Follow Along: 600rr to California

When I rode my bike (the Yamaha YZF600 in my av) across the plains states in the spring, I rode through Holly, Colorado just one day after it got smashed by a tornado! I was riding with revrandy when we had to lean against a gas station during a t-storm.
 
revrandy said:
April and May are some of the worst months to tour the U.S. Late snowstorms in the mountains (which means they are wet and heavy), higher winds than found in the winter and of course the Tornado's that crop out of nowhere and seriously disrupt your plans. Twice now I have run into Tornado's, once in April, once in May. I now stay away from the plain states during the spring season. It is NOT fun leaning against a deserted building, next to your motorcycle, while a massive storm pounds down all around you.
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Sounds scary. I always wondered, can you outrun a storm on your bike (turn the other way) if you see a storm ahead?
 
revrandy said:
April and May are some of the worst months to tour the U.S. Late snowstorms in the mountains (which means they are wet and heavy), higher winds than found in the winter and of course the Tornado's that crop out of nowhere and seriously disrupt your plans. Twice now I have run into Tornado's, once in April, once in May. I now stay away from the plain states during the spring season. It is NOT fun leaning against a deserted building, next to your motorcycle, while a massive storm pounds down all around you.
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Good info, thanks!
 
Well that was fun...

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Was going to try to make it to the next town but the locals told me not to bother. Higher elevation and roads will be slick as hell.
 
revrandy said:
April and May are some of the worst months to tour the U.S. Late snowstorms in the mountains (which means they are wet and heavy), higher winds than found in the winter and of course the Tornado's that crop out of nowhere and seriously disrupt your plans. Twice now I have run into Tornado's, once in April, once in May. I now stay away from the plain states during the spring season. It is NOT fun leaning against a deserted building, next to your motorcycle, while a massive storm pounds down all around you.
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Just checked the weather for Omaha Nebraska where I'm planning to stop tomorrow. Looks like severe weather tomorrow. Will have to check the weather radar and make a prediction before I leave tomorrow. At least I have an extra day to play with. If worse comes to worst, I'll have to go North and go home the way I left through Northern Ontario
 
Rotten_Ronnie said:
How were your older tires holding out in comparison? I think you'll like sport touring rubber, but be a bit extra careful when the tires and road is cold, they take a wee bit longer to warm up.
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My older tires were almost done. Had about 1000kms left out of them. I predict that I'd get about 7000kms out of them but I'll look into my route and calculate it when I get a chance.
 
Wheelieboy said:
Just checked the weather for Omaha Nebraska where I'm planning to stop tomorrow. Looks like severe weather tomorrow. Will have to check the weather radar and make a prediction before I leave tomorrow. At least I have an extra day to play with. If worse comes to worst, I'll have to go North and go home the way I left through Northern Ontario
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Yeahh I thought u checked in earlier than usual today....
 
Keep your wits together. You are about 24hours of riding out. So you could split it in two days.... you'd want to get close to or in Illinois in one shot.... then the final leg the next day.
 
Metastable said:
Keep your wits together. You are about 24hours of riding out. So you could split it in two days.... you'd want to get close to or in Illinois in one shot.... then the final leg the next day.
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This is good advice.
My last big road trip was an 8 day blitz down to Utah/Colorado and back. I decided to cut a day out to surprise the wife by arriving a day early, meant an almost 1500 km last riding day. Arrived home safe, but in hindsight, was a dumb move as I was definitely not 100% in awareness/mentality* by the end of the day.

* even though I'd covered 6-7 thousand (LEO-free) km in the week prior, could've easily been pinched by the opp cruiser I passed on the 407 doing 140 in my 'gotta get home' mentality. Be smart - get home in one piece ... and you certainly don't need any more tickets ;)
 
klr_guy said:
This is good advice.
My last big road trip was an 8 day blitz down to Utah/Colorado and back. I decided to cut a day out to surprise the wife by arriving a day early, meant an almost 1500 km last riding day. Arrived home safe, but in hindsight, was a dumb move as I was definitely not 100% in awareness/mentality* by the end of the day.

* even though I'd covered 6-7 thousand (LEO-free) km in the week prior, could've easily been pinched by the opp cruiser I passed on the 407 doing 140 in my 'gotta get home' mentality. Be smart - get home in one piece ... and you certainly don't need any more tickets ;)
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I'm going to take my time coming home. I have an extra day to spare so I'm in no hurry although I would really like to be home right now. If it takes 3 days, then thats what it will take. But if I can do it in 2 without endangering myself, then I'll do it in 2.
 
It may have been a good thing I got a flat in Salt Lake. I would have never made it to Denver today to get my tire changed and would not trust the old ones at all. Tread depth was about 1mm.
 
Wheelieboy said:
It may have been a good thing I got a flat in Salt Lake. I would have never made it to Denver today to get my tire changed and would not trust the old ones at all. Tread depth was about 1mm.
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If you put Pilot ROAD 3's on, you can expect closer to 7,000 MILES, not kilometres, with decent grip in the wet. I've had great experience with the Bridgestone BT-021's 14,000kms, and the PR3's are supposed to be better.

Yeah, you'd have loved that 1mm grip in the snow. ;)
 
Rotten_Ronnie said:
If you put Pilot ROAD 3's on, you can expect closer to 7,000 MILES, not kilometres, with decent grip in the wet. I've had great experience with the Bridgestone BT-021's 14,000kms, and the PR3's are supposed to be better.

Yeah, you'd have loved that 1mm grip in the snow. ;)
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I got 9000kms out of my Pirelli Diablo Corsa 3's which is supposed to be softer than the Michelin Power 2ct. I assumed the Michelin Power Pures would be better in both performance and life but apparently not. The type of riding I did for both were about the same.

The snow didnt really stick to the ground, but the temperatures were blow freezing and there was rain. I've been talking to a local from ADVrider and he told me that the snow may stick tomorrow. We'll see what happens.
 
Wheelieboy said:
I got 9000kms out of my Pirelli Diablo Corsa 3's which is supposed to be softer than the Michelin Power 2ct.
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Holy cow! I got 25000 km on my factory stock tires I had on mine. I know, my bike is not a SS by any stretch, and I usually take it easy, however I'd be pi$$ ed if I had to buy new tires 2-3 times a year!
 
So im in some town right now taking a break. It was pretty cold on tye way here. Sinc3 i80 was closed due to icy riad condutions i took a detour. A local told me thAt the detour may be bad too so we looked on the webcam. Looked wet. The bad section was only 5 miles lon so i decided to go. I started wondering if i was crazy when there was black ice everywhere and cars in the ditch. I took it slow and i made it through. Now im just trying to figure out my next move
 
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