PittsDriver
Fuse lit....
The bike I've thoroughly enjoyed over the past 2+ years has been a K1600GT. It's a bike with the magical ability to serve as a transcontinental missile, comfortable for all day/multi-day rides, and still transform itself into a gentleman's hooligan bike capable of surprising a sport bike in the twisties. But there's this itch right there that I can't reach with this bike. I'm feeling this irresistible call of the wild to see if I still have it in me to do a week long, multi-thousand mile ride on a sport bike. This is something I did often in my 20's. Maybe I'm emboldened by finishing a 7,100 mile ride, at age 55, this past fall on my GT or maybe I'm just looking to challenge myself to do something more extreme but I'm going to land on a S1000RR as my second bike this spring and I want think about using it for some rides where, after my first night on the road, I'm headed farther from home. I'm here asking for some advice.
Some of the things on my list after dipping my toe into this pool are:
- will a PDM 60 tuck away somewhere convenient on the RR to supply power to my clothes, radar detector, tank/tail bag, etc
- are the factory adjustable rearsets the ticket for loosening up the ergos a bit or are there other options?
- what are the best storage options for multi-day rides on an RR? back pack? tail bag? which ones?
- is there a windscreen option worth considering?
- what tools or emergency kit should I have for this bike (I have a well tuned kit for the GT but this might have special needs)
- what I don't know I don't know?
For those of you that are thinking I'm nuts and there are way better weapons for sport touring, etc let me just say that this is not about how to make a race bike a touring bike. It's not about if I've made the best choice of bikes for this kind of riding. It's more like the notion that I can take a Delta flight from coast to coast so why would anyone take a bicycle? For the challenge and adventure of it. I want to figure out how to do a 600 mile day on an RR to get to the TN/WNC hills and then spend a few days on a romp before taking the 600 mile road back home. I'm thinking it could be painful but in the same way that learning to do gyroscopic tumbles in the Pitts was painful, and unforgettable.
Any and all thoughts from the collective wisdom here would be appreciated?
Some of the things on my list after dipping my toe into this pool are:
- will a PDM 60 tuck away somewhere convenient on the RR to supply power to my clothes, radar detector, tank/tail bag, etc
- are the factory adjustable rearsets the ticket for loosening up the ergos a bit or are there other options?
- what are the best storage options for multi-day rides on an RR? back pack? tail bag? which ones?
- is there a windscreen option worth considering?
- what tools or emergency kit should I have for this bike (I have a well tuned kit for the GT but this might have special needs)
- what I don't know I don't know?
For those of you that are thinking I'm nuts and there are way better weapons for sport touring, etc let me just say that this is not about how to make a race bike a touring bike. It's not about if I've made the best choice of bikes for this kind of riding. It's more like the notion that I can take a Delta flight from coast to coast so why would anyone take a bicycle? For the challenge and adventure of it. I want to figure out how to do a 600 mile day on an RR to get to the TN/WNC hills and then spend a few days on a romp before taking the 600 mile road back home. I'm thinking it could be painful but in the same way that learning to do gyroscopic tumbles in the Pitts was painful, and unforgettable.
Any and all thoughts from the collective wisdom here would be appreciated?