Author Topic: STAR 2016 Vermont  (Read 22495 times)

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Offline Brick

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STAR 2016 Vermont
« on: June 27, 2016, 08:15:14 AM »
STAR 2016 in Vermont has been beautiful so far! The weather is fantastic!

With Honda demo truck here Chris Jernigan took yesterday and rode 5 of the bikes Honda brought! Great fun! I do like the Africa Twin and while it's not a replacement for my Super Tenere it is a much better off road bike than the Tenere'. That being said the Tenere is a much better touring bike than the Africa Twin... in my opinion. YMMV!

Patricia flew in yesterday and so tomorrow when it's a 40% chance of rain we will drive to Ben and Gerry's. ;-)

Today I'm thinking of riding to Fort Ticonderoga.

Brick
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Offline Brick

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2016, 08:42:52 AM »
Ok both Patricia and I won door prizes.

I wanted to Thank these and all the vendors for donations to our club/event.
Here is a photo of Stratton mountain resorts Black bear lodge.


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Offline Paco Bulto

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #2 on: June 28, 2016, 09:34:03 AM »


With Honda demo truck here Chris Jernigan took yesterday and rode 5 of the bikes Honda brought! Great fun! I do like the Africa Twin and while it's not a replacement for my Super Tenere it is a much better off road bike than the Tenere'. That being said the Tenere is a much better touring bike than the Africa Twin... in my opinion. YMMV!



Hi Brick,

My opinion on the AT is the same as yours. A lot of fun off road, but I won't be replacing my Super Tenere with one. I'll continue to use my DR350 and DR435 for that.

Have a great time at STAR.

Fred Z.

(Taking good care of Donna after her recent back surgery)

Offline HawkGTRider

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #3 on: June 28, 2016, 10:18:08 AM »
Notes from the Members' Meeting at STAR 2016 in Vermont...

President Dennis Villarose introduced each of the Executive Board members.

Door prize winners are posted on the door of room 217 around the corner from the desk. Times to pick up any item you won are posted in the schedule of events.

Sanctioned events for the rest of the calendar year were highlighted.

Dennis highlighted the seminars scheduled for Tuesday evening.

Vice President Ann Redner presented several opportunities for volunteers. They include the national event coordinator (after 10+ years, Jon Sr and Janet Campbell are stepping down), STAR registrar (Harry Hemstreet is stepping down after 10 years, but he would be pleased to work with someone new for next year's STAR to help ease the transition), and Michigan state director.

We have new Dan Clark fund coordinators, and the checks for items submitted are scheduled to go out around the end of July.

Awards
The MSTA State Director of the Year award was presented to Patrick Mogavero of Kentucky.
The MSTA State Newsletter of the Year was awarded to Don Moe of Florida.
The MSTA State Web Site of the Year was presented to Van VanSteelant and Kim Longacre of Florida.

Membership report
Mike Tissandier, our membership director, announced that due to a system crash early in the year, several hundred renewal reminders have just recently gone out. Our membership currently stands at around 1300.
The vast majority of new members come to the club through recruitment by current members.
We are looking at signing up for an automated service to handle some of the membership duties, and we need additional volunteers to assist with mailings, etc.

After a brief question and answer session, we adjourned to the ice cream social provided by the hotel.
Geoffrey Greene
MSTA Ride For Kids Coordinator, MSTA Secretary (retired), TN-STAR and Tri-STAR Coordinator (retired)
Difficult roads can lead to beautiful destinations.

Offline HawkGTRider

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #4 on: June 28, 2016, 03:06:35 PM »
Having the Honda demo fleet here has been delightful. I've taken the opportunity to ride an NC700X (I liked it), a CB500X (I liked it), an Africa Twin (I LIKED it), a CB500F (I liked it), and a VFR1200X (it's not for me).


The roads in the southern Vermont area can be a little sneaky in places, definitely show wear and tear from tough winter months, and are pretty slow going in places with a little village seemingly every few miles with a 25 mph limit. But I'm extremely pleased to have had the opportunity to come here. I've passed through Vermont on a couple of occasions, but never had the chance to really visit. I haven't visited extensively this time either, but more so than in the past. In 3-5 days, all you can do is get an overview of an area anyhow, and I've done that. I'm pleased STAR was here this year.
Geoffrey Greene
MSTA Ride For Kids Coordinator, MSTA Secretary (retired), TN-STAR and Tri-STAR Coordinator (retired)
Difficult roads can lead to beautiful destinations.

Offline Brick

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #5 on: June 28, 2016, 07:33:11 PM »


With Honda demo truck here Chris Jernigan took yesterday and rode 5 of the bikes Honda brought! Great fun! I do like the Africa Twin and while it's not a replacement for my Super Tenere it is a much better off road bike than the Tenere'. That being said the Tenere is a much better touring bike than the Africa Twin... in my opinion. YMMV!



Hi Brick,

My opinion on the AT is the same as yours. A lot of fun off road, but I won't be replacing my Super Tenere with one. I'll continue to use my DR350 and DR435 for that.

Have a great time at STAR.

Fred Z.

(Taking good care of Donna after her recent back surgery)

Hi Fred,
Oh I wish Donna a speedy recovery!



Let's Ride!
Brick
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Offline TN2Wheeler

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #6 on: June 28, 2016, 09:34:13 PM »
I rode both of the manual shift Africa Twins (but not the DCT model). The one with street tires and hard bags I rode with the group and then I had a 45 minute 1 on 1 on the AT wearing knobbies largely off pavement with Doug Westley. Most know that my interests these days are dual sport and adventure riding/touring more than sport touring so my comments come that perspective.

Bottom line I REALLY like the bike. It's more of a real adventure bike than a adventure bike look alike. I love the motor. Nice progressive power with gobs of torque and a very satisfying MOTORCYLE sound. I thought the suspension was surprisingly good for a production Japanese bike. We didn't ride any really knarly stuff but it just seemed to glide over the chatter bumps and washouts on the gravel roads we rode. The seat was OK and ergonomics were very good for me (I'm tall) and I could stand comfortably. ABS works well (couldn't lock the wheels) and the rear can be turned off while moving. Traction control has 4 levels of influence. With it turned off completely the rear end will break loose off pavement with any big handfull of throttle. In the highest position the bike won't spin at all. Whacking the throttle wide open sounds like the engine drops back to only 1 cylinder.

Being 500ish pounds it's not quite as "dirty" as my DR650 but it's a MUCH better adventure tourer and is surprisingly capable on maintained unpaved roads. I LIKE it! I'd trade my V-Strom for one in a heartbeat except for the small matter of the $13k price tag. But hey, after I win the BMW F800GT tomorrow night, I'll just trade it for one ;-)
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Offline stevegrab

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2016, 12:33:21 AM »
I rode 3 demo bikes, and enjoyed them all (Interceptor, CBR1000R, CB1100F), not sure I'd buy any but each had plusses and minuses. My brother Richard rode several demo bikes, all in our group of 4 did as did so many others. Thanks to Honda. :-)

Great event with fine weather, great roads and things to see, and of course the greatest people around with MSTA.

Capped off by my bro winning the bike.  WOW!

Thanks to the EC and the many many great volunteers who do so much for us.
Steve Grabowski
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Offline stevegrab

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2016, 04:27:23 PM »
Turns out Richard will be riding the BMW back home. His VFR was exhibiting symptoms of an impending regular/rectifier failure and we decided this was the better plan. So the VFR was taken to a shop near Rutland VT and we're staying another day before heading for home, and hoping to return on the 4th to bring it back home on Tuesday.

I know the winner hasn't been present often, so riding the bike home would be even more rare. Has it been done before? Some strange karma going on here. We'll make sure to take pictures and videos.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2016, 04:29:36 PM by stevegrab »
Steve Grabowski
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Offline RIDEMYST

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2016, 06:55:27 PM »
I want those pics for the photo site!!!!! -JEP-


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Offline Brick

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2016, 08:29:35 AM »
From my recollection it's not been done before. In the HSTA days when we always had Honda bike as the raffle bike the actual bike the winner got was not present at the event. We would select which model we wanted as our raffle bike and Honda would take one of those bikes and set it aside in the warehouse with our name on it. Then the winner would tell which dealer he/she wanted to pick it up from. Honda would then ship it to that dealer and the winner would pick it up. Now I remember hearing that in the early years Honda actually donated a few of our raffle bikes and were present with the demo truck. I don't know if they brought it along or not. Perhaps Moose knows.
Either way it's very cool that he won and is now riding it home.


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Brick
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Offline RichGrab

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2016, 08:34:09 AM »
I want those pics for the photo site!!!!! -JEP-
 We will be sure and send them to you Jim but may be a week or so. Enjoy your trip.

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Offline touringman

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2016, 09:59:03 PM »
I only rode the CB500X, and the NC 700X, which has the same drive train as my CTX 700. Suspension and seat were my only nit picks with both bikes. I was impressed with the power and agility of the little 500, but it's got a one hour seat. The rebound damping sucks, and I'll bet it will beat you to death. So, you'll spend more on those two items, if you plan to be satisfied with this bike. The NC700X was also disappointing to me for exactly the same reasons. Honda is hurting themselves, especially with experienced riders, by using such bargain basement components. I have put longer spacers in the forks of my CTX, both to stiffen and to raise the front end a little. The new dog bones I made for the rear raised it up to match the front. I don't know how my suspension differs from the NC 700, but it is superior in every way, offering better feed back, and a more compliant ride. The CTX averaged 60 to 65 mpg with everything but the kitchen sink in the bags and top case. That improved to 68 to 70 with just the top case. I had no problem cruising Int. 64 at 80 when fully loaded on the way home. Huge horsepower is somewhat overrated, in my humble opinion. Syd
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Offline HawkGTRider

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2016, 08:10:09 AM »



I only rode the CB500X, and the NC 700X, which has the same drive train as my CTX 700. Suspension and seat were my only nit picks with both bikes. I was impressed with the power and agility of the little 500, but it's got a one hour seat. The rebound damping sucks, and I'll bet it will beat you to death. So, you'll spend more on those two items, if you plan to be satisfied with this bike. The NC700X was also disappointing to me for exactly the same reasons. Honda is hurting themselves, especially with experienced riders, by using such bargain basement components. I have put longer spacers in the forks of my CTX, both to stiffen and to raise the front end a little. The new dog bones I made for the rear raised it up to match the front. I don't know how my suspension differs from the NC 700, but it is superior in every way, offering better feed back, and a more compliant ride. The CTX averaged 60 to 65 mpg with everything but the kitchen sink in the bags and top case. That improved to 68 to 70 with just the top case. I had no problem cruising Int. 64 at 80 when fully loaded on the way home. Huge horsepower is somewhat overrated, in my humble opinion. Syd
I test rode the NC700X, a CB500X, the Africa Twin, and the VFR1200X. Part of my personal definition of performance is good fuel economy, so I was watching the mpg indicator on the dash of each bike along with everything else. I tend to accelerate pretty gently although I eventually get up to a decent speed.
The 500 started my ride indicating 66.7 mpg, but was over 67 by the end of my ride. I'd venture a guess that you could average 75 mpg pretty easily with a reasonable throttle hand. You might have to do a little tap dancing on the shifter of this bike, but its torque surprised me. It would pull away in a fairly high gear from pretty low rpms. It's a lightweight bike and has the fit and finish of one commiserate of a bike in this price range.
The 700 was the DCT version. I guess if you had one of these and rode it along with shifting bikes you'd get better at making the adjustments, but I was still reaching for the clutch and pressing the non-existent shift lever at the end of my test ride. There is plenty of torque in this low rpm engine. The DCT always shifted well below the rev limiter. One of the guys I know back home had a non-DCT NC700, and he said he was always banging into the red line.
The Africa Twin was really nice and I liked it a lot. The 3-level-plus-off traction control switch was on the left handgrip and could be changed on the fly. Easy peasy. My ride included a few miles on dirt/gravel roads, and I could easily feel the traction control kicking in when set on the most intrusive level. But even on the loose stuff, I never noticed any big change when on a less intrusive setting. ABS to the rear wheel can be disabled on the fly, but not the front wheel (seems reasonable to me, but some more aggressive riders might wish otherwise). Did I say I liked it? I did.
Oh, the VFR1200X was a big heavy tall thing with a beyond touchy throttle. Massive grunt from the engine, but overall, this bike just isn't for me. I'm not the target demographic, but I can't imagine much of anyone shelling out the bucks for this bike.
« Last Edit: July 02, 2016, 08:14:33 AM by HawkGTRider »
Geoffrey Greene
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Difficult roads can lead to beautiful destinations.

Offline GlibGuy

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Re: STAR 2016 Vermont
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2016, 09:35:48 AM »
At the Killington lunch ride place I found a bungee outside on the upper level.  Since we were some of the last to arrive (we almost missed the food), I put the bungee in my tank bag and meant to turn it in to lost and found.  Since it was still in my tank bag when I got home yesterday I thought I'd post a thread that I have it.  It's black with green and white dashes and about 19' long (before it's stretched).   Let me know if it belongs to you and I'll get it back to you (somehow).


Hope everyone got home safe and see you in Colorado Springs if not before.


Mickey Tyler
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