Final Ride Report...

[Whirlygirl]

Well... made it back safe and sound from my Vancouver - Vegas - San Diego - Vancouver odyssey!

In a nutshell: 5228 km total, gas costs - $261 USD, average mileage 50 mpg or 4.6 l/100km, 1 dead battery (my fault), 3 snowstorms, 1 hail storm (ouch), 1 bee-in-the-helmet, 2 missing bolts (more on that later), and a helluva lot of fun!


Things I did right:

1) Buying the FZ6 in the first place - proven to be, in my mind, the perfect combination of sport-touring comfort and fun!

2) Heated vest and grips... could NOT have done the trip without them!

3) Sheepskin seat cover - solved the only "comfort issue" I've had with the bike so far

4) Buying a good set of Viking rain pants ($42 from Marks Work Wearhouse), nice and easy to pull on over the leathers... and I needed them!

5) Going with the MotoPak soft luggage - worked great!!!


Things I would do differently:

1) Wait a little later in the season to the trip! Call me a wimp, but riding all day in rain, snow, and near-freezing temperatures... not so much fun

2) Plan ahead a little better for meeting up with people along the way. The five-day trip home by myself was starting to get a little lonely, although I do like the freedom of riding at my own pace and stopping when I want!

3) Invest in some hot-weather (mesh?) riding gear for those hotter climates! My all-black warm and toasty gear was great for the ride down and back, but torturous for riding around So Cal and Vegas!

All-in-all it was a great trip... can't wait for the next one!

Regarding the missing bolts... funny story. Second-last day of the trip I was riding slowly over some speed-bumps in a parking lot, and noticed a strange metallic "clanking" sound coming from the front end. I tried to replicate the sound later that evening at the hotel by bouncing the the front end, but could hear anything. Checked everything over (I thought) just to be safe. The next day, I'm riding over a bridge in Portland with a bunch of expansion joints, and I hear it again.... Look down, and lo-and-behold, BOTH of the bolts that hold down the gass tank are missing! WTF??? Must have vibrated loose along the way... (and subsequently fallen out while I was at a 60-degree bank angle though the twisties earlier the day before...

I thought about trying to find a dealership and replace them, but figured the tank wasn't going anywhere, so I carried on home. Weird.

If anyone hasn't seen the pictures and play-by-play, and would like to, you can find them dispersed throughout this thread:
http://www.fz6-forum.com/forum/fz6-g...-hit-road.html (Ready to hit the Road!)

If anyone has any other questions about anything, let me know!
Happy and safe riding everyone!

Cheers,
Crystal

[tolgatt]

im jealous !
sounds like you had a lot of fun,,i've seen the pictures also from the other thread...

i never thought about the soft luggage before ,,i was used to using givi topcase so much ,i wanted to put one to the FZ too,,i think soft luggage is the way to go....how much did you pay for that setup?

last july, me being an idiot, i left my home with only a t-shirt to go to new york city from windsor (700 miles each way)...early in the day i froze my a$$ off first ,then it started raining about 2 hrs...everything was back to normal around 2 pm after being 6 hours on the road...i remember myself around 7pm inside of lincoln tunnel trying to reach manhattan on a friday rush hour,,the temperature was reaching around 120+ degrees in the tunnel,,i was right behind a bus ,sweating like a pig and trying not to pass out or choke to death inside the tunnel
unfortunately there is no 1 set of outfit for these kinds of long rides...i have a mesh jacket though from motogp and it is pretty good for summer..

glad that you are back,,,please put more pictures for us!!

[grommit]

Amazing, I totally missed the original thread.



Well done.

[yukon_alex]

Hey Crystal! Glad to hear you made it home safe and sound. Looks like you had a great time. I do think it's funny you called me hard-core! You rock!

I just got home (well last night) and I only put 4300kms on. Full report later...

[Zack]

Went to other thread to see the pictures. Nice trip, a lot of bags, like the red FZ6, pretty girl...

Zack

[bd43]

Hey whirlygirl, glad you made it back in one piece. Great pics and stories, thanks for the virtual tour!

[Nelly]

Originally Posted by Whirlygirl

Well... made it back safe and sound from my Vancouver - Vegas - San Diego - Vancouver odyssey!

In a nutshell: 5228 km total, gas costs - $261 USD, average mileage 50 mpg or 4.6 l/100km, 1 dead battery (my fault), 3 snowstorms, 1 hail storm (ouch), 1 bee-in-the-helmet, 2 missing bolts (more on that later), and a helluva lot of fun!


Things I did right:

1) Buying the FZ6 in the first place - proven to be, in my mind, the perfect combination of sport-touring comfort and fun!

2) Heated vest and grips... could NOT have done the trip without them!

3) Sheepskin seat cover - solved the only "comfort issue" I've had with the bike so far

4) Buying a good set of Viking rain pants ($42 from Marks Work Wearhouse), nice and easy to pull on over the leathers... and I needed them!

5) Going with the MotoPak soft luggage - worked great!!!


Things I would do differently:

1) Wait a little later in the season to the trip! Call me a wimp, but riding all day in rain, snow, and near-freezing temperatures... not so much fun

2) Plan ahead a little better for meeting up with people along the way. The five-day trip home by myself was starting to get a little lonely, although I do like the freedom of riding at my own pace and stopping when I want!

3) Invest in some hot-weather (mesh?) riding gear for those hotter climates! My all-black warm and toasty gear was great for the ride down and back, but torturous for riding around So Cal and Vegas!

All-in-all it was a great trip... can't wait for the next one!

Regarding the missing bolts... funny story. Second-last day of the trip I was riding slowly over some speed-bumps in a parking lot, and noticed a strange metallic "clanking" sound coming from the front end. I tried to replicate the sound later that evening at the hotel by bouncing the the front end, but could hear anything. Checked everything over (I thought) just to be safe. The next day, I'm riding over a bridge in Portland with a bunch of expansion joints, and I hear it again.... Look down, and lo-and-behold, BOTH of the bolts that hold down the gass tank are missing! WTF??? Must have vibrated loose along the way... (and subsequently fallen out while I was at a 60-degree bank angle though the twisties earlier the day before...

I thought about trying to find a dealership and replace them, but figured the tank wasn't going anywhere, so I carried on home. Weird.

If anyone hasn't seen the pictures and play-by-play, and would like to, you can find them dispersed throughout this thread:
http://www.fz6-forum.com/forum/fz6-g...-hit-road.html (Ready to hit the Road!)

If anyone has any other questions about anything, let me know!
Happy and safe riding everyone!

Cheers,
Crystal

Top Kudos Crystal, you have most likely undertaken the largest run on the FZ6. Glad you got back safe. Great thread well done.

Nelly

[VEGASRIDER]

Originally Posted by Nelly

Top Kudos Crystal, you have most likely undertaken the largest run on the FZ6. Glad you got back safe. Great thread well done.

Nelly

I second that! Thanks for the report and glad you had a great time. I agree, travelling alone has it's advantages, you can set you own pace and do whatever you want. That's the way I am. And like you said, you can meet people along the way. So what was longest run in terms of mileage or klicks you did in one day?

[Whirlygirl]

Originally Posted by VEGASRIDER

I second that! Thanks for the report and glad you had a great time. I agree, travelling alone has it's advantages, you can set you own pace and do whatever you want. That's the way I am. And like you said, you can meet people along the way. So what was longest run in terms of mileage or klicks you did in one day?

Longest day was Day1 - about 840 km (520 miles). Doesn't seem that long, but between the rain, cold, and a dead battery (had to wait about an hour for someone to show up and help me push start!), it made for about a 12 hour day....

[Red Wazp]

Awesome ride. What was the cause of the dead battery? Heated gear?
Any day over 500 miles is a good day, but on a FZ6? Atta girl!