Before I start the trip report, I should go through what I did to get my new to me, 84 V65 Sabre in shape for the trip. If you don’t want to read about the prep, just skip down to "The Trip"

When I rode up to Long Beach for the motorcycle show in December, the newly acquired V65 Sabre (also know as Darkersides – because it has "darker sides" than Dave’s V65 Sabre "Darksides") decided to piss all over the ground while coming to a stop in the parking lot. It had pegged the 8 bars and was flashing. Because of this I decided I needed to replace all the o-rings and hoses associated with the cooling system.

Of course I couldn’t just replace them without a bunch of other work too, so I started on the front end where I took the forks off the 85 V65 Sabre parts bike, replaced the seals and fork oil, and found my first problem (every time the front end went down it made a whooshing noise) When the ignition switch was replaced, instead of taking off the fork connector tube, it was cut with wire cutters and was still sharp and had cut through the rubber hose placed over the two ends. So, it came off and was replaced by the parts bikes fork connector.

Next was the radiator which I decided to use the one off the 85 for that too. Removing the old radiator exposed the second problem, why the bike got so hot going to Long Beach for the motorcycle show. When I originally took the bike to DMV, they couldn’t see the VIN number due to the fairing. So, I had to remove the fairing, take the bike down to DMV (on the trailer of course) for inspection. When I was replacing the fairing, a bolt slipped out of my fingers and had lodged itself between the fan and fan shroud (I knew it went someplace, but didn’t think of it being a problem, boy was I wrong). So, when the fan was supposed to come on, it couldn’t spin because of the bolt. Grrr….

With the radiator removed, I looked at the front valve cover, something didn’t look right, besides the oil that it was seeping out. I went to pull it off and the tabs up top for the shroud were missing, including the shroud…hummm. So I got it off and discovered that it was put on upside down. I guess it looked better that way or something.

I pulled the front valve cover and shroud off the 85 and put them on (and put the original valve cover on the 85). I then pulled the carbs and took the bowls and caps off and replaced all the screws with allen head screws which I bought off eBay. I replaced all the coolant o-rings and in doing so, I pinched one of them, requiring me to take it apart and get it to go in properly, what a pain. I also replaced the carb boots and gave the old ones to Pete Springer. (Who will probably sell them on eBay…;-)

Once I was done with the carbs, I went to the shock. The bike never had any spring in the back just thud! My back was always killing me when I rode it. So, you guessed it, I took off the 85’s and I was able to squeeze it into the tail end of the 84. Although it is just like the 85s, it was still a tight fit getting it in place.

Besides changing the oil and sparkplugs, the last major thing I had to do was to move the turn signals back so the saddlebags would fit. Of course I just couldn’t take a straight piece of bar and make a extender out of it, I had to take two V65 Sabre rails/bars whatever you want to call them and cut both so I could combine them right at the reflector. So now the lights are back by the taillight and it has two rear reflectors on each side…;-)

All I can be glad of is that I had the parts bike. Having the parts that I needed was very handy and saved me a bunch! Not quite worth the $1,600 I wound up paying for it. $1,000 for the bike and $600 to have it shipped. But at least having those parts has been a live saver.

Okay, now you know what I did for three weeks straight before the trip.

The Trip:

I wanted to leave by 10am, but because my better-half decided to go on a trip with her parents, I had to pretty much wait until she was gone before I finish getting everything ready. Besides, I had one last task before the bike was ready and that was to change the oil. Once both of those were out of the way, I was able to pack the bike and take off. I decided to stop by and look at some chaps at the local Cycle Gear. Big mistake there was that I didn’t buy any. That regret was with me the whole trip! I stopped to gas up and decide to eat before hitting the road. At 11:45 I headed north on I15. I jumped off at the 60 and then to 71, which dumps, into the 57 before it dumps into the 210. I did all of this to bypass the LA area. I hit a little traffic here and there but it wasn’t too bad. I followed the 210 to the 118 until it ran into the 23 south. I decided that 150 miles was far enough and I needed a break. I gassed up, drank a Pepsi and then jumped back on the 23 where I found my way to the 101 north. Going up 101 was about as exciting as it could be…boring…

I got through Santa Barbara and stopped just north of there for another short break where I discovered oil all over the right side of the front tire. I found that it was oil from the fork and it was leaking from the center bolt. I pulled out the tools and tightened it up, cleaned things up and put everything away. I was again heading north on the 101 and was just getting back to relaxing when something flew off! What the heck? I then realized I just lost my left pocket cover. Attached to it of course was my miniature garage door opener...)-: I pulled off the freeway, but couldn’t pin point it’s location, I even rode back to where I thought I lost it, but couldn’t find it. So I whimpered on up the 101 towards Santa Maria, totally pissed at myself for not securing it before leaving. I have since attached strings to my covers, so I won’t lose them again!

Okay, remember when I said I regretted not buying the chaps? Well, here is where it got really cold. Going up 101 north of Santa Barbara, it started getting windy and cold. I don’t mean just a slight breeze either! The farther I traveled, the colder it got. At Gaviota, the freeway takes a 90 degree and goes right into the mountains where it got even windier and colder! That’s one thing I do like about the Hondaline fairing. Even in winds like that, the bike will stay fairly stabile. I’ve been in winds worse than that with my first 700 Sabre (Hondaline fairing) and my old 650 Nighthawk with a handlebar mounted fairing. The Hondaline fairings make a huge difference of a controlled getting blown over verse uncontrolled getting blown over…;-)

As I made it up the mountain to Buellton, the road was pretty good, I was freezing to death was all. I pulled into Santa Maria at about 4:30pm to find quite a gathering of maggots. Including big bro! After unloading the bike and kicking tires, we all mounted up for the dinner run. I had forgotten about the run to the tavern, so like a dummy I just followed the crowd with my gas gauge flashing "E" the whole way. After a great dinner and lots of BSn’, Dave and I made our way back to Santa Maria and a gas station. I filled her up with 182 miles on the odometer and it took 5.2 gallons. That was by far the most I ever traveled on one tank of gas with any motorcycle.

Saturday morning, after getting woke up several times by our lady neighbors, who were screaming at each other about whom left whom…we got up and went to breakfast at the IHOP a few miles south. We met up with the maggotry and had a hearty breakfast. (Well most of us did.) Dave and I soon said our good-byes and took off for Santa Barbara. We had our communicators on but found that they don’t seem to work real good when at speed (we found out much later that Dave’s radio wasn’t on the same channel select I was on.) They worked great when we came to stops and what have you.

As we went down the 154 into Santa Barbara, you could see forever! We stopped at a couple of places and took a couple of pictures. It was so clear you could see the Channel Islands. We then went to where the ole homestead was at and enjoyed seeing the old house we lived in some 34 years ago. There was a redwood tree our dad planted (actually, I’m sure Dave and I planted with pops supervision…;-) Now this tree was only about 18 inches high when it was planted. Now it was maybe 15 to 20 feet taller than the telephone pole just to the left of it. It’s neat to see something like that tree, when you know you had something to do with it being there in the first place.

We then rode over to Dave’s old high school. We walked around that for a little while. Then headed for downtown Goleta and see what they had for a motorcycle shop. I was still looking for a pair of chaps and Dave had broken his throttle control and wanted to see if he could replace it. We found a shop and Dave was able to replace his throttle control, but they didn’t have any chaps. We soon headed for the Goleta pier where as young lads we spent many summer days wetting fishing line and catching anything from sea gulls to sand sharks. Once, one of Dave’s friends back then snagged a fishing pole that was lost earlier that morning. We walked out about half way on the pier then headed for the restaurant that had sprung up years ago at the foot of the pier. After a great bowl of clam chowder, we headed through the little town on Isle Vista. That’s were all the hippies hung out back in the 60s. Other than a few coats of paint, that place really hasn’t changed that much.

We stopped for a coke break and gassed up the bikes before heading back up to Santa Maria. We compared notes and found that Dave had a 10^th of a mile more then I did on his odometer. And he took 2 10ths of a gallon more than I did. I would say they were pretty darn close! Before departing, I suggested that we put the liners back in our coats and we were both glad we did that.

Once we hit the 101 north, it started getting windy again. As we past the area I lost my cover, I looked again for it, but at 75 + mph, it’s a little hard to pin point something like that in the weeds. We again hit the winds that I had experienced the previous day. As we fought our way along the coast and then up the mountains, we turned off toward Solvang to see if we could find the motorcycle museum we had heard about from some of the other guys from our group. We couldn’t find it, so we headed out of town and wound our way back to the 154 and headed north to the 101 and back to Santa Maria we went.

By the time we got back, we were both suffering from a bad case of TB! It was so nice to just sit and relax until our pizza came. After stuffing ourselves, we sat and watched 007 (well, Dave had a hard time keeping his eyes open by then…;-) We had a much better night’s sleep that night and got up Sunday for the ride home.

After saying all the goodbyes and such, Dave and I headed over to IHOP where we had yet another hearty breakfast. After breakfast, Dave headed north and I headed south. I stopped by the local WallyWorld and bought a set of sweats. I put the top under my mc jacket and just pulled the pants over my blue jeans and that gave me a little more warmth for my ride home. It was cool enough where I rode with the pants until I was south of Oxnard where I gassed up (at 133 miles) and had a quick bite at Wendy’s.

I was back on the road going through Moorepark when the traffic came to a dead stop. I busted through traffic until I could see where a CHP had stopped traffic to clear out some debris. I was able to jump off the freeway and then back on to avoid it all, but the light and the cop were pretty even, time wise. By the time I was back on the freeway, the cop had cleared out. I saw a couple of Hardleys coming up behind me on a fast clip. I allowed them to catch me and then I just rolled on a little to pace them. I’m not sure how fast they were going, but I paced them for about a half mile and then just rolled it on a little more and I was soon gone. A few miles down the road I found 23 north and headed back to the 118.

I decided I needed a TB break, so I thought I would just jump off near JPL, where I worked for almost 5 years – meaning I should have remembered which off ramp to take, and not the one I did. I wormed my way back to MkyD’s and had a small coke to rest my TB. Back on the 210 where I had planned to jump off at the 57 and down to the 71/60 route I had taken Friday, I guess I was day dreaming too much (traffic was easy going by then) I found myself having to wait for I15 south. Jumped on the 15 and home I went after taking one last TB break and gassing up. I pulled into home around 3:30 or so. Of course I couldn’t just open my garage door, since I lost my garage door opener, I had to dismount and go through the side door to open the garage door before pulling the bike in. I was so tired; I didn’t even take anything off of the bike for several hours.