Preparing for my first long distance multi day trip!
Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2021 4:19 pm
So I'm heading up to the Adirondacks next month with my extended family for a 10 day camping trip. First time going on the bike, wife will be driving the pickup and towing our boat. This is my second year on the bike and this time last year the bike was out of commission. I've been putting as many hours onto the bike as I can so any problems that might happen will happen BEFORE the trip. I've done a lot of work to the bike this year, had a new motor dropped in with around 300 miles on it, put on a new fairing, new sissy bar, new battery box, new front fender, new rear blinkers, new grips. Also had a lot of work done on the bike last year including forward controls.
Took a hour long ride to get a haircut today and the peg for the gear shifter fell off. Thankfully I was able to find it on the road but couldn't find the screw cap bolt that came with it. Luckily I was five minutes from Lowes and was able to find an M8 hex head bolt that did the job until I order the correct size screw cap bolt online (couldn't find the correct size screw cap bolt anywhere in town). This made me take a look at some of the other hardware on the forward controls and some of that stuff is loose too. I'm thinking going through everything and throwing on thread lock and retightening everything is a good idea. I also just put on a new battery box last week since the old one was rusted out. Looks really good but now I'm afraid of that stuff vibrating loose too. I also recently took off the front wheel to get two broken bolts out of my forks. After putting on the new fender I made sure I tightened everything down on the front axle but now I'm paranoid. One of the hardware stores I stopped at today told me a horror story of some guy who came in and said the nut came right off the front axle of his HD as he was pulling into the parking lot!
So I'm just looking for advice on what I should bring on this trip in case anything happens. Obviously I've got the tool set that came with the bike, I'm also bringing my tool box with other tools in there. Thinking I should bring a bunch of fuses as well. As far as thread locking everything down what specifically should I check on the bike/what are some of the usual suspects when it comes to something vibrating loose? I'm also going to do an oil change right before the trip. Also thinking of bringing my bike jack in case god forbid anything happens. Anything else I should bring? The trip is a little under 4hrs or 200miles. I've done round trips that are longer then that but I've never taken the bike out of the area before. I'm worried about being stuck up in the mountains and not being able to fix something on the bike.
Took a hour long ride to get a haircut today and the peg for the gear shifter fell off. Thankfully I was able to find it on the road but couldn't find the screw cap bolt that came with it. Luckily I was five minutes from Lowes and was able to find an M8 hex head bolt that did the job until I order the correct size screw cap bolt online (couldn't find the correct size screw cap bolt anywhere in town). This made me take a look at some of the other hardware on the forward controls and some of that stuff is loose too. I'm thinking going through everything and throwing on thread lock and retightening everything is a good idea. I also just put on a new battery box last week since the old one was rusted out. Looks really good but now I'm afraid of that stuff vibrating loose too. I also recently took off the front wheel to get two broken bolts out of my forks. After putting on the new fender I made sure I tightened everything down on the front axle but now I'm paranoid. One of the hardware stores I stopped at today told me a horror story of some guy who came in and said the nut came right off the front axle of his HD as he was pulling into the parking lot!
So I'm just looking for advice on what I should bring on this trip in case anything happens. Obviously I've got the tool set that came with the bike, I'm also bringing my tool box with other tools in there. Thinking I should bring a bunch of fuses as well. As far as thread locking everything down what specifically should I check on the bike/what are some of the usual suspects when it comes to something vibrating loose? I'm also going to do an oil change right before the trip. Also thinking of bringing my bike jack in case god forbid anything happens. Anything else I should bring? The trip is a little under 4hrs or 200miles. I've done round trips that are longer then that but I've never taken the bike out of the area before. I'm worried about being stuck up in the mountains and not being able to fix something on the bike.