I have been considering a long ride east or perhaps a lap of Oz and as such wondered what a long days ride is for the average HD rider.
As a crazy teen on a 250 I did several 600ish km rides to nowhere in particular just for something to do.
In recent years the longest ride I have done is taking a Hayabusa from Perth to Kalgoorlie (about 600km also) and I could barely walk when I got there.
I bought my Street Bob from Bunbury and got straight on it and rode the 200km home in the rain as well as there and back for its first service.
The Softail has ony done about 130km in a day so far.
Do we have any bonafide ironbutts here or other stories of long single day rides?
cheers
Surly
My wife and I have done a bit of travelling and usually travell between 400 and 600km's a day which is pretty comfortable,generaly we go away for about two weeks at a time.We have travelled from Brissy to the great ocean road and ridden just about every good bike road between the two,and there are a few good ones let me tell ya. Not the longest but the most uncomfortable,was from brissy to Newcastle (about 900km"s ). The problem was I only had a brando leather jacket and an open face helmet and it was the middle of winter. After stopping for a couple of bourbens at the Red Lion (near Glen Innes I think) we arrived in Newcastle at 7pm that night (It's hard to see at night with dark sunny"s). When we stopped I nearly dropped the bike because my leg wouldn't straighten, and I could grab my skin and it would stay in a clump. I was young,but I did learn a lot about riding in wet,dark and cold weather that day, LOL.
Oh yeah,just a thought,we took a caravan around AUS and I am glad we did,met a guy who was riding around and all he could say was he didn't realise how big it was (AUS that is). The point is, my way of thinking , if you are going to do a long bike ride wouldn't you be better off doing it on good bike roads? eg: look for mountains, not long boring straights. See if you can pick up a book called AUSTRALIA MOTORCYCLE ATLAS by PETER THOEMING full of great rides,no long straights LOL.
Roadtrain, I love riding too,rather go in a straight line than no where, but as I can choose,I just choose the best bike roads that I can. It's all about cornering and scenery to me,nothing in the world like nailing a corner just right, even on a Harley, LOL. So I can't imagine riding too far without looking for a place with corners, anyway my tyres won't wear out in the middle and i'll feel like I've gotten good value out of them.
Hey Peter,a man after my own heart,get bored sh*tless going straight,give me curves and sweepers anytime,absolutely hate riding on freeways or motorways.
nobody
I've done a few 700Km rides and enjoyed them. Was planning to head to MotoGP, Indi and HOG Nationals but work has again got in the way. Melbourne in 4 days should be okay, but in 5 would be more relaxing. The single seat is okay for shorter runs, but with the pillion seat provides some lower back support.
In my younger days did 36 hours Sydney-Perth in a cage... too old for that stuff now. Time to enjoy the trips.
Still want to do the cross country trip...
Tony
Hi Surly,
I've just done a 550k round trip of the South West ( Mandurah/Bridgetown/Mandurah) taking in Balingup & Nannup. Good twisty 40km run. No problems and no sore butt.
Got my ride from Paul at SW Harley too, can't speak highly enough of their service.
Bob
