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Center-tread conservationist wanting to travel the country.

Bumpits

Bumpits

Member
Joined
May 16, 2019
Location
Creek o' Walnuts
Moto(s)
07 Tuono 1000R
Name
Danny
I would like to go places if I can do so without harming the center of my tires. How possible is it to get around this country on routes devoid of our gruelingly straight highway system?
 
Slowly
 
Bumpits said:
I would like to go places if I can do so without harming the center of my tires. How possible is it to get around this country on routes devoid of our gruelingly straight highway system?
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Use someone else's motorcycle.
 
Bumpits said:
I would like to go places if I can do so without harming the center of my tires. How possible is it to get around this country on routes devoid of our gruelingly straight highway system?
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Take rail.
 
google maps can exclude Highways, which apparently still leaves expressways, freeways, boulevards and other basically straight roads in the Available Thoroughfares list, but it's a start
 

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It's easy. It just takes more time and more miles.
 
If you ride like this you can save your front tires
A00_8864-1-800x800.jpg


If you buy a good street touring tire it would probably last you to the other side of the country. They should last around $10k

I made it to the other side of the country on one set of tires when I did my TAT trip.

One thing you could do is ship your tires out to a shop somewhere and change them when you get there. There were stops along the TAT were people would let us use their garage and stuff and we could ship to there if we needed to order something.
 
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Coast to coast is almost 3,000 miles straight east / west. Google says it's 2,903 miles via I-80.

Gonna be some straight roads... even if you divert to some curvy ones. You could prolly make that one way destination 5,000 miles instead of 3,000 --- and STILL have a bunch of straight to do.

LDR? Straights come with it. :rofl
 
I did a cross-country trip in '99. We left in late Spring, and took a meandering route over the Rockies, then headed to the Appalachians, then up to Acadia Natl Park.
Before we departed, we made an appt to stop overnight in Montreal, where we had an appt to get oil change, tires, valve adjustment at Gabriel BMW. We returned and took the Trans-Canada Highway, stopping again in Vancouver before heading down 101 etc to SF.

It worked out well, since we accumulated just under 4100 miles on new tires. I was using the tire that came before RoadSmart, the name escapes me, but they were the best "sporty" touring tires of that "era". Jeez..."tire era"...

Anyway, it was nice to start off home with fresh tires, oil and a rested butt.

So, pick a tire dealer along your projected route, pre-order the tires and make an appt for a day when you are likely to pass through.
An oil change is not a bad idea , either.

Have fun. And don't forget the padded bicycle shorts.
 
moto-rama said:
It worked out well, since we accumulated just under 4100 miles on new tires. I was using the tire that came before RoadSmart, the name escapes me, but they were the best "sporty" touring tires of that "era". Jeez..."tire era"...

Anyway, it was nice to start off home with fresh tires, oil and a rested butt.
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Oh yeah, the tire era. LOL. Maybe... "SportMax?" I remember running Dunlop D207s on the front and D205s on the back of my VFRs, and I think SportMax was the designation. Later (2000) running D220s on the BMW K1200RS.

But to your suggestion regarding the "half way" point, totally agree. I found leaving a day or two for rest, maintenance, and time to think, "I've made it as far as I planned, now what?"

I mean, full disclosure here, though I love the event, I'm not an Iron Butt rider... A little down time half way made a much better return for me.
 
WWWobble said:
Oh yeah, the tire era. LOL. Maybe... "SportMax?" I remember running Dunlop D207s on the front and D205s on the back of my VFRs, and I think SportMax was the designation. Later (2000) running D220s on the BMW K1200RS.

But to your suggestion regarding the "half way" point, totally agree. I found leaving a day or two for rest, maintenance, and time to think, "I've made it as far as I planned, now what?"

I mean, full disclosure here, though I love the event, I'm not an Iron Butt rider... A little down time half way made a much better return for me.
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That's it! Dunlop 205s; great tire on a medium weight sport-tourer, like your VFR or my R1100RS.

I never put them on my VTR, since I was happy with the Bridgestone combination of 010 Front, 020 rear. The VTR ate rear tires at a 2-1 ratio, so that combination meant I could do front and rear every other time I got tires.

And you can always burn out your rear tire if it's not synched with a worn-out front.

https://www.facebook.com/driversfans/videos/569365750209278/
 
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Try one of these but its not quite ready for production yet:thumbup
 

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There are any number of multi-compound sport touring tires than can get to the east coast and back.

Heck, I'm running a dual.compound set of 70/30 adventure tires on my bike that could do all four corners without a question.
 
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