Tickled to death.....

[H2RICK]

I finally used some decent photo s'ware and now have an avatar !!!
Yeah, I know, no biggie for most folks....but I've been trying to figure it out for almost 2 years. It was the correct s'ware that made it all work for me. Hallelujah !!! My small moment of glory.....

[Red01]

 

[JamieK]

Nice bike 

[H2RICK]

Yep, it's amazing what good taste the three of us have !!!

[Heaven Bound]

More bike...less background 










jk 

[H2RICK]

More bike...less background

Fair enough, HBound, but the object, of course, was to show the Bandit at the end of the camping trip......high in the Rockies at the Continental Divide, a place that not too many people get to see....
especially with the signs and all and a nice place to pull off for a photo op. This is one of my Top Three favourite pics of my Bandit. It shows what, IMO, makes the Bandit such a great bike.....lotsa camping gear on a great camping bike. Now if I can just collect a few bucks together to buy one of those fancy Ventura rack setups to have my stuff REALLY organized.....

[Red01]

Now if I can just collect a few bucks together to buy one of those fancy Ventura rack setups to have my stuff REALLY organized.....

I know the US importer for ventura's gear is having a 25% off sale on packs right now... don't know if that's any help up there in Canuckistan.

[H2RICK]

Thanks for that tip, Paul.
Now....with 25% off of the US retail prices that means.....lemme see...
we Canuckistanians will be paying retail.....but in Canuck bucks.....
Well, it MIGHT work. Maybe I can convince my wife that that's what I REALLY want for Christmas.....and not the BS widescreen TV she THINKS I want.....

[Red01]

Wasn't sure how the import duty thing might work for you.  Thought perhaps the CDN importer (if there is one), might be running a similar Christmas special.

[H2RICK]

Actually the Canadian people handling Ventura (both of them) are really sub-dealers through the Washington state people, sooooo......their prices suck bigtime. I'd probably be far better off dealing with the folks in WA when everything is totalled up. I've considered their stuff on and off since I got my Bandit in 2006 but it was/is quite pricey. Well, we'll see what happens....

[Red01]

Yes, the stuff is a little pricey, but then so are most of the luggage options.  It's cheaper than hard cases and easier on/off the bike than soft bags.  I went for the kit deal with the L brackets, sport rack, pack rack and the largest Aero-Spada bag at the time.  Their current Aero-Spada VII is even bigger (and nicer).  Their stuff seems to hold up well, too.  Mine is >8 years old now and is in great shape.  Like most black cordura items, it seems to fade a little from UV exposure, and that's the only thing mine has suffered from over time.  With multiple bikes, one nice thing is you'd only need to buy the L brackets (and in some cases, racks, depending on tail width) for other bikes to use the same luggage.  I bought mine direct from the distributor (only a few miles down the road from work) because at the time, I needed it 'right now' and couldn't wait to purchase thru a sales outlet that offered it below their MSRP.  But with their current sale, their prices are probably competitive with online discount outlets.

My favorite pic of my bike with the Ventura pack on it:

[pmackie]

Hey Paul

Nice shot the "Going to the Sun Road" in the background.

For those who haven't been there, in NW Montana, through Glacier National Park, a very senic ride up a 1930's vintage 2 lane highway up to Logan pass and the Continental Divide. A great visitors centre and viewing area of the Glaciers at Logan Pass. The scenery is spectacular, the summer traffic, less so.

[Red01]

They might have a visitors centre in the Waterton NP, but in Glacier, it's a visitors center. 

While you certainly aren't gonna be ripping up the Going to the Sun Road at a race pace (for very long at a time) - like you can on some twisty favorites - it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.  I think construction actually helped during my visit.  Once we waited like this:



we were able to quickly dispatch the Ford Exploder and had miles of open road (in our direction anyway) in front of us before we caught up with the previous batch.  When we stopped for photos, we'd take a break until the lead car in the next batch got close, then we'd know we'd have another expanse of open road in front of us.

[pmackie]

They might have a visitors centre in the Waterton NP, but in Glacier, it's a visitors center. 

Ah...yes, excuse my "English" when talking about a "Merican" tourist site.

Even worse, we wanted to pay by "cheque" and were told that they had a special proceedure for taking "checks". So they wanted me to check (leave) my bag at the door, but I said I needed to write a check (cheque) and they were in the bag. So the attendent checked (inspected) my bag and put a check (approval) mark on it. Then the cashier needed to check (inspect) my ID to see if my check (cheque) was any good. I decided to check out (leave) instead.

how's my American english now? 

[Red01]

C'est bon.

But do Canadian cars have bonnets and boots, or hoods and trunks?

And do you think English is the international language of trade and aviation because of the United Kingdom's influence?