I am moving from Southern California to Seattle and am shipping all my stuff via USPS and then driving my TW200 1200 miles to Seattle (roughly 400 miles per day; making two overnight sleep stops). My TW200 still has the low stock gearing. I don't think I will have time to resprocket it before I leave. I am taking the scenic route rather than the I-5 and won't go over 55mph. Do you think it will be okay?
Chris- I think I'd make it a four nighter and do 200 miles a day with stock gears. I'd also stop at the first WallyWorld you pass and pick up an ATV seat cover and a 2.5 gal gas can. Good Luck.
I am moving from Southern California to Seattle and am shipping all my stuff via USPS and then driving my TW200 1200 miles to Seattle (roughly 400 miles per day; making two overnight sleep stops). My TW200 still has the low stock gearing. I don't think I will have time to resprocket it before I leave. I am taking the scenic route rather than the I-5 and won't go over 55mph. Do you think it will be okay?
I've been riding around and tracking my rides on a GPS so I can estimate a days mileage as I get used to the TW. Back roads in New England don't really allow a high, sustained top speed. My average speed, including stops, is around 20 to 25 mph. Moving average is 30 to 33 mph.
Average speeds can really really drop when taking stops for fuel - 1.8 gallon tank! - and food and whatever.
I figure on 200 to 250 miles a day, and the days are going to be long days.
I would regear it with a 42 tooth sprocket. I know you said you didn't think you'd have time, but it took me less than 3 hours to do mine. The time and money it would take for a new sprocket/chain and labor would be made up by less time on the road and one night less in a hotel.
I would buy a sprocket, shorten your chain now, then when you are at your destination, get a new o-ring chain and put your other sprocket on.
The key to making good time is to keep moving. Keep stops short. Carry enrgy bars and eat while fueling and checking oil. Run to the restroom, and get back on the road.
A TW will run all day at 55mph with the stock sprocket ratio, unless heavy load, headwind, altitude, and/or hills rear their ugly heads. Day after day after day. I've done over 700 miles in a day with stock sprockets, from Tennessee to Texas via the Ozark Mountains. It was a very long day (17 hours).
Maybe invest in some padded riding shorts. I'm going to try a pair in the next week or two. My arse is done after about 150 miles / even with my seat pad.
Hey guys---thanks for the info! To date the longest trip I made on the TW200 was a bit over 130 miles, partly on the CA-74 through the San Bernardino National Forest. (Beautiful ride up and down a mountain with many twisties. I did it during sunset when the golden beauty of the sky and hills took my breath away.) I only averaged 30mph so it took 4.5 hours or so. The TW200 did seem fine though doing 50mph for a long 70-mile-or-so stretch. I am over 6' but only 155lbs so my butt does not get sore so easily. Wearing leather pants my buttocks did okay. I frequently push myself up on the pegs and adjust myself slightly to give my veins in my rump some circulation. (You risk hemorrhoids if you sit still for too long.)
The number one comfort issue for me above 50mph is the handlebar vibration. I have some cheapo gel gloves that don't suppress the vibes enough (and also require more grip pressure). I think if I invest in some good anti-vibe gloves I'll be set. Comfier earplugs would also be good---I really need to visit an audiologist and get some custom molded ones. But I don't think I'll have time before the trip. I'm leaving Saturday or Sunday.
I especially appreciated the comment from the guy that did a 17 hour day with the stock gearing. To do 400 miles per day I do not need more than 10 hours of saddle-time averaging 40mph on the saddle.
I have absolutely no input for this post, but I just wanted to wish you luck on your journey, and take some pictures when you come across something worth picturing. I, as well as others, love to take a sneak peek on these travels folks take.
The number one comfort issue for me above 50mph is the handlebar vibration. I have some cheapo gel gloves that don't suppress the vibes enough (and also require more grip pressure). I think if I invest in some good anti-vibe gloves I'll be set. Comfier earplugs would also be good---I really need to visit an audiologist and get some custom molded ones. But I don't think I'll have time before the trip. I'm leaving Saturday or Sunday.
I have a pair of "grip puppies" on mine as someone on this forum suggested and they help with numbness and vibration. The stock handgrips are not real comfortable.
Maybe a can of spray lube for the chain might be a worth while investment.
Where in SoCal are you starting from?
101 is really busy going through the Bay Area. You might want to plan your passage through early on a Sunday morning when traffic is light.
The coast highway is Highway 1. Scenic and long and beautiful and can be quite foggy. If you have the time that is the way to go but forget about making it in 3 days.
Hey guys---almost forgot to update you. The trip was a success. I took the 1 and 101 pretty much the whole way, generally preferring the 1 to the 101 whenever the two routes split. (The 1 is the true coastal route when the two routes split.)
Some notes:
1. The T-dub held up great mechanically. The only issue is that, although hitherto my motor has never leaked or burned a drop of oil, my motor did, after the first 550 mile leg from SoCal (La Mirada) to the east Bay Area (Lafayette), begin to have the infamous base gasket oil leak. But the leak was so slow that I never had to add any oil for the remaining 1000 miles. (At each gas stop I checked the oil window and the level remained between the two lines.) I am running Mobil 1 20w-50 motorcycle oil (the `V-Twin' stuff for air cooled motors).
2. I did bring teflon spray-on chain lube.
3. The coastal ride through Big Sur is beautiful and awesome. I wanted to bring my camera (someone here suggested I take and post photos) but could not obtain a replacement battery in time. Such a shame!
4. I forgot that the Bay Area coast has fog and did get stuck riding through cold coastal fog at night. My teeth chattered. But I made it. In general, I found that riding along the coast is much colder than riding just a tiny bit inland. This was sometimes good (when escaping heat) and sometimes bad (when riding through freezing fog).
5. At first butt soreness was not an issue because of how I kept adjusting myself. But I found, in time, that adjusting myself to save my butt made my lower back sore. So eventually, to save my back, I had to adopt the correct posture of keeping my chest up, shoulders back and relaxed, arms bent and relaxed, and my crouch pretty far forward on the seat, knees and thighs resting and hugging the tank. (This is the position you tend to naturally arrive at if, while riding, you stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, and repeat a bunch of times. It's the position that puts your weight in the best place for taking corners and makes you feel the most connected with and `one with' the motorcycle, like you are a centaur with a motorcycle body instead of a horse body, or something.) But this correct riding position did, after so many miles, make my butt terribly sore and there was no escape. But my lower back did great, completely pain free thereafter.
6. In warm SoCal I usually did not need to use the choke but as I moved north it became essential. My battery start usually had trouble but then I'd try the kicker and the motor would start first kick. (I have the older kick-and-electric one. My experience makes me firmly believe I'd never want a motorcycle without a kickstarter. It's too bad the new TWs lack it.)
7. My earplugs became surprisingly comfortable after awhile. I used `Etymotic Research ER20 High-Fidelity Earplugs' I bought on Amazon---plugs made for musicians, because I wanted to still be able to talk to people and ask for directions with my plugs in. These plugs more-or-less uniformly mute sound, so sounds still sound more or less the same, just quieter. Plain foam earplugs tend to clip higher frequency sounds.
8. My cheap gel gloves also worked well, except I should have put rubber dish gloves over them to keep them from getting wet in the fog.
9. Concerning wet gloves: for a couple years I've had a few small tiny inconspicuous pink bumps on my left hand (which until recently I never knew were warts) which I never bothered to treat because they were so minor, but the wet environment of my wet gloves actually made them spread and caused a few slightly bigger bumps! I did research afterward and learned that wet dirty gloves can indeed promote wart growth! I am now going to get some Compound W and actually treat them. Let this be a warning to all of you. Keep your hands dry and clean. Treat warts if you get them so that they do not spread.
10. After I entered Oregon at night a deer ran out into the middle of the road in front of me and stopped in the lane to my left. I realized how tired I was and that my reflexes weren't what they ought be. Rather than try to find a Motel 6, I found a trail in the woods and took a nap on it! I put a plastic bag on the ground and just laid on it. Even with all my motorcycle leather on and a rain suit on top of that (sans rain gloves) I still felt cold after awhile! Fog dripped tiny droplets on my face until I put a towel over my face. I heard a strange noise nearby of a large animal which I think may have been an elk (not sure). It was an adventure! Later I took a nap in a seaside cave in a beautiful little beach in Oregon. Caves are much nicer than forest trails, that's for sure!
11. After the first 550 mile leg, I stayed with family for almost a week in the Bay Area, then did 1000 miles beginning before dawn on Saturday and ending in Seattle on Sunday night. My butt did good the first 550 miles (but my lower back hurt); my lower back did great the remaining 1000, but my butt killed. (See #5 above.)
Man, that sounds like one heck of an adventure. I'm glad to hear that you made it safe, and that the bike treated you well. Thanks for sharing with us.
Chris- I think I'd make it a four nighter and do 200 miles a day with stock gears. I'd also stop at the first WallyWorld you pass and pick up an ATV seat cover and a 2.5 gal gas can. Good Luck.
Maybe I am alone in this, but I bought a Stearns seat, got it on the bike and after riding it for a few weeks took it off. I find the stock seat more comfortable without it.
Nice report and it does sound like quite an adventure.
Did you ride on 680 from San Jose to Lafayette? If so, how did you find it? When I have been on it (in my car) the traffic has been moderate to heavy, a lot of semi trucks, and everyone is going above the speed limit.
After leaving Lafayette did you get back on Hwy 1 or take 101 or go some other way?
Maybe I am alone in this, but I bought a Stearns seat, got it on the bike and after riding it for a few weeks took it off. I find the stock seat more comfortable without it.
Nope. Sat on the stock seat the whole way. The backpack I bungee'd to my rear rack almost made it far enough forward to touch my lower back, so I thought about moving it forward enough so that it would actually function as a backrest. But a few minutes of messing with it did not yield success. So I sat on the unsupported stock seat the whole way.
I snagged this idea from the other forum I check daily (www.infamousnissan.com) because it is super popular there.
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