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SuzukiSavage.com
/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Road Trip Success! /cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1343972744 Message started by mjs3790225 on 08/02/12 at 22:45:44 |
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Title: Road Trip Success! Post by mjs3790225 on 08/02/12 at 22:45:44 Just got back from my road trip the other day and wanted to give a shout out to everyone on the forum for all the help in getting my Savage ready for the trip. Went about 3700 miles up and down the east coast, and mid east of the USA. Saw pretty much everything from the open plains, to the mountains, to the beaches! Small towns, large cities, highways, back roads, no roads! What an adventure! Despite my original plans, I opted to bring none of my camera gear, so all I have is these two really poor cell phone pictures, but at least its something :) http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s408/mjs3790225/Suzuki%20Savage%20Photos/th_roadtrip01.jpg (http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s408/mjs3790225/Suzuki%20Savage%20Photos/?action=view¤t=roadtrip01.jpg) http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s408/mjs3790225/Suzuki%20Savage%20Photos/th_roadtrip02.jpg (http://s1050.photobucket.com/albums/s408/mjs3790225/Suzuki%20Savage%20Photos/?action=view¤t=roadtrip02.jpg) Best MPG I got along the way was 71. The lowest I got was 40. Usually I averaged about 55 though. I can say the larger front pulley mod held up nice along the entire trip and certainly made the highway much more pleasant. Fastest I got the bike up to was 90mph and I'm pretty certain I will be getting a speeding ticket in the mail from Maryland soon.... :o Changed and topped off the oil at 1500 miles halfway through the trip. At 2700 miles I suddenly realized I was 1 entire quart low! I had no idea I was burning so much oil and really wish I made more of a point to check more often! I wonder how much extra wear that caused :-/ Maryland was full of more bad luck when my windshield decided it didn't want to live anymore and shattered to pieces. However, after picking them back up and duct taping the mess back together, it held out the for the remaining 1000 or so miles. Haha! Got to love that stuff! (Currently open to ideas for replacement windshields though haha!) The most mechanical trouble (besides a blown headlight fuse in North Carolina) was after a burst of heavy engine braking in Kentucky (people towing large boats shouldn't suddenly pull into the fast lane and try passing slower trucks uphill!!) when my carb jets suddenly plugged up with debris. One coffee stirring straw later, and the obstructions were soon rectified. Back on the road! So yeah, everything was great! That you all so much for everything I've learned! 8-) |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by Serowbot on 08/02/12 at 23:17:05 Yippie!... great adventure... PS... What's Maryland gonna' do,.. come get you?... ;D... Two penalty points for not giving us more pics... but we can imagine how fun it was anyway... :)... |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by mnefred on 08/03/12 at 05:58:40 Congrats on the trip, I'm jealous!! The wife and I are doing a two up trip on the Spyder this year, but maybe we'll take two bikes next time. On the windshield, I have a Memphis Shades "Slim" and I love it. Amazing how effective it is for being so small. Probably not a whole lot bigger than the one in your photo. |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by Blinky on 08/03/12 at 06:06:07 mjs, Well done. I hope to do something along the same lines in early September from central Kentucky to upstate New York. About how many miles did you cover a day? and +1 on the Memphis Slim. |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by mjs3790225 on 08/03/12 at 06:52:57 Gosh i hope they don't come get me! But that speed trap camera flash nearly caused me to go blind! Dang, do they really think those are safe to use at night? Well, at least that's the story I'll tell them if something shows up ;D Memphis Shades Slim eh? I'll have to look into it. I do believe it is only a matter of time before the duct tape shield fad goes out of style and I'll be left in the wake. lol. Miles a day depended on if I was going into a town where I knew I had a friend I could spend the night with. I think the longest I drove was just a tad over 600 miles in one day. That was Florida to North Carolina. Other days I just found a quiet spot off a road and setup camp. Those days I usually traveled less. I will say that I reshaped some of the foam in the seat to make it more comfortable for longer drives, and I also had my backpack thing to lean up against. Both those helped a lot in ride comfort. For navigation I did use a GPS. I bought a refurb Garmin Nuvi 2555LMT off eBay for I think $150. And for anyone wondering about refurb units, I can say mine looked brand new and worked just the same. After traveling with it for so many miles, I can definitely recommend the 2555LMT. It served as my map, my speedometer (since my stock speedo would be incorrect with the new front pulley), and my trip counter (again, stock is off). It has a great mode where you can pretty much turn it into what you would see on a car dashboard. I mounted the GPS in a waterproof box made by RAM Mounts directly centered above the front forks. I'll see about getting a picture of that for everyone a little later. RAM Mounts makes a GREAT waterproof box. Top notch! |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by mjs3790225 on 08/03/12 at 06:54:20 And PS Blinky! Bring tons of cash for all those toll roads going through NJ and NY! I had one that was $13.85 just by itself! :o |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by Paraquat on 08/03/12 at 07:22:08 I want to do a long trip like this. A bed roll tied to the bike and just go. --Steve |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by mjs3790225 on 08/03/12 at 07:29:42 Do it! I had some people wake me up at night once. They noticed all my gear spread out and said "Looks like you got a nice apartment there" to which I said "Has a great view of the night sky." They laughed and went on there way. I noticed a lot of people would just see my motorcycle all loaded up with gear and become curious as to what sort of trip I was doing. They like talking about it. I suppose a motorcycle trip is kind of a novelty. |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by chefevild on 08/03/12 at 18:10:31 Wow congrats and great job :) |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by ZAR on 08/03/12 at 19:59:56 Add another vote for the Memphis Shades "Slim" windshield. This is the first scooter I've owned with a shield and the "Slim" has been great. I am thinking about getting the "Fats" model for winter riding. And how did you get through Kentucky without stopping to visit me????? |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by Jack_650 on 08/03/12 at 21:41:40 I'm curious as to the front pulley mod you mention. Did you do a chain conversion? I'm all for getting my gas mileage to go upwardly as I like to do the long trips too. It would appear that you travel light compared to me. And I never leave home without my camera stuff. I never get around to printing anything, but at least if the night landing UFO thang happens, I'm ready. http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/1162560/ Jack |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by RandomHero on 08/04/12 at 01:31:22 Where does one sleep on trips like this? Just pull off the highway and setup camp? And where were you when those people woke you up? |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by mjs3790225 on 08/04/12 at 10:35:34 Memphis def seems like a popular vote! Cool! And, haha, I think I missed a lot of people on my trip ;D But you just get on, and you want to go, and well, one state leads to another ;) Quote:
The pulley mod! No, it was not a chain conversion or anything like that. You keep the same stock belt and rear pulley. There is a front pulley that is made for a Kawasaki that is nearly a direct swap. You'll need to machine it a bit to make it work, but after you do, its several teeth bigger and helps keep them RPMs at bay. Check out these two threads for a good run down on the project: http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1334871333/0 http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1335731903/0 The biggest thing that effected MPG for me though was driving speed. The difference between going 65 and 85 is astounding! And yeah, dang, you have quite the setup on your bike Jack. Haha, maybe one day I'll get to that level! ;D I would wonder what all the road vibration would do to the mirror assembly in my DSLR though. That kind'a worries me. A shock absorbing box project may be in the works for me soon! Quote:
It was my first time trying to find places to sleep on the road. I remember one night it was raining and I slept under a park bench gazebo. Another night a quiet parking lot. And of course the highway rest stops were always there (that's where I got woken up). They always say you aren't allowed to sleep and stuff there, but nobody ever made me leave. Of course, I always picked a good out of the way place and slept with the biggest D-Cell club-looking Maglight I could find haha! |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by running-it-stock on 08/05/12 at 09:13:34 Nice trip with a very light load. More Pics? Last month I visited Yosemite/Monolake after seeing the outstanding scenery on Pashnit http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31739 however I didn't get to see any snow on the road, but I did hike to Cathedral lakes and touch snow in late June :o. Carrying stuff was a challenge b/c the lack of a sissy bar for the newer model savages, so I resorted to a backpackers bag which worked out very well. Porcupine flat-Yosemite http://i45.tinypic.com/r7ng2b.jpg http://i48.tinypic.com/efrjgk.jpg |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by running-it-stock on 08/05/12 at 09:36:10 2F3C3339323035382F325D0 wrote:
The first night on my trip to Yosemite, Moccasin campground wanted $30 so I slept at a Don Pedro Lake backroad access. The house up the hill partied into the wee hours which kept me up >:(, and the animals away ;). |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by Digger on 08/07/12 at 22:08:49 Back in my "hobo" days (those 2 1/2 years before I started college), I slept away from organized campsites all of the time. Had to move once or twice, but never had any trouble otherwise.....however, this was back in the mid to late '70's. I don't do that anymore, because I have more money now. |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by running-it-stock on 05/13/23 at 13:48:51 Updated picture links from my 2013 Yosemite trip. http://https://i.ibb.co/MZMG9Yb/IMG-20130629-073354.jpg (https://ibb.co/7j2RbwH) http://https://i.ibb.co/fGmcSM1/IMG-20130630-105223.jpg (https://ibb.co/zHKk5sn) http://https://i.ibb.co/6BYXFF0/IMG-20130629-073438.jpg (https://ibb.co/bJ1bXX5) http://https://i.ibb.co/5rJxC00/IMG-20130630-105215.jpg (https://ibb.co/JvSF811) http://https://i.ibb.co/rbJb40C/IMG-20130629-073400.jpg (https://ibb.co/q0w0kjt) http://https://i.ibb.co/vcbbFQc/IMG-20130629-073418.jpg (https://ibb.co/7SHHfRS) http://https://i.ibb.co/m4rxKJb/IMG-20130630-094003.jpg (https://ibb.co/4pwQLWK) http://https://i.ibb.co/SyQhPbq/IMG-20130630-105220.jpg (https://ibb.co/C8Jkzgx) http://https://i.ibb.co/NVk00zR/IMG-20130630-093954.jpg (https://ibb.co/X2dnnTH) http://https://i.ibb.co/4Nytkwd/IMG-20130630-093959.jpg (https://ibb.co/KyZhncw) http://https://i.ibb.co/7CmpSWx/IMG-20130629-073349.jpg (https://ibb.co/C8G9w7p) http://https://i.ibb.co/GCDgvCy/IMG-20130629-073357.jpg (https://ibb.co/YfSv7fm) |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by running-it-stock on 05/13/23 at 13:56:36 Pic of my savage. I camped at the pull off near Moccasion campground. I still remember the truck pulled in late at night with their dog that was barking at me from behind the mound of dirt that I was camped at. I overheard them saying their boat broke down. It was smoking hot as it commonly is at Don Pedro Lake. All these years later I've yet to find that seasonal water fall I stopped at in 2013. This year after a decade I might find it because of all the snow melt. |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by running-it-stock on 05/13/23 at 13:56:50 http://https://i.ibb.co/MgfBs95/IMG-20130629-073334-1.jpg (https://ibb.co/QJkDfXj) |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by J Mac on 05/13/23 at 16:57:08 Nice pictures, and I like your style of awakening an 11 year-old thread. |
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Title: Re: Road Trip Success! Post by Dave on 05/14/23 at 11:09:15 343F2701333F3D355E0 wrote:
It takes a long time to download photos......evidently! ;) Hopefully your next trip will bring back as many memories. |
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