Yeah, I am planning on a third set for getting home. I have a friend that will be stationed in anchorage that I will be shipping them to, so that should help. I am still figuring out how I am getting to Seattle, good thing there is lots of time.
I ordered a new wheelset from Woody yesterday; based on Zach's recommendation (at Woody's) I changed the tires they're coming with from a 908/Mt21 combo to a 908/Scorpion Rally Pro. Zach was pretty emphatic about how much more he likes the rally pro so I decided to try it this time. We will see... I gotta ask the newbie question about buddy groups; is this something I should be sweating yet? I don't know any of you characters and signed up by myself.... I used this as an excuse to buy the safari tanks for the 990 but have been running Rotopax for the last 13k miles with no issues. Anyone have ideas on mounting an ICO to the 990? Steve
You don't need to, buy the ktm rally handover switch thingy (non technical term ) for your stock odo. It'll work like an ico, aka adjust trip back and forth. Unless you meant one of those fancy tsd style ico's.......in which case right above your instrument cluster, tucked in behind your windscreen maybe...
I had a blast in 2006 in my R1150GS. No way would I consider doing this on a small bike. Way too far to be uncomfortable. If I am able to get it for 2014, I would do it on my 950SE. For those have not been to Alaska, this is a great way to do a supported trip at a bargain price. It is definitely fast paced and not a sight seeing trip. You will cover a lot of ground but there is no time to explore. My wife expressed interest in doing this in 2010, but we opted to go up ourselves at our own pace, camp along the way and take our time. A much more relaxing trip, but going up there on the 5000 the first time gave me a lay of the land.
Yeah, I meant the fancy one referenced earlier in the thread. Can't go high, the GPS lives there....at least for now... Thanks! S
Don't sweat the buddy groups. Last couple times we just budded up with a bike in front and behind our TSD starting spot. If that doesn't work we figure it out as we go. If you are bike number 20, you start every TSD on the 20th minute after the first start time. You try and buddy 19 and 21, but it really doesn't matter. They'll assign you to a buddy group if nothing materializes. The advance ICO is called a Checkmate. http://www.icoracing.com/ It is intended to mount on a crossbar. Of course our KTM's don't have a crossbar so either one has to be clamped on or something similar bolted somewhere up front. I'm going to probably buy a Renthal 1/1/8 crossbar handlebar because I want to mount both my ICO and roadbook holder on it.
Here are 2 different mounts with 1/2" cross bar....I have used the Enduro Eng. mount for several years and it works well I just bought the RMS mount...looks like it will work, but I might have interference problems with the edge top of my SMC windscreen... It's too cold here to mess with, so the first warm spell I'll see how it works... I'm waiting for some more info & photos on the Rally Raid Evo2 fairing setup,so the SMC windscreen problem is only short term... http://www.rallymanagementservices.com/collections/frontpage/products/universal-navigation-clamps https://shop.enduroeng.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=16-035
My son found this for me so I ordered one. Allows me to mount a manual roadbook holder and ICO computer. http://www.touratech-usa.com/Store/1208/PN-040-0601/Cross-Bar-320mm The roadbook holder is this little plastic gizmo from Sweden: http://www.raiddesigns.com/en/produ...aid-designs-rb001-manual-roadbook-holder.html $77 USD shipped. Should get it next week.
As I try to work out my logistics I still have many questions, if a guy drives to Seattle leave his truck and rides back after the event from Alaska to Seattle how does one get him bag that the chase truck was hauling? do you have to ship it or carry it or something else? thanks Dave
Hi Dave - You are not going to carry much. My return trip in 2010 looked like this: Marks load back looked like this: Basically you haul back your stuff in a medium duffel plus the tires you might need. The KLR used both tires to get back within 1000 miles of this image. I didn't use either of my spares. In 2006 I used my Gobi panniers as suitcases for the truck hauler and simply clipped them on my bike for the ride home. But I really didn't need the space so I only used a seabag duffel in 2010. Threw it in the truck during the days of the rally, and strapped it to the bike for the trip back to Seattle. I used that front tire within 200 miles of this image. You just don't take that much clothing. You wear the same outer gear every day for 3 weeks. That leaves underwear and a couple of layers. Most of us had a simple pant, shoes and top we used in the evenings. But generally, we came in so late we don't bother mostly. Medium duffel is all you need. You carry your spares on your bike always.
The waiting list is up to 9 now, pretty impressive. I know it's still a ways out so the final number could be way down, BUT you'd think with as much expressed interest as there is that there would be more events like this. It seems like these big enduro/rally races have gone the way of supermoto in terms of popularity (maybe why I'm starting to get into both so much now...). So, to the more expreinced guys: what events/races are coming up that could help in the way of getting ready for this. I'm in for Jimmy Lewis' Taste of Dakar, and Im debating doing his rally nav class. I checked out the M1000 and Vegas to Reno. I'm not finding much in the way of actual rallies to get some roadbook/TSD stage practice in. What am I missing?
There are no events for you to practice that I know of. The JL school will help more than anything I suppose. But the main thing is to practice time keeping. It is more like enduro racing than the Mexican 1000. You can do that on paved roads around home. You should get a sample route instructions for one of the TSD stages from previous years. Then lay out a route and carefully make a route chart with similar information as your sample. Then go out and ride it attempting to keep the exact pace according to your chart. Every route instruction will have a distance from start and an assigned speed. The speed will change every few instructions for whatever reason. Your job it to pass every instruction on the exact second you should be there according to your assigned speed and the distance traveled to the instruction. It's all math unless you have a computer to do the math for you. I just received my Checkmate Enduro computer from ICO Racing today ($299). I will be making local TSD sections all summer and learning how to program the distances and speed of each route instruction into my computer. Then I'll ride them to see if I am programming correctly. If I am, my instrument will constantly tell me if I'm early or late. That allows me to adjust my pace according to the computer display. The guys that win this thing practice routes and programming all summer advance of the event. They have it dialed when they show up. Both bikes in 2006 were top five overall including the cars with navigators :huh. In 2010 my riding partner was teamed up with a top car crew. The car guys trained my buddy in their time keeping system for weeks in advance in the Arizona desert. After the first day, I knew my buddy had a chance to win. I was shocked! It's all about timekeeping. The navigation isn't that tough after you get used to it on the first day. Not saying these guys didn't have time keeping snafus and maybe a nav error or two, but they were well ahead of the pack from the first stage. BTW, you talked me into riding my 690R afterall. I'll mount my nav gear on a Touratech crossbar this weekend and start trying to understand the programming. The Mexican 1000 is a true race. Very long timed sections and the quickest through wins. The speeds are very high. The navigation fairly straight forward. You can use a roadbook or a GPS. Most seem to like the roadbook best because it shows the hazards coming up. :eek1 My son raced it last year on a new KTM 350. They were 4th overall motorcycle and 1st in class with one broken wrist and one run out of gas. He is going back this year to race it solo. I'll drive the chase truck. His co-rider is coming back aboard a new 500. Seems they need about 10mph more to compete for the overall win. The 350 was only good for 96mph on the playa. :eek1 ... The Alcan 5000 is not that kind of event at all.
Crap you guys are going to make me break out my old check mate, I'm sure it needs a battery, I haven't used it much since most of the Enduro's went to the qualifier format and I'm not sure I remember were I put. I sign up for this ride because I thought it would be a cheap way to see Alaska and I can see now were gonna have to go racing
So it looks like I'll be the only one signed up on a 250 for now then? Guess it was finally time to quit lurking on the forum and jump in. - Jon
I have a trusty gel pad that's gotten me across the country before, and I'm still young and stubborn enough to think the 250 is a good idea... Besides, sometimes it's the bad ideas that make for a good time!
Okay I need some advice, I was looking for a bike to do the Alcan 5000 and I was leaning towards a new 990 KTM but there are a lot of smoking deals on used low miles BMW 650 GS My question is if I buy the GS would that be enough bike to do the 5000 without any problems or should I go with the KTM 990? The 650 gs would be better for me down here as a daily driver, as always your guys thoughts are greatly appreciated Dave
I am running it on a KLR 650 of sorts, I think you will be fine. Not that I am speaking from any kind of experience
