placeholder til I return to civilization and write a proper report...
bike is running fantastic and the new gtm suspension is absolutely superb
bike is running fantastic and the new gtm suspension is absolutely superb
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B11 from Vancouver to the Arctic Circle
- Thread startertobinh
- Start date
I'm really going to enjoy reading about this ride, and seeing the pictures. You sound (and look) like you're off to a good start ....
Lannis
Lannis
Stay safe tobinh. Looking forward to the ride reports and some piccies
Congratulations!
back to asphalt - easy mode!
the Dempster is amazing, recommended
How are the mosquitoes?
wow where does the time go... this trip has loomed over me for so long, once it was over and I was back home, I've spent the last weeks in a sort of post-epic mental 'funk. but, I'm slowly climbing out of it. well, enough to bore you all with some prep talk anyway, before I get to the actual interesting parts of the ride and pics.
I'd been planning the Dempster ride for years, pretty much ever since the last section opened in 2017. at the time it seemed more like a dream, my life was pretty messy and finances not great.
fast forward a few years and suddenly it was completely achievable. I'd done several week-long moto camping trips, and going all the way to dempster was really only a matter of tidying up my camping kit and taking a bit more time off. so I spent some money on some fancy gear:
tent (a six moons lunar solo):
mec branded down quilt:
this last pic represents everything I need to sleep rough - a massive improvement in terms of weight and space!
looks a bit like this in action:
and then I booked some holidays. my supervisor's face went a bit white at the prospect of me being away for three weeks, but I had made up my mind.
something I wanted to change about my bike setup was the top box - I love my top box for regular riding and touring:
BUT I can definitely notice the weight. high and far back is surely about the worst place to put weight in terms of impact on handling. since I was going to be doing almost 2000 kms of Dempster dirt on a bike that is, really, not exactly appropriate for this kind of 'road'; I wanted to improve the handling of the bike. the money spent on fancy thru hiking camping kit saved me enough room to leave the top box at home.
the last few years' experience has taught me something important - the need for empty space on the bike. the more empty space you have, the easier your life is on the road. you have a place to just stuff things in, it's easier to organize your stuff and critically, a place for food. you're certainly not going to carry several weeks worth of food with you, so you need a place for groceries. if your bike is packed solid, this becomes very annoying. I've spent enough time struggling with shopping bags and cargo nets in strip mall parking lots to know I wanted a better solution, so:
that seat bag and massive OEM accessory tank bag (via ebay) are basically empty. I was very happy with this setup, I had tons of space and all my gear worked flawlessly.
next post! the bike. tomorrow, maybe. oh and tires, the number one point of conversation for every single rider you will meet doing this ride haha.
Well this is going to be a trip report to look forward to!
Lannis
Lannis
motojobobo
Tuned and Synch'ed
Looking forward to this trip report and pics. Still not back?
Sempervee1
Cruisin' Guzzisti
Suspension set up? Which shock and did you included the Matris fork kit also?
the bike!
I had a pretty major running issue related to the stepper motor, right before the trip. the details are all at : https://www.guzzitech.com/forums/threads/poor-idle-bogs-just-off-idle.26576/page-2
well, not 'related' to the stepper, but it really just came down to maintenance. everything just needed to be cleaned and adjusted, though it was a bit confusing to me for a while there.
after that, I knew my suspension was badly in need of attention. all the linkage bushings needed lubing at best, probably replacement, along with the swingarm bearing itself. the shock was barely adequate from new, and the front was much worse. so, I decided to do everything while I was there, as 2000 kms of high speed gravel would be pretty awful on the suspension as it was.
I briefly considered only doing the front springs and servicing everything, but reading the forum here will show you many posts from GTM advising people pretty strongly to do both ends at once. having disregarded his advice on several occasions, as well as a few other smart folks on here and regretting it every. single. time. ... I resolved to do as he suggested. I learn slowly, sometimes painfully, but I do learn!
one email later, a bit of waiting on parts from Italy and I had all new bits ready to install:
I did the GTM rear shock, and the Matris front end kit. the cheap one, cuz I'm, well, cheap.
oh yea, I had to make a little tool for the swing arm axle:
everything was pretty easy, searches here on this forum provided advice on procedures, tools, etc. sometimes even guides! with pictures! I still managed to do things the hard way a few times, but mostly it went well. the linkage bushings were falling apart, the right side swing arm bearing was completely dry and rusted, and the seal on that side was missing. there's nothing really keeping that seal in place, so I can see why it's missing. it's sort of a strange design, I was tempted to turn up a little teflon spacer to sort it properly, but it's actually so easy to take everything apart I figure I'll just do that semi regularly instead.
one thing I didn't do, and I regret it, is the steering/head tube bearings. once the linkage was nice and tight and working smoothly it was obvious they needed attention. BUT the departure day was getting close and at this point I was still fighting with the running issue mentioned above, so I kinda had my hands full.
tires! this trip is very hard on tires. many people ride the thousands of kms to the Dempster Hwy itself on street tires and change to some off-road capable tires in Dawson City. even then, you have the Dempster itself to worry about, it's notorious for destroying tires and wheels. a combination of rocks, potholes, sharp kind of shale gravel wreaks havoc.
this means that tires are a major source of debate within the little community of people who want to ride motorcycles to the arctic ocean. there are various conclusions, but I went with a fairly common and well-regarded - if expensive - solution, the MotoZ Tractionator GPS.
you can see the little bag support thingy I had to make in that pic, somehow I managed to lose mine!
these are famous for being hard wearing, extremely durable and flat resistant, along with great off road traction and acceptable road manners. unless they don't... some bikes seem to develop a terrible 'weave' at high speed with these. after researching pretty extensively, it seemed that these bikes were all more dirt-oriented bikes, usually with 19" front wheels. people with 17s seemed to all be okay, so I gambled and bought a set, and I'm very glad I did. they worked great for me, once I realized the air pressure. at first I inflated them to my normal radial pressures and found them pretty terrible! no surprise since I was more than 5 psi over their maximum rated pressure. once I lowered that I was very happy with their on road manners. I certainly didn't push it in any paved corners, they are 50/50 tires after all, but otherwise I had no concerns at all. they vibrate at very low speeds, so not great for commuting, but for touring you just don't think about them very much. exactly what you want from tires! off road, I lowered the pressure even more, down to 26 psi in the rear, 28 in the front and they were fantastic. grip seemed pretty endless, I certainly had more grip than courage so I considered the problem pretty well solved. maybe if I had several more inches suspension travel I could find their limits, but even with the new setup, the Breva is still a street bike!
not great in the rain, though. especially at lower temperatures. their tread life obviously requires very hard rubber, and that's the sacrifice you make. after a few commutes were a bit more exciting than I like in the morning, I mounted some Dunlop Mutants and they're very lovely.
*** suspension review, possibly the only actually useful part of this post ***
so the tires did their job and the GTM suspension setup transformed this bike into an absolute joy to ride. it simply ate up everything I threw at it, and I kinda threw a lot! I was so dumbfounded by how well the suspension was working that I started steering for pot holes on purpose, just to enjoy the action. I spent long stretches standing on the bike, flying over the gravel/tundra, looking down and watching my front wheel move as the fork smoothed out the terrain. just absolutely lovely.
*********************************************************************************
of course I changed all the fluids, filters, etc.
and with the bike sorted:
the first long day in the saddle was 650ish kms to Ten Mile Lake provincial park.
I've done this ride many times over the years so I didn't take many pics. this park is pretty, but mostly I love it because of the location - once nice ride away from my home in Coquitlam. normally I would take the famous Duffy Lake Rd. route through Whistler and Pemberton, but there was some kind of mudslide, so we took the boring valley route - still very lovely.
I can't resist a small town museum: this is in Clinton, there's a coffee shop across the road from here that I stop in on every trip, it's great. although my impression of it may be tinged by the fact that I'm really looking for a nice sit down and a coffee at this point in the ride
I love camping on a motorcycle:
the orange Vstrom was ridden by my partner for the trip, and most of the other trips I've done on a motorcycle. he had a VFR800 for the past several years, a pretty terrible bike for the Dempster Hwy... I had resolved to doing this trip solo, originally. then I read a story about a guy who crashed, knocked himself out, and nearly died because he had landed in a pool of water beside the road and was drowning. a passerby in a car pulled him out and saved his life. crashes on the Dempster are pretty common, and unfortunately my wife was reading over my shoulder and started to make some noises about my plans, so I spent some time browsing Facebook marketplace and dropped off a very well used and equipped Vstrom at his house. "you're coming to Tuk!" "um... I guess I am?" his wife couldn't very well say no after that, and our plans were set. the idea was I'd just sell the bike when we got back, but he actually fell in love with the thing and sold the VFR instead, and just paid me out.
the bike really was great, it just leaked a bit of oil... it also did a great job of convincing me further on the merits of shaft drive.
next instalment... uh, probably another few weeks at my rate.
I had a pretty major running issue related to the stepper motor, right before the trip. the details are all at : https://www.guzzitech.com/forums/threads/poor-idle-bogs-just-off-idle.26576/page-2
well, not 'related' to the stepper, but it really just came down to maintenance. everything just needed to be cleaned and adjusted, though it was a bit confusing to me for a while there.
after that, I knew my suspension was badly in need of attention. all the linkage bushings needed lubing at best, probably replacement, along with the swingarm bearing itself. the shock was barely adequate from new, and the front was much worse. so, I decided to do everything while I was there, as 2000 kms of high speed gravel would be pretty awful on the suspension as it was.
I briefly considered only doing the front springs and servicing everything, but reading the forum here will show you many posts from GTM advising people pretty strongly to do both ends at once. having disregarded his advice on several occasions, as well as a few other smart folks on here and regretting it every. single. time. ... I resolved to do as he suggested. I learn slowly, sometimes painfully, but I do learn!
one email later, a bit of waiting on parts from Italy and I had all new bits ready to install:
I did the GTM rear shock, and the Matris front end kit. the cheap one, cuz I'm, well, cheap.
oh yea, I had to make a little tool for the swing arm axle:
everything was pretty easy, searches here on this forum provided advice on procedures, tools, etc. sometimes even guides! with pictures! I still managed to do things the hard way a few times, but mostly it went well. the linkage bushings were falling apart, the right side swing arm bearing was completely dry and rusted, and the seal on that side was missing. there's nothing really keeping that seal in place, so I can see why it's missing. it's sort of a strange design, I was tempted to turn up a little teflon spacer to sort it properly, but it's actually so easy to take everything apart I figure I'll just do that semi regularly instead.
one thing I didn't do, and I regret it, is the steering/head tube bearings. once the linkage was nice and tight and working smoothly it was obvious they needed attention. BUT the departure day was getting close and at this point I was still fighting with the running issue mentioned above, so I kinda had my hands full.
tires! this trip is very hard on tires. many people ride the thousands of kms to the Dempster Hwy itself on street tires and change to some off-road capable tires in Dawson City. even then, you have the Dempster itself to worry about, it's notorious for destroying tires and wheels. a combination of rocks, potholes, sharp kind of shale gravel wreaks havoc.
this means that tires are a major source of debate within the little community of people who want to ride motorcycles to the arctic ocean. there are various conclusions, but I went with a fairly common and well-regarded - if expensive - solution, the MotoZ Tractionator GPS.
you can see the little bag support thingy I had to make in that pic, somehow I managed to lose mine!
these are famous for being hard wearing, extremely durable and flat resistant, along with great off road traction and acceptable road manners. unless they don't... some bikes seem to develop a terrible 'weave' at high speed with these. after researching pretty extensively, it seemed that these bikes were all more dirt-oriented bikes, usually with 19" front wheels. people with 17s seemed to all be okay, so I gambled and bought a set, and I'm very glad I did. they worked great for me, once I realized the air pressure. at first I inflated them to my normal radial pressures and found them pretty terrible! no surprise since I was more than 5 psi over their maximum rated pressure. once I lowered that I was very happy with their on road manners. I certainly didn't push it in any paved corners, they are 50/50 tires after all, but otherwise I had no concerns at all. they vibrate at very low speeds, so not great for commuting, but for touring you just don't think about them very much. exactly what you want from tires! off road, I lowered the pressure even more, down to 26 psi in the rear, 28 in the front and they were fantastic. grip seemed pretty endless, I certainly had more grip than courage so I considered the problem pretty well solved. maybe if I had several more inches suspension travel I could find their limits, but even with the new setup, the Breva is still a street bike!
not great in the rain, though. especially at lower temperatures. their tread life obviously requires very hard rubber, and that's the sacrifice you make. after a few commutes were a bit more exciting than I like in the morning, I mounted some Dunlop Mutants and they're very lovely.
*** suspension review, possibly the only actually useful part of this post ***
so the tires did their job and the GTM suspension setup transformed this bike into an absolute joy to ride. it simply ate up everything I threw at it, and I kinda threw a lot! I was so dumbfounded by how well the suspension was working that I started steering for pot holes on purpose, just to enjoy the action. I spent long stretches standing on the bike, flying over the gravel/tundra, looking down and watching my front wheel move as the fork smoothed out the terrain. just absolutely lovely.
*********************************************************************************
of course I changed all the fluids, filters, etc.
and with the bike sorted:
the first long day in the saddle was 650ish kms to Ten Mile Lake provincial park.
I've done this ride many times over the years so I didn't take many pics. this park is pretty, but mostly I love it because of the location - once nice ride away from my home in Coquitlam. normally I would take the famous Duffy Lake Rd. route through Whistler and Pemberton, but there was some kind of mudslide, so we took the boring valley route - still very lovely.
I can't resist a small town museum: this is in Clinton, there's a coffee shop across the road from here that I stop in on every trip, it's great. although my impression of it may be tinged by the fact that I'm really looking for a nice sit down and a coffee at this point in the ride
I love camping on a motorcycle:
the orange Vstrom was ridden by my partner for the trip, and most of the other trips I've done on a motorcycle. he had a VFR800 for the past several years, a pretty terrible bike for the Dempster Hwy... I had resolved to doing this trip solo, originally. then I read a story about a guy who crashed, knocked himself out, and nearly died because he had landed in a pool of water beside the road and was drowning. a passerby in a car pulled him out and saved his life. crashes on the Dempster are pretty common, and unfortunately my wife was reading over my shoulder and started to make some noises about my plans, so I spent some time browsing Facebook marketplace and dropped off a very well used and equipped Vstrom at his house. "you're coming to Tuk!" "um... I guess I am?" his wife couldn't very well say no after that, and our plans were set. the idea was I'd just sell the bike when we got back, but he actually fell in love with the thing and sold the VFR instead, and just paid me out.
the bike really was great, it just leaked a bit of oil... it also did a great job of convincing me further on the merits of shaft drive.
next instalment... uh, probably another few weeks at my rate.
I would prefer to stay away from the Arctic as my mother's side of the family had bad luck up there. My grandmother had a cousin who was on the HMCS Karluk as a member of the1913 Canadian Arctic expedition and that went bad. He went back to the Arctic in 1923 and it was worse, never seen again ! Never got off Wrangle island still there I would assume.
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