Gear and Bike

Post #2

 

The last few days have been hectic to say the least, getting all my gear ready and tying up business ends so that my two sons can take over one side of the business and my wife the other. So then of course like clock work Murphy's law did take over and the wife ends up in the hospital.

 

Luckily all is well now and she will be release on July 2. Departure will be a little later then planned but hopefully on July 3 if all goes well, I will make sure all is really good before I go because I don't need any bad karma to go along.

 

And as promised the bike and gear list;

 

I decided to go for a 2012 Yamaha Super Tenere XT1200 this after a lot of research and some test rides, I guess time will tell if this choice was good, so far after 14000km's I'm very satisfied with it, and as for the additions I have modded the windshield (made it longer), added heated grips, Givi crash-bar and side racks, Garmin AMPS rugged mount, tool tube, hatchet tube, cup holder (great for holding all kinds of little shit), ABS off switch, riding lights, highway pegs, 2 water bottle holders, Dirt-Skins on front shocks, Mitas E-07 Dakar tires, home made rear fender splash guard and bash plate, also set the stock seat position to front side high and rear low plus a sheep skin to make this somewhat bearable, and 2 Pelican storm 2600 side cases with modded attach plates for more strength (found out it was to weak during dump test).

 

Riding gear: Shark Evoline 2 helmet, Tour Master transition 2 jacket, Rev-It Cheyenne pants, Triumph Tri-Tex boots, Tour Master Dri-Mesh gloves, long leather gloves, light leather jacket, Icebreaker under garments.

Electronics: Samsung phone, Garmin Montana 600 GPS, Acer netbook, Polaroid action camera, and a HP camera (don't laugh it was free).

Camping stuff: Tarp, hammock, jetboil, and 2 sleeping bags.

Two 60 litre dry sacks, back pack.

Spare parts:
Rear brake pads
Spark plugs (4)
1ltr deferential oil
Couple of mini fuses.

Tool List:
Monkey wrench Channelock 8WCB WideAzz
Lightweight Pass-Thru Socket Set with SEA and Metric socket rings M10-M19, 3/8-3/4 and adaptor with extension for Torx, Screw, and Hex bits.
Tough, Double side screw driver
Small Needle Nose Vise Grip with wire cutter
OEM sparkplug wrench
Leatherman
3/4 inch rood connector nut (for S10 axel)
M5-M8 Allen keys
M10-M19 Offset Box Wrenches
Electrical tape
Large Zip Ties
Small tube Axel grease
Loctite blue
JB Weld
Tire plug kit
12V Tire pump with pressure gauge

The above is just a short list, there are lots of other little things and  I will try to make a complete list towards the end of the trip and let you know what worked and what not.

Many thanks to all of you coming along.

 

About Me

Pre departure Post #1.

 

Ottawa-Inuvik-Tierra Del Fuego.

Totally stoked to get on the road around the end of June. I will be leaving from Ottawa to Inuvik and then hopefully to Tierra Del Fuego via the Amazon, I guess time will tell if this is a good idea or not.

Have been preparing for the last 7 months to go on this ride that will take equally as long to do, luckily I don't have any must ride road or time constraints, its going to be more like lets see if I can make it.

I did read many ride reports from inmates here on ADVrider, and I can only hope to bring some of there words of wisdom into practice and follow some of the roads they drove to discover on my own. One particular RR I read from Debbie aka Hewby says it so well “Motorcycle riding adds an extra dimension of adventure and freedom. Winding roads through valleys and over mountains, the bike seems to dance beneath me. Passing along the country side or through the forest, the smells become intoxicating. And the ‘Vrrmmm’ of the engine gives me a sense of power, freedom, excitement and connectedness” this struck a cord in me and I thought this is how I feel too. Thank you Debbie for saying it so well I hope I did get it right and you don't mind me steeling that one from you.

This RR will be to document my trip, let my friends and family know where I am and how I'm doing, and then of course let you join in on the fun. During the trip I will also give border crossing updates, budget info, and try to make this as entertaining as I possibly can, I’m by no means a writing star and my sense of language is screwed up.

I hope to make use of the ADVriders free camping page mainly because riding and spending a big budget on this trip was not an option. I could have waited a couple more years, but at an age of 62 I feel it's now or maybe never. Its funny how things sometimes come up in life and you wonder why, or have some weird deja vu moment or so, because I do believe in karma and destiny, more on this later. This trip has been on my mind for a long time, and newly inspired by a video that I had accidentally seen from Globebusters, after that video I could not shake the idea of not doing it, it kind of said it all to me, after seeing there smiling faces on that trip, and of course there stories just topped it off, I need to do this.

A little bit about myself, born in the Netherlands and moved to the USA when I was 1 year old, lived in Salt Lake City, for 16 years and then moved back to the Netherlands, got married, had two kids and moved to Canada, did tons of motorcycle riding throughout most of Europe, and now the same in Canada and the USA.

I’m very lucky that my lovely wife (Annie) and my two sons (Ray and Bob) support me in going, although this was not so much in the beginning when I told them, but they have warmed up to it, Annie would have loved to have come along as we did throughout most of our travels in Europe, but this is physically not possible for her anymore. I also have a great group of supporters from the Ottawa Canadian Motorcycle Cruisers (CMC), which I like to think of as my extended family, through the years we have done many great rides together with tons of laughs along the way.

During this trip I will try to hook-up with other ADVriders and also visit some of the other CMC chapters throughout Canada and extend a welcoming hand to all for a visit to Ottawa someday,

Next post will be more about my bike and gear, so stay tuned.