Touring options

[37Flipper]

sjtscott said:

Believe me a Blackbird and Autobahns were made for covering distance together and FAST! Most of Germany was dispatched in Sept on my 2 week tour this way in order to get to Austria and the Alps

I second that. I went to France last year with my friends -who all have bike bikes- and I was riding a 10 year old Blackbird. I had no trouble keeping up. In fact on the peage at 1.9 leptons I rode past them all too......

[StevRS]

I assume a proper big boys bike like a Blackbird will have a bigger tank than your mates' bikes and do slightly better mpg than their bikes at silly speeds because you're not thrashing all out like they are.

[37Flipper]

StevRS said:

I assume a proper big boys bike like a Blackbird will have a bigger tank than your mates' bikes and do slightly better mpg than their bikes at silly speeds because you're not thrashing all out like they are.

Erm......I used 3/4 in 88miles at 1.9 leptons so maybe not to good....

[Rob13]

Im thinking that a Versys could be the best of both worlds.

[Phil Mycock]

Buy a Pan European for the trip, they may leave you behind but you'll catch up every time they stop to refuel

You'll easily be able to sell it and get your money back, a couple of thou miles is neither here nor there to those monsters.
Plenty of ex-Plod 1300s about at the moment, already with a single seat conversion

[sjtscott]

37Flipper said:

StevRS said:

I assume a proper big boys bike like a Blackbird will have a bigger tank than your mates' bikes and do slightly better mpg than their bikes at silly speeds because you're not thrashing all out like they are.

Erm......I used 3/4 in 88miles at 1.9 leptons so maybe not to good....

Mines a 2006 injected one, the tank size was increased to 24 litres a few year previous to that. An average 100mph cruise dialed in on autoroute/autobahn would return 150+ miles to a tank easily. However up that average speed with some bahn storming for extended periods and it would rapidly shrink the tank range towards 100mile per tank. FYI it does about 100miles to the tank (flashing fuel gauge so not really using the reserve) round town as it is which isn't that great. In anycase it beats the 600 I did touring on last time which struggled to 110mile per tank at absolute best.. that was more like 90-100miles per tank in the real world.

[RizzoTheRat]

Bear in mind that if you're carrying luggage you'll see a noticable difference to your fuel economy. If I put my givi side panniers on the added drag can decrease my tank range by as much as 10%

[Hooli]

surfsofa said:

I'm also on a (much slower) naked and am curious about the whole fairing/screen thing. When I got my bike it had a small bubble screen which I had to remove because it made wind buffetting on my helmet worse. I'm 6'.

Pictures would be useful. When you guys talk about screens / fairings, how tall are we talking here? Can you post pictures / links?

Here's the one I removed on my bike...

did you try changing the angle of the screen? that normally seems to cure that. mind you i found the same with givi screen my 14 came with, i didnt bother adjusting the angle as i wanted an excuse to loose the ugly thing anyway

[37Flipper]

sjtscott said:

37Flipper said:

StevRS said:

I assume a proper big boys bike like a Blackbird will have a bigger tank than your mates' bikes and do slightly better mpg than their bikes at silly speeds because you're not thrashing all out like they are.

Erm......I used 3/4 in 88miles at 1.9 leptons so maybe not to good....

Mines a 2006 injected one, the tank size was increased to 24 litres a few year previous to that. An average 100mph cruise dialed in on autoroute/autobahn would return 150+ miles to a tank easily. However up that average speed with some bahn storming for extended periods and it would rapidly shrink the tank range towards 100mile per tank. FYI it does about 100miles to the tank (flashing fuel gauge so not really using the reserve) round town as it is which isn't that great. In anycase it beats the 600 I did touring on last time which struggled to 110mile per tank at absolute best.. that was more like 90-100miles per tank in the real world.

I am capable of riding sensibly too.... A few months ago I had to go from Norwick to Clodock (Hereford) and I followed my partner. I managed to get to 215 miles before the light came on and I bottled out at 230 as I didn't really want to push it if it ran out of juice. So it can be very frugal if you want it to be.

[Speed addicted]

Well the decision was made for me today, my xmas present from my wife turned up. I now have a massive sealey bike lift with the Triumph sitting on it as there is no extra room in the garage! So no new toys and it's time to man up!