AK2 status 2 Mar 14

Three months till AK2 begins. If you read my blog on AK1 you understand that this is the 2^nd attempt to ride my motorcycle to Alaska and points North; i.e. Arctic Circle. I actually started getting serious about this trip last Dec 2013. Jim, my riding partner, and I decided we needed to make our Washington to Alaska Ferry reservations about 6 months in advance to ensure we got a cabin on the ferry. We are going in reverse this time compared to AK1 trip. The ferry is the only hard date we have to make so we are riding to Washington, catch the ferry to Alaska and then the rest of the trip has no set schedule.

About this same time I started to reconsider what motorcycle I should use for this trip. Although the Harley Davidson is a great touring bike, it sucks on anything resembling dirt, mud or gravel. All of which we will encounter on the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle and occasionally on the Alaska Highway (ALCAN) back to the USA.  During AK1 most of the riders we encountered were on Dual-Sport bikes such as the BMW R1200GS or the V-STROM. I started researching the possible bikes and finally selected a Yamaha XT1200Z Super Tenere for the trip. This is the Yamaha knock-off of the BMW but at half the price. It has a good reputation and I’ve had a number of Yamahas over the years and like them.

Since buying the bike on 24 Dec 2013 (Christmas present to myself) I’ve made several improvements getting the bike ready for the trip:

1 Added AltRider Crash Bars – Very good chance this bike will be laid down sometime on the trip and this protects the radiator and electrics which are under the side panels.

2 Added Heavy Duty AltRider Skid Plate - Protects bottom of engine against rocks.

3 Larger windshield – Calsci – Protects me!

4 Added throttle lock

5 Added large hardshell saddle bags

6 Installed mounts and power for Garmin Zumo 665 GPS and SPOT personal satellite locator

7 Added larger foot on side kick stand – for soft ground

8 Purchased CB radio and helmet headset

9 Added side wind deflectors

10 Installed power outlet for heated jacket & gloves

 

I’ve put 1500 miles on the bike in two months including a 600 mile round trip to Tulsa. I’ve had it on several gravel roads and a deep water crossing on a logging road. Bike rides great, is 300+ pounds lighter than the HD and twice as fast. It has Anti-Lock Brake System, several modes of traction control and a touring/sport power mode select. It is also much easier to handle due to a low CG and less weight.

I will use this blog to provide status of my preparation up to launch day. I will then start a new blog for the trip. I will use this blog to experiment with uploading pictures, text and maybe video. Will be using a small ASUS laptop instead of my iPad this trip. It will be used to store/upload pics and video plus for blog text. I also need to get a better camera (cheap one using AA batteries but large megapixels). I also need to make arrangements for a tire change to semi-knobby tires in Washington. Lots to do and 3 months will fly by.

Here are some pictures of the bike and a map of our planned route. More to come as date gets nearer. BTW this is the first post using the ASUS laptop. Looks like it will work.