1989 Honda PC800 Pacific Coast – Page 113

December 4, 2009July 1, 2020

December Bike Night

On Wednesday I stopped by the monthly Corvallis Bike Night at the downtown American Dream Pizza. This was the first time I was able to go to one of these events. It is unfortunate that they are always on Wednesdays when I have meetings. Total distance of this ride was just under 10 miles.

My bike was pretty cold-blooded at first but after blowing the cobwebs off it did okay. I will have to take it on a longer ride soon to see if it gets happier once it’s warmed up properly.

I bought gas on the ride. 2.69 gallons. The bike’s fuel gauge indicated empty but with 4 or 4.5 gallons total in a tank that means I could have gone another 50 or more miles before the situation got critical. Nice to know I have that sort of margin. My gas mileage on my first tank of regular was 48.7 mpg. I went 131 miles on the tank. The price difference of 20 cents per gallon between premium and regular means that I ended up paying slightly MORE per mile using regular. Using premium I was averaging $0.05733 per mile while using regular I got $0.05827 per mile. However the last tank of regular included about 20 minutes of idling in traffic. I will run another tank or two of regular to see how it continues to perform. If it keeps being marginally less economical to use regular, I will try out plus. If that is still less economic, I will switch back to premium.

My Route Map

November 27, 2009July 1, 2020

Motorcycle Rain Dance

Yesterday I had the distinct pleasure to ride my motorcycle in the rain for the very first time. After putting on two layers of undergarments to keep me warm, my riding gear, a layer of goretex rain gear, and a layer of plastic rain gear I mounted my bike in a downpour. It was touch and go heading down my parents steep and twisty driveway. On the highway I ran into a big traffic jam going into Dundee. I stalled my bike about halfway through it but it fired right back up again. The clutch was being a bit touchy. Perhaps that’s the benefit of premium gasoline?

I discovered that I can keep my visor from fogging if I leave it open one click to allow air (and rain) to flow along the inside. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to see on the way down. Even with my visor clear, it was still difficult with all the fog and water flying everywhere. When I got to Corvallis I was very happy to be off the bike but also a little sad. It was fun riding in the rain!

Route Map

November 27, 2009July 1, 2020

A Pacific Coast on the Pacific Coast for the first time

On Wednesday I rode my motorcycle up to Newberg to check on the llamas and stay the night at my parents place. Rather than go up the normal route along 99W I decided to take the scenic coast highway. It just so happens that the motorcycle is named after the highway. Yes, I was riding a Pacific Coast on the Pacific Coast.

I went 146 miles total. I bought gas in Lincoln City. I had gone 138.4 miles on the last tank. The bike took 2.611 gallons and the gas gage was showing empty. The bike holds a total of about 4 gallons so I still had more than a gallon in reserve. It’s nice to have that sort of safety margin. Mileage on the last tank was 53mpg. However this was on a tank of premium. This time I decided to switch to regular to see how the bike runs. The manual says it should be only fed regular. I’ll report back in a few weeks about how the regular works and what mileage I get.

Coming back into the valley after the balmy sunny 60 degree coast I nearly froze to death in the low-hanging wet, dark fog. It was very nice to get to my parents place and thaw out.

Route Map