SS1000 and Great Lakes 100 in One Trip

rickvan67

New Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Messages
5
Location
Wisconsin
Back home today after an epic 4 day motorcycle trip with three guys from work. We completed a combo Iron Butt ride. A Saddle Sore 1000, riding 1,000 miles from Hudson, WI to Rochester, NY in less than 24 hours, and the Great Lakes 100, riding around all 5 great lakes in under 100 hours (2500+ miles). It gets REALLY foggy on the north shore of Lake Superior this time of year... The third guy from the left rode this on a Triumph Speed Triple, not your typical long distance touring machine!

My 2012 S10 performed flawlessly. I run a Corbin seat and I added an Airhawk (which I highly recommend). Every time I take a long trip on this bike it makes me appreciate how stable and capable it is, the S10 chews up miles like they're nothing. I know she's top heavy and a heavy beast, but on the interstate with high winds, the S10 is phenomenal. At one point just west of Nipigon, Ontario, we got caught after dark in heavy drizzle and fog. I was riding along going about 20 mph and thought to myself, boy the road got rough and the bike feels a touch squirrelly, then realized the road went from pavement to gravel and visibility was so bad I couldn't see the difference. The S10 barely noticed but I had a brief pucker moment.

An interesting observation on our odometers and speedometers (that has been discussed in this forum). I've always known my speedo was fast, 5-10%, getting worse as I go faster). But the effect that has on the odometer on a long trip like this was startling, I totaled 2,673 miles on my odometer, and my buddy on a big Indian cruiser (not sure of the model) was a about 100 miles less than me.

Embarrassing moment of the trip...Over the 6 years I've owned this bike I've dropped it 3 or 4 times, always low to no-speed and typically in parking lots, you know loose gravel, uneven pavement, etc. On this trip, after completing the saddle sore 1000 and being on the road for 18 hours, I was wiped. We pulled into the parking lot at the hotel and I turned tight to park next to my buddy and jackknifed the front tire, down we went. No damage other than a scuffed up pannier and crash bar...and my ego.

That's my biggest beef with this bike, when it decides it's going down, God himself can't stop it, you just gotta jump out of the way.

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Lautarooo

Active Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2019
Messages
152
Location
Riverhead, NY
congratulations! thats an impressive accomplishment to say the least.. and im glad the s10 was a worthy steed..

ive dropped my bike plenty of times too.. usually when im tired.. often in front of others..
 

MonkeyBut

Fuel Whore
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
258
Location
Armpit of America, NJ
I enjoy reading other peoples ride reports especially as the winter blues set in and getting the bike out is few and far between. That is a great accomplishment and envy the amount of miles in that period of time. Good to see different bikes and their riders do amazing things. Feel free post up some more pictures of your trip. Congratulations again and thanks for sharing.
 
B

ballisticexchris

Guest
Good job on the ride sir. Don't feel so bad dropping the bike. After 18 hours in the saddle I'm not surprised. :p I've dropped mine a few times as well.
 

RogerRZ

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
257
Location
New Brunswick, Canada
Great job! I'm considering a GL 100 for this season's "epic ride", as I like to call them. I´me also looking at an East Coast Insanity (Madawasma ME to Key West, FL in 48. We'll see...

This past Summer, on the second fuel stop of my BBG1500, I was at the fuel island doing my paperwork, bike on the sidestand, feet on the pegs, when I felt the whole thing start to go sideways. By the time I figured out what was going on, it was too late, I just had time to jump out of the way. About 50 people were around, and to this day, I do think anyone saw me, I had the thing upright so darned fast... Good thing for crash bars...
 
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