Jwalt
Member
So, just finished up Route 66.
We picked up the bikes from Daily Direct in Milwaukee on the morning of June 19th and headed down to Chicago to get started. Unfortunately the fountain was down and there was no parking within a few blocks of the waterfront, but we did tag the official start.
Along the way, a lot of museums and restaurants were on short hours or even open only a few days a week, but we still had a great time. I built out our routes on my Zumo based on a combination of the Adventure Cycling Route 66 bicycle routing and the EZ 66 guidebook before we left. It worked well but it was the first time I really used the GPS (got it dirt cheap used at the last minute) and I wish I'd had a few weeks to learn it's quirks first.
We intentionally got time on just about every sort of road US 66 ever was, from dirt in west TX to concrete slabs (whomp whomp whomp) in Oklahoma to wide gorgeous four lane divided parkways in Missouri to a few small bits that were still MacAdam. The bike did great with it all, although the pure street tires weren't the best on washboard and deep gravel.
As far as the bike went, all I had to do was tighten the chain once and clean it a few times. The throttle was a bit loose toward the end and I'll need to take care of that. I had zero issue keeping up with my brother's Chieftain, cruising 75+ mph on the interstate sections.
I used the Mmoto welded rack with a Givi E55 top case and E41 sidecases. Flawless and very handy. I ran the Palmer Bracket with an MRA Vario touring screen, which was great for adjusting wind flow depending on conditions. Other than radiator guard and crash bars, the bike was otherwise stock.
We got into my house in the San Gabriel Valley last Saturday night and got some rest before heading out to Santa Monica early Sunday morning to avoid the traffic. We had a couple of malts at Mel's around 11am and then headed home.
I was going to do ongoing posts but my brother expressed some concerns about the pics and updates being on-line so out of respect I didn't.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have.
We picked up the bikes from Daily Direct in Milwaukee on the morning of June 19th and headed down to Chicago to get started. Unfortunately the fountain was down and there was no parking within a few blocks of the waterfront, but we did tag the official start.
Along the way, a lot of museums and restaurants were on short hours or even open only a few days a week, but we still had a great time. I built out our routes on my Zumo based on a combination of the Adventure Cycling Route 66 bicycle routing and the EZ 66 guidebook before we left. It worked well but it was the first time I really used the GPS (got it dirt cheap used at the last minute) and I wish I'd had a few weeks to learn it's quirks first.
We intentionally got time on just about every sort of road US 66 ever was, from dirt in west TX to concrete slabs (whomp whomp whomp) in Oklahoma to wide gorgeous four lane divided parkways in Missouri to a few small bits that were still MacAdam. The bike did great with it all, although the pure street tires weren't the best on washboard and deep gravel.
As far as the bike went, all I had to do was tighten the chain once and clean it a few times. The throttle was a bit loose toward the end and I'll need to take care of that. I had zero issue keeping up with my brother's Chieftain, cruising 75+ mph on the interstate sections.
I used the Mmoto welded rack with a Givi E55 top case and E41 sidecases. Flawless and very handy. I ran the Palmer Bracket with an MRA Vario touring screen, which was great for adjusting wind flow depending on conditions. Other than radiator guard and crash bars, the bike was otherwise stock.
We got into my house in the San Gabriel Valley last Saturday night and got some rest before heading out to Santa Monica early Sunday morning to avoid the traffic. We had a couple of malts at Mel's around 11am and then headed home.
I was going to do ongoing posts but my brother expressed some concerns about the pics and updates being on-line so out of respect I didn't.
Feel free to ask any questions you may have.