Post NFLD Gear Update
A few people have asked us about our gear and what has worked, what hasn't so far, and what changes or improvements we would like to make. After 10,500km over 5 weeks, I thought I would do a quick post and go over some of the changes.
The Tiger
With the exception of the tire issue we had at the beginning, the bike itself has been behaving quite well. There is however a "Service Bulletin" (as opposed to a recall, not sure what the official difference is but I suspect it's a legal technicality) on the Tiger for a a head replacement. Sounds pretty serious. It seems only some bikes are affected, however my bike falls within the VIN range of affected machines. So I've opted to have the heads replaced under warranty during out stop over at home. Although the Tiger comes with a 2 year warranty, my main concern is having to deal with this somewhere in Central or South America where dealerships are few and far between.
Post-transplant, the bike sounds much better than before the job. That chain-like rattle is now gone and she purrrs like a big cat now. Not sure if it's just me, but it also seems to have quite a bit more power. This one is more difficult to tell because I've removed all the gear which just seems to turn this adventure bike into a crotch rocket (minus the pin-your-knees-behind-your-ears-seating-position that most sports bikes have). Maybe some of you that ride loaded down notice the same thing when you remove all the gear, but she's ultra light and crazy fast now.
Incidentally I'm a bit disappointed with the dealership in London (Ontario) where I had the work done. Once home I noticed there were a several bolts that were not tightened well, they also pinched the Stebel horn wire when they re-installed the upper crash bars, rendering it useless and they did not reconnect my fuse block which powers all of my electrical accessories. The fuse block is an easy fix as I just had to reconnect the wire to the battery, but the horn not working is a safety issue. That's a big no-no to me. With that little attention to detail, I'm a bit concerned about what else they may have missed that I can't get to without stripping more pieces off of the bike. I realize a head replacement is not a simple job, but still. They also decided to replace the spark plugs without my knowledge or consent and only told me about this after the fact, at my cost of course. Also they did not replace the oil. Seriously? Yup, "we just topped up what spilled out" was the response. New heads need new plugs but not new oil? Maybe it's just me but that seems a bit suspect. Ok, enough ranting.
We've had an issue with the Globescout side cases, more specifically the gaskets on the lids. Not sure when or how, but they seem to have been squished in a couple of spots. My guess is something was sticking out at some point when we closed the lids. Consequently they now allow water to enter during heavy and prolonged rainfall. New gaskets have been ordered but we will have to replace them in the field as we are leaving in a few days and our supplier has to get them from his supplier first.
Adding a tool tube and a roto-pax to the underside of the side cases. Although I'm not planning on running with the roto-pax full of fuel day to day, there are a few places we're planning on going that I'm concerned about. Fuel capacity is one area that the Tiger Explorer is lacking, with a 20 litre tank it's a bit small for an adventure bike in my opinion.
We're also adding a top rack to the Givi E55 top case. I've actually had the rack for a couple of years now intending to put it on my previous bike but never did. Since I have it, I thought why not. Gives us another place to strap something small & light-weight to. So far I'm not sure I'm liking it. The extra weight causes the lid to flip over 180 degrees which puts extra stress on the little cables holding the lid in place. Before, you could simply open the lid and it would stay at about 90 degrees on its own, now you have to hold it which is a little inconvenient.
There are also a few mystery noises emanating from the bike while moving at certain speeds. One I've read is related to the Tourance EXP tires, the other sounds like a bad bearing to me. Both of which should be remedied shortly when I change tires. The tire we put on in Ottawa was actually the same stock Tourance so it's difficult to say whether that's the culprit. Another noise is also an deep sounding oscillating type noise and only during slower speeds (different than above). This one is new and only started after the head replacement. Could be a bearing getting worse or ??
Camping Gear
We're happy (ish) with our Sierra Designs Lightning HT 3 tent. It's a 3 person, 2 vestibule tent that works very well for 2 people. My main and only complaint with the tent is the amount of condensation on the inside of the fly, just seems excessive to me at times, even with the vent open. The seam sealing has started to crack and flake off and as a result, we are getting some water coming in during heavier downpours. Otherwise it's fairly light, quick to set up and has kept us dry and mosquito-free so far. I'm tempted to pick up another tent, a 4 person size to give us some more space. It gets a bit crowded with our motorcycle gear (helmets, moto jackets and pants) and us. But I don't really want to add another 2 lbs to our set up. Everything is a compromise when travelling 2up on a motorcycle.
One of the changes we're making with our camping set up is our mattress pad, although not by choice. We've had a cat-astrophic failure with one of our Exped UL7's when one of the cats where we've been staying pierced the Exped a few days ago. We walked in to the room to see a cloud of feathers floating around everywhere, exacerbated only by the ceiling fan running. It was funny only in a sad sort of way. We sent the mattress back to Exped for some minor surgery as the hole was way too big to patch up ourselves and in the meantime we've picked up a NeoAir All Season air mattress to keep us going till we get the Exped back. Why NeoAir? Well you see, the Exped UL7's were on sale when we bought them last winter and I just couldn't bring myself to drop over $300 on another one at regular price. We actually bought and returned an Exped DownMat Lite 5 this week, we found it too firm and too thin after testing it for the night. The NeoAir was the next most comfortable mattress we found that didn't break the bank. After spending several nights on the NeoAir, I'm surprised to say it's equally as comfortable as the Exped, minus the down content of course. The NeoAir uses the same material as a space blanket inside the mattress itself vs down in the Exped. The downside is that it has a lower R value, on the plus side, a tiny little tear won't empty out the insulation like the we did with the Exped. So far so good.
This could be the culprit but he's not talking.
We're also putting our frying pan back in the bag, along with our zip lock bag of spices. This was a last minute cut back in May mainly to conserve space. We both miss eating healthier meals while travelling. With that, I'm also adding a second alcohol stove to the mix, the minibulldesign M4. We've been using a DIY cat can stove I made for hiking (which I absolutely love btw) and at 5 grams, it doesn't exactly factor as far as weight. Why alcohol stoves? Well the biggest reason is that I already had them. Fuel comes in the form of denatured alcohol or yellow bottle Heet, both of which are available at any hardware store or gas station all year round. I was even able to find Heet (which is used as a gas line antifreeze) in Hawaii. We now have a couple of stoves, so there should be no issues cooking a regular meal while we are on the road, something we both hope to increase the frequency of.
Moto Gear
We've actually made some huge changes here. This is a lengthy story that we'll get to another time. Basically we've decided to go with our original plan which is the Rev'it Sand 2 jacket and pants. We've had these for almost 2 weeks now and we both agree it's absolutely the right call. The Olympia stuff is a fine kit, it's just not for us, more specifically not for us on this trip. It would be nearly perfect as an all around set up if we were at home I think.
Sand 2 getting a little nikwax spritz.
Our rain jackets have been failing miserably (or maybe I should say failing exceptionally well?). We've had to return both our Rev'it Cyclone H2O jackets under warranty. The velcro tabs at the cuffs have fallen apart and there are loose threads all over the place causing failure in other locations. We're also disappointed with the performance of the single layer construction of the jacket as they get far too wet on the inside. On our 13 hour traverse of Newfoundland, these did not protect us at all it seemed. We had soaked through multiple layers and changes of clothes that day. I realize that 11 hours of rain on any day is a lot but we both feel they should have performed better. The short length of the Cyclone is also to blame here, I feel like a 3/4 design would work much better at keeping us dry, longer. With that in mind we have both switched to the Olympia Horizon rain jacket. 3/4 length, mesh lined, attached hood. We have yet to test them on the road so we'll have to wait and see if they really are an improvement.
Personal Gear
A common theme is that most over pack for a big trip, not sure we escaped this one. I think we were a bit over packed if only because there were things we did not use during our 5 weeks on the road. Not sure we would have done it differently as the weather was much colder than typical on the east coast.
We're leaving behind our puffy (down) jackets which we only brought because we expected to need something that warm off the bike. We also used them quite a bit while on the bike as we did not bring the (single purpose - meaning you can't really wear the stuff off the bike) insulation layer that came with our motorcycle jackets. We also nixed the liners on the Sand 2 gear as they really are single purpose. My intention is to pick up a couple of synthetic insulation jackets to replace both our puffy and bike insulation. We're making a few other small changes with our clothes but nothing extraordinary.
Our friend Henry had asked about solar power, something we don't have a need for as everything can get charged on the bike. Our comm units, GPS, phone and other electronics all get juiced up via the 12V on the bike while we are on the go. The only exception is our laptop but so far we haven't had a problem charging it up when we stop indoors somewhere. This is one area the Tiger excels in, plenty of juice on tap with its 950w generator.
Lastly, we've added a little orange buddy to our gear list - the SPOT. I've been on the fence about getting one but have finally succumbed to Lori's peer pressure and picked one up. We both like the idea of the SOS button and being able to check in with family when out of wifi & cell service range. Although we love getting suggestions for places to check out while we are in an area, we are typically a week or two behind on our blog so we often get them long after we've moved on. So we have added a link to our site with our
current location.
Oh and I almost forgot, we also added a little pocket camera to the mix, a Lumix LX3. Something Lori can keep in her jacket pocket and is easily accessible while we are on the move. We haven't taken too many pics with it, but so far we're pretty happy with it.
Crossing over the Mississippi River
Ok so maybe this wasn't as quick an update as I had thought.
