Planning very long trip on very small bike, much advice needed

I think you said you would have no traveling access to internet for repair guidance.
You can pickup a Kindle Fire HD for < $100. Got my 7" for $75 as a refurb from Walmart. Works great. I use free wifi at McDonalds (12,000 of those in the US) and Subway restaurants (30,000) of those. There's gonna be one of these restaurants in just about any town you pass through that has a working stoplight...

Equipment:
Tire irons. I got the long curved ones and used a hose clamp to secure it to the frame. I carry a manual 10" tire pump and a single 21'' tube and patch kit. I can attest that the 21" tube will work in the 18" rear wheel with no problems.

Tools to carry on the bike: I carry every tool I use when working on the bike in the garage, at home. I just carry a smaller version. i.e. I use standard length box wrenches in my garage tool kit, but carry Harbor Freight 4'' box wrenches on the bike. They were cheap and easy to store.

Good luck.

I could be cool and tell you just go, and you would have the trip of your life, with plenty of challenges. But you could die too. If you don't want a fun trip, that's the way to go. If you want a fun trip, you should not try this until you regularly do 800 miles 2-day weekends, during which you can test gear and tools and suffer much less.

Tools: all keys and screw driver that are required for your bike (minus engine work). Tie wraps small and medium, duct tape, pliers, some safety wire. A Magnet can help find dropped nuts washer and bolts, and keeps the bits from rattling/getting lost in the toolbox too.

Spare parts: a few nuts and bolts that you cannot afford to loose, like luggage fasteners. I bring a chain only if expecting to change it on long enough trips, + chain breaker/press/rivet tool. A full can of chain lube, a 14 inches long 3/4" dia tube to jack the right side swingarm spool (get spools) while on side stand for lubing chain, tube doubles as a shifter straightener if you bend it falling on left side.

You need liners to stay warm, or layers of thin fall/winter clothes to put under jacket anyway. Same for pants. XXL or XXXL Rain suit that you put over is always the best (stay completely dry) and stops wind in really cold temps.

Mountains = snow unless between may and september, and even then... Main issue is grip.

Summer time = super hot in canyons and deserts like near vegas and phenix. Vapor lock and engine heat is main issue then.

For roads, c'mon, figure it out with google maps...

But seriously, find a way to get experience first. You are just having a crush on motorcycling right now. Get the high out of your system with a few weekends far away and back. Then think about trips.

Very sound advice!

+2

Basically you need:
- a bike
- suitable gear
- riding skills and experience

- Take care that No.1 runs as good as possible.
- Get the best gear you can afford. Textile incl. inserts is the most variable.
- How can you acquire skill and experience? Just ride!

Sum up all the given advice about equipment and cut it down to what you can easily pack on your SR 250 and - go for it.

Long distance riding is adventure riding. No sense in getting backup plans for failing backup plans.....

Greetz, Jo

My biggest concern is the route.

Not sure of what it is.

This will need to be looked over and oked with riders there on the ground or who have done it before this time a year.

Your tour could be done IF the weather is good, and the route prevents potinital for extreme weather changes that can happen quickly. So lower altitudes would need to be picked.

If you have to go up a Mountain, do so by mid morning. Riding up in the evening or before dark could be a bad move. Could get stuck there.

Try to have a app or weather website at the ready to moniter wind conditions.
Lighter MC are moved around a little bit more in the wind.


If you have to, stop off at a big shot hotel and park in the front and get some coco and warm up, then be on your way. It is ok, you have a BMW.You would only be classing up the joint.

Ice is our biggist enemy. Avoid that stuff like not other. So at high place, it will melt during the day, and freeze again at night.

Take advantage of tent space. Heavily.

I went on my first tour (Deep South USA) with about 250 miles on the Mighty DR. I pushed on Jan 20th. I thought the cold snaps we were having would go away. I was wrong. :eek1

Those 250 miles were the first since 1999.

I did the first 600 mile oil change and service in Wilmington, N.C.

Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

I'm planning to leave milwaukee, Pass through sioux falls, over to rapid city, south to casper, west to salt lake city, then through northern nevada.

Sound reasonable?

Also, I have a lot of worries about removing my wheels. My center stand doesn't lift either wheel off the ground so what I do is build a ramp of bricks, roll the rear wheel onto it, extend the center stand, put a plank under the center stand, then kick the bricks away under the rear wheel. That elevates the front wheel. If I have to do the rear wheel I then pile up bricks under the exhaust until they support the bike.

I don't think I should bring a ton of bricks and a board with me, so do any of you guy know better tricks for elevating the wheels? Rachet straps and a tree? What if there's no tree?

Also, I'm considering buying a 500, but I fixed up a 75 cb500 that had sat dead for a year yesterday planning to buy it. But when I rode it I found it too big and unwieldy for my tastes. Plus I couldn't get it to idle under 3000, which i think is an issue that requires new jets.

Also, My front wheel is 3-18 and my back wheel is 130-90/16

What size tube would fit both? Would 130-90/18 be a reasonable fit in both? the front wheel is like a 76 at 3 inches.

Place the plank where the center stand will hit the ground. Deploy the center stand, lifting the bike as you rock it up onto the stand. To remove the rear wheel, assuming the front end is light, remove luggage from bike and SECURE some of your luggage to the front fender/triple clamp/forks.

So I bring the plank with me then? Better than the bricks I guess.

Also, i tried this And I couldn't do it, even with my lightweight 250. I think It's because the part of the center stand that sticks out for you to stand on and gain leverage is broken off.

What If I just bring patching stuff and try to do this?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dz5rKkP2LiM

Through much of the U.S. you can find a tree branch to hold up one side of the bike -- put it on side stand, get stick ready in one hand, grab bike with other hand and heave it up. Put in stick and watch to see if it's gonna fall. If you're lifting the front, leave it in gear; if you're lifting the rear, wrap something around the front brake lever.

Other places you can get the bike on the center stand and, perhaps, dig some room.

There's no one answer for every situation, but I'd say don't bring planks or bricks. If you have a flat, look around to see what the options are. In the worst case you may be able to lean the bike against a tree while it's up on the side stand.

Most flats are rear tires but it's good to be prepared for either. Flats don't usually strike in the most convenient places. I've always taken tubes sized correctly for each wheel although a 17" tube may fit both of your wheels.

Patching works often. Sometimes a puncture will "run" into a longer tear. Patching in the rain is also less fun than just changing tubes in the rain. It may sound like we're all masochists but it's really lots of fun with occasional puzzles to settle the trips into our memories.

I think now, that you are too late for this trip. If half the trip was over and you were heading east, or it was the middle of summer I'd probably think different. A rookie without warm gear in late September should be headed for the barn, not starting a multi state trip. Even if the west coast stays dry, its going to be getting cold in the high country. In Nevada, Utah and Wyoming your likely to freeze your ass off.
Fall trips can be great, but you need the gear. It dont sound like your's is good enough.
Riding in rain or snow is no joke. Camping's not much fun either without a killer sleeping bag. They'll be plenty of time for that shit later when your gear and your skill's are up to the task.

Yeah, that works. Just be careful not to pinch the tube.

As "Grinnin" said, there's no one answer for every situation. Do the best you can with what you've got.

And it IS getting late in the year for someone with so many questions. A friend of mine is traveling from CO to CA with her son right now. They went thru Yellowstone 2 days ago, and yesterday they got rained on in Twin Falls ID...soaked to the bone. They stopped 2 hours earlier than planned and got a hotel. Week before last it snowed in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Watch the weather and be ready to take cover for a couple of days if needed.

Yeah, It's a one-way trip so I don't need enough time to ride back.

This is starting to sound like a hell of a story. What's taking you to Cali?

Broke up with my girlfriend, work is slowing down at the movers and I was turned down for a teaching job and construction job because I thought they were underpaying, and I have a friend out there who can hook me up with a very lucrative short term job. Plus I have some other people out there and on the way that I'd like to visit. family in Sioux falls and Casper and friends in trinity county California and San Francisco. This is the last year that I am covered by my mother's health insurance under the current health care laws and after this year the need to pay for healthcare will dictate that I keep consistent employment no matter how shitty. The time is now to strike while the iron is hot and do whatever the fuck I want.

So, I figured it out, I'm gonna bring a jack stand and I can pivot the bike onto the rear wheel and side stand and place the jack stand under the tailpipe.

So I've never changed or patched a motorcycle tire before. But I've done hundred of bike tires. Same idea right? All I need to two levers?

If i pull the foreign object out of the tire is patching/replacing the tube good enough or do I need to do something with the tire?

How far can I get on a can of fix a flat? Far enough to get out of the rain in South Dakota?

And besides, It's riding a motorcycle that's new, not roughing it. Last October I biked 300 miles in 5 days to celebrate Canadian thanksgiving (in illinois). I've ridden on freight trains and accidentally jumped off hours walk from anything with no idea which way down the tracks was going to be shorter. I'll get by.

That's the attitude!

and you're going to hate that jackstand by the time you make it out here, IF the jackstand makes the whole trip without ending up in a dumpster.

What kind of construction? Any welding certifications?

So here is what I understand to be an optimistic plan. The roads in deserts and mountains make me nervous because I feel like there really are no slow roads, or places to take cover.

Are non-interstate highways in the desert really safe to travel at 55?

day 1 Milwaukee to la crosse - 218 miles
day 2 la cross to sioux falls - 323 miles
day 3 sioux falls to hot springs - 416 miles (this one seems super iffy, is it rude or dangerous to camp on an Indian reservation like I would anywhere else?)
day 4 hot springs to casper- 196 miles
day 5 casper to rock springs- 287 miles
day 6 rock springs to salt lake city- 279 miles
day 7 salt lake city to elko- 326 miles
day 8 elko to susanville, ca -364 miles ( this also seems iffy long, I just didnt see and other destinations closer on google maps)
day 9 susanville CA to garberville, CA - 253 miles

Any destination other than Sioux falls and casper doesn't really matter to me. I would not mind way point suggestions from people who have spent more time on the road.