Straight
through, 530 mile day. No problems, really, other than the long trip. 14 hours.
Yikes. Click thumbnail pictures for large verionn.
DAY 6 – 16 Aug
Straight
through, 530 mile day. No problems, really, other than the long trip. 14 hours.
Yikes.
The basic route was I-87 south through New York; I took US 4 in Vermont & NY to get over there. Good distance there (on I-87), then a bit on I-84 to cut across the Pennsylvania countryside to the west side of Philadelphia. Back on the highway and dealt with traffic until I was south of Baltimore.
I got so fed up with I-95 (duh) I got off and took US 40 most of the way, or really as far as I could.
The Russell “day long” seat almost (but not quite) lived up to its reputation. I was sore when I got home, but not terribly so. After a shower I felt a lot better, but assburn is assburn and it just takes a while to fade. I can’t even imagine doing 500 miles on the stock seat.
I think the 850 is not the bike for me for long trips. It’s a great bike, very smooth most of the time, with an atypically easy-shifting gearbox (atypical for BMW anyway). Hundreds of miles at 75 mph creates a low-frequency vibration though that, by about 2 p.m., was damned uncomfortable. If I’m going to do more long trips like this, I should really get a bike with a somewhat larger engine.
Had
a really weird problem with my GPS. Not the GPS really but rather the mount.
Somewhere in PA, can't remember exactly where but it was near a QIT stop, I
noticed the GPS was kind of drooping on the handlebar. It wouldn't stay up when
I rotated it, so I just figured a screw was loose or something. Pulled over
to check it out - two screws were loose. One was completely missing. I stopped
at a local hardware store, wasted a shitload of time trying to find and affix
some screws that would work, and eventually just gave up, bought some bright
yellow duct tape, and gave it the old road warrior quick fix. It'll hold for
a while til I can find the right screws and some lock nuts.