C 400 GT: First Day Trip (Videos, Or It Didn't Happen)

[wspollack]

As mentioned elsewhere on the forum, I picked up my new C 400 GT from Max BMW about a week and a half ago. Family, life, chores, rain, etc., got in the way, such that it was only yesterday that I managed to get my first day trip in.

Here are a couple of videos from that trip, which was mostly riding the back roads of Columbia and Dutchess counties in NY. As I've done with prior bikes, I have a GoPro mounted to the front of the windshield. The first video is an eight-minute chunk of a section of Columbia Cty. Rt. 8, and the second is a four-minute chunk, returning back to Albany (following my riding buddy on his R 1200 RT).

 

[Delray]

Nice vids. That GoPro on the windshield is smooth as silk. Loved seeing a bit of New York's capital (I went to SUNY Albany) and the surrounding countryside, which looks very similar to the Finger Lakes below Rochester, which is where my C 650 GT will be parked from mid-July through mid-September. Not sure yet if I'm going to use Amtrak's Auto Train from Florida to D.C. and ride the rest of the way or ship the bike door-to-door and fly up. I'm thinking for the return trip I will ride all the way from NYS to Florida. Love riding in Fall temperatures.

 

[wspollack]

Nice vids. That GoPro on the windshield is smooth as silk. Loved seeing a bit of New York's capital (I went to SUNY Albany) and the surrounding countryside, which looks very similar to the Finger Lakes below Rochester, which is where my C 650 GT will be parked from mid-July through mid-September. Not sure yet if I'm going to use Amtrak's Auto Train from Florida to D.C. and ride the rest of the way or ship the bike door-to-door and fly up. I'm thinking for the return trip I will ride all the way from NYS to Florida. Love riding in Fall temperatures.

I lived in Latham from c. 3 yrs. old until 18 (and never really left the area, except for a couple of colleges and the Army).

Seems like a lot of hassle -- pre-planning and money -- re that train transport, which is not all that long, right? Back in '97, I think it was, I rode my R850R from Albany to Miami (and back) to visit a daughter who was living there at the time). Took two or three days, of course.

Let me know when you're out by Rochester. Maybe we could meet for lunch and a ride somewhere in between.

 

[Delray]

"Seems like a lot of hassle -- pre-planning and money -- re that train transport"

There is a motorcycle shipper in my town that travels to the Northeast at the end of every month. $695 door to door with covered transport.

Re: Amtrak, I watched a couple YouTube vids about the process. Ride the bike right into a chock, two guys are waiting to strap it down and load the whole trailer on the train. I'd leave Florida at 5:00 p.m. and roll into Virginia outside D.C. at 9:00 a.m. That covers 800 miles while I sleep in a roomette -- for about the same cost as door-to-door. It also assumes a wildly optimistic belief that Amtrak will be on time.

Problem I have with riding up in July is Florida summer sun (and Georgia, South Carolina, et al.). I can deal with heat if there is cloud cover. I can deal with direct sun if temperatures are moderate. But heat + direct sun = Wicked Witch of the West. In short, I melt. Return trip shouldn't be an issue because I am likely to have pleasant Fall temps all the way home.

Will definitely advise when I'm in Rochacha. Would love to meet and spend a little quality time around a C 400 GT. As I get older, I'm thinking that bike may be in my future, so I'm starting to learn about it. Luckily, that is several years distant.

 

[wspollack]

"Seems like a lot of hassle -- pre-planning and money -- re that train transport"

There is a motorcycle shipper in my town that travels to the Northeast at the end of every month. $695 door to door with covered transport.

Re: Amtrak, I watched a couple YouTube vids about the process. Ride the bike right into a chock, two guys are waiting to strap it down and load the whole trailer on the train. I'd leave Florida at 5:00 p.m. and roll into Virginia outside D.C. at 9:00 a.m. That covers 800 miles while I sleep in a roomette -- for about the same cost as door-to-door. It also assumes a wildly optimistic belief that Amtrak will be on time.

Problem I have with riding up in July is Florida summer sun (and Georgia, South Carolina, et al.). I can deal with heat if there is cloud cover. I can deal with direct sun if temperatures are moderate. But heat + direct sun = Wicked Witch of the West. In short, I melt. Return trip shouldn't be an issue because I am likely to have pleasant Fall temps all the way home.

Will definitely advise when I'm in Rochacha. Would love to meet and spend a little quality time around a C 400 GT. As I get older, I'm thinking that bike may be in my future, so I'm starting to learn about it. Luckily, that is several years distant.

Well, a sleeper car seems like a nice way to spend an evening/overnight, and you avoid the daytime heat of riding. Sounds interesting.

OTOH, I have an alternative five-point plan for your consideration:

- Fly from Florida to Albany. They practically give away such flights.
- Stay overnight at my house. Free.
- Buy the 650 Burgman Exec I have for sale. See www.burgmanusa.com/threads/2008-650-exec-c-56k-miles-nicely-farkled-for-sale-albany-ny-area-pics-video-added.177746/ and www.billanddot.com/2008-Burgman-Exec-For-Sale/ .
- Ride it the next morning -- and the next several months -- to and around Rochacha.
- Leave the Big Burger there, and fly home in September. Repeat as necessary.

 

[Delray]

"alternative five-point plan for your consideration ...."

Funny you mention that. I searched upstate New York for older BMW's, Burgman 650's and Honda Silver Wings. I'm aware flights are cheap and figured, "Hey, for the money I'll spend on shipping, maybe I should just buy an older one ...."

Couple hurdles, though. Age, mileage and registration are not what I look for in a bike. In fact, with registration, Florida DMV has an odious $400 "new to the state" surcharge. Plus, I'm not even sure how I'd register it from six states away.

Best I can do is suggest a four-point counter-proposal to your five-point alternative plan:

1. I fly to Albany in mid-July.
2. Stay at your house and we ride together. Mandatory stop at Colonial Quad on SUNY campus.
3. I depart for Rochester, renting the bike from you @ $750 a month for two months. At $1,500 total, you put half of your asking price in your pocket for the cost of a couple thousand miles added to the odometer -- and you still have the bike to sell. You could lower the price to $2,000, sell it within a day, and come out $500 ahead.
4. I return the bike in mid-September and fly home to Florida.

Of course, standard, "you break it, you bought it" rules would apply. One-page written agreement + handshake. I have zero drops and accidents in 44 years of riding and I'm not about to start now. I'd be more worried about something breaking down on the bike and how would that be handled?

I like creative thinking. Always good to consider new possibilities.

 

[wspollack]

Interesting. No trips to the west coast for you, though, no Iron Butt runs.

 

[Delray]

Haha, there goes my dream ride of seven continents in seven weeks!

I'd be fine with a mileage ceiling.

Speaking of west coast, though, if you feel like an Iron Butt ride ... Corbin in Hollister, California makes a free seat for riders who bring in new-to-them bikes. You pick out the design and colors, they make the seat same-day and they acquire the specs to build and sell more of those seats. They don't offer a C 400 GT seat so apparently no one has offered that bike for a day.

 

[wspollack]

Haha, there goes my dream ride of seven continents in seven weeks!

I'd be fine with a mileage ceiling.

Speaking of west coast, though, if you feel like an Iron Butt ride ... Corbin in Hollister, California makes a free seat for riders who bring in new-to-them bikes. You pick out the design and colors, they make the seat same-day and they acquire the specs to build and sell more of those seats. They don't offer a C 400 GT seat so apparently no one has offered that bike for a day.

Sorry, it turns out that there would be insurmountable insurance issues. So the bike's only for sale, not rental.

 

[Delray]

Too bad. Would have been fun to ride a 1st generation Burgman 650.

For what it's worth, I've had tremendous luck finding quality buyers on CycleTrader. Seems like that's where the aficionados go -- people who really know the B650 or Silver Wing, etc. I think your bike, with its veritable Wikipedia listing of Every Possible Farkle, would be especially attractive to a B650 fan.

 

[wspollack]

Okay, thanks, I’ll look into that.