My rear end has seen better days.

Just thought i'd share with you all, I have recently returned from vacation that i spent touring with a friend of mine. I was on my Maxim 750 and he was on his '06 Ultra Classic. Needless to say i think you can guess as to who's not as sore.

We did 5,401km's in 7 days. We started out in Toronto Ontario and headed north. The original plan was to go all the way up and around Lake Superior but we got delayed and only made it up around Lake Michigan and cross into the US at Sault Saint Marie. From there we traveled west and south across MI to WI. For most of this trip we avoided the interstates and traveled on country secondary highways.

From there is was south, thru WI, IL, with a stop in beautiful downtown Pana because of a low flying lake the locals called a rainstorm. and onto Ky.

The bulk of this trip was spent in and around the Smokey Mountains. Passing through Ky we visited the Land Between The Lakes. This has some nice riding and beautiful views.

From there it was on to Tn, after spending some time down there, i just want to spend more there. We went to Chatenooga and saw rock city and ruby falls. We toured a bit thru Ga. Then we headed up to Knoxville and that's where the real nice riding started. We rode the Cherohala skyway from Telico Plains Tn, to Robbinsville NC. This is a road that rides through the mountains and winds like a snake and has postcard like views everytime you look around. People who live in that area are truely lucky.

After the skyway, we hit up US129 at Deals Gap. This stretch of road for thoes of you who dont know is called "The Tail Of The Dragon". After riding the skyway i dident think you could find a road with any more curse in it.. I was wrong. The dragon boasts 318 curves in 11 miles. Its about as close to a race track as i will ever be. Just amazing. www.tailofthedragon.com for anyone who is interested.

After all that fun it was time to start heading it on home. We hit up a section of the Blue Ridge Parkway, but since we were limited on time we only got to ride about 75km's of it and then were forced to hit the interstates.

77 north thru Va, WVa, Oh to 90 east thru Pa, and Ny then crossed at niagra falls and back home.

I've got lots of pictures, but none of them are digital. My friend had his digi cam but i havent gotten a cd from him yet. When i do i'll post some of the pics in my gallery.

Anyone who has a chance to visit that area of the US i would highly suggest it. Between Tn and Nc, i don't think we hit a road that was straight for more then 2 miles at a time.

As far as the bike is concerned, My battery gave out on me while we were in Nashville. I was bump starting it for a few days but got tired of that so i managed to get a maitence free battery in Bryson City Nc for $40. Other then that, the old max is due for an oil change and a valve set. The top end is making a little more noise now then it did before the trip. All and all i can't complain. I've had the max for 2 years and other then oil changes i havent had to do a thing to it. This was a pretty hard trip on a bike that's 22 years old.

Just thought i'd share

-Torren

 

Nice trip,

I'm hoping to make it to the Dragon this fall, we'll see.

Nachoman

 

Great trip!

I've had similar exeriences with the max - tough bikes. Gas and oil are the only things I think it's really needed aside from - a battery and fresh tires.

I've not been to the Gap, but I've heard all about it... the closest thing like it to me is the Cabot trailer (longer but not as twisty) and then the Adirondacs/Green Mountains/White Mountains in NY/VE/PA which are pretty twisty and pretty empty... a nice combination. Those would be pretty close to you actually... relatively speaking.

 

I love the Smokey's, most beautiful in the spring and luscious in the summer. A little humid but still breath taking scenery. You have just experienced a lifelong ambition of mine, I've always wanted to ride Canada down to the Gulf on the eastern seaboard.

 

Another note to add, i averaged 41mpg for the trip. I thought it might have been a little lower because between rider and gear i had 400lbs on it at all times.

 

When you go for a monster ride and your battery goes south ... the bike is wispering a little secret to you ...

" HEY, WILL YOU CHECK THE SERVICE LIMIT ON MY ALTERNATOR BRUSHES ... PLEASE!"

Takes about ten minutes. Saves you hours of frustration if they're beyond the limit.

No charge. (Get it???) No ... charge!

Time to say: "Goodnight; Gracie"

"Goodnight Gracie"

 

Cute Rick! Who could ever forget Jimmy? Where does one find alternator brushes at a reasonable price? Dealer wants darn near $40! Insane! Parts-N-More has been advertising them for over 4 years and they have never had them in stock yet (what's up with that???), pretty cheesy in my opinion. Good point to check, I'm going to examine mine, I've been salvaging usable brushes off my spare parts, but there will come a time I'll run out.

 

Have you got it easy wiz , i got quoted $79au for 1 brush! here...

 

Knowing how proprietary the Yamaha engineers are about small-part design; I think it's safe to say that Hardware Store generic brushes won't do the trick. Not the Plug-in-Play trick. But, I would venture to say, with all the work and time-saving devices available to the home handyman ... brushes for "Something", out there, could be used as "Donor" brushes for our Yamaha machines. The trick is going over to the hardware store and pulling all the drawers open to see whats close. The second trick is cutting-down the Donor brushes to fit the brush holder. A little snip, here, a little bevel -- there, and you get in the ballpark. Doing stuff like that are projects I usually reserve for the long New England winter. I'll sit down in the shop, fire-up the stove and watch the football game while doing the off-season maintenance, rebuilding and aluminum polishing. My custom 750 Max is a cough and a sneeze away from being ready for people. The license tags are on, new tires ... on. Just waiting for the gas tank to have the final stripes and teardrops sprayed-on and I'm good to go. I just need a tutorial on how to resize a photograph for being able to post it in here. That ... and I'd like that 'Biker Wannabe' bumped-up a notch or three. I'm probably the oldest guy in the joint. My BIKES are older than some of the kids I'm teaching to adjust chains and do their own oil changing.
(( Thankfully, all my Yam-XJ's don't require removing plastic panels and belly pans to let a couple of quarts of oil drain out! ))
Be careful out there.

 

sounds like a great rideTorren,
My seat has been recovered recently and boy does it kill me after only about 50 miles?!
My Goldwing seat is good for a couple of hundred miles before I hurt that bad.
I guess I'll just have to toughen up?
I'd like to see what you do to fix your seat
Mike