I got back from my bike trip last week. I did a little over 2,000 miles in 10 days. I was all over Washington, Idaho and Montana. I saw a lot of beautiful country, some of which I had seen before, much of which I hadn't.
Overall the temperature was pretty hot with a few days over 100 degrees. I hit a couple thunderstorms with some hard rain. Since my itinerary was open, I tried to avoid storms by stopping where I was or just changing direction and going another way.
For packing, I used soft saddlebags that attached to each other by velcro straps under the grab rails and seat. I then bungeed a cheap duffle bag to the back seat. It may not have looked the best but it all worked well. I had to pack full rain gear (which I needed), summer clothes (which I needed) and warm clothes (which I needed).
The bike performed perfectly. I even took it over a mountain pass dirt road. I did a lot of cruising at 100+ mph and the FZ6 handled it easily. My top speed that I noticed was 137 mph way out in the middle of Montana somewhere.
Some days I did a couple hundred miles or more, some days I did none. I did a little over 650 miles my last day coming home. My only complaints were:
bugs - had to stop every 150 miles or so to clean the face shield on my helmet
wind noise - on my last day my ears were ringing pretty bad.
wrist pain - maybe a throttle rocker or something like that would help or maybe I'm just too old for this stuff
deer on the roads - if your out in the mornings BE CAREFUL. I came real close to hitting one once and pretty close a number of times.
If I do this right attached are some pics from the trip:
Overall the temperature was pretty hot with a few days over 100 degrees. I hit a couple thunderstorms with some hard rain. Since my itinerary was open, I tried to avoid storms by stopping where I was or just changing direction and going another way.
For packing, I used soft saddlebags that attached to each other by velcro straps under the grab rails and seat. I then bungeed a cheap duffle bag to the back seat. It may not have looked the best but it all worked well. I had to pack full rain gear (which I needed), summer clothes (which I needed) and warm clothes (which I needed).
The bike performed perfectly. I even took it over a mountain pass dirt road. I did a lot of cruising at 100+ mph and the FZ6 handled it easily. My top speed that I noticed was 137 mph way out in the middle of Montana somewhere.
Some days I did a couple hundred miles or more, some days I did none. I did a little over 650 miles my last day coming home. My only complaints were:
bugs - had to stop every 150 miles or so to clean the face shield on my helmet
wind noise - on my last day my ears were ringing pretty bad.
wrist pain - maybe a throttle rocker or something like that would help or maybe I'm just too old for this stuff
deer on the roads - if your out in the mornings BE CAREFUL. I came real close to hitting one once and pretty close a number of times.
If I do this right attached are some pics from the trip: