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Murfreesboro To Monteagle And Back

jeffrymcgee

Training Wheels
Today was my first tour (if you can call it that) on my Concours 14 ABS. It was 150 miles over about 4 hours, from Murfreesboro, TN, to Monteagle, TN, and back. It was 85 degrees F and sunny, i.e., a beautiful day for a ride! The purpose of the trip was to get the bike up to speed and work out any bugs, if any, in preparation for longer rides. I left out of Murfreesboro at 9:30 a.m. on Hwy. 41 South (2 lanes) towards Monteagle, which is up in some low mountains. The road is basically flat for most of the trip, but when you get close to Monteagle and start up the mountain, it gets curvy real fast, especially after getting used to running straight at 60 mph. There is one really nice hairpin curve! I arrived in Monteagle at 11:00 a.m. and stopped at McD's for a quick bite before heading back towards Murfreesboro. I left McD's at about 11:30 a.m. and took Hwy. 41A North (2 lanes), for the ride back. Hwy. 41A is longer and not as fun as Hwy. 41. The ride off of the mountain is too short , there are too many towns to go through, and too many 18 wheelers to blow you around. I took 41A North all the way to Eagleville before turning onto Hwy. 99 East (2 lanes) for Murfreesboro. Hwy. 99 East, near Eagleville, is under construction. They're making it 4 lanes, so there are a lot of dump trucks and rocks on the road, making it not so fun. I arrived back in Murfreesboro at 1:30 p.m. Lessons learned... I said my trip was to work out any problems with the bike and my gear. First, the seat has to be changed! My butt is killing me!!! And it was only 4 hours at about 60 mph. Second, I could use the extended windshield. I had the windshield all the way down, which kept me very cool, but when I raised it all the way up, the blast knocked my head around pretty good. Third, my gloves are not very comfortable. My left palm felt like it was going to blister and the fingers on my right hand started tingling after a few minutes of riding. I think my glove may be cutting off circulation. Finally, the heat coming off of the engine on the right side was considerably more than on the left side. I plan to adjust the foam on the right side to reduce the heat. Other than that, it was a great ride, but I'm very tired! Until next time...
 
Nice write-up Jeffry. Great idea to do a shake-down. Over the next 1,000 miles you will have a good idea of what changes you need to make. Just when you think you've got it all set, you go to a COG rally and see - hey that's pretty cool - I gotta get one of those! It's all good fun. I need a better seat for my C10. I am toying around with another theory though. The makers of LD Comfort motorcycle underwear say that much of the pain we feel is actually caused by seams. Eliminate/reduce the seams and you have better butt endurance. I own a pair of their underwear (completely eliminated "Monkey Butt" rash for me). Considering modifying one of my pair of jeans by removing the rear pockets so I don't have any seams but the one that matches up with our "natural seam". Then the only seams left will be in my riding pants. Progress report pending. Enjoy making changes and making it YOUR bike. Hope to meet you one day. Greg H MA COG# 7010/7010a Tracey CDA 120 Connie Droppers Anonymous Awards Dude -CDAAD 99 Connie "Herrin Christabelle" 05 Ninja 250
 
Sounds like a nice little run. What kind of gloves are you wearing? Just like anything else on these bikes, there are many ways to work on the seat and everybody swears by their own solution. You might try a seatcover of some sort (beads, gel, etc) before you put money into a new seat. You can also have the foam padding changed in the existing seat, somebody posted their love for that here just the other day. Bike shorts have been recommended too. I have a C10 and I love the stock seat, but I tend to drink a lot of coffee so I'm going to be stopping every 100 to 150 miles regardless. :) ::EDIT:: What Greg said about seams applies to gloves as well. True motorcycle gloves should have the seams folded out, not in like normal gloves. They should also have a little pre-break in them to naturally form around the grips. I like gloves because they're relatively cheap compared to the rest of the gear so it's easy to have several pairs for different conditions. '06 C10 Brett Hatfield AMA# 1019197 COG# 8229 (CDA# 0267) <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/brett0769/2739088475/" title="Connie 8-08 by Brett0769, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3245/2739088475_f0196924f5_t.jpg" width="100" height="75" alt="Connie 8-08" /></a>
 
Greg, Thanks for pointing toward LD Comfort. I think I'll buy a pair and give it try. I like the seat on my bike and have never had a problem, but I've never ridden at hwy speed for 4 hours either. I usually tool around town. Anyway, I'll check out my pants to see if there is a problem there. Thanks again! Jeff '08 Kawasaki Concours 14 '92 H-D FXRS Low Rider '90 Honda Rebel '79 Kawasaki KE 125 '78 Kawasaki KM 100
 
Bret, I'm considering a seat cover first, because a new seat is expensive. But if I plan to take long rides, I may have to shell out some cash for a new seat. I wear Shift gloves. I think they're racing gloves, not motocross gloves. I need to shift (pardon the pun) my thinking to touring wear, since it is made to be worn all day for many days at a time. If you know of some good touring gloves, I'm all ears! Thanks! Jeff '08 Kawasaki Concours 14 '92 H-D FXRS Low Rider '90 Honda Rebel '79 Kawasaki KE 125 '78 Kawasaki KM 100
 
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