| Author | Message | ||
     Phlegm |
Hey guys, I thought I would tell you all about my first tour with my 1125R/CR. I've had the bike since August of last year and the most I've ridden it is about 150 miles at one time. Since I bought the bike; I have upgraded to a Barkers pipe with the EBR ECM with the Barkers flash, I switched out the clubman bars to the upright bars, added the Uly cigarette lighter socket, I mounted the laminar lip with hardware, switched to Amsoil oil, and upgraded to the k&n filter.  I have to say that I was worried that something might go wrong with the charging system or the cooling system, just because of all the crap that I have read on this forum. I definitely had my eye on the sys voltage and the core temp for the whole trip. Every year my dad and I and about 10 or 20 of our good friends take a trip down to Arizona at the beginning of May. Normally I ride my dad's '89 FXR-P, but this year I wanted to take my own bike. Everyone else was riding Harleys. My dad has done this trip for at least 30 years, every year. We call it the annual meeting of Morons Anonymous. Arizona is cool because of 75 mph speed limits and the no helmet laws. I wear a helmet all the time, but my dad and some of his friends grew up not wearing helmets, so it is a nostalgic trip for them. Here is a link to google maps for the route we took. http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=20108520980699 4581392.0004bf9e99d62f7d28f19&msa=0&ll=37.588119,- 117.421875&spn=8.414868,16.907959  Day 1- Home to Merced, Ca 398 miles Total bikers-9 All was well till we hit the 99 between Stockton and Merced. We stopped in Manteca for a bite to eat when I noticed an electrical staple in my rear tire. The staple was not straight in the tire, it was at an angle through the tread. We pulled the staple out hoping that it didn't go all the way through, but air started leaking out immediately. I purchased a plug kit from a gas station and tried that. It worked except that when my dad was reaming the two holes, he accidentally separated the rubber from the steel radial inside. This created a small bubble that looked really dangerous. We also found that 2 other bikes had staples in their tires as well, but they were inner tube tires and only one of the inner tubes was popped. I was able to ride my bike to Merced and the next morning I purchased a new tire (Dunlop Q2 sportmax). I was a little worried because they didn't have the Michelin Pilot Road II to match the front. BTW I have to agree with Froggy about Michelin PR II tires, they seemed very squirrelly. The Dunlop felt way better and I didn't have any problems mixing tire brands. The front tire only had about 1200 miles on it. Day 2- Merced to Vegas 445 miles Total bikers-19 We picked up 10 more friends in Merced, bringing up our pack total to 19. When we ride together we always ride 2 by 2, so it must have been quite a sight to see. The best part of the ride was riding over Tehachapi pass. It has long straights and long corners where you can really open it up. I hit about 115 at one point. We made it to Vegas with no problems. Day 3- Vegas 0 miles Total bikers-18 Vegas was hot. Just cruising around town brought my core temp to 202 degrees. It made me really nervous, but the bike ran great. On a side note, this trip was also my bachelor party, 14 lap dances later, day 3 was over. Day 4- Vegas to Prescott 256 miles Total bikers-18 This day started with a 30 mile trip the wrong way. Oops. Next, two guys dropped out of the pack to take a leak and when they went to catch up they got pulled over for speeding. Turns out one of the guys "didn't know he had a suspended license" and it was off to the Vegas jail for 2-6 hours. Oops. The rest of the day to Prescott went smooth for us. We stopped in Seligman, Az for lunch and stayed for a car parade in the evening. The highlight for me was seeing a new Tesla electric car, it was badass. On the way to Prescott one of the guys had a rear bearing go out. It destroyed his axle and the inner hub, it sounded like a shrieking zombie when he rolled into the hotel. Luckily one of the service guys at the local Harley shop new where to pick up a new rim for $175 Day 5- Prescott to Payson 140 miles Total bikers-11 This run was fairly short. Our plan was to go to the Payson, Ar for a run put on by ABATE called Wild in the Weeds. The road to Payson had little traffic, long straights, and minimum 40 mph curves. Here I broke out of the pack to have a little fun. The Harleys had nothing on the speed of the 1125R. I hit 136mph in full touring gear and could have pushed it more, but my balls sucked up in my stomach. I let the rest of the group catch up when we hit a junction in the highway. We cruised on to a little town called Strawberry to have some refreshments. It was there that my dad noticed a clanging sound coming from his bottom end. One of the guys noticed it as the sound the engine makes before it blows up. The bike is a 2003 Dyna with 77000 miles on it and they are all hard miles. I'm thinking that trying to keep up with me killed it! We got lucky and a gentlemen that was staying at the motel heard us talking about it and offered to give my dad and his bike a ride to Sacramento (15 hours away). The guy was a Mercury motors service tech rep. My dad offered to pay gas the whole way and the guy declined saying that it was on the company. Very nice of him. Day 6- Payson to Barstow 464 miles Total bikers-10 We started early today for the ride back home. My dad usually rides lead in the pack but since he wasn't there we had another senior guy in the group lead. Our friend proceeded to lead us at around 85-95 mph up the 17 to the 40 (speed limit 75). I was in the rear of the pack when my radar detector went off. I immediately dropped down to 80 and looked around and saw a unmarked car flip a bitch across the grassy median. Three others had slowed down with me, but the rest of the pack cruised on at 85-90 mph. The unmarked car passed the four of us and got right behind the pack. The leader was oblivious about the unmarked car. We watched from behind as the car moved forward to pass the bikes. It then squeezed in behind the two leaders and turned his lights on. The six bikes pulled over and we passed them by. We learned at the next gas station that the officer told the four guys to keep going. He told the remaining two that he wouldn't of pulled them over if we were going 85, but he clocked us at 94. He let them off with a warning and said not to go over 85. The officer also was a motorcycle rider and knew to pull over the two guys in front because they set the pace. We got off lucky there. Our next stop was Seligman for some refreshments. That was when we noticed another of the bikes was making a clanging sound in the lower end. Another blown motor. This bike only had 15000 miles on it and still had some extended warranty on it. Two of the guys stayed with him and seven of us left to Barstow. Day 7- Barstow to Reno 415 miles Total bikers- 7 We had a beautiful ride up the 395, where we encountered CHP everywhere. Thank you radar detector! One of the guys noticed some real bad pinging when we were gassing up in Bridgeport. We were super paranoid about any engine noises so we limped to Reno. In Reno, one of the guys left his helmet on his bike for ten minutes unattended in a parking garage while we were unloading and it got stolen. Par for the course. The next morning we went to the Reno Harley shop. The tech said that high elevation and bad gas caused the pinging. We were good to go. Day 8- Reno to Home 346 miles Total Bikers- 5 We split up with my uncle and another guy and made our way home. When we dropped down into Red Bluff in the valley, the temperature it got really hot. My bike was running around 208 degrees. I had never been over highway 36 between the I-5 and 101 before. Wow. This road was awesome. No police and I got exhausted from how many corners there were. It was really fun. It will be one of my main rides for the summer. Wow, what a trip. 2600 miles. We had a lot of good times, but also a lot of bad luck. My bike ran great with no problems. I'm about 800 miles over for an oil change. The new tire that I bought has lost a lot of tread, but I was able to get my chicken strips down to about the width of a pencil. The sys voltage ran anywhere from 12.7 to 13.8. Here is the Q2 after 2200 miles of mostly straight roads.  The Motocentric saddle bags and tail roll bag that I bought worked great along with the Buell tank bag that I have. I was able to fit all that I needed in these bags for 7 days, including a sleeping bag, rainsuit, clothes, cold weather gloves, and a small toolkit. I also purchased a Frogg Toggs Horny Toads rain suit that I didn't have to use. Holy crap, if you read through to here, you are a champ! TL;DR The bike ran like a champ, blew up two harley motors, we got pulled over, got flat tires, and a lot of fun was had. | ||
| Pnw_uly |
Nice write-up, glad the bike performed well; hope you didn't polish out the frame and swingarm to fit in with the Harley guys. . . More pics? | ||
| Guambra2001 |
Awesome! | ||
| Swamp2 |
Thanks for the trip report! I'm about to do the Barker/EBR ECM to my CR and have a ~1000 mile ride long weekend coming up soon. Was the noise fatiguing? Just wondering if i should leave it stock until after my trip! | ||
| Froggy |
Personally I would just swap the ECM and then do the muffler after you get back. Everyone has different levels of tolerance for noise, you don't want to find out the hard way 3 hours in that you are at your limit. | ||
| Swamp2 |
Froggy - do you have any insight as to how the Barker tuned ECM would work with the stock exhaust? | ||
| Phlegm |
Thanks for the responses guys. pnw uly-no i bought the bike with the polished swingarm/tank and green powder coating. Couldnt' pass it up for $3k. i would rather have it stock paint. I didn't take many pictures either, but i'm waiting for a couple buddies to post up their pics. swamp2-I didn't think that the noise was fatiguing at all. I pulled the quiet core out so I could make out my bike from the harleys. I also ride with noise reducing earphones in though. It was actually one of the most comfortable rides i have been on. I switched to the upright handlebars and saddlemen track-cf seat recently. The saddlemen is awesome. That combined with the upright handlebars made 3-500 miles days a lot easier to do. | ||
| Dannybuell |
great writeup!! What was the total score for dead harleys? | ||
| Froggy |
It will be fine. Hell it will be better than the stock ecm with the stock exhaust for sure!
I remember when you bought it. I still think it looks terrible, but at least it can be painted! | ||
| Swamp2 |
Hey Phlegm - ok, another question... Any thoughts on the effectiveness of the laminar lip? Worth it or not? | ||
| Pnw_uly |
pnw uly-no i bought the bike with the polished swingarm/tank and green powder coating. Couldnt' pass it up for $3k. Hey, no worries and great buy at $3K - - was just kidding about the polished bits, I'm a Harley guy too, own a '92 FXR, as you know, one of H-D's best riding frames... Post pics when you get a chance. | ||
| Craigsmoney |
Nice write up! I have the same exhaust/air filter/ecm as you. How ever I switched back to stock ecm because the race was hurky jurky. Thought it might be the ecm...nope something else is wrong... Nice Trip. I have done long ones on my CR with not trouble as well. I think Timebandit recommends changing the charging relay often...and since I've gone through 3 in 15000km, I agree. Cheers | ||
| Rpm4x4 |
Looks like a good time. I make a point to take at least one roadtrip a year on my bike. First year I bought the 1125 I hauled it to Nashville Tennessee (it was feb and I live in MN) and rode to the Florida keys and back, running just over 2800 miles in 8 days as well. I love road trips on the 1125. Gotta remember to check the oil more often if your riding a lot of long distance high rpms. I did not haul near the amount of luggage as you did. I just ride with a small backpack with the essentials. How is riding with all that luggage? Doesnt it feel heavy in the corners? Does it hook the wind or hinder your ability to tuck? | ||
| Phlegm |
swamp2-I thought the laminar lip was very effective. I picked it up used for 40 bucks though. I think it is 80 or 90 new. Craigsmoney- I thought the race ecm made my bike a lot smoother in all rpm ranges. The bike is actually a 2008 R, so I haven't had any charging issues (knock on wood). Rpm4x4- I actually didn't check the oil at all. Stupid move on my part. I'm 500 miles overdue for an oil change, so i'm just gonna change it and hope for the best heh. I thought the bike handled great loaded down with gear. I did increase the rear preload 2 notches and also the front preload 2 spins(it was bottomed out) . I didn't change the front preload till halfway through the trip, when i noticed that the front end was diving more then i liked when i was braking. It didn't feel like the bike was grabbing extra wind. The laminar lip made it a lot easier to tuck down under the wind. Total score for dead harleys was 2. I found out last night that my dads bike threw a rod. The other bike had a rotor/crankshaft nut come loose. (Message edited by Phlegm on May 18, 2012) |
