Actually, I traded my Slim in for a 2015 Road King. I also wasn't sure about a 2-5k mile ride on 3.5" of suspension travel. And her upgrading just isn't in the budget at this time (her bike is paid for, and she loves to remind me that my payment isn't her payment, lol).You'll be riding a Softtail slim with the 103 HD engine and she'll be riding a 750cc Honda. Doesn't sound like a match made in heaven. Get her a long distance cruiser. Frankly I wouldn't choose your bike for that ride either.
I actually have a 38T sprocket I could toss on her bike (I bought it for my Spirit 750, but never got around to putting it on). Otherwise, her bike is stock. She does have a windshield and soft saddlebags though.You have no list of mods, so any answer will be false.
If its stock, the VERY least you want to do is put a 38T sprocket on it and then 85 will be no problem. Jetting to Stage 1, opening up the exhaust will make it all the easier.
But yes, on my Spirit i could do those speeds easily, but would get around 40 mpg or less.
In our case, it sorta is the destination. We are going to start in San Luis Obispo and then head North up to Reedsport, OR, then East to Klamath Falls, South down to Lake Tahoe and through Yosemite before heading back. We are meeting some family along the way so we have a loose schedule to stick to.Sounds like fun. Why not take 2 lane back roads and enjoy the scenery. Remember it is not about the destination.
The time is limited to getting to the west coast, but I think I have the itinerary decently spaced. But I'm happy to post it, maybe we'll find some fellow riders to hang out with along the way.If your GF is prepared to do back-to-back 650+ miles days just to get to the lengthy touring part of the trip she is a better man than me. Can the bike do it?...sure, you can probably run WFO all day long without damage, although it would be a good idea to keep a close eye on oil consumption.
But if it were me I'd take the truck in the interests of domestic tranquility as well as comfort. If the truck needs tires it needs tires whether you get them before the trip or after -- so that's a mostly irrelevant consideration. As for gas consumption you will be getting very poor mileage at high speed, so two bikes gulping away won't use THAT much more than one truck, and gas is cheap nowadays anyway.
Do you really need a trailer? If you have a good ramp and some strong friends (for both loading and unloading) it should be possible to fit two bikes into a full-size bed. I've done it with two V-Stroms which are dimensionally pretty big bikes.
You suggest that your time is limited. I hope you have taken into account the fact that riding along the OR coast and/or the CA Sierra can be very slow and time-consuming because of traffic and road conditions. If you can provide a more detailed itinerary with proposed timelines along the way we might be able to make some practical suggestions.
I posted it up in the Pacific Northwest regional forum. Direct link is: http://www.hondashadow.net/forum/86...376026-my-summer-2015-trip-pac-northwest.htmlEither. But maybe you would get more lookers in a new thread titled "West Coast Swing" or something like that.
I love my GF, but that won't be happening. :mrgreen: Truthfully my bike is just too big for her, it's 300 lbs heavier than her's.The 750 should have no problems keeping up.
The two of you could also swap bikes back and forth so one can rest on the RK lounger while the other gets thrashed a bit on the 750.
I think this trip will kind of tell her if she wants to stick to her 750 or pick up something larger for these kind of trips. I have a feeling we will both get more into these longer distance trips, so I could see her picking up something more suited to that, and keeping the 750 for her around town cruiser, as she does love riding it for work.She could also maybe look into trading to a ST like a VFR-800 or larger with good wind protection and power. Just a thought
