I've been wanting to go on a camping trip for a while now. Over the past few weeks I've been buying camping gear on ebay for my wife and I, I also installed a set of pelican 1550 cases on my Vstrom for the trip. Last night my wife bailed siting some work stuff she has to finish up. Secretly I was kinda jazzed as its been ages since I had a solo trip. So I'm sitting there thinking about how I'll change my packing when a light goes off in my head.. Why don't I take the Silverwing. We don't ride the Silverwing two up much as the suspension is kinda harsh and the Vstrom has more storage with the 3 hard cases. But for one the Silverwing is perfect. So now the whole tone of the trip has changed. My plan is to take a leisurely ride down the 17 which is the old coastal highway before the i95. I'll start in Charleston SC and wind my way through Beaufort, Savannah, Jekyll island, and finally Fernandina beach Florida . I'll also be checking out some out of the way areas to grab some geocaches. For some reason it feels like more of an adventure taking the scooter. I don't know why, it's not like I'm doing the trip on a razz. But it will be nice to enjoy the comfort of the scooter. I've taken my Vstrom on plenty of long trips and I feel exhausted when I'm done. My thoughts are that the Silverwings wind protect and seating position would make for a less tiring ride. I finally get to test out that theory. Hopefully I'll have some good pics to post here when I get back.
I thought GREAT until I heard "Silverwing". I don't have anything against the Silverwing, but to me a simple overnight trip on a Silverwing is pretty much a non event. I have taken many 2-3 day trips on my Vino 125 (that's 2-3 full days of riding) and had a bast. I now have a Zuma 125 I want to do the same thing on. I have taken 2 week trips on full size motorcycles that weren't as much fun.
As you already found out, you can have an immense amount of fun on a Zuma 125. It can take a totally mundane motorcycle trip and turn it into a grand adventure. I only have just over 1500 miles on my recently purchased Z125, I have been outfitting it for adventure. A stock rack, an Emgo trunk, soft saddlebags, highway bars (so I can use the entire floor for storage) and a hook, to help hold all that stuff in place. Hopefully it will have 7000-8000 miles on it by around the first of May, which is close to the end of riding season around here. I have scaled my adventures down in speed and distance (due to age and medical issues) but spending several days on the road on a small scooter is hard to beat. I would have done it a lot sooner if I hadn't been into that "bigger, faster, farther is better" frame of mind for so long.
When we had the Silverwing, I went on some trips and left the cruiser at home. It's a whole lotta fun running around the mountains with twist and go. Been camping with it too. We sold the Silverwing months ago as my wife has hung up her helmet for now. I miss it and may trade my current bike for those new snazzy BMW scooters.
There is something undeniably cool about a big trip on a small bike. We did a 9-day trip on 150cc bikes a couple of years ago and it was one of the most fun trips I've ever done (we went up and down the length of the Baja peninsula).
Great idea taking the Silver Wing! Take some pictures and post them to let us know how you're doing. LL75
Was this your first camping trip by bike? I curious about what gear you took. I just started taking camping trips on my scooter not too long ago and am still learning.
First overnight camping trip on the scooter. I used to be a pretty avid backpacker so the gear was well suited to two wheeled travel. The funny thing was I had to buy it all over again, I sold all my gear 2 years ago when I bought an rv and promised myself I'd never crawl into a tent again. As great as the Silver Wing is it would have a hard time pulling a camper. Previous to this my motorcycle camping consisted of staying in cabins or yurts. So here Is what I used. MSR Hubba Hubba tent: A high end 3 season backpacking tent. Very light weight. Super easy to set up as it only uses one pole, and the entire body is mesh so it's nice and breezy in hot weather. Here is a pic of the tent with my dog moose chilling after a long hike. For a sleeping pad I use the Big agnes insulated air core. It's not self inflating but compared to a thermarest it's much lighter, packs smaller, and has way more padding than a thermarest. I also use a Big Agnes Silver Creek sleeping bag. It's synthetic and rated to 30f. With the big agnes bags they remove the insulation on the bottom of the bag. So the bag is very light weight and packs down small. The idea behind it is the warm and insulation come from the sleeping pad not the sleeping bag. There is a pocket sewn into the sleeping bag that the pad slides into. This also keeps you from sliding off the pad in the night. My problem is I just don't like sleeping in tents. I toss and turn all night. I'm a big guy so most sleeping pads are too small, and I find the bags to constrictive. If I buy a pad and a bag that fit nicely they are huge and really to big for backpacking. My solution for this problem is hammock camping. When I'm in a tent I get a terrible nights sleep. I wake up the next day exhausted. When I sleep in the hammock I don't wake up once during the night and I wake up refreshed. I bought all the tenting gear because my wife never really got into hammocks and she wants to come on trips with me so I figured it would just be easier for both of us to be in the tent. This trip I only made it halfway through the night before I crawled out of the tent, and into the hammock which I brought just for lounging around the campsite.Next trip I'm just going to bring the hammock. The downsides to hammock camping are that you need some specialized gear. A thermarest doesn't really work well in a hammock. So people use underquilts. A sleeping bag is hard to wiggle into while in a hammock so people use top quilts instead. Obviously you need trees. Some campgrounds don't have trees or won't let you hang off them. For me the trade off is worth it. If I can't use my hammock I just don't want to camp. I highly recommend you try it out. If you want to read more about hammock camping check out this forum. http://www.hammockforums.net/
No offense intended, even if it may have come across that way. I am just getting into long distance riding (relatively speaking) after over 30 years of riding big bikes. I doubt I could even get on a KLR anymore, at least without lowering it, which pretty much relegates it to on road riding. I wouldn't even consider a GS. I do still ride my XT225 a lot, it is a small bike, but those little 125cc scooters are like riding toys. It's a whole different thing. Takes me back to the mini bikes I had as a kid. Not that long ago I would have laughed at anyone who was planning a several hundred mile trip on one. Not anymore. Now I'm laughing behind my face shield on my 125 flying down the road at 50 mph.
Yeah there is something to be said for small bikes. I had a razz as my sole transportation for 2 years there wasn't an inch of oahu that little scooter didn't cover. Nothing like cheap fun transportation. I keep kicking around the idea of getting a Zuma 125. I'd like something just for town riding solo.
I ride summertime a XL1000 Varadero and wintertime a CBR600(yes, I know should be opposite) What is small bike? Nowadays I found that the 125 is a biiig bike and has lately been riding more and more 50cc on long trips Nice Report Domromer. Have fun in your way of riding
Thanks for the camping info. I did buy a Big Agnes mattress a few months ago but haven't used it yet. The 1 inch thick self inflating mattress I used on my last trip just didn't work. I have also read other reports from people who loved their hammocks. My only experience sleeping in a hammock was some time I spent on an old square rigged sailing ship many years ago. I have no problem sleeping in a tent with a regular air mattress so hopefully the Big Agnes will do the trick.
Good choice taking the SWing. They really do make good solo touring machines. Many years ago, my family did a lot of backpacking, but I haven't done any for probably 35 years or so. I'd like to try moto-camping for economic reasons (motels get expensive!), so doing some research about what works, what is light in weight and so on...Thanks for heads up on your gear...
