Caladin's 2009 trip.

[ant_mb]

Awesome ride man! Over 500 miles a day for 18 straight days is SICK! I've done what I thought were a couple longs ride(2,200 in 5 days), but nothing compares to this. You sir are the master and I rightly bow to you!

 

[CrazyBiker]

Awesome trip again. I have been following each one of them. What Teknic jacket is that? Is it good for cold weather without requiring layers inside? And why PJ1 lube instead of the dupont stuff? Dupont does not fling like that.

 

[AlphaLima]

Wow your trips are epic. Between this one, your last one and watching "Long way Around" & "Down" i'v started planning a trip of my own. I'm getting out of the military next spring and i'm going to have some extra time between getting employed in the civilian side and the military. Currently thinking something like this.

One question though, do you always seek out camp sites or do you just pitch the tent anywhere you can find a spot at the end of the day?

 

[mxgolf]

That's one heck of a trip. Major Iron Butt. Great pictures and thanks for sharing.

 

[Humperdinkel]

Ive just sat here reading and looking for the last 1.5 hours in AWE :jawdrop: , that was a seriously EPIC adventure mate EPIC thank you so much for sharing , now i just want to do the same thing :thumbup:

 

[LERecords]

awww... come to the north east.. such nice ridding across the mountains.... looks good man.. keep us up to date

 

[Kazza]

Wow. Great pics. Amazing places to ride.

Love your bike too....

:thumbup:

 

[nextfriday]

Congratulations on planning and tackling a trip of this magnitude that most will only ever dream about, let alone by also doing it on two wheels. What an adventure you have to talk about and carry with you the rest of your life!
Also congratulations to the Japanese, damn they build awesome motorcycles!

 

[Gilo-FZ6]

Thats gotta be the best road trip ive ever seen..congratulations and thanks for the awsome pics

 

[Have2BeFree]

How did I miss this thread until now??????? I am at work and just spent the last 45 minutes reading through - I couldn't stop! What an amazing trip - Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing. :thumbup:

 

[mikexup]

You the man Caladin. That was one awesome trip. I spent hours looking at the pictures, excellent.

 

[Ryan T]

Talk about trip! Man that is outstanding. The pics are out of this world. You're the man.

 

[Caladin]

Finally got around to purchasing pictures from when I passed through US129 / Tail of the Dragon.

I got my shots from us129photos.com. The other 2 photographers had pictures as well, though not quite as good. As well us129photos.com lets you have them e-mailed to you, rather then have them sent via CD in the mail. They did originally send me the wrong picture for one of the two, but quickly sent me the right one I requested when I e-mailed them. Good service!

Any way, here are the 2 shots I thought I would share. I have never actually had pictures of myself riding before, so I am rather pleased. No knee dragging action in these photos. That is not really my speed.





Look at that nice squared off back tire!

 

[spock]

Awesome buddy :cheer::cheer:

Thanks a lot for sharing.

btw, please share details about those fuel bottles on your sidecases.

Cheers

 

[Caladin]

btw, please share details about those fuel bottles on your sidecases.

Several people have asked me about them, and I have been meaning to post up a few pictures with info. So here it goes.

The fuel containers are aluminum MSR fuel bottles for camp stoves. They are designed for actual automotive fuel use. On my first trip I carried a single smaller bottle inside one of my side cases. This served as both emergency fuel and fuel for my camp stove (it runs off automotive fuel - and almost all other kinds of fuel). The smaller bottle (650ml) got me out of a bind on 2 occasions that would have made for a long walk/push. There are several companies making these bottles. I use MSR as that is the brand of my camp stove.

The holder on the side cases is made by Touratech. It comes with the straps to hold the bottle to the bracket. The brackets are very nice cnc cut aluminum.

You can buy a single bottle holder (Touratech part #070-0526) for $26.30.



Or you can buy a double holder (Touratech part #070-0525) for $34.60 USD.



I went with the double holder and simply cut it in two! :thumbup:

Like most things Touratech the brackets are not cheap (for what they are). You could easily just use a bicycle water bottle cage and use some straps to hold your fuel bottle in. But I think the Touratech holders look much nicer.







You can mount them to just about any case. I simply found the flattest spot I could find on my cases and drilled the holes for the bracket (It's a little nerve racking drilling holes in nice Givi V35 cases!). I had to use 2 longer screws and several washers on the bottom to get the bracket sitting right, as the case is not perfectly flat. I also used a little glue outside and inside the cases top ensure they remained sealed. With many miles on them now I have not run into any problems.



You cannot have a passenger with the fuel bottles on. Without the bottles the bracket should not get in the way (if mounted low enough). I however have never had a passenger with the V35 cases on so I don't know how that works out to start with.

The bottles in the picture are about 1L each. They make 1.5L bottles, but I have not seen them for sale locally yet. 2L of fuel might not sound like a lot but trust me, it can be a life saver with you are running on fumes and not sure if you can make it to your next fuel stop. Several times on my last trip I was almost certain I would end up needing to use the extra. But I always managed to baby it the next stop. Depending on speed/road conditions I should be able to get anywhere from 20-40km (12-25mi) for the 2 bottles combined.

Unfortunately for me I doubt this will be enough extra fuel for my next trip. So I am trying to find a way to take a few additional liters of fuel with me. I may end up just using a small jerry can strapped to the back seat for a short time.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Unfortunately for me I doubt this will be enough extra fuel for my next trip. So I am trying to find a way to take a few additional liters of fuel with me. I may end up just using a small jerry can strapped to the back seat for a short time.

What trip could you possibly go on after this trip report? Mars?





Wherever it is, and I'm sure I'm speaking on behalf of all the members who read through this thread, we are looking forward for you to share your next adventure.

 

[tuningfork]

What a great thread! First-time viewing it for me and I am just blown away! :thumbup::thumbup: