Alaska – The Motorcycle

Ok, I’m riding my motorcycle to Alaska…I need to show it off a bit before I go! My previous bike was a Kawasaki KLR 650. It was a fine bike that would take me anywhere, but it was a bit lacking when riding on the highway. This trip is going to be a ton of highway miles, so I used it as an excuse to upgrade.

I was about to go down and write a check to buy a new BMW F800 GS Adventure, but just to be thorough, I went for a test ride on a KTM 1190 Adventure. As soon as I was done, I left a deposit for the “R” version. (this was in November). 2014 is the first year that these bikes are being imported to the US, so supply was (and still is) low, and demand was high. When the first round of bikes came through, I didn’t make the cut. However, one of my buddies found a new KTM dealer that had a bike that hadn’t been claimed! After a quick phone call, it was mine.

One thing about the “R” – it is tall. In fact, I am barely tall enough to ride it, and I’ve already dropped it a couple of times due to it’s “tallness”. I contemplated having custom springs put in which would lower the bike by 1 1/4” (and cost ~$1k). As I’ve ridden the bike more, I’ve become used to the height, so I’m going to Alaska with the stock springs.

This is how the bike will look while I’m on the trip…Almost (there will be two small gas cans mounted on the top case). Some of the farkles:

• Touratech Zega Pro top box
• Touratech Zega Pro 2 side panniers – these just arrived last week, almost didn’t make it for the trip!
• Touratech Skid Plate.
• Touratech Upper Crashbar.
• Ortlieb Dry Bag

From the front:

• Puig Touring Screen
• Touratech Light Guard
• Rigid Dually Driving Light.
• VIRB Elite mounted to the upper crash bar (right side of the bike, left side of the picture)

 

Cockpit:

• KTM Tank bag
• Delorme InReach SE
• Garmin Montana GPS
• Touratech GPS mount

For water, I’ve got two 2 liter MSR bladders strapped to the top of the side panniers.

Not really pictured anywhere:

• Radguard Radiator Guard
• Heated Gear Harness
• PDM60 for power management
• KTM Orange bar end caps
• KTM Orange brake reservoir cap
• KTM Orange valve stem caps

For tires, I went with the Hidenau K60s. The tend to get mixed reviews, but I don’t want to deal with having to swap out tires in Alaska – the rear tire is a funky size. So, I went for I tire that should last the whole trip (I guess I’ll find out).

I’m sure there are some other small things I forgot, but this is the bulk of them!

California Dualsport Ride

I’m down in the Palm Springs area and had the awesome opportunity to go on a dual sport ride with the Mike and Dave from Get Dirty Dirt Bikes.  I’ve got to start out by saying these guys are spectacular.  If you are ever in the Palm Springs area, and want to rent a dirt bike or go on a tour you should definitely go through these guys.  They set me up with a KTM 450, which turns out to be built like a tank, given the number of times that I crashed, and it continued to work.

The plan for our trip was to start in Banning, make our way through the back county to Idyllwild for lunch, and then head back to the truck.  Mike was leading the pack of us, with Dave following the pack, helping people (ie mostly me) when they dropped their bikes.

The trip started off pretty easy – dirt road with some small ruts in it.  We made it about 2 miles in when decided to cut one of the corners and climb a small hill and drop back to the road.  This was the first time (of very many) that I dropped the bike – at least I wasn’t the first person (by about 30 sec).  Dave told me that I could stay on the road if I liked…

The road got more and more difficult with lots of ruts and washouts.  Managed to ride my way through it without crashing again.  The next leg of the trip was through a single track trail – this is where things started to unravel for me.  I made it about 100’ into the trail and dropped the bike.  I start picking up the bike, and my pants game unsnapped.  So I snapped them back up, through my leg over the bike, and they unsnapped again. Barely managed to get them snapped while on the bike (I’m in a hill), go about 5’ and drop the bike again.  And my pants came unsnapped again.  Snap pants, get on bike, pants unsnapped again.  Struggle to get pants snapped.  Head down the trail a bit pants unsnapped again.  This time I just leave them that way…All this time, Dave is patiently hanging out with me while everyone else has ridden ahead.   I go for about another 2 minutes, get hung up in a rut and dump the bike again.  At this point I tell Dave I need a break to get in a better mental state – he rides ahead to let people know that we are taking a break, while I cool down.  Dropping the bike and snapping my pants are driving me crazy.  After my little break, I snapped my pants (which were not a problem for the rest of the trip), and I finished out the trail without any issues.

Now we are back on the roads, there are still ruts all over the place that you have to be careful navigating through, but I start to get in a groove.  I’m going faster and faster…went through a turn a little fast and the bike got off the road – at which point, it gets hung up on a branch at stops instantly.  I however, was standing on the pegs and did not stop until my face hit the ground…did I mention there was about a 3 foot long section of mud that I landed in…the only mud in sight on the stretch of the road.  My protective gear was worth every penny I paid for it.  I did mess my thumb up pretty good – thought it was broken at first, but it wriggled so I called it good.  Other than that, I was just fine.

Along the way, there were several stream crossings that we had to do.  This one was probably the coolest one.  There was a bit of a waterfall off to the left (not pictured).  I was surprised that we were in the trees, I expected to be in more desert like conditions for the entire ride. From this point to Idyllwild, it was like riding through the mountains.  When we madeour way to the top, there was a bunch of snow.

Eventually, we made it to the town and had some lunch.  On the way back, we cruised down the pavement a bit to make up some time.  Even riding the slab was a bit tough because there was crushed rock on it left over from the winter.  Made cornering a bit interesting.

We split up with a couple of the other guys taking the road all the way back to the rig, while the rest of us hit the dirt again.  We went down a few roads that were different than the ones on the way up, but it was still the same type of terrain – dirt roads w/ruts.  We went down one of Mike’s “secret” trails on the way back.  I dumped the bike a couple more times but made it home.  Overall the trip was about 75 miles, and I was dead tired when we were back.

Injury wise, I came away pretty good given the number of times I crashed.  My thumb is purple and I can’t grip things tightly, so it should be ok.  I’ve got a bit of road rash on my butt from having the bike slide out from under me once.  Outside of that I feel pretty good.