Operation Salad Bowl

This summer, seven of us set off on a 13 day trip in California. The main objective was to see the MotoGP race at Laguna Seca. But because of a cabin my cousin has up in Shaver Lake CA, we headed out a week early and did some riding around the Sierras. The plan was to trailer the bikes to Shaver Lake CA and then ride until it was time to come home. We referred to this trip as operation Salad Bowl. This is because the Salinas CA , where our hotel was for the MotoGP weekend, and Salinas Valley is referred to as "the Salad Bowl of the World"

The people that went were my wife Stephanie, my kids Alex and Ashley, two friends from work Gerry and Paul, and Paul's wife Cindy.


Day 1: TX - NM

Today started with a 100 mile ride for Alex and myself. We had to ride from Plano TX to Bowie TX in order to get to where the trailer was. We arrived at Paul's about 9:00am and loaded up the bikes and bags. We had to do some fine tuning on the trailer for the tie downs, but alias we got underway about 11:30am

Once on the road, we ran into a short delay as there was a wild fire burning and they had traffic slowed and one lane closed.

It was a long day of driving, but we made it to Albuquerque NM to end the first day.

DAY 2 - NM to CA

Day 2 was another day of not much more than driving in the truck. We id make the most of it with a couple of stops. The big one of the day was Winslow AZ. We had to stand on the corner!!

While standing on the corner, we could hear an Indian festival going on a few blocks away. lots of drum beating and what sounded like "ahhhwhaaaaa ooooaaahwaaa" etc... lol

Finally making to California, crossing into Needles, we met to guys on sport bikes that had been riding for a week. They were headed to San Diego from Maryland. They had gone south and rode the Dragon then worked their way west. 

We stopped in Bartsow CA for the night. This would allow us to get the Shaver Lake at a decent hour in the afternoon.

DAY 3 - Barstow Ca to Shaver Lake CA

Another bike again

Well, I am not very good at this blog thing apparently. Since my last post, I sold the Vmax and bought a 2004 FJR1300. I love being back on a bike that handles. I will post pics once I get to a computer. Add to that yesterday, my 12 year old 210,000 mile Ford Focus died. The serpentine Belt came off. Don't know what broke to have it loose tension.

New Tires = New Bike?!!

I was having a hard time with the Vmax until yesterday!

I love the sound with the new exhaust, and she is a cofortable ride. However, the handling of the bike was terrible if not scary!  If you rode down the road and hit som imperfections, the bike would wobble a bit. I could not go much over 70 through nice sweeping curves as the she would wobble going throuh the curve.
Once last week while commuting home from work, the back end came loose while going around a small curve and only going 35mph!!

I had replaced the rear shocks with Progressive Suspension shocks and that help back end , and I think I would have gone down last week if not for the shocks holding her firmly once she let go. But while on the Arkansas trip most all of the Vmax owners there said that they would get ride of the Bridgestone tires I had and get Metzler's. They all raved about the handling of the Metzlers even being a Bias-ply tire. So last week after my amolst crash, I had enough. I ordered a set of Metzler Me-880's for the Max. I even upsided the rear to a 170/80-15 from a 150/90-15. I learned that that size will fit without modification.

I mounted the new tires yesterday and took her for a short ride. The Vmax felt like a different bike! No wobbles, no issues with turning, etc. But I was taking it easy as the are new ties that have not been scruffed in yet. I am going this morning to take her for a longer ride and see how it goes.

BTW.. Cycle Gear Sucks....
I took the ties and the wheel to have them mounted up, the tell me they "might be able to get them done by 5pm.. but no guaruntee"... this was at 11am and ther was only 1 set of tires in front on me! I said forget it.. I took them to Central Yamaha on Ave K. and the had them mounted up right away!

Vmax Exhaust Mod complete!

First I must apologize since I don't seem to update this as I should.

I took the Dale Walker Holeshot Exhaust headers to a shop in Arlington TX.. Specialized Coatings Inc.
They did an awesome job coating the headed in ceramic that looks like chrome! It took a few weeks as one of their machines broke, but I was not in any hurry.. to blasted hot to work in the garage anyway!
Here is the finished product:

So before I start the disassembly,  here is a video of the bike with the stock exhaust:



The stock exhaust removed, lightened the bike up a lot!! The old exhaust collector and cans weighed 35 lbs were as the Dale Walker Holeshots weigh in at 15 lbs.... for a savings of 20 lbs.

I also had to take the center stand assembly off with took another 5 or so pounds off.

So with it all done here is a pic and video of the final product:

The Mod Monster got out!!

My buddy Paul (Iceman), notified me the other day that a guy posted on the Houston Vmax board that he was selling his Dale Walker Holeshot 4-2 Exhaust system for the Vmax for $450. This system new sells for $1200!!

So I contacted the guy who happens to be in the Tampa FL area. I was lucky as he was out on a ride and he had happened to be stopped for gas. I told him I was interested and give me a call when he was done riding for the day. Well... I was the first to get to him so I had dibs.

Long story short.. I bought em!

Being in the Florida salt, the headers needed to have a new ceramic coating. and the mufflers, and clamps needed polising. This is the set as I got them out of the box.

Since getting them, I have taken the headers to Specialized Preformance Coatings Inc in Arlington. The should be ready in about 7 days. I also started the polising of the cans an clamps.
Here is a before and after of one of the clamps:

Once this procect is done I will post an after pic of the system.