Like many people…ok…like a few people…I live my life with a
bucket list in the back of my mind that I think about far too much. Many items on that list have to do with
riding a motorcycle. This past summer gave me the opportunity to check two
items off the list – I did a 50CC and I got to visit George at the lake. I did
not, however, get to ride to some places in Colorado and Wyoming that will
still be there whenever it works out for me.
The next big ticket item on my list is called an Ultimate
Coast to Coast Ride (UCC). It is very simple – ride your bike from Key
West, FL, to Prudhoe Bay, AK, in less than 30 days. That isn’t a problem. The problem is the 240 miles each way on the
James Dalton Highway – think Ice Road Truckers – without gas stops and with
rocks, gravel, mud, trucks, and not much else except moments of spectacular
beauty. I have to do it.
But I can’t do it on my Harley. Oh, I suppose I could. A guy can do anything he sets his mind on and
I imagine plenty of people have done the ride on an Ultra Classic. But I still
remember the embarrassment of bogging down in the mud on a very calm North Dakota
gravel road and tipping over at 1 mph. And I don’t want to tear up my Harley so
I need a different bike.
This spring, when the UCC fever hit me hard, I bought a 2006
Suzuki DL 1000 V-Strom. While it is a very popular
workhorse of a bike, it is what it is.
It was cheap and fairly indestructible.
Most importantly, it promised to give me a sense of whether or not I am
ready to go over to the dark side of long distance riding on something other
than a Harley. I gave it my best shot.
I put the stuff on the bike that it would need to have.
Except for some kind of luggage system, some kind of electronic cruise control,
and the Russell Day Long seat I would get in Northern California on my way to
Alaska. I put nearly 5000 miles on it over the course of the summer and there
were times when I thought that it would do.
Until one night when I got to thinking...
Kelley and I are in a Wednesday night Bible study. When it was over, we headed home. I got there
first since Kelley stopped by her office on her way home. Not wanting to start
the Netflix series we are currently watching, I pulled out my computer and
started to play.
It all begins with a spreadsheet and mapquest.com. On the spreadsheet, I begin to imagine the
daily destinations that would allow me to do the trip I want to do. I pick a place, go to mapquest to get some
idea of the distance, and then pick the next place. I know I want to ride as
many interesting roads as possible, visit my aunt and uncle in Nevada, get a
ride-in Russell Day Long seat made in a day, ride the Oregon coast, then up the coast to visit my sisters, through Canada,
to Fairbanks.
Stopping in Fairbanks is required as the knobby tires you
need to ride the Dalton will need to be installed there. Then up to Deadhorse
to start the UCC. Find more interesting roads to get down to Key West, FL, and
then home to Houston. Once I have a general idea of where I will be heading,
eventually I go deeper into the route and pick the actual roads I want to ride.
Piece of cake.
I figure the church won’t die if I take three of my vacation
Sundays in a row which leaves me with 21 days to make the trip. I can leave on
a Monday, be home on a Friday, and in the pulpit on Sunday. Basically, this is what the spreadsheet
looked like by the time Kelley got home.
Piece of cake? I guess that depends.
The next thing I knew I was back in the same mental place I was
last spring. Reading every review I
could find on the BMW 1200 GS Adventure, the KTM 1290 Super Adventure, the
Triumph Tiger Explorer XC, and the Yamaha Super Tenere. They are the flagship big adventure/tourer
bikes on the market today. Fantastic on the road, able to change to knobby
tires and get off the road. Tons of features.
All pretty much ready to go except for the inevitable changes I would
need to do to every bike to make it tall guy friendly.
I can’t explain why but I immediately crossed the Yamaha off
the list. I didn’t fit on it very well last spring. I want to be able to tune the suspension
electronically rather than using a knob and I want a bigger gas tank. I also
haven’t heard glowing reviews from people who have them. That left three
possibilities.
So Saturday came and, after doing some church stuff in the
morning, I spent the afternoon riding the V-Strom to some motorcycle
dealerships. One more look at the BMW
and it fell off the list. It is a glorious motorcycle, many argue the best in
the world, and yes, that is what the guys rode on the “Long Way Around” and the “Long Way
Down.” (BTW, those guys rode 20,000
miles in 115 days. With the support of
the BMW mechanic in the truck behind them.
My North To Alaska trip calls for 13,500 miles in 21 days. Just saying…)
Those shows really put the R1200 GS Adventure on the map…but
if you listen closely, they really wanted to ride KTM bikes. Unfortunately they
weren’t able to get the right sponsorship so they settled for the BMW’s. Which
broke quite often. And are incredibly expensive when you don’t have a TV
sponsor.
Not only that but, when I gave it test ride, I bonked my
shins on the Boxer engine at each stop sign. It cost a fortune and would
require lots of after market stuff to work for me. Off the list it went.
Which left me with the Triumph Tiger Explorer XC – which,
like all of the bikes in the adventure/tourer class – offered certain trade
offs - and the KTM.
2015 KTM 1290 Super Adventures are hard to find. New this year, many dealers only got a few of
them. The dealer I have been to (a few times just to sit on one) was the second
place I went only to discover that they won’t get more until next year. And the
first three are already pre-sold. But I had read about another dealer south of
town that had one so off I went.
The KTM had me at hello.
Then I got to take a test ride. Breath-taking is the only word I
need. I filled out the paperwork and
realized that buying it was within the realm of possibility. I told the guy I would think about it over
the weekend and left with an offer sheet in my pocket. I said I would either call him Tuesday morning or show up to buy the bike.
I stopped at the Triumph dealer on my way home and sat on
the Explorer one more time. It had
possibilities and was priced $4,500 cheaper.
More paperwork and then a weekend to think.
Monday came, I could take the day off, so I decided to give
the V-Strom one more chance. I headed out of town to have breakfast at
Charlie’s Family Café near Goodrich, back west toward Huntsville, and
eventually made my way home. I rode the
V-Strom hard at times to feel its limits. I tried my best to get comfortable on it. I
used the Brakeway throttle lock as often as I needed to rest my right wrist. I
really tried but I knew that sitting on it for my Alaska trip would royally
suck the joy out of it.
Here’s the last day I spent on the V-Strom.
Tuesday morning I headed out to the KTM dealer. Later that day I left the V-Strom with the dealer as a trade in and I rode my new 2015
KTM 1290 Super Adventure home.
It is lightning quick,
versatile, feature laden, and is giving the BMW serious run for its money. The only negative is that it is chain driven
rather than shaft driven which is one more thing to worry about and maintain
but that really isn’t a very big deal.
I hope.
So my Harley is officially for sale…I would sell it but I'm not willing to give it away. And I’m ready for the next stage of
hitting both the road and the off road places that strike my fancy. BTW, before
I signed off on anything I checked in with Kelley. Her text message back was a simple “KTM”. How
could I say no to that?
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| What a beautiful machine! An absolute joy to ride! |
