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Thanks guys! I will try not to die, I've been stopping to rest every hour or so, just hit Paris, the rain is starting, and on my last fuel stop my rear tire hit the wear bars, so this should be fun. I'm trying to skirt Dallas, but if I tap out I'll let you know Skreemer.
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Oct 24, 2018 19:25
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West Texas is desolate, run while you can.
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Oct 24, 2018 21:10
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I ran neither far nor fast enough today, made it almost 400 miles before the uncontrollable shivering started. Waterproof gear failed entirely, water was puddling in my crotch area inside the waterproof liner, and would run down my legs at every traffic light, water coming in via my collar, water running down my jacket sleeves and into my gloves, had to ride through up to 4" of running water across roadways, my masochism couldn't keep up, and I booked a hotel in Bowie Texas, we'll see if I can make up the 200 miles over the next two days, missing the start of Surf City is an option too. New rear tire is scheduled for Monday morning in San Diego, PR4, the tire I was SUPPOSED to have on the bike. People have told me that Texas is big, hot, and dry, I'm convinced that the last two are lies, perpatrated by the Federal Government, based on my empirical evidence.   This is just a little of what dripped off my gear  Water 
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Oct 24, 2018 23:59
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I may have missed it, what's the rest of your gear?
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Oct 25, 2018 02:50
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Besides the Revit gloves, I have a pair of A* SP2's, Shoei RF-1100 that is due to be retired after this trip, Forma Adventure boots (full size) and the Cortech Sequoia XC air jacket and pants which zip together, with an Icon D3O back protector replacing the non-CE rated piece. Cortech was (poorly) selected based on price, and the option for "tall" sizes (which is pretty great TBH) originally it would have been an ancient Icon Overlord jacket with a cheapie waterproof outer, but the Overlord started debonding the Nylon from the chest vent prior to the trip. I should have just dropped the coin on Klim, the Cortech is feature-rich but implemented poorly, the cuff of the not-waterproof outer shell will not fit over the waterproof gloves, leading to water ingress to the gloves from between the waterproof liner and shell. The Revit gloves are also disappointing in terms of quality, as a seam is coming apart on the cuff already, they do make up for this by having the best visor wiper I've ever used on the left finger. All gear is black, with tons of reflective piping on the Sequoia jacket.
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Oct 25, 2018 04:03
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The weather on this trip being what it is, I have not been able to utilize the single most inane, daft and useless feature of any piece of gear I've ever owned. Namely, the zip-off sleeve. Behold:  Please note the CE rated shoulder protection loosely held with hook-and loop fasteners, and the CE rated elbow protection covered by 1680 denier polyester that is just gone for no reason whatsoever, who does this feature appeal to on this jacket? Adventure dads with giant guns? Hulk Hogan? My stunta special Icon jacket didn't have any stupid-rear end features like this. Does Cortech have people calling them and saying "yes, hello? I love your gear, and the inclusion of CE rated armor along with advanced abrasion resistant materials, but the one thing is... I spend several hours a day in the gym, strictly bis and tris y'know, and I'd just love it if I could remove all that protection I'm paying for, simply by removing the jacket, fiddling with many zips and fasteners, then donning the resulting useless scrap of fabric. Yes, hello? Oh... you have the exact thing to suit my needs?... yes, thank you very much!"
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Oct 25, 2018 04:22
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Joe Rocket Alter Ego jacket. Full on rain cover or mesh, and you get to keep the protection. Bowie isn't that far from the DFW area. From there it's a bunch of not much. Also, weather-wise you hit at the perfect time to go from hot and dry, to the chilly wet season.
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Oct 25, 2018 07:05
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Zippers on such a vulnerable area seem like a bad idea. What a strange design decision.
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Oct 25, 2018 13:38
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Look at me, I'm a KLR!  Mud is really slippery 
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Oct 25, 2018 19:52
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Oh no. 
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Oct 25, 2018 19:53
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Ya ok buddy?
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Oct 25, 2018 20:02
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2 mph drop coming out of a gas station, it had a 15 foot mud driveway with a decent slope, nothing hurt but my pride.
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Oct 25, 2018 20:19
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I think Y'all gave West Texas a bad rap, East of Lubbock it's actually quite scenic, and after that there's miles of roads to blast down at 80, not another soul in sight, listening to tunes and drinking in the vast quantities of Americana Texas has to offer. Look! Bags of Corn!  A man, with a small motorcycle and a cowboy hat!  No step on snek!  And, uhhh... sky?  Had some excellent BBQ in middle of nowhere, then decided to burn off the extra calories by dumping my bike in mud across the street. 
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Oct 27, 2018 06:10
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Eastern New Mexico was even flatter, desolater and boringer than Texas, but it had a big payoff at the end. Look, something unflat!  I was running ahead of schedule, and I was so excited I took more pictures of not-flat things.  Decided to camp in the Fort Stanton Snowy Cave National Forrest, free if you don't use power/water hookups. Look at me, now I'm a Super-Tenere!  It was quite lovely, especially at sunset, low 60's, just perfect, my neighbor was a retired Navy Corpsman, and offered me the use of the bunk in his toy-hauler if the weather should turn nasty, then we shot the poo poo for an hour or so.  Settled in for a nutritious meal, and called it a night.  The next morning I woke up, and had trouble unzipping my rain fly, turns out the zipper was frozen, just like everything else.  When I got enough coffee in me I headed out, and rode through a bunch of very flat places ringed in not-flat places, it was pretty chilly the whole time, but traffic was light and the miles fell off quick.  Then I happened across an Array, I haven't seen many in my day, but this one seemed Very Large.   Then I had BBQ in a town that was no-poo poo called Pie Town, it was smothered in green chilis and delicious, they also had a New Mexico Apple Pie, which was regular apple pie with green chilis  , by "they" I mean the one semi-senile old dude who is waitstaff, chef, and probably owner. Unfortunately I was enjoying New Mexico too much, so I was unprepared for the hell that awaited me. As soon as I hit the mountainous Tall Pines region of AZ, traffic stopped being light, and started to consist of camper trains doing ten under, and I started to slip on my schedule, I was too used to ignoring Google Maps' time schedules, and dividing miles/80 to get hours of travel. Then I started a madcap decent down AZ-87, flying down the mountain at 90, blinded by sun after every other corner. Passed at least one semi that had been lit on fire by brakes, or Jake brakes, and had burned to the ground. At the bottom of this road nothing awaited me but the hot, crowded urban hellscape of Phoenix, and the gridlock on I-10, I ate in Scottsdale, hoping the sun, and the traffic would go away. It didn't. Aaaaaand the rest of my time was spent screaming down I-10 at 85mph, and my rear tire is completely bald in the center, and my fingers are crossed it'll make it the last 300 required miles. If not what should I do? I'm thinking if it shows cords rent a uhaul and haul it down to SD. 620 miles today, my longest so far, and I won't have another near as long (all <400), my ears even hurt now from taking my helmet off and putting it on so many times.
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Oct 27, 2018 06:53
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drat that's a lot of riding! So glad to see the ol' fz is holding up great! I'd love to try a cross country trip sometime soon, i just need a more comfortable bike, custom earplugs and maybe a klim suit.
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Oct 27, 2018 13:58
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Elviscat posted:Eastern New Mexico was even flatter, desolater and boringer than Texas, but it had a big payoff at the end. Poor old mans been alone for so long he doesn’t know how to feel anything anymore. Just goes through the motions, gradually adding more and more green chiles to everything in the vain, desperate hope it brings his wife back. Seems paying for a new one at a local dealer would be cheaper than a uhaul?
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Oct 27, 2018 13:58
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If you make it to LA on that tire there's a really cool bike shop where you can rent your own bay by the hour if you'd like (or just pay them to do whatever). They'll certify you on their tire machine for $25, then you can change your own tire (they can order the tire for you too, but I'd call ahead to make sure it's there when you need it). http://moto-republic.com/
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Oct 27, 2018 16:14
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That's awesome! I think I can make another 300mi on this tire, as long as I don't run it in the rain I was thinking uhaul just so I can keep my schedule intact. I just realized that when I picture "shithole" in my brain I'm picturing Blythe, CA, this place is awful.
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Oct 27, 2018 17:14
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If you want to see some poo poo, stop by the Salton Sea. You know it's good when John Waters narrated a documentary about it.
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Oct 27, 2018 18:42
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Eh, why not, I remember reading about that place and being interested in the history.
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Oct 27, 2018 22:01
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Elviscat posted:Eh, why not, I remember reading about that place and being interested in the history. fun story when I was moving across the country from Oregon to Louisiana I got careless and stopped paying attention to my gas gauge, when I noticed it was blinking 1 bar. In a 2007 Toyota Yaris it'll blink 1 bar when you have about a single gallon left... or zero gallons... you just have to know when it started blinking, and I hadn't noticed. Around that part of the country you might only get a service station once every 80 miles, so I was in trouble. I was at that exact junction on I-10 going east, and that twisty road lead to Mecca where I assumed they must have a gas station. So my girlfriend and I took that highway at night, no lights at all, as easy on the throttle as possible hoping we'd make it, and I still remember how magnificent it was to see the lights of that small town as you crest one last hill. Anyway we get gas, make it up back the road, and then about a mile past that juncture... service station sign 
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Oct 28, 2018 02:01
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Yeah, there's a gently caress ton of nothing out there, you almost always see little gas station islands at least near any exit. This is all there is, apart from 1000' of pavement off the exit I took to take a break read Momjean's post, and detoured south I have pretty bad range anxiety, and will fill up every 100mi in lightly populated areas. The FZ6 has about a 5 gallon fuel capacity, so a theoretical minimum range of 200 miles with worst case fuel economy, closer to 225+ in real life, closest I've come to running out of gas was on the TX side of the LA border, small town I had planned on getting fuel at had broken pumps, 25 miles to the next town, ended up at 205 miles, just over 4.25 gallons of gas. The Salton Sea was something else, took me forever to get there because Google Maps freaks the gently caress out if you try to travel anywhere not on an interstate in CA. Great ride over the mountains via ca-74 though Salton Sea  CA-74  Today is the first day in almost 2 weeks I won't be swinging my leg over the bike. My butt and knees are happy.
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Oct 28, 2018 19:01
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Your range is fine, I did a lot of the same terrain - north Texas, all of Arizona not named Flagstaff or Phoenix - on my 990SMT and never had gas issues. 5 gallon tank, but low fuel light always clicks on at 120-130 miles on the tank because it has dog poo poo gas mileage. Reading this makes me want to do it again.
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Oct 28, 2018 21:30
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Hahaha, my chain is doooone, the rollers have like 1/16" play on the pins. Oops!
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Oct 29, 2018 18:34
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After getting a new chain and tire in San Diego, and navigating the urban hellscape of LA, I booted up north, and the riding suddenly got a lot better.         The PCH has all the best views. Only 700ish more miles to go!
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Nov 1, 2018 23:08
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drat I should have mentioned that you should check out Angeles Crest Highway in LA, a fairly famous road that takes you over the mountains into the desert. As you get close to the top of the mountains there's a cafe called Newcomb's Ranch where all the bikers and sports cars meetup, and Jay Leno is often up there in some crazy car. However, that wouldn't have really been on the way from SD to SF. Looks like you still have a nice ride though.
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Nov 1, 2018 23:28
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I like when things are labeled, how else could I tell this is not a small tree?  One more day until the thrilling conclusion of this journey, I pet a catte 52 and raining, so it'll end as it began.
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Nov 3, 2018 02:28
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 Home!
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Nov 5, 2018 01:01
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Congrats! That looked like a lot of fun. Thanks for taking us along for the ride.
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Nov 5, 2018 03:41
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Thanks for the great thread. You have inspired me. I need to plan a similar trek next year.
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Nov 6, 2018 21:42
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Thanks for all the support and encouragement guys, it was nice to have an outlet to talk about all the motorcycle specific stuff my friends qouldn't care about. The whole trip was a fun thing I don't want to do again for a little while anyways. Here's the final mileage total. 
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Nov 7, 2018 01:47
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Elviscat posted:Thanks for all the support and encouragement guys, it was nice to have an outlet to talk about all the motorcycle specific stuff my friends qouldn't care about. The whole trip was a fun thing I don't want to do again for a little while anyways. Great thread, thanks. What were the highlights and lowlights of the trip for you? Anything you’d do differently next time?
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Nov 7, 2018 02:26
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I was reading along as this went and agree with others, great thread, thanks for the trip report.
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Nov 7, 2018 08:41
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I really enjoyed this.  I’d love to do something similar. Need a bigger bike first.
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Nov 11, 2018 14:23
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Horse Clocks posted:I really enjoyed this. Well... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7_yJ2kcQilw
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Nov 11, 2018 14:43
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Tiny bike touring is unironically the best touring.
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Nov 11, 2018 17:20
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Jim Silly-Balls posted:Tiny bike touring is unironically the best touring. http://lakeerieloop.org/
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Nov 11, 2018 18:14
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builds character posted:Great thread, thanks. What were the highlights and lowlights of the trip for you? Anything you’d do differently next time? Here's my ridiculously late response! Life kinda stole me away when I got home, I got new pets, I got to spend real time with old friends and family for the first time in years, got a cat, started a relationship, and kinda forgot about motorcycling and this thread I made, seeing my FZ and SV huddled for warmth in the carport reminded me, and I've had some time to reflect and digest. Highlights: -Skline drive and the BRP, best ride I've had out East. -Meeting random Ebay dude, and replacing my oil cooler in a friend's parents driveway, just the fact that someone would open their garage to a virtual stranger, and insist on feeding them dinner was very touching. -camping out and riding in New Mexico in fall, perfectly chilly for full gear, roads are clear in the fall, beautiful scenery all around, got to meet an old Navy Vet and talk about bikes and the service for a few hours too, which was great. -Big Sur and the subsequent drive up highway 1, just fantastic, and again I got to revel in empty roads and choose my pace thanks to low tourist volume. Lowlights: -bike breaking down (kinda) in NO. -pissing rain in Texas, pouring water from my crotch down my legs at stoplights. -descending from the Arizona highlands into Phoenix metro behind a swarm of RVs, then being stuck in interminable traffic for hours. What I would do differently: -Not buy Cortech/Tourmaster gear, it's only a little water"proof" and the wear and fretting on it for so few miles is unacceptable. -Instead of Givi luggage, buy $30 Amazon special waterproof bags. The Givi stuff is great for convenience when commuting, but for long-distance trips where you want to fill every cucm with poo poo, the form factor becomes limiting, and you risk warping the plastic and ruining the seal, my blue stuff sack ended up holding everything I really cared about not getting wet. I haven't really swung a leg over a street bike since I got back, the nature of my commute would make using a bike during the winter an exercise in sadomasochism, and I haven't found time to ride for pleasure. However, when I showed up to my new job, I found out that of my 2 co-workers, 1 races an R6 semi-pro, and the other is a pro-am dirt dirtbike rider. So I got this green turd as a birthday present to myself:  And have been riding out at Tahuya and Green Mountain every weekend, and I'm going to be racing class C, and crewing for my class A buddy this year, should be exciting! Thanks again to everyone who followed this thread, and I'm glad some of you got enjoyment out of it! It was a great trip, and I wouldn't trade it for anything, hopefully I'll be up to Alaska or out in the EU doing long distance on a tinybiek again soon!
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Feb 18, 2019 04:40
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Great thread!
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May 19, 2019 20:23
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