Getting Realistic With My Travel Plans!
Well, I have my bike & I've got most of my gear. Things are really starting to look positive on my travel plans for 2018! Last Friday I took the new motorcycle on a long break in ride from Buffalo NY to the Pennsylvania border. For the most part the little bike did great. I spent close to 6 hours in the seat, and it gave me a lot of time to think about my travel plans for the summer.
Although I enjoyed the 6 hour round trip ride from Buffalo to the Pennsylvania border, my first realization came when I woke the following morning. Every muscle in my body ached. From my head to toe The Dood ached all over. With it being a new bike I suppose my body will need some time to adjust to it. My main concern however was my sore behind! I really wasn't very comfortable sitting on the bike the following day. That could pose a real problem on a trip that could take several days to several weeks. Frankly I could barely sit on it the following day!
With that being said, I'm really excited to get out on the road and see what both my body and the bike can handle. With it being such a small engine, I'm interested to see how it responds to some longer trips. I already have 3 mini vacations planned over the next 3 months and a couple smaller local adventures too. I'll use these as tests to see how the bike responds to long distance rides, and also how my body responds to the road as well. I'll be able to test my gear, see if I need anything more, and get comfortable using the tools and equipment I've purchased already.
As far as the reality of a cross country trip, I think it depends on several factors:
A) My bike - How will it respond to long distance rides. I'll have to decide if the little Honda clone can handle several days of constant riding, and long miles at higher RPM's.
B) My body - How will it respond to long distance riding for several days in a row .
C) Finances - If the crypto market remains bearish a month long vacation may not be the wisest use of funds at this time.
Although a cross country ride is still the goal, I've already decided on several possible alternatives.
With the engine of my new bike being small, I may load the bike into a U-haul or rent a pick-up truck and haul the bike down to Colorado then start my ride from there. This would lower the harsh treatment of the small engine considerably and might be a really smart thing to do. There's also an alternative I've read about where you can buy an Amtrak train ticket and load the motorcycle into a shipping compartment on the train. Definitely another consideration.
I'm also considering breaking the vacation up into two trips. I'm considering doing Colorado and Utah in one trip in September, then maybe Pacific Coast Highway come April of 2019!
Anyway, the great news is summer is here! I've got my bike and my gear. I'm really looking forward to doing some traveling this summer and seeing exactly what I can handle as far as endurance riding. I should be taking my first smaller trip in the next couple weeks. I'll keep you all posted, and make sure to upload some videos to D.Tube and post lots of pictures here on Steemit. Thanks for reading, and thanks for choosing to share your time on Steemit with The Dood! Safe travels and happy trails everyone!
I've seen a couple riders who prefer the dual sports like yours, get gel pads put into the seat by upholstery shops. It makes a world of difference, like an in-sole for your ass. I have rode a couple bikes with them and it is amazing the difference. One cruiser with one too because the guy had back problems and it fixed him right up. Looking forward to more pics! I'll upvote everything with a motorcycle in it.
Does that bike run an oil filter or just a screen?. The older Hondas have a screen and about the only way to kill one of them was not change the oil often enough.
Yeah it's got the screen. I really love the older design of the clone engine. It reminds me of the bikes I used to work on as a kid with my cousins. I've heard the same thing about the engines, as long as you change the oil it should continue to run strong. I guess I'll find out this summer!
I've really considered the gel pad. I may even just get one of the gel pad cushions to try out first. I've already researched how to reupholster my Shadow seat, and the design of this seat would be much easier to do. I may attempt to redo this one myself. The gel pads are available on ebay, and you pretty much just cut about an inch out of the center of the seat, insert the gel pad with some memory foam over top, then reupholster. Should be about as good as a Mustang seat when it's finished. I'll keep you posted on any upgrades I do.
I've reupholstered a GSXR seat. It is really easy with anything with a plastic seat pan. I used a brad stapler/nailer with really short staples and just made sure to fire them into the plastic at an angle so there weren't any surprises for me the first time I hit a bump... lol!!
I came to suggest the gel seats too, they can be real pleasant.
Look into the Iron Butt Association for the real distance riding tips/tricks!
Same here @the-bitcoin-dood
How exciting; break it up if you must, but do it!
I will help out on this trip; let me know.
Upvotes and resteems on their way.. :)
🏃just resteemed
Thanks so much! That totally helps :) @rebeccabe
I'm so excited I've wanted to do this for a long time now. Regardless of what I finally end up doing, I'm pretty confident I'll be doing a lot of traveling this summer and in the end it will be all about getting out on the open road and seeing America from the seat of a motorcycle :)
Lo importante es viajar no importa el medio si no disfrutar
Sí, claro que sí.
Whats the cost to take it on the train?