Planning a trip this july to visit family near Penacola Fl. It's about 870 miles one way. Was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice for long trips?

Do a search here and online, something should come up.
Just a few important things would be tools, phone, zipties, maybe something to fix a flat, plus your clothes and gear.

I don't get too worked up for trips of less than 1,000 miles. Watch the weather and plan accordingly. Don't overload yourself or your mind packing every useless thing you may not need. A basic tool kit is all you'll need and it's doubtful you'll use it if your bike's in good order. If your tires are within 50% of their wear, flats shouldn't be much of a worry either. Most flats occur in the last 25% of the wear pattern. Rain gear is advisable tho I don't personally ride in much more than a drizzle. Motels are all to frequent.

I've logged as much as 750 miles in one day but if trips are new to you, I'd suggest you plan to do 500 miles the first day, get a good night's rest and do the balance. Good luck and watch the thread. A lot more advice will be coming your way.

I don't know if flat tires should be of a concern myself, even though I got a flat 6 months after getting new rubber last year. Picked up a tiny screw. Hole was so small we just put a new tube in and didn't patch the hole in the tire. If your a HOG Member you get one free service call I believe. That can be nice.

Oh and I almost forgot.... Lean back, pretend yer Bronson and enjoy the ride

Ride the amount in one day that your comfortable with. The key is to stay alet while your riding. As long as your bike is in good condition, that amount of miles will be no problem :D

Planning a trip this july to visit family near Penacola Fl. It's about 870 miles one way. Was wondering if anyone had any tips or advice for long trips?

What is your longest trip to date and how many miles in one day? Flats can occur at any mileage. I've had 4 flats in the last 5 years and all have been on tires of less than 2100 miles. I've already had a flat on my Sporty at 1000 miles. It now has a tube in the rear tire. Travel as far as you feel comfortable and take lots of stops. Depending on your bike and size of the gas tank might be often anyways. Make sure to drink lots of water and take some food to snack on. Take rain gear as you never know what the weather will be doing 100 miles away. It can also be used as a wind breaker if the temps drop.

Check the tyre pressures before setting off, together with the oil level. Provided the motorcycle is regularly serviced, reliability should not be an isue, unless you know that something is already marginal in which case change it before you go.

Make sure you are comfortable for the expected conditions (e.g. clothing including gloves and boots that is warm enough/cool enough, helmet (if worn) that fits with sunglasses/face shield of choice). What you take as luggage depends on accommodation etc, but always travel as light as possible - after all you can always buy things on route if you really find you need them.

If you are still using a stock seat, you may find that this is the weak link in the chain - try to do at least a couple of hundred miles in a day before the long trip, and you will soon find out whether this is acceptable.

I always use a windshield, but this is again a personal thing!

Finally, make sure you have map(s) of where you are going!

Enjoy

Michael Howers

Most miles in a day has been about 250, but that was early in the season last yr. And I agree about that nasty stock seat. At first it was comfortable but now after 50 miles i'm aching. have been looking at the saddleman lowboy with saddle gel as a replacment but havent heard any good or bad things about saddleman seats. I was thinking about getting an oil cooler also but had heard that it will lower my oil pressure. not sure about this one. Florida+July=1 hot bike. I was thinking about trying to make it a 2 day trip their and 2 days on the flip side.

Forget the oil cooler. Not the pressure you need to worry about. It would be running too cool. Yer sporty is designed to and loves to run hot. It's not needed and will cause problems in the long run. Lotta nice seats out there. I have and prefer the Vintage Mustang.

Ditto on forget the oil cooler. Got a friend named Russ who's a parts dealer for HD. Says the oil cooler is the dumbest piece of crap Harley sells........totally worthless.


As you've received alot of good info already, the only other thing I'd add is a good set of highway pegs to stretch your legs out now and then....if someone else already mentioned them......sorry......this will just reinforce their worth.