Poconos
June 22, 2007 Rides No CommentsI took a ride up to the Poconos to visit some friends earlier this week. This was my first real long distance ride on the SV. I used a bungee net to strap a small duffel bag to the rear seat, in which I had jeans and sneakers to change into once I got there, a few bottles of water, Swiss Army knife, extra copies of directions, my digital camera, tape, and extra batteries for my GPS which was mounted to the handlebars in the same spot as my Ninja. I had a bit of trouble deciding how to use directions, but I ended up taping them on either side of the gauges. Not the prettiest setup, but it worked. During one stop somebody asked me if the bike was for sale, they thought the directions were a for sale sign.
For the route up I wanted to avoid highways and make it an interesting ride, so I took 611 north about half the way there, right through Easton, then promptly got lost when NONE of the local roads had proper signs. It wasn’t bad though, some nice mild twisties through the woods for about 30 miles until I popped out at the intersection of a few major highways. From there I got new directions, and it was a short 20 miles or so to the house. The ride up clocked in at 130 miles. Only took 2.1 gallons to fill up the tank when I got there, I had left with a full tank so I averaged about 62MPG. Not bad at all.
I was told the last quarter mile of road leading to the house was gravel, so I was a little worried about that. Once I got there I realized it wouldn’t be a problem at all when I found out it was actually hard packed dirt and gravel. Still not the most ideal surface, but I took it slow in second gear, primarily used the rear brake and had no issues, except for when I left later that night and what I thought was a stuck shifter turned out to just be a pebble lodged in between the shifter arm and peg.
Coming home I wanted to save some time (and daylight) so I just took the turnpike for about 90 miles, which puts me out about 15 minutes from home. It was much more boring, but I really appreciated the passing power the SV has while at those speeds compared to the Ninja. It also didn’t feel like it was going to explode, it was very relaxed at an indicated 85MPH most of the way. This route only took about 100 miles to get home. Much quicker, but not nearly as interesting.
Completed the 600 mile service on Wednesday since I was just over 700 miles when I got home. Changed the oil, filter, checked all the chassis/exhaust bolts (nothing was loose), cleaned and lubed the chain, checked the throttle/clutch cables for slack and proper adjustment, and a few other odds and ends. Much better than paying the dealer around $200 for what amounts to little more than an oil change and a looking-over.
