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2300 Mi Cross Country Gear Review


TampaDave

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Rode from Florida to Vegas in early Jan, timing my trip perfectly to traverse the southern portions of winter storm Harry. First day was gorgeous. Woke up the next morning in the Florida panhandle to 18 degree temps. Then I got smacked by one low pressure system after another, it was in the 30's and raining from Biloxi to Tucson.

Every day was the same routine. Wake up early. Rewire heated vest while waiting for ice to melt off bike. Slog down the road until temps drop to freezing. Stay in fleabag hotel. Repeat. I texted my wife at one point, "Feel like Shackleford wandering in Antarctic." Reply: "Who's that?"

Here's what worked, and what didn't:

Thumbs up for:

1. 6th gen. What a great fricken bike. Solid as a rock on the slab, carved up the curves, never skipped a beat. Solid 195 miles per tank, which I found out the hard way when I coasted onto Marathon, Tx, cursing and praying, with the engine still running, and put 4.6 gallons of gas in.

2. PR4's. They were in their element and performed fabulously.

3. Sergeant seat. No monkey butt at any point.

4. LD comfort drawers. Ditto. Wash in sink at night, dry in the morning.

5. Aerostich suit. Took a couple of days to break in and get used to getting on/off and sealing up properly. Fantastic gear, kept me warm and dry but could still shuck it in 15 seconds if needed. It was kind of comical seeing people look at it and try to figure out what it was. Most thought it was a snowmobile suit. Some thought I worked there, wherever I was. You know, like asking me if the restrooms were clean, which I guess was their little way of telling me to get back to work or something. HINT: have them sew that little American flag on the front pocket. Makes the Border Patrol stops go a little quicker.

6. Woobie. Didn't use my camping gear much for obvious reasons but used woobie constantly because of the aforementioned flea-bitteness of my chosen accommodations.

Thumbs down for:

1. Tourmaster synergy vest. Broke middle of day two. Possibly the controller although bayonet connector failed also. Finally approached with a LLQ incision, guts removed and replaced with SAE type connector. Wound repaired with gorilla tape (of course.) Spliced in lamp switch, elegantly waterproofed with parts of a zip lock bag and lots of gorilla tape. Could not have survived without the vest, but doing major surgery on the thing every morning was a PIA. Also, would have helped to have full sleeves as opposed to vest, as arms got cold.

2. "Waterproof" "winter" "gloves" from Cycle gear. Snowmobile gloves would have been better. Live/learn.

3. Esbit stove. Didn't work fast enough to satisfy me. Maybe I should be more patient.

Tools used:

Swiss army knife, phillips head screwdriver, gorilla tape, posilocks, small allen wrench

Tool tip:

Don't forget to take tool kit out of duffel and then try to get through airport security. I had lots of splainin to do, but officer was cool about it. After I cried and begged him not to keep my chain spanner, which is darn hard to come by.

Best place to get stuck when you weren't planning to lay over but open to meeting some cool people in a neat little town:

Alpine, TX. I wouldn't go so far as to say I've actually "seen" Alpine, due to the freezing fog which evidently has never happened to that town, ever, until I tried to ride a motorcycle through it. But, cool little town nonetheless. Note: just because it's above freezing in Alpine, and above freezing in Marfa, doesn't mean that the road between the two is also above freezing. Just sayin.

If you're getting ready for a big trip and have gear questions, hit me up.

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Good gear saves a lot of BAD days to ride. Without good waterproof - and I do mean WATERPROOF - gear, I would have had some really miserable times over the years. Everything from a full day of heavy fog to a constant mist to riding through what seemed like 4 days under Niagara Falls, I think good gear is just as important as gas in your tank. Once I get my mind set that it is just going to be a wet day and there's nothing I can do about it, I dial back my speed and just go with it. Some of my best rides have been in the wet. Cold temps add another aspect but once again, the gear makes or breaks your day.

Deception Pass

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Sounds like a great Adventure!!!

Even with the hardships and all, I'm jealous... glad you made it without any major mishaps and thanks for sharing :beer:

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Good gear saves a lot of BAD days to ride. Without good waterproof - and I do mean WATERPROOF - gear, I would have had some really miserable times over the years. Everything from a full day of heavy fog to a constant mist to riding through what seemed like 4 days under Niagara Falls, I think good gear is just as important as gas in your tank. Once I get my mind set that it is just going to be a wet day and there's nothing I can do about it, I dial back my speed and just go with it. Some of my best rides have been in the wet. Cold temps add another aspect but once again, the gear makes or breaks your day.

With all the talk about "wet crotch syndrome" I went into this figuring the stich wouldn't really be waterproof. But it really was. It does take a bit of fine tuning. For example, I eventually figured out the whole thing works better if you tuck the gloves in. Keeps the water out better, plus it's warmer. Crotch stayed dry the whole time. It was never "niagra falls" pouring, just constant rain/drizzle but still.

It always rains when I ride. Someday I'm gonna let the Hopis borrow my bike for the rain dance. It's *always* like this -- "Durn we haven't had this much rain in Laughlin since nineteen-aught-eleventy-twelve."

I've been through the whole thing of putting on a rain suit, and taking it off, and putting it back on again.... it is sooooo much easier to do Goretex and just keep on riding. The whole thing wound up being fun in a twisted way. You are absolutely right.

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Yeah ditch that Esbit stove.....

I bet even the Spartans didnot think much of it.....

Esbit is good for one purpose only...

post-8974-0-36693500-1424264780.jpg

Score a Coleman; it will outlast you and one can prepare fresh salmon no problem...

post-8974-0-84524600-1424265078.jpg

:beer:

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Crazy weather Amigo ...sometimes it seems a full blown weather conspiracy is afoot ...to destroy your ride. Well it seems that way for me ... my first long haul ride, in 1970 from southwestern Ontario Canukistan to Vancouver BC was a wake up call for just how deadly the weather can be ... back in the day, a denim jacket and jeans was considered appropriate ride gear ..hahaha

Look up a place called Wawa ..in northern Ontario, commonly referred to as the a'hole of Canada... really a bad name...cause an a'hole could never get as cold and wet as Wawa..a flea bag layover ..one of many on that ride. A thing I have discovered in years of riding in every kind of weather imaginable ....no matter how shitty and nasty the weather is.., and hypo-thermic you get and misery is dealt in spades....all it takes is one nice day, bluebird skies n hot sun on a fine stretch of road .... poof ....all that bad weather is forgiven and forgotten.

Durable people .... this bike riding clan !!!

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I'm glad you mentioned hypothermia, which is dangerous stuff.

It's hard to stay warm in 30's/rain. I had enough clothes on to be warm just standing there, but if you get wet and you're out in the middle of nowhere, you can really **** yourself up.

Much as I gripe about that vest, it really made the ride do-able. I'm not convinced the controller was the problem, the connector was the major quality control issue. It was held together by a tiny spot of solder and that's just not enough. The vest itself puts out good heat and once I replaced the connector, it worked fine. Although I had ditched the controller by then, so who knows.

Even so, you still get cold and you have to have the discipline to pull over before you start getting foggy-headed and distracted by the cold.

-----------

I love the open road. Need the open road; it clears my head and I need a clear head. This ride met the need. Everything fun about it was something I hadn't planned; fortunately I'm not old enough to have lost the capacity to find delight in surprise.

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