Cost to Coast ... to Coast on 1977 GS750 and GS550

[sam000lee]

I'm taking a leave from work until September to ride around the country with one of my friends, leaving in a week and a half. I've gone on a few weekend/week long motorcycle trips on my GS450 but nothing like this before. Starting in the northeast, the plan is pretty much south, west, north and back over.
I'm buying an America the Beautiful pass ($80) and we plan to go to as many national parks as possible and do us much camping as possible to save $$. It also turns out that the single pass is good for one car or TWO bikes!

As for the motorcycles, I have a 1977 GS750 I got back in the fall and my friend got a GS550 about 2 months ago. I'll post pictures later but here's what we've done to get them both in shape.

1. Valve adjustment.
2. Carb. dunks and cleaning.
3. Fresh oil/filters.
4. New SS brake lines and MC for my GS750.
5. SH775 charging upgrades.
6. New tubes and tires arriving this week.
7. New chains and sprockets going on when we do the rear tires
8. Sonic Springs up front going on when we do the front tires.

We went on a 250 miles shakedown ride last weekend where I noticed the suspension was pretty soft (hence the new springs) - besides that we're feeling pretty good about the condition of our bikes.
I'm busy making a bunch of our travelling gear including saddlebags, tool rolls, dry bags and some camping accessories (pictures to come) that we'll be `testing' along the way and we're just waiting on some tire levers and tubes to arrive before we can get to work with fresh rubber, chains/sprockets, tires and fork springs... so lots of work to do in the next 10 days.
If anybody wants to meet up and go for a day ride and show us your favorite roads it would be great to get in touch! We're leaving our `schedule' pretty open to accommodate any detours or `extended rest stops' and so if anybody has recommendations for really cool places they've been definitely let me know.

Pictures to come.

[GS1150Pilot]

You should bring Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Ghost Rider, or Jupiter's Travels with you.

What a great trip you are about to take! Stay safe and have a wonderful time.

[dorkburger]

Sounds awesome, and with enough time not to be in a crazy rush.
Ill be leaving for a family vacation right around the same time, or else I'd have liked to meet up.
Have a fun and safe trip.

[TxGSrider]

It sounds like you're on your way to making a bunch of memories. Keep us posted.

[storm 64]

Sounds like a great road trip! Definitely keep us updated along the way. The one bit of advice I'll give you is, Bring a Spare Clutch Cable. If for nothing else it will give you peace of mind.

[sam000lee]

Sounds like a great road trip! Definitely keep us updated along the way. The one bit of advice I'll give you is, Bring a Spare Clutch Cable. If for nothing else it will give you peace of mind.

Haha I was following your recent thread so yes I'll have a clutch cable and spare throttle cables routed along side my existing ones.

[Steve]

I would think that if you installed new cables before the trip, they should certainly last for the entire trip. That will be my plan of attack for our trip next year. A clutch cable is the only one that would worry me to any extent, but a new one should last. To save some packing space and time, in the event of failure, route your new cable alongside the old one and zip-tie it into place. In the event of failure, it will already be routed under the tank, you will only have to do the work at each end of the cable.

However, you might want to arrange a tire stop some time after the half-way point. A very BASIC route from Boston to Jacksonville to Los Angeles to Seattle back to Boston is just over 7800 miles. It sounds like you are not planning any type of direct route, so it will be longer than that. Not too many tires are going to last that long, so plan on shipping a couple of rear tires, at least, to a member out west somewhere and have a tire-changing party when you stop by.

I have learned a few tips from reading the accounts of several Iron Butt riders over the years. One of them is to NEVER install anything within a few days of departure. Always install it beforehand, so you have a chance to verify that it is working properly. This would include things like GPS connections, cell phone chargers, luggage rack for your gear, etc. If you are going to rely on electronic gadgets, consider a back-up plan. Have a spare GPS. Use your phone instead of a GPS. ALWAYS carry paper maps, as well.

For all your camping gear, again, take it out, set it up, USE IT. Camp in your back yard for the weekend to make sure your foam pad feels OK. Make sure you have all the cooking stuff you will need, if you plan on cooking out. Test EVERYTHING.

Make a list of things you think you will need to pack. Use the list to 'pack' stuff for your weekend in the back yard. Checkmark the stuff you use, make another list of stuff you 'forgot', so you can add that to the first list. When you have made a couple revisions to the list, save it, print it out, use it. That way, you will be sure to bring everything that you need, and you can run down the list to verify that you have it. If you want to be anal about it, separate the list into areas, like "Left saddlebag stuff", "Right saddlebag stuff", etc. Yes, it really does help.

Above all else, HAVE FUN and take lots of pictures.

.

[Big T]

post up your progress, so any members can find you/help you/give you a bed for the night

Since you're heading south and will spend a week or more in 100 degree temps, cooling vests are advise

[Steve]

If you don't want to invest in the cost of a cooling vest, a chamois shirt and a windbreaker is a good substitute.

I have used that in temps up to about 105, it makes the ride quite a bit more tolerable.

.

[sam000lee]

Yup I'll be doing the `parallel' routing trick for the cables, figured I might as well bring the old ones since it won't take up any extra space. We've already gone camping a couple of times this year so know our way around that gear. We will be cooking out, I have a fold out grill top if we are somewhere we can make a fire otherwise I have a little Esbit stove that I've made eggs on before and is good for making a cup of coffee.

I've been trying to fit as much stuff `on the bike' as possible. I stashed our first aid kit under the left side cover and have a fair amount of space under the right one, too:


Tool roll I made over the weekend:


and the saddlebag I made last week:

[Gorminrider]

nice work on those saddle-bags! Indeed, I would leave those straps nice and long with lots of holes added towards the bottom-they can always be secured if they flap-a pull-tie not pulled entirely tight as a keeper perhaps in a pinch- but having the option to pile more stuff is excellent!

[sam000lee]

Well we're ready and leaving tomorrow. Had an eventful past week scrambling to put carbs together and getting new tires on both of the motorcycles.
Here's our graveyard:


The GS550 getting a makeover:



My GS750 pretty much ready to go:



And I couldn't not take a picture with my GS450 as well...



Our first destination is Asheville which is about 900 miles and we'll take 3-4 days getting there leisurely down Skyline drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway and then we're headed west. Not sure when the next time I'll get to post pictures will be but I'll certainly try if I get the chance.

[GS1150Pilot]

Safe travels-have a blast!

[dorkburger]

The last minute thrash is always interesting. This is going to be fun to follow.
Good luck.
The crate brings back memories of Steel Toed Tank....

[sam000lee]

Made it to Asheville 1100 miles so far. The blue ridge parkway is the coolest road I've ever been on miles and miles of curves and crazy views. So far the bikes are doing great. just checked my valve clearances and swapped one out (thanks ray!) and we're doing an oil change tomorrow. Sorry for the sideways picture but it's the best I can do with an iPod. Tomorrow we're going to Dollywood on the way to Nashville then on to Kansas City then Denver.


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