Tips for Travel ?

Take what ever you do when out on long solo ride , have a great trip !

I would include an exhaust nut tool.

Pre-installed clutch cable is a must, had to do a roadside replacement last year. Easy enough to do if the cable is in place.

Maybe carry a box of screw on cable nipple's
Reminds me of a story from years ago when my mate snapped his throttle cable at the twist grip end
It was on a Sunday and we were heading back from Cornwall with 300miles in front
One of us had a set of mole grips
So they were duly clipped them on Bowden wire
The outer cable hooked back up into the housing
And the mole grips taped onto the throttle drum
With my mate in much discomfort twisting the throttle and trying to use the front brake we rode back
When we got back I had a call off my mate saying he'd taken the twist grip housing apart and found it had a screw on nipple that was still in there
All he'd needed to do was screw it back on with a screwdriver

ntst8 said:

If you are happy doing 500km trips then you should be good to go as far as you like.
For longer runs i carry Andover tool kit, 1L oil, spare spark plugs, elec wire and a few crimp on connectors, spare tube and tyre levers and most importantly a fully charged cell phone.
Just do your maintenance before you leave home, much easier than on the side of the road.
Will see you at the rally.

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I also carry an in-line charger from Powerlet that I use for my phone if necessary
Mike

YING said:

I also carry an in-line charger from Powerlet that I use for my phone if necessary
Mike

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HI Ying, i'll carry a small power pack for the cell phone

Would not expect the tire sealant products to work reliably with a tube, as the tube can split/tear when it punctures. Might seal a thorn or small nail if you are lucky. I think there are some types that may be better for tubes, as they have little strands of fibre to help plug a leak. Motorclub is my solution. Did over 12k miles on my 850 over past four yrs, no tire punctures.

Tornado said:

Would not expect the tire sealant products to work reliably with a tube, as the tube can split/tear when it punctures. Might seal a thorn or small nail if you are lucky. I think there are some types that may be better for tubes, as they have little strands of fibre to help plug a leak. Motorclub is my solution. Did over 12k miles on my 850 over past four yrs, no tire punctures.

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9000 kms. for me last season , no punctures . Didn't get to use the CAA PLUS .
But I focus on the road itself ahead all the time to avoid glass etc. and swerve around any , but quick . Peripheral vision is always there as a gatherer of info too .
Swerving around flaming wreckage chunks n' bits of smashed up burning cars was fun last season too ( On the 400 South ) . Use vision and avoid road hazards to tires and other things , such as any potential fall .

Torontonian said:

9000 kms. for me last season , no punctures . Didn't get to use the CAA PLUS .
But I focus on the road itself ahead all the time to avoid glass etc. and swerve around any , but quick . Peripheral vision is always there as a gatherer of info too .
Swerving around flaming wreckage chunks n' bits of smashed up burning cars was fun last season too ( On the 400 South ) . Use vision and avoid road hazards to tires and other things ,

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Have heard that a front mudflap on the bottom of the guard can help avoid nails from flipping up and back into the rear tire. I run one on the Norton.
My Bonneville has no flap and it's had four flats in the 8 yrs of ownership, though two of those were micro seconds apart when a copper pulled a spike strip across the highway which I ran over at 100 kmh.

Tornado said:

Have heard that a front mudflap on the bottom of the guard can help avoid nails from flipping up and back into the rear tire. I run one on the Norton.
My Bonneville has no flap and it's had four flats in the 8 yrs of ownership, though two of those were micro seconds apart when a copper pulled a spike strip across the highway which I ran over at 100 kmh.

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Good idea to run mud flaps , I do too .
Dare we ask why the spike strip laydown at 100 kmph ? Stunt driving law ? Doug Ford increased HWY permissible speeds by 10 Kms. without changing the max. speed signs . Usually I drive slower than other traffic and stay to the right lane .

Torontonian said:

Good idea to run mud flaps , I do too .
Dare we ask why the spike strip laydown at 100 kmph ? Stunt driving law ? Doug Ford increased HWY permissible speeds by 10 Kms. without changing the max. speed signs . Usually I drive slower than other traffic and stay to the right lane .

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I have related this story in the past but it was in BC shortly after crossing border from US. Spotted a cop car on side of highway, opposing lane, with a cop kneeling down in front of front bumper. An odd place to be positioned, and no radar gun spotted. I checked my speed...right atthe 100 kph limit so didn't think more of it until something seemed to be slithering across my lane and I ran over the strip. Took a few moments to register in my brain what it was....let the bike coast along, no loss of control...pulled onto shoulder as it came to a stop. By time I got SS down and stepped off, both tires dead flat, with two tubular "fangs" in each of the fresh Shinko 705's I'd installed not 2k miles before. Wlaked back to the cop and enquired why I'd been spiked and he calmly said "Oh, did that get you? Was trying to get the armed robbers in the speeding car coming the other way.". Thinking back I did have a car coming the other way and it kinda swooped into my lane as it went by the cop car just as I did.
They called a hauler and luckily found one shop open (Monday) that had tires to fit the bonneville. Being 8hrs from home I decided to stay overnight as it was already gone 6pm once bike was ready. took about 6 months to finaly get re-imbursed...with a check signed by Her late Royal Highness (RCMP is a federal govnmt gig).

I regularly ride with a group of 9 friends. 4 of us usually every Friday. We cover about 10,000 miles a year. We have ridden together for more than 20 yrs. In that time, I can remember 2 punctures between us. But last year we had 3 punctures in as many months. I was one of them, in a remote part of Scotland. 2 were wood screws, one was a 2" curved hook. No chance to see any of those before contact. Maybe just bad luck last year. The 2 tubeless punctures were up and running in half an hour. The tubed (modern T120) was a 5 hour wait for the RAC.

Mart UK said:

I regularly ride with a group of 9 friends. 4 of us usually every Friday. We cover about 10,000 miles a year. We have ridden together for more than 20 yrs. In that time, I can remember 2 punctures between us. But last year we had 3 punctures in as many months. I was one of them, in a remote part of Scotland. 2 were wood screws, one was a 2" curved hook. No chance to see any of those before contact. Maybe just bad luck last year. The 2 tubeless punctures were up and running in half an hour. The tubed (modern T120) was a 5 hour wait for the RAC.

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a cut down allen key for inlet manifolds. Spare float bowl screws and short screwdriver or preferably allen key for them.

Wondering does anyone carry security for their precious ? some form of lock, chain , alarm etc ?

Hendo said:

Wondering does anyone carry security for their precious ? some form of lock, chain , alarm etc ?

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Always!!! (Chain and lock)

Big chain and matching padlock. Chain is good as it can be coiled up and carried in a small pack on the back of the seat.

As well as the clutch cable lots of people have mentioned also carry a spare clutch lever. Found that out the hard way when i broke the lever when touring the swiss alps. A very nice german lady gave me a lift to the nearest motorbike shop in interlaken that allowed me to use there workshop to alter a kawasaki lever they had.

A company in the UK called LiteLoc (I think ) look like they have good products, a light weight strong fibre chain for one .....

These are handy but expensive. Covers metric AF and Whitworth.
Cheers,
Tom

Good find, thanks for posting that. I found it on this website for $39 ($63 after handling and shipping to US). Looks like a worthwhile add to my tool chest and handy item for a road trip.

Tornado said:

Would not expect the tire sealant products to work reliably with a tube, as the tube can split/tear when it punctures. Might seal a thorn or small nail if you are lucky. I think there are some types that may be better for tubes, as they have little strands of fibre to help plug a leak. Motorclub is my solution. Did over 12k miles on my 850 over past four yrs, no tire punctures.

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Back in my bike shop days my boss had two styrofoam cups on his work bench for display. One cup had a section of pure rubber tube with a puncture. The other showed a butyl rubber tube with a rip. The pure rubber tubes where more expensive but tended to seal around a puncture. The butyl rubber tubes were cheap but tended to run like panty hose.