| Author | Message | ||
     Adam_tuft |
I just got back from deployment, in about a month I am going to ETS from the army and I have a couple months leave saved up. While I was in Iraq i bought a 99 S3. I am planning on taking a nice long road trip in march from northeast Texas all the way to northern California. I plan on riding across the Southwest as long as I can hoping for decent weather, I still need to get saddle bags, decent riding gear ohh and i am taking my wife too. any good ideas on routes and gear and such? I have never taken a cross country motorcycle trip so any advice would be great  | ||
| Essmjay |
Adam- You didn't mention how many miles were on the bike. Assuming normal mileage for the year of the bike, I would replace the throttle body if it still has the original. The original version has a throttle plate shaft that is prone to cracking at the worst time. It has been replaced with a sturdier version. Simple replacement, but you will need to reset the TPS. You can have a dealer do that, or get a copy of ECM Spy and a cable and do it yourself. Also inspect the belt for any missing teeth or cracking, it is very difficult to replace the belt on the side of the road. Check the tires, you may be okay to start and then have some new tires put on in one of the large cities you pass through. Set the shock and suspension up for the extra load of passenger and baggage. The hard saddlebag kits are sometimes hard to find used, and are expensive new. Maybe some Drysack bags from Aerostitch might work for you. As for routes, try to avoid the freeway unless you are just trying to get from point A to B in the least amount of time. There is a lot of long straight desert to cross in Arizona and Nevada. Going into the mountains of Utah, Northern Arizona, and the Sierras is a tough call this time of year. And it is winter in Northern Cali as well. When are you planning to leave? You may have to take a southerly route over to LA and then go north up the coast. Shane | ||
| Adam_tuft |
Well the bike has a little over 6,000 miles on it, I had no idea about the throttle body though, how much does it usually run to get that replaced? I am planning on taking a southerly route across to somewhere near LA I really don't wanna ride through that town. We are planning on leaving mid to late march. If northern Cali is too miserable we might just rent a car to get there i have family there i haven't seen in a while | ||
| Bluzm2 |
At minimum you should replace the intake seals. Also at the top of the list would be rockerbox gaskets and the primary adjuster. Take care of those and you are set for many thousands of miles. I can almost guarantee that the rocker covers will start leaking on your trip.... That's of course if they haven't already been changed to the new metal style... Brad | ||
| Gowindward |
The S3's are great bikes and a real mile eater for touring. If you don't already have the rest of the Ventura rack/pack system, it adds a lot of two up luggage space. The front motor mount is a weak link for two up touring. I is a MUST replace with a NRHS billet mount. Do this before it fails on your trip. |
