- Joined
- Feb 18, 2007
- Messages
- 5,376
- Location
- Montreal, Qc, Canada
- Car(s)
- FoRS, Japanese touring triple
Today I went for my first proper ride with the FJ. 545 km total, some nice riding roads, and 2 of my long time riding buddies to share the experience.
Today's ride almost didn't happen. Our destination, the Tracy Road in NY state is a very nice road in the Adirondack, but today is the last day of Quebec yearly construction holiday, a 2 week period where most of the people of the province take their vacation at the same time. Since our destination was across the border, we were afraid of a potential multiple hour wait to cross the border back to Canada at the end of the day.
Still, we decided to take our chance, and left around 9h30 this morning. At the border crossing, I went last to the custom officer, and was quite puzzled when he asked me if I had a licence plate. Turns out, it fell off sometimes in the last few days. The cause is probably my own stupidity, when I got the plate the day I bought the bike I tighten the nuts and bolts holding it with only my fingers, and I forgot to redo it properly with tools afterward.
So here I was, at the border thinking my day was ruined. But the custom officer checked my registration papers against the VIN on the frame, and told me that as far as he was concern, I was OK to enter the USA. So we decided to go ahead, hoping not to get pulled over.
After rougly 125 km of highway (it's sad to have to ride that far and across a border to find nice roads, but then again it's one of the main reasons I bought this bike), we reached route 9N, a nice road that follows the Ausable river.
My bike in the middle, flanked by a 2015 FJ-09 and a 2005 GSX-R1000.
Eventually, we forked onto Hurricane road, a nice little road full of second gear 20 MPH suggested corners. I had left the traction control ON, and it turned out to be a very good thing, the road was quite dirty and on a few occasion I felt the TC intervening coming out of corners.
Eventually, we reached our main destination, the Tracy Road. I had only ridden that road once, probably 10 years ago, and for some reason it didn't leave a particularly good impression. Today's ride fixed that! The road was awesome, good to acceptable pavement, curve after curve of third gear corner (30 and 35 MPH suggested).
After riding it once back and forth, we stopped for lunch in Moriah Center, and then proceeded to Ensign Pond Road.
My buddies and me (last at the back) at the end of the Ensign Pond Road.
We then did one more run on the Tracy Road, and then headed back home the same way we came, using the 9N and Hurricane Road once again.
We made it back before diner, and despite our fears, the border crossing was actually pretty smooth, taking less than 30 minutes.
Now I need to get a new licence plate, and do the 1000 km maintenance (mainly oil and filter change), the FJ being now just over 1200 km
Today's ride almost didn't happen. Our destination, the Tracy Road in NY state is a very nice road in the Adirondack, but today is the last day of Quebec yearly construction holiday, a 2 week period where most of the people of the province take their vacation at the same time. Since our destination was across the border, we were afraid of a potential multiple hour wait to cross the border back to Canada at the end of the day.
Still, we decided to take our chance, and left around 9h30 this morning. At the border crossing, I went last to the custom officer, and was quite puzzled when he asked me if I had a licence plate. Turns out, it fell off sometimes in the last few days. The cause is probably my own stupidity, when I got the plate the day I bought the bike I tighten the nuts and bolts holding it with only my fingers, and I forgot to redo it properly with tools afterward.
So here I was, at the border thinking my day was ruined. But the custom officer checked my registration papers against the VIN on the frame, and told me that as far as he was concern, I was OK to enter the USA. So we decided to go ahead, hoping not to get pulled over.
After rougly 125 km of highway (it's sad to have to ride that far and across a border to find nice roads, but then again it's one of the main reasons I bought this bike), we reached route 9N, a nice road that follows the Ausable river.
My bike in the middle, flanked by a 2015 FJ-09 and a 2005 GSX-R1000.
Eventually, we forked onto Hurricane road, a nice little road full of second gear 20 MPH suggested corners. I had left the traction control ON, and it turned out to be a very good thing, the road was quite dirty and on a few occasion I felt the TC intervening coming out of corners.
Eventually, we reached our main destination, the Tracy Road. I had only ridden that road once, probably 10 years ago, and for some reason it didn't leave a particularly good impression. Today's ride fixed that! The road was awesome, good to acceptable pavement, curve after curve of third gear corner (30 and 35 MPH suggested).
After riding it once back and forth, we stopped for lunch in Moriah Center, and then proceeded to Ensign Pond Road.
My buddies and me (last at the back) at the end of the Ensign Pond Road.
We then did one more run on the Tracy Road, and then headed back home the same way we came, using the 9N and Hurricane Road once again.
We made it back before diner, and despite our fears, the border crossing was actually pretty smooth, taking less than 30 minutes.
Now I need to get a new licence plate, and do the 1000 km maintenance (mainly oil and filter change), the FJ being now just over 1200 km
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