The WRR as a touring bike .....

ok, so, most of you already know the bike and may have your own opinions, but this weekend I took a couple of nice long highway rides on the WRR and here is what I thought of it.

The first trip was out some old state highways that weaved and meandered though the midwestern countryside. Most of it was 2 lane asphalt with plenty of nice farm land scenery to make it interesting. I hit some really curvy roads which were a blast to ride on. Here the bike reminds you that it's not a all out sport bike because that front wheel has a lot more gyroscopic effect than something like a 17incher. Still, because the bike is so light it still is fairly responsive to countersteering.

The bike is amazingly smooth for a thumper. It's actually smoother than many inline 4 bike of the 70s and 80s. I had a Yamaha FZ750 that was smooth all except for around 65-70 mph .... right where you wanted to cruise. Anyway, smooth !! smooooooth baby. I am running stock gearing and didn't have any problem with hills or maintaining a 60 mph speed.... then again, I'm only about 140, so there ya go.
The seat is pretty much the killer in this whole deal. After about an hour, I was starting to get really tired of that long narrow skinny, hard seat. Luckily, my destination was upon me and I got off and walked around for a couple hours.

Coming back I got stuck in the rain. Rain isn't any fun to ride in on any bike. The nice thing is, this is a dirt bike. so who cares if it gets dirty. I stopped for gas and got a corrected 77 mpg. My last two gas checks were in the high 70s, so that's pretty good IMO. I hit a long straight away and gassed it up against a slight headwind. It hit an indicated 93 ... I didn't want to look at the GPS going that fast, the numbers are too small and hard to focus on.


Today I rode on the interstate for about 1.5 hours and by golly, I'll never do that again. This bike buzzes along very happily at 75 mph and it's not bad, but on a long boring ride like that, the seat gets extra hard and that FMF pipe pretty much ruined my hearing.... my ears are ringing like crazy. Too, If I get in a little air pocket from a car ahead, it puts the bike into a slight weave and it's pretty weird feeling. It's like the bike weaves slightly and hunts around. Near a semi will make the bike even more unhappy. .... It's just better on the back roads at more like 50- to 60 mph.

People look at you like you're crazy ...... riding a dirt bike on the freeway. I wonder if any of them called 911 on me?

ok, so I had to cancel my order for a full fairing, saddle backs and the trailer thing.

Thank you for reading this far.

I hate the WR on freeways, I try to limit those to a quick jump between exits only if I really have to.

On the other hand, i have knobbies, and a 47 tooth rear sprocket, so it's not made for much of anything other than dirt... :)

So lesssee.....

Add ear plugs, seat cushioning and better route management and we'll not likely hear from you again until fall ?

Is this what we're hearing ?

I had my X wheels on with a 47T rear sprocket and rode 500+ miles of interstate at 75-80mph last week. My R handled it fine and I did not get blown around by other cars. Only tractor trailers. I always wear memory foam ear phones to block out wind and engine noise. My conclusion was the bike handled it remarkably well. When I ride dirt on weekends I'm forced to ride about 30 miles of interstate with my knobbies. I can't maintain the same speed but it still handles it just fine at 70-75.

Edit: The worst thing about our bikes on the highway for long distance is the seat. I have a seat concepts seat with firm foam. Even with that, it starts becoming painful after a certain amount of time.

X-Racer wrote:

So lesssee.....

Add ear plugs, seat cushioning and better route management and we'll not likely hear from you again until fall ?

Is this what we're hearing ?

No ............ why no, it's not.

I have that FMF powercore and it's loud even with earplugs. Plus, at 75 mph for a long time, I may have burned out some of the packing..... it seems louder than ever.

Anyway, another nice thing about riding the bike on back roads is, you can stop on a dime and whip back around to take a cool picture of something if that's your thing .... and it is kind of my thing. Sure is easier than stopping a car and then trying to manuver that around quickly.

my wife sees your from akron shes from there too and wanted to know what highways you were riding on. also i have stock gearing on my x and stock exhaust and i cruise at 70-80 no prob on highways my bike feels very good and stable i also do the same alot riding 2up bc me and my wife go alotta places all the time on this bike and we cruise by cars on the highway all the time the seat does get uncomfy after like 30 mins tho but idc i love my bike if im riding by myself i can move around and my butt dont hurt to bad but i only way 157

addikted2boost wrote:

my wife sees your from akron shes from there too and wanted to know what highways you were riding on. also i have stock gearing on my x and stock exhaust and i cruise at 70-80 no prob on highways my bike feels very good and stable i also do the same alot riding 2up bc me and my wife go alotta places all the time on this bike and we cruise by cars on the highway all the time the seat does get uncomfy after like 30 mins tho but idc i love my bike if im riding by myself i can move around and my butt dont hurt to bad but i only way 157

Just a bunch of squirly roads from Akron down to Rogers flea market. I took 14 south and then hit a bunch of odd ball other routes that snaked all the way out there. I kind of bypassed Salem for the most part. It was fun. Yeah, the seat is the worst part of the whole deal.

Is the WRR a touring bike?? Have a look at BigDog's 5000 mile trip summer 2010.

http://www.bigdogadventures.com/AnotherWayUp.htm

zone47 wrote:

addikted2boost wrote:

my wife sees your from akron shes from there too and wanted to know what highways you were riding on. also i have stock gearing on my x and stock exhaust and i cruise at 70-80 no prob on highways my bike feels very good and stable i also do the same alot riding 2up bc me and my wife go alotta places all the time on this bike and we cruise by cars on the highway all the time the seat does get uncomfy after like 30 mins tho but idc i love my bike if im riding by myself i can move around and my butt dont hurt to bad but i only way 157

Just a bunch of squirly roads from Akron down to Rogers flea market. I took 14 south and then hit a bunch of odd ball other routes that snaked all the way out there. I kind of bypassed Salem for the most part. It was fun. Yeah, the seat is the worst part of the whole deal.

oh ok thats cool man