"The Essential Guide to Motorcycle Travel" by Dale Coyner

• What you may not realize is that traveling easily and confidently comes with experience.
• Five hundred miles a day makes a small bike feel smaller.
• Normally in matters of touring “less is more,” but not when it comes to lighting.
• You can take a motorcycle trip on any bike, and unless your bike is a beater, the best one to travel on is the one you have right now.
• The [planning] process starts by finding answers to the three primary questions that define any tour:
• Where to?
• How long?
• How much?
• Just like having a set of life goals, it’s a great idea to create a list of personal riding goals.
• Will the trip fit your allotted time budget and personal riding range?
• You must have a good helmet, abrasion resistant outerwear, gloves, and sturdy boots. Any other add-on you might consider is a bonus. When you are budgeting for things you need to purchase for touring, high quality protective gear is your top priority.
• After figuring the total cost of gas, food, and lodging, I add approximately one-third more and distribute that amount over the length of the trip. This represents “extras” for maintenance and small purchases like souvenirs, batteries, film, etc.
• Interstate highways allow you to cover the greatest distance in the shortest amount of time.
• Mile-for-mile the best riding action will be on the old US federal highways.
• These [US Highways] offer the longest memorable stretches for motorcycle travel in the US.
• These [US Highways] are the foundation for good motorcycle trips.
• State primary routes are good for getting farther off the beaten path and for working around large population centers.
• State secondary roads are the true back roads of America.
• While some Forest Service roads are passable by even the largest bikes, they are best suited for dual-purpose bikes.
• The time of the year you plan to travel will affect your route, daily mileage, the sites you plan to visit and what you need to pack, in other words, every aspect of your tour.
• If you’re covering a lot of territory, you will experience a wide swing in temperatures.
• Camping is a viable way to stretch your travel budget.
• There are, I think, a few keys to successful motorcycle camping. First, you need a sense of adventure and willingness to ignore minor inconveniences such as the occasional pit toilet or a day without a shower. Second, you need to equip yourself with the right gear, designed for advanced campers. Third, you need to develop a systematic method of organizing, packing and deploying your gear and a willingness to experiment and refine your methods of campcraft.
• Wherever you end up, either pre-arranged or not, when you’re staying in a large metro area, don’t stop at the first place you come to on the edge of town. Ride through the urban area and position yourself on the other side of town. That means you’ll be riding against the flow of traffic the following morning.
• Given our variations in temperament, experience, and riding preferences, the longer and farther you plan to ride, the more carefully you need to think about who you ride with.
• Travelers say they find it easier to meet people when traveling alone. People are less intimidated by solo riders and are more willing to offer them assistance.
• Riding together means security. You’ll always have someone ready to come to your aid should you find yourself in a jam not of your own making or if a mishap should occur.
• When camping [with a group], you can eliminate redundant gear likes stoves and cooking supplies.
• I have found that it’s a good policy to see that my co-rider is at least as well equipped, if not better, than I am for the ride.
• Your co-rider should have the same or better quality protective gear.
• Develop your foreign chops by exploring Canada and Mexico.
• Canada is an especially good choice for a first-time tour. Cultural and language differences are minimal and you don’t need special paperwork for your bike. Road standards and signage are familiar and travel facilities are excellent.
• After Canada, touring Mexico is a good next step for developing your own international travel skills.
• A great trip depends on how well prepared you are before you head out in your travels. Thorough research and planning is the foundation of preparedness and, except for the cost of your time, it’s nearly free. For what you will save later in aggravation and possibly real money, spend generously now.
• Know your limits and plan your trip around them.
• Learn how to avoid boredom.
• Know when to stop.
• Maintain a good mental attitude.
• So, how do you know what your riding range is? Determining your range comes with riding experience.
• If you’re just starting out and you don’t know, use 150 or 200 miles as a baseline for maximum daily mileage.
• A rider who covers long distances will generally rider their maximum mileage for only the first couple of days on the road. In days three through seven, their average daily mileage drops off significantly until they are averaging about 65% of the daily mileage they achieved in the first two days.
• When you’re really tired, find a spot to drop and snooze. A twenty-minute nap will do wonders.
• In my experience there are four elements that offer the biggest return on investment:
• Better nutrition
• Proper dress
• Temperature management
• Improved seating
• A riding suit protects you from wind and sunburn and increases your rate of dehydration.
• Ear plugs have a major positive impact not only for preserving your hearing, but reducing the fatigue your brain develops from processing wind noise for long periods of time.
• Our sport does not demand a high level of physical performance, but regular exercise will enhance your riding experience.
• Your body is better equipped to cope with the demands of the saddle when you exercise regularly.
• It may look hot and stuffy, but a riding suit contributes noticeably to your ability to log miles. Anyone can cover a lot of miles in one day. The rider who suits up can do it day after day after day.
• The complete touring ensemble includes multiple layers:
• The base layer -- underwear and head wear -- is responsible for perspiration management and long-distance comfort.
• Streetwear is your street clothing, which helps to regulate your temperature under normal riding conditions.
• Thermal extenders help you ride comfortably under more extreme hot and cold conditions.
• Outerwear is the protective layer that serves as your first line of defense against the elements and the pavement.
• Footwear and helmets round out the full riding wardrobe.
• While each layer of clothing plays a distinct role in helping you cover miles with ease, none does more for managing comfort than the layer closest to you.
• Worn as a substitute for underwear, riding shorts handedly improve your riding comfort over any distance, even in hot weather. For an investment of $25 to $40, this is the best value in base layer purchases you can make that will boost your riding range.
• For long trips and more adverse conditions, you might want to think about tees made from a higher performance fabric.
• Skip cotton for best performance.
• Just remember this: if you get too warm, it’s simple to shed a layer or soak your t-shirt with water to cool off. But if you’re chilly and you’ve run out of things to put on, your options are limited.
• Denim is comfortable but it has about as much abrasion resistance as wet toilet paper.
• Polyester pants work better under a suit and some have unique features like zippered legs that let you convert shorts to long pants when temperatures begin to drop in the evening.
• One of the simplest ways to keep yourself cool is with a wrap soaked in water, draped around your neck and chest.
• The simple act of wetting down your hair will help you cool off fast. Doo-rags or skull caps provide the same cooling effect and will hold moisture longer, which means they’ll cool longer.
• Leather is not waterproof and riding in wet leather is not fun.
• Serious long-distance riders have shed leather in favor of synthetic materials. One and two-piece suits made from a combination of Cordura, Gore-Tex, Temperfoam, and similar materials provide superior abrasion resistance, are cooler, waterproof, windproof, better ventilated, contain many pockets, and are more visible than their leather counterparts.
• More than any other motorcycle equipment, good quality riding gear is your first purchasing priority.
• Structurally, full-face helmets offer you the best protection in a get-off, including scenarios where you “take it on the chin.” Full-face lids provide excellent weather and eye protection. Interchangeable tinted face shields eliminate the need for sunglasses during daylight hours.
• Savvy motorcycle travelers wear earplugs to protect their hearing and reduce fatigue. Long-term exposure to wind noise caused by wind turbulence at highway speeds will lead to profound hearing loss.
• What’s great about earplugs is that even though they do reduce the amount of sound you can hear from outside, the reduction of ambient noise (specifically wind turbulence) makes it easier to hear your audio system, car horns, and sirens than if you weren’t wearing them.
• Jackets that provide the best protection are made from heavy materials like Cordura or leather.
• Look for a jacket that is waterproof or, in the case of the new mesh “air” jackets, contains a removable waterproof liner.
• A waterproof jacket eliminates the need to bring a rain suit.
• The best protective pants are either leather or textile with reinforced and padded impact points.
• Another must-have is a pair of sturdy, high-quality motorcycle riding boots.
• For touring, your boots should be waterproof and include a breathable liner like Gore Tex or KingTex.
• Having waterproof boots means you can leave your rain booties at home.
• Find a set of riding boots you can wear on and off the motorcycles, to save you the space of packing an extra pair of shoes.
• Pick a rain suit that is brightly colored.
• What’s most important is to have a quality set of basic protective gear: helmet, gloves, jacket, pants, and boots.
• You don’t have to spend a fortune to equip yourself with the right stuff.
• Today’s bikes are highly reliable and include features that make them ready for touring right out of the crate. You don’t need to do a thing but get on and ride.
• You should approach modifications in a systematic way.
• Using the RAM system, it’s possible to mount just about anything to your bike that you might desire.
• If it’s complicated, document it. As you unbutton your bike, take pictures of fasteners and their locations.
• When troubleshooting, change one variable at a time.
• The simplest way to lasso your valuable gadgets is a long plastic zip tie.
• When you add more than a couple gadgets to the bike, it’s a good idea to include a voltage monitor to make sure you’re not overtaxing the charging system.
• Always use stranded wire for your projects.
• Start by adding a fuse block. A fuse block is like a sub-panel to your bike’s electrical system. Instead of cutting into existing wires or running several harnesses to your battery, all auxiliary circuits you add should run to the new block.
• In motorcycle applications, you can use 14 and 18 gauge wire for almost all circuits powering accessory devices. 18 gauge is good for low-load devices like radar detectors and radios. Thicker 14 gauge wire is preferred for high-load products like electrically-heated clothing. In rare cases where you are running power to multiple circuits, you may need to use a very heavy wire like 10 gauge.
• Since a short circuit draws many times more current than a properly operating device, you don’t need to exactly match a fuse to a circuit. You just need to be close.
• Solder splices and crimp connectors. When you want to permanently connect two wires, solder them and insulate the connection with heat shrink tubing.
• When you need to connect a wire to a terminal block, the most reliable method is to crimp a spade or ring connector onto the end of the wire.
• Secure the wire along its path. Using a wire loom to contain your wire runs protects your work from engine heat and moisture and makes for a neater looking job.
• Good electrical connections are essential to lasting performance in the harsh environment of your motorcycle.
• For crimps, the end of the connector should butt against the wire insulation. The wire should project just beyond the crimp.
• If you ever plan to add more than one accessory to your bike, I strongly recommend that you add a fuse block to your bike.
• A fuse block will save you grief down the road by avoiding short circuits and dead batteries.
• If you find a wire is inconvenient to trace to its end, you can insert a sewing pin into the wire. Use this as the point to test with your voltmeter.
• There are two reasons why improved lighting is a priority upgrade for veteran riders. Abundant light makes night riding safer and makes you more conspicuous to other vehicles on the road.
• Luminance is the measure of how much light falls on a square meter of a surface at a prescribed distance. The higher the lumens rating, the more light.
• Another critical factor that influences lighting performance is the color of the light.
• There are three distinct levels of lighting upgrade you can make for your bike. The first level is a higher performance halogen bulb. A second step, auxiliary lighting is an easy upgrade. Third, a HID upgrade.
• Devices wired directly to a battery can be operated at any time, whether the bike’s ignition switch is on or off.
• Adding a headlight modulator will significantly raise your visibility to all traffic in front of you.
• Headlight modulators are legal in all fifty states and Canada when the modulator includes a sensor to turn off modulation at dusk.
• Improvements to the back side of your bike will make you more visible to people behind you and reduce your chances of taking a shot in the rear end.
• Tail light modulators flash your brake light for a few seconds each time you grab the brake.
• Nearly every bike uses model 1156 and 1157 bulbs for tail lights and brake lights. LED versions of the 1156 and 1157 bulbs are now available, so upgrading to LED is just a matter of swapping bulbs.
• You can be more conspicuous, especially at night, with a passive system like reflective tape.
• A set of good paper maps are valuable.
• I take paper maps along with me to plan the next day’s ride and have them as backup in case the GPS fails.
• Planning is easier with paper maps because you can see a larger area than on a tiny GPS screen or even a laptop.
• Vehicle-based [GPS] systems such as the Garmin StreetPilot or 376C series are a better choice if you’re planning to cover a lot of territory. You lose portability, but you get massive storage in return.
• Important GPS characteristics:
• Weather resistance is imperative on a motorcycle.
• Shock resistance is another important factor. Choose a GPS that stores its data on solid-state storage devices like Compactflash or SD RAM cards.
• Capacity
• Adequate daytime visibility
• Easy operation
• Mounting options
• Integration options
• You can tell which product models are best sellers based on the availability of modular wiring kits. This should not be the primary driver of your purchasing decision, but it makes the installation process easier, cleaner, and more functional.
• One of the mantras of long-distance riders is “slow down to go faster.”
• If you’re in the market for a headset with microphone, get a premium quality set.
• In a motorcycle application, forget the earphones and headphones that come with portable players. The better solution is a set of canalphones.
• You would be better off avoiding single-purpose intercoms.
• A CB makes sense for your bike if you’re interested in hearing highway info or if you’re riding with other riders who are similarly equipped.
• Mobile GMRS units deliver one to five watts of power output, making them effective at two to ten miles.
• A bike’s overall ergonomic design is the biggest determinant of comfort, or lack of it.
• The quality of the seat makes a major difference.
• You’re better off making modifications to your bike as you put the miles on it and discover what really needs improvement.
• Comfort starts by keeping your butt happy. A large measure of the punishment you take on the road is absorbed by your rear end.
• How frequently and how far you ride can magnify discomfort.
• The most important seating extra is a good backrest.
• Whenever epoxy is part of the installation procedure, that’s a cue to lay out everything and rehearse your installation before taking the plunge.
• When you’re riding at typical highway speeds, you want the air blowing off the top of the windscreen to hit you in one of two places: the middle portion of your chest or over the top of your helmet.
• Highway pegs should always be used in conjunction with some form of lower back support, preferably a backrest.
• Your lean angle is significantly influenced by the position of your footpegs.
• How well your tire grabs the pavement (stickiness) and how long it lasts (wear) are inversely related.
• A tire made from soft rubber compounds is super sticky and gives you great cornering performance, but wears quickly. Hard rubber compounds don’t have as much grab, but last considerably longer.
• To account for the extra weight the bike will carry, adjusting the rear spring pre-load is usually the only accommodation you need to make for a trip.
• Setting the rear shock preload adjusts your ride height so you will be less likely to bottom out when you encounter a bump.
• Suspension adjustments are most effective if you take a methodical approach to changes, rather than randomly tweaking things. Make one change at a time. Document every change you make.
• Bike protection:
• light guards
• kickstand plates
• tipover guards (engine guards)
• skid plates
• Good luggage allows you to pack more gear and makes it easier to access when you need it.
• Luggage systems offer the largest cargo carrying capability on a motorcycle and are a necessity if you spend a lot of time on the road.
• Luggage systems are best suited for carrying your clothing, overnight gear, and items you need at the end of the day, not the things you need throughout a day’s ride.
• The biggest concern with soft saddlebag fit has to do with exhaust clearance.
• Fork bags are a good spot for a roll of tools.
• Try your flat tire kit on an old tire.
• You should have your passport with you if you venture into Canada or Mexico.
• If you don’t belong to a club with road service, got one.
• Determine whether your travels have any unique insurance or documentation requirements.
• Basic gear list:
• protective gear
• flip-up helmet
• riding-suit
• earplugs
• summer-weight riding gloves
• riding boots (comfortable enough for wear on and off the bike)
• sunglasses
• streetwear and thermal
• two pairs of sink-washable socks and underwear
• two pairs of riding shorts
• two t-shirts
• one pair of jeans
• one pair of sweats
• fleece jacket
• electric vest
• other gear
• toiletry kit
• camera
• maps
• paperwork kit
• books (they can be left behind as finished)
• stored permanently on bike
• bike cover
• toolkit
• flat tire repair kit
• air pump
• first-aid kit
• hidden spare key
• mounted on bike
• GPS
• mp3 player
• Take the time now to locate a dealer along your route and make a service appointment ahead of time. You shouldn’t expect to ride into a dealer and have your bike serviced without an appointment. Let them know ahead of time if you’ll need any special parts, like tires.
• Other than light bulbs, I don’t carry spare parts.
• Tools and Parts
• mechanical tools
• ratcheting metric crescent wrenches
• “Leatherman” type all-in-one tool
• screwdrivers
• vise-grip pliers
• metric hex wrench set
• tire tools
• air pump
• tire pressure gauge
• tire repair kit
• electrical tools and spares
• one spare of each type of bulb
• duct tape
• fuses
• length of 18 gauge stranded wire
• assorted crimp connectors
• crimp tool
• wire cutter
• wire stripper
• mini-voltmeter
• electrical tape
• zip ties
• mini-jumper cables
• If your tires have significant wear, go ahead and replace them now.
• Make a list of important phone numbers and contacts.
• Make a list of credit cards you’ll be carrying.
• Put together a “paperwork kit.” This includes a DMV-issued copy of your drivers license along with a photocopy of your bike registration, passport, and personal and vehicle insurance cards. Add your contact list and a small cash reserve to this collection.
• It’s a good idea to bring along a spare key. A riding buddy or co-rider can carry it for you when you’re traveling with friends. Otherwise, find a secure spot and secure a spare key with a zip-tie or tape.
• For trips of two weeks or more, prepay your bills before you leave.
• Determine a meeting place and time if riding with friends.
• Find a spot to hide a little cash for an emergency.
• When it looks like you are riding into a thunderstorm, find covered shelter before the storm hits. This does not include sitting under a highway overpass.
• Use a cover for your bike when you stop for the night.
• At night, bring your gear inside your hotel room and cover your bike.
• Personal security, for men and women, is built on being aware of your surroundings and removing yourself from an uncomfortable situation. Trust your basic instincts. If you’ve stopped in an area that doesn’t feel right, don’t stay.
• If someone does challenge you, don’t take the bait. Hand over a wallet you’ve prepared for just this occasion that contains a small amount of cash along with a few expired cards.
• Part of your planning should include having your bike serviced and purchasing a tire repair kit.
• When you do experience a problem, get the bike as far off the shoulder as possible to avoid being hit by a driver in another vehicle that fixates on your bike.
• Pack things you use frequently in a tank bag, top case, or at the top of your luggage.
• Pack a roll of toilet paper. You will be really thankful when you need it.
• The night time road is populated with more critters and impaired drivers than during the day.
• Always keep a fleece or electric jacket on your bike, even in summer riding.
• If your gear allows water to penetrate to your base layers of clothing, you need to stop riding and get dry.
• Those parts of your body that aren’t covered by protective gear should be treated with sunscreen to prevent skin damage from exposure to ultraviolet radiation.
• Avoid hurrying through your trip, making everyday a high-mileage day to get it all in.
• Don’t pass up that interesting looking road marker or that great photo opportunity just because it will cost you a few extra minutes.
• As you ride away from your house, accept that your plans will change, your schedule may come apart, and you may fall short of riding a particular road or reaching a destination on this journey.