So it was finally time to go on my first long journey on the 14. Thursday April 30th, longest day of work in my life, you know how it is before a big trip they hours just drag on and on. 5pm comes and home i go to pick up the Monster and also the wife. We head out for the first leg of the trip down to my parents house in Big Springs aka shits springs. Little town with nothing to do, 100 miles south of where I live now. First leg went by really quick, 100miles aint shit on this bike, butt felt great, were as the gixxer 1k would wear me out after 100miles. Redlined a few gears with the wife on the back, she was really impressed, got off and said "wow that thing really is a monster" I got to stretch the legs on the beast for the first time and hit an indicated 160mph. On past bikes that speed was kinda scary but on this thing it is so smooth it just asks you to keep going faster! So we get to my parents house and drink beer with my dad talk about the trip for the next day, my brother and his wife rollin in around 11pm tailoring the 10R. We get it unloaded and have a few more beers before we call it a night. Friday May 1st, we get up around 730 get the bikes ready, pick up burritos and wait on the rest of our group to show up. 9am we hit the road heading south to a biker rally in Fredericksburg Tx 233 miles away. Me and the wife on the 14, my bro and his wife on the zx10R, my parents on their harleys, and 4 of their friends each on harleys. Nice little mixed pack of 8 bikes. We hang with the harleys about 10miles and by then the 14 has had enough of the 70mph speed limit so I let her stretch her legs, hit some double digit speeds then settle into a 98mph cruising speed, 10R by my side, we wont be seeing the harleys again for a while. We blow by a sheriff doing this speed and get a good mad dog look but he keeps going the other way, so we slow down to speed limit and in the next 50 miles we run across 4 state troopers and one more sheriff. We stop for lunch and let the harleys catch up, they are amazed we dont have tickets. Just got lucky this time. We eat in Brady TX at a B.B.Q place called Hard 8's. You get to walk up to the giant pit and pick the meat you want. I go for the ribs, and jalapeno sausage, my bro trys the bacon wrapped quail. It was awesome. Lunch is over and we are off to the next stop, this time hanging with the harleys because "the man" is out in force today. Next stop is at a really nice road side park. We stretch while the smokers fire up cancer sticks. Little bro has a new gps and wants to do a few top end runs, see what the 10r can do. Great entertainment, especially for the harley riders, who only dream of our speeds. After a few fly bys he pulls back in with a gps speed of 179. So there you have the top end speed of a 08 10R with pc3 and full Akra. He said it felt like he could go more and still had some rpm but the limiter got him. by the way the bike indicated 189mph on the speed-o So off we go and finish up the few extra miles to Fredericksburg. We check in and fill ice chest with beer and hit the pool. We hang out and wait for some of the guys wifes to make it down in the truck, they had to work while we were playing. Oh yea, the trip was so easy on the 14. As far as sportbikes go that thing is the king of comfort. So wifes show up and we go to dinner, a neat little german restaurant with a out door beer garden. "Bring on the German beer!!!" We drank about every color of beer you can imagine, and flavors that range from great!!! down to goat piss!!! Then we stumble back to our hotel and call it a night. Saturday May 2nd, I wake up early as hell, 730am I am awake and have a hang over from hell. I get my wife, bro, and parents up and walk next door for breakfast. We give my aunt, uncle and 2 cousins a call, my whole family rides bikes, they live about a hour away and tell them lets ride! After breakfast I let one of my dads harley buddys take the 14 for a spin while we wait on the rest of the crew to show up. He came back with the biggest grin ever, he kept going on and on about how much torque this thing has, and told his wife he was going to sell one of his HD's and get a 14. So the rest of my family shows up and they bring some friends, total we have 25 ppl. My mom maps out a poker run with all the scenic stops along the way and everyone put in 10 bucks. We make five stops everyone drawing a card at each stop. At the end the person with the best poker had got 200 bucks and worst had got 50. I didn't win shit of course. But did enjoy some of the best back roads and scenery the hill country has to offer. I let my bro and his wife ride the 14 for about 20 miles, he was highly impressed with the power and comfort, his wife said if he dont get one then she would get one her self. She hates how uncomfortable the 10R is. The final stop was at rally headquarters in Luckenbach Tx. A one horse town famous for live music, cold beer and the best pulled pork and cole slaw sandwich you will ever eat. Saw lots of HD's and 2 sportbikes while there. After that we went back to town for dinner and had a bad ass steak. While the wifes are in the restroom, my bro and I spot the TEXAS size margarita on the menu, 60oz of goodness but must have two people to order one, so we each get one to split with our wifes. Man it was huge! Then the bill came and the wifes nearly shit, the damn drink was 35 dollars!! but is sure got the job done! Needless to say it was a long night, enjoying family and putting away cold beers. The next day we got up and headed back to Lubbock, I have never been so tired on a ride home. I was just glad I was on the 14, my bro was really suffering on the 10R. Final thoughts on the 14 are that it gets an A+ for long trip comfort, and it even makes long,straight, normally boring roads, into a blast to ride on, best all around bike ever made!
K&N, pcV, full Brocks, 16t Vortex, Muzzy fan, roaring toyz lowered and stretched,EK green chain,Ivans block offs,green LEDs
