of a garage somewhere with turn signals hanging by there wires and two flat tires. And who knows how many
different critters have set up house keeping in all its nooks and crannies.
rolleyes.gif


 
And what of the KLR?Non running since 2008

Prolly sitting in some dark corner of a garage somewhere with turn signals hanging by there wires and two flat tires. And who knows how many

different critters have set up house keeping in all its nooks and crannies.
rolleyes.gif
Wow -- that's uncannily accurate, except that the tires aren't flat and it's only mice. Has Bugnatr given you reports? Much of what I own needs repair or maintenance, it seems. One thing at a time, but I don't intend to sell the KLR until I get too old to ride it. Wait -- that's rapidly closing in on me.
uhoh.gif


 
Ray Parker singing
"I Ain't Afraid Of No MEM!"

ghostbusters-6-logo-primary.jpg


(amazing how one can measure bravery in the 1800 miles between me and Mem!)
Well played, you two
blink.png


Both of you are dorks

(don't you know better than to mess with Canadian chicks ?
weight_lift.gif
Hell, I had a Clearwater cabbie a week ago who knew that )

angel.gif


 
Both of you are dorks
(don't you know better than to mess with Canadian chicks ?
weight_lift.gif
Hell, I had a Clearwater cabbie a week ago who knew that )

Wha? Whattid I do? Howie -- did you just get my ass in trouble by association? Or did I somehow violate Rule 10 again and there's some kinda new member enforced punishment program now? Those are your jimmy kicks, pal!

That chicken **** Howie has 1,800 miles to hide behind. Me? Well, I'm gonna be the one within jimmy kick range before too long.

no2.gif


 
Last edited by a moderator:
...Well, Bob is 10 years younger than I am …
So is …..EVERYONE! hahaha.

There will be 3 riders with cameras on this trip ...
Thanks for the invite.
unknw.gif


Good to see a post from you, Rich. And good to hear you're going to be taking a motorbike trip. I look forward to reading all about it.

You didn't mention your own situation. Is there an anti-christ in the other room who has given you permission to go?

 
Top