Tips for a newbie tourer

[doc]

Hey hey hey, it's a 'comfortable' sports bike
It's got a pack-rack and everything.

How does the pack rack make it more comfortable. No bike with the bars the same level as your arse could be comfortable all day. There is no way I could sit on a pack rack for long.

[MaxB]

Judging by what you say you are quite stuck on the CBR.
So then you have to change the bike to fit you or be prepared to change the bike for another that does.

If you have heaps of money I'd recommend Heli bars, rearsets and a vista cruise control. (and see the doctor).

If not, you could fit Genmar or F1 Engineering bar risers. I have some on the ZX. It is amazing how much difference 20mm makes. It shifts a lot of weight off the wrists.

[limbimtimwim]

What a load of shit about bagging sports bikes and touring. You are all wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. It's my opinion and I am entitled to it. I may revise my opinion when I am twice my age.

I have a secret, which I will share in a paragraph or 7.

I rode my RVF400 for two weeks solid and that was fine. I rode my GSXR750 from 6:45 till 23:45 on Thursday and got out of bed at 8am this morning and felt absolutely fine. Actually, I felt the best I have in days. I'm here up past 2am and I still feel chipper. A 1996 CBR600 is like a Goldwing in comparison to the RVF. My elbows touch my knees on that bike.

Before anyone states the obvious; at 25 I am young and flexible. But according to his profile, steved is also a spring chicken and only 29.

Steved, my brilliant intellect and awesome powers of being correct all the time is is that part of the answer for you is to relax. As you ride along, evaluate how you are sitting. Any tense muscles? Alter something to undo those muscles. I have to do this periodically, I catch myself tensing up my right shoulder too and have to 'let it go'. Probably just my subconscious desire to twist that throttle right around to scream the engine makes me tense up my throttle arm a little.

The comments about rotating those levers is a very good one. Also, as a random observation I have noticed, keeping your hands off the levers is very helpful. Just on the bars. Hands naturally curl up a little, the muscles in your hands have an effect on your arm as a whole, fingers stretched out is not natural.

No one mentioned earplugs, this doesn't help your shoulder, but it does help with general mental alertness in the long run. Ask any earplug user, once you have gone to them, you won't go back. I think it is not the noise, it's the air pressure thrumming on your ears that it assists with.

But my biggest secret of all.. And I am sharing this with you now to defend the honour of sporty bikes and their usefulness as serious kilometre eaters is.. (drum roll)...

Brace yourself..

A big tank bag. Put your heavy stuff in it (Keeping weight forward, not hanging over the back lightening your front wheel..) and then put soft things at the top. And then you can lie on it. Seriously, just put your weight on it. You now have a big fat happy pillow to rest yourself on, and little weight on your arms.

Oh yeah, and as others have said, ease yourself into it. I don't know how many tens of thousands of KMs it has taken me to get to this stage.

[Jantar]

What a load of shit about bagging sports bikes and touring. You are all wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. It's my opinion and I am entitled to it. I may revise my opinion when I am twice my age......

Maybe you should revise your opinion before you get to twice your age.

I can't speak for everyone, but I for one am not bagging sports bikes. I find touring on a sports bike a lot easier than touring on a cruiser or a supposedly fully dressed tourer. However I have ridden sports bikes for most of my life and I know how to let the airflow support my upper body weight. My present bike is not a sports bike and it requires a totally different riding style for long distance rides. It is however a riding style that is more comfortable for many riders.

There are many people who are quite capable of riding sports bikes for short distances and yet they never adapt to long distances at a stretch. For these people a more upright position suits better. Its nothing to do with the bike and its lack of comfort, its simply a matter of riding style. Maybe steved just needs two bikes; a sports bike for those short fast blats, and a sports/tourer for long distance rides.

[limbimtimwim]

Maybe you should revise your opinion before you get to twice your age.

No! I am always right! That's the first rule! I am not allowed to revise until I am 50!

LOL

[Zapf]

A big tank bag. Put your heavy stuff in it (Keeping weight forward, not hanging over the back lightening your front wheel..) and then put soft things at the top. And then you can lie on it. Seriously, just put your weight on it. You now have a big fat happy pillow to rest yourself on, and little weight on your arms.

Quite true, and it works. I got that method when I was puttering around the islands on my SV650S by myself. In that way there is not much weight on the arms. And specially when you are touring and have heavy bags on the back of the bike it helps to put more weight on the front.

I have had sports and more upright bikes. E.g CB900 Hornet. And now I am going to Kit a Blackbird out for that duty. More for 2 up with good wind protection and the classic 3 hard boxes.

[James Deuce]

I beetled all over the country on a succession of increasingly focussed Sports bikes, from an RG250 to an RC30, until I broke my neck and my back.

After I got back into bikes I went down the Sprotsbike route again. I like them a lot. The TRX was just about perfect, only getting painful after about 500kms. The R6 was fine on the open road until I hit a town and then I was almost crying in my helmet by the time even a short 50km/hr section finished.

Sometimes it is necessary to adapt to different machinery, or adapt your machinery. Being uncomfortable can be dangerous.

[magicfairy]

Not a cure but could help make the ride less miserable - works for me and my partner.
Neurofen plus or some other painkiller / anti-inflammatory (that you have taken before so you know there will be no side effects)
Take some before you set out, to help reduce pain and inflammation from building.
Then maybe again when you need to, or at night to calm things down for next days ride.

In my experience if the pain you have can be cured with panadol then you probably are not in a lot of pain. Get something that helps with inflammation as well - neurofen, aspirin...

And don't more than it says on the box.

[James Deuce]

Ibuprofen, brufen, neurofen. All very dangerous to take for more than a couple of days at a time. It subtly strips the lining from your stomach and when you get a hint of gastric pain, it's too late and you are already bleeding internally.

Asprin also. It isn't necessarily the amount you take either. The directions on the box are for Joe Average. Ibuprofen/brufen/neurofen can cause respiratory arrest in asthmatics.

More than 4 days of four hourly panadol can put you at risk of liver failure.

I do not recommend prophylactic dosages with over the counter pain relief because most people (not necessarily pointing finger at you Magicfairy) don't respect them and will do double and triple dosages on a whim, not realising the potential lethality. I helped put my self in hospital a couple of months ago by taking Neurofen Plus for 4 days to try and cope with 4 days of a sustained 40C fever. By the time I was vomiting blood it was a bit late to do anything except go to hospital to get opiates and IV fluids.

The most tragic thing I've witnessed is the acquaintance's daughter who took 20 Panadol Gel caps in a typical teenage bid for attention and took 6 weeks to die of liver failure.

It is better to sort out a mechanical fix for an physical issue, such as improving fitness or buying a bike that fits better, or modifying your current ride than it is to mask symptomatology with over the counter pain relief.

One thing I notice with most motorcyclists is that they don't drink nearly enough water, particularly in Summer. You should be drinking a litre or so every 4 hours as a minimum when on the bike. If you go longer than that buy some electrolyte replacing Sports water at the next stop.

[Ms Piggy]

Tip 2: Go see a Physio

Yeah what he says. I've been touring on my little bike but, if you're in that much pain you should be getting it looked at.

[magicfairy]

Ibuprofen, brufen, neurofen. All very dangerous to take for more than a couple of days at a time. It subtly strips the lining from your stomach and when you get a hint of gastric pain, it's too late and you are already bleeding internally.

Asprin also. It isn't necessarily the amount you take either. The directions on the box are for Joe Average. Ibuprofen/brufen/neurofen can cause respiratory arrest in asthmatics.

More than 4 days of four hourly panadol can put you at risk of liver failure.

I do not recommend prophylactic dosages with over the counter pain relief because most people (not necessarily pointing finger at you Magicfairy) don't respect them and will do double and triple dosages on a whim, not realising the potential lethality. I helped put my self in hospital a couple of months ago by taking Neurofen Plus for 4 days to try and cope with 4 days of a sustained 40C fever. By the time I was vomiting blood it was a bit late to do anything except go to hospital to get opiates and IV fluids.

The most tragic thing I've witnessed is the acquaintance's daughter who took 20 Panadol Gel caps in a typical teenage bid for attention and took 6 weeks to die of liver failure.

Which is why I said "don't take more than stated on the box" both in duration and quantitiy - yes panadol takes out your liver, aspirin your stomach. And I agree not a long term solution. But they have a place.

As a former registered nurse (so I know not to take double / triple doses, and have never put myself or anyone else on hospital due to misuse) the biggest doses of things like panadol I have ever seen given were actually in hospital wards - especially orthopaedic wards.
I find it amazing that thinks like aspirin can be bought with the groceries.

But if you have a days riding ahead of you, and you are / will be in pain, it is too late to change bikes, change plans, change setups, taking some painkillers to get you through will make the day so much happier.

I speak from experience, but it is only a suggestion.

[James Deuce]

I'd actually drink a lot of water and do a lot of stretches pre and post ride in preference to taking pain relief.

I have, and will continue to do this in future, changed my plans if the pain gets to the point where I'm not enjoying the ride, irrespective of whether or not I have "no" other option.

[TLDV8]

Besides some kind of medical/physical problem as far as the shoulder,a 1996 motorcycle may have suspension issues by now.
Crap suspension will wear you down if it is beating you to death or aggravate any problem area's that may not show up in normal day to day doing's.

It's horses for courses,some say the TL1000 is uncomfortable but they are poofters and probably in their 20's (pt)

I think there has to be something in the Relax thing,especially over longer distances.

[MVnut]

Under 100km between forced stops.........it's not the bike. Go see a Physio. Alternately you require a much higher 'thresh-hold of pain'.........get married, your TOP will quadruple overnight

[Mrs Busa Pete]

try changing the set up of the bike for longer trips soften up the suspension so the bike does the work not you .try a sheepskin on the seat for comfort