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 :surrender:
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... :justkidding:
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.600riders.com/forum/fz6-general-discussion/4169-ready-hit-road.html
If anyone has any other questions about anything, let me know!
Happy and safe riding everyone!
Cheers,
Crystal
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 :surrender:
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... :justkidding:
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.600riders.com/forum/fz6-general-discussion/4169-ready-hit-road.html
If anyone has any other questions about anything, let me know!
Happy and safe riding everyone!
Cheers,
Crystal
