Another XS11 in the Hall of Fame.. Or how I did the the Iron Butt

[Huron52]

I heard about an XS entered in the metric 1600 here in Canada. Well last night I meet him..... Sure enough it was an XS.

Maybe he could write a short story how fun it was....

[RS Thornton]

Tom,

It was good to meet an fellow XS'er, and I am glad you posted as I had forgotten your name. Please accept my apology, I was a little tired as I had been riding for about 22 hours and done 1250 miles when we met in London. I was thinking about submitting to the IBA ride reports, but in the meantime I'll give the forum members a quick update.

A minor update was that I was doubling up on the ride, I did the 1600 km ride out of London, but first I had to get there from Midland Michigan which is 250 miles via Detroit. So in fact this was the Bunburner 1500 mile ride, I finished in 25 hrs, 40 minutes so I missed the 24 hour gold level by just a bit. Maybe the next time!

Except for a few small things the ride was great, my Midland witness had truck problems in St Louis, credit card fraud protection automatically blocked authorization after muliple gas station usage outside 100 miles of home address, that custom seat was 10.5 inches wide a maximum and tapers to 5.5" at the tank so not ideal for distance riding. (more like iron buttcrack than an iron butt with this narrow seat)

A quick summary, I started out from Midland MI at 3am, crossed over at Windsor and got to the MTF1600km startpoint (Victory dealership at Hwy 4 and 401 in London Ont) at about 6:45, making me officially late but I had made arrangements for possible delays with the organizers. I signed in for the ride and headed up the 401 to swing north at the 400 eventually getting to North Bay via TC11. I never liked the 400 north in a car, and on a bike it is not any better! Transcanada 11 was just perfect, as was TC17 east to Ottawa, these are great roads for cruising! Anyone gets the chance you should tours these. The 417 through Ottawa was fun too, but for different reasons and I have to give 2 big,big thank you's, one to ex-Premier Mike Harris for getting rid of photo radar, the other for the lead foot in the black SUV hauling the speed boat for setting that wicked pace. Near Vankleek Hill the route cut over on hwy 34 back to the 401 and head for London. From Cornwall to Oshawa was a real nice ride, but then the 401 in Toronto, a permanent road repair project where speeds range between 0 and 150km/hr. Between the grooved pavement, accidently exiting into the Yorkdale shopping center when I just wanted to go from the express to collecter lanes, and finding out that there really is no gas station at the HuronOntario exit I was starting to lose it. At Missisauga I called home and told them BB gold was out of reach and I was going to stretch out the last part. Back on the road for the last hop to London and the end of the SS1600K. A nice long break in the parking lot with you and some of the others, an ice cold coke and a PB&J from the truck stop and I am ready for the final run home. Mostly uneventful as there was no-one on the 401 or I75 north of Detroit. I say mostly uneventful as I75 in Detroit at 2 to 3 in the morning seems to have 3 groups of drivers, one is the police, the second is drinkers on there way home, and last are those wishing they were one of the other groups. A few whitenuckle, adrenalin pumping moments but soon out of the city and running with 3 lanes wide and no one visible up front or in the rearview mirror. I really need to get something that throws more light up front before I go night riding again.

Well that is the summary, it was a sweet ride and I had a blast. The odometer finished at 15379 miles, so 10% of total mileage on a 28 year old bikes is from 1 day! Feel pretty good about the bike, makes me think the carb rebuild, wheel bearing work etc that I did was all worth it. When I get the full story with pics i will post the links for the forum.

Take care,
Scott

[Huron52]

Glad you made it home alright.... Too bad about missing the one goal. The bike is young and so are you.... there is lots of time.

Good report!

[RUSH]

congratulations on the trip!
How did you manage to keep your head clear for soooo many hours?
Did you have some driving lights?
Music?
Figure out the meaning of life?
Post some pics of you and the bike.
My hats off to ya. The most I have done is 880 in 15 hours and then I was looking for a good break.

when you stopped for gas, did you find the beeping from the pumps (would you like a recipt, would you like a car wash? etc) irritating?

[RS Thornton]

who suggested my head is ever clear? It is obvious you have not spoken with my wife!

My original headlight sucks!!! Slowest part of the ride was I75 from Midland MI to Detroit. At 3 am and no traffic I should have b-slapped the road. The speed limit is 75 and it cruises great at 85, I ran 65-70 mph becuase I was in danger of overrunning the headlight if I went faster. I need to figure out how to get a halogen in there and look at extra lights or I will never get this bike into the BB1500 Gold club. Even this close to the solstice there is not enough day light, maybe I should chekc for full moon activity and see if that does the trick.

I played 1 CD about 3/4 of the way through, a mix of metal, stuff like Hagar "cant drive 55" Beastie boys "No sleep till Brooklyn" that kind of stuff. But I do not listen to music much on the bike as I prefer earplugs on long hauls. I do play a game called, pick the biggest idiot driver". For this trip the driver of the rusted out Ford going north from Barrie to Huntsville with the 3 20 something year old guys won the award. I think they need to buy a radar detector if they want to speed like that. they get up to about 90 and fly past everyone, then slow down approachind corners and other potential radar traps, everyone catches up the drivers in the left lane bunch up and slow down as the ford goes the speed limit side by side with a car in the right hand lane. After the potential radar trap off they go, everyone spreads out, speeds up and then it repeats. At huntsville I stopped for gas and never saw them again.

Regarding the beeping, no problem, I have earplugs in. What p'd me off was my fraud protection program by my credit card company. Apparently multiple gas stations visits outside a 100 mile radius of you home automatically blocks your card. That's when the earplugs came out just in time to hear the kid in the booth tell me "your card has been rejected" to which I replied "no s@%t sherlock, as I could read that in the little windoe. In my defense it was hot, and I just wanted to gas and go.

I just found out the my internet connection includes a "free personal web page" so the Sunday my daughters and I will see Star Wars and then make a family web page. So stay tuned for pictures of the magnificent beast the the 3 furies.

Doing a 4 hour ride this weekend, I am setting up a company ride as part of the July 20 "Ride your bike to work day"

check this link and get the word out.

http://www.ridetowork.org/

[cueball]

Poor Lights

My 81 RH has a 80/100 halogen headlight globe, not bad on it's own. Two 55w driving lights make 80/85 no problem in decent weather. They are set up so that the high beam wire from the handlebar switch activates a relay and takes power direct fron the battery, had no problems with this setup, also bypasses any issues with too much current going thru handlebar switch. If you really want to turn night into day, find what are called "Gas discharge" headlights, they throw incredible amounts of light and draw far less amps than halogen globes, if they are not suitable, try "bi-xenon" globes, they are better than standard halogen globes.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Scott,

The old OEM reflectors don't seem to broadcast the light very well, they seem to diffuse it too much! That's why I got a replacement lens/reflector...being a special, was able to get the 7" round Clear front lens halogen conversion from JCW. Regrettably you have to buy 2 of them...sold in pairs for cars, but works very well. I'm still using the 55/60 watt bulb, but I also have a pair of same brand 55watt clear lens driving lights, that actually light up the road close to me, and I canuse the HIGH BEAM of the main headlight to really illuminate the road far ahead!
T.C.