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Message started by pgambr on 05/07/13 at 11:00:17

Title: Road trip
Post by pgambr on 05/07/13 at 11:00:17

I looking to do my first road trip this summer and I would like to hear what others may have to offer from personal experience regarding performance. Elevation shouldn't exceed 5k. Please mention anything you feel would have any merit regarding the interstate or anything as well. As always, thanks and best regards.

Title: Re: Road trip
Post by Blinky-FSO on 05/07/13 at 11:21:16

pga,
Two links from a trip I took last fall. Hope they help. Performance was not an issue. I am 220 pounds and I had another 40 or so pounds of gear hanging off the bike. I did do about 300 miles on the Interstates and kept up with the flow of traffic but this was just "getting there". I much preferred two lane US highways.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1346362055
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1347827907

Good hunting

Title: Re: Road trip
Post by pgambr on 06/10/13 at 17:41:31

Blinky,

Thanks for the wonderful insight. I don't think you overlooked any details. Their was a lot of preparation which I never considered. I also ordered a Saddlemen BR bag as well. Thanks again.

Title: Re: Road trip
Post by mpescatori on 06/11/13 at 04:16:03

786F69656A7A080 wrote:

Depends where you start off from, where you want to go or which sights you think you'd like to see...

The Savage has a "safe" operating range of 100 mi.; some places are off limits for a simple matter of operating range.

Example:
you cannot ride through the Death Valley because you'd run out of gas before making it to the other end...
Lone Pine, CA to Shoshone, CA is 180 mi. via Badwater, or 165 mi. via Zabriskie Point.
100 :-/ 165 :-/ 100 :-/ 180 ...

;)

Title: Re: Road trip
Post by Paladin. on 06/11/13 at 06:59:58

You can ride Death Valley, no problem. There is a Chevron station in Furnace Creek, CA -- an easy scoot from Lone Pine or Pahrump. There is very few place where you cannot find gas within 100 miles -- the locals don't want to drive 50+ miles for gas either.

We get 60+ mpg doing 65 mph on the highway. It is a 2.8 gallon nominal tank, you can push 150 miles. Slow to 50-55 mph, get over 70 mpg and you can push 180 miles on one tankful.

In '07 I went 1350 miles from LA to OKC on the Interstate, 1400 miles back on lesser roads. On the Interstates there are 5-50 vehicles per mile. On the lesser roads there are less than one vehicle every five miles. FAR more relaxing. 500+ miles a day is not a problem. 300 miles a day is far easier, lets you to stop to see the flowers.

I rode from sea level at home to over 7,300 feet altitude and had no problems at all with the bike.

Title: Re: Road trip
Post by Oldfeller on 06/12/13 at 00:46:23

AND, for those who get sorry gas mileage due to engine mods -- may I introduce you to the very cheap one gallon gas can that commonly gets called "the old plastic oil jug"?

One or two of these snuggled into saddle bags (I only fill mine up 3/4 full to keep any chance of leakage to a minimum) will push your total between stops mileage right on up into the Death Valley range.

Don't let the little stuff stop you from having a good time.

Title: Re: Road trip
Post by pgambr on 06/12/13 at 02:36:14

Would you recommend one designed for travel? Or would a normal one work just fine? Other than size and fitment I am curious if the travel ones are better quality (perhaps don't leak)? Thanks.

Title: Re: Road trip
Post by PerrydaSavage on 06/12/13 at 03:15:27

Speaking of Road Trips, will be flying to Calgary in a few weeks and helping my daughter drive her Toyota cross-country, home to Nfld.! Gonna be fun ... was exactly her age back in '82 when I last did a road trip of that magnitude, driving a beat-up Datsun B210 from Nfld. to Vancouver ...