touring on my SWING

This fall I plan on taking a rider to South Dakota, Wyoming, and Nebraska, last three western states to visit. Anyway I am planning on riding my SWING. It is stock as it can be. I have ridden from Wisconsin to North Carolina, and from Texas to Wisconsin on a Kawasaki 750 with no luggage other than a tank bag for its map case. I just packed light and prayed I would not hit rain. Oh and when my butt got sore I bought a hemmy inflatable donut to sit on that worked well, yes I looked like a dork but my a** did not hurt as much. I also bought a crampbuster because after 3 days I had a hand that did not work so well anymore. So what should I be looking at for my swing? What mods would you recommend or recommend I stay away from? If I do this I probably will avoid interstate highways. I am not afraid of getting lost as my phone has a GPS and I am not afraid to stop and look at a map.

I sounds like this ride of yours will be a lot of fun. I think the first mod you should do is an aftermarket windshield. If you say your bike is stock than a better windshield would make your long ride more enjoyable. The second mod would be a top case. You can get top cases really cheap on ebay and they even come with a mounting plate. The one I use only cost $75 and it is 51 liters. This would give you about 105 liters of storage which would be all you would need IMO. It almost sounds like you are the kind of rider where you don't need much at all to take long rides. You can also get a 'Vista lock' for the throttle for only $20 at cyclegear. That is what I had on my SWing.

Tell us the mods you plan to do and hope you have a great time.

NEP throttle stop available from Aerostich .






NEP throttle stop from Aerostich in Duluth, $20 or so

Sore butt----no underwear.

Ear Plugs, Quality rain suit, rubber boots nice too

Along with JeffR's mention of a 'Vista Cruise' throttle lock (or JG's NEP) to compliment your Crampbuster, I'd suggest that, because you favor travelin' light, you might want to consider a Tunnel Bag. That would allow you to have easy access to Rain Gear, a spare set of gloves and maybe some hydration & snacks. However if the tank bag you are already using seems adequate (and you have it mounted on the tunnel) then maybe a Tail Bag would be an option over that of a top case.

Whatever you choose be aware of Madison Avenue's first rule of Marketing; The larger the shopping basket the more you'll purchase (i.e. put in the basket).

How about a Bead Rider seat pad to relieve your sore azz.

Tim

I have GIVI tank/hump bag, use Velcro to secure=works fine. However bag defeats ease of mounting scooter---I usually use it on the "out" portions of trips for water/extra junk I thought I needed to carry----return legs, fold it up and enjoy easy to mount scooter. The junk has either been drunk/eaten/thrown away. I have been "touring"/riding everyday for 60 years------something I am learning as I get older------you might think you can do 500 mile days----do 250 and enjoy yourself.

Long distance riding can be boring. I have never ridden 1000 miles in day---stopped at 986 when I started seeing things.

Scooter touring/SilverWing can be enjoyable with proper Givi Adj windshield, right clothes, good ear plugs, lots of water to drink.

When I  installed the Givi the first ride I went on I thought the wind was at my back, I had to stop and
make sure I was bucking the wind.
  Best investment ever.
                    Larry

Larry,

I agree with you. I had the stock screen, standard Givi, Clearview, and the AF and the AF was the best in my opinion. I hope one day they make one for my CTX700 and I'm surprised others haven't tried to copy something like that.

http://www.mccruise.com/collections/honda/products/11

I put one of these on my 2013 Goldwing F6B, and am thinking of doing the same to my 2005 Silver Wing, it works great, and was not too bad to install, I had to get a friend to help with the wires due to my colorblind issues, I don't do wires. It was all plug and play also. The price shown will be converted to US $$. Currently $689 USD.
I ordered on a Wednesday and it arrived the following Monday.

Another useful/essential item for touring is a cup/bottle holder. Had a Ram Mount model on my Burgman that mounted to top of brake reservoir. Love the Ram Mounts for other items too like GPS, Chatterbox, CB's and Satellite radio's. Also, throw in a pack of Pledge wipes for the quick cleaning of windshield, visor and bike while traveling.

DanB wrote:

Another useful/essential item for touring is a cup/bottle holder. Had a Ram Mount model on my Burgman that mounted to top of brake reservoir. Love the Ram Mounts for other items too like GPS, Chatterbox, CB's and Satellite radio's. Also, throw in a pack of Pledge wipes for the quick cleaning of windshield, visor and bike while traveling.

Apart from a GPS, you don't need any of that other electronic junk to go maxi touring and if you think it's essential you'd be better off in a car and you'll have air con and be able to play with your cell phone too.

If you really need all that stuff laid out in front of you to play with as you ride, you're likely to be droning along on some Interstate or road that's dead straight to the horizon and beyond and need it because you're bored.

Cruise control has been already been mentioned a few times, that's another piece of kit that's basically an auto pilot for riders on straight roads.

I seem to remember that we have a lot of straight roads and Interstates in the colonies

Sam

We have some very long straight roads in England too, they were originally military roads built by the Romans when we were one of their colonies.  

The top box is a good (and easy) option.  I do not have a large one but it holds my gloves, maps and a few tools and maybe a granola bar and bottle of water. Rain gear and other things I may or may not need are under the seat (including dirty clothes etc.  My clean clothes are in a small duffle on the back of the seat.  I carry a hefty-type trash bag to wrap the duffle in if rain comes.

This is handy for holding down the duffle:

Cargo Net

I use a cramp buster and it works OK.  But as John says above keep your long days to 200-300 miles.  If you want to do 500+ miles/ day get a Goldwing!  I have done a couple of days at 400 and it is a chore.  200-250 miles per day is easy and relaxing!  Stick to highways (not freeways) and just enjoy the ride!

Don't forget some gum and candy in the right glove box. Bit of a treat on the long tour (or short). 

You're better off keeping a few lemon flavoured sweets somewhere where you can get at them easily, that sour lemon taste in your mouth tends to wake you up when tiredness creeps in, and if they have glucose in them gives you a bit of an energy boost as well.

I had a Go Cruise throttle lock. It is good for long flat (think Nebraska) roads. I think it only cost about $20.

My Go Cruise is in the lid pocket of my Givi E55 and it's been in there unused for at least the last 3 years. I've yet to find a road at home or abroad where I've needed it.

from a fellow Midwest tourer, I can't live without utopia back rest, crampbuster, heavy throttlemeisters, ram mount cupholder and phone holder, tall shield, airhawk R, givi tunnel bag and E55 top case. raingear strapped under seat, tunes jamming, lovin life.

cerve137 wrote:

from a fellow Midwest tourer, I can't live without utopia back rest, crampbuster, heavy throttlemeisters, ram mount cupholder and phone holder, tall shield, airhawk R, givi tunnel bag and E55 top case. raingear strapped under seat, tunes jamming, lovin life.

On the 400 Burgman and the Yamaha Morphous I had I couldn't get by without a Utopia backrest. And I told people nothing was as good as the Utopia and it was worth the $200.
On my Silverwings I have a Utopia backrest on one and the homemade buttstop conversion on the other. So far I like the homemade one as much as the Utopia.
When I got a used Utopia backrest given to me, in trade for the Utopia mounted thru their buttstop, they wanted my uncut buttstop so I had to give them my uncut buttstop.
The stock buttstop pushes me forward taking up needed leg room so I had to mount the Utopia without the buttstop, so you could say I'm losing some low back support.
I've had to bend the homemade brackets up to four times before I found the perfect fit. I've had my first homemade set for over five years so I'm kinda used to it, but I can't say I like the Utopia any better, as much yes but not better.
I'll be riding at least two hundred miles Saturday using the Utopia. I put the Utopia on the scooter that I use for rides over 200 miles so I should know more about it soon.

The stock butt stop is to far forward. Id love to move that back.

Greysilver have you tried riding with the butt stop removed? Or better yet the backrest conversation?

model28a wrote:

<>When I got a used Utopia backrest given to me, in trade for the Utopia mounted thru their buttstop, they wanted my uncut buttstop so I had to give them my uncut buttstop.<>

Roger

Is the Utopia backrest kind of a universal fit?

Um, could I theoretically get one from eBay and then maybe get the Silverwing-specific parts to fit?

Tim

Cosmic_Jumper wrote:

model28a wrote:

<>When I got a used Utopia backrest given to me, in trade for the Utopia mounted thru their buttstop, they wanted my uncut buttstop so I had to give them my uncut buttstop.<>

Roger

Is the Utopia backrest kind of a universal fit?

Um, could I theoretically get one from eBay and then maybe get the Silverwing-specific parts to fit?

Tim

Yes the backrest itself is kind of a universal fit. You can buy the parts you need to put it on your new bike if it's different. I was lucky when I got rid of my Burgman I knew someone with a Utopia on their Yamaha Morphous so I was able to copy his and make my old Utopia fit my Morphous without spending any money. Someone on the Burgman forum used the Utopia from his 400 on his new 200. I don't remember how much he paid for just the under seat brace/bracket.

So is anyone going touring this 'riding season' with all the junk deemed necessary for a day on the road, or this this topic just going to be about cup holders and cushions?

Cup holders suck---take away from attention to riding.

Two types of riders, those who have done it and learned not to take so much junk, and those who are learning-----many who are older are learning/dreaming.....more power to them. One thing in US---waterproof often not considered until too late.

Meldrew wrote:

DanB wrote:

Another useful/essential item for touring is a cup/bottle holder. Had a Ram Mount model on my Burgman that mounted to top of brake reservoir. Love the Ram Mounts for other items too like GPS, Chatterbox, CB's and Satellite radio's. Also, throw in a pack of Pledge wipes for the quick cleaning of windshield, visor and bike while traveling.

Apart from a GPS, you don't need any of that other electronic junk to go maxi touring and if you think it's essential you'd be better off in a car and you'll have air con and be able to play with your cell phone too.

I agree about all the electronic gadgetry. I've had GPS, Chatterbox radios and CB and none of it worked that well and was really a waste of money for me. Could never see the GPS screen as it washed out from the sun, Chatterbox was unreliable and problematic as well as the CB on my Goldwing. They were all worthless junk.  The only accessory in my cockpit area will be a water bottle holder. Texas heat is quite sweltering as I can recall riding in Big Bend at 110f on my B400. Thank God I had an evaporative cooling vest. As for me, less crap on my SW the better.

DanB wrote:

Meldrew wrote:

DanB wrote:

Another useful/essential item for touring is a cup/bottle holder. Had a Ram Mount model on my Burgman that mounted to top of brake reservoir. Love the Ram Mounts for other items too like GPS, Chatterbox, CB's and Satellite radio's. Also, throw in a pack of Pledge wipes for the quick cleaning of windshield, visor and bike while traveling.

Apart from a GPS, you don't need any of that other electronic junk to go maxi touring and if you think it's essential you'd be better off in a car and you'll have air con and be able to play with your cell phone too.

I agree about all the electronic gadgetry. I've had GPS, Chatterbox radios and CB and none of it worked that well and was really a waste of money for me. Could never see the GPS screen as it washed out from the sun, Chatterbox was unreliable and problematic as well as the CB on my Goldwing. They were all worthless junk.  The only accessory in my cockpit area will be a water bottle holder. Texas heat is quite sweltering as I can recall riding in Big Bend at 110f on my B400. Thank God I had an evaporative cooling vest. As for me, less crap on my SW the better.

I too have very little electronic crap (er stuff) on my Swing... I do have DennisB's awesome GPS holder and a 12 volt plug under seat to charge my "dumb" phone... The radio et al I leave to the Goldwing :lol!:

Hi Yo wrote:

  I had a Go Cruise throttle lock. It is good for long flat (think Nebraska) roads. I think it only cost about $20.

...An "O" ring at the end of the grip does a good job giving You a chance to rest Your hand on good roads....Scooter Trash.

I do like a GPS. I've had my old Magellan Roadmate 2200 on four different Goldwings and two SWs before it relocated to my current C650GT. Hard to beat a small GPS that's rain resistant, makes it easy to find fuel when the tank's getting low as well as a motel or campground when it's beginning to get late in the day.
I also like the Kaoko throttle lock. It isn't cheap but it works well and is out of the way on the handlebar end until you need it. A cramp buster is only $10 or so but worth its weight in gold if you have arthritis like me. I use the narrow one and cut the tongue down to about 1 1/2" long. That way it won't snag on a glove or sleeve but will still work as designed. To me a top box is a necessity for longer trips as well as running errands. I put a Coocase on my last SW and have a BMW box on my current 650GT. Worth every penny.
A cheap set of tire plugs and a compressed CO2 cartridge inflator doesn't take up much room and can save the day if you pick up a nail. I used to carry my old CVT belt as an emergency spare, it didn't take up much room and could prevent sitting for a few days waiting for a replacement belt if you had a problem.

I love my GPS too. I use an old android cell phone that I have downloaded maps for Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama and Kentucky maps for so no cell service is required. When it's not giving me maps I sometimes use it as a full screen speedometer. It's also an excellent music player, since it takes micro-sd cards.

Even when the bright sun makes the screen difficult to see the screen, it still tells me where my turns are via bluetooth. It is stuck to the spot between the handlebars with a magnet and has never fallen off in the three years I've used it that way. When it rains it is easily pulled off the magnet and put in one of the glove boxes to keep it dry, audio still working. I've tested it by sticking it in a ziplock bag for when it rains, but I've never actually done that in the rain.

The GPS app I use is called HERE by Microsoft. It's free and lets you download maps to use offline. If you have an old cell phone you don't use for anything else, this is a great way to make use of it.

Dugglebogey I always thought a magnet wrecked havoc on something electronic. I guess your experience proves otherwise! Nice to know.

I used to have an MP3 player by Sansa that had a wheel on the front for adjusting volume and selecting songs and whatnot. When attached to the magnet the controls stopped working completely. Everything else was fine since it was based on flash memory and not magnetic media, but apparently the "click-wheel" setup they had used magnets in some way.

My cell phones show no problems at all when attached.

Very likely the wheel on the Sansa player was a magnetic switch. The advantage of magnetic switches is that they are more or less impervious to water. Cell phones for the most part don't use magnetic switches but some do have chips that can sense magnetic fields which makes compass apps work.

I use a 47-liter Givi box and a tank bag on the passenger seat for additional storage.  In future, I will replace the tank bag with a roll bag...fits better and more practical.  My machine has a Givi AirFlow, which works great at freeway speeds...no buffeting or other problems.

I'm sure that the more experience tourers here knew this already, but one thing I have learned while touring is to keep the weight centered and down as low as you can get it.  This means my heavier stuff was in the helmet well under the seat and the lighter stuff was above it and in the Givi box.

I did not use GPS.  I've used maps for years and I prefer them to the electronic stuff.  Sometimes, this means you have to stop and get off the bike to examine the map in detail.  Also, it might mean you have to strike up a conversation with a local person.  These are both good things...have had many interesting conversations about the bike, the tour, the other person's life and family and job and riding experiences.  I wouldn't have had any of that listening to a GPS device.  That's my choice...YMMV...

Here's the bike set up for my last tour into central Oregon and Washington:

On long tours I stuff my old Army duffle bag with all my light stuff; clothes, jackets, sleeping bag etc; and bungee it right behind me on the buddy seat. Very comfortable back-rest. harley

Jinglebob wrote:

<>I did not use GPS.  I've used maps for years and I prefer them to the electronic stuff.  Sometimes, this means you have to stop and get off the bike to examine the map in detail.  Also, it might mean you have to strike up a conversation with a local person.  These are both good things...have had many interesting conversations about the bike, the tour, the other person's life and family and job and riding experiences.<>

God forbid that you should have to talk with a stranger...

GPSs were designed for two reasons: Guys don't ask for directions; a stranger might be a chain saw murderer.

Ooo, scarey business this travel stuff. Best to stay close to home and watch TV.

Maps, fascinating to look at and browse through and for route planning but they go out of date easily, and they have their limitations out on tour. It's very hard to follow a route on a square of folded up map while riding unless you've highlighted, a folded paper map squashed into the clear pocket of a tank or tunnel bag will only take so much folding and creasing before it tears. They're not much good unfolded in windy or rainy weather either. The exception being laminated weatherproof biker maps.

It might be fine stopping and striking up a conversation with a local in an English speaking country, it might not work so well over in Europe. I used hand written laminated route cards inside the map pocket of my tunnel bag for years, even when I had a new and unused TomTom Rider to use. Now just use a decent GPS,I've recently updated the free UK and Western European mapping on my Garmin sat nav and swap it between bike and car.

I removed my DennisB sat nav mount this morning after 4 years and I'm going to use a RAM reservoir mount on the left handlebar instead. Using his central mount, a large RAM arm with a locking knob, and my Garmin in a Touratech cradle was OK for a while but was still too low, the long arm made it move, and sun glare was a niggle too. On the left brake reservoir my Garmin will be higher, nearer, I can use a small or medium locking RAM arm instead of the large, and of course the 12v power socket is just below in the glovebox pocket.

In all our years of touring (more on Goldwings and ST1100's than on Silver Wings) we've never used a GPS. We sort of go "seat of the pants" and if we get lost we stop and pull out the road atlas that we stuffed in someplace and try to figure out where we are and how we got there.

Like 10 years we were coming back to Wisconsin from Sturgis and we were running a bunch of "backroads" in Minnesota. The road we were on turned from blacktop to gravel and we kept going. We came to T intersections that were not labeled so we'd pick a direction and it just kept going until we were in so deep in rural gravel roads that we didn't even know where we were. That was one of those times that we pulled out the atlas (that was like 10 years old) and it didn't help any because it didn't show the roads we were on.

My wife says "let's just keep riding away from the sun and we should run into something again where we can figure it out".

So we did. We finally found a blacktop road with some rural street number sign on it (which didn't mean much) and kept going east away from the sun at every road we could that went that way. Like three hours later we came to a four-lane highway and stopped and my wife pulled up alongside, flipped up her helmet faceshield and says, "hey - this looks like 169!" It was, and then we knew where we were again.

We seen a lot of corn and soybeans in Minnesota on that ride. And we still only use a Road Atlas that's at least 10 years old for navigation.

Chris Olson wrote:

We seen a lot of corn and soybeans in Minnesota on that ride.  And we still only use a Road Atlas that's at least 10 years old for navigation.

 Chris, I'm with you. Never used a GPS and never been lost. I've done a lot of exploring, but hey I wasn't lost. I still don't know how those roads did a 180 and I never turned the handlebars.     First time I ever saw the sun go down in the east.

Hi Yo wrote:

Chris, I'm with you. Never used a GPS and never been lost.

Oh yeah, we never been lost either. Like that time I told about we knew we were in Minnesota. And we had filled up our ST's in Pipestone so we knew the sun was over by Pipestone and we needed to go the other way. There's a big river between Minnesota and Wisconsin and we knew we had to cross that to get to where we were going.

Navigation is pretty simple, really, if you can remember the big landmarks like that.

I used to fly by pilotage and WAC charts in NW Alaska, compass, sextant, chronograph and ephemeris when sailing in the Gulf of Alaska. Plenty of time working with charts and maps. I often have maps with me in my Jeep or on long rides but still find it very convenient to use a GPS. It's nice to know where the closest gas station or whatever is located. I find it a lot easier way to find my way through cities using GPS guidance. Riding through LA and other big cities is a lot easier with GPS. I could do without it well enough but personally find the GPS helpful.
When a GPS directs you to back roads and trails instead of a highway or major road it's usually an error by the user. Most all GPS units have a choice of fastest or shortest route, some offer to route avoiding toll roads or freeways. One route usually best to avoid is the 'shortest' route. That can lead one to goat tracks, usually will get you where you want to go but can become nearly impassable. Near Medford a few years ago a family was stranded in the mountains by following a 'shortest' route to the coast. It was early winter and they kept going in the mountains even after the road narrowed and became difficult. Eventually they got stuck and couldn't continue on. The family stayed in the car and the husband went to find help. He was eventually found, dead from exposure while his family survived in the car and were rescued. The odd thing was the guy was an editor of CNET who should have known better how to use the GPS. We often take our Jeep into the mountains to find new routes on BLM and Forest Service trails with our GPS but wouldn't recommend that to anyone who doesn't have an adequate vehicle and equipment.

I fitted the RAM mount brake reservoir cover for my sat nav/GPS today. It replaces the centrally mounted DennisB mount I removed a couple of days ago. I tried all of my three RAM arms, small, medium, and large vertically and all of them work well. With the large arm fitted the 5" Garmin screen is almost at chin height when seated, anyhow I decided to fit the small arm and I'll try that out for a few days.

I find my GPS useful when going from A to B but don't get much satisfaction executing the planning of routes for it.

When I've devised a suitable mount I shall go back to using my Chalmet Roadbookroller; I enjoy writing and printing routes and diagrams for it.
I had it first for my X9s and used it with great pleasure.

http://www.chalmet.net/

exavid wrote:

I could do without it well enough but personally find the GPS helpful.

We have a GPS - got it from our daughter for Christmas a few years back.  But we've never had the desire to use it on a motorcycle.  We've spent a lot of time simply turning onto a road and see where it goes.  And where ever it goes is where we end up.  We've always found our way to where we had the idea to go, one way or another.

I met my wife in college in 1979 and in July 1980 we got the idea to take off on a motorcycle trip.  I was riding a '74 CB750 and she had a '78 GS550.  We went to Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, up to Glacier, out to the west coast to Mt. St. Helens because we heard that mountain was rumbling and it was going to blow up again.  Then we heard about this big rally in Sturgis, SD so we rode to that and spent another week there.  All told, we spent 6 weeks on the road camping in a tent, blew all our college money for the next year on that trip, and came home married.  We never even had a road map with us.  We'd stop at waysides where we seen one of those glass cases with a map in it and study it to figure out where we had been and where we're going next.

We put history together once, trying to remember all the different bikes we've had since, and came up with 27 different bikes in 35 years between the two of us.  And we've never stopped doing what we did on that first trip we ever took, and my wife has been my riding partner all that time.  Although we did slow down a bit when our two daughters were growing up.

We've always just left the driveway and pointed the bikes in a direction and go there.  No real plans, no routes, no real timeframe that we have to be anywhere.  Although we did do several IBA rides back in the late 90's and up to about 2002 or so, but we went "seat of the pants" on those too.

Late last summer when we rode to Alaska we came back thru Canada and my wife got a flat rear tire on her bike.  So we plugged it on the side the road and aired the tire back up.  We had no clue, really, where we were, although we knew we were in Canada someplace so we weren't "lost".  But we came to a fork in the road after fixing Kristin's tire, took the left direction and came to a town about 20 miles later and decided to get gas.  We asked the checkout guy in the gas station just where the hell are we?  And asked him if there was any motels around because it was raining and only about 48 degrees and we couldn't find anyplace to set up our tent up to get out of the weather before hypothermia started setting in.

For some reason, if we had a GPS and "knew" all that, it would take some of the fun out of our trips that we have taken.

roders wrote:

I also bought a crampbuster because after 3 days I had a hand that did not work so well anymore. So what should I be looking at for my swing?

The only thing we have done to our Silver Wings is put Corbin leather saddles on them, we got the short Clearview wind screens. We both like the short one, because although it's about 1" taller than the stock one, we don't like looking thru plastic when it's raining. And we ride rain or shine. We got VistaCruise throttle locks on our bikes. And we got Givi 105 tunnel bags. That's it.

We attached our Givi tunnel bags using the front straps that come down out of the side pockets and cut the stock clip strap that comes with the bag. Then drill a 3/16" hole in the tunnel on each side of the bike, just ahead of the gas tank, and attach the clips that hook to the bag straps to the tunnel with stainless steel pop rivets. I can take a photo of that if you're not clear how we attached ours. Some people use velcro to attach them too.

We ran our last belts 20,000 miles and put new ones in this spring. When we go, we'll carry one of the old belts for a spare and the socket and spanner to change it.

And we got 20A power plugs in both of our bikes. The power plug is handy for running our electric air mattress inflator (we tent camp on the road) and our 12V electric air compressor for airing up tires if we get a flat.

We carry a tire plug kit with a rasp for cleaning out the hole and various size plugs. I don't remember how many flat tires we've had over the years, but it's been several. And not a single one has ever been within reasonable range of a dealership where you could get a new tire. Don't rely on that "fix-a-flat" stuff on the road. It don't work.

We also carry a tire spoon kit and patches if we ever had to patch a large hole internally in the tire and vulcanize it. In all our years of riding we have never used it or ever had a hole that couldn't be fixed with a regular tire plug.

The final thing that we carry is a rope to tow one bike if we have to. We've used that twice over the years. I had a GS1100E at one point that quit in the middle of nowhere and my wife towed me 30 miles with her 650L to a Suzuki dealership where we had to wait two days to get a new ignition pickup coil for it. The other time was when my '99 ST ran out of gas about 5 miles short of where we could get gas. My wife's ST was still running so she towed me in.

All the stuff to fix tires and replace the belt we carry in the left fairing glove box in my bike. And the spare belt and rope gets thrown in the bottom of one our luggage compartments.

I'm new here but I have two indispensable pieces of touring gear I had to recommend. Rain gear has already been mentioned a number of times but specifically I wanted to suggest Frogg Toggs motorcycle gear. Breathable and completely waterproof. Packs down into a small stuff sack. Awesome rain gear. It will keep you dry and not make you hot. I even use it in cold weather as a windbreaker. Somehow it breathes inside out but not outside in.

Speaking of hot, if you ride anywhere warm then the Texas Cool Vest is much better than the evaporative cooling gear. I've had all that stuff too and it works all right if you don't mind being wet. But the Texas Cool Vest has 65 degree (f) cool packs that last for 2-3 hours. They'll recharge quickly in an ice chest or freezer. I have no interest in TCV just love their product. Best gear I ever bought. Indispensable in the summer.

Welcome to the forum Jeff. Thank you for your recommendations. It would be nice if you went Here and introduced yourself.  Then you'd get a proper welcome from the forum members.
I agree with you 100% on the Frogg Toggs. I use them here in the Florida heat too. Also like you I use them in cold weather. But I use them if the sun goes down before I get home or on the morning before it gets hot.
Do you ride a Silverwing? If not what do you ride? I guess I shouldn't ask you that here. I can read your introduction(when you post it)    and get just that kind of information.  

Agree on the Frogg Toggs. I've had my set for about ten years now. They've been used often too. I like the fact that they breath and don't cause sweating. The compact package when packed in their bag is great for motorcycles and scooters. A heck of a lot easier to pack and wear than my old heavy duty Helly Hanson gear I used when sailing my ketch in Alaska. They were strong but very bulky to pack. No problem with sweating there though.

JeffK

+1 on the Frogg Toggs. I haven't used the cool vest, but I might check it out.


Look forward to your introduction. Texas is a huge area for a location.

model28a wrote:

Greysilver have you tried riding with the butt stop removed? Or better yet the backrest conversation?  

No I have not tried to ride with buttstop removed. That is an idea for sure. Thank you.