The Sportster and Buell Motorcycle Forum - The XLFORUM®

Long Absence, Great Ride

I ride a 1200L and it is the most forgiving bike. I shipped it from the US to Germany then road it to Moscow by way of Sweden and Latvia. The problem is Garmin’s data is out dated. It said make a right and I did, the pavement I was on was bad enough but this was ridicules. Unknown to me all the traffic had been diverted because the road was torn out to be replaced. In Hine sight if I could read Latvian I probably would have known what the signs said. So 80 miles standing on my pegs keeping the RPM up, bridges gone, heavy equipment 4 to 6 inches of dust and mud headed to Russia and the Garmin saying 70 miles 60 miles 20 miles till I Get about 5 miles from the boarder and there is all the traffic. The old pontoons used to cross rivers were enough to make a young man cry, muddy slippery unstable and my bike and I weigh in at 1150lb. The front tire wants to cork screw in every time I lose RPM and momentum, but what a memory. A 14 hour run from Rega to Moscow after a week of Germany, Netherlands Sweden, ferry crossing the Baltic a day and a night in Rega I would do it again. Planning my next trip home to Alaska by way of Finland and Norway.

Posted 21st December 2010 at 04:20 by Silverback Silverback is offline

	The Ride Day 7 – Busted in more ways than One Good trip log, but I'm waiting for the exciting denouement... or was the rest anticlimax? And I want to know how the fairing* performed!!!!*
	Posted 27th December 2008 at 01:54 by Sporting Lad

The Ride Day 4 - Addendum (smoke)

Hey Trace,

I have 5 and 6 written, but not double checked. Day 7 was quite the adventure. Day 8 was my birthday; I had an awesome ride on possibly the best motorcycle road in California, but a crappy night at a crappy hotel, where I managed to pour nearly half a beer nto the keyboard of my Eee PC, which pretty much crippled my ability to cmmunicate on the web. I am now typing again, day 10, on a flexible rubber keyboard. I promise to get caught up on the entries soon but not tonight. I am in a beautiful little cabin by the creek 2 blocks from downtown Nevada City, CA and I intend to go out and enjoy myself.

Posted 13th August 2008 at 01:49 by glh glh is offline

	The Ride Day 4 - Addendum (smoke) Um.... Day 5? Day 6? A Birthday in there too maybe?
	Posted 11th August 2008 at 10:54 by sportytrace

	The Ride 3 - Continued (On the River) Awesome bridge!
	Posted 8th August 2008 at 10:17 by sportytrace

	The Ride Day 2 - Into the Redwoods Hey glh..... sounds like you're having a really good time. I'm jealous.....I was gonna head out today but canceled due to a week of rain......I shoulda went your direction.........I actually like Reggae too. Your bike is pretty loaded.....just makes me want to go load mine and head out. I'm glad you got the 2 weeks off. Have a happy birthday. Keep us update.
	Posted 7th August 2008 at 04:53 by sportyblue

	The Ride Day 2 - Into the Redwoods Love the pic with the redwood in the background!
	Posted 7th August 2008 at 04:17 by sportytrace

	The Ride Day 1, Across the Golden Gate Hey great to hear your adventure has hit the road. Nice B'day pressie to yourself...Enjoy! Looking forward to hearing where the road takes you.
	Posted 5th August 2008 at 13:17 by sportytrace

The Eee PC

My laptop had a "hiccup" last week, and I'm not sure it is to be in this life for much longer so have been looking around for an even more portable device that will be able to cope with work and play... though after seeing your info on the Eee (now with the larger screen YAY) it may be that I should be considering two separate devices. The Eee won't be able to satisfy my work needs; but it surely looks attractive for road trips whether on the bike or camping with the dogs at agility. Be keen to hear how it went when you get back from your travels.

Posted 3rd August 2008 at 11:01 by sportytrace sportytrace is offline

	Love the new Fairing Hey blacksmith_wills, I get a decent amount of wind from the sides. The wind hits me around the middle of my biceps. What I don't get is the wind from below. I took a chance buying the fairing for exactly the reason you mention when I had an HD windshield. The wind from below would rattle my riding glasses. No more.
	Posted 14th April 2008 at 04:03 by glh

	Love the new Fairing Hi, I'm curious how much wind you get from along the sides and bottom of the fairing. I get a lot of wind that comes up my chest and under my chin. It gets around the botom of the windshield and then up. Have looked at Memphis lowers to stop this problem. Does the fairing help? Regards, Matt
	Posted 14th April 2008 at 02:22 by blacksmith_wills

Hard Trunk Install Success - Almost

Yes Ron, the bracket will mount to either detachable or rigid side plates. I needed to fabricate the mounting to maintain 2-up riding possibilities. If you ran across the same e-bay bracket, then you have probably seen the write-up Cindy Dietz did mounting the Mutazu Trunk using said bracket.

http://www.travelblog.org/North-Amer...og-246446.html

I needed to move the Trunk further back from what the bracket would allow. The plates are 3" x 1/8" welding Steel, cut to 10" length with a hacksaw.

Cindy is working with a 1-up bike, which is much easier, but I owe her for pointing me towards a bracket I could work with.

Posted 31st March 2008 at 03:34 by glh glh is offline

Hard Trunk Install Success - Almost

I saw that mounting bracket on ebay.Looks like it will mount to either detachable or rigid sideplates.And you elevated it a little more to clear the bags.I might just go with the trunk and not the bags.I have had 3 touring jap bags and I always wound up using the tour pack.But for cross country like you are talking aobut you would definitely need all 3 compartments.Your how to pictures are great.Ron.

Posted 31st March 2008 at 03:00 by RON BAYLESS RON BAYLESS is offline

	Love the new Fairing Thanks for the side profile pictures. I like the look & design of that fairing! Looking forward to more comments. Ride Safe!
	Posted 19th March 2008 at 13:26 by karlkcfi

Love the new Fairing

Hey karlkcfi,

I'll try to get a decent side view soon (the light has been terrible). In the mean time here is a really bad side view.

The shield does extend further back than the other 2 shields I've tried on the Sportster. There is also something else I think is a factor. This fairing has something they call an "Air Balance" windshield vent. It is basically an open space at the bottom center of the shield part that lets air in to run along the inside of the shield. I was told that the main purpose was to relieve back pressure. You can see this in the even worse pic below. The Rifle logo is inside the curved part of the vent.

I think I might put together an analysis of what I think works and doesn't work with the product for the Sport-Glide / Sproster Motorcycle Touring forum, but I want to have more empirical data before I do that. I'm planning on riding to work a couple of days this week, so hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the interest. If/When I do post to the forum about this I will be sure to put it in the blog.

Posted 18th March 2008 at 01:50 by glh glh is offline

	Love the new Fairing oh yeah Rifle is a great brand!
	Posted 17th March 2008 at 16:22 by emzdogz

Love the new Fairing

Can we get some shots from the side? I am curious about how far back the top lip of your windshield extends. My theory is that the further back you can get it, the less helmet shake and more stable the bike will become. I also bought the HD quick detach. Right now, I have added a laminar lip to my windshield which has moved the air above my helmet. Works good...lookss well it works good.

Posted 17th March 2008 at 16:20 by karlkcfi karlkcfi is offline

	Love the new Fairing It from a small firm called Rifle. http://www.rifle.com It was started by former managers at Vetter. They don't do a great job of sales and marketing IMHO, but the design and workmanship are solid.
	Posted 17th March 2008 at 16:16 by glh

	Love the new Fairing wow, that's great! Hope it works out for you as well as it seems to have so far. What brand is the new one?
	Posted 17th March 2008 at 15:36 by emzdogz

Just Thinking

You could always do a "these are my favourites" blog, and just list links to all of the threads. Once that's done, then if you feel so inclined, go into a little discussion/rant/whatever on them, but at least they'll all be there for you to reference. Plus, if people see a thread you like to reference, they might chime in with a link to a similar thread that you may not have known about.

Just my 2¢.

Posted 13th January 2008 at 02:09 by Casper Casper is offline

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