Cross country tour setup. Ideas/suggestions?

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TorontoAlex

New member
Im thinking of touring across Canada in July. I may be doing a bit of gravel roads (probably less than 1 percent). Will a belly pan / rad guard help much? What tires should I get? Is there anything I can do with the suspension? I know the FZ8 is no ADV bike but hey it's what I have and I love my bike. Last summer I took a 2500km tour across northern ontario and loved it. Only thing that sucked was the construction with fresh pavement caking the entire belly of the bike.
 
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Bagman

Member
A rad guard would be good. I'm thinking more for bugs clogging the fins than rocks damaging them. Don't follow too closely to vehicles in front and/or maybe the dirt roads you'll be on won't have any traffic (?). If you toured 2500kms last summer, then you definitely don't need much advise on how to do it, and lord knows I wouldn't. I'd be long into a comfy FJR or Trophy before attempting that distance. I would imagine any kind of tire that will help you with dirt road won't be the most enjoyable for the prolonged highway/other 99% of the trip. I'd stick with something like the Road4 or whatever you've had good luck with and avoid any dirt roads that NEED a dirt tire, and precariously venture on dirt roads you think something like a Road4 would survive.
 
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TorontoAlex

New member
Thanks for the recommendation on the Road 4. Looked it up and looks like a great tire. I would only venture onto gravel roads to find camp sites and maybe look at other sites of interest. It's probably be better to take my Frontier 4x4 but I gotta at least try to look at this option lol.

The 2500 kms were done with the Shad seat. I've got a good full hockey ass according to the ladies so that helps too haha! I think I may try the sheep skin seat cover over my seat.
 
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julicaro

New member
TorontoAlex said:
Im thinking of touring across Canada in July. I may be doing a bit of gravel roads (probably less than 1 percent). Will a belly pan / rad guard help much? What tires should I get? Is there anything I can do with the suspension? I know the FZ8 is no ADV bike but hey it's what I have and I love my bike. Last summer I took a 2500km tour across northern ontario and loved it. Only thing that sucked was the construction with fresh pavement caking the entire belly of the bike.
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Ive got a whole series going on my 12,000 mile trip im doing on my fz8. Tire wise just throwing on what ever cheap sports touring tire I can get my hands on. Currently at 3,000 miles and changing out the rear soon that was on the bike when I bought it. If you have any questions hit me up here or on youtube. I tend to check youtube a bit more but id get back to ya on here aswell just not as quickly.
 
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TorontoAlex

New member
julicaro said:
Ive got a whole series going on my 12,000 mile trip im doing on my fz8. Tire wise just throwing on what ever cheap sports touring tire I can get my hands on. Currently at 3,000 miles and changing out the rear soon that was on the bike when I bought it. If you have any questions hit me up here or on youtube. I tend to check youtube a bit more but id get back to ya on here aswell just not as quickly.
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How do I look you up? Links?
 
M

mikeherdes

New member
I just road from Moffat, ON to Lake Louise, AB on my FZ8... about 3,700km in 5 days. It wasn't easy and the weather was not great in Ontario, but the trip was worth it.

I would suggest: rain gear and proper hard side and rear case (look up SHAD cases). I did the trip on Pilot Power 4 tires and they were great, although I seem to have a lot more wear in the middle than I expected, considering some people have 17k + out of these tires and I have around 8k now after this trip. If you won't be on gravel roads a lot then there shouldn't be any need for a belly pan. I have the OEM rad guard though and I like it, my rad was hit by a few big size rocks before and this seems to offer some protection.

I did the trip with soft side bags that were not OEM - I would not do that again for such a long trip. They constantly had to be adjusted and didn't offer much piece of mind. At one point they also got low enough to touch the exhaust and a bit of the bottom melted.
 
Vampwood

Vampwood

New member
Heres what I'm using as cross country, its not the most comfortable, nor fuel efficient but I love the whole package. Just did a 12000km trip to the west coast last year and am now doing a tour of the east coast (24 days each)


Its surprising comfortable despite having stiffer suspension. Pilot road 4s are pretty decent but if you're doing very extended high speed runs (140+ km/h ) for lengths at a time, they flat top really hard and im not sure what else you could use. Im actually using Q3s on the east coast trip this year to see if they worth, much cheaper and way grippier!

Actually ended up getting lost and had to do some pretty intense logging roads to get back and ended being relatively easy to control, no damage to the headers, so not sure if a belly pan is worth it besides the looks.


Using Shad seat and top case with a givi windscreen.
 
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M

mikeherdes

New member
Vampwood said:
Heres what I'm using as cross country, its not the most comfortable, nor fuel efficient but I love the whole package. Just did a 12000km trip to the west coast last year and am now doing a tour of the east coast (24 days each)


Its surprising comfortable despite having stiffer suspension. Pilot road 4s are pretty decent but if you're doing very extended high speed runs (140+ km/h ) for lengths at a time, they flat top really hard and im not sure what else you could use. Im actually using Q3s on the east coast trip this year to see if they worth, much cheaper and way grippier!

Actually ended up getting lost and had to do some pretty intense logging roads to get back and ended being relatively easy to control, no damage to the headers, so not sure if a belly pan is worth it besides the looks.


Using Shad seat and top case with a givi windscreen.
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Nice cup holder!
 
Vampwood

Vampwood

New member
mikeherdes said:
Does it only work with a half face helmet or is there some kind of straw you can get?
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I really only use it for morning coffee on my way to work or if Im riding and can't finish a drink before Im off riding again, I don't use it for drinking while riding. My dad does and has a straw/modular helmet to flip up to do so. I use a camel bak for water while I'm riding.
 
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