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New on Africa Twins from SE Houston

Joined
Nov 29, 2016
Messages
49
Reaction score
27
Location
Houston, TX
First Name
David
Last Name
Murchie
My wife (Dee) and I ride a lot. We have (2) matching pairs of Motorcycles. We ride 2016 HD Road Glides CVO's and we have a matching pair of 2016 Honda Africa Twins. We have had (5) other off road bikes before setting in with the Africa Twins. We enjoy long trips on the Harleys 3,000-4,500 mile vacations annually. As far as the Africa Twins we're still getting use to them. Our longest day has been about 225 miles, we have rode the muilti use trails in the National Forest to get in shape with the AT. I (David) came from 11 yrs of Enduro Racing back in the day, Dee started on dirt bikes too. We have owned over (40) motorcycles between us in our life time. We are looking forward to meeting and adventure riding with the group in 2017. Feel free to contact us anytime.

David
 
Welcome to the site! :wave:

Great bikes! Very cool that your wife rides with you. Now that it gets dark so freaking early, there aren't as many DS rides, but there might still be some posted here and there. I am in Huntsville and usually do several rides in the Spring (no trails, just dirt county and forest roads).
 
Welcome to the site. There is a group who meetup every Wednesday in the Clear Lake area. Check here for details. I believe they are meeting tonight at the Pipeline Grill in La Porte. Many are dirt or offroad riders and would probably drool over your Africa Twins.
 
Welcome to the site. There is a group who meetup every Wednesday in the Clear Lake area. Check here for details. I believe they are meeting tonight at the Pipeline Grill in La Porte. Many are dirt or offroad riders and would probably drool over your Africa Twins.

Thanks for the info, Joe. I replied to there post. We will ride over tonight, not sure what time...? Give us a chance to wear our new jackets.
 
Welcome to the site! If you didn't see it, I replied to your post the meetup time is around 6:00 ish.
 
The link doesn't work, if fact I can't open the motohouston.com

The site isnt loading for me either...try it later...if not we are having a group ride this Sunday at 10am...meeting at the Buc-ees in Waller at Hwy 290 and FM 362...we meet on the left side...your welcome to call or text me if you need more info...979-251-6249...Keith
 
Welcome to the forum! You both must be very accomplished riders if you are wheeling your Africa Twins on the national forest multi use trails. I also ride a twin, but prefer to take my WR-450 out to the forest. My girlfriend rides a DR 650. Maybe we can meet up for a ride sometime.
 
Welcome from the Conroe Contingent !
 
Welcome to the forum! You both must be very accomplished riders if you are wheeling your Africa Twins on the national forest multi use trails. I also ride a twin, but prefer to take my WR-450 out to the forest. My girlfriend rides a DR 650. Maybe we can meet up for a ride sometime.

We would like that. Just contact us any time. davidrm13059@gmail.com 713-435-9569
 
Thanks for joining us yesterday...ya'll did great...the crowd was impressed...join us again...
 
Thanks for joining us yesterday...ya'll did great...the crowd was impressed...join us again...

Thanks for allowing us to go on our first sport bike ride. You guys rock. It was a challenge for us to push big Harley's up to that pace. But we're definitely better for the experience. We will be back.
 
Welcome to the group and great choice with the AT's.

I have had mine for a while now and have ridden it in the Texas Hill Country to some technical off-road in Colorado and just love the bike.

By the way if you ever want to talk add-ons I have done quite a few including switching to tubeless tires, SW-Motech Paniers and hard luggage, Touratech skid plate, lower crash bars, upper crash bars. Also installed the "booster plug" that helps with low end throttle response.

I have an SW Motech skid plate for sale and the Honda top box if you are interested.

Hope to ride with you and your wife someday.

Mike
 
Not up to speed on the booster plug KubotaMike, could you clue me in on it, also how much effort & expense vs actual seat of the pants effect. Lastly, if it is a good thing...where might I get one?
 
Below is a link to the booster plug site. The concept with it is that all modern fuel injected motorcycles run as lean as possible especially at idle where emissions are measured. My AT had a slight bobble right off idle that I noticed. It wasn't horrible, but being an ex trials guy I am a fanatic about throttle response. Also, the AT isn't the lowest geared bike, so slow technical stuff makes the off-idle bobble more annoying that it would on a smaller bike. Anyway, I read a lot of reviews and sent the hours and hours to install it on the twin. It was pretty much a PIA to do. Turns out you have to remove the air box to get to the electrical connector that the booster plug connects to and there are a lot of parts that need to come off to get in there. I used the occasion to install the Honda 12V plug at the same time, so I got 2 for 1...

The concept is stupid simple and it doesn't void the warranty or anything. All it does is intercepts the temperature being sent to the computer and lowers it by 20 degrees or so (I am not really sure). The net effect is that the computer will add a tiny touch more fuel all over the mapping. It completely cleaned up the off-idle bobble. Honestly most riders wont even notice it, but I did and I like the result.

As far as affecting mileage it didn't change anything that I can see. It is pretty consistent at about 50 to 55 MPG. The only time I saw the mileage take a hit was when we did the Hill Country 500 and I had my hard luggage on for the entire ride. My mileage went down to about 40 MPG, which almost got me in trouble when I ignored one gas stop and went into reserve at night at the end of day 1. Turns out we have a large reserve, but the yellow blinking light was scary.

http://www.boosterplug.com/shop/frontpage.html
 
Thanks! I have noticed my bike having the same bobble coming off idle at times. Also feel the tall 1st gear in the dirt & hills. A little more muscle on the very bottom would be good. Just my luck that I had the 12V power shoe mounted on my twin a couple weeks ago. Would have been nice to get a two for one on the install.
 
Welcome to the group and great choice with the AT's.

I have had mine for a while now and have ridden it in the Texas Hill Country to some technical off-road in Colorado and just love the bike.

By the way if you ever want to talk add-ons I have done quite a few including switching to tubeless tires, SW-Motech Paniers and hard luggage, Touratech skid plate, lower crash bars, upper crash bars. Also installed the "booster plug" that helps with low end throttle response.

I have an SW Motech skid plate for sale and the Honda top box if you are interested.

Hope to ride with you and your wife someday.

Mike

Mike tell us more about riding the AT in the Hill Country. Do you know some off road rides there. We are going somewhere next week for our Christmas trip. I want to go ride the AT's somewhere, it doesn't have to be in the hill country. But trying to stay out of the cold climate and not have to travel too far. We love the Hill Country we like to stay in Bandera.

David & Dee Murchie
davidrm13059@gmail.com
713-435-9569
 
We may next time. The AT has 40/60 tires. 60% off road, we haven't had the seat time with the tires yet. We are unsure of the grip on twisty. Plus we are more comfortable & confident on the HD.

No worries for tires, you could have railed those corners without issue. Actually those tires are better suited for those paved roads than than were for the multi-use trails at SHNF you rode. Speaking of which how much did you ride there? Just a quick jump on and off or you rode a complete trail section or two?

_
 
Nice bikes, both. I'm in the get-to-know stage in my relationship with this bike.
 
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