Up to speed

[77Gowing]

I have been busy after moving to San Angelo from Detroit a month ago. It took me awhile to get insured/registered etc.
As I still have problems with my wing that I will address this winter, I took my new 2017 Indian Scout out for my first ride here in Texas. I took US-67 out of San Angelo southwest to Mertzon twenty two miles away. As most of you know I'm new to MCs and thus I started out slowly like a proper chicken. Speed limit was 70 mph, but I tended to hang near 60 for while till I got used to it. The road is smooth as glass, very little traffic and the view was a nice ride in the country as cactus and mesquite whizzed by. I eventually got comfortable at speed and began pushing it a little to expand my comfort zone. On the return trip back to San Angelo, I maintained 75-80 mph and began to feel comfortable. At one point where there was no one in front of me for some distance I decided to open her up a bit and see how she did versus my nerve. I gradually accelerated up to 100 mph and held it there for a good minute. The bike in sixth still had more pull left but that was as fast as I felt comfortable. I'm happy to report that my Indian is powerful and very stable, though i cannot say that about myself.

My GW I believe needs a complete clutch overhaul, not because it's worn out but because of the abuse it received by my novice hands. Now that I've been in there and mucked it up a bit, I now know what to do and how. So after I get my new work place organized I'm going to replace all my steel and friction disks. I know this sounds a bit goofy but if you were to see the "cone" shaped steel disk I made during one of my clutch replacement attempts you will under stand why. The bike is ride-able and works just great until warmed up to op temp and then down shifting to first while moving is impossible. I have to stop to get it back into first most of the time. There are lots of woulda coulda shouldas I can go through but now it is what it is, so I must assume the whole stack to be suspect.

Thanks for listening.

[5speed]

glad you are getting sorted out in your new place.
You are braver then I am..I've got 2 summers under my belt and the fastest I've had my 1100 going was 75 mph and not for very long.
I am having far to much fun cruising the back roads to be bothered going out on the highway and opening it up.

[wingrider]

Before to long you will be comfortable going highway speeds. As far as a top speed for you, make it whatever you are comfortable with. As far as speed for me, I think every bike I have owned that would go over 100 has been there a few times. Those that couldn’t still went as fast as they could at some point!

It would be interesting to see if your Indian is limited to a particular top speed. I am inclined to think my 1800 Wing is, cause it pulls pretty hard up to 130-135 and then no more. I haven’t seen if my Valk will go any higher.

[chewy999]

At the end of the day, the top speed is what YOU feel comfortable with. Younger riders tend to feel invincible and the bravado lends to them egging on to see how fast they can go. Experience, (falling off), teaches you about pain, or worse, and the costs involved to fix up your bike!
Don't get me wrong. I love to go fast, but on roads I know, good weather and little traffic. My attitude is if I was a super fast rider with worn out knee pads, I wouldn't be sat here posting this message, I'd be on the motorcycle GP circuit!
The fastest I've ever ridden was on a dead straight French motorway on my naked CB1300. Got to 130 mph, felt very stable and was still pulling, but without a fairing I felt that was enough. Closed the throttle and slowed down a bit, and about 4 seconds later a Mercedes went roaring past!

[ericheath]

Having just road-tripped from Florida to Winnipeg I was amazed at the changes in the conditions of the roads. Florida and Georgia roads were smooth everywhere. Moving into Kentucky and Tennessee they started to get occasionally bumpy. This is where winter starts, where the roads freeze. Into Illinois it got worse. The further north you go, the worse the roads got.

[77Gowing]

Thanks all for your input.
I was not out to prove anything, but just trying to expand my comfort zone since I am a very green rider. I have yet to explore much of the area around San Angelo so I have to get out more. I have noticed that around town the drivers are somewhat careless and thus I intend to stay away from town as much as possible. The nice thing about the community I moved to is that there is not much traffic and the roads leading in and out of town are all US highways for the most part.

[chewy999]

I have noticed that around town the drivers are somewhat careless

The best advice I can give to a novice rider is to treat every other road user as an idiot, and be particularly careful at junctions and roundabouts! You do develop a 6th sense as to what people will do on the road.

[CYBORG]

Act as tho you are invisable

[77Gowing]

Act as tho you are invisable

Thanks I'll keep that in mind. Since I have had several MCS classes I find I drive my car as if I'm on my bike also.

[wingrider]

I agree with Cyborg...every time I ride, I go with the premise that no one can see me. So far (knock on wood) it has served me well.