The Long Way Around

Especially when you literally ride from one half of it to the other.

I'm done. Standings and tale later. Let's just say. Leg 4 involved a field repair.

Somewhere on 50, I ran out of gas. Glad I had the gas can. The grand irony here is that there was a gas station just past this hill.

Hah.

It's getting earlier and earlier. Each time zone messes me up that much more. Seriously, I have problems dealing with the change every few days.

My internal clock is utterly hosed.

We have somewhat of a short day. A bit over 320 miles or so. That's 2 fill ups. Not so bad.

Hopefully my back and neck will hold up. And hopefully I don't magically fall asleep somewhere on the way to West Virginia.

Side note - rear tire is showing a lot of wear, and is square as a Flintstone wheel. My transitions are crap.

It's early.

We're doing last second prep to run off.

Today is the famed '40 mile' dirt road. Third leg has 160 miles without gas, and is 70 miles of dirt or something. Good condition hard pack road.

Apparently the most scenic of this trip. Doing it. Shit yeah.

So yeah.  You might be curious what exactly one does in order to prepare for a cross-country scooter trip.

Some people fashion fuel cells, weld things to their bike, rework the aerodynamics, kit out engines, modify transmissions, etc.

Some people keep their bike bone stock, not changing a thing, for fear that any change will affect the bike's long term reliability. 

Me?  I did something in between.

You may remember my initial approach to the Cannonball:  Originally, I was to be running a Honda Elite 250 by the name of Starbuck.  This Elite 250 was going to have a good chunk of mods done to it - nothing too drastic but still things that would change the rideability and over-all function of the bike.  Such changes included,

• Full out suspension swap
• Reconfiguring the front end to run a 12" wheel from a Honda Helix
• With new 12" wheel, get a full hydro disc brake
• Rewire the rear brake (stock as a foot brake) to the left handle bar
• New stainless steel exhaust
• Swap out for heavier rollers
• New belt
• Mag wheels
• New seat
• Fuel cell system

You get the point. 

Very little of this actually ended up happening in time, in part due to an unfortunate series of circumstances, and then beyond that simply having to pull the trigger and no longer use the Elite given the rate of progress.  As a result, Grace was thrown back into the picture.

Grace has been a pretty much a stock bike for some time.  As mentioned before in this blog, the real big thing that's been done to it (if you even want to call it a  big thing) was swapping the exhaust for a Scorpion Titanium GT/GTS exhaust.  So we're not looking at too much a departure at this point from stock.  Getting ready for the run was more a matter of maintenance than actually looking for mods - including bypassing the fuel cell (if anything, for the purpose of keeping the bike "purdy")

So what's been done?

• Scorpion Titanium GT/GTS Exhaust has been replaced by a Leo Vince 4Road for GT
• 4 year old battery has been replaced
• Replaced all fuses
• Engine oil & oil filter changed
• 4 year old variator has been fully replaced (each piece, not just rollers)
• New belt
• GPS has been wired with a "jack" into a 12v line on the bike
• 2.5 gallon gas can fitted in step-through area with eye-screws & bungies
• Tire change with Heidenaus, rear @ 140/70x12"
• Reflective stripes have been placed across front & back of bike
• Tentatively might be running saddle bags
• Past mods include a windshield & top case

As you can see, all incremental changes, most of which are really oriented towards ensuring the bike runs as expected, with a few little tweaks. 

With less than 4 days to go, the bike can be considered as good as done.  Next up, gear.