Im going to drive from CA to NY on my 650 what should I do not to blow up

Okkkk folks the tune ups have begun. just ordered front fork seal and a new gasket for the right cylinder tappets/valves. should be here in two days. Im in reno trying to find someone with a timing light sorry i dont want to buy another one and fuckin carry it around. Im goin to make a piston stop and re label my TDC today because i lost it when I installed my hughs PMA
 
michaelpthompson said:
I recommend reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. Limited in practical value, but it will blow your mind.
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I found it to be of enormous practical value. In particular the parts about working on a motorcycle called yourself, or some such, e.g. what will you do -- will you rush when you should have taken your time? Measure once and cut twice? Put it all together and then take it apart and do it again? Or even do nothing? That is working on the motorcyle called you. What will YOU do. There's also the classic vs romantic part. LOL. Will a bent nail do to fix our BMW, or does fixing a BMW takes a special alloy steel rod from Germany bent with hydraulically operated computer controlled machine in a clean room :) Now we're getting to the interesting part.

As for the ride, you'll freeze yer ass off (unlike Persig, who rode in July). I started buying warmer and warmer clothing as my cold trips progress. Get a thin ski mask or two. Something to wrap around your neck to prevent Adam's apple cold spot. Leather mittens with fuzzy interior and wool army glove liners underneath. Get a bunch of those "Hot hands" chemical warmers. At least three layers of clothing, incl. polypropylene underwear. Air seals around arms and legs so wind won't blow in. Preferably around neck too. Military surplus straps with no plastic are good. If a snowstorm overtakes you, rent a motel room in advance for a week -- that way when the power goes out in the suburbs the locals won't get your room...

Pack size will grow exponentially if you let it. Try to take stuff that does double duty, small vice grips instead of pliers for example. Don't need a hammer; you will find a rock...
 
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That is the main part of Zen that stuck with me as a young man riding a and wrenching on his first motorcycle. Classical vs Romantic and the story of the aluminum can BMW fix. Plus the story of Phaedrus and his past spoke to me as well. It should be considered required reading for motorcycle ownership.

Also, can we just discuss that the guy went cross country on a superhawk with his kid on the back?
 
Next summer when my bike is finished and fully ready I will be making the same trip pretty much,,but in reverse.
After my son graduated from RIT in NY with a Masters in IT. He married his GF and moved to Spokane Washington.
They had a son last year and I really need to get out there to meet him. Besides, I have a bunch of friends in the Bremerton/Seattle area I want to see again.
I have set aside 20 days to get there,,see everyone and get back to Pennsylvania. Doing this solo too,, but will be checking in as I progress.
So this is a dual purpose bucket list trip for me. Always wanted to bike cross the country and return and now I have more reason to do it.
Will be leaving in late August and returning within the time stated above. Gonna go-pro it all too. Maybe make a movie of it,,,we will see.
 
Hi Electricnightmare,
you are still planning to ride your XS650 into North-East USA in early November?
Ain't the roads up there gonna be covered in ice and snow by then?
Never mind getting your nuts froze off, HTF you gonna stay upright?
Your best bet for keeping warm, or at least, less cold, is electrically heated snowmobile gear.
Your best chance of staying upright is attaching a sidecar to your bike.
You can put all manner of stuff in a sidecar. Including a full-size truck battery to keep your electric riding gear working
because neither the stock alternator nor a PMA will keep up to that amount of current draw.
The Truck battery needn't be connected to the bike's electrics, there's room in the sidecar for a battery charger too.
I've gone both way on this on different sidecar rigs. Either use a truck battery instead of the bike's battery. (Great for cold starts, ten times the bike battery's cold cranking Amps REALLY spins the motor good) Or use the truck battery as a separate electrical source.
DON'T connect different-sized batteries in parallel. The charging system will overcharge the small battery trying to fill up the big one.
 
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If he's lived in Ca all his life he may not understand what it's like out there in November. He may make it if it's the very first week in Nov and stay across the lower states. I did a simmilar trip in the 70'e from San Diego to Minneapolis in late Oct (2400 miles in 38 hours on a Z1900). If he leaves around the middle of Nov all bets are off.
 
Uhlaf said:
Also, can we just discuss that the guy went cross country on a superhawk with his kid on the back?
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I can't figure out how both of them and their large pack could fit on the bike, even after seeing pictures of them doing it.
On one site there's an account of an Asian teenager going from L.A. to NYC on a 50cc moped. Driving on the shoulder a lot of the way. He was a good writer too. Lots and lots of major repairs on the way, or as major as it gets for a 50cc moped.
 
I have a 1981 XS650H with original stock charging system. Some years back a poster on one of the 650 forums was going on about how he routinely used an electric vest. I was skeptical but tried it and in the years since have many hours of running my 40 watt electric vest. I think that if you are going to use one heating item, the vest is it... If I were planning a cross country trip I would use LED lights front and rear to reduce the XS650's charging load and then feel confident using the vest.
 
xjwmx said:
I can't figure out how both of them and their large pack could fit on the bike, even after seeing pictures of them doing it.
On one site there's an account of an Asian teenager going from L.A. to NYC on a 50cc moped. Driving on the shoulder a lot of the way. He was a good writer too. Lots and lots of major repairs on the way, or as major as it gets for a 50cc moped.
Click to expand...
Hi xjwmx,
and then there's this guy:-
http://www.c90adventures.co.uk/
"around the world without a clue"
 
^Ah, that's Ed March. It made me think about the title of this thread because March apparently thrives on blowing up! It's what he's there for. It's not necessarily bad... His inspiration was this movie, Mondo Enduro.
www.vimeo.com/120880449
And that movie very much shows what the OP should expect, just more extreme. That is, he probably won't get stuck in a Siberian swamp.

Maybe the best thing to avoid blowing up is head off the show stoppers -- start with new tires, wheel bearings, chain. Address the electricals in advance like someone suggested. Highway speed day in day out can use oil faster than you expected so check it when you buy gas.

Evident in the movie is that there are some people who will admire you and even think of you as a mentor, and you may not realize it. So you really want to treat people with kindness, as was done in the movie. You can't let people like that down or you will regret it in the future.

Or you can just simplify things by taking a plane :) Or a car, or a car-like motorcycle. Like a normal person.
 

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