Suspension Success, I think.......

Saturday night we went out to the garage and tweaked the suspension on Max a little more.  We loosened the spring pre-load to adjust the SAG and then the high speed and low speed dampening compression.  We also backed off the front suspension slightly.  Thank you to all who supplied suggestions and especially to Geoff for the great literature he emailed me.  You're a peach.

Sunday the rains stopped for a while and we figured we'd test out the suspension by taking the back roads to Salem for a Costco run.  A mixture of showers and sun were forecast, but we figured we'd take our chances.

Troubadour put the panniers and tail bag on Lucy and we headed off.  The sun even came out to play.

When we hit the twisties I was in the zone and having a great time.  The bike seemed to be reacting quite well and I was having a ball. Some of the most fun I'd had on the bike.

It was just after noon and the sun was shining.  Our first stop was at Wal-Mart since Troubadour wanted to see if they had an oil filter for Lucy.  As we left Wal-Mart I experienced something I'd never felt on the bike.  I think I said in my helmet: "holy crap, did I just do a mini wheelie?"  Needless to say I was surprised.  

When accelerating away from a light it felt as though the front tire raised up when shifting out of 2nd.  I have a habit of quick acceleration from a stop.  Max shifts must smoother when shifting quickly as opposed to a slow easy shift.  He tends to clunk when shifting slower.  I made sure to accelerate quickly, but carefully after that.  We attributed it to the softer rear suspension settings.

From there we headed to Sushi Kyo for lunch.  What might a vegan find at a sushi restaurant you ask?  Plenty, such as avocado rolls, cucumber rolls, miso soup, veggie rolls, edamame, seaweed salad, and sesame balls filled with sweetened mung bean paste.  Yummy.

The only picture I took on Sunday was as we were leaving Sushi Kyo.

(Lucy and Max take us for sushi)

We left Sushi Kyo and made our way to Costco to venture the Sunday afternoon crowds.  I don't much like Costco crowds to begin with but we needed vitamins, coffee and pickled asparagus, etc. We had enough goodies we needed a cart to carry it to the bikes. Troubadour managed to pack away our purchases into the side cases and off we went. Back through Salem (our State capital) to our favorite twisty River Road towards home.

We decided not to go directly home, but to a riding friend's place.  She and her husband have started a traveling food cart to take to fairs and events and wanted to do a test run for their friends and family.  We detoured into Albany to visit and partake in Pronto Pups and Hurricane Fries.  I'd had neither before so it was an experience.  A Pronto Pup is like a corn dog (battered hot dog on a stick) only the batter is made with corn flour and is slightly puffy like it has baking powder in it.  Luckily one of her daughters is vegetarian so she had vegan dogs for us.  The Hurricane Fries are russet potatoes that are cut into a spiral on a stick, spread out and deep fried so that they are a combination of french fry and potato chip.

They were tasty but my body did not care for all of the oil.  We visited and gave feedback and suggestions and rode home later than expected.  We arrived home about 8:30 pm and relaxed for the evening.

Troubadour took Max to work yesterday and decided the front suspension needed to be tightened a smidge more as it was wallowing a bit in the corners.  He still hates the throttle lurch at low rpm but it is just part of everyday riding for me.  I am so used to it that it only really bothers me when I am tired or trying to adjust my grip. According to the Gladius/SV forum there is a TPS adjustment that eliminates it, so we may try it one day.

- Au Revoir

"I don't think America will have really made it until we have our own salad dressing.  Until then we are stuck behind the French, Italians, Russians, and Caesarians." - Pat McNelis
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