Total Motorcycle Community Forums

First, I just want to thank everyone here. I just found this forum a few days ago and I've been reading everything non-stop since then! I am heading on a pretty long trip next Spring and I am looking for some advice from experienced riders who've done something similar.

My Trip - May 12th, 2006 to June 4th, 2006
1. Calgary, AB to La Paz, MX
2. La Paz, MX to San Diego, CA
3. Sell bikes in SD and fly back to Calgary, AB
4. 7500km total (about 300km/day)

We plan to cross the rockies and then head down the coast from Vancouver via Hwy 1 for most of the way. I hope to stop in a few places in California and do a bit of surfing on days when the swell is good. Cross into Mexico, represent Team Canada in the Tequila Olympics against locals and document the whole trip on video.

My Situation
1. 4 of us going (all in our mid 20s, at least 2 of us are over 6 feet tall (i'm 6'4")
2. Need to Sell Bike in San Diego
3. MSF Training & Class 6 obtained last month (Alberta doesn't require an actual road test to get your class 6)
4. First actual road riding experience was with a rented Honda CBR 600 (I wanted a VStar 650 Cruiser but my buddy got the last one) for a day and few weeks ago and cruised about 400km around Banff and Kananaskis with no problems. I had the biggest grin on my face the whole time and it was stuck there for half the night! Felt very comfortable with the bike and not intimidated at all with the power.
5. What kind of bike would be suitable for this trip? Seems that I would need a reliable bike for a 7500km road trip with a gas tank large enough to make it through Baja without running out of gas. We won't be going down dirt roads so that might help expand the number of potentials for this trip. While trying my buddy's rented VStar 650, I realized Cruisers may hurt my back because I'm always leaning slightly forward whereas with the CBR 600, all I needed to do was sit up and arch my back when I needed to relieve any discomfort.
6. Anyone know of any good/interesting/funny/bizarre road-side attractions on the way down the west coast?

Budget for Bike
I was hoping to get something below $2000 (including tune-up). I hope that's not pushing it.

The Coolest Thing About Riding
Curvy roads and how all the riders wave to each other

Thanks everyone, sorry about the long post.

If you are going to do an epic trip, look at duals. 1. normally suitable for tall riders. 2 resale easily. 3 you say no dirt roads, bet you find some. 4 can carry large loads. 5 very comfortable for long distance. If you can find some BMW 1150 GS this will be ideal.

HaVE FUN

Thanks for the advice! I'll take a look at some duals. Would anyone know if there are any legal restrictions to selling a bike in the US that was purchased and insured in Canada? Muchas gracias.

Why do you need to sell the bikes halfway through the trip?

Why not take the few extra days and ride home. Would likely be cheaper than air fare.

it's likely that your Canadian spec bikes would not be legal to sell in California due to their somewhat stricter emissions standards. Any potential buyer would also have to pay duty and import taxes on the bike, as well as inspection fees.

My advice?

Get a dualsport bike like a Kawasaki KLR650 or BMW F650GS and just ride the damn things there and all the way back.

WhyteGryphon wrote: My advice?

Get a dualsport bike like a Kawasaki KLR650 or BMW F650GS and just ride the damn things there and all the way back.

Sounds like good advice to me, besides why have only half an adventure?

The reason we want to sell the bikes in SD is that flights back are only about $250 and if we ride all the way back, it's an extra 1750 miles / 2650km (according to mapquest if we go up through Utah, Idaho, & Montana)we'd have to bump up our daily travel distance from 190 miles (300k) to about 264 miles (426k) because we only have 3 weeks that we can take off.

If it weren't for the emissions restriction, I wouldn't mind selling it at a decent loss so that I can avoid rushing the trip. I guess it is possible to do 426km/day but from everyone's experience, is this a comfortable daily pace for 3 weeks straight? I do appreciate the advice, any other suggestions? Thanks for the tip on the Kawasaki KLR650, it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks,

Ryan

Sauve wrote:The reason we want to sell the bikes in SD is that flights back are only about $250 and if we ride all the way back, it's an extra 1750 miles / 2650km (according to mapquest if we go up through Utah, Idaho, & Montana)we'd have to bump up our daily travel distance from 190 miles (300k) to about 264 miles (426k) because we only have 3 weeks that we can take off.

If it weren't for the emissions restriction, I wouldn't mind selling it at a decent loss so that I can avoid rushing the trip. I guess it is possible to do 426km/day but from everyone's experience, is this a comfortable daily pace for 3 weeks straight? I do appreciate the advice, any other suggestions? Thanks for the tip on the Kawasaki KLR650, it seems to be exactly what I'm looking for.

Thanks,

Ryan

200 miles a day? Good lord, what are you doing after lunch?? I think you are setting you sights to low. Even if you were all back roads you can easily look at the 300-400 mi/day range. 500-600 is an easy highway day.

Gail

200 miles a day? Good lord, what are you doing after lunch?? I think you are setting you sights to low. Even if you were all back roads you can easily look at the 300-400 mi/day range. 500-600 is an easy highway day.

I understand how 260 miles/day isn't much, but for 3 weeks straight with up to half a dozen new riders with used bikes, it just seems that you never know what kind of problems you might run into. Spending an extra day somewhere and site seeing might also come into play.

It looks like we might be taking an extra week off now (so 4 weeks in total) and riding the bikes down and back up to Calgary so this may give us a little extra cushion in terms of distance/time. Also, we won't have to worry about doing any last minute selling somewhere in the states.

On long trips, I routinely do 850 - 1200 km a day. My first bike, a used '83 Suzuki GS650GL I took on two long trips in my first year of riding:

1. Sylvan Lake to Spokane and back, ~850km each way. One day there, and one day back

2. Sylvan Lake to Moose Jaw SK and back in one day - 1726km round trip.

This year it went on two more long trips

1. Sylvan Lake to Hyder Alaska - took two easy days to get there, roughly 1400km one way and two easy days to come home.

2. Alberta 2000 rally 2 weeks after the Hyder trip - 1544km in 24hrs.

Next year I'm taking my KLR to Hyder and again doing the AB2000 rally.

Daily mileage of 800 - 1000 km is no problem as long as you are comfortable on the bike. You may find that you enjoy the ride so much that you just don't want to stop.