The Motorcycle

I knew that neither of the motorcycles that I currently owned would be ideal to take on a trip of this length. While both of them would mechanically have no problem making the trip, it wouldn’t be very much fun for me after the first few days – they simply were not designed for that type of riding. I had small soft-sided saddlebags for the Triumph, but they are pretty small and would not hold what I would need to take on the trip... not waterproof either. Other than a small tank bag, I had no luggage for the KTM. 

Another limiting factor was the range of both of these bikes. Both could probably go about 140 miles at best between fill-ups, but that was not going to be enough for the route that I was planning on taking. Again, it could be done, but it wouldn't be ideal.

As I started looking at what was available, there were some things that I knew that I wanted:

• The new bike had to be able to go at least 200 miles between fill-ups. There are some areas of the U.S. that are vast stretches of nothingness. While I did want to see these places, I didn't necessarily want to spend extra time there because I had run out of fuel.

• It had to have hard-sided, weather-proof saddlebags. Even with liners in the soft sided bags I had used before, stuff still got wet in downpours. 

• The motor needed to be 1000cc or larger, and preferably a V-twin. I would be going up and down lots of mountains with the bike loaded. The bike would need to have plenty of power available when I needed it. I also wanted something that I could hoon around on a bit ;-)

• Modern electronics, cruise control, ABS, traction control, GPS-ready, etc.

• NOT a cruiser. If that's your thing, fine. It's just not my cup of tea.

When I put all of these things together along with personal preferences and physical limitations (I'm 5'10" with a 30" inseam.... adventure bikes are not an option). I narrowed it down to the Ducati Multistrada, KTM Super Duke GT and the BMW S1000XR.

I finally decided on the KTM. I think any of these three bikes would have fit the bill brilliantly, but there was something about the KTM that I really liked. The KTM styling is certainly not for everyone, but I have always liked the KTM hard angles and color schemes. It probably helped that I currently owned a KTM, and absolutely loved it. 

KTM released the GT in Europe in 2016, and it would be coming to the U.S. in 2017. I would not usually buy the first year model of a motorcycle, but this bike had existed since 2014 as the Super Duke R. KTM basically took that bike, added a larger fuel tank, a small windscreen, extended the rear sub-frame and added some saddlebags. I am sure there were many more things, but those were the obvious.

KTM released some 2016 models to dealers as demo bikes, and the local KTM dealer had one, so I scheduled a test ride as soon as I could. After that test ride, I was sold. I think my exact words to the sales guy when I got back from the  ride were “Holy shit, I don’t know what that thing is, but I need three of them!!!” I was quite impressed to say the least. I placed my order (only for one) in mid-November of 2016, and was told the bike would be here by mid-February of 2017.

I now had 2 months to scour the internet for the sparkly bits that I wanted to have waiting in the garage for when the bike arrived! As this bike was not really available in the US yet, the only place I was finding accessories was from Europe - primarily the U.K.

Kate saw this face quite a bit over the past few months!

Imagine how happy I was when I got a call in late January that the bike had arrived. I brought it home on January 28th and immediately put it on the lift and installed all the parts that were waiting patiently in the garage... radiator guard, frame sliders, axle sliders and the GPS mount and wiring.

Just home from the dealer

It was now ready to ride. I had essentially 8 months before I left for the trip. The first thing I had to do was get 1,000 km (600 miles) on the bike to get the first service done. Thankfully, we were having a relatively mild winter, so those first 1,000 break-in kilometers were done by February 5th. After that, the next service wouldn’t be due until 15,000 km (9,320 miles). With the entire trip being 7,800 miles, if I could get 15,000 km on the bike before I left, I could theoretically get through the entire trip without needing service… excluding tires.

It was now mid-February. 8,720 miles before early August? Challenge accepted!

17 days to launch