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This was not the best way to plan a trip but as the time was short I decided to ride the GS to Washington State for a funeral. I had to get a speedometer drive from the junkyard and install it as my speedometer had quit the weekend before.
I left Jemez Springs at 04:00 on Friday 9/26/03 and rode until 02:00 on Saturday morning. This got me to La Grande, Or and was better than 1000 miles, I had printed out the forms for a Saddle Sore 1000 from the Iron Butt Association prior to the start of the trip. I had done a Bun Burner and Saddle Sore on the Sabre that I had before getting the GS. The biggest reason for doing this is that I had found going through the motions of keeping the log and having a definite goal kept me focused for the rides in the past.
The next day I left La Grande at 08:00 and finished the trip to Kennewick, Wa. The weather was good for the whole trip. It was clear and warm during the daylight hours possibly in the eighties but cold at night low 40s to high 30s. I fought the wind quite a bit and had to stop a less than 100-mile intervals for gas. I got less than usual gas mileage due to running at a constant speed of 75 ? 90 and fighting the wind.
I spent Saturday through Wednesday with my friend and headed home on Thursday morning but didn?t get started until about 09:30. The ride back was simular to the ride up and I planned on getting south of Salt Lake then stopping for the night. Thursday night I ran into strong gusty conditions and could see lightning from a storm to the east so I fought the wind until I was just to tired to fight it any more and stopped for the night about midnight in Price, Ut.
The next morning I got on the road at about 08:00 and rode home through over cast skies and light rain. It was cloudy drizzly weather with gusty winds. The only sunny spot on the trip home was for about 20 miles on each side of Moab. The rest of the way home I was fighting the wind off and on and just lagging the larger part of the storm so I didn?t get into the heavy rainfall. I got home at a little after 18:00 on Friday. The trip was about 1200 miles each way.
All in all it was not a bad trip. I had started using Shell Rotella synthetic oil and the slight weep I had on the tach cable got a lot worse so I need to fix it. I still had some bouncing on the speedometer but I think it may be due to the cable that I had already ordered and will be replacing anyway. The bike ran perfectly for the trip as was more comfortable than I had thought it would be on a long haul.
I made sure to keep every thing out of my back pockets during the ride and found that increased the comfort level as well as using a throttle rocker. I had replaced my seat which was falling apart with a Travelcade dual bucket seat cover and foam about a month before this and I found I could move around enough to change my position frequently. The seat was a lot better than I thought when taking shorter rides on it. I think the throttle rocker was the best improvement in enabling me to ride this bike long distance but the bars (Daytona) and the seat (Travelcade) were both close seconds. I also have highway pegs that help some but it would be better if they were a little farther foreword.
I carried a quart of Rotella with me and used it up on the return trip I think this was all lost through Tach cable leak. I bought this bike with 14k on the clock and now have over 31k since I bought it in November. When I got the bike the chain and sprockets were about shot so I replaced the chain with a 630 DID Professional O-ring chain. I had problems with the retainer clip snapping when installing the master link. Then after getting one installed without snapping it snapped and the chain damaged the sprocket cover and case cover; this was at about 3k after installation. The one that is on the chain now has gone farther but I am still leery of it so I am getting a rivet type installed. The chain has been great so far it has required only minimal adjustment. It didn?t need adjustment at all after the trip to Washington. I have a set of 530 sprockets and chain on hand for the next replacement so I may not have this problem again.
The only other thing I did was I got a new rear tire while I was in Washington, a Dunlop Elite II 140/90-16. I had a Chin Shin Hi-Max but it looked like it wouldn?t make the trip home so I replaced it possibly 1000 miles early. The Elite II was pretty pricey in Kennewick $240 mounted and balanced, I brought the wheel in so they didn?t remove or install the tire on the bike. The tire alone was $198.00 plus tax.
I haven't decided if I'll send in the stuff for the Saddle Sore 1000 or not but I probably should just because its three years since my last and on an older, smaller bike. The biggest difference other than power between this ride and the last Saddle Sore I did on the Sabre is that I was a little more cramped on the GS and I really missed the 5.8 gallon tank and the milage I got on the Sabre.
Mike
I left Jemez Springs at 04:00 on Friday 9/26/03 and rode until 02:00 on Saturday morning. This got me to La Grande, Or and was better than 1000 miles, I had printed out the forms for a Saddle Sore 1000 from the Iron Butt Association prior to the start of the trip. I had done a Bun Burner and Saddle Sore on the Sabre that I had before getting the GS. The biggest reason for doing this is that I had found going through the motions of keeping the log and having a definite goal kept me focused for the rides in the past.
The next day I left La Grande at 08:00 and finished the trip to Kennewick, Wa. The weather was good for the whole trip. It was clear and warm during the daylight hours possibly in the eighties but cold at night low 40s to high 30s. I fought the wind quite a bit and had to stop a less than 100-mile intervals for gas. I got less than usual gas mileage due to running at a constant speed of 75 ? 90 and fighting the wind.
I spent Saturday through Wednesday with my friend and headed home on Thursday morning but didn?t get started until about 09:30. The ride back was simular to the ride up and I planned on getting south of Salt Lake then stopping for the night. Thursday night I ran into strong gusty conditions and could see lightning from a storm to the east so I fought the wind until I was just to tired to fight it any more and stopped for the night about midnight in Price, Ut.
The next morning I got on the road at about 08:00 and rode home through over cast skies and light rain. It was cloudy drizzly weather with gusty winds. The only sunny spot on the trip home was for about 20 miles on each side of Moab. The rest of the way home I was fighting the wind off and on and just lagging the larger part of the storm so I didn?t get into the heavy rainfall. I got home at a little after 18:00 on Friday. The trip was about 1200 miles each way.
All in all it was not a bad trip. I had started using Shell Rotella synthetic oil and the slight weep I had on the tach cable got a lot worse so I need to fix it. I still had some bouncing on the speedometer but I think it may be due to the cable that I had already ordered and will be replacing anyway. The bike ran perfectly for the trip as was more comfortable than I had thought it would be on a long haul.
I made sure to keep every thing out of my back pockets during the ride and found that increased the comfort level as well as using a throttle rocker. I had replaced my seat which was falling apart with a Travelcade dual bucket seat cover and foam about a month before this and I found I could move around enough to change my position frequently. The seat was a lot better than I thought when taking shorter rides on it. I think the throttle rocker was the best improvement in enabling me to ride this bike long distance but the bars (Daytona) and the seat (Travelcade) were both close seconds. I also have highway pegs that help some but it would be better if they were a little farther foreword.
I carried a quart of Rotella with me and used it up on the return trip I think this was all lost through Tach cable leak. I bought this bike with 14k on the clock and now have over 31k since I bought it in November. When I got the bike the chain and sprockets were about shot so I replaced the chain with a 630 DID Professional O-ring chain. I had problems with the retainer clip snapping when installing the master link. Then after getting one installed without snapping it snapped and the chain damaged the sprocket cover and case cover; this was at about 3k after installation. The one that is on the chain now has gone farther but I am still leery of it so I am getting a rivet type installed. The chain has been great so far it has required only minimal adjustment. It didn?t need adjustment at all after the trip to Washington. I have a set of 530 sprockets and chain on hand for the next replacement so I may not have this problem again.
The only other thing I did was I got a new rear tire while I was in Washington, a Dunlop Elite II 140/90-16. I had a Chin Shin Hi-Max but it looked like it wouldn?t make the trip home so I replaced it possibly 1000 miles early. The Elite II was pretty pricey in Kennewick $240 mounted and balanced, I brought the wheel in so they didn?t remove or install the tire on the bike. The tire alone was $198.00 plus tax.
I haven't decided if I'll send in the stuff for the Saddle Sore 1000 or not but I probably should just because its three years since my last and on an older, smaller bike. The biggest difference other than power between this ride and the last Saddle Sore I did on the Sabre is that I was a little more cramped on the GS and I really missed the 5.8 gallon tank and the milage I got on the Sabre.
Mike
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