If you left your house and rode a motorcycle to alaska or chile, what bike would you take?

Where's Prudhoe Bay, dare I ask?
Also wondering if anyone wants to address the concern about carbeuration and reduced atmospheric pressure at altitude as an issue when covering a lot of ground <mountains>

 

Good to know that they aren't that sensitive to changes in altitude. I thought they would be, but perhaps it's the fact that there's one large cylinder, so the extra volume allows for additional air?
http://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&sourc...3jojLPF4r311bxo0avKt2ofw&ust=1427337672708496

 

Good ole CBC News up here in Canada ran a report on the dangers of travelling through Central America. Honduras is supposed to be a bad place to stop, so I'm thinking that a real long range fuel tank could be very important as part of this plan. I'd have to talk to several people who have made this passage, and get the low down on how to avoid danger, and exactly what route to take.

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the liquid cooled DR 400 as an alternative to the DR 650.

 

It was dusk, was/had been raining, and he was riding over his head a bit, the road was nice and curvy and he thought he had better traction than he actually did. He was out of sight around a corner when he went down, we came upon parts strewn down the highway and knew something not good had happened. He was unhurt, wearing an Aerostich which was also undamaged...mostly. The frame where the bags mounted broke when he went down, both sides.

Make no mistake about it, those bikes are very tall. Both guys dumped theirs in the 2 weeks we were riding. One was what I described and the other one went down in a round-a-bout when he hit some spilled diesel fuel. I was right behind him when that happened and it was instantaneous, up 1 second and then BOOM, on the ground. He also was unhurt, and the bike survived unscathed except for some scratches.

The one guy was over 6 feet tall, and dropped his on a slight downhill slope when it got away from him a bit. It took 2 of us to get that thing back up on 2 wheels. That much weight up high makes it a real chore.

 

That's crazy! It's hard to know how much of either situation is the bike, and how much is the rider. I guess, for the most part, bikes remain upright when ridden carefully! It does seem, however, that there's an awful lot of weight riding up high on an already heavy machine. Could worn tires possibly have contributed to the accidents?
You would think that would mean that it would be better to ride a lower, lighter bike, like a V-Strom 650, but, I wonder what the implications are if:
1) You ride a heavy (BMW GS 1200) bike with 60 pounds of weight, or
2) You ride a lighter bike (VStrom 650) with 60 pounds of weight.
Could the argument be made that the weight is actually less of a factor on the heavier machine? I don't know.

 

I rode from Vancouver to Alaska (Dawson - Chicken, Fairbanks, Anchorage etc) a few years ago on my Blackbird and one of the guys I was with was on a VFR. Depends what you want to do in Alaska. The distance are mind bogglingly vast. I sure wouldn't want to beat the shit out of myself on a small displacement enduro getting there. FWIW, GS Beemers outnumbered every other bike touring up there 10 to 1.

The Alaska Hwy will challenge your off road skills plenty. The worst parts are in Canada where I don't think they spend one dime fixing frost damage. It became routine to come over a blind rise at 90 mph and suddenly discover a few token safety flags warning you way too late of a transition from touring to motocross...roads that look like they've taken artillery fire.

I have no experience in South America but it strikes me as a tour where you would want to have a LOT of time and a simple dirt oriented bike that almost any mechanic could fix.

 

For those who've never heard of Lois....http://www.loisontheloose.com/my-adventures/americas/

 

What is most important here is the input from them what's done did it rather than the recliner racers.


http://www.soundrider.com/current/1501/clancy.aspx

 

Speaking of volume, I wonder if since only aboot 20% of the air in even one big cylinder is Oxygen and the rest inert gases if you could get the same results by injecting Oxygen into a volume 80% smaller. There could be a problem with hoses or strapping a K bottle of 02 on a bike but a LOX tank could be employed.

Not a bike to haul off to Alaska or Peru but an idea worth more than just a shitload of hot air going to waste.

 

Did over 1000 miles between a Harley 883, R9T, F800gs and F700gs in Uruguay - plenty of dirt roads and mixed highway and country roads. The potholes there are just out of control and the three did just fine!.

Out of the lot the Harley and the F's were the most comfortable in that your legs are nicely stretched and you're sitting well straight (provided you have a good helmet - I rode the harley old skool , open helmet, tissue-over-mouth-whatever-its-called and sun glasses which wasn't the most confortable choice if you planned to go above 45mph).

I would take an f800gs around the world. It's light, nimble, has acceptable wind protection, an plenty of power to surpass confortably all speed limits around anywhere. If money is an issue, the f700gs is plenty of fun too and not too different power-wise to the 800.

Yes the 1200gs is more like a tank, yes it will do all kind of terrain just as profficiently as the 800. But it can be a handful, and tiring depending on your rider skill. The 1200 is more demanding. In the twisties, unless there are long straights and provided both bikes have good tyres for the conditions present both excel marvelously and effortlesly.

Anyway, just my 0,02$!

saludos!



https://youtu.be/1rSSESjMYLc

 

Agreed aboot the BMWs Were you guys on sponsored ride. I see stickers on the bikes and patches on your jackets that might indicate there was support there somewhere. Back in the day these were called "reliability runs" and some of the time sponsored by dealerships.

 

The pictures were during a route organised by BMW Uruguay on a recent vacation I spent there - the rout was mixture of roads, lunch and back to base. On the way back 4 of us split and all of us almost ran out of gas. in the middle of nowhere in a little 5/6 house town they sold us 6 liters on Coke bottles... luckily enough to make it to the nearest gas station.

One of the F700s was a test ride. The other three owned by my cousins.

 

I hope BMW reimbursed you guys for the coke and the gas.. Good show!!

 

I have rode my sons DRZ 400 a lot, a great fun bike but the 400's are not great at slabbing it at highway speeds. The DR 650 is air and oil cooled. Heat is not a problem. They are extremely tolerant of altitude changes. Some of the guys out in the pacific NW routinely go from sea level up to 8K+ without rejetting. And as Tinker said a rejet is very quick. There is a method to actually drop the bottom of the carb and change it even faster. Their is a drain screw, dump the fuel disconnect a couple of hoses, rotate the carb, 4 bolts and you can change the jet. The needle is even faster and you can get by sometimes just changing clip position. Some guys have made little sliding/rotating panels on their modded airboxs that they just partly close near sea level and open up after 10k.

 

That girl has balls!

 

In the early 1900's.....! He had a lot more than motorcycling skills to pull that off.

 

Here is a fun video. The title is a little misleading.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwaCUTg8V2A

Here is a KLR vs DR article.
http://www.spiritstrike.com/gear/2015/2/22/klr650-vs-dr650

 

This is a little different take on a road trip:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc3chpTUKQ8

Tom Samuelson is in my club. Indian Jeff never joined anything. Tom has a 1924 Henderson. I rode it once. Damn near took a mini version of a preflight check list just to get going.. A pre-farkle motorcycle.

The shop shown no longer exists and neither does Jeff.