[955Matt]

*to start with, thank you forum members and moderators for being welcoming, pleasant and helpful. I'm (or have been) a member of some other moto-forums that were not so.

Went out for the first long(ish), ride from home in Santa Ana to camping overnight at Lake Isabella and back, about 450 miles total. Its been about 20 years since I drove on 178 and said "someday I've GOT to do this on a motorcycle" - finally got around to it, and promptly got stuck behind a long, slow line of cars. But still a great ride and getting the GTL out in its preferred element was... amazing. What a machine. Now it's ready for break in service and to really open it up

Notes in the popular grins and gripes format:

The Grins:

• What a machine!
• I can't quite say "all day comfort"; more like "about 90 minutes comfort" - but by the same token, there's not many places I can sit it the same spot for more than 90 minutes without needing to move around. So yeah, comfort!
• Cruise control - I know it's old hat to most here, but I've not had it on a bike before. I never used for more than a minute or 2 to stretch my hand and arm, but wow that makes it easy
• Going. Just in general. Engine, throttle, gearbox, handling. Just a joy to ride.
• Highway 178. Even at sightseeing pace, great motorcycle road.

The Gripes:

• I never cared about cruise control, let alone ACC - I finally tried it and in about 3 seconds I wished it had ACC.
• I wasn't sure about the windscreen before I got out and really moving, now I'm windscreen shopping. With the stock one there's a specific spot that's tolerable for wind and buffeting, but still not great, and worse for the passenger. I'm leaning towards Klock Werks unless theres a convincing reason not to.
• I am not good at fishing. (Im not blaming BMW for that)
• This is an exceedingly small nit to pick, but why put a chrome piece on the top box where you're gonna be touching it all the time! It's a fingerprint magnet. Along the same lines, Black Smoke Metallic is like a dirt highlighter.
• The Redverz tent poles dont fit in any of the cases. This is more a redverz problem than a bike or case problem. Turned out for the better anyway, as it was WINDY on day one, and the redverz tent is not great in the wind. My two man Mountain Hardware did the job admirably and left a lot more storage room available.

Some random guy offered to share his doobij at this spot. I did not partake. But this bike gets a lot of attention at gas stops!

Beauty shot.

There was one other person camped at the far end of the Paradise Cove campground, otherwise had the place to myself. It is neither paradise nor a cove, but not a bad place to spend the afternoon and evening after a good days, (really 1/2 days) ride. Lake Isabella in the distance, my camp set up in the not so distant. It was about a 20 minute hike to get down to the water. I could have taken the bike down the dirt road to get there, but I am not at all confident in my dirt skills on this bike. And good thing I didn't, there was a few spots that could very easily have gone wrong side up.

I told you there would be fish:

This is a catch, not bait.

His slightly older brother.

 

[955Matt]

... check out the Motorcycle Camping Facebook Group

Hah! That group is nuts - its either full trailers for an overnight trip or "If you need more than a short piece of string and a bandanna for a RTW trip you're doing it wrong".

I have taken the Redverz tent on the my XR a couple times - it is neither small nor light, but it is comfortable. I probably did look like the "really loaded down" type you mention!