USA Postie Coast to Coastie

[dmonkey]

2023.09.21 Cannonball content

When my dad had stopped to help Jared with his flat tire, the wind blew his JD off the rear center stand. It turned out the stand had lost a nut and lock washer. The result of the tip-over was bent handlebars, a bent fender, broken pivot screw on front brake lever (at left hand grip), and some scrape marks on the rear top box. Luckily the rear rack was already broken otherwise this may have broken it! Nothing that took the bike out of commission though he had an annoying rest of the ride due to the rear stand not being reliable. The front fender was already pretty beat up so there was no harm in bending it back into place. He was able to get another rider to help bend the handlebars back to a state good enough for use.

The aftermarket front brake lever broke at the pivot screw rather than the lever itself so we drilled into the broken remains of the screw and then turned it out saving the thread. It being an aftermarket part used metric screws and I had bought a few spares and different lengths when we first fitted it to the motorcycle, so luckily we had those along for the ride in the support trailer.


My dad's approach to tools and spare parts is similar to the approach I use for building a travel tool kit. He set aside most of the tools and spare hardware used when building the motorcycle over the past half a year, and then loaded that into the trailer. Meaning there's literally a bucket of nuts, bolts, and washers from the garage along for the trip. That bucket of hardware came in handy for finding a replacement nut and lock washer for the rear center stand.


The excess oil is from the timing chest cover, we sealed it as best we could but it's still leaking profusely and on the list of things to address more permanently after the trip. For now the oil pump is adjusted perfectly to offset the oil loss. The worst of it is that the oil makes the rear brake less effective than it already was.

Unfortunately the Peugeot Griffon, one of my favorite oddball underdogs, is out of the event. The crankshaft appears to have had a failure that permitted the piston to travel part way out the bottom of the cylinder, a piston ring expanded when it wasn't restricted by the cylinder wall anymore, and the top end locked up stuck on that piston ring at the bottom of the stroke. Don is going to get started on pulling the motor to send back to France for a rebuild. A notable feature of this motorcycle is the unit construction of the engine and transmission being in the same cases same as most modern motorcycles.



One of the Harley-Davidson Model JD bikes ground through some gears today, pieces of those gears are in the sludge on the shop rag next to the bike. Her support team had swapped a different gearbox into the bike in no time at all.

 

[dmonkey]

2023.09.22
Henderson, NV to Lake Havasu, AZ

I started this trip with a new IRC GP-5 tire mounted on the rear of the Trail 125. At around 3,000 miles it hit the wear indicator. It's now at about 3,500 miles, looking very square, and slowly wearing toward zero tread depth. With the lack of tread depth, the tire is more susceptible to puncture so I decided to strap the spare onto the bike. I'm now carrying a spare rear tire, a spare tube, an electic tire inflator, tire spoons, tire pressure gauge, valve stem puller, and a regular toolkit - so everything I would need to change a tire and tube. Realistically if that happened anywhere risky, I wouldn't deal with it on the side of a highway. I'd use a different tool, my cellphone, and get picked up and the bike hauled to the hotel for the night so I can change it in a low stress and low risk environment. That's a clear advantage of being "supported" on this trip, and riding with a group of people who are extremely friendly. There are a lot of fans of the Honda Trail and myself in this event which is a great feeling, and it's mutual as I'm a huge fan of some of the staff, riders, and their crews.

Catching a wave headed toward Hoover Dam


Got a good look at the Hoover Dam from the Great Basin Highway and was on my way. I skipped the detour to ride over the dam. Apparently Olivier the photographer got off his motorcycle to take a photograph while waiting at the security checkpoint and was ticketed $80 for parking... so I felt good about my decision, that's the type of thing I'm fine with avoiding. Even with the low water levels I don't trust Clark Griswold's gum repair to be holding that dam together.

Back on "The Mother Road", Route 66, in Kingman, Arizona. I was here about the same time last year on my Moto Guzzi V7.


The Cannonball Run had a stop at Mother Road Harley-Davidson, so I swung by to pick up a poker chip. Right as I was unmounting the Postie bike I was approached by a gentleman who let me know he had just purchased a green 2023 Trail and would have ridden it over had he known there would be other Hondas at the Harley shop. If you're on this forum, I hope the new Trail is treating you well!

Mother Road Harley-Davidson also sell other makes as Route 66 Motorsports. They had a decent Honda miniMOTO selection but no Trails on the sales floor. I tried egging a few people on telling them they could leave on a 2023 Honda Super Cub and speed right by my Honda Trail.


An interesting Route 66 mural. I like the roadrunner doing its namesake run across the road. Meep meep!


A view from Sitgreaves Pass View Point on the Arizona Sidewinder.


The "Arizona Sidewinder" is a section of Oatman Highway, which is part of Historic Route 66. It's narrow, doesn't have shoulders, lacks guard rails where you might want them, has plenty of hairpins, and isn't a well manicured road. I feel like it's a great fit of a road for the Honda Trail and I had a lot of fun riding it.


Oatman, Arizona is an old mining settlement that boasts more burros than people. There are actors who stage robberies in old west outfits and gunfight in the street.


This Henderson had a sidecar slapped on it without really being set up for it, so the bike hauled fine in a straight line but had a lot of trouble turning. All through the twisties it went at really low speed, but entertained any vehicles stuck behind it as the woman played sidecar monkey and leaned out of the sidecar in each direction throwing her weight around to help manage the turns. When she wasn't monkeying around she was taking spectacular photos from the sidecar.


The Little Red Donkey met a long lost sibling!


Leaving Oatman for Lake Havasu City the road was in much better shape than it was last year. Last year there sand had washed out the road at the bottom of some dips causing at least one motorcycle to crash.


The casualty of the day for my ride was the double sided tape on my Chin Mounts action camera setup. The rough roads and the hot weather caused the camera to droop, luckily I caught it before it completely detatched. When I arrived in Lake Havasu City I stopped at a hardware store and picked up some replacement tape before heading over to "London Bridge" where the Cannonball Run motorcycles were on display.

 

[dmonkey]

2023.09.22 Cannonball content

A thumbs up from Robbie. Their Indian Twin has been having a lot of issues so he's going to pedal it across the starting line so that it technically starts the day, but then they're skipping the miles and hauling the bike to tonight's hotel to do more work on it. Their team's focus at this point is to get the bike sorted out for the final day's ride as crossing the finish line is a priority for them more than the miles in between.


My dad and his JD ready for another day of riding.


This was at the end of the day, the bikes on display in the rain at London Bridge. Keep this Meray in mind, there's another photo of it coming up.


Victor is 80 years-old and has owned this 1914 Harley-Davidson 10E for 50 of those years. He is the oldest participant in the event, just a little older than Brian with the Henderson who is also 80 years-old. Victor has somewhat done every Motorcycle Cannonball Run. Though he says he missed the first one I think he explained that he later got the route and did it on his own. His motorcycle has a lot of minimalist customizations for cross country touring. If you notice that there is a tool bag instead of a headlight, that's because a factory headlight isn't of much practical use. The motorcycle is equipped with bicycle lights that get recharged each night. The fuel tank has too small of a filler hole for modern gas pumps, so he's added a secondary fuel tank on the rear rack (under the red spare fuel tank) and plumbed it into the main tank where the front gets filled through the rear. He keeps handwritten notes on a small clipboard and has various rubber bands on hand for reminders and attaching things. There is a wooden coat hanger broken into a wedge under the rear center stand that he uses to park the motorcycle level on uneven surfaces.


Here is his latest customization. The engine threw a pushrod and because it's different than the pushrods on later J and JD models nobody in the event has any spares that would fit his early pocket valve Harley, so he whittled a twig to fill the void and secured it in place with a rubber band. The valve springs are so light on this early model engine that the intake valve still functions as an atmospheric valve, even without the intake pushrod actuating it. Victor knows his bike well!


On the interstate a few days earlier I tailed him so we'd have safety in numbers as cars passed. Later he heard me refer to the Honda Trail as a "little bike" and interrupted to say that my "moped" does 50 miles per hour and there's nothing little about that. He has a family member interested in buying an adventure bike and said he's going to recommend the Honda Trail to them instead.

Here's a rotary air tool being used to decarbon a valve with some lapping compound.


This is the Hungarian Meray from earlier. I am incredibly impressed by how involved of repairs this guy has been doing on this motorcycle, and yet it is road ready again the next day. I believe the bracket for the generator broke, so he made a new one but had trouble fitting it so he's drilling out the holes by hand with the engine flopping around on the ground. He showed me the new bracket, pointed to the engine, and then said "Holes too small."


Alex put a different cylinder on his Indian single, from a different model year, and found that the replacement cylinder is actually taller causing an even lower compression ratio than the already low compression ratio it had before. He's going to try again to get the previous cylinder to work. The issue with it was that when the engine broke a valve the valve head bounced around and beat up the cylinder wall pretty good.


Luckily he has a large assortment of original rings to try after honing the cylinder again. I had to remember when my last tetanus shot was just looking at this parts stash.


Cris, being interviewed by JJ the filmographer. Cris is with Patina Garage from Italy and France and his team have multiple motorcycles in the event. They put a lot of time, effort, and money into this international group trip and are absolutely having a blast. Chris says I am their team's mascot and they love seeing the Honda Trail go by. In the interview he apologized to all Americans for how they ride their motorcycles. They are not used to "queueing" like Americans do. In Europe when there is room for their motorcycles they ride between vehicles, and when there is a stop light but no cars coming they stop and then proceed through the light. People have been shocked by this and honked at them, to which they wave and shout "Ciao!" cheerfully back at the person.

 

[dmonkey]

2023.09.23
Lake Havasu, AZ to Palm Desert, CA

It was a nice ride in the morning following the Colorado River out of Arizona and into California. Here's the river just before Parker Dam, so maybe it's actually Lake Havasu still at this point.


Just when I thought Oatman was going to be the last jackasses I saw on this trip, around Parker Dam a pickup truck pulling two jetskis on a trailer in front of me lost a charcoal grill from the bed of the truck. It hit the road and spread across the lane almost taking me out. I honked and waved at them for the next several miles trying to get them to pull over so I could tell them they lost their grill and should go back and pick it off the road, but they were oblivious and eventually I couldn't keep up with them and didn't want to risk more items falling out of their truck in front of me.

California! Last state of the trip.




Video from a stretch of CA-62

http://imgur.com/JuLWDVN

A signpost in the middle of nowhere, Twentynine Palms, California


The Honda Trail is not very happy in the Mojave Desert today. I was running it at wide open throttle and it bogged down a bit and was losing power so I pulled over and checked the oil level. The oil level is fine. I've been running Honda Pro HP4 10w-40 semi-synthetic for the trip. I decided to give the bike a chance to cool thinking it might be overheating even though it's been ridden harder on hotter days in Colorado. Luckily there was an abandoned gas station to park in the shade of so I didn't overheat while waiting for the bike to cool down.


On to the next gas stop and now that I'm in California I'm making use of my Gascard from Aerostich. It slides beneath the boot of the vapor recovery nozzle so you don't have to fight it while filling up a fuel tank that it can't seal to.


Last National Park of the trip, Joshua Tree.


Just a bunch of hardcore adventure motorcyclists picking up souvenir stickers at the visitor center. They were heading East rather than West and were very enthusiastic when I told them I rode here from Virginia Beach, Virginia.


It's properly desert hot today so I've also been getting a drink at each stop and soaking the buff that I wear around my neck with water to keep me cool.

 

[dmonkey]

2023.09.23 Cannonball content

This 1929 Harley-Davidson JDH belongs to David who runs The Harley City Collection in Australia. The fenders are original paint with the fuel tank painted to match very closely, and being the twin-cam high performance version of the Harley-Davidson JD motorcycle it is a speed demon on top of being a beautiful machine.


Here's Chris excited for another day of riding on his 100 year-old 1923 Harley-Davidson Model J. He's very friendly and has been a great wealth of information teaching me and my dad the things he's learned about these early Harleys.


JJ the videographer and rice farmer. Anytime he rides by me he shouts "Hey biker!" and he comes up and warns strangers who are talking to me that I'm an outlaw biker, lol. He might be one of the most skilled riders I've met. He's the one who sets cruise control on his motorcycle and then rolls past other motorcyclists while looking at his camera's screen or lens instead of on the road. Sometimes he drags a foot for balance. I tried riding his BMW R 18 Transcontinental and literally could not get it off the kickstand on my own. It's listed as 942 lbs, and it carries it very heavy when stopped. Much harder to manage than a 5th or 6th gen Gold Wing, though the 6th gen carries its weight incredibly well.


I put the last of my quarters for laundry into a dryer that was broken, so ended up hanging my wash outside to dry. Luckily it didn't take any time at all to dry in Palm Desert. About a year into living in Colorado I had learned that dryers weren't necessary there, you can just hang your clothes to dry and with radiator heating indoors you can dry clothes inside in the winter and not need to run a humidifier.


My dad had some footwear issues today, another casualty of the heat. Unlike many of the motorcycles from the teens, he's not dragging his feet for brakes.


Ryan, one of the event staff, having a blast helping work on someone's bike. He was rewiring the ignition system. He's one of the experts at roadside and parking lot repairs. His goal during the event is to keep riders moving, keep riders on course, and keep riders enjoying themselves.


Another Honda Trail! This is actually one of Doc's bikes out running an errand.


The gentlemen from Patina Garage cook a dinner outside each night and invite others to join them. Tonight they even roped in some other hotel guests who had no idea what the Motorcycle Cannonball Run event is. They piqued their interest by offering authentic Italian spaghetti cooked by authentic Italians.


Cris can be seen on the right side of this photo pronouncing "Kraft" in his thickest Italian accent trying to convince others that the parmesan cheese is also Italian.


Jared on the right here has been working hard every night with the rider of the bike, Tyler. I think there may have been one or two days that the 1920 Harley-Davidson Model J didn't break down and end up on a sweep trailer. They made a "reserved seat" sign for Tyler in the van that pulls the second sweep trailer. They are incredibly persistent, each night they put in the work to get the bike running again the next day. Before working on this model J neither of them had worked on anything that old.




It turned out that quite a few other motorcycles had issues today and they attributed it to bad gas rather than just the heat. Maybe that's what caused the Honda Trail to bog down.

 

[dmonkey]

2023.09.24
Palm Desert, CA to Oceanside, CA
Part 1

Jonas of Peg Leg Speed Shop ready to finish his ride to the Pacific Ocean today. Since his Moto Guzzi broke a valve early in the event he's been riding this Harley-Davidson VL purchased at Wheels Through Time and he's really grown to love it.


Team Butts ready to roll.


My dad on his JD, notice the change of footwear


The day started off with a ride on CA-74, Palms to Pines Highway, which is a great scenic route and quite a mountain climb. There were many other motorcyclists out riding it, and a group of sports cars out for a cruise on it.




Here's a view from Coachella Valley Vista Point


I did a double take and then turned around after passing by Ricardo Breceda Gallery & Sculpture Garden. Had to see these rusty works of art up close.






Tim, who runs Classic Motorcycle Consignments, insisted that I crash the lunch stop of Doffo Winery. He said that I would really like the MotoDoffo motorcycle collection. Here are the Motorcycle Cannonball Run bikes on display in the parking lot along with other motorcyclists out to enjoy MotoDoffo and see the antique bikes.

 

[dmonkey]

2023.09.24
Palm Desert, CA to Oceanside, CA
Part 2 - MotoDoffo in Temecula, CA

Tim was absolutely right. Wineries and bars aren't my place, but MotoDoffo really is something else. I enjoyed the collection of oddball vintage motorcycles. Most of them were European but there were some American and Japanese bikes as well. This is a collection worth going out of your way to see!

Marcelo's 1947 Moto Guzzi GTW 500 with the iconic "deli slicer" external flywheel, imported from Argentina.


Great shaded outdoor seating with a view over the vineyard.


Of course MotoGP is on every screen in the place.


Motorcycle parts and memorbilia are another great piece of the collection.











Grapes in the vineyard.

 

[dmonkey]

2023.09.24
Palm Desert, CA to Oceanside, CA
Part 3

My friend RoKo does a thing where she takes photos of people taking photos, it's rubbed off onto me so here's a photo of Olivier taking a photo of Marcelo, the proprietor of Doffo Winery, Victor, the 80 year-old Englishman who keeps on cannonballing, and Jason, the organizer of the Motorcycle Cannonball Run.


My reliable steed.


Again I don't have the course that the Motorcycle Cannonball Riders follow, so leaving the winery I followed my Garmin with "avoid highways" set and it turns out that Garmin doesn't care about gated communities or private roads Instead of putting me on i-15, which was reasonable since I told it not to, it had me keep on going on Rancho California Rd and brought me down some private roads not much more than a single lane wide at points with warnings to proceed at your own risk. I thought I was in for a misadventure, but it ended up being a beautiful route along small farms and mountain residences.




The event was on its third finish line change. Originally the grand finale was supposed to be at Huntington Beach. I don't think the permits went through for that so it was moved to Oceanside Pier, but then there was a conflict with Super Girl Pro, the world's largest women's surfing competition. The event organizers ended up doing what they do best: improvise, adapt, and overcome. With some last minute route changes they had the motorcycles ride down to Oceanside Pier, and then ride back to Josh's Boars Nest Choppers for the checkered flag.

Upon arriving at Boars Nest Choppers I spotted a familiar plate and Moto Guzzi, my friend Cait rode out to meet me and see the Cannonball motorcycles. She came bearing gifts of a Honda shirt and stickers from a recent press event she attended, and I traded her a Moto Guzzi shirt from Peg Leg Speed Shop. My aunt also drove out to see me and my dad at the finish and took some photos which was great because I was a bit overwhelmed with finishing the ride and didn't take many.


My dad crossing the finish line. He got all his miles and completed his first Motorcycle Cannonball Run! I'm very proud of him.


Inside Boars Nest Choppers


We loaded the motorcycles back into the trailer to haul them back to Illinois.

There was a final award ceremony at Mission Pacific Hotel and a bittersweet end to riding and working on motorcycles all day.


Todd Cameron won first place in the event with his 1909 Indian single motorcycle. He got perfect miles without having any break downs that resulted in ending up on a sweep trailer. 30 of the 77 motorcycles in the event also got all their miles. The scoring factors for him winning were the handicap of the motorcycle that he was riding. At 1909 it was the oldest motorcycle to complete the event this year. Those riders on the early single cylinder motorcycles really put in the work for the event. For context my dad placed at number #18 with getting all the miles on his 1927 Harley-Davidson JD. One of the reasons my dad was happy to have found a JD is that it's a very capable motorcycle and a fairly reliable choice for the event if it's built and maintained correctly. Parts are also more available and reproduced than they are for some of the other makes and models, though that's not to say that they're affordable or come in a condition that is ready for installation.
Todd tore down his bike's engine each night to inspect it, remove carbon, lap the valves, etc. Like most people in this event he's very friendly. In Colorado Springs his support crew weren't around so he asked me to help him pull the valves from his engine. It was a two-person operation to compress the spring and then remove the retainer by hand. Pretty cool to be asked to help work on someone else's bike. Many people are understandably not open to that.

Our hotel was next to the house from Top Gun, which was actually physically moved to this location. People had fun sitting on the replica of Maverick's 1985 Kawasaki GPZ900R, and they also had fun cracking jokes about Tom Cruise.


Here's a view of Oceanside Pier and the Pacific Ocean from the next morning.


This trip was an absolute blast and I'm happy to have been able to share another long distance motorcycle ride with my dad. When he first asked me to come along as part of his support crew I thought that I might ride my Moto Guzzi since that's what I was touring on last year, but when I realized the pace of the event I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take the Honda Trail cross country at a much more comfortable pace than the Scooter Cannonball. It ended up working out great. There was always some time to stop and see a bit of the sights along the way without running out of daylight. The longest days being around 300 miles were comfortable even if some of them got a bit boring. All of the antique motorcycles were awesome, as was going on a slow tour of this beautiful country, but the best part of the ride were the people. I've gained some new friends and really enjoyed learning from others, hearing wild stories, learning about different cultures from those who traveled internationally for this event, and just the great company and hospitality of others.

I don't think I'm quite ready to buy or borrow a bike and sign up to actually participate in the next Motorcycle Cannonball Run, but I've definitely caught the bug and the Cross Country Chase has my interest. We'll see! Right now I have an international trip planned that might conflict in 2024.

 

[SneakyDingo]

I really enjoyed reading this. Congrats to your dad and all the Cannonball finishers, looks like they all had a blast and it's really awesome to see the bikes and hear the stories. The organizers did a great job and also deserve a big pat on the back.

A few things caught my eye in this last roundup - the bogging down and bad fuel, we experienced that on the CDT, Bryan's bike lost a lot of power and struggled to maintain 45 when he got a donation jerry can from a (ironically) HD rider at a gas station that was closed for maintenance.

That Aussie owned '29 JDH was gorgeous. I imagine something that's got that much attention and love also probably didn't have many issues with it too, or if they did, they were resolved fairly easily.

That 'stitch gas card is very interesting. Might have to have a crack at making one of my own and seeing if it's useful at all at the local pumps.

 

[Shoot870p]

Excellent report! Congrats to you and your dad as well as all the other participants and supporters. What a ride.

 

[dmonkey]

Thanks!

A few things caught my eye in this last roundup - the bogging down and bad fuel, we experienced that on the CDT, Bryan's bike lost a lot of power and struggled to maintain 45 when he got a donation jerry can from a (ironically) HD rider at a gas station that was closed for maintenance.

I was very relieved when the bogging down went away, and that's another reason I think it may have just been bad fuel. The Postie bike is due for some maintenance now so I'll be checking things out just in case. I also plan to look inside the JD cylinders with a borescope.

That Aussie owned '29 JDH was gorgeous. I imagine something that's got that much attention and love also probably didn't have many issues with it too, or if they did, they were resolved fairly easily.

The '29 JDH ran great. David used to own a Harley dealership and his collection includes some vintage race bikes that still compete. That's to say him and his crew were well equipped in knowledge and resources to have the bike well sorted out. Being used to utes, their team's support vehicle was just a crew cab pickup truck where they loaded everything into the bed of the truck. They bought some vintage parts for various bikes while in the states and were very excited to fit them into the crate with the JDH to ship back to Australia.

That 'stitch gas card is very interesting. Might have to have a crack at making one of my own and seeing if it's useful at all at the local pumps.

Let me know if you do, I'd be interested to see a DIY one. The ABS one works great, but it flexes a bit so I'm unsure how it would hold up with frequent use.

 

[SneakyDingo]

The '29 JDH ran great. David used to own a Harley dealership and his collection includes some vintage race bikes that still compete. That's to say him and his crew were well equipped in knowledge and resources to have the bike well sorted out. Being used to utes, their team's support vehicle was just a crew cab pickup truck where they loaded everything into the bed of the truck. They bought some vintage parts for various bikes while in the states and were very excited to fit them into the crate with the JDH to ship back to Australia.

Not gonna lie, with how much stuff costs there, that might have been the primary reason to come to the USA .

Let me know if you do, I'd be interested to see a DIY one. The ABS one works great, but it flexes a bit so I'm unsure how it would hold up with frequent use.

The DIY one I was thinking of doing would be out of PLA, which is stiffer (and easier to print with), but stiffer can also mean more brittle. ABS is known to be way more flexible. Ideally PETG would be the right material, since that's actually gasoline safe, but it's also a pain to print with.

 

[dmonkey]

I was finally able to find an application (GpsPrune) that can open the large 455 MB .gpx track recording file from my Garmin Zumo XT. There are some gaps in the history from riding with the GPS device off, but at this level of detail it isn't noticeable. The elevation profile is to be read left to right while the trip path was right to left (East to West). Lesson learned for future trip recordings: end the trip each day and start a new one to reduce individual file sizes.

 

[Kev250R]

What a great adventure! Thank you for taking the time to write it up and for all the pics!

I live ~90 Mins from Oceanside and had considered coming-down to meet you at the finish, but was out of town that weekend. Regardless that sounds like it was quite a ride! Congrats!!

 

[nofreeways]

Just an incredible read thank you for posting. I look forward to getting out there on my CT.

 

[fernf5]

Yes, thanks for bringing us along on the trip. Really appreciate all the effort you have put into documenting the journey. Priceless memory's for you and your Dad. Well done!

 

[G19Tony]

2023.09.23
Lake Havasu, AZ to Palm Desert, CA

It was a nice ride in the morning following the Colorado River out of Arizona and into California. Here's the river just before Parker Dam, so maybe it's actually Lake Havasu still at this point.
View attachment 7756

Just when I thought Oatman was going to be the last jackasses I saw on this trip, around Parker Dam a pickup truck pulling two jetskis on a trailer in front of me lost a charcoal grill from the bed of the truck. It hit the road and spread across the lane almost taking me out. I honked and waved at them for the next several miles trying to get them to pull over so I could tell them they lost their grill and should go back and pick it off the road, but they were oblivious and eventually I couldn't keep up with them and didn't want to risk more items falling out of their truck in front of me.

California! Last state of the trip.
View attachment 7757

View attachment 7758

Video from a stretch of CA-62

http://imgur.com/JuLWDVN

A signpost in the middle of nowhere, Twentynine Palms, California
View attachment 7759

The Honda Trail is not very happy in the Mojave Desert today. I was running it at wide open throttle and it bogged down a bit and was losing power so I pulled over and checked the oil level. The oil level is fine. I've been running Honda Pro HP4 10w-40 semi-synthetic for the trip. I decided to give the bike a chance to cool thinking it might be overheating even though it's been ridden harder on hotter days in Colorado. Luckily there was an abandoned gas station to park in the shade of so I didn't overheat while waiting for the bike to cool down.
View attachment 7760

On to the next gas stop and now that I'm in California I'm making use of my Gascard from Aerostich. It slides beneath the boot of the vapor recovery nozzle so you don't have to fight it while filling up a fuel tank that it can't seal to.
View attachment 7761

Last National Park of the trip, Joshua Tree.
View attachment 7762

Just a bunch of hardcore adventure motorcyclists picking up souvenir stickers at the visitor center. They were heading East rather than West and were very enthusiastic when I told them I rode here from Virginia Beach, Virginia.
View attachment 7763

It's properly desert hot today so I've also been getting a drink at each stop and soaking the buff that I wear around my neck with water to keep me cool.
View attachment 7764

View attachment 7765

On the SCB, my bike had trouble climbing into the park from the opposite direction. It would stall, but not quit completely. Surprisingly, once we climbed a little bit, and it cooled off a degree or two, the postie was fine.

Thanks for taking us along. It was very cool, and great pictures, too. Man, I thought we were badass riding modern scooters across the country. But those old cats take the cake. Congratulations to your Dad and everyone the participated. That's quite a feat!

 

[dmonkey]

Postie post-tour details
Part 1
With stock gearing and OEM tires the tripmeter clocked 4,005 miles for this coast-to-coast ride. My Postie's engine is stock bore and has the factory cam.

Fuel
42.19 gallons total
$179.23 total
~95 mpg average for the trip
Much of the riding was at wide open throttle, or just slightly backed off.

Tires and Tubes
I started the trip with a new rear tire that is now worn past the wear indicator. I packed a spare rear tire and a few spare tubes in the support trailer. I carried a spare tube on the bike, and later the spare tire. I didn’t end up using any of those things and experienced zero flats.

Oil
Expecting to run the Trail at sustained high RPM and in a hot climate including the Mojave Desert, I started the trip with a fresh oil change of Honda Pro HP4 10w-40 semi-synthetic. Total oil use for the trip was just under 1 quart, which included oil consumption, spills, and venting. At one point I thought the engine had consumed a lot of oil between checks, but it was just that the o-ring on the oil filler cap didn’t seal well so oil had blown out there. I thought it was pretty good that you could ride this little bike coast-to-coast and only need to carry 1 spare quart of oil.

Navigation
I primarily used a Garmin Zumo XT for navigation on the trip. I referenced paper park maps in the National Parks to get an idea of where scenic views, visitor centers, and roads were. I occasionally used my smartphone while stopped to look up other directions or distances without stopping the route I already had set on the Garmin. The Garmin interface is easier for me to use with gloves than a phone screen and I have never had it overheat, which is what often happens when I use a phone for navigating and it’s charging with the screen on in the hot sun. I had a good experience trying Garmin’s "Adventurous Routing" feature on this trip. It prioritizes curvy roads, hills, and less highways. The Garmin did send me to a gated community and down private roads which is the first time I’ve had that issue, but it ended up adding to the adventure.

Speed and Power
On flat open roads I was mostly rolling 45-55 mph. In mountains the Honda Trail was often underpowered so I tried to carry speed when possible and downshifted when necessary. On back roads or serious twisties speed wasn't much of an issue as there wasn't much traffic or speed limits were already very low, but for some of the highways that only had two lanes it was stressful to have other vehicles tailgating. There are only so many ways to get from point A to B on a 125cc miniMOTO, you just try to do it as safely as possible.

Maintenance
Each morning I checked the cold tire pressures and filled them to the recommended spec if they were low by more than a few PSI. Every few gas stops I checked the engine oil level and topped it off if it was low. At the end of the day I usually checked chain tension, adjusted as needed, wiped down the chain, and lubricated the chain. At around the halfway point of the trip I did a more thorough chain cleaning before lubricating it. At one point in California the side stand on the bike started creeping down each time I hit a bump and didn’t spring back up, washing some grit out of the pivot point solved the issue.

Comfort
I upgraded to a seat from eBay back in 2021 and it was a great comfort upgrade. I didn’t mind it at all on this journey. I have a back protector in my Aerostich suit so if I lean back against the top box the back protector distributes the area of contact and makes for a nice backrest. Riding with the spare tire behind me toward the end of the trip forced me to sit upright which was slightly less comfortable for cruising. On occasion I’d kick my boots up onto the crash bars to have a different footing position. In the future I may add passenger pegs specifically to use them as an alternate footing position. One comfort item that I usually use on long distance motorcycle trips is a Throttle Rocker or Crampbuster, but on the Honda Trail I do not experience wrist pain so I don’t use any throttle aid. I think that some combination of the handlebar position, the thicker-than-stock grip diameter due to having heated grips, wearing gloves, and possibly a weak throttle return spring made the setup on my Postie bike comfortable for me.

 

[dmonkey]

Postie post-tour details
Part 2

Riding Gear

• Helmet: HJC F70 Carbon with Pinlock insert installed
• Pants and Jacket: Aerostich R3 Lite one piece suit
• Gloves: Held Rodney II
• Boots: Alpinestars Web Gore-Tex boots
• Neck gaiter: Buff CoolNet UV
• Noise protection: NoNoise earplugs in a Aerostich Earplug Protector Case

Motorcycle Luggage

• Top box: Expedition 134 heavy duty plastic storage box with lid net added. I'm still very happy with this setup. I keep ROK Straps attached to it so I can add items on top of the lid as well.
• Top box lock: Mosko Moto Compact ADV Lock 6ft. I also ran this through a sleeve on my Aerostich and the D-rings on my helmet to lock them at times.
• Side box: Honda Japanese market OEM accessory side box. It requires a compatible rear carrier and a side box bracket. I stored the bike's paperwork (registration, insurance) in here as well as my tools, and it satisfied my desire to have separate and secure storage for tools.
• Handlebar bag: Flagship Hunter Handlebar Bag. This doesn’t require a bar brace. The window pocket fogged up from rain and humidity and is too small for most modern smartphones so I just put a sticker there, but the bag was very useful. I stored sunscreen, ear plugs, sunglasses, snacks, and other small items. I was able to route USB cables from the port next to the meter into the bag and charge electronics such as spare action camera batteries while riding. The bag is insulated so you could keep a water bottle cool in there if it isn’t filled with other items. When I wasn't charging electronics in the bag it did a good job of preventing chocolate bars from melting. There is a vented external pocket behind the magnetic flap, which is where I kept my Aerostich Gascard handy.

Motorcycle Electronics

• USB Port: Kurvia Quick Charge 3.0 Motorcycle Type-c PD Dual USB Charger Kit. I thought one of the ports burned out but it ended up being an Anker USB cable plugged into it that failed.
• Navigation: Garmin Zumo XT, dedicated navigation on a RAM mount. I wired this to the 4-pin diagnostic plug that sits above the battery. That port is switched so it powers on with ignition on. Kitaco sells a 4P coupler for it that fits the JA55 model.
• Heated Grips: Oxford Heaterz. Great comfort item for cold weather and in the rain.
• Action Camera: Insta360 ONE RS 4K with GPS remote, 2 spare batteries and charger, a few microSD cards, and a Chin Mounts helmet mount. I rotated batteries throughout the day. I only previewed a small amount of the footage so far, but it did what I expected it to and filmed video. No overheating or other issues. When it splits files based on recording duration there is a larger gap of missing footage than what I’ve noticed on my GoPros. The Chin Mounts attachment needed the double sided tape on it replaced as it lost adhesion after a series of hot days.

Tool Kit
Details have been posted to the Tool Kit Megathread.

Other Equipment

• Fire safety: Element E50 fire extinguisher. At first I attached the mounting clip to the handle on the rear carrier rack with zip-ties, but when I later mounted the spare tire there I moved the extinguisher to the center carrier rack.
• First aid: I only carried a tourniquet and not a kit. The founder of Road Guardians provided EMS/1st Aid support for the event.
• Center carrier: H2C Center Protector, used to protect the main pipe cover from swinging my boot over and for attaching the Element fire extinguisher.
• Front rack: Takegawa Front Carrier Rack. Used the clip to hold my hat a lot of the time while riding, and used it to hold my gloves while parked.
• “Crash bars”: Zeta Engine Protection Under Frame Kit, used to mount bottle cages.
• Bottle cages: Ozark Trail Universal Mount Expandable Bike Water Bottle Cage and Ozark Trail Multi-Position Universal Bike Water Bottle Cage. These were cheap and available in store. I used both of them for carrying drinks on the bike, the one with the rubber strap was used to carry the fuel bottle toward the end of the trip. The rubber strap broke on my last one, so I wouldn’t necessarily recommend that model.
• Aux fuel: MSR Fuel Bottle 30 fl. oz. with an Expedition Fuel Cap. I filled this when gas stops became more spread out in Utah, but never used it. It provided peace of mind though.
• Smartphone: Photos and some videos were shot on a Google Pixel 6 running GrapheneOS.
• Motorcycle lock: Kryptonite Keeper Disc Lock with reminder cable.
• Motorcycle cover: Aerostich ultralight seat saver.

Other thoughts
I was prepared for a lot of “what ifs” that didn’t happen. I was also prepared for a lot of things that did happen, especially various weather conditions. The pace of the Honda Trail was fast enough relative to what the bike is that it was a lot of fun, while being slow enough to really take in a back roads journey across the United States of America. “The journey is the destination” really rang true for this ride. My Honda Trail was already mostly set up to be usable for touring. Adding the Japanese market rear carrier and side box is probably the most significant change I made before loading the bike into a trailer for Virginia Beach. That equipment change is something I expect to continue using regularly on my Honda Trail. My microSD cards from the helmet camera have something like 30 hours plus of riding video on them. At some point I hope to have the time to go through and pull some highlights from the footage, especially the more exciting roads and the National Parks. JJ also has a lot of footage of me riding that he likely won’t get to for a while.

Feel free to ask questions or if there’s anything about my Honda Trail customizations you’d like details on as they're not completely documented here. I understand that cross-country touring and highway riding on 125cc aren’t for everyone, but I hope that sharing this journey may help to inspire others to try something new, plan a trip, or just ride with confidence knowing that though the Honda Trail is rarely the best tool for the job it can still take you a lot of places while putting a smile on your face.

 

[Admangia]

There are so many threads and categories of threads I have been in enjoying on this forum since onboarding with my CT that I’m just seeing this now. You offer Fabulous pictures and narration. Thank you so much.
I would really like to know more about your hard plastic panniers and any suggestion for a more “ modular” style side bag easy on/ off for storage and travel that is not to cumbersome. Would greatly appreciate any info or suggestions from your own experience. Keep the threads going they are so interesting. BTY Look up Curtiss Museum in Hammondsport, NY. Fascinating place to catch old motorcycles and planes. I think you might really enjoy a visit there and catch the finger lakes region of NY on the bike!
TY my brethren CT’er