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Northern California Coast

The race seat is not very comfy for me either. Very hard. Amazing for sport riding though. I guess that's why they call it a race seat...

Interested to see what else you found out about your hyper RSL
 
I've stayed in Weaverville a couple of times, also a great place from which to do day loops. Are some of those pix from the Lost Coast Highway?

Colin

RSL said:
I carry the Hyperstrada to central hotels and ride loops. This ride our loops were from Fortuna and now Ukiah.

Central Valley is too hot. Back to the coast.
Click to expand...
 
Even with the Mupo the rear suspension design will kick your butt. That is, until you slide up to the tank and ride like it is a Supermoto. Slid forward you are in the middle of the bike and it rocks fore and aft over the nastiest road imperfections, none spine jolting.

Sitting forward on the race seat offers zero padding for the butt bones. Zero. This must be changed for my future 350 to 450 mile loops on slow challenging roads.

i-DP48cfG-X3.jpg


i-rXQMmFT-X3.jpg


i-xRNjrZg-X3.jpg
 
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Learned about a number of hidden SUPER ROADS from bicycle websites. Encountered a large team training too.

i-RZMBJWV-X3.jpg


Good luck finding these roads.
 
I feel sorry for riders who have never experienced these roads. Riding in a state where people get over and let you pass. To be in the mountains and to drop to the sea. To be in different climates through the day. To ride the tightest backroad and the speed limits remain 55 mph, which keeps your fun legal. I defy anyone to actually ride 55 on these backroads.
 
I think the suspension harshness has a lot to do with the linear non-linkage suspension in rear. Very controlled, but not compliant early in the stroke. Tuning this with damping is a challenge. Did you try adjusting the shock during the ride at all?

Looks like a successful trip. Conditions are really prime right now - the roads are mostly clean and clear, and the scenery is magical after all the water we got over winter.
 
I'm 6'2" so usually sit towards the back of the seat. Add to that the thinness of the race seat and there is no way to avoid the jarring of the big potholes. Sitting right up on the gas tank fixed that.

I've contacted KonTour about a seat. I like their seat fabric because it is cool and durable, while draining any rain. Let's see what Ron says he is willing to do. I'll send in the original seat to be rebuilt, keeping the race seat too.

Even the huge BMWs were suffering from the constant pothole hits on Mattole Road. That road has not been repaired beyond the odd truck load of asphalt. It is worse than many trails at this point.

It's obvious that California is spending their road repair budgets on other things. NOT road repairs.

So, it was the less traveled backroads that we found most enjoyable.

The longer suspension travel of my regular ride height Hyperstrada, same as the Hypermotard, and now probably as long as the SP with the Mupo, makes for the longest compression stroke possible. The only way to improve the bad road hit handling would be a 21" front tire and dirt bike suspension. Owners of the low Hyperstrada will need to slow down a lot. Where I was flying, the other bikes were having to be far more careful.
 
Everyone started with new tires, per my ride rules. Three, including me, the new Metzeler Roadtec 01, and one with the new RoasSmart 3. The big bikes had scalloped front tire wear very pronounced because of the heavy front brake use. So many very steep roads and fast/slow/fast/slow sections. The lightweight Hyper shows little wear after the ride. Big shock as previous rides I would consume a back tire. Shows the Mupo is keeping the rear tire connected with the pavement.

One nail in a BMW very early was quickly repaired with Safety Seal. Permenant repair completed in 10 minutes at a gas station.
 
Compared to a lot of the youthful riders here I'm a giant on such a small bike. That's what I like about it. So small I can easily carry it everywhere with me on the back of my car. Powerful enough to smoke nearly every rider on the tight twisty roads.

My only issue now is getting the seat right for 400 mile twisty loops.

I can easily ride one 400 mile day. It is the accumulation of day after day that causes my butt to get super sore. Cumulative pain.

The easy answer would be to get a relatively huge GS and bigger seat. I just don't want that big of a bike anymore.

i-HQZkWWm-X3.jpg
 
How do you like the Metzeler Roadtecs? My tires are getting to the end of their useful life.
 
RSL said:
I feel sorry for riders who have never experienced these roads. Riding in a state where people get over and let you pass. To be in the mountains and to drop to the sea. To be in different climates through the day. To ride the tightest backroad and the speed limits remain 55 mph, which keeps your fun legal. I defy anyone to actually ride 55 on these backroads.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm feeling sorry for myself - totally jealous. Rain, and work has kept from the northern New England mountains. - but soon - very soon. Rt16 is calling.

Love to ride out there sometime.
 
RSL said:
Even with the Mupo the rear suspension design will kick your butt. That is, until you slide up to the tank and ride like it is a Supermoto. Slid forward you are in the middle of the bike and it rocks fore and aft over the nastiest road imperfections, none spine jolting.

Sitting forward on the race seat offers zero padding for the butt bones. Zero. This must be changed for my future 350 to 450 mile loops on slow challenging roads.
Click to expand...

Stock seat is pretty comfy. Maybe padded bicycle shorts + stock would help.

I agree with sitting right up front when the roads start twisting. As far as the rear goes - I stand up when things look too rough, and just let the bike do what it's going to do.

Rode with a guy who had a hard tail Indian and I was always behind because he had no brakes (well small things the size of a silver dollar with a lever attached) - if he bounced 3 inches, I was fine. If he bounced 6 inches, I stood up.

It's stock, I set the sag, and I'm sure anything else I do will end up hurting me a lot. The bike is solid on the fast sweepers -so I figure it's all pretty good.
 
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RSL said:
I feel sorry for riders who have never experienced these roads. Riding in a state where people get over and let you pass. To be in the mountains and to drop to the sea. To be in different climates through the day. To ride the tightest backroad and the speed limits remain 55 mph, which keeps your fun legal. I defy anyone to actually ride 55 on these backroads.
Click to expand...
Thanks for more great pics! Stunning resolution! Camera? Lens? Awesome!

You're right, not many can go 55 on that beat up stuff ... but some of the reprobates I ride with may try :D These rides are more like unofficial races.
I stay out of trouble at the back. :roll eyes:

In my experience a well set up dual sport is really the ideal bike for such roads. My old DR650 just soaks up the pot holes and square edge hits nicely.
Ohlins shock, DDC valves and springs up front.

Also, some 250's are extremely capable on such roads. The DR650 is not fast with just 40 HP ... but on roads like that I can keep the KTM 1290's behind me on the downhill sections... believe it or not.

Only drawback is weak brakes. Not dangerous but no Ducati! But corner speed can be HIGH, so you rarely need much braking. With the right tires the DR650 just shrugs off loose gravel, sand and even wet. With Corbin seat I rarely get slammed, can move all over the bike and no butt pain until maybe 8 hour mark. The DR650 calls for LOW tire pressures which helps mitigate bump impact some.

What pressures you running on your Hyper? I run about 30 PSI front/rear, seems fine. The DR650 calls for 22 front/25 rear. Most ill informed owners run higher ... at their peril.

My Hyper is much better once things smooth out a bit and pace picks up. So nice! But for the truly knarly secret roads you've discovered, you really owe it to yourself to try a simple dual sport. Either 650 or 250. The long travel, 21" front and Plush suspension make you fearless on such roads. :D ... and pain free!
 
Last edited:
edgary said:
How do you like the Metzeler Roadtecs? My tires are getting to the end of their useful life.
Click to expand...

Excellent grip. Gravel and wet tar strips leaned over did offer the expected slip sideways.

Tire life is looking to be exceptional.
 
The road photos are iPhone 7. Others are with Sony RX100M3.
 
Hyp Noob said:
In my experience a well set up dual sport is really the ideal bike for such roads.
What pressures you running on your Hyper? I run about 30 PSI front/rear, seems fine.

My Hyper is much better once things smooth out a bit and pace picks up. So nice! But for the truly knarly secret roads you've discovered, you really owe it to yourself to try a simple dual sport. Either 650 or 250. The long travel, 21" front
Click to expand...

I'm a one bike guy now. One that has to do everything from 100 mph blasts on fast sweepers to these beat-up backroads. Even the odd unsaved forest service road.

The Hyper does the trick.

As for tire pressure, I set both to 36 before I leave Texas then never look at it again.

I've had two different KTMs, ATK, Hondas, etc... Been there, done that. The little Hyper packs well on the back of my car for my cross country travel. Loads and unloads in a couple minutes.
 
We ended up riding 8 days.

The planned routes yielded to a lot of field adjustment making for tracks that will look a lot different than the plan.

However, you may get an idea as to the specific ride boundaries from this image.

i-7h7q9N5-X3.jpg
 
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