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FZ6If you’re looking for one bike to perform a multitude of missions, look no further.
Take it from Cycle World* Magazine - “For a more advanced rider looking for a bike to do it all, there is no other choice.”
What would you say was your average speed for the long, boring stretches of road going through the midwest?
Just curious...I find myself speeding from time to time, just because of the freaking boredom.
Our goal was to keep the speed at around 85. In places where there were other cars on the road we'd basically go with the flow. When we were the only signs of life in sight there were a few hours we cruised at triple digits. I think we busted out 240 miles in around 2 hours at one point.
To be honest, none of the roads were really boring, maybe because it was all new. When people asked us along the trip what was the best place or part so far, my answer was always the ride. The only part I didn't like was Texas, and that was the only state with cops crawling over every square inch of highway. Twice we were stopped by the border patrol to verify we were US citizens. (I didn't even know that was legal to do.)
I find the wind, even with an upgraded windscreen, can really beat the heck out of you above 85 or so, so I was curious to see if you saw any fatigue from that.
I find that if I keep the speeds no faster than 70mph, I get a lot less wind fatigue and enjoy the ride more.
I find the wind, even with an upgraded windscreen, can really beat the heck out of you above 85 or so, so I was curious to see if you saw any fatigue from that.
I find that if I keep the speeds no faster than 70mph, I get a lot less wind fatigue and enjoy the ride more.
Stock windscreen, after my first long ride on the bike in February I never felt fatigue from the wind. Each morning we were excited to ride again, and each stop we made we were ready to go after filling up our tanks. I think we adapted to life on the bike quickly!
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Great trip and pics! Been a lot of those places. Makes me very jealous. A buddy of mine w/ a GW are kicking around the idea of going out there next year. If you make it again go last of May/early June. Those mountains in RMNP will all be snow covered.
Loved reading that. Mine will be nothing that good. I was surprised that you couldn't find a camp ground at the grand canyon. I got to the grand canyon at 11:33pm according to the track on my GPS (I counted like 100 deer on the 30 mile road leading to the canyon! - the air horn works AMAZING for getting them running.). The sign said full so I wrote down all the numbers for spots that were reserved and went looking for ones that did not seem to be claimed. There were at least 4 empty spots in just the small tent only area that were not claimed, plus several drive through spots. I'm glad we had the experience at arches finding a spot or I would never have thought of doing that. I still cannot believe I went to Bryce Canyon and still got to the Grand Canyon before you.
Loved reading that. Mine will be nothing that good. I was surprised that you couldn't find a camp ground at the grand canyon. I got to the grand canyon at 11:33pm according to the track on my GPS (I counted like 100 deer on the 30 mile road leading to the canyon! - the air horn works AMAZING for getting them running.). The sign said full so I wrote down all the numbers for spots that were reserved and went looking for ones that did not seem to be claimed. There were at least 4 empty spots in just the small tent only area that were not claimed, plus several drive through spots. I'm glad we had the experience at arches finding a spot or I would never have thought of doing that. I still cannot believe I went to Bryce Canyon and still got to the Grand Canyon before you.
We went the long way around to get to it. Our directions were for the South Rim. I didn't know that you beat us there, we could have crashed your site!!
Great write up Mark. Nice trip. I would love to do that, and then some. If I were without family it would happen regularly. Maybe some day, it's tough with the family and the job. I'm not into all the luggage, but I guess there's no way around it. Nice pics.
The Ducati made it without issues??
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Life's a sport...GET OFF the Bench! ---P.A.G.
now '07 FZ1 Black ,FE, Leo Vince pipe, heated grips.
'04FZ6(sold), R6 fork upgrade,FAZR6 FE, Gafer S.S. brake lines, Gold RK 520 chain, Vortex sprockets, speedo healer, Pilot Powers, Devil C.F. exhaust, Corbin Seat, heated grips,LSL sliders, JR Manta tank bag, Cortech Tail Bag
Great write up Mark. Nice trip. I would love to do that, and then some. If I were without family it would happen regularly. Maybe some day, it's tough with the family and the job. I'm not into all the luggage, but I guess there's no way around it. Nice pics.
The Ducati made it without issues??
Thanks! One of my fears would be that I would ride so many miles with all of that weight on the back of the bike that I'd forget what it's like to have a more nimble ride! There was only one stop where we were able to take all of the luggage off and ride around (Badlands National Park) which was a great ride.
If you don't camp you could get off a bit lighter than I did. I would have only needed the two side cases if I didn't plan on camping and I could have gotten away with one if it was just two of us (air mattress, pump.)
The Ducati made it without issue! He was hearing some valve noise towards the end but he knew before the trip that it was something that would need to be adjusted. He had 2 hard bags and a soft tail bag and wished the soft tail bag was a hard bag. The other FZ6 had all soft luggage and wished that the side bags were hard!
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