Using a sports bike for touring.
Discussion
Hi everyone,
Thought I could use a bit of PH advice as I'm soon going to embark on my first long distance ride (anything over 100 miles is long distance to me!)
The trip is accompanying my father on his CB1300 from Bath to Belfast using the best Welsh roads.
My current bike is a K4 GSXR 1000, it's not ideal as a tourer no, but I've been informed that its up to the task and the reviewers look like they agree.
Anyway, the problem I face is that of luggage and riding position. For luggage it looks like im stuck with my tank bag only, as I can't seem to find much else. Any ideas?
The main problem, and my biggest concern is the riding position. The height of the bike is fine, and was in fact lowered by abut 2" by the last owner. The concern however, is that of the clip on bars being too low for this journey. While they are great for hooning around or on tracks, for long distance the constant looking up will give me fair pain my neck and back. And the leaning on them will ache my arms. This probably wouldn't usually be a problem, but I was involved in a rather serious bike accident earlier this year in which I suffered two broken wrists, nine broken ribs, two cracked vertebrae in my neck and back and a whole load of other stuff. The bike (XJR1300) was a write off. If possible id like to get some raised clip ons, but have no idea where to look or what is best, please help!
Thanks for reading guys and gals, any advice would be highly appreciated
Pebbles.
Thought I could use a bit of PH advice as I'm soon going to embark on my first long distance ride (anything over 100 miles is long distance to me!)
The trip is accompanying my father on his CB1300 from Bath to Belfast using the best Welsh roads.
My current bike is a K4 GSXR 1000, it's not ideal as a tourer no, but I've been informed that its up to the task and the reviewers look like they agree.
Anyway, the problem I face is that of luggage and riding position. For luggage it looks like im stuck with my tank bag only, as I can't seem to find much else. Any ideas?
The main problem, and my biggest concern is the riding position. The height of the bike is fine, and was in fact lowered by abut 2" by the last owner. The concern however, is that of the clip on bars being too low for this journey. While they are great for hooning around or on tracks, for long distance the constant looking up will give me fair pain my neck and back. And the leaning on them will ache my arms. This probably wouldn't usually be a problem, but I was involved in a rather serious bike accident earlier this year in which I suffered two broken wrists, nine broken ribs, two cracked vertebrae in my neck and back and a whole load of other stuff. The bike (XJR1300) was a write off. If possible id like to get some raised clip ons, but have no idea where to look or what is best, please help!
Thanks for reading guys and gals, any advice would be highly appreciated
Pebbles.
Soft panniers/tailpack are your friend with regards to carrying extra.
Get browsing gumtree/preloved etc as they seem to sell for less on there.
I bagged an oxford tankbag, panniers and a tailpack, all with waterproof covers for £50! Because of they're nature I'm sure you can make them fit your bike.
With regards to pain on long distance riding.. ride quicker so you are in pain for less time
Get browsing gumtree/preloved etc as they seem to sell for less on there.
I bagged an oxford tankbag, panniers and a tailpack, all with waterproof covers for £50! Because of they're nature I'm sure you can make them fit your bike.
With regards to pain on long distance riding.. ride quicker so you are in pain for less time
You might find a sweet spot for speed on the motorway where there is enough wind blast on your torso to take the weight of your wrists.
Motorways can be rather painfull, so try and stick to the more interesting roads unless you need to cover a lot of ground. I've got Oxford paniers and an Oxford tank bag with a window for my maps and or satnav. You can't ride all the way to Belfast from Bath anyway, so there will be an enforced stop due to deep water, so just chuck a couple of breaks in before the ferry, but give yourself LOADS of time so you're not chasing you tail getting their particularly as you are sorting so old injuries.
Better to get there way early and stop for a coffee than hammering it in agony which is when you will make mistakes.
Motorways can be rather painfull, so try and stick to the more interesting roads unless you need to cover a lot of ground. I've got Oxford paniers and an Oxford tank bag with a window for my maps and or satnav. You can't ride all the way to Belfast from Bath anyway, so there will be an enforced stop due to deep water, so just chuck a couple of breaks in before the ferry, but give yourself LOADS of time so you're not chasing you tail getting their particularly as you are sorting so old injuries.
Better to get there way early and stop for a coffee than hammering it in agony which is when you will make mistakes.
I was impressed with me riding to Copenhagen last year on my comfy sofa (Triumph Explorer), only to be chatting with a couple of chaps who had gone to the Nordcap on a Suzuki 1000 and a BMW R1200RS (which I remember because its quite rare!). Tail packs, sensible packing, air hawk seat and easy access to tyre places meant it was fine. Tough, but they coped rather well.
Impressive actually - whats that? 3000 miles each way?
Impressive actually - whats that? 3000 miles each way?
People do that sort of distance on mopeds, you'll be fine...I did around 560 miles a couple of weeks ago in 1 day on my GSXR1000 K1 and wasnt "too" bad when I got home..
Everyone has their faveourite method of luggage but ive tried them all, from my expierence, you cant beat the safety, security and ease of use with hard luggage , having a sportsbike doesnt mean you cant use it either..
Everyone has their faveourite method of luggage but ive tried them all, from my expierence, you cant beat the safety, security and ease of use with hard luggage , having a sportsbike doesnt mean you cant use it either..
anonymous said:
[redacted]
I took no security stuff at all last year as it was too heavy and bulky for me on the MV with only a 30 litre Kriega. I took a tubeless repair kit, small tool kit, no rain gear, spare gloves, no spare visor or owt. Phone and charger, enough casual clothes for 8 days, flip flops or bike boots were only footware. All undergarments except wicking shirts were disposable i.e thrown away every night for new stuff.A
Blimey, is that all? You'll be fine!
During the mid / late 90's, me and half-a-dozen mates used to make an annual pilgrimage down to Jerez in Southern Spain, for the Moto GP.
We used to get the ferry from Portsmouth to the North Coast of Spain. The first leg of the trip was to do Bilbao to Jerez, a distance of about 600 miles. We quickly realised that we could do this in a single day, providing we kept our average speed up a bit
Once we'd spent the weekend there, we would ride from Jerez over to the East coast to Alicante or Benidorm for a bit, just for the bars and fun. That was another 400 miles, also done in a day.
Then we'd head up the East coast, to somewhere around Barcelona, another 300 odd miles. Then from there, back to Bilbao, around 500 miles away.
So that was around 1,500 miles, over a 10-day holiday. And we were ALL on sports bikes. I was on a Yam YZF 750, and there were various GSXR's, CBR's, Fireblades etc. with me.
I think you'll be fine!
During the mid / late 90's, me and half-a-dozen mates used to make an annual pilgrimage down to Jerez in Southern Spain, for the Moto GP.
We used to get the ferry from Portsmouth to the North Coast of Spain. The first leg of the trip was to do Bilbao to Jerez, a distance of about 600 miles. We quickly realised that we could do this in a single day, providing we kept our average speed up a bit
Once we'd spent the weekend there, we would ride from Jerez over to the East coast to Alicante or Benidorm for a bit, just for the bars and fun. That was another 400 miles, also done in a day.
Then we'd head up the East coast, to somewhere around Barcelona, another 300 odd miles. Then from there, back to Bilbao, around 500 miles away.
So that was around 1,500 miles, over a 10-day holiday. And we were ALL on sports bikes. I was on a Yam YZF 750, and there were various GSXR's, CBR's, Fireblades etc. with me.
I think you'll be fine!
Pebbles167 said:
The main problem, and my biggest concern is the riding position. The height of the bike is fine, and was in fact lowered by abut 2" by the last owner. The concern however, is that of the clip on bars being too low for this journey. While they are great for hooning around or on tracks, for long distance the constant looking up will give me fair pain my neck and back. And the leaning on them will ache my arms. This probably wouldn't usually be a problem, but I was involved in a rather serious bike accident earlier this year in which I suffered two broken wrists, nine broken ribs, two cracked vertebrae in my neck and back and a whole load of other stuff. The bike (XJR1300) was a write off. If possible id like to get some raised clip ons, but have no idea where to look or what is best, please help!
Look for 'GSXR Riser bars', plenty of stuff on eBay for either raised clip-ons or riser plates for use with straight tube handlebars (for the streetfighter look)Helibar kit looks good http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HeliBars-TracStar-handle...
Pebbles167 said:
The main problem, and my biggest concern is that of the clip on bars being too low for this journey. While they are great for hooning around or on tracks, for long distance the constant looking up will give me fair pain my neck and back. And the leaning on them will ache my arms. This probably wouldn't usually be a problem, but I was involved in a rather serious bike accident earlier this year in which I suffered two broken wrists, nine broken ribs, two cracked vertebrae in my neck and back and a whole load of other stuff.
Thanks for reading guys and gals, any advice would be highly appreciated
Pebbles.
Firstly to the riding position, GSX-R's are actually roomy old beasts. Get stomp grips or similar to take the weight through your inner thighs and not your arms, ride faster and the wind pressure helps here too. If you have an AGV dump it as these cause me neck pain too as the brow is too low and you crane your neck trying to see far enough ahead. As for old injuries don't be a wimp. I am 56, 5'10 ish Waay too fat, oh and on the trip with the MV I lowsided it on the morning of day 5 and broke 2 x ribs and smacked my scaphoid hard. Still rode her a further 4 days and 1100 miles home though.Thanks for reading guys and gals, any advice would be highly appreciated
Pebbles.
Get on with it, it will be fun.
I toured France down to Spain via Andorra on my blade in 2011. 2k in 6 days and the blade was faultless. My hips less so.#
I used http://www.motorcyclenews.com/mcn/products/product...
and it worked a treat and I took camping gear as well. well worth the ££
I used http://www.motorcyclenews.com/mcn/products/product...
and it worked a treat and I took camping gear as well. well worth the ££
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