Totally forgot to post this... LOL

On 4/4 we had our first large group ride [edit: of the season] for distance - again from Chicago and out to Starved Rock. The person who put the ride together (one of my regular riding pals) had me lead, after we stopped by his friends place to pick up a few more bikes...

So... we had the obligatory stop & pose by the windfarm. 15 bikes in the pose this time. This was actually the largest turnout of Kawis we have had in a while... 2x ZX6, 2x ZX14 and my ZX9. If you look closely you can also see a 1992 Yamaha GTS 1000 in the middle - this has the single-sided FRONT swingarm.

 

I also did some research on the windmill units a while back...

GE Model 1.5 SLE

Approximately 200 feet tall at the hub, 125 foot long blades making it 325 feet with a blade at 12 o'clock. The entire field generates 99 Megawatts of power at 1500kW ea, with winds at about 27MPH average.

It will be self-sufficient with winds as low as 0.8MPH, and can run in winds up to 62MPH before automatically stopping itself and pitching the wings back to not catch wind. The blades sweep a coverage area of over 15250 square feet per windmill.

I didn't know until after my first trip out there that one of our sister companies makes the pitch control motors for the blades on these. If you go to the Chicago MOSI - one of the hubs for these is on display there, and you can actually walk right through it.

 

Those group rides are addictive as hell. Riding by yourself is a lot of fun. Riding with a group is a lot more fun.

 

Yeah, so long as you lay down some ground rules first... get too many squidlets too early in the year with something to prove, and there is bound to be a wreck. I love leading group rides. It is strange, but usually a lot of my friends who put rides together end up asking me to lead. I don't get that. Same thing happened on this one.

I give a thorough yet stern "riders meeting" before we head out - "you can have a fun, spirited ride without being a complete toolbag in the process and putting others in the group who are familiar with riding together at risk. Don't out-ride your abilities - yes everyone else here IS better than you, so don't try to hang with them in the corners - no fly-bys, no attempting to stunt in the middle of the pack, lane-splitting, cutting people off, etc etc. Those who can't follow those simple instructions will be excused from the ride - by force if necessary. "

I have excused people from rides before, and even threatened to slash tires on one guys bike last year in order for him to understand my point. Myself and 3 others excused him from the ride and he said he will just ride with us anyhow and ride how he rides - I walked over to his bike, opened the knife, held it over the tire and said, "Are you sure about that?". He pissed and moaned, but got the point and left.

 

Nice ride, Steve! Excellent organization. I've been on too many of the "AMA superstars" rides where the speed junkies think they have to leave the rest of us in the dust. I usually bow out and just go home. Glad to see a group demonstrate enough self control to enable everyone to have a good time.
(Still have your 9? I thought you were trying to sell it a year or so ago?)

 

Looked lika a good ride Srob!

 

Cool pics, man. I like riding with a few people, definitely makes the ride more fun. Get too many, though, and it's too hard to get everyone going in the same direction at the same time. Anywhere from 2 to a dozen is cool with me, with 3 to 5 being optimal, IMO. At least for off-road stuff. May be different for you slab guys, I have no experience there.

 

Yeah, group rides are no place for squids.

 

I generally ride with anywhere between 3 an 25 in a group.

 

Yeah, I did list it last year to see what it would field - but no one wants to pay book value for a 12 year old bike that looks like it just rolled off the showroom floor... so I kept it

Look for the post in this thread that has a 2009 date in it, and read from there

https://www.kawasakiforums.com/forum...ad.php?t=22899