HSTA Bike Week Lunch Ride

 
Some of the assemblage at the Blackwater Inn for the Lunch
As usual, a lot of ST’s, but VFR’s were prominent as well
LOVE that custom Yellow colored ST!

Bike Week News
Having not spent any real time over there, I only know what I’ve read or heard… The safety record was not great with 10-13 deaths depending on where you draw the line of Daytona influence, though it was better than the bike week two years ago. Of course, any deaths are one too many, it seems that too many were somewhat preventable. According to the reports I read, two of the 10 local fatalities were wearing helmets. Even more telling were the stupid actions that some were also engaged in such as driving on the lines between two moving rows of vehicles at over the speed limit… Stupid + Stupid = begging for trouble. We witnessed much more of this activity on the trip back to Tampa, after dark, with bikes whipping down both sides and the middle of traffic lanes. The real story is that there weren’t MORE fatalities.

I heard the races were excellent. Gonna have to make it over one day to catch some of that action. Oh, and speaking of action, I heard there was a HOT demo of the Yamaha FJR 1300 which is now slated for import into the US! While I am a die hard ST fan, I am expecting the price to be quite a bit higher than the FJR and now I hear that the ST may require Premium fuel to boot. I sure hope not ‘cause if that’s so, it’ll be the deal breaker for my pocketbook… Guess I may have to stick with my trusty ‘91 ST for a few hundred thousand miles.

Membership News
In case you’re not on the email list (and many of you aren’t!) or otherwise haven’t heard, Bill Robinson is on the mend after a quite unexpected quadruple bypass heart surgery. I understand he’s already driving a car and it won’t be too long before he can pilot his motorcycle again too. We wish him the best and speediest recovery! Oh, and another tidbit of info on the membership is that HSTA Founder and past President, Dana Sawyer, has sold his VFR800 to Florida HSTA member John Anderson! Dana stated that he’s not planning on replacing the machine in the near future, rather he’s going to focus his attention on traveling with the family. So, though he won’t be actively riding with us, I am sure all will join me in wishing him the very best and he’ll always be a fellow rider in our hearts. Congrats to John Anderson on his new ride too!

Well, that’s about all I have at the moment. I hate to leave any empty space in the newsletter, so to finish off, here’s a picture of some of the movers and shakers of the HSTA at the Bike Week Dinner. I look forward to seeing you at one or more of the upcoming HSTA rides.

1989 Honda GB500. Incredible original collector bike with only 2400 miles! Purchased from Honda corporate employee. Multiple award winner, including best street stock in Riding Into History Concours. Runs and handles beautifully. New Avon tires, color matched cafe fairing. May be the best looking bike Honda ever made. $4750. Contact Bill at 904-730-9719, warrior@aol.com

1997 VFR 750 - red, excellent condition, not a scratch always adult owned / ridden and dealer serviced. heli-bars, throttlemeister, tank bra, tail cap, carbon fiber pipe, shop manual, will deliver. $5750 OBO 
 Ron 407-331-7609 or 407-948-1296 or ronatscc@aol.com

1999 ST1100 - black, 24,900 miles. All the fluids have been changed, including the rear end and radiator. Tires are in good shape. No scratches, dents and the black paint is in very good condition. Options include brighter bulbs with h4 adapters, head lite modulator, euro wind deflectors over the mirrors speed bleeders on the brakes, BMW grips, tour master tank bag and tail bag. It has the stock windshield and seat.. $ 7700 or best offer. Mitch at 954 894 9595 or mitch96@pobox.com

I hope all of you got to see the 600cc race on Friday, to me that seems to be the best road race of the week. Very close racing until Mr. Yates took control with a 1 ½ laps to go, talk about sand bagging. The 200 miler on Sunday was interesting for a short period. After Roberts cooked his rear tire the race was Nicky Hayden all the way. It would be nice if we had an FIM World SuperBike track on the East Coast. Daytona would be the perfect place but Daytona International Speedway would never qualify without major reconstruction. A World Championship race in Daytona, be it GP or WSB, something we haven’t had here in a long time. Rossi up against KR.JR, on an American track, I think that would bring the road racing fans out. Oh well, when your dreaming why not dream big.

I’m beginning to adapt to the new VFR Interceptor. Its got 1400 miles on it now but it’s still tight. I’ve had a few runs with a 99 VFR800 and starting from 5000 rpm (6th gear) shutting down at 7000 rpm, the 99 model will pull away quickly. I’m a little reluctant to run it too high in the scale just yet. We’ve done the same test with my 96VFR750 and the 750 stays very close to the 99VFR800. When I get a few more miles on the 02 Model, we’ll try it with the Interceptor in the power band, 7000 rpm an up. Comfort wise I’m beginning to lean toward a set of Heli Bars. I had a go on the VFR800 with Heli Bars and it was very comfortable. By next month I’ll have a few more miles on it and we’ll see how it goes then. By the way, here is another one for Honda, where are the bags you promised for the new Interceptor??????

On April 20th we will have a Lunch Ride to Trenton FL, The Old Boarding House restaurant. I’ve invited the North Florida BMW Club to join us on this ride. This will give you a chance to kick tires and tell a few with the BMW riders. The NFL BMW Club is good group people and quite large (80 to 90 members) and I feel quite sure they will be there in numbers. The food is good at the boarding house and quite reasonable, if you didn’t make it to Trenton the last time we were there, make it a point to come this time. Mark it on your calendar APRIL 20th, lunch at 1200 noon.

Ride Safe