Mexico Road Trip!

[MarinaFazer]

So last weekend I rode 2-up with my girl down to Rosarito Mexico from Los Angeles, California. A total of ~350 miles were put on the bike and we loved every minute of it from the cool wind of San Diego and arriving at Sunset along the Mexican coast to the ride back where 3 riders passed us going about 120mph and my girl squeezed and dared say, "Catch up, catch up!!!"

I'll give pics, but my review of the FZ6 as a sport touring bike is as follows
Pros:
1. Personally I find the seat comfy (but you have to work up to longer rides)
2. Smooth on the highway (cruising at 75-80mph indicated got us 55mpg while being 2-up with loaded saddlebags and a backpack)
3. No traffic (our friends who came in a car arrived an hour and a half later than us
4. No return border traffic (our friends waited in border traffic to come to the US for 2 hours and we spent a total of 10minutes cutting through traffic and the vendors)

Cons:
1. I guess if I really get into touring on the bike, I'd shell out for a cushier saddle
2. windscreen too small (although better than my last naked bike, I still took lots of wind and was jealous when a goldwing would pass us with no wind hitting the helmets)
3. front end felt really light with rear shock on 7 (not sure if that's just because the shocks aren't great or what)


Overall:

Great bike for touring, and then when we took off the bags and went in to town, we parked right in front of Macho Taco on the curb and stuffed ourselves to the brim with tacos and a dinner at El Nido (best place in town) oh, and lots of Tequila back at the beach house!!!

**If you plan to go to Mexico:
1. You need a passport to return
2. Tequila and beer is cheaper across the border (buy it in Mexico)
3. You need Mexican Car/Motorcycle Insurance
4. Eat at legitimate places like Macho Taco or El Nido (for Rosarito) to avoid Montezuma's revenge or make sure to bring heartburn, diahrreal and gas medicine.
5. Don't let the club people hassle you if you're young like us (20 and 23)
6. Take the coast route (toll road) for safe roads and maintained roads ($2.60 per booth) and keep the receipt as it is your extra insurance on that stretch of highway.
7. I hope I'm not forgetting anything.

[D-Mac]

Originally Posted by MarinaFazer

So last weekend I rode 2-up with my girl down to Rosarito Mexico from Los Angeles, California. A total of ~350 miles were put on the bike and we loved every minute of it from the cool wind of San Diego and arriving at Sunset along the Mexican coast to the ride back where 3 riders passed us going about 120mph and my girl squeezed and dared say, "Catch up, catch up!!!"

I'll give pics, but my review of the FZ6 as a sport touring bike is as follows
Pros:
1. Personally I find the seat comfy (but you have to work up to longer rides)
2. Smooth on the highway (cruising at 75-80mph indicated got us 55mpg while being 2-up with loaded saddlebags and a backpack)
3. No traffic (our friends who came in a car arrived an hour and a half later than us
4. No return border traffic (our friends waited in border traffic to come to the US for 2 hours and we spent a total of 10minutes cutting through traffic and the vendors)

Cons:
1. I guess if I really get into touring on the bike, I'd shell out for a cushier saddle
2. windscreen too small (although better than my last naked bike, I still took lots of wind and was jealous when a goldwing would pass us with no wind hitting the helmets)
3. front end felt really light with rear shock on 7 (not sure if that's just because the shocks aren't great or what)


Overall:

Great bike for touring, and then when we took off the bags and went in to town, we parked right in front of Macho Taco on the curb and stuffed ourselves to the brim with tacos and a dinner at El Nido (best place in town) oh, and lots of Tequila back at the beach house!!!

**If you plan to go to Mexico:
1. You need a passport to return
2. Tequila and beer is cheaper across the border (buy it in Mexico)
3. You need Mexican Car/Motorcycle Insurance
4. Eat at legitimate places like Macho Taco or El Nido (for Rosarito) to avoid Montezuma's revenge or make sure to bring heartburn, diahrreal and gas medicine.
5. Don't let the club people hassle you if you're young like us (20 and 23)
6. Take the coast route (toll road) for safe roads and maintained roads ($2.60 per booth) and keep the receipt as it is your extra insurance on that stretch of highway.
7. I hope I'm not forgetting anything.

Sounds like a blast!

I never seem to get that kind of mileage. Maybe it's because my bike is still new (2500 miles).

[VEGASRIDER]

Were you ever worried that your bike would be stolen? Did you get Mexican insurance for the Fizzer? I've been down to Rosarita Beach as well, but drove down a few years ago.

[MarinaFazer]

My bike has 7,000 miles now with another 1,000 coming this weekend for my Nor Cal Tour up to Sacramento to visit my girlfriend at her internship.

As for theft, I had mexican insurance (required) which also covered theft, and a disc lock. I kept my bike in the beach house garage at night which is also in a gated community. And when I parked in town, the bike was in front of Macho Taco, which has a parking attendant that costs $5 for cars right up front. Since I parked on the sidewalk by those cars, I figured it'd be safe in front of the restaurant on the main boulevard with tourists walking by and the Macho Taco attendant guy watching the cars next to it.

My brother (who rode with us), stayed an extra day and he rode about 45 minutes south of Rosarito via the free road and he said it was so beautiful that it would have been awesome to do together on bikes for the lobster lunches and what not!!! Perhaps a road trip would be in order lol

[bmccrary]

Cool deal man!

Sounds like a great trip. I had no idea about the insurance for mexico and all the little rule of thumbs you mentioned.

Great post!

As for the light front end. I have the same problem with my bike when my g/f rides on the back with gear. The bike handles a bit different from when it just me, but I have only had one case where I lost front bite mid corner with her on the bike. That was part due to some debris. However the traction came right back a second later once I cleared the debris.

The only thing I could think to do other than replace the shock with an R1 shock (R6 shock is shorter and will lower the bike) or replace with ohlins, would be to find a replacement spring. I am not sure on the exact deminsions on the spring or the spring constant (K) either. Here at the lab I could test it and see what it is, but more than likely I will do that over the winter.

Enjoy the bike man. Glad to see you and your girl are enjoying it. I know mine loves riding with me.

Ride safe!

-bryan

[MarinaFazer]

Originally Posted by bmccrary

The only thing I could think to do other than replace the shock with an R1 shock (R6 shock is shorter and will lower the bike) or replace with ohlins, would be to find a replacement spring. I am not sure on the exact deminsions on the spring or the spring constant (K) either. Here at the lab I could test it and see what it is, but more than likely I will do that over the winter.

Thanks for that, but I probably won't be changing it out anytime soon as I have a few other purchases to make before replacing parts on the bike...a better helmet for my girl and leathers for her instead of just my extra mesh First Gear jacket.

fyi: on the RaceTech website, you can input your weight and height and they tell you which springs with which constant (K) you should purchase! If anything, I might switch out my oil, but that's more of a rebound thing. The bike was definately planted the whole time on the road.

I just found out today that my steering head is loose...AGAIN...it was fixed by the dealer two weeks ago, but I was told sometimes the parts inside get oval shaped and have to be replaced...just a factory default I guess...yay for warranties!

[bmccrary]

Originally Posted by MarinaFazer

Thanks for that, but I probably won't be changing it out anytime soon as I have a few other purchases to make before replacing parts on the bike...a better helmet for my girl and leathers for her instead of just my extra mesh First Gear jacket.

fyi: on the RaceTech website, you can input your weight and height and they tell you which springs with which constant (K) you should purchase! If anything, I might switch out my oil, but that's more of a rebound thing. The bike was definately planted the whole time on the road.

I just found out today that my steering head is loose...AGAIN...it was fixed by the dealer two weeks ago, but I was told sometimes the parts inside get oval shaped and have to be replaced...just a factory default I guess...yay for warranties!

Oil effects more than just rebound, it is your damping coefficient. Between that and the shims or valving in the shock will effect the amount of squat and how quickly you will go through the travel. All tuning aspects of suspension components effect something else, some more than others.

I am going to start looking into different springs and oils upfront. As well as out back. Not sure if the rear is gas charged or not though?

-bryan

[MarinaFazer]

Originally Posted by bmccrary

Not sure if the rear is gas charged or not though?

I have no clue...I'm sure a thread search on "rear shock" will reveal the info!

[bmccrary]

Yea I have been searching through at spring rates and such.

Wondering about what weight to enter on the spring seach. When I put my weight for the front it gives a .9 spring needed. When I put in 300, which would be my weight, plus the weight of my g/f and gear it gives me a 1.082 or something like that.

Might I guess I could split the middle and run a spring for about 250 lbs seeing as how she isnt always riding with me.

Sorry about that, we seemed to have got off topic a bit with your trip.

-bryan

[MarinaFazer]

no worries, Isn't the new spring adjustable like the preload with the stock? So then you could load it more for when she's going to get on? I did that for our ride...up to 7 with our gear and bags...I'd think a replacement or aftermarket one would be more adjustable to accomodate that factor?