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Coast to coast to coast on a Panigale


Al Z. Heimer

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I like reading these "road trip" threads. I jump over to ADVrider occasionally. I'll look at the ride reports from other countries just to see what is like there.

One of the better USA based ride reports on ADVrider is from a guy with the screen name of "iDave".

It seems like the riders either will just do a ride "just for because" or as a result of some major life change such as divorce, lost job, medical bad news.

Before I go exploring other countries, there is plently I would like to see here.

I know I will probably kick myself for not buying Ben's V-strom to set me up for a road trip later.

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I like reading these "road trip" threads. I jump over to ADVrider occasionally. I'll look at the ride reports from other countries just to see what is like there.

One of the better USA based ride reports on ADVrider is from a guy with the screen name of "iDave".

It seems like the riders either will just do a ride "just for because" or as a result of some major life change such as divorce, lost job, medical bad news.

Before I go exploring other countries, there is plently I would like to see here.

I know I will probably kick myself for not buying Ben's V-strom to set me up for a road trip later.

I also like to read about epic rides. This one is probably the craziest that I have ever read. It is a long post that reads like a book. Really cool ending also.This one shows that it can be done on anything..It appears that they have the thread all chopped up on the ruckus site. Kinda hard to follow now. http://totalruckus.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=12143. They must have lost the beginning of this thread and it starts here. He flew over from Korea,landed in North Carolina,bought a ruckus and took off. Lots of good photos along the way. When you find the photo of all he carried on that little scoot it's like wow.

Edited by Al Z. Heimer
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I sold a motorcycle helmet to John Ryan last year.

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/608/3739/motorcycle-article/yamaha-fjr-sets-continent-crossing-record.aspx

I had no idea who he was until after he contacted me on AdvRider, and I did a little research.

Met him over at Polaris and had lunch with him.

After he bought my helmet, he threw his in the trash can.

It was in rough shape to say the least...he said probably 300,000 miles of riding(it was 3 years old)...

Pretty cool guy.

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  • 4 months later...

This guy is still at it. Just over 10k miles so far. Is in Texas contemplating a 1000 in 24 just to blast thru. This is a good read with some fantastic photography. With 8 weeks of vacation on the books I am getting some crazy thoughts. Maybe. Just maybe.

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I'm still reading. This is very very good stuff.

"Our lives can be spent carrying out actions that we hope will lead us to a greater sense of purpose, acoomplishment and meaning, but all these are secondary to the need to feel alive. And when we pursue the activities that make us truly feel alive, we discover the places and people and things we always had wished existed. And we find out that they have always been there, waiting patiently for our arrival."

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HA - he bitches about the heat in post #17, before he's even gotten it home from the dealership!

complaint #2 is in post 39. "medium-well right leg." (i'll try to keep a running tally)

post 66: "the heat from the seat felt great." (granted, not a complaint, but it was pouring rain, and 55 degrees... Coming from the desert, that's cold)

post 143: "the heat-from-hell panigale furnace."

(i skipped one where he mentioned "the heat," giving the bike the benefit of the doubt and assuming even Minnesota gets hot in the summer)

post 176: "The 1199 generates so much heat all I can think about is a cooling vest (or a butt/ball refrigerator)"

post 364: references to the recalls, and worry about legs catching on fire.

post 465: "The heat / sitting in traffic (not being able to lanesplit is really aggravating) has been the worst, though (made far more manageable with header wrap, though). "

post 579: "aside from my hamstrings and glutes being cooked, I physically and emotionally feel far healthier on the bike than off."

Edited by redkow97
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http://totalruckus.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=12143. Changed the link for the Ruckus journey. It seems that they lost the first part of the journey. Basically he flew over from Korea,bought a Ruckus and took off. The first pic is of Loopy. Wan was taking a pic on that big bridge in Savanna and a truck blew his camera off and he could not find it. Forum took collection up for him and sent to Loopy to give to Wan for a new camera. Loopy was first of many members that he met along the way. Quite contrasting stories. One is riding a super fast super bike and eating in the best of restaurants at times and the other on a 40 mph scooter cooking chicken on the side of the road on a homemade spit or maybe Spam.
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wish i had the time and money to do that.

I love the Pani, but i would rather do it on a Multistrada.

there is only so much of the sport riding position i can take.

Agree on the time and money, and on the riding position.

I appreciate that he addressed the fact that other bikes would have been more suitable, and (to paraphrase him) that sometimes the reasons we remember an experience is because of the struggle; rarely because of how easy it was.

That said, I'm pretty sure riding across the country and back would be enough of a struggle for me on ANY 2-wheeled vehicle...

But this is the type of thing a lot of talk about, but 99% of us will never do. Maybe some day. I am sure I would be richer in spirit and poorer in pocket-book if I were to set off for a month or two and not really know where i was going.

This gentleman has the luxury of working from the road, so he's still generating income. Were I to undertake such a journey, I would be lucky to have the time off work, and I would not be eating steak and drinking wine very often. I'd be setting up and tearing down a tent as many days in a row as I could stand it, and then crashing at a $29/night motel off the highway when I absolutely couldn't tolerate another day without a bed and a clean shave.

So I'd choose a more comfortable bike, but less comfortable accommodations, I guess. And I'd try to drag my brother(s) along with me. I think that would be a nice experience for all of us.

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I have a panigale and it did burn me on the ride home from the dealer. No way in hell I want to ride it across the country. Too easy to get arrested.

Great bike for high speed, not great when hot and going below 70 mph or not constantly hanging off.

I do love the bike. A trip like that would require my children to be grown.

Biggie

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This guy is still at it. Just over 10k miles so far. Is in Texas contemplating a 1000 in 24 just to blast thru. This is a good read with some fantastic photography. With 8 weeks of vacation on the books I am getting some crazy thoughts. Maybe. Just maybe.

2013 May, we will do a mini epic run jerry dont worry.

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This thread has me considering taking my RR on a trip with my 4 weeks vacation. Ive been looking for a VFR for awhile but if all else fails..........

I like the style he is using and it is entertaining for sure. It will be interesting to see how things end up for him and if he keeps going or not.

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This thread has me considering taking my RR on a trip with my 4 weeks vacation. Ive been looking for a VFR for awhile but if all else fails..........

I like the style he is using and it is entertaining for sure. It will be interesting to see how things end up for him and if he keeps going or not.

Mykill keep one week aside in may 2013, we might be able to do a mini trip :D

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I haven't even gotten out of the state on my bike yet. I have some plans for this summer that include a nice journey around at least a few different states. I'm hoping I can get the time off from work to do it. I wanted to do it last summer but didn't have the money, now I have the money and need to find the time.

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