Strada distance?

Planning to go to Phillip Island for the MotoGP in October on the Strada. About 2000km one way. Ridden quite a few bikes big distances over the many years and the TR Husky is one of the most relaxed bikes I have ever ridden. The thing that makes it a pain in the twisties, makes it a great tourer : slack angles and oversize ( for the road ) front wheel. The motor isn't reving much at all at legal speeds. Just a big smooth single ( never thought I would be able to say that) lopeing along with awesome fuel economy. I have fitted a Safari tank set , Seat Concepts recover ( very necessary as the std seat gets uncomfortable quickly . Goodish dirt seat not a good road seat) , panniers and a bigish wind deflector. Really looking forward to it.

So true about the Triumph triple Huskynoobee. I wasn't trying to catch anybody. My Buddy didn't have cruise control on his Electra Glide so he gave chase most of the way. He lived in Silver City N.M. at the time and wanted to spend the night in El Paso on Saturday to pick up a 37' springer front end he had chromed for an old flat head bobber he was building.

I told him I'm not stopping and staying at another Motel when for cheaper than that he could have it boxed and shipped by the chrome shop to his house and it would be there in a few days. I told him save yourself some money and lets stay on the road. He went for it.

Of course his house was closer to there than my place in Douglas AZ. I knew I was getting close to home when I started seeing the Border Patrol trucks and Tahoes all along the highway between the stateline of N.M. and AZ. we went about 870. miles that day, 660 the day before, about 860+ the day we left Fort Lauderdale and the night before that it was about 300 to Key West. I don't think I'll do it again for awhile.

Ha! My distance is governed by my wife!

The engine is the number one strong point of the bike in my opinion. I haven't gotten out more than 3 hours at a time, but with the seat modified, I had no problems with comfort over a mix of mountain roads riding very briskly, a little interstate and some nice state roads. I can tell you 2 hours was the max for me with the stock seat. I probably averaged over 65 mph hitting close to 100. About a total of 200 miles with one fuel stop. This is the only single I have ridden that has a top end rush. Most just shake harder and don't provide additional forward momentum. My previous single (DRZ 400 SM) was very weak compared to this bike and it was at least 50-75 lbs lighter. It did have better suspension tires and brakes though. Overall, I would take the Husky every time.

I'm doing a 230 mile one way ride today with my Terra after work and then coming back on Sunday. Time to put the old Terra to the test. Longest ride I've done so far is about 160 miles in a day. This was two up and I was pretty sore.

I just rode 600 miles or so of 65+ mph highway with my Strada today. The bike handles it fine. Whether you can is another matter. As expected, a bigger windshield and possibly different seat would have helped my comfort.

After a 500 mile plus weekend at speeds between 75-85 mph I will have to say the bike performed flawlessly. I did notice that there was way more power when I came down in elevation to sea level. The bike lives at 4500 ft and I'm not used to power-wheeling with a slight flick of a wrist . This was exciting seeing as I am moving to a lower elevation in a couple weeks and I'll get to enjoy the increase in power every day .

In December, 2013 I purchased a Strada from the St. Louis, MO BMW dealership. I then rode it back to California via Route 66 through MO,OK,TX,NM,AZ, and finally into SoCal. That was about 2000 miles in 5 days, including a trip to the Grand Canyon with my son, who came out to ride with me. The Strada is a fine roadbike. I'm 6-4 and was comfortable on it for 600 mile days, with a sheepskin seat pad. I'd recommend a windscreen to lessen fatigue, but even in stock form, it was not too bad. After the break-in period, the bike did 80 mph comfortably. It is by far the smoothest big single I've ever ridden. And I've had an BMW 650 GS, CS, Xchallenge, and a 660Tenere. Of course, like everything else, YMMV. Ride Safe.

Well I will be taking it to the track in Utah on the 14th. See how she does in that aspect. Will be my first track day too.

I couldn't sleep Saturday night, so when I was fully awake at oh-too-early, I decided to go for a ride. Just kept looking at the map on the GPS thinking "oh that road looks fun" next thing I knew I was down in the middle of no where Arkansas. Tired, hungry, and alone.

This is with the stock seat. Knees got cramped up a bit, and I had to stand to stretch them out every so often, same with discomfort on the tail bone after a while. But that's to be expected I think with this kind of saddle time.

This bike could easily pull off an Ironbutt attempt. Figure 400 of those miles were Arkansas Ozark mountain twisties, so replace those miles with a less tiring and less spirited route, and the miles would rack up a lot quicker.

I love an excuse to wake up real early and go for a ride. I think I set a new personal best a few months ago when I had 237mi/381km on the clock before sunrise.

Speaking of Ironbutts attempts, a few years ago a female rider completed the IronButt rally on an F650GS (9900miles in 11 days) in 14th place so it's certainly possible.
(Strada owner "Ignaciob" finished a few places behind her that year on his FJR1300, with an almost identical mileage).

Long distances are no problem for any bike nowadays. I drive in my past 1300 km in one day on my CBR1000, the only part what will get hurd is your butt. The Strada seat ain't build for real long distances, it is no sport touring bike seat. After 2 hours I feel my bottom on the Strada so that is a 100 miles roughly for the first stop. But a little pain is in the game. Otherwise buy a Honda Goldwing and put your Strada in the trailer of the Goldwing. Or do the long distance on the motortrain if you were in Europe.

I wish you a lot of fun in Canada and do not forget to post some nice pics for us.

Regards, John

I think my longest on the Husky to date was roughly 3200km over a week... combo of road and dirt. Sydney and back from Brisbane... bit of wandering obviously since a straight shot is 950km each way. I've had my seat shaped to me, which helps... but it is still what gets me off the bike a few times during long ride days. A few of us are preparing for 7500+km in August, doing a big loop from Brisbane to Uluru via southern route, then heading north through the territory and around Mount Isa to come home. I'd like to do most of it dirt, but we'll have a Triumph Thruxton along with a rider who doesn't do off road. Should be a good ride. 14 days, including a couple days hanging out in Uluru and King's Canyon to see the place (again).

Could use tyre recommendations... I currently run Mitas E07's. Though winter, the roads out there are still hot and course as hell. The 7's are great until you go over 110km/hr... then you can practically watch the rubber wear off! We'd love to be able to do the 130km/hr speed limit in the territory just to cover ground, but not really looking to use up 2 sets of tyres on the trip. Since I'll use up a set just on the trip most likely, I may go to a more road-oriented tyre and harder compound. The original Metzlers weren't the worst tyre I ever ran. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Ran an E09 on the back and got 10000k's out of it. No problem doing 160km fully loaded on the black top and 170km on gravel. Ran a scorpion rally on the front.

So the E07 should do great.

Cheers
Greg

Nah, E07's are no good at all over 110km/hr. Went through a set in about 5000km doing 130 on a Sydney trip once. Especially front. Every stop I saw significant wear. Front was really only any good for about 3000km at higher speeds.

What tyre pressures did you run them at?

I got over 10,000k on my EO7. Mixture of 50/50 dirt and spare no horses bitumen.

I'm getting good distance out of the current ones by keeping speeds down. On bitumen I run them 32-34lbs up front, 36 on rear.