Va Ride: Shenandoah Mountains Loop - Sunday, May 18, 2014

Hilbily & myself have scheduled an impromptu Sunday afternoon ride around the loop from Orange, VA, to Shenandoah, VA & back on.Sunday, May 18, 2014. So far, we have 3 potential additional riders from VA to join us. If anyone from the area would like to join in, you can call or text me at 301-399-5753. I'll be meeting the first rider in Culpeper at 1200 noon at the intersection of 522 & 3, then on to Orange to meet Hilbily at 12:30, then down 20 to 33 to meet another rider at 1 p.m.

We'll be riding from there up 33 to 340 (Elkton) then up to 211 and back over the mountain to Sperryville. The plan from there is open....maybe run along Skyline Drive or back down toward Orange. Depends on the group concensus~

Look forward to meeting go some new VFR riders!

PM sent

We ended up with 5 Virginia viffers today; had a blast!  All safe & no speeding tickets--successful outing! Somehow lost the pic of the 2003.....?

Pleasure to meet all of you!

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Enjoyed it. Was a great ride. Good meeting you all and we will do it again for sure.

I had a chance to swap steeds with hilbily & ride his 2008 for a few miles.

While very smooth & great brakes, I'll keep my 5th gen, thanks~

I can say that I DO NOT prefer the VTEC engine.  Low end grunt is MUCH better on the gear-driven cam models, & from what I could gather, top end seems to be better as well.

The 2008 was much smoother, whereas the 1998 seems much more raw.

I also wish to say thanks and express my appreciation to Gary "TNRabbit" for extending the invitation to meet and ride together yesterday (5/18/14).

Unfortunately, thanks to some poor planning on my part plus a lack of assistance provided by a RV which caused ~ 15 cars to bunch-up behind the painfully-slow moving vehicle on hwy 522, I initially failed to hook up with the group after arriving nearly 15 minutes late to the initial planned meeting point in Culpepper. Thankfully I managed to catch up with the others later after they pulled over for fuel and refreshments west of the Blue Ridge at the intersection of highways 33 and 340. When we headed out again as a group of five I regularly observed heads turning in our direction as we cruised by, no doubt thanks to the harmonizing exhaust music broadcast by our v-4 engines.

I believe it may have been more than a decade since the last time I've been on highway 340 north of 33 and I had forgotten just how intoxicating views of the mountains can be through the area. Thankfully after we enjoyed a semi-spirited ride up the western side of the Blue Ridge on highway 211, I was relieved to discover local police from Sperryville were not lying in wait for us as we reached the summit and descended down the other side. Later after I led the group through Sperryville and turned south on highway 231 toward Madison, VFRD member and local resident "hilbily" jetted past me to lead us on some delightfully technical secondary roads near the eastern edge of the Blue Ridge. At the site where the annual Graves Mountain apple and blue grass festivals are held we stopped again for a nature break and became better acquainted. 

As a group we split up after passing through Madison as each of us headed for home in different directions. While hilbilly and some of the others may have only a few miles to go, unfortunately ~120 miles and more hours in the saddle still lay ahead for me.

I finally arrived home just past 6 pm after riding ~ 320 miles and spending about half of the daylight hours in the saddle. By that time my 55-year old body was making its displeasure known via some stiff limbs and more than a few aches and pains. Even so I enjoyed my first relatively long day-ride of the season and look forward to meeting and riding with my new friends again.

Thanks guys!

Carey T 

During a ride about two years ago I had a similar opportunity to trade a ride aboard my '98 5th gen for a ride on a friend's '02 6th gen. My observations relative to the pros and cons for each version were somewhat similar to those reported by TNRabbit. Like him, I felt the 6th gen engine was a bit smoother vibration-wise, but I also thought the shifting was slightly smoother and the suspension was less stiff/more compliant over rough spots in comparison to my 5th gen. So far as the V-tech's engine performance went I too was not favorably impressed and came away wondering what was the point since low-end torque seemed noticeably weaker vs. my '98 and top-end performance seemed no stronger.

Since then i've wondered if the challenges of meeting U.S. emissions standards may have been a greater contributor to the switch over to V-tech technology than  performance improvements. Also as far as I know my '98's engine is completely stock except for the addition of a TBR high mount, yet I've never felt there was any need for modifications to improve throttle response glitches...and based on what I've read it sure sounds like 5th gens may be more fuel-efficient than 6th gens. I know that I commonly manage tank averages from the high 40's up to mid-50's mpg with mine.  

As some others have lamented I would also really like to see Honda re-introduce a vfr with gear-driven cams, less weight and a displacement increase to 900 or 1000cc. However, at this point this appears to be an unlikely possibility. In any case, while there are things I like better about the 6th gen vs. my 5th (styling, improved suspension, ABS brakes, etc.), to me the cons (low rpm engine performance, V-tech switchover, & cam chain tensioner durability, high price for valve clearance inspections & adjustments) seem to balance things out.

Thankfully, I scored my '98 from the original owner just over three years ago in near-showroom condition with just over 6.2 k miles accumulated over the motorcycle's first fourteen years . Since the odometer only crossed 20k miles yesterday I'm looking forward to spending many more enjoyable miles together before one of us can't keep going any more.

Hmm, 20k miles on the original RR & wiring. Guess it may be time to place my order with Tightwad for a VFRNess and upgraded RR, for I noticed there was only ~ 13.25 volts registering at cruising speeds yesterday.

Thanks for the commentary, Carey!  It was a pleasure to ride behind & watch you carve down the east side of the mountain on 211 yesterday...you're a pro! 

My apologies for the leaving you; I was confusing your texts/calls with one of the other riders & didn't realize we'd left you behind.

I recently replaced my R/R with one of the MOSFET versions from wiremybike.com (tightwad) & have been supremely happy.  At first, I was only getting about 13.2 volts at the battery, 14.5 at the R/R connector.  I replaced my tired, old WalMart lead acid battery with an MMG Lithium Ion & have had 14.5 volts at the battery at all RPMs since then.  Starts like a champ & no issues whatsoever.  Plan on getting a VFRness soon~

Oh....and "delightfully technical" was a great way to describe those secondary roads...I had a couple of OMG moments coming around a curve to find gravel strewn through the pavement thanks to the recent flooding.  At least there were no deer standing in the middle of the road this time!