Pulled the trigger today on '15 KTM 1290 SA

[Virginian]

A foot note added to this thread and I have a few pics to share (not enough content for a ride report).

After months of global backorder the right front fork tube finally came in and was replaced under warranty. It fixed the clunk on the front end that had been super annoying from day one. Creeping up on 3,000 miles and its running like a top.

So this weekend I had an event to go to which was a birthday celebration campout. I've been very quietly collecting camping gear, bargain basement, closeouts, scratch and dent, etc trying to get it on the cheap. Wow, "light" camping gear get to be expensive.

Destination Luray, VA! So I plotted some nice back roads that rocked for the most part. So I took off early from Spotsylvania and made my way up 522 to Culpepper, picked up 729 north and weaved my way back over to Flint Hill where i picked up 522 again to Front Royal.

I stopped and took a few pictured this morning, nothing epic just some typical rural VA.



Vineyards are popping up all over the state!


These were slave houses back in a day and folks live in them now.



Love these old colonial homes.

[Sport-Touring]

[Virginian]

So I work my way up 340 to Luray... Nothing notable but the blue ridge mountains are beautiful to me. I have these really jacked up directions to get to the campground. Turn left on gravel road by tractor lol, etc. I had to go through two horse/livestock gates. Getting on and off the bike loaded down with stuff for camping is a workout.

I have some offroad experience but not on a heavy bike loaded to the gills! Yikes!


I cross this stream and my inside voice is saying "if I hear banjo music..."


I finally get there and now the task of setting up camp and i have no idea what I'm doing.





My fold-up table was an awesome as well as my chairs that stow into really small bags. I learned a lot about what worked for me on camping and what didn't.

[Virginian]

Small mouth bass fishing, tubing, canoes, great music, beer chicken right off the spit, booze and beer. Yep! I'm a bit hurt this morning...
[/URL]

My family had a generator out in the field and ran a cord to power a full sound system with light show!


Yep, it's 85 degrees out and we have a bonfire.


I had these small LED lights in the dome of my tent, weird looking but really did a nice job!

[Virginian]

So this morning I take 211 through the Shenandoah National Forest. What a great ride and best done early in the morning when there's very little traffic.



I'm trying my hand at videos so here's a n00bs attempt at a short clip of rolling though the Shenandoah Nat'l Forest.

Gosh darn it, I can't embed the video folks, sorry.. If someone can tell me how i would appreciate it.

Here's a link.

Thanks for reading and keep on keeping on!

Eric
https://vimeo.com/170384249

[Virginian]

I decided to give this a try on my stock seat. 400 miles later it was roughly a 90% improvement on comfort. At $15 delivered TMD I feel like I hit a homerun. I hope it helps someone.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006JMK7N8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Hotbrakes]

Kinda quiet around here but I'm enjoying the posts.  At least you can look back on these as time goes by and reminisce about the triumphs and tribulations of a new bike.  Just a picture and a short sentence can bring all those memories and details down to the smell rushing back in.  

My wife and I love moto camping and found some ways to make it easy and comfortable.  I would offer to go camping sometime but our lives are taking a drastic turn with a set of twins rapidly approaching sometime in September.  But if you'd like to discuss camping stuff I'm always game and have friends who do it regularly and are local.

[Virginian]

Kinda quiet around here but I'm enjoying the posts.  At least you can look back on these as time goes by and reminisce about the triumphs and tribulations of a new bike.  Just a picture and a short sentence can bring all those memories and details down to the smell rushing back in.  

My wife and I love moto camping and found some ways to make it easy and comfortable.  I would offer to go camping sometime but our lives are taking a drastic turn with a set of twins rapidly approaching sometime in September.  But if you'd like to discuss camping stuff I'm always game and have friends who do it regularly and are local.

Wow time flies. I hadn't updated this thread in a while. First off congrats on the twins!   I appreciate the offer but dang it's been smok'n hot this summer. I've mostly been using the scooter for grocery runs. I'll get this thread going again a little later in the fall when it cools off some. I appreciate the offer to chat about camping. Jurys still out with me if the juice is worth the squeeze.

Thanks for reading my thread.

Eric

[Virginian]

The weather was looking really good this week and I had a very small break in my work window so I took the mighty Katoom on a whirlwind ride in 48 hours. I wanted to do a couple bucket list items and had to make time on this trip so there's not really any scenic pics. I've always wanted to see the NFL Hall of Fame http://www.profootballhof.com/ and while I was up there I wanted to swing by Wright Patterson AFB, where I was born a very long time ago. Roughly 389 miles each way with a couple of excursions here and there.



I used my Bumot topcase organizer to house my essentials and laptop. Worked out great!


I left at 5 am and crossing into Ohio around 1 pm.

On a side note, since I was taking the PA Turnpike which has tolls, I mounted my E-Z Pass on the windshield. It worked fine but since I have the windshield mounted in the highest position it caused the windshield to buffet the whole trip. Annoying actually...

I weaved my way to the McKinley Grand Hotel http://www.mckinleygrandhotel.com/ in Canton. Wow, I couldn't find a decent road to get over to Canton anywhere so it was a bit of a grind to get there.


Across the street was the First Lady Museum.


Noting notable here but worthy of checking out.

x

I chowed down at Bender's Tavern http://www.bendersrestaurant.com/ that had yummy Seafood and i would highly recommend. I crashed in the hotel that night and got up super early as today would be a very long day. I rode out to Wright Patterson and took a peek. Then back to the NFL Hall of Fame. Very cool stuff in here and I wish I had more time to check all the items out. Sorry no pics of this leg of the trip.

Feeling pressed for time I started making my way back home fairly early in the morning.

Some random shots of Ohio.
Loaded up and headed home.





I kept waiting for lightening bolts to flash out of this guy but it never happened.


I stopped in Front Royal, VA to check on my sister last night and still have another 70 miles to go to get home today but here are some stats for the lions share of the trip. I'll post the final stats when I get home.


So far:
- 730.5 miles
- 62 mph averaged the hole trip
- 45.5 mpg
- 11 hours 40 minutes seat time

The bulk of the trip was super slabbing it through the Allegheny Mountains cruising between 75 - 80 mph.



Thanks for reading!

Another useless post from the Virginian  

[Virginian]

Final stats. Thanks for reading.