I took a ride to northeastern Oregon the other day. Of course I took the Bandit, this was my first time to do an overnight trip on the little bike. I put on a little more than 800 mile in two days. I live in Portland and left at 3:00 am. The idea was to be in the Columbia Gorge heading east when the sun is coming up. The first rays of light cracking over the horizon plus the smell of morning air makes the ride incredible.
The roads in Northeastern Oregon are gorgeous! Twisting, undulating, and you can go loooong periods of times without seeing cars. Granted, I did go in the middle of the week when traffic was lightest.
Self portrait, I'm the mountain identifier.
As you come up out of the Columbia Gorge you are on top of a plain looking back (north) you can see the high snow caped peaks in Washington State. (Unfortunately not visible in this pic.)
Big sweepers on this part of the ride. I have the B4 geared way up so I was able to move pretty fast here. At 6000 rpm's I'm doing 65 mph's.
I wish I had pictures of the twisties, but I don't. With the bike geared that high up accelerating at the apex of a corner is sometimes a non-event. I've got to be geared way down with the exhaust screaming to get decent drive. I was rolling on brand new
Continental Road Attack Tires. Damn they were fine! Lean angles on the little Bandit are extreme.
Things that didn't go right? My brakes. I found a wave rotor on Ebay made for the Bandit. It seems that it may have been machined in someone’s home shop. It came from overseas and it looked well done. Stainless steel, full floating, aluminum carrier. It was lighter than the original and it looked right. The longer I rode on it though, the more the new pads became bedded, the greater that thing pulsated. It was horrible. I'd come to a stop and the whole front end would bob up down. It would grab too, with a real abruptness. Damn. Back to the original rotor.
I pulled into Elgin Oregon as rain started to fall. That day had been sunny and warm, in the high 80’s; the bike had no problem staying cool. But now I was being treated to a summer thunder storm. It was about 6:00 pm and I could see black clouds coming in from the east, rolling through the mountains with plenty of lightning. This was the perfect cue to stop. I found the most po-dunk hotel and called it a day. It was great watching the hellacious storm from my hotel room. The hotel manager suggested I put my bike under the eaves beneath my room's window to keep the weather off the bike.
In the morning all was clear, sunny, and ready for me to go back to Portland
Topic: Ride report, Oregon---Pics! (Read 2158 times)