We had a GT650 R come in the workshop the last week to have a rear tyre replaced. The bike was very dirty, missing a mirror, paint work scratched abit on the left side and it was loaded up with touring gear. It looked like he had been on the road for a while and it had Victorian number plates. So at the time I thought that he had ridden over from Vic, 800 or so klicks away.

The rider in question was in his late 50's, one very interesting person and dedicated rider. He had his bike shipped to Perth (the extreme Western part of Australia) and he had ridden his bike from there to Adelaide and then to his home in Albury in Victoria. Half way across the Nullabor he hit a Kangaroo and dropped the bike. Which was why the bike was missing a mirror and the scratch's on the left side of the fairing. But other than that there was no real damage to speak of, although he did say that it happened at low speed. By the time he made it to DA's he definately needed a tyre and we replaced his chain as well to play it safe.

But once that was done he was off again as he still had 998km's to go, for the entire trip he said that his bike did not miss a beat and besides the kangaroo bit he had a ball as it was always his dream to ride across the Nullabor. But the thing that got me was that he was riding a "GT650R" which is a sports bike, not exactly a tourer, but he did it anyway all 2,700 km's by himself and he still had another 1,000km's to go.

Thats what I call a dedicated rider. :evilgrin1:

Not bad but as road trips go it's only average, I mean, next week-end I take off on a 4-day 2580 km mountain trip with a GT250 and that's just a warm-up for the 14,500 km 20 day trip across the country I embarque on a week later with the Bandit.
Oh and 10 days after my return I have a 5-day 2660 km mountain trip with the GT again.

I covered 5000km over 2 weeks and the middle week was puting around. Each way was about 2200km on my own. The longest single day was about 880km from memory. In about 2.5 years I plan to ride to the West Coast and back for Ulysses AGM 2010. Next year I'm going to Townsville, about 3000km each way. Unfortunately I can't do really long rides just yet.
Cruisers and sports bikes have their own limitations on comfort for touring. Forward set pegs put more weight on your butt which isn't great but a good seat or a bit of extra padding helps lots. Sports bikes can be crowded and put more weight on wrists.
Wouldn't it be good to have a stable of bikes for each kind of ride.
I hope your customer completes his journey without further incident Dave.

Taking that into consideration, Serp, I will put you in the same dedicated (mad) riders list. It is not so much the distance but the type of bike you ride. A GT650S is a good tourer, GT250 is not a good tourer and any R is no tourer. I wish I could take the trip with you on my GV, there is nothing like a good long trip on a bike. Inregards to the unkown rider ( I've forgotten his name) Pat he should be long home now as he only allowed himself four days for his trip across Australia. Could be an idea for a future run maybe and Serp have a good run mate, we expect to see the photo's. At least you dont have to worry about Kangaroo's, but look out for everything else on your iron butt run. :evilgrin1:

Oh there will be photos, no worries there.

I want to do a long ride so bad I can taste it!

In october, Nate and I are planning to ride from here to Tampa, Florida to do a ride from Tampa to Daytona, then from Daytona back to here. Should be about 1200 miles total in 3 days. Plans now are calling for him to ride his GT250 and I'm leaning toward riding the chopper rather than the GV...

really looking forward to doing a long ride!

Where is "here" and what time of the month are you planning this trip?
If I'm here (I have a mountain trip in October) I'll escort you the back way from Tampa to Daytona.

Dave(ACD), when thinking about which bike to take, think about carrying stuff.
Dave(Adelaide), did I tell you I bought a swag for the ghost Town Rally? I'll be cool about going to Silverton now.

hey Serp - Nate and I are riding from Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi, Mississippi to Tampa on October 12. We are planning to participate in the Florida Coast to Coast ride (all day ride from Tampa to Daytona - no interstate). Benefits go to Lukemia society. Wanna go with?

Pat - Thats one thing to consider - but it would be more prudent to take the Chopper because I can strap things to the rear seat (no rear seat on the HYO and a nice smooth fender...) Also, the HYO is all about business - making pipes and parts - if I take it ona run like this and god-forbid something bad happen to it - I'm up a creek. I have no dealer anymore so any issues need to be handled by me... its also a first production run bike so the likelihood of issues is kinda high too.

BUT - its a bike and its made to be riden - if it gets damaged or fubar'd - then insurance should cover it. I could wear a backpack for luggage issues... it would be so cool to ride that mean machine all over the place....

but the chopper is a honda - bulletproof 20 year engine design - no issues - same milage as the HYO and 2 years older - (hahah), but its a rigid - makes for a very long ride! But its cool too - would get me serious "badass biker" points... ;) :P

cant decide.... still have time to work it all out....

I just might be able to, I get back from my trip on the 11th, is there a site for the specifics on theis ride?

Florida Coast to Coast Ride

Nate and I are headed to it from Mobile - will arrive late Friday night at the host hotel in Tampa. Spoke briefly with Chuck and Bob Whitte - and even a little with DickW. Looks like fun :)

sorry for hijacking the thread guys :)

Dave...have you checked out :

I can't wait. I'm going to have to get pretty creative as to how to strap things down to the GT250.

I'm hoping to have some mods done to the GT250 by then to make it a bit better suited for the long trip. ie new grips, fairing, and some jetting & exhaust mods to open it up a bit more.

Might have to pick up some sport saddle bags to help offset the packing difficulties...

Luggage rack, soft bags and a tank bag works for me.

Yeah - my next paycheck is buying the hardbags for the GV and I'll be spraying them red to match the bike - hooking up the bag lights to be the new turnsignals, and I'm running a set of FGC "lock-ups" now - removed that old 2-into-1 I had the last time you saw it. ;) I'm hoping I can make the bags work with the look of the bike.

Don't leave that on the board Dave. I'd hate you to have an accident and the insurance find that. Not likely I know but ...

With everyone going on mega runs Pat, perhaps we should go to Broken Hill via Perth, Broome, Darwin and Alice Springs. But then again perhaps not, I dont think my artificial shoulder joint is up to a longggggg distance run yet. Its good to hear that you have a swag, it means more time to socialise with the natives. :evilgrin1:

Cool.

;)

Hey serp, would those bags hold up well without the rear rack? The rack doesn't really suit my taste...

The rack has no effect on the bags one way or the other.

Nate, here are some soft saddlebags for ya.

soft bags

I've ordered from these folks in the past. They have good stuff.

Here's where I got mine, I have the CL1000 model.

Those are nice serp. I've got a Nelson Rigg Roll bag on the back of my GV650. They make some good stuff.

Some nice options there. Thanks gents.