(05-02-2025, 04:41 PM)Gone in 60 Wrote: Our company just finished a big event in Galveston, Texas on Monday. As part of the preparation, we were purchasing a new 48' trailer that was being delivered directly to the event site, and which would need to be transported back to our facility in California afterwards. It was fun watching the process of how that trailer would make it back unfold. "We need to find someone who's coming back to the California office after the event, who can also drive a truck and trailer. Hmm." The other shoe dropped and they asked me to do it, so I just got back from a few days of solitary desert driving, which I didn't mind after four days of chaos running a large event. 

Coming West on I-10 in middle-of-nowhere Texas, I was making note of the motorcycles which I spotted periodically on the other side of the highway. Mostly Harley tourers and BMWs festooned with touring luggage. I was daydreaming of taking a long motorcycle tour sometime soon, and wondered if I should have picked up something a few months ago, when I decided to divert some of that money to upgrading my Interceptor 650 a bit to be more distance-friendly for my new longer commute. I added a more comfy touring seat, upped the front sprocket, and made a few other tweaks. 

Just as I was daydreaming, I spotted an Interceptor 650 heading East on the other side of the highway, loaded down with two big duffles, and a rider in a slightly tucked position. Seemed to be hustling along just fine. I was reminded that it's not the worst bike in the world to take on a trip, and that if this guy can do it, if Pdedse did it, well than what's my excuse?

(05-02-2025, 04:41 PM)Gone in 60 Wrote: ...and that if this guy can do it, if Pdedse did it, well than what's my excuse?

(05-03-2025, 01:07 PM)pdedse Wrote:

(05-02-2025, 04:41 PM)Gone in 60 Wrote: ...and that if this guy can do it, if Pdedse did it, well than what's my excuse?

You have none.  Get your INT up here and visit (or on your CB1100...or your Triumph).  

Just last week I was having a good email exchange with a friend.  He has a BMW GS1250 and a GS1200, which he loaned to me last summer so that I would "keep up" with him on an Alaska / BC trip.  We send each other vidoes / ride reports of guys doing long distance rides--we dream of doing one to/in South America.  "What bike?" always comes up.  I'm cheap and so my dual purpose bike is my Suzuki DR650.  He wants "lots of stuff" on his bikes, and loves his cruise control, brakes this and that, riding options, heated grips, power to flick the throttle and whiz up to 120mph in a few blinks of an eye.  He loves all the tech, the size, the comfort.  I like simplicity and "can I work on it?" bikes that I can afford.  

He found a couple of ride reports of guys doing RTW and northern hemisphere to southern trips on "postie-like" bikes (Honda CT110) and similar.  He said, although he admired the riders' gumption, that he found it a bit ridiculous to try a trip and purposefully choose an underpowered, uncomfortable bike seemingly just to prove that it could be done.  For him, it was as though one would scale a tall mountain barefoot or in cheap sandals just to prove that it could be done, even if one would finish with bloodied and bruised feet.    

I brought up the fact that some people enjoy light, unassuming bikes that fit it, do not break the bank, and are easy to fix.  In the end, we agreed with an oft-repeated answer to what's the best bike for a trip...likely, the one in your garage.