Iron Butt Association SS1600k

[rickmorcom]

Just back last night from a grand little tour. I had a conference to attend in New Hampshire, around 800km from here in New Brunswick, but as I've been admiring the Iron Butt community, decided to go the long way around, and do the basic Iron Butt ride of 1000 miles or 1600km in 24 hours on the way. I started that part in Moncton, New Brunswick last Friday morning at about 4am, and finished in London, Ontario, some 1700km away at about 10pm. After mooching on into Michigan, and doing a gentle couple of days, I took the long ride back through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Vermont, and after the conference, had a good ride home yesterday for a total of around 4050km.

No complaints about the bike! It went like a dream. I had some stop-start traffic in places, which is always a hassle on any bike, but mostly the roads were open and plain sailing Only really hit rain on the last day too.

One minor problem which developed was with the heated grips. They were installed soon after I got the bike (were supposed to be installed before delivery, but that is another story) but on day one, they failed to work. I took the bike back and was told that the fuse had blown, and they seemed to work fine after it was replaced. But about an hour into my trip they failed again. That was the only cold weather of the whole trip, and with the temperature dropping to just 2 degrees C (35F) I could have used them. Otherwise, everything was perfect, never missed a beat. My favourite feature of the bike is the adjustable windshield. I love the way I can put it nearly at the top, and cruise with my visor open, with hardly any wind rush in my eyes at all. Cruise control is a dream too, on those long rides. I was worried about my butt, and only have a standard seat, but I bought a beaded car seat cover ($14.99 from Canadian Tire), cut it down to fit the Trophy, and it made a huge difference, I honestly had hardly any numb bum syndrome.

Now to submit my details to the Iron Butt Association, and hope they approve my ride!

[Verdun95]

  well done, keep us posted of the Association decision, please

[Trophy 59]

I salute you Rick, what a marathon!

[Simons Trophy]

Huge ride great effort.
Had the same thing with heated grips. Turned out to be the way the cables are routed the bars cut into them so the tech filed a bit out and no dramas since. Said it was a design fault.

[rickmorcom]

Thanks for all the comments. And thanks for the information about the heated grips, Simon's Trophy. I'll mention that to the tech when I get the bike back in to them. It is a bit of a pain as I live an hour away, and have to make a special trip. Oh well.

[ibpete]

Congratulations on the SS1k.

I do have to warn you that it can become addictive.

Sounds like you had an uneventful trip and that is always a good thing.

Keep us posted on your certification. Sometimes it takes a while but as long as you padded your mileage by 20 or 30 miles and documented any corners you could have cut, then it will be no problem. If you were running a GPS. I've been seeing reports where the folks doing the validation came up with the same miles as was reported on the rider's GPS.

Let us know what your IBA number is when you get it. My first, about 11 years ago, was something like 8992. When you complete an Iron Butt Rally you get a 3 digit number, so mine is now 341. That means I was the 341st person to have completed an IBR.

FWIW-I think the TT is going to be a great LD platform.  I've only ridden one LD rally but, so far, I am very pleased with the performance. Much nicer ride than my K1200LT.

[rickmorcom]

Thanks for the welcome. I had noticed that you are recently on a TT, and that you generally approved of it so far. I certainly hope to do some more LD rides, but whether I'll ever reach the dizzy heights of a three-digit IBA number is highly doubtful. But you never know. I certainly enjoying riding long distances by myself. I don't know what the next ride will be - winter is rapidly approaching here in the Canadian Maritime provinces. Oh well. Riding through the snow can be fun too!

[NeXTer]

Originally Posted by rickmorcom

Thanks for all the comments. And thanks for the information about the heated grips, Simon's Trophy. I'll mention that to the tech when I get the bike back in to them. It is a bit of a pain as I live an hour away, and have to make a special trip. Oh well.

A whole hour away? You do realise how rediculous that statement looks in the context of this thread?