Cross-Country Tour

Yeah, I had a riding friend a few yrs back, you wouldn't believe how many flats this guy would get.
Most recently, another friend got THREE punctures in his tire, luckily we were already heading toward home. We first tried Fix-a-Flat and it held for 5-10 miles, then turned into an amazing display as one of the holes started spewing white froth while at speed, quite a display to me who was behind him keeping an eye on his tire pressure!
Then we tried the BMW mini-repair kits we each had with the mushroom plugs. Both our kits were years old, however, and the plugs must have aged to where they would not insert without breaking apart.
A good samaritan then offered to run up to a filling station and brought us back an assortment of plug kits, of which the car-tire rope-variety did a great job.

I have a few trips under my belt; NY - ME, NY - SC, NC - NY, NC - WV, NC - FL, CA - OR. Oh and Costa Rica for a week. Even more mileage just spending weekends in the mountains west of here.

80's - Wow that VFR in blue doesn't look right! But I like it, alot!
On Speeding: its good to get an general idea of how Canada and US might differ in enforcement, but my take is, if you stay less than 10 mph over, you should be totally fine in either country. And with all the gear, you won't need the added complexity of wiring the unit up, and putting it away every time you walk away from the bike.

I know I listed a lot of gear, but really the overall view you should have is: keep things simple to avoid unforeseen issues. A small light piece of gear that gives you value is worth way more than a complicated, expensive one that may need to be constantly charged, or is prone to damage.
You'll start packing and prob have to limit your stuff at some point.

 

Widder vest, 80s? I love mine, and you won't need anything more than a short sleeved shirt under it. Thin under a leather jacket too, not bulky at all. Probably the best single piece of apparel I've ever owned for riding.

I've never done the baclava/neck bandana thing though. My jackets zip right to the neck, and then a snap if I need it on the short collar.

 

Yeah, my jacket has a low collar so my neck tends to stay rather exposed, unless I'm bundled up with a flannel and a bandanna. Never was really one for those dedicated neck warmer things... I don't know, they remind me of 1996, in a bad way.

I miss the centerstand already, and the bike is simply sitting in my garage. I have to find a good custom exhaust place in Mass to get it all working together... I love the left-side exhaust because it gives a nice floating wheel effect, but a centerstand is VERY important

Heat, holy smokes! That's a lot of trips! And thanks for the tips, brother, it's much appreciated! I really like the blue, it's a nice color that's rare to see on Viffers. Yeah, I figured I'd hit a point in packing where I'd have to start making decisions on what to take and what to leave

Greg, time and again, you're probably saving my ass with your suggestions

 

I've had food on the brain... any favorite stops around where anyone lives for some good grub and beer? Or a decent place with a killer ride to/from

 

80's I'm planning a cross country trip in the opposite direction as yours, possibly crossing paths. Mine will start in NJ heading west sometime in the last half of August. Hope you can keep some progress / location updates flowing to the forum, maybe we can link up. It would be funny to post a pic of us going in opposite directions. I'm on a 1990 vfr and I have no hesitations about my bike making it, you should have faith in yours, it seems that you're putting in enough forethought and planning that it won't be an issue. Good luck, keep me posted. Also, if your travels bring you to NJ, you're welcome to crash at my place. 08827 is my zip code. You can view my tentative trip itinerary HERE.

 

AWESOME! I'll get back to you in more detail tonight

 

I beg to differ... My Escort Passport starts alerting me of laser at least a mile in advance, as it's popping cars ahead of me. I hear the signal (piped into my helmet via bluetooth adapter & Chatterbox), slow down, keep a lookout, watch the odometer and about a mile to two miles later, there's the cop. When I pass, signal goes away.

+1 on Slime Air Compressor and most other stuff suggested. I posted a whole bunch of suggestions on someone's page not too long ago, and I really don't feel like repeating it all here... but I think most of it is covered in this thread anyway.

You are welcome to stay in my guest room here in Vegas when you come through. I'm about 10 minutes from the strip. Without even seeing the suggestions about laundry, I was going to offer to let you use my washer and drier. If you're really nice, I'll let you take a shower too!! LOL!! If you come through on a weekend, I'll take you through Valley of Fire if you'd like and possibly Death Valley, although DV could be mighty hot that time of year... UGH!! Keep me posted and as it gets closer, PM me for contact info and give me a heads up on possible schedule so I'm prepared for ya!! If I have time, I might even make some lasagne for you, or we can just bbq on the grill... we'll figure it out.

 

Does this board have a members only page of contact numbers? The Buell board that I belong to does and has come in handy for those unfortunate enough to have a problem along the way. I never had any but I did house a guy from CA for a week while the local HD shop screwed him around while they had their heads up their butts. He had a bad head and they didn't order a replacement as a 'bike down' situation then found out later they had a wrecked bike in the shop they could have taken one off of.
They pissed me off so much I told them that I'd never come in their shop again.

Good luck on your trip and have a blast!

 

Forget the CO2 cartridges!

My $.02 on your list...

Get yourself a 12V air compressor to replace those CO2 cartridges. Four of them won't fully inflate one tire one time. You might get 25psi, not a good thing if you've just put in a plug. Many are available, and they're pretty cheap. Mine is sold by Slime as a part of a tire repair kit.

Put together a better set of tools than the OEM kit. I start with a small kit from Cruz Tools (available everywhere), replacing the combo wrenches with gear wrenches, add a small set of allen bits and a few sockets and you could rebuild the beast if you needed to. Better to have it covered than to be missing something you really need.

I'm in the Sierra Foothills south of Lake Tahoe. Brilliant riding around these parts. Lots of forum guys near here too.

PM me if you're going to be in the area! I may be olde; but I got this way for a reason...

 

PGA, I would love a place to crash in Jersey... is your place close to the shore, or to PA? I want to make it through the Appalachians (I visited my girlfriend's mother out by Du Bois; my goodness the roads!), so the closer to PA, the better. Best of luck on your trip, and I hope to cross paths with you!

VFRChick, thank you for your two cents! I think I'm going to avoid any sort of detector, as I'll be charging my iPhone constantly for the GPS (or at least a basic map), and my power system just underwent a major overhaul. Thank you so much for the offer! I very well may take you up on that; once I get the route more solidified, I shall let you know!

Mike, I wish there was, or at least just for those willing to help a brother out... Good idea, either way

Foothill, a good toolkit is exactly what I need to get, love the suggestion. I'll let you know if I'll be passing through the area, thank you!

 

I'm in Strasburg, CO (40 miles east of Denver) and you are welcome to crash here too if your route ends up bringing you through here. I have plenty of tools, garage space, spare bed, laundry, grill, full beer fridge, No-Mar tire changer and balancer (if we need to put a tire on your bike), bike cleaning supplies, etc. so don't hesitate to contact me if you need a place to stay.

I didn't get to read the entire thread, but I'm sure you have gotten lots of great advice on what to take with you. One thing I always carry with me when I tour is a SPOT satellite tracker. The newest version is small and I carry it in the leg pocket of my Aerostich (in case I get separated from my bike). It tracks my position every 10 minutes and I have the 911 feature in case I end up in a canyon by myself...it will send the cavalry to my GPS positon. You can also give the link for your SPOT page out to anyone you want and they can follow you as you go. Highly recommended and worth the money IMHO.

Sounds like it is going to be a hell of an adventure!!

 

get yourself a couple of rolls of X-treme tape...see link below. It can be used for bike repair, emergency first aid, and any other thing you can think of. I also take a small diameter dowel rod and make a couple of small, tight rolls of duct tape from a big roll.

I also recommend surfing through the the Aerostich Rider Wearhouse catalog or the website's online catalog. Tons of great touring gear and it will give you some ideas on what to take and how to carry it. I carry all of my camping gear (sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, insulated sleeping pad, down pillow, two man backpacker tent, camping towel, etc.) and compression sacks make it so I can do that. It all fits in my tail bag. The MOTO Fizz tail bag on the back of my bike came from Aerostich.

X-Treme Tape :: Aerostich/RiderWearHouse Motorcycle Jackets, Suits, Clothing, & Gear

 

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who has replied to this thread in any way for your kindness, generosity, and advice. The prospect of taking this trip became so much less terrifying with all your help. Sadly, I must postpone this trip. Money is, of course, the biggest issue. Time, too, as I planned to complete this 10,000 mile journey in under 6 weeks. It was doable, but it would have been a very rushed and haggard trip. Once again, I want to thank you all, and offer up my residence in both Boston and Gloucester, MA should anyone be passing through the area. Ride safe brothers, and I'll be all over this forum once school finishes up.

Peace

 

Ya know, I kinda was wondering if this trip was still happening or not since the chatter has died down about it. Haven't heard much more about your newer ride either, so I didn't know if that was still good to go or not. Tell us at least that you've been putting many care-free, effortless miles on the 4th gen?

Then again, no posting on the forum usually means no problems/issues.

Hopefully I'll still be in SoCal whenever you can fit the trip in.

 

OK Everybody...you heard it.

Party at 80sNIGHT's place. Let's all meet up on the 4th of July...bring friends! wooHoo!

 

Awesome. I'm in. Plus he's in glou-ster, so the must be some good fishin bobby! (Affect only works with the New England accent).

So far that's 2 threads I read today about parties. We got 80night in Mass, and Tink's "TITS" in Colorado.

 

Ha, greg, I wish! The 4th gen has been with my mechanic for the last month as he slowly makes his way through a carb cleaning, tune up, tire replacement and inspect. It's a long, arduous process, but he's cheap, he's very good (he hates to work on V4s, but he does them very well), and he really only has a day or two a week to work on the bike, as he's working on it at his house, and working at a local bike shop as well. It's killing me, but I suppose it's better to simply deal with all the problems now, so I don't have to during the summer. I hope you are, too. That, or somewhere else warm and full of twisty roads.

HELL YES! A big ol' pahty in glohstah. (I would like to mention now that I am an accentless freak, and true mass-holes look down upon me when I pronounce my Rs)

 

Today marks the 5 and a half week mark of dropping off my bike for a simple inspection, carb cleaning and tire mounting. 14 hours of labor (at $50/ hour) and counting, plus 225 in parts. What still needs to be done: Carb sync, tire mounting, and clutch lever bushing replacement. So long, Cape Cod getaway

 

Please please please tell me that was a mis-type...14 hours x $50 + $225...$925 for a simple road-worthy inspection?? Surely you have a manual for this already, right? The carb cleaning is usually $400 out here, carbs on the bike. Off the bike: $125. Is this @ a Honda dealer, B?

I'm not sure about the clutch lever bushings or what they are really or PITA-factor of a swap. Others can chime in on that. I did a clutch master cylinder rebuild on my kawasaki and it was $50 I think for the entire aftermarket rebuild kit and a simple 15 minute part swap out. Fill me in too, guys...what is this and what's it involve?

You're looking @ a grand with tax out the door, or close to it so far. Hope you got a wicked deal on this thing to put that into it. Please tell me you did.

 

He is a local mechanic who works at a shop about an hour from my house (Honda, Suzy-Qs, and Yams), and does work on the cheap in his garage.

He charges by the hour... he told me 11 hours on Monday... I hope to God he put in a few more hours on Monday and tonight. He told me he would be cutting me a deal because it has taken so long; I'm hoping it's 20 an hour... doubtful, but a nice thought. Probably more like 40. Then again, I apparently seem impatient to get my sole form of transportation back, because his conversations with me tend to include "be patient". I do have the manual, but I honestly have no time or space to work on the bike; photo-school, as promised, is a life-consuming event.

I paid 2k for the bike, and the PO failed to store it properly during the winter, so I guess that's where the carb issues are coming from.

3k including work better mean this bike is mind-bendingly perfect... I still need to get passenger footpegs (for the lady who puts up with me), a center-stand, a seat lock, a re-routing of the exhaust, and some bolts to secure the shroud.

Blech, verbalizing this is making me feel a touch crazy. I'm praying this all comes together, and stays together...