Forza vs Hayabusa & Others

[davenowherejones]

I accidently went on a group charity ride today. Yesterday I helped a neighbour pick up a 10x8 plastic garden shed with my old 2000 Dodge Dakota. I like helping my neighbour but he is one of those guys who always drives 20 mph under the speed limit. Old fart.

We went to Chilliwack Canadian Tire and found the shed out back in a flat box. They got a kid on a standup forklift to put it in the back of my truck. The kid banged into my tailgate and dented it. He backed up and came forward even harder the second time. It's an old truck so I don't really care but when he did it a third time I got annoyed and found a manager. She took pictures and said the General Manager would be back from holidays on Tuesday.

I jumped on the Forza this morning to see if I could find a cap to cover the dents on the top of the tailgate. One place said they could get me a plastic cover but it would protect nothing. The second place said my truck was too old and to GO AWAY! I then headed back to Canadian Tire but I passed my local dealer, Big Top Powersports, to get there. They had tents and hot dogs so I had to stop in for a hot dog.

I bought a raffle ticket and won a dinner for two, a New Holland T9 plastic toy tractor (1/32 scale) and a Mountainview Harley Shirt (XXL, a little big). I should have bought one of the other raffle tickets. Some guy won a brand new Kawasaki Ninja 300. Only about 100 tickets were sold.

It was now time to charity ride. The ride was to Hope and back. I live in Hope and had just rode to Chilliwack. I did this ride last year and it got stupid fast on the highway. 40 odd bikes in a large group going dangerously fast through traffic.

This year they had a large tow truck lead the ride on the #1 with his lights flashing. It slowed the group down but still dumb things happened like most of us going through red lights. I hope there were no RED LIGHT CAMERAS. It could get expensive.

The highway speed is posted at 110 kmph and the tow truck kept us at about 120 kmph. My poor Forza was in the middle of the group and was wide open throttle most of the way. Last year they hit speeds in excess of 180 kmph. No way could I keep up then. This year was no problem.

We got to Hope and had a break. I should have just gone home but I said I was doing the whole ride. The return trip was on the #7 and there were no group rules. I presume everyone went highly above the speed limit because I never saw anyone. I got back to the dealer and everyone was gone.

I headed over to Canadian Tire to find a tailgate protector. None. I headed over to Walmart to get a few groceries. I slowly went home on a lot of backroads and it was more peaceful. The Forza ran well all day. No problems with fuel. I love the mpg that I get.

I had the smallest, slowest motorcycle of the group which was no problem at legal speeds. I had no desire to go stupid fast anyway. That is one of the reasons I bought a Forza 300 so that I could keep it slow and safe.

[relic]

The lemming attitude is dangerous on the highway

[flyingzonker]

I live in Hope.

Me too.

I had a Reflex 250--which is the forerunner and direct ancestor of the Forza. I loved it a lot. I traded it in on a Burgman 400. The Burgman is more powerful, but the Reflex always had plenty of power for the way I ride.

[you you]

The lemming attitude is dangerous on the highway

It might be dangerous anywhere...

[davenowherejones]

The meal I won at the charity ride was for Bubba's Big Bites in Chilliwack. I did not want to work today so I figured I would have lunch at Bubba's. I hit the highway and then the backroads. Bubba's is open 6 days a week but not on Tuesday. Today was Tuesday. I had a McDouble at McDonalds instead. It was warm so I headed 60 km over to Chilliwack Lake. The boat launch is always good for a few laughs. All the boater's must have been sober today. Nothing dumb. I had a drink of water and watched the people.

So just to repeat myself, Bubba's is closed on Tuesday.

[Mel46]

Interesting day. If all of the charity rides are that fast, you have to wonder how many of those riders just go on the ride so that they could open it up and see how fast they can go on a public highway. That ride is just plain dangerous!

[davenowherejones]

Interesting day. If all of the charity rides are that fast, you have to wonder how many of those riders just go on the ride so that they could open it up and see how fast they can go on a public highway. That ride is just plain dangerous!

Super dangerous and the charity gets very little money. Tons of donated prizes. Kawasaki donated a Ninja 300 ABS (retail $5799) which sold about $500 worth of raffle tickets.

I won a set of Pirelli scooter tires at a big motorcycle show a long time ago. The tires were about $100 but the dealer charged me more than $100 to install them.

The tow truck leading the group was a good idea but it was an expensive way to slow down most of the people. Some of the riders in the group were very skilled riders and others had difficulty not falling over.

For the amount of work involved the charity gets a silly little amount of money.

[dkazzed]

Darn I would've bought into a raffle with a 1:100 chance of winning.

If you want to go on group rides, check out the BC Riding Community Facebook group. They have Groms and even 49ccs in the group so they don't go very fast. They have a Ride for Pie ride to Chilliwack Airport this Saturday.

[Mel46]

So the next time they are going to give away a Ninja 300 let us know. We can send you a $1 each and if you win you take turns riding with a picture of each contributor's pcx. That way we will all feel included! :-)

Then we can each say that our pcx did 80 mph.... :-)