The Shakedowns

As I had mentioned in previous posts, my plan was to put enough miles on the bike to have the first major service done prior to leaving for the trip. As the KTM has a 9300 mile service interval, I could theoretically get through the entire trip without needing service (other than tires).

I had 68 "available ride days" (weekends and days off work) before I left for the trip, so if I rode every one of those days, each ride would need to be just over 138 miles. There was no way I'd be able to ride every one of those days, so the rides would have to be longer. We were having a relatively mild winter, so these rides were not as miserable as they could have been. I knew that my average day on the trip would be around 350 miles, so I tried to make these mileage-gathering rides around that distance.

I could have just gone out and ridden on the interstate for 175 miles, then turn around and come home, but for me, there isn't really much enjoyable about riding on the interstate. I also wanted these rides to somewhat similar to the days on the trip. I dug some old ride routes out of my archive and started planning some new ones. Thankfully, Durham, NC is a great place to live for riding motorcycles. There are many options to ride either to the mountains or the beach depending on what you feel like seeing that day. North Carolina also does an above average job of keeping our roads in good shape for riding.

In addition to getting miles on the bike and getting myself used to riding those distances, I also needed to figure out what I was going to take with me and how I was going to pack it. The stock panniers would hold 30 liters each, and I had a Kriega 30 liter dry bag I planned on strapping to the passenger's seat. I also planned on using a tank bag that could be expanded to 15 liters. 105 liters to hold everything I would need on the trip that I wasn't wearing. Clothes for 3 days, laptop, off-motorcycle shoes, tool kit, hygiene items, camera(s), etc. I may do another post detailing everything that I'm taking on the trip. Comment if you'd like to see that.

The first trip I took was an overnight to the mountains in February. I didn’t have a tank bag yet, nor did I have the liners for the panniers yet, but I worked with what I had. There were no real surprises on that trip and everything worked well, but this trip highlighted how important it was to have easily accessible storage for the things I would be using frequently. Cameras, water bottles, snacks and such need to be stored securely but where I could just grab them as needed. A good tank bag would be required for the trip.

My next overnight trip to the mountains was about a month later. I had the tank bag by that time, but this trip would test a skill that I had not used in quite some time. The outbound trip was uneventful (very cold, but uneventful), but about 30 miles from home on the return, the bike started flashing this at me:

I knew the bike had a TPMS, but I did not know that it would differentiate between the tire pressure being low and the pressure going down quickly. I was able to get off the road into a gas station parking lot and find where the puncture was. Whatever caused the flat, was no longer in the tire, but the damage had been done. Luckily, I had my flat repair kit with me. I had not used it in a few years, so I was very glad that I had left the instruction manual with it! The plug kit that I have is the type with the small air pump that you plug into the battery lead once the plug has been installed. The pump takes a while, but works well. I think it was about 45 minutes from start to finish.

There are 2 schools of thought about plugged tires - one is “keep riding until you wear out the tire” and one is “replace it as soon as possible”. I am in the “replace it” group - even though this tire only had 1889 miles on it. Changing this tire presented me with another dilemma. I don’t have the tools (yet) to do complete tire changes myself - I remove the wheel from the bike, then take it to my local shop to do the tire change and balancing. To remove the rear tire on this bike, you need a 60mm socket. Who has a 60mm socket sitting around their garage?!? I certainly didn’t - Amazon to the rescue!

This got me wondering how many non-KTM dealer shops would have a socket of this size if I needed a tire change along the way? Should I take this socket with me? That’s a big hunk of weight to haul along for a “just in case”.

There were several more overnight rides and long-day rides over the next few months. While none had any major problems, I learned something on each trip. The biggest change in my plans was for the luggage. The Kriega tail pack worked pretty well, but the way that it was secured to the bike was less than ideal for how I would be using it. I would have to completely undo the straps that attached it to the bike each night and re-attach them every morning. There was also not a real way for me to secure this pack to the bike if I was going to be away from the bike during the day for sightseeing, meals, etc. I decided that a hard-sided top case would work much better and be much easier to secure.

I ordered a 45 liter top case and the mounting brackets that I would need to secure it to the bike. The top case arrived within a few days, but the mounting brackets were backordered from the manufacturer (I knew this when I ordered them) with an estimated arrival date of August 3rd. (It was now July 6). This still gave me a month once the brackets arrived to get everything ready to go. August 3rd arrived - the backorder was updated to August 10… then August 19… I was starting to get worried.

The mounting plate and adapter finally arrived on August 24th - just over a week to spare. It only took about 20 minutes to get everything installed and secure. Everything fit perfectly and seemed that it would work well.

I was hoping to be able to completely load the bike for how I was going to take it on the trip and get out for another overnight shakedown ride; the delays on getting the mounting brackets negated that. Heading out with this for the first time on the first day of the trip, isn’t what I had planned on but there wasn’t much I could do about it now.

I now had everything I needed for the trip. Now it was time to figure out where everything was going to go. I needed to gather everything I was planning on taking on the trip, lay it out in one place, then decide on where in the luggage it would go. I needed to keep the heavier things in the panniers to keep the center of gravity as low as possible. I hope everything fits!!!!

6 days to launch.