Relief from dreadful RV gas mileage

[Geocritter]

Hi all y’all,

I had to get some relief from the dreadful gas mileage these RV’s get, hence my new toad, or perhaps Unconcealed Carry Vehicle (UCV) is a more appropriate term.



What you’re looking at is a 1990 Kawasaki KLR 250. I just purchased it the other day for $800. It has less than 8,000 miles on the odometer, weighs 260lbs, can cruise all day at 70mph and gets 60-70mpg. For the time being I’ll be traveling with it and my Dodge Caravan. However, if it turns out to be as useful as I suspect, it’ll be bye bye Caravan, hello Kawasaki! I’ve been looking for one of these bad boys for quite a while. Though my testosterone wanted a KLR 650, at 400lbs I felt it was simply too heavy to easily carry on the rear of my RV.

FWIW for nearly 6 years in college my primary transportation was on motorcycles. Since 1966 I’ve owned about a dozen motorcycles, everything from a Honda 50 to a Honda Goldwing with a 750cc Norton Atlas and a 1947 Indian in between. Any speculation about my imminent crash and subsequent demise will fall on deaf ears.

Steve

[Alan_Hepburn]

fj12ryder wrote:
I've always thought sidecars were cool, but never have wanted to own one. Kind of blurry and hard to tell what kind of bike it is. Looks like an Earles fork though, so maybe BMW? Surely not a Ural?

Yup, that's a 2006 Ural Tourist! They use leading link forks on the sidecar models, along with a Brembo floating disk brake. It's a one-wheel-drive model; they also make two-wheel drive models with a drive shaft connected to the sidecar wheel but we didn't feel that we needed that complexity for the riding we do.

The Ural is modeled after the late 1930s BMW R71 - Russia received the tooling, drawings, etc. for it from Germany through the Ribbentrop Pact because Germany had recently updated their military from the R71 to the R75. When the War broke out Russia just kept on building the bikes for their military. After the War they continued, although at a slower pace. About 20 or so years ago the factory was converted from government ownership to private ownership and currently they build about 1000 bikes a year for the world market, with about 75% of them being imported to the US. The 2014 models will even have fuel injection replacing the Keihin carbs that are used now. It is currently undergoing EPA testing here in California.

[Geocritter]

I've always liked sidecars. My bike is probably a bit small to consider one, but if in the future I sell my Caravan, who knows?

Steve

[fj12ryder]

I've always thought sidecars were cool, but never have wanted to own one. Kind of blurry and hard to tell what kind of bike it is. Looks like an Earles fork though, so maybe BMW? Surely not a Ural?

[Alan_Hepburn]

You want a motorcycle that can carry a decent load of groceries, and will have you surrounded by admirers of all sorts? Here's what follows OUR motorhome around a lot:



It's got old-school charm, is a TON of fun to ride, and even comes in a two-wheel-drive model for riding in snow, sand, and mud! We do Patriot Guard missions with it, and when we pull into a parking lot filled with uncounted thousands of dollars' worth of Harleys all the riders are crowded around US, admiring the rig - almost makes you feel sorry for those Harley owners!

[Geocritter]

Jim-Linda wrote:
Never, ever, leave your driveway without a rainsuit.. never, ever, ride with a slick rear tire.. you are always invisible to other drivers. Ain't it a blast!!!

Jim

Believe it or not, though they look like slick tires, those are new tires on the bike. It's how road tires are designed these days.

For more than a few years I lived in Naperville IL and commuted by train into the city. There was no parking available for cars but there was for motorcycles so through much of the winter I'd ride my motorcycle two miles to the train station. If it was really cold I'd put on a snowmobile suit. Back in 1966 I road my motorcycle from Chicago to Carbondale (350 miles) in January. On that trip I was able to experience the early effects of hypothermia first hand. After the shivering would stop the blood would leave my extremities to heat my body core. Fortunately for me, when that happened I could no longer hold the throttle open and I'd have to pull off the road to warm up again. That one thing probably saved my life (LOL). It took me 12 hours to get to Carbondale, the coldest 12 hours of my life!

However, with that said, having a motorcycle in Carbondale was worth it though. Coeds loved motorcycles!

Steve

[VAfan]

We were thinking about taking a motorcycle last week while in Hershey PA. Solves the "someone with no transportation problem" when we have different interests.

I like the size……just need to figure out how to mount it – have a Suburban and a travel trailer.

[wa8yxm]

I see only two problems with a bike like that one (And to be honest I'd love one) and for this reason I recommend you keep the hard top.

One: As much as I'd love to be in South Carolina enjoying the warmth and the music (Church Choir) my cardiologist says "not yet" so here I am stuck in MI and when I cleared the LOW TEMP memory on my outside thermomemter it mentioned 32(f) (0C) as the low it had recorded over the last couple days.. CHILLY.

Of course you could ride with a Snowmobile suit and helmet on.

Second.. Choir practice goes on rain or shine.. And I'd hate riding one of those in a 40 degree (F) Rain.

[Jim-Linda]

Never, ever, leave your driveway without a rainsuit.. never, ever, ride with a slick rear tire.. you are always invisible to other drivers. Ain't it a blast!!!

Jim

[old_guy]

I envy you. I love to ride. only with my age and hips I can't get my leg over the seat any more. so I have to ride a Honda scooter. BUT the main thing is I can still ride. when I was much younger I rode every where. I love the life style and enjoyed every minute of it, rain or shine. hope you enjoy your ride.

[westend]

Nice find, Steve! I was thinking along the same lines, a small off-road bike for putting around.
I think I may have a line on some older Honda's that may fit the bill. No where near my old Husqvarna 400's but I don't want to disturb the neighbors, either.

[pkunk]

My toad

[Kennedycamper]

Awesome. I have been trying to scheme a way to have a small motorcycle with me when we travel.

[wbwood]

Was thinking the other day about the idea of getting a couple of moped type scooters. Won't go fast, but that's ok. Would only be used for slower urban areas. Only thing is that some of the parks we stay in, wont allow you to keep them on site.

[We_Cant_Wait]

My current TOAD is a 2005 Honda Shadow Aero that I tow behind the coach. I bought a bracket from "billybob1.com" that the front wheel straps into and then the rear wheel is on the ground and I just tow it. Nice thing about this set-up is 1) very little weight(approx. 300lbs) on the rear of the coach as opposed to a M/C lift, 2) I can still back the coach up with the M/C on the ground without having to dismount the M/C.