Tips for Travel ?

100 suggestions/replies prolly weighs 100 kg …. Wow ! Where do ya start 🧐
 
Tornado said:
None tool travel tip: be prepared for hot or cold conditions. I use an evaporative cooling vest under my mesh summer jacket. These are usually soaked in water about every fuel stop (3-4 hrs of riding) and make a nice air conditioning affect when at speed. For cold, I have a heated liner that works well even on the Norton.
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On a trip from the Burgh to Alaska then down the Hwy 1 to Laguna then PHX I had to ride thru the desert. Was concerned due to my status as a heat stroke survivor, (body temp sometimes goes bonkers) I hit the ride from the Cali side early, riding hard on my R80Rt I was concerned about the heat when I stopped at a gas station, despite super hydrating I was woozy, there was a group of harley guys, severely sunburnt ( T-shirts and no helmets!) hiding in the shade by the station.
I gassed up and decided,..... after walking by this bunch of wanna be biker losers staring at me, in a light mesh jacket/helmet that I had to push on!! These clowns were loud and freaking out all the civilians in cages, so I went in and bought a bag of ice, I asked the lady for a couple of extra bags and went out to my bike and stuffed the ice into 2 bags 1 for the front and jammed 1 in my back, it was so hot in minutes my crouch was soaked but it felt great. There was a Trooper watching me, he grinned and nodded as I lit up Red and rolled on towards PHX. I had her pinned the whole way to PHX ( also filled ALL my water bottles filled along w/several gaterades I bought at the station) I'm glad I had Conti's on her because I felt the rear tire at the station and burned my hand.......in over 50 yrs of riding that one was a little scary, I did have to put a new rear tire on her in PHX.
After that I rode to Mexico, back to PHX then back to the Burgh, was a little over 13K total. Good ride.
 
One more comment, if youre going to do any maintenance on the bike before you travel, do it a couple of weeks beforehand. So that any problems show up before your big trip.
 
Hi all,
Just a update on my now completed trip to the National Norton rally held in Blenheim over the weekend .
Completed distance just a shade over 2200 km with no mechanical issues, just a broken rear indicator bracket and a couple of loose nuts which were tightened.
So... what did I take in the end ? just some relevent spanners ,a couple of whitworth spanners, socket for wheel spindle nuts ,electrical wire ,fuses wire connectors, new spark plugs, spare inner tube ,tyre slime and a small air pump.
My Pack and tools weighed approx 10 kilo's ( I took to many clothes ! ) and the bike handled very well .
A big thanks to the organisers of the rally, and the participants who made me feel very welcome as it was my first rally, and the NZ members of the access norton forum who again made me feel very welcome 🍻.
Cheers Hendo !

 
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Hendo said:
Hi all,
Just a update on my now completed trip to the National Norton rally held in Blenheim over the weekend .
Completed distance just a shade over 2200 km with no mechanical issues, just a broken rear indicator bracket and a couple of loose nuts which were tightened.
So... what did I take in the end ? just some relevent spanners ,a couple of whitworth spanners, socket for wheel spindle nuts ,electrical wire ,fuses wire connectors, new spark plugs, spare inner tube ,tyre slime and a small air pump.
My Pack and tools weighed approx 10 kilo's ( I took to many clothes ! ) and the bike handled very well .
A big thanks to the organisers of the rally, and the participants who made me feel very welcome as it was my first rally, and the NZ members of the access norton forum who again made me feel very welcome 🍻.
Cheers Hendo !

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Hondo,
Glad everything went well. I was watching for an update after your trip
Mike
 
Tornado said:
You've encouraged me to make some longer excursions this Summer.
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Go for it Tornado !
I think the key ( for me ) was going over the bike pre travel and doing the maintenance required , oil changes, air filter ,checking electrical connections etc etc etc
As NTST8 mentioned in one of the earlier posts , its easier doing that stuff in the shed than on the road side !
 
Hendo said:
Hi all,
Just a update on my now completed trip to the National Norton rally held in Blenheim over the weekend .
Completed distance just a shade over 2200 km with no mechanical issues, just a broken rear indicator bracket and a couple of loose nuts which were tightened.
So... what did I take in the end ? just some relevent spanners ,a couple of whitworth spanners, socket for wheel spindle nuts ,electrical wire ,fuses wire connectors, new spark plugs, spare inner tube ,tyre slime and a small air pump.
My Pack and tools weighed approx 10 kilo's ( I took to many clothes ! ) and the bike handled very well .
A big thanks to the organisers of the rally, and the participants who made me feel very welcome as it was my first rally, and the NZ members of the access norton forum who again made me feel very welcome 🍻.
Cheers Hendo !

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I heard the biggest issues were the ferries. Which seem to have mostly broken down.
 
Great to catch up at the rally Hendo, and good to hear the return trip went well.
Glad my bike didn't make it into your photo's :)
 
🤣 Thanks ntst8 was great to meet you too, I hope the yellow " norton " got you down to Balclutha and home ok also !
 
Next time Ian, we'll be looking for that commando [ one of them anyway ]. Good to see every one again. Great to meet you Brooke.

It was an eventful trip, what with all the road closures after that cyclone, waiting for delayed ferry's and coming back, my ferry was delayed then the bastard broke down when it got to Picton. Second time that's happened to me. Got to the terminal at 4.00 pm and the ship eventually left at 11.00 pm. Got to Wellington at about 2:30 in the morning.
Only trouble I had was having to change the plugs in Wellington on the way down, and breaking the side stand bolt on the way back at Turangi.
Got to Dave's place in Maungaturoto to help him clean up after the cyclone and managed to turn one half of a big tree to firewood. I'll go back down later to help some more.
I was talking to another mate in Waipu tonight, who had 100, 30 year old pines come down. What a mess. Dave rang me when I got home yesterday and told me the bridge near where he used to live 3 months ago on the Mangawhai-Kaiwaka road was under water and his previous back yard was flooded. Most of the roads in Northland and North Auckland were damaged to some degree with over slips and some under slips where one lane had completely disappeared. The Queen Charlotte Drive between Picton and Havelock was still in a shit condition after the storm they had earlier. I stayed in Havelock last Sunday after the rally and my cousin told me the the traffic lights placed at the Havelock end of the QCD have been there for a hell of a long time.
A thoroughly enjoyable long ride overall with a fair bit of BSA, and some rain and head winds.
 
kerinorton said:
It was an eventful trip, what with all the road closures after that cyclone, waiting for delayed ferry's and coming back, my ferry was delayed then the bastard broke down when it got to Picton. Second time that's happened to me.
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What's that? The 50+ yrs old bike was more reliable than the mass transit ferry?
 
kerinorton said:
Next time Ian, we'll be looking for that commando [ one of them anyway ]. Good to see every one again. Great to meet you Brooke.

It was an eventful trip, what with all the road closures after that cyclone, waiting for delayed ferry's and coming back, my ferry was delayed then the bastard broke down when it got to Picton. Second time that's happened to me. Got to the terminal at 4.00 pm and the ship eventually left at 11.00 pm. Got to Wellington at about 2:30 in the morning.
Only trouble I had was having to change the plugs in Wellington on the way down, and breaking the side stand bolt on the way back at Turangi.
Got to Dave's place in Maungaturoto to help him clean up after the cyclone and managed to turn one half of a big tree to firewood. I'll go back down later to help some more.
I was talking to another mate in Waipu tonight, who had 100, 30 year old pines come down. What a mess. Dave rang me when I got home yesterday and told me the bridge near where he used to live 3 months ago on the Mangawhai-Kaiwaka road was under water and his previous back yard was flooded. Most of the roads in Northland and North Auckland were damaged to some degree with over slips and some under slips where one lane had completely disappeared. The Queen Charlotte Drive between Picton and Havelock was still in a shit condition after the storm they had earlier. I stayed in Havelock last Sunday after the rally and my cousin told me the the traffic lights placed at the Havelock end of the QCD have been there for a hell of a long time.
A thoroughly enjoyable long ride overall with a fair bit of BSA, and some rain and head winds.
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Hell Dereck,
You poor buggars in the North can't catch a break, For all those affected by the recent flooding/slips etc ,stay strong 💪
 
Hendo - The wee beastie went like a train. Ride Sth took in lots of gravel, collecting Mototokens (see the remotemoto website if interested) and generally enjoying the view. The return trip was carefully timed to get 2 1/2 days out of 3 riding in the rain :(. Day 1 through Alex and over the Lindis to Methven, next day to Picton via Inland Kaikoura, last day up the Nth Island. Not as bad a Dereck, my ferry was only 3 hrs late leaving then when we arrived in Wellington had to wait a half hour for the preceding ferry to leave the dock.
Dereck - i have paid for WoF and Rego for both the ES2 and the 850 to only have static displays, my Scottish ancestry is offended at the waste of money so I will be knocking on Dr Lex's door very shortly for a diagnostic session.
 
Sorry I couldn’t make it, guys. I was enjoying all you can eat/drink in sunny New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Two cancelled flights later…
 
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