Topic: Solo USA tour completed!!

[kegger117]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  OK, so here I go trying to address all the questions, in reverse order:

1. How did your bike perform, what kind of issues did you have...
Bike was good overall, but had two major breakdowns and other types of issues.  Breakdown #1 was likely a new but probably cheap chinese condenser that failed causeing the loss of #2and #3 cylinders.
Breakdown #2 was an oil leak, that progressively got worse to where i was getting too much oil on the back tire.  This turned out to be numerous leaks, biggest was oil pressure sending unit (we simply took it out and plugged the port), also had shifter shaft seal leak, and some top end leaking.

2. Any particular part of the trip you would recommend?
I would recommend the Skyline Drive in Virginia as being way better than Blue Ridge Mountain Parkway, also PCH 1 in Cali and camping along it.

1:  Cost
Way more than I thought, primarily due to UHaul rental, repair costs, and many nights in hotels instead of original camping plan.
2: Where/how did you do oil changes?
One at the repair shop, one in the parking lot of Advanced Auto (they let me borrow tools and oil pan and rags)
3: Where did you stay?
20% with friends, 20% camping, 60% hotels
4: Weather?
Rode in everything except snow and ice
5: Breakdowns?
see above
6: High points?
Pikes Peak, was 14,000 ft elevation
7: Low points?
Ocean level at Pacific
8: Gas milage?
best was around 45mpg
9: how many tires did you go through?
Front tire did whole trip and still has meat.  First back tire wore out (i ran it underinflated too much), second tire finished the trip but very little meat left on it
10: Encounter any flats along the way?
Luckily no
11: Any good animal stories?
Saw a bear that you can see in my video.  Other than that nothing special
12:  Meet any freaky people on the road?
no one freaky, but many nice and good hearted folks.
13:  Hook up with a greasy waitress that works the late shift at a local truck stop named the Gas-N-Joe?  not on this trip
14:  Spend a night in jail, in Texas, with three Mexicans that dont speak English and think that your an undercover cop sent in to get details on their people trafficking operations?  bribed myself out of that jam

What were the breakdowns? Did you have to ship the bike home, or were you able to get back on the road?
First breakdown was in Mouth of Wilson, VA.  (yes, that is exactly what I thought also)  Second breakdown was in Oklahoma City, OK.  At that point i rented a UHaul to continue my journey until I got to Phoenix where I had a mechanic waiting to work on her.

1.  If you wouldn't mind could you give a quick overview of costs?
The main expenses were loosely:  $2500 pre-trip expenses (all new gear, equipment, and prepping the bike for a long haul).  Then $900 in fuel.  Maybe $1000 food.  Maybe $2500 for hotel rooms.  $700 for U-Haul +$600 mechanic in Phoenix.  My plan was to spend a few thousand on the trip, but reality happened.  It was the trip of a lifetime, and once I was out there I was going to complete my goal at all costs.  I'm sure with different circumstances someone could do a coast to coast round trip for less than $2500

2.  What (mechanically) were the two breakdowns?
see above
3.  What would you say your average gas mileage was?
see above
4.  Do you have a map of your route?
Plotted routes and uploaded them to my GPS which turned out to be a wasted of time.  I used maps, Iphone, and mostly my GPS on a day to day basis.  I didn't stick with my pre-programmed road routes.  I haven't redrawn my actual completed route, but when I do I will post it.
5.  What did you do for oil changes?
see above
6.  Did you rock 1 set of tires? If so, how bad were they at the end?
see above
7.  What was the breakdown of camping/hotel/stay with friends?
see above


Did I miss any questions?  I just wanted to answer people quickly here, of course there are stories and more background to those questions, so feel free to point out which areas you want me to expand on 

Cheers.

Thom