CDT Trail ride

[SneakyDingo]

Time to talk gear:
Helmet - Scorpion EXO-AT950. Bought for the flip up modular aspect, I really like this helmet but it is a little noisy.
Neck - wool buff. Switched to a synthetic one in colder weather. Keeps me warm, limits dust ingress, protects from neck sunburn.
Protection - unlike both Bo and Church, I was in full vented textile gear, top and bottom - an old Sidici set I had for a few years… just in case I had to throw it out at the end of the trip. This gear is “45 mph” gear - it’ll reduce severity of most slide injuries below 45 mph. Has a hole in it from where I tested that theory once. Although inconvenient, the pants protected my legs from tree branches, rocks, sunburn, and most importantly, wind on the knees which from experience makes for an incredibly painful long distance trip experience if you don’t protect the knees. I had considered just using knee pads but I’m glad I didn’t after getting hit too many times in the shins.
Gloves - I also wore summer full finger gloves. Church got some sunburn on his hands.
Boots - the lower it was on my body, the more important the gear was. I have some BMW Motorrad boots that are just… incredibly comfortable.

It may seem extravagant sometimes but good gear encourages comfort and protects. “Enduring” unnecessary difficulty increases fatigue, and encourages mistakes. Things like a good quality seat, good gear, and being comfortable are as much an investment into long distance safety as they are a more enjoyable experience.

One other aspect of the vented textile pants that was handy - after a full day of riding, I’d sometimes duck out to get some food. The vented textile pants have different contact points to the seat; so I didn’t dread getting back on the bike to get dinner, because the bike seat was physically touching different parts of my body. If I had two different sets of pants, changing mid ride probably would have helped with comfort too.

 

[bryanchurch06]

Working on costs this morning, left with 2000.00 cash, have a little over 1000 left
Uhaul gas 192.49
Motorcycle gas 67.76
Motels 1427.48
Uhaul 1100
Flight 578
Incidentals 1000 ?
4365.73 total so far
Still have to drive my van from yankton sd to Kalispell and back to get my bike a distance of 2250 miles maybe 150 gallons of gas at 3.50 a gallon? Another 500 in gas? In the end this trip will have cost around 5000.00

 

[KYtrailfan]

Working on costs this morning, left with 2000.00 cash, have a little over 1000 left
Uhaul gas 192.49
Motorcycle gas 67.76
Motels 1427.48
Uhaul 1100
Flight 578
Incidentals 1000 ?
4365.73 total so far
Still have to drive my van from yankton sd to Kalispell and back to get my bike a distance of 2250 miles maybe 150 gallons of gas at 3.50 a gallon? Another 500 in gas? In the end this trip will have cost around 5000.00

I am curious about the 13T/14T sprocket. It was on my "must have list" until I read both of you went to the trouble to swap back to finish the ride.

 

[bryanchurch06]

I am curious about the 13T/14T sprocket. It was on my "must have list" until I read both of you went to the trouble to swap back to finish the ride.

I can't speak for Sneakydingo but for me driving on pavement full throttle for extended periods with the 13t was very buzzy also lost about 3mph top speed. The 14t on pavement full throttle less vibration, still climbed hills about the same and higher top speed. Remember we were riding 6 to 12 hr days almost full throttle the whole time, much smoother ride. Just my humble opinion not saying it the same experience for everyone. If we would have been able to stay on dirt the 13t was a better option, better throttle response and lower gear pulling.

 

[SneakyDingo]

I can't speak for Sneakydingo but for me driving on pavement full throttle for extended periods with the 13t was very buzzy also lost about 3mph top speed. The 14t on pavement full throttle less vibration, still climbed hills about the same and higher top speed. Remember we were riding 6 to 12 hr days almost full throttle the whole time, much smoother ride. Just my humble opinion not saying it the same experience for everyone. If we would have been able to stay on dirt the 13t was a better option, better throttle response and lower gear pulling.

The 14T is limited by engine power. The 13T is limited by engine revs. You pick your poison depending on the situation; on pavement, being limited to the top speed the engine can produce is a pretty big win. This is just my opinion, but there were only a handful of times on this trip where I hit top speed on the 13T (~7100 RPM, 4th gear, around 45 mph) on dirt.

I think the real benefit of the 13T on dirt is the gaps between gears 2 and 3 are smaller, and gear 1 engages just a smidge sooner. When you've buried a third of the rear wheel and you're seeing if Colin McRae's policy of "when in doubt go flat out" will work, the 13T is the only choice.

Additionally, the 13T / 14T sprocket change requires a thin wall 10mm and 8mm sockets in addition to the regular tools for changing a flat. So the penalty for carrying the sprocket and doing the swap is really only about 20 minutes if things go smoothly and a very small tool penalty. EDIT: I also found it a good idea after riding the dirt to open that panel up and clear out all the rocks that liked to hide there

 

[SneakyDingo]

Direct Costs
This is defined as the moment I picked my bike up from Las Cruces Motorsports until the moment I stepped foot inside my door earlier today. As expected, accommodation was the bulk of it.

Incidentals: Usually things like gatorade, cigarette lighters, but also including spark plugs and spare tubes - $176
Gas - $216
Food (explicitly restaurants and/or places that you are expected to tip) - $344 (including tips)
Fees (e.g. entry fees) - $65 (Teton + Yellowstone)
Accommodation - $1,710
---
Direct on-trip total: $2,491

---

Indirect on-trip total
Total: $1,413.88
This is defined as anything before the day I actually got my bike back. The flight ($238.90) + shipping the bike ($782.25) + Lyft from the airport to the location where the bike was stored ($80.89) + Las Cruces Motorsports servicing and holding the bike for me ($311.84)

I don't think it's fair to include this cost with the rest of the items. It will vary depending on where you live and how much time you have, but it should be acknowledged as a cost.

As a practical example, @bryanchurch06 drove a U-haul to the start line while I flew first class and had the bike shipped, because Las Cruces is 1700 mi from my house. However the finish line was just under 600 mi from my house, so I rode back (which was astronomically cheaper) while he is doing a round trip in the van to get the CT125 instead of shipping it from Kalispell via a shipper. The time-cost tradeoff here also factors in - it's cheaper to ride the bike than to u-haul it, just as it's cheaper to service the bike yourself than to have the mechanics do it, etc.

---

Other numbers that might be interesting to people
Total gasoline consumed: 26.119 gal
Total distance ridden: 2,791 mi (odometer at Las Cruces was 6679, at finish is 9470).
Average MPG: 106.86 mpg
Number of rear tires replaced [1]: 1
Number of inner tubes [2]: 2

[1] I could have made it on the same tire I started with, but because I knew someone in Helena I decided to throw a new tire on just because it would guarantee an easy confident ride home.
[2] Could have been zero if I didn't insist on taking Bo on an adventure through thorns; proper navigation would have avoided this, but that's why they call it an adventure.

 

[Shoot870p]

Well done, y’all. thanks for the updates and info.
congrats for sure.

 

[bryanchurch06]

Thanks, I'm not sure how happy I am with the end results looking back, lots of poor planning on my part despite lots of research, as for the actual riding I have some different experience, Sneakydingo and bo left me in Las cruces so I rode the first 600 miles alone, then I rode the last 300 miles alone due to Sneakydingo and I going to different towns in MT, also I skipped Yellowstone so about 200 miles there, so for over half the trip I was by myself which tbh was preferable in some ways. No disrespect to anyone it's just when you ride with someone you tie yourself to their style and limits, riding alone you don't feel bad about stopping more often or going faster or slower, on the other hand having a riding partner gives a sense of security if you have a breakdown, luckily I didn't have any. So am I happy with the trip? Do I feel I rode the CDT? there isn't an easy answer to that I'm afraid. I'm very disappointed in my planning for the trip, happy with my ability to recover from poor planning and make the best of it. The actual CDT trail? I can tell you honestly I rode every section I could due to weather or trail conditions, some sections I would not ride wet or dry, the terrain is just to rough and while it can be ridden on the ct125 it's not enjoyable in anyway I found, white knuckles the whole time. So did I ride the CDT? Let's say I rode border to border as close the the Continental divide as possible, I rode every paved section for sure and some dirt in every state, but I'm not claiming this as an official CDT ride imho. As I said earlier I do feel the trip could be done better with proper research and planning and way less gear carried all my failures. Second just being honest about the limitations of the ct125 on a trip like this, it's never going to be comfortable, tires are to small and suspension and travel is to limited to really soak up the bumps like a larger bike also distributing the weight is harder to. I'm still processing all this obviously so I may have some different opinions later but I doubt it, I finished it no matter what at the end that's the most important thing to me, I didn't quit no matter how many times I thought about it. In the end maybe that's what I was trying to find anyway? Can I still suck it up and drive on? Oh hell yeah!

 

[SneakyDingo]

After the first day, I took a hard look at what I wanted out of this trip, given the new information of what Bo was like, what Church was like. Bo turning up on the DR650 and Church barely being able to walk made me think, "we're not doing the CDT as I imagined we would."

At one point, @bryanchurch06 asked me, "Do you regret this?" and I said, "I 6 out of 10 regret it" - as in I regretted it slightly more than not doing it. With the miles in my helmet to think of this, I thought of the best analogy I have for me: the Bavarian Meats Spicy Landjäger. If you don't know what this is, it's a delicious cured meat sausage, dried for preservation, somewhat similar to a very fancy slim jims. The landjäger requires a lot of prep, a careful hand, and really knowing what you do otherwise they come out tasting like crap. The Bavarian Meat company really knows what they're doing... but unfortunately for me, their spicy landjäger contains something in it that gives me intense gastric distress, while simultaneously being so delicious it might as well be laced with cocaine.

So this trip being "spicy landjäger regret" was, "I know this is not going to be fun. I know this is going to cause me difficulties later. But oh man, this is gonna be great right now." That attitude helped make the trip enjoyable and something I'll look back on well in the future. Type 2 and Type 3 fun in many cases, if you're familiar with the term.

I wouldn't do it again on the CT125. I considered the reasons why, like "would you do this on a bare bones basic bike like the XR150L?" I think there's three big reasons, and Bryan and I had a chat about one of them with Bo - this ride really needs something that has suspension travel to enjoy the rutted out sections.

If you said, a CT125 with 12" of travel - I still wouldn't do it, because there were some sections that were actively dangerous due to the slower speeds of the bike. I shouldn't be riding it at 9/10ths of the bike's capability continuously. There's several times on this trip where I was riding at 10/10ths of what the bike's power could output - wide open throttle, for hours at a time. Not all the bikes are the same for wear, mods and various other reasons, and not riding at 10/10ths accounts for those differences and gives you room to go faster if you need to.

I think 6-8" of travel minimum, and the ability to do 70 mph loaded, and you've got yourself minspec for this trip in an enjoyable way. Bonus points for tires that can be easily sourced and carry enough fuel to miss a mandatory fuel stop and still be able to get to the next fuel station after the sh*tf*ckery that happened at Maybell Sinclair fuel station being closed for repairs. That being said, I also wouldn't do it on a BMW R1250 GS Adventure; there were several sections where the smaller, lighter bike really reigned supreme with its low gearing and easier riding. The rutted out, water channeled out sections that had 12" deep holes in them would have been a damn nightmare on the big GS. Something like a KTM 390 Adventure, DRZ400, CRF300L Rally, maybe the SWM RS300R with extra fuel, etc. - marginally heavier than the CT125, but light enough to manually pull out of a hole if your rear tire slipped in.

EDIT:
If I had to have just one item for the trip that I wish I had... a decent camera that I could snap photos while riding. My iPhone could not do it justice. There were several times on the trip where I also couldn't stop for safety but the scenery was gorgeous. Something to think about if you ever decide to do a big trip - if there's no shoulder, no stopping, but I want a photo, how do I resolve that? Bo had an answer with his GoPro. I did not.

 

[bryanchurch06]

It's a little disingenuous to ride over a thousand miles without me and then say my limits kept you from riding the way you wanted to ride? Every day we rode together you chose the same options I did, I'm very sorry if the portion of the trip we were together wasn't what you wanted, I'm man enough to apologize for it and make it up to you if I can, but let's not make things any different than they really were, I've taken responsibility for my failures here every step of the way. I have no intention to trash either you or bo on this forum or anywhere else. It is what it is, again I'm sorry for any bad experience you had caused by my mobility, that's all I'm going to say about this trip. In the end I did this for me, not the forum, youtube or anyone else. From yours and bo actions I assumed you had the same priorities. I wish both of you nothing but the best and thanks for the experiences. Bryan Church

 

[SneakyDingo]

I went in to this with an expectation of what it would be and adjusted it in the moment with any new information that came up - exactly like we'd talked about beforehand. It was no different to if there had been snow blocking the route.

I think it should also be really clear that expectations changing isn't a bad thing. I knew you had mobility issues but was very surprised to the degree of those issues, especially on a bike with a cramped seating position for a taller rider like the CT125. My concern went from, "Church is probably gonna have some trouble with technical trails" to, "Wow, Church might have more difficulty than I expected." Then I thought to myself... "... this isn't a bad thing. I will never be unhappy with looking back on this and knowing I did the thing that got me home safely."

I can point to at least 3 times, probably more, where changing the plan was a good thing to me.

• The closure of Bursum Rd, and again the desert section preceding Cuba, NM when we unexpectedly couldn't get accommodation - "I'm gonna roll with Church here because that's gonna be the right call in the moment, get there safely, get out of New Mexico coz I'm not really having that much fun here."
• Boreas Pass - "I don't really want to lead Church over this pass with that rain storm coming in and how muddy that is. Wait, if I wouldn't lead Church over this pass, why am I willing to put ME over this pass? Isn't that the thing I promised my girlfriend I wouldn't do?"
• Yellowstone. You'd seen Yellowstone before, and I had never seen it. You expressed you wanted to ride the alt section instead of the Yellowstone route. I was glad you did, the Yellowstone route with the heavy traffic was a moment that sucked.

Your limits kept me from riding the way I wanted to ride? More like your limits reminded me that the way I wanted to ride would probably have broken the bike and possibly/probably me too. Adjustments were made. I cannot regret that it turned out this way. Aside from wishing I camped more, I think this trip turned out pretty much the best it could have, and even that's not so bad since hotels meant I could wash my clothing every day.

 

[bryanchurch06]

HOME!
The trip is finally over for me, loaded the bike yesterday in Kalispell storage unit and just arrived in yankton, in some ways the 1200 miles with the bike hanging off the back of the van was the most stressful part of the trip. I'll list my final conclusions later. Good to be home.

 

[Shoot870p]

Good end. All parts from all riders arrived safe it appears.

 

[bryanchurch06]

The following post is based on my experiences and opinion only.
I have had several days since i took my pic at the canadian border to think about all this, i've been very upfront and critical of myself and my failures on this trip so in my final post id like to post a few things i felt went right 1st. My tire combo was excellent using the kenda 262 275x17 front and Shinko 244 300x17 rear worked great both on and off road and wore very well even with the heavy weights, i ran 28pds front and 33pds rear the whole trip. looking back i would have liked to have the 300 on front to for the sandy and muddy sections and lowered my psi a little on those sections as well. my choice of the Tusk dry duffel was good although i bought the large one and stuffed it full, i should have used the medium but the quality and price of the bag was top notch. My cactus canteen and fuel cell worked well, no leaks from either and easy to strap to the bike. I ran the stock chain and had minimal stretch, the 13 tooth sprocket worked well off road, i changed to it in Grants NM and rode it to W Yellowstone where i switched back to 14t, my tools were excessive i admit but i had everything i needed for the bike although i shipped quite a few home in WY for weight savings My yss suspension was a must i cannot imagine the stock suspension making the trip with the weight i had. I had 3 experience's where the universe helped me out when i really needed it, the 1st was in Las Cruces at the uhaul turn in, the owner helped unload the bike and upon realizing i had the wrong keys cleared out a space in his shop so i could store the bike overnight safely and opened 30min early the next morning to make sure someone would be there to accept my UPS overnight package, he was amazing with his offering of help and refused any money for them, i was beating myself up pretty well at this point so i really needed that. The 2nd was in Silver City NM on the 2nd day of my trip, i realized with the taller tires and extra weight my kickstand was to short and didn't hold the bike up except on level paved ground leading to the bike either falling over or almost falling each time i stopped, so when i got to Silver City i started calling welding shops with the hopes of using a welder to either lengthen or build up the foot a little, i was having no luck reaching anyone then saw i was less than a mile away from a shop on my maps, i took a chance and drove to it, when i arrived the owner was helping another client so i waited until they finished, when he saw what i needed he stopped everything he was doing, pulled me into the shop and welded a pad onto my kickstand to keep the bike upright, amazing quality of work to then refused any money for it and told me he had family in the next several towns and if i got in trouble give him a call and him or his family would help. I finally left 40 dollars for him and left feeling better about life for awhile. the last was in Kalispell i had finished my ride and was having no luck renting a truck or car even to get home, realizing i would have to store my bike i started calling storage units, no luck until i called Grizzly Storage, the lady working rented me a space for 2 weeks instead of paying for the whole month, loaned me a lock so i would not have to buy one and had her husband meet me the next day when i dropped off the bike and take me to the airport, and again refused my offers of money for the ride. without these experiences i have no idea what i would have done so thank you for your help, God Bless You. Now to the bad stuff

My biggest problems came from my planning and packing for this trip, i hate mud whether 4 wheels or 2 my experience in NM with it previous was enough to convince me to avoid it at all costs so in studying the weather i concluded the June 1st start was the best chance i had, worked great for NM not so much for CO, WY and MT were experiencing an early rainy season so i got really wet in CO and faced the threat of afternoon storms and unrideable off rode sections in those states. Packing was a nightmare for me, i brought everything i would need for any conceivable issue i could think of, not a smart idea on a 125 i was way overloaded and mailed stuff home on 2 occasions finishing with a very small pack and a 3rd of the tools i started with. The 3rd issue was just not fully understanding the bike i was on, riding locally on a bad dirt road or trail for a few miles is fun and adventures, riding 30 to 100 miles on bad roads miles from help well that's another story. I still contended the 125 is capable of making the whole trip no matter the conditions but would you really want to? i rode the section from Grants to Chama and can tell you i don't think i could have ridden that every day with the setup i had. For me that's the problem with the CDT trail and the 125 you need to be able to set it up for each section your planning, for the long paved sections which there are several you need 14t sprocket to keep the buzzing down and the factory tires work great on pavement, the knobbys work just not as good. then for the off road sections 13t sprocket and as large as possible knobbys and slow speeds basically tractor mode with minimal luggage if possible. that's the problem with this little expedition you can buy a stock bike and ride the CDT but your going to be pushing and walking a lot and god knows how long it would take and what condition the bike would be in at the end. Or you can buy a larger adventure bike that's good on road and off and not worry about it, which is the popular way to go and even those guy take detours because of weather and conditions. The best way to do this and if i were to do it again on a 125 would be to have a support vehicle which would make it easier for the off roads setups and limit the gear you carry, for me that would be optimal way. your opinions my be different if they are i suggest you give it a try and let me know what you think? I wish i had some great epiphany i could leave this with, some moral or anything that would make what i did make sense but like most great adventures at the end you just feel a little empty you're glad to be done but miss the painful routine of making miles everyday and then slowly it starts to fade away into just a few moments you remember and you have to think about it really hard to recall certain places or events. even now looking at a map im having a hard time recalling the route. maybe that's all we really get from life anyway in the end? A few cherished moments to remember and share with friends and family. Thank you everyone who offered support and encouragement along the way there were times i really needed it. God Bless you all Bryan Church.

 

[SneakyDingo]

• I second @bryanchurch06's choice with the Kenda 262 and the Shinko 244 combination. I went with the 2.5/3.0 combination and while it wouldn't have made the ride any easier, there would have been less anxiety over carrying spare inner tubes. I had to scramble to find a new spare front tire inner tube. I think the ability to carry a 2.75-3.00 tube would have substantially reduced that anxiety. I think that he had a slightly easier time on dirt.
  • I thought I could use Amazon Hub lockers along the way, but that ended up being a bust.
  • Bryan's bike also made more power than mine, possibly because of his exhaust. It was subtle but noticeable.
• The sign company that worked with Bryan was 10/10 top notch. I believe their name was Organ Mountain Graphix, and they deserve their 5 star rating.
  • I feel Las Cruces Motorsports was... 50/50 - about average for a dealership experience, maybe slightly below, but their reasoning was generally understandable.
• The kickstand extension Bryan had was something I was jealous of several times throughout the trip. I originally wanted to order one but they were out of stock, then 3D print one but ran out of time, and in the end ended up scrounging around looking for rocks and twigs to put under the bike.
• The 13T/14T switch was definitely a great idea. In the end, I managed to get it almost down to a science for switching between the two and under most hotel-parking-lot situations, could have made that switch much faster. In hindsight, I wish I'd been more willing to sit down and do the effort to switch back and forth between them. Bryan showed me a trick with a magnetic pickup to remove the retaining clip that I will use forever. Everything Bryan says about the 13T/14T comment I'd +1.
• I also think this could be a thoroughly enjoyable trip with a SAG vehicle. I think the costly aspect of renting such a vehicle can be offset by camping with enough people.
  • I looked into this at the start of this trip using a cargo Sprinter van, and the cost of the vehicle minus driver's needs is roughly $6-7k for 3 weeks in 2023 timeframe, about a third of that if you were to use a Jeep Wrangler. All of this assumes finding your own driver. Some of this can be offset with a beefy enough vehicle to carry a bike on the back and rotating out drivers and riders, or tying a bike down in the back of the van. I think about 6 riders with camping and you've got yourself a very, very reasonable approach to doing this trip with ease.
  • I've done this before in 2016; our driver Dirt was responsible for making sure our accommodation was sorted, food was ready, handling logistics, etc. It's hard to express just how good an experience this would be, and would 10/10 do it again if given the opportunity.

Other things...

• Almost every place accepted credit cards and many accepted tap-and-go. I only used cash in two or three locations to leave a tip, and to speed up our exit from the place when service was slower than desired.
• Spares were incredibly hard to find on route. Engine oil and inner tubes were the ones I was often looking at. There's only two Honda dealers on route, I think that goes up to 3 or 4 once you decide to detour at least 100 mi each way, and those aren't always stocked either. For example, I'd seriously consider making the choice to switch to the Motul synthetic engine oil because every store I asked at had some, while none had GN4 - even ones that sold Hondas.
• Inner tubes take way more space in luggage than you'd expect

 

[Shoot870p]

good debriefs. Thank y’all.

 

[Kritou]

• I second @bryanchurch06's choice with the Kenda 262 and the Shinko 244 combination. I went with the 2.5/3.0 combination and while it wouldn't have made the ride any easier, there would have been less anxiety over carrying spare inner tubes. I had to scramble to find a new spare front tire inner tube. I think the ability to carry a 2.75-3.00 tube would have substantially reduced that anxiety. I think that he had a slightly easier time on dirt.
  • I thought I could use Amazon Hub lockers along the way, but that ended up being a bust.
  • Bryan's bike also made more power than mine, possibly because of his exhaust. It was subtle but noticeable.
• The sign company that worked with Bryan was 10/10 top notch. I believe their name was Organ Mountain Graphix, and they deserve their 5 star rating.
  • I feel Las Cruces Motorsports was... 50/50 - about average for a dealership experience, maybe slightly below, but their reasoning was generally understandable.
• The kickstand extension Bryan had was something I was jealous of several times throughout the trip. I originally wanted to order one but they were out of stock, then 3D print one but ran out of time, and in the end ended up scrounging around looking for rocks and twigs to put under the bike.
• The 13T/14T switch was definitely a great idea. In the end, I managed to get it almost down to a science for switching between the two and underover most hotel-parking-lot situations, could have made that switch much faster. In hindsight, I wish I'd been more willing to sit down and do the effort to switch back and forth between them. Bryan showed me a trick with a magnetic pickup to remove the retaining clip that I will use forever. Everything Bryan says about the 13T/14T comment I'd +1.
• I also think this could be a thoroughly enjoyable trip with a SAG vehicle. I think the costly aspect of renting such a vehicle can be offset by camping with enough people.
  • I looked into this at the start of this trip using a cargo Sprinter van, and the cost of the vehicle minus driver's needs is roughly $6-7k for 3 weeks in 2023 timeframe, about a third of that if you were to use a Jeep Wrangler. All of this assumes finding your own driver. Some of this can be offset with a beefy enough vehicle to carry a bike on the back and rotating out drivers and riders, or tying a bike down in the back of the van. I think about 6 riders with camping and you've got yourself a very, very reasonable approach to doing this trip with ease.
  • I've done this before in 2016; our driver Dirt was responsible for making sure our accommodation was sorted, food was ready, handling logistics, etc. It's hard to express just how good an experience this would be, and would 10/10 do it again if given the opportunity.

Other things...

• Almost every place accepted credit cards and many accepted tap-and-go. I only used cash in two or three locations to leave a tip, and to speed up our exit from the place when service was slower than desired.
• Spares were incredibly hard to find on route. Engine oil and inner tubes were the ones I was often looking at. There's only two Honda dealers on route, I think that goes up to 3 or 4 once you decide to detour at least 100 mi each way, and those aren't always stocked either. For example, I'd seriously consider making the choice to switch to the Motul synthetic engine oil because every store I asked at had some, while none had GN4 - even ones that sold Hondas.
• Inner tubes take way more space in luggage than you'd expect

Do you think a conversion to tubeless would have eased your concerns over on-bike storage and logistics?

 

[SneakyDingo]

Do you think a conversion to tubeless would have eased your concerns over on-bike storage and logistics?

Good question. I should note - the amount of space they take up is surprisingly large, but it's not a substantial portion of the luggage. Resupply was the bigger problem for sure, and I think that holds for every bike tire size now, even road bikes.

Companies are just less likely to carry all sizes, but if you're riding a super common platform like a KLR650, DRZ400, CRF300L, or any bike using a tire size that shares those tires, then your chances of resupply go up substantially. I know that I check the tires and tubes section of my local Cyclegear every time I'm in there, and they've only ever had 2 tubes total in the 10'ish visits I've been there, and that's kind of the problem I was running into as I called around for spares. I was flat out told by one motorsports company that they don't carry ANY tubes.

I would have been able to get by with the spaghetti string kit instead and realistically, the punctures that were caused were caused by thorns, which I know will be sealed if you're using a slime sealant inside the tire as well. Removing the thorn from the outer casing probably would have been sufficient to allow the slime to take over and do its thing. I'd still need to carry tubes, but it's easier to acquire slime and string kits than it is to get new inner tubes and tires.

Edit: having a more predictable route, a slower pace, etc. would have allowed me to ship stuff ahead, and one of the reasons for having all CT125's on the trip was sharing spares as well. So there were steps we took to mitigate this problem, and it never really was an actual problem, but it was a difficulty I'd like to recognize.

 

[Kritou]

Good question. I should note - the amount of space they take up is surprisingly large, but it's not a substantial portion of the luggage. Resupply was the bigger problem for sure, and I think that holds for every bike tire size now, even road bikes.

Companies are just less likely to carry all sizes, but if you're riding a super common platform like a KLR650, DRZ400, CRF300L, or any bike using a tire size that shares those tires, then your chances of resupply go up substantially. I know that I check the tires and tubes section of my local Cyclegear every time I'm in there, and they've only ever had 2 tubes total in the 10'ish visits I've been there, and that's kind of the problem I was running into as I called around for spares. I was flat out told by one motorsports company that they don't carry ANY tubes.

I would have been able to get by with the spaghetti string kit instead and realistically, the punctures that were caused were caused by thorns, which I know will be sealed if you're using a slime sealant inside the tire as well. Removing the thorn from the outer casing probably would have been sufficient to allow the slime to take over and do its thing. I'd still need to carry tubes, but it's easier to acquire slime and string kits than it is to get new inner tubes and tires.

Edit: having a more predictable route, a slower pace, etc. would have allowed me to ship stuff ahead, and one of the reasons for having all CT125's on the trip was sharing spares as well. So there were steps we took to mitigate this problem, and it never really was an actual problem, but it was a difficulty I'd like to recognize.

Thanks for your response and explantion. As a matter of interest I inflated one of my now redundant oem tubes to 33psi and the result does make me wonder why so much importance is attached to matching tube size to tyre …


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[SneakyDingo]

Yeah, it's hard to think of it until you consider that the tire casing will give it shape, and what's going on inside the tire casing.

Having the proper size inner tube for the tire is important for performance and preventing pinches. If you install a 110 inner tube in a 100 tire, the excess rubber will render it susceptible to being pinched with the tire irons. An inner tube that is too small for a given tire will have to be overinflated to make up the difference in size. Overinflation weakens the ability of the inner tube to resist damage. It is possible to run a smaller tube to save weight, but it isn’t recommended.

Source: https://motocrossactionmag.com/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-inner-tubes/

Realistically, if I got stranded with my 2.50-17 front tire being flat and all I have is a 3.00-17, the 3.00 is going in and I'm not going to think too hard about that other than "can I patch the previous tube?" And if that went out, I'd resort to bushcraft of stuffing whatever I can in there to keep the rim from getting dinged, but also being able to roll out of there. In Australia, there was a bush series where they even shoved the Aussie equivalent of spinifex in there and ran it without a tube at all.

Using the wrong size tube is not recommended though. There's also a certain amount of folding that can occur inside the tire if you're unlucky and/or trying to use a 18 inner tube in a 17 rim. For bicycles, they generally recommend plus or minus one tire width is about the maximum limit for the same reason, but the installation of most bicycle tires is substantially easier and less pinch prone than motorcycle tires (due to the more flexible sidewalls). So for example, if you had a 700x28-32 tube, and you're trying to put that in a 700x35 or a 700x25 tire, it generally isn't a problem. Having done that before multiple times, I'm better off stuffing a slightly smaller tube into a slightly larger tire as I've had better results with that statistically, but I'd probably keep the speed low until I could get an actual fix going - not a problem on this bike, but been a consideration point on all my other motorcycles.