As I said before, I had my VTR1000F in a dual use, track bike and day tourer,
but no longer, a 2001 GSXR 600 is now the track bike, so I put my VTR back to a
street only bike.
On the Wednesday before the ride I started to put the
VTR1000F back to “street” trim, I had to put the superbike bar-set back on,
and as well as re-route the throttle cables, and change to the longer brake
hoses. I also put the case guards back on the bike, as they would touch down
during trackdays, not a fun thing, but for street riding they are really great
to have. I also changed the tires from the super sticky Bridgestone BT002
mediums to the Dunlop 208s I had sitting here. The 208s worked very well, warmed
up nicely and stuck just fine for the street pace we were going all day, and
they should last a lot longer than the 002s would have.
I don’t have any kind of rack on the VTR now, (I've
since bought the Givi rack system with a top box) and with the “Up” type
Moriwaki pipes I have on the bike, I did not even have the passenger pegs to use
as mounting points for any luggage. I usually travel somewhat light, but the one
thing that I have learned to carry on any extended trip is a good tool set and a
bunch of spare nuts and bolts. My traveling tool wrap ends up being a small but
heavy bundle, not the thing you want in a backpack all day, so I put the back
pack, which also had my rain gear in it, on the passenger seat of the bike. I
then wanted to use one of those bungee nets to strap it all down. The problem
was the net would contact the rear cowl of the bike (which, unlike the left
fairing, is in nice shape) and I was afraid it would wear holes in the paint on
the long trip planned. Talking to my friend Jim (Twinrider) about it he
suggested that I put on a few strips of Duc tape, red if I could get it on the
cowl to keep it from being scratched. I was a little wary of doing this, but for
good measure I also put three new coats of wax on the rear cowl just to make
sure the tape would release later. All in all I would have to say that this
worked very well and would highly recommend it as a temporary solution to anyone
one concerned about bungee cords rubbing on their bikes.
I next put the sheepskin cover on the seat. I also
took along a smallish tank bag that my buddy Don Helle gave me when he left for
the US, I have to say that while it is very simple, and not new, it has worked
very well for me. I stuck the digital camera in there and some other stuff that
I would need to get at quicker than un-strapping the backpack off the rear of
the bike would allow. I had just bought a Japanese Touring Mapple of the Tohoku
region a few days before, and using the suggested route from another Gaijin
rider Russell, who had done a trip up into the Fukushima area the month before.
I had a fairly good idea of where we would be going.
With everything on the bike secured, a full tank of gas, gear all laid out ready
to go I finally got to bed about 12:30 AM. Jim called me at 5 AM, I had a quick
coffee, and I was out the door, I was on the bike at 5:35 AM. I live in
Shinjuku, right downtown Tokyo. I got on the Shuto expressway, which is
our "In Town" elevated highway, at Itabashi, and proceeded North to
where the Tohoku Expressway starts. I have to say that the Shuto was nearly
empty and I could make good time. I was going over the speed limit, which is 60
Km/h, a bit, but nothing too crazy, the Shuto is very unkind to bikes, with
nothing to hit but concrete walls, and a very rough surface. I did have a number
of the large highway rigs go by me like I was parked, man they were flying, that
will make sure you are awake at 5:30 in the morning!
We had made a plan to meet up at the first Parking Area (PA) on the Tohoku
Expressway, Hasuda; I pulled into the PA at 6:11 AM, and waited for everyone
else to get there. At the PA there were a lot of bikes, and I noticed (how could
I not!) that in the two or three groups of riders I saw meet up there, there
were at least two or three gals riding as well. Most of them looked like very
good riders, they had all the gear and it looked well used, and most of them
were on 600cc bikes, and one or two of them were rather cute in their leathers!
John (BMW1100R?)
Jim aka Twinrider,(FZ1000)
Neil (ZX-9R Green Meanie)
Julian (TDM850)
Christian (VTR1000F) sorry, no on the move pics ofChristian.
We had a quick bite to eat and headed up the expressway
This is the part of the ride I don’t like, but I did find out a few things;
the VTR with near stock jetting got just over 20 Km/L on gas mileage (it used to
get 9-11 Km/L) which with the small 16L tank on the VTR was really great news,
the worst mileage I got all day was 13.8 Km/L, and that was when we were having
fun in the twisties and I was basically leaving the bike in 2nd gear and caning
it! The gas mileage was a huge improvement, and I did not see the Red Light Of
Death once all day (on the VTR that means you are down to your last 3 or 4
liters of gas, as the bike has no gas gauge). I also found out was that the
headlight on the VTR, while not the greatest was good enough that I was able to
set a fun, yet sane pace through some really nice mountain roads once the sun
went down. The Sheepskin cover worked great, I know it makes the bike look like
it has an “Afro”, but it is very comfortable and makes a long day in the
saddle much easier on the butt.
On the road...
We were going to stop for gas at Kroiso PA, but as we approached it I found out
that they don’t sell gas there, so we went on to the next PA, which is
Nasukogen. They sell gas here, as well as having a shop that sells really good
beef on a stick. It is four or five one inch square by half inch thick chunks of
beef on a stick, cooked over coals, it is 450 yen a stick, but it is quite good!
Once we got gassed up we went all the way through to
the Nihonmatsu exit, this is the same exit we use to get to the Ebisu circuit.
A quick break and some time at the ATM and we were set to go again.
Left to right, Julian, John, Christian, Jim, and Neil
John, on the left gets into 7-11 ice-cream, and that is Christian, on the right,
the other guy on a VTR.
We got back on the road we went up route #459, a
nice road, but nothing compared to what laid ahead! I made my first little
navigational error here, as we were to keep on #459 until we came to route #30
and turn left, well route #459 actually hits route #30 twice and you can turn
left at BOTH junctions…. Whoops… back down the road, it was only a few Km,
out of our way. Once onto route #30 we found a great road, it is really tight
and twisty, with next to no cages on it, as this is the “old” road, as route
#115, with lots of tunnels to keep it straight, was put in to replace it. We
next came to the first mountain toll road we were to travel on, the Bandai-Azuma
Skyline. This road is great, it cost 1050 yen, if memory serves, and was well
worth it. One note, you cannot use your credit cards or a Japan Highway (JH)
prepaid card on most of these local toll roads, good old cash only.
Top of the world Ma!!
This is the place where this is some kind of active
volcano, and you can see that the mountains in the background are treeless. the
whole place looked like some kind of strange new world. The road was really,
really great, loads of twists, and very few cages. It was a tight fun run over
the top of the mountain. I really wanted to stop somewhere else and take some
pics, but all along the side of the road, there were signs saying “Don’t
Stop, Dangerous Toxic Gas” (and we all thought is was just Jim…). The smell
of rotten eggs was really strong, and I thought it would be better to keep
moving. The Skyline gave way to route #70, which was fun, but short, with a few
more cars.
Now we are on outskirts of Fukushima, and as it is near lunchtime we head into
Fukushima to find a restaurant, we settle on a Skylark Family Restaurant, and
enjoy a good lunch and some great Bench racing, BS-ing and taking in the local
sites!
We next head back West and went up route #13, which
our friend Russell, who had been up here the month before, had warned us was
full of cars and trucks and would not be much fun, well he was right, but we did
get off on route #376 which winds it way around a small lake and was also a lot
of fun.
I wish I had taken more pics, this is a mistake we
made all day, but the roads were so much fun, and we had a lot of roads to cover
in one day, so we pressed on, besides we were having so much fun!!
From there we hit route #151 for a short distance and
then we turned south on Route #2. At first this was kind of an open fairly fast
paced road, but it soon gave way to tighter twists that was also a lot of fun.
Route #2 then leads to the Nishi-Azuma Sky Valley toll road, yet another
fantastic road that was fun to ride, and had very few cages on it as well. Now
further south near Hibarako Lake, the toll road ends and becomes route #2 again.
This runs along the lake and was fun in itself. We then come to a junction of 4
roads, we turn west and use route #459 for a short way, until we get to the
entrance of the next toll road, the “Golden Line”. I know it sounds like a
skipping CD, but yes, you got it, yet another really nice fun road to ride!! Us
guys from Tokyo, who ride around the great metropolis were certainly overdosing
on these great roads.
When this road ends we are near the very large lake of
Inawashiroko.
We head south on route #64, with turns into route #7
for a bit and then we get off #7 and back onto #64 heading south. We go only a
short distance and then we turn onto #49, which heads us over towards the
lake.
Thanks to Neil we went down to this was a really nice
spot, that I marked on my map as a place to take the wife and kids for a camping
trip. Neil had been camping up here a few weeks before and told us of a great
little road along the lake that then heads up into the mountains for a bit
before descending back to the lake shore. The first 150 meters of this road are
gravel, and when we came upon it we all stopped.
Neil and Julian had swapped bikes, so Neil was riding
Julian’s TDM. He stopped just on the first meter or so of the gravel, put his
foot down, which slipped on the gravel and did the slow motion “slip, slip, I
can hold it, slip, slip, no I can’t” drop of the TDM. At least the TDM had
been dropped before, so nothing but a busted turn signal lens was the result,
(fixed with the standard black electrician tape!), well there may have been a
few new scratches added to the right side of the TDM, but I don’t know. Julian
was a good sport about it, it was funny to watch, and like John said at the
time, “I thought he was just fooling around at first”.
Sure enough just like Neil said, the gravel part was only a very short distance
and then onto a nice tormented thin strip of pavement that ran all over the
place! It did have a number of rocks and sticks on it, as well as being over
grown with roadside plants in spots, but all the same it was yet another fun
little road.
We find a small road #236, which hooks us up with route #294, again going south.
By this time is was getting dark and cool, so a little further on we stopped at
the junction of route #294 and route #118 where we turned west again, and put on
our rain gear for a bit of warmth. I was please at how cool it had become, very
nice, and it tends to keep the bugs down somewhat. We went along route #118 for
about 15 Km and then turned south on route #37, this would be our last bit of
twisties before the drone home on the expressway. It was dark now; you know the
kind of dark you don’t get in the city, pitch black! Route #37 is not marked
as a “good” road on the Touring Mapple, but we took a chance, and we were
rewarded. I wish we had taken it in the daytime! Fun road!
At this point we were very near to the town of Shirakawa, which is also one of
the entrance/exits for the Tohoku Expressway. We drove around a bit and finally
found a steak house for dinner. We had a good meal and BS some more and then
headed home on the Tohoku. I rolled into my house in Shinjuku around 12:30 AM,
18 hours after I left and close to 1000 Km on the clock.
Nihonmatsu is 236 Km up the Tohoku from the Kawaguchi Junction North of Tokyo,
Shirakawa is only 170 Km, so the drone back on the expressway was a lot shorter.
I have to say that my right hand still hurts, not hurts I guess, but aches? The
carbs on the VTR are HUGE, at 48mm and they use very stiff return springs,
holding that throttle open on the expressway for a long time did my hand in for
sure. I'm going to get me one of these....
The bike otherwise preformed very well, I've since
changed from the MR Racing Double Bubble, as the superbike bars make my seating
position much more upright, this makes the airflow from the screen hit me right
in the chest and on the elbows, which I found tiring. I'm also put the Givi Rack
and top box on the bike as well. This set-up is great. I can't wait to get a
chance to take a nice long ride again!
Yes I will keep the VTR, I’ve got very little money into it (less than 200,000
yen) and for this kind of back road fun paced touring it just rocks!!
Here is the map of the route we took...
Sorry if this is a big pic, but it shows the day's ride well.
Thanks for looking
Cheers
10-16-2004, 09:39 AM
Linear Mode
