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Nine days on the road (so far). Touring Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum tomorrow then heading to GA. Next up, cherahola skyway, deals gap, BRP, the snake and back of the dragon

We leave Wednesday morning. This might be the WORLDS BIGGEST epic trip.

Goldwing

Wow! I wanted a rowdy bike because I felt the '16 was too restrictive and for now I have gotten more than I bargained for. I rode yesterday for around 325 miles, the last 175 miles of which had no restrictions so I was able to use the entire 14,600 RPM range. The bike seems so fast that I am actually using the built in electronic restrictions that are allowing me to comprehend the speed which things are happening. The last 2,500 to 3,000 RPMs in the rev range are indescribably more powerful than any bike I've ever ridden and I've had a ZX12R, Hayabusa, CBR1000RR plus spent a lot of time riding a ZX14R. I usually ride a pace that doesn't require a lot of braking into corners but this bike builds speed so easily that I found myself using the brakes entering corners way more often than anticipated. The extra bodywork with the downforce wings have a negative side effect of giving the bike a bigger side profile that allow the bike to be blown around an uncomfortable amount at high speeds on narrow county roads. I am going to have to find out better setting for the suspension because it's currently too jarring at high speeds on bumpy roads. This is going to sound dumb after I said all that but I definitely need to have this bike tuned. Not to get any extra power but to remove the HUGE power loss in 2nd gear. This is where most of the passing occurs on back county two lanes and it feels unsafe to pull out to pass in 2nd gear to be met with no power until you are halfway past the vehicle you are passing. It's unnerving when there is traffic approaching from the other direction. Also this is going to be expensive to maintain. 1,183 total miles and it has maybe 250 to 300 miles left on the rear. It's a 200/55ZR-17 tire at round $300. I was getting anywhere between 1,800 miles to 2,200 miles on a set of tires with the CBR1000RR. When I got the S1000XR I started getting 3,000 to 3,500 miles on sport touring tires. This is going to be worse than the CBR for replacing tires plus the stupid wheels are carbon fiber so I'm going to be paying for tire changes instead of doing them myself and taking the chance of messing them up.

Jen, as most have said already, break-in guidelines are more for protection of the manufacturer than the consumer. I agree that it makes sense to follow them if only to avoid nasty surprises should you encounter an issue with the engine on your new bike. I think what you are remembering about break-in rules dates to many years ago (back when I was a young rider 😕) when the machining and clearance specs were not as well controlled and consistent as they are now. The mantra was to run the engine at less than WOT and especially, to vary the RPM for the first few 100s of miles. Theory is (was?) that under closed throttle/deceleration conditions, the engine created a high vacuum in the combustion chamber which helped "draw" oil up the cylinder walls, lubricating the piston(s) and upper cylinder(s) and thus, ensuring break-in without damaging the bores. The more precise machining in modern engines coupled with metallurgical advances and the fact that many manufacturers use a Nikasil coating for the bores has kind of made the old rules unnecessary. The other point is that modern motorcycles all have an ECU that likely records events like throttle plate position, over-revs, pre-detonation, coolant and exhaust temperatures, and a few other data points that could be used against you in a warranty claim. Likelihood is that you could probably "run it like you stole it" and nothing bad would happen, but this way, you get to enjoy the anticipation of that first WFO blast to redline when you hit the magic number!

Weather for the start of the Arctic Circle journey was looking iffy so I did two things: I delayed the start a few days so I wouldn’t be riding through rain to start the trip, and I also booked a small cabin at Cannabis Creek Cabins in Luther Michigan. They are as affordable as a motel and includes a nice gift bag with some tasty treats! Should be a great end of the first full day’s riding on the 15th after an overnight stay at my Father’s. Sunny 2.0 is completely loaded and champing at the bit to get going. You’ll be able to track my progress through the Yukon and Alaska with this link to my Garmin Inreach Mini satellite tracker! https://share.garmin.com/HWJA4