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Tuktoyaktuk: 7,755 miles in 11 days


kmev

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Just returned from an excellent ride from southern Wisconsin to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, on the Arctic Ocean and back. I wasn't planning on doing the round trip in 11 days, but I was enjoying the ride and found it hard to stop. I later learned that it if I had taken longer on the Dempster Highway I would have been stuck in snow and mud. I spent a total of three nights on the Dempster. 

The FJ-09 is the perfect compromise between an BMW GS and a FJR1300 - it can eat miles for day after day, yet perform in the dirt with the best of them. The bike was phenomenal on this ride. 

I tented it the whole way. The trip was unseasonably cold - temps from below freezing to low 50s Fahrenheit every day. Lots of rain, but no all-day-long downpours that I often encounter on my trips. The cold temps did keep the mosquitoes at bay. I installed TKC80s in Whitehorse, Yukon, and swapped them back to my Dunlop Roadsmart 3s for the return home. Both tires where flawless. 

Yamaha's traction control saved my ass on the ALCAN. I was running 70 mph when I hit a storm and it started hailing marble-sized hail. All of a sudden there was a LOT of hail and before I knew it I was running 70 mph into 1.5 inches of marble-sized hail covering the roadway. My rear wheel suddenly slid out from under me, but before I could even react the traction control engaged, the bike uprighted itself, and I ran neutral throttle the rest of the way through the ice. If I had been on my K75 I would have crashed. Thank you Yamaha. 

After that random collection of thoughts, here's some random photos: 

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Oh, to be young again.  I don't know if I could do your ride now but which I could!

My fastest 15 red is set up very similar to yours.  Whose pilot saddle is that, almost looks DIY?  Also, I presume that's a SW-Mototech skid plate 

, and if so how'd it perform (and how easy is it to change the oil?  I have a flush head drain plug...

Love my  ole  classic 2-pc 'Stitch' but never got along with their CTB.  Have their Transit 2 suit too.

bravo!

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That is the SW-Motech skid plate that I am running. I also ground the rib off the oil pan and am using a flat, allen head drain plug. The skid plate will bend if you ground the bike hard, but on more than one occasion I heard a rock banging off of it. When I removed it to change the oil when I got home I was impressed by the number of rock gouges the skid plate sustained and my oil pan / headers did not. It did it's job. To change the oil you just remove six allen head screws and pull the plate off the mounts. I add a dab of blue thread locker when I replace it. Very easy. 

The seat is a Terry Adcox, which I learned about here and gets great reviews. I had a Sergeant seat but hated it. This seat did it's job as well as any seat could have averaging 700 miles a day for 11 days. It felt almost as good as the Russell Daylong I had on my BMW K75. 

I love the Aerostich Roadcrafter one-piece - this is my second. I also love their Combat Touring Lite boots. They don't come cheap, but like their advertising states, you WILL ride more. 

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10 hours ago, Dark&Stormy said:

So what did do with your TKC80s after you swapped them out? Shipped them home?

I told the tire guy to do whatever he wanted with them -  preferably give them to someone else to finish off. I had 1,900 miles on them, and I estimate they were about half finished. I don't ride any dirt back home, and they were weren't worth the hassle to haul back nor the expense to ship. 

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