Clovis, NM Rant

MLSDUKE1

Live from Mom's basement
Registered
I cannot stand Clovis NM anymore. Seriously. This place has only straight roads to ride, idiots in cars and trucks, and dips that are deeper than my bike can slowly and nimbly go through. HOW IN THE HELL DO YOU PAVE A ROAD AND MAKE IT WORSE!?!?! The train tracks here are so bad I'd avoid them if I could but I can't so my forks damn near bottom out everytime I go over them SLOWLY!!! This is ridiculous. I just want some nice, twisty roads or at least some roads that weren't made with 5 foot dips every 25 ft. PLEASE AIR FORCE, MOVE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!! End o' rant
 
We were thinking about doing that this weekend actually. Up to Santa Fe. Know any good road names to go on?
 
sounds like you're definitely not in motorcycle heaven, only ones worse off are our brothers and sisters in FL :laugh:
 
sounds like you're definitely not in motorcycle heaven, only ones worse off are our brothers and sisters in FL :laugh:
Amen. I know it all too well. I take what I get and enjoy the very little we have.
Sorry my brother but it's been since 88' that I have been out that way. I would head out towards Taos and go exploring.
 
The SW is where I want to live. I've grown tired of the east coast and am ready to move. Once I get all my certifications I'm moving.
 
Great ride for you.

Take I25 north to Hwy 550 (Bernalillo exit). Head west on 550 abour 20 miles to Hwy 4. Head north on Hwy 4 toward the Valles Caldera National park. If you stay on that road you will go all the way to Los Alamos. When you get to Hwy 126 you can stop for lunch then go out to Fenton Lake which is another great road then come back to Hwy 4 and keep going to Los Alamos. You can go left at Los Alamos or straight through white rock canyon. Either way if you follow the signs to Santa Fe you can make it back to 25 from there. Be careful in the Jemez Pueblo cause they will bust you for going 5over. Once out of the pueblos and past Soda Springs you can fly through the twisties cause there are hardly any cops. Look for Battleship Rock and Dark Canyon. Keep an eye out for red dirt on the road. This is some of the prettiest scenery in New Mexico. Check it out on a map and plot your course, It's worth the trouble. BTW Once you start up Hwy 4 you are basically driving up into a dormant volcano and you will drive through the Valles caldera and down the other side into Los Alamos.

Second Ride is simpler.

I25 north to I40. East on I40 to Hwy 14. North on Hwy 14. Look for the road to Sandia Peak and take a little mountain climb. Come back down and head north on Hwy 14 to Madrid. This is the town the filmed the movie Wild Hogs. Great place to stop for lunch then continue north on 14 to Santa Fe. Then I25 South to home. You can also go south on 14 from I40 and there are some nice canyon roads then some pretty good very low traffic straight roads where you can test your courage. Bring a map cause you can get lost out there.

I am open to riding along with you, just PM me .
 
I'm not too far from you in Lubbock, Tx. The scenery blows but there are plenty of long open smooth roads to open her up. I made what should easily be a 45 minute trip on a 70 mph highway in just under 30 minutes yesterday for example, lol. That was taking the slightly longer back way... gotta love the busa.

I would suggest maybe going over to Ruidoso & Cloudcroft though. We go over there sometimes for the bike rally and it's fun, plus the scenery is much better than Lubbock


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Arizona is filled with long straight roads. Now im moving to houston.... more long straight roads for me.

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Try to get Aviano Italy next, the roads here run all along and through the Alps, it's freakin amazing.
 
Have you set the sag on your suspension? It shouldn't bottom crossing train tracks.
There are tons of great roads where I live, but we're not without our share of extremely rough ones either.
Your bike with the suspension set for your weight will be a night and day improvement over what you apparently have now.
Setting sag is simple, you need a metric tape measure, rear stand, front forklift stand, a 3' long 5/8" diameter steel rod(to pass through the engine mount bolt in the frame to support the bike on stands), a pair of car jackstands, a small flat blade screwdriver, a socket to fit the preload adjusters on top of the forks(14mm I think), and a long punch and hammer if you don't have the spanner wrenches for the rear spring.
Setting sag will make your bike much more stable in turns, as well as keep the suspension from bottoming or beating you up. If you don't have what you need to do it maybe an org member close by does. If you need to pay a shop, YOU or someone of equal weight of you in your gear needs to be sitting on the bike for measurements.
If none of this is possible you need to adjust your rebound/compression/preload by yourself. Hold the front brake and push down hard and fast on the front end while stting on the bike. As soon as the forks want to come back up, let off any pressure and let them come up on there own. They should rebound quickly and imediatley stop at the top of the stroke, if they are slow or have a sloppy double bounce or sag back down when they reach the top, then they deffinately need adjusting.
The same holds true for the rear. Just have someone hold the bars and balance the bike upright while you push down on the rear seat to bounce the rear.
I'm no suspension guru, as it is truly an art to correctly and perfectly set up a track bike for the rider. But a basic sag setup is a must for a good riding street bike. 30mm to 35mm of sag for a trackbike, and 35mm to 40mm for a streetbike is a good ballpark range to get a good ride. Don't be intimidated by it either, as you will see if you do it, sag setup is very simple. It's also the greatest improvement to any bike with adjustable suspension you can do.
There are several threads here that will walk you through it, and TufBusa has been a great help explaining the basics to me.
I hope you can give it a try.:beerchug:
 
I should be punished for thinking...."you know, I really don't want to ride the Cherohala Skyway today...let's go some place else". Living so close, we ride it all the time.

Sorry for the crappy roads you are suffering through.
 
I'm not too far from you in Lubbock, Tx. The scenery blows but there are plenty of long open smooth roads to open her up. I made what should easily be a 45 minute trip on a 70 mph highway in just under 30 minutes yesterday for example, lol. That was taking the slightly longer back way... gotta love the busa.

I would suggest maybe going over to Ruidoso & Cloudcroft though. We go over there sometimes for the bike rally and it's fun, plus the scenery is much better than Lubbock


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Right on. When you do come toward the Clovis area hit me up and we'll head out.

Have you set the sag on your suspension? It shouldn't bottom crossing train tracks.
There are tons of great roads where I live, but we're not without our share of extremely rough ones either.
Your bike with the suspension set for your weight will be a night and day improvement over what you apparently have now.
Setting sag is simple, you need a metric tape measure, rear stand, front forklift stand, a 3' long 5/8" diameter steel rod(to pass through the engine mount bolt in the frame to support the bike on stands), a pair of car jackstands, a small flat blade screwdriver, a socket to fit the preload adjusters on top of the forks(14mm I think), and a long punch and hammer if you don't have the spanner wrenches for the rear spring.
Setting sag will make your bike much more stable in turns, as well as keep the suspension from bottoming or beating you up. If you don't have what you need to do it maybe an org member close by does. If you need to pay a shop, YOU or someone of equal weight of you in your gear needs to be sitting on the bike for measurements.
If none of this is possible you need to adjust your rebound/compression/preload by yourself. Hold the front brake and push down hard and fast on the front end while stting on the bike. As soon as the forks want to come back up, let off any pressure and let them come up on there own. They should rebound quickly and imediatley stop at the top of the stroke, if they are slow or have a sloppy double bounce or sag back down when they reach the top, then they deffinately need adjusting.
The same holds true for the rear. Just have someone hold the bars and balance the bike upright while you push down on the rear seat to bounce the rear.
I'm no suspension guru, as it is truly an art to correctly and perfectly set up a track bike for the rider. But a basic sag setup is a must for a good riding street bike. 30mm to 35mm of sag for a trackbike, and 35mm to 40mm for a streetbike is a good ballpark range to get a good ride. Don't be intimidated by it either, as you will see if you do it, sag setup is very simple. It's also the greatest improvement to any bike with adjustable suspension you can do.
There are several threads here that will walk you through it, and TufBusa has been a great help explaining the basics to me.
I hope you can give it a try.:beerchug:

Got with a guy in Alb. He said for $800 he'd set the bike to me. Good deal or try somewhere else?

I should be punished for thinking...."you know, I really don't want to ride the Cherohala Skyway today...let's go some place else". Living so close, we ride it all the time.

Sorry for the crappy roads you are suffering through.

That's just mean.

Take some leave and head up Hwy 101.

Definatly gonna look into this. Need some more miles on my girl
 
$800!!! That's a total ripoff!!!!!!
All anyone should charge you is one hours labor. It's as simple as measuring with you on the bike, and again with it on stands. Then turning the rebound/compression screws, adding or removing preload on top of the forks with a ratchet and socket, and adding/removing preload on the rear spring with spanner wrenches or a punch and hammer. It's very quick and simple to get a good riding basic sag setup.
Maybe there's a member close by that could show you?
 
If there is I really want to meet him. Suspension just confuses me. I dont' know why but it does. If anyone is close and knows how to do this PLEASE PM me!!!
 
One of you west coast/mid west bastids ride out and set up a serviceman's suspension! I would, but he's a little too far from VA:laugh:
 
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