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Touring on a r6

gpounce

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I toured for quite a few years on my old Bandit but wrecked in May 2018, totalled the bike but thankfully didn't involve anyone else. Couldn't resist the itch to get back to riding so later that year I had the opportunity to get this gen1 1999 R6;

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It started life as a club racer, so has a jet kit, revalved forks, fancy Penske rear shock. Uncompromising barely describes the rider accomodations of such a bike, so I spent much of 2019 and then all of 2020 figuring out how to do the long rides I like on it. That involves changes to the fitness program, mods to the bike and so on. The good news is its possible :)

Clearly there are more suitable bikes but you ride what you got and I really like the weight/performance of this one. With the suspension overhauled and dialed in it offers an excellent ride and loads of performance. These gen1 bikes are prone to burning up the OEM rectifier/regulator so I replaced with a different unit, put on 0 degree Helibars and a number of other tweaks and upgrades. I managed a few local 5 or 6 hours rides over the 2020/21 timeframe so don't have concerns about wandering further afield.


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The luggage rack is made of K wall copper tube, the DIY bends annealed. I had to figure out a mounting scheme for the bags which consists of a piece of plywood inside each bag, screwed through to mounting clips outside, which hang the bags on the tubing. Bags are held to the tubing by redundant latching straps, so they are removable. Inside each, a basket is screwed to the plywood to hold the contents so the bags dont collapse all over. Since the rear signals are obscured, larger ones are mounted to the bags, via the deutch connectors. Fairly ugly as things go but I like to travel with tools and supplies; I've had my rides saved with just a bit of raingear, and saved other's rides by having simple tools.

So far 2022 is looking good covid-wise, and work-wise. I have a long trip planned from Baltimore up thru New York, east along the border and deep into Maine. Then back to MD via the Delaware Water Gap, I'd like to visit where I wrecked in 2018- shiny side up this time :)

See you all out there!
 

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I generally go tank-to-tank, stopping for a bathroom break if needed, and for lunch (energy bar and water or maybe a small gatorade, maybe an apple). The usual day is 5-7hrs without much pain, though the type of riding matters. A highway grind is tougher than a ride where there are occasional stops and turns. Sitting in traffic is the worst ever- way worse than on the Bandit. I try to not do more than 5-6 hours riding, fatigue sets in and quickly gets cumulative. I did a ~13hr day once, 800+ miles, not doing that again.
 
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I generally go tank-to-tank, stopping for a bathroom break if needed, and for lunch (energy bar and water or maybe a small gatorade, maybe an apple). The usual day is 5-7hrs without much pain, though the type of riding matters. A highway grind is tougher than a ride where there are occasional stops and turns. Sitting in traffic is the worst ever- way worse than on the Bandit. I try to not do more than 5-6 hours riding, fatigue sets in and quickly gets cumulative. I did a ~13hr day once, 800+ miles, not doing that again.
Whoa, 13 hours? Five to seven hours is impressive. I've been looking at a CBR 600 F4i, that's a sport touring bike by today's standards. Update the thread when you get a chance to let us know how it's going.
 
13hrs was way too much, woke up still tired next day, still beat the day after- very dangerous. $150 room in a crappy hotel by the hghway is cheap at the price compared to slogging down I95 at midnight...

This years plan is to f3ck off last 2 weeks of May, fingers crossed 😁
 
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