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WWCRD? Transporting a motorcycle from CT to OH

El Karacho1647545492

By El Karacho1647545492
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El Karacho1647545492 Newbie

El Karacho1647545492

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Well my insane uncle has decided to gift me his 2004 BMW R1200C (the James Bond bike from Tomorrow Never Dies), but he's in CT and can't ride it out here. I'm probably going to fly out in mid-October to retrieve it but I've never done any kind of long distance cross-country ride before, and the fastest route is I-80 which is pretty much all truckers which concerns me a bit. It's a pretty basic cruiser, no bags and just a luggage rack on the back fender. 5-speed and since it's a boxer I assume it's gonna vibrate like a motherfucker. Probably a 10 hour ride door to door with minimal stops for food/piss/gas.

 

I'm debating whether I want to ride it all the way or just rent a truck one-way and bring it in the bed/rent a uhaul bike trailer.

 

Anyone have similar experience with pros/cons?

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Slimpsy1647545505 Newbie

Slimpsy1647545505

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That ride in October would scare me with semis all over the place and possible poor weather conditions. Cool bike though, and ya can't beat free! :) I'd recommend borrowing a bike trailer or truck capable of hauling it. Last thing you want is commit to that ride and regret it an hour into it. LoL.
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Doc1647545523 Newbie

Doc1647545523

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Good advice above. Trailer it.

 

I got caught one October riding a bike back from New England when the weather changed. Light snow through the mountains in Pennsylvania made it very scary. Even with winter riding gear I got so cold I lined my coat with newspaper to try to stay warm, and my hands were so cold I had trouble operating the hand controls. I should never had tried to drive in those conditions, but I was young and foolish then. (As the song goes) I'm old and foolish now. But at least I know enough not to travel at that time of year through those mountains.

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Doc1647545523 Newbie

Doc1647545523

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A boxer engine is probably the smoothest configuration for an internal combustion piston engine.

 

I can't argue theory, but in practice the boxer twins were a mixed bag. I owned the R100/7 (airhead) which was okay on vibration, but the bike he's referencing was often criticized for it. BMW seemed to have issues with some of the oil-head boxers which replaced the airheads.

 

The smoothest configuration in my experience was the 90 degree V-Four. I had it in two Hondas.

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El Karacho1647545492 Newbie

El Karacho1647545492

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Trailer it is! Thanks for all the advice, I was leaning towards a 2-day ride but the last thing I want to do is wreck my new bike or end up twisted in the axles of a semi.

 

And yeah, it's pretty ridiculous that he's giving this thing to me. He's always been this "whatever, I'm not a millionaire but I have something that'll make you happy so you have it" kinda guy. He never rides it anymore, just likes to take it out of the garage and clean it every so often.

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Geeto67 Apprentice

Geeto67

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A boxer engine is probably the smoothest configuration for an internal combustion piston engine.

 

Really? have you ridden one of those BMWs? They will practically knock you over if you are sitting at a traffic light and rev the engine. I mean they don't shake like a paint mixer or harley but they are not a smooth as the jap inline fours. At highway speed you don't feel it but rotational force on air/oilheads still transmits through the chassis. I've ridden quite a few air and oil head bmws and the R1200C is by far the worst for this, my 86 R80 is probably the least offensive.

 

I've ridden that route in July - truckers are a non issue as long as you are not daydreaming in your helmet. As everyone has said weather is the biggest factor.

 

The bigger rationale for trailering it however is the bike is an unknown variable to you. When I rode my 1978 cb750F from NY to Mid-Ohio it was a well known bike to me and I still had fiddling little tech issues (the headlight bolts backed out half way through and I had to cobble it together to finish the journey). The bike could be well maintained and ready to go or it could be 150 miles from an engine seizure - you don't really know what's up with it and if something broke do you have a plan to deal with it on the side of the road? my back up plan was a number of different people I knew heading out who could pick me (including my dad) up if something catastrophic happened.

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Geeto67 Apprentice

Geeto67

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Why's everyone afraid to ride. Fuck trailering ride it back and enjoy the ride. Take lots of stops and detours.

 

I don't think everyone is afraid to ride, but I think if you are the kind of person who thinks they are up for a 10 hour motorcycle ride you aren't asking about trailering or not you are just asking the best route.

 

Not everyone is up for 10+ hours in the saddle, that's a lot if a person doesn't already have some long distance riding experience.

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El Karacho1647545492 Newbie

El Karacho1647545492

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Why's everyone afraid to ride. Fuck trailering ride it back and enjoy the ride. Take lots of stops and detours.

 

I have 3 years of experience on my moto temps. Will be getting my endorsement 10/4/2015 but I have, for the most part, been a law abiding citizen and therefore I have minimal experience on highways. What experience I do have has been on sparsely populated highways with wide shoulders/runoffs on a much more maneuverable sportbike with nearly double the power of the BMW where I could just twist the throttle and be out of harm's neighborhood in 3 seconds.

 

I've done the I-80 drive probably 50 times since 2001 when I moved to OH from New England and it's one of the busiest shipping routes in the country. It can be harrowing in a car, let alone on a bike upon which I have zero riding experience. I don't know what the bike is like when it's being buffeted by a semi. I don't know what it's like in a highway construction zone. I don't know what it's like after 5 hours of riding with another 5 to go.

 

Am I afraid? no. I'm pretty sure my riding skills will allow me to adapt quickly enough and I'd probably have no issues.

 

But that's not good enough. As I've said, I've done that I-80 drive often enough that I've seen people whose skills were "probably" good enough have their guts spilled all over that roadway thanks to some careless semi driver, or because they couldn't handle their bike. I want to enjoy this bike and my life for many years, not become a vegetable because I was PROBABLY skilled enough.

 

That's why I created the thread; get opinions. I definitely value yours and riding it back is not off the table, but the concerns others have brought up (unfamiliar bike, lots of trucks, etc) are enough that if I was going to ride it back, I'd probably want 3-5 days in which to do it so I could just take back roads and make a real vacation/journey out of it.

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Radio Flyer1647545514 Newbie

Radio Flyer1647545514

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Get a worthy seat, check tire tread, check weather, ride home. Find a scenic route home, it'll be a great time of the year with the leaves changing to take a multi day trip.

 

Scariest day of my life is picking up a bike for a friend in virginia, to ride it home through the mountains in a thunderstorm to see the cords showing when I got home.

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wheezy Newbie

wheezy

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I literally just did this last week. Took my bike in the back of my truck to CT to meet a buddy, rode 1400 miles around Maine then put it in the truck to come home.

 

Anything more than 6-8 hours on a bike is enough for me and just cruising down the freeway is hardly worth putting the miles on the bike.

 

I would also consider driving out there instead of flying. Renting something one way seems a lot more expensive. I looked into renting a trailer instead of putting my bike in the back of the truck and 1 way wasnt even an option with the u-haul motorcycle trailer.

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El Karacho1647545492 Newbie

El Karacho1647545492

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Appreciate the offers for trailering but I'm gonna do this myself. I'm not going to make it back home for Thanksgiving or Christmas this year so I want to take this opportunity to spend some time with family.

 

Seriously, though, I appreciate the offers. It's part of why CR is such a great community.

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