Scooter Cannonball Run 2012

What:    The Scooter Cannonball Run is a coast to coast endurance event for scooters. It is a test of both rider and machine that covers 2500 miles and takes in some of the best motorcycle roads on the North American continent. It will be run as a time/distance/regularity rally where points are awarded based on miles completed and the ability to maintain the standard pace.

Where:    The Scooter Cannonball Run 2012 will travel from Savannah, GA to San Diego, CA.

When:   It starts Sunday, 22 April 2012 and ends Sunday, 29 April 2012, with 8 days worth of riding across North America in between. Why: Your reasons are your reasons. Some ride for charity, some to prove they can do it, some to “win” and others just to see the country.

Visit the official Scooter Cannonball Run 2010 website for up-to-the-minute details!

Read the article from Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Commerce here.

Clothes:
Pretty much what you see in the pics is what I brought to wear. I used the yellow dry bag to hold clothes.
4 pairs of cotton: ankle socks, boxers, t-shirts cotton top sneakers rubber boots that I picked up in Seattle after my sneakers got wet in the snow Jean/denim jacket and pants 200 weight fleece pants and jacket that I wore underneath my jean/denim fleece balaclava insulated moto gloves and full finger bicycle gloves rain jacket and pants bicycle hat

I was very comfortable on most the whole trip. There were a couple occasions when I got chilled. My cotton clothing stayed dry. The denim jacket did get damp on the front bottom where the jacket and pants meet, and pants got damp around the ankles. I washed my clothes every 4 days or so.

Took baby wipe bathes at the end of the day. Baby wipes works really well, they don’t feel refreshing like a shower but does the job. Washed my face and brushed my teeth after breakfast/dinner every day. So the only thing that stayed dirty was my hair, that got oily until I showered every 4 days or so.

I used a 20* synthetic sleeping bag. I like synthetic bags for long continuous use cause it stays relatively dry compared to down. Kept it in the blue dry bag.

My tent was $20 from wally world. Kept the bugs out and me dry.

I stealth camp, meaning that I find a bush to hide behind on the side of the road. In northern BC and Yukon that wasn’t needed. You can literally just set up a tent at a rest stop or liter bin pull out in plain view and no one bothers you. In the US this won’t work. I was caught stealth camping in CA on my way back but by that time I was getting up and leaving anyways. I actually didn’t do a very good job of hiding, it was getting really late. Didn’t encounter any animals while camping.

The folks in Canada are very nice and friendly. The roads there are in great shape except before AK, but is still better then AK. When I got into Alaska I knew I was in the US just by folks being less welcoming. Not to say that folks in AK aren’t friendly they are by the mainland standards or at least CA standards. Also the roads turn to crap as soon as you cross the border. For the most part traveling in Canada is pretty much the same as the US only difference is km, loonies, nicer roads and the Canadian accent. I’ve heard Americans imitating the Canadian accent but didn’t realize how thick it can get.

Originally I was going to bring cooking gear and cook the entire time but decided against that. First that meant I had to carry more stuff. Second it also meant I had less time riding each day because of time spent cooking and time spent grocery shopping. Third it meant I had to be more concerned about animals smelling the food. I also had to do more planning and preparing if I were to cook. The other main factor besides time was cost. Cooking does save money but that will increase other expenses. Being on the road longer means I had to do more laundry which increases cost and time. It also means I had to take more showers which will cost more to stay at places that had showers. Overall it was just more work to cook. Besides I was on vacation and no one wants to cook while on vacation. But truth be told it meant I would be eating instant noodles every meal for a month cause that is about the only thing I can cook. So eating well the whole trip did cost a little more but I believe the cost out weights the savings. Almost every morning I had bacon and eggs, pancakes, toast and sometime hash browns and OJ. I say almost every morning cause not all places serve breakfast after 11am. I believe eating well during the whole trip did a few things in my favor. It kept me warmer because of all the calories I was taking in and it kept me healthier. I didn’t get anywhere near feeling sick, I actually felt great and energetic the whole time. To my surprise gained a few pounds.

I spent less then $1500 for the whole trip from the day that I left to the day I got home for everything. All gas, food, camping, laundry, oil changes, tires, supplies etc. 22 days for the whole trip, 9 days getting to Fairbanks, one non-travel day and one to the Arctic Circle, and 11 days back home from Fairbanks. 21 travel days all together, averaging 369 miles per travel day.

The trip felt easy cause originally I was going to do this trip on my 50cc scooter. There were only a few days that I got up early and ended late. Most of the time I would not get up until 9am and was in bed by 10pm. Having done long trips on a 50cc that meant everyday getting up by 6am and bed time well after midnight. Doing it on a 100+cc bike made if felt like cheating. I was very relaxed on this trip. Being on the road and on the bike for most of the day for so many days did take a toll on me. But I think the main thing that screwed me up was the amount of daylight change from CA to AK and back to CA in such a short period of time. It kinda felt like jet lag for three week straight, took me almost a week at home just to get use to a regular day/night cycle.

Being up north a few things surprised me. The variety of the environment wasn’t very abundant. It isn’t like traveling around CA where you can see lots of very different environments. There wasn’t much difference in changes in elevation. Being frozen most of the year the trees aren’t very big.

Canada is very green, so many trees. As I was passing through I thought to myself that America was once covered in forest from sea to sea back in the colonial days. And how those trees were what fueled and supported America before the Industrial Revolution. Trees, like oil now, provided energy and materials for the growth of a fledgling nation. I thought about resources and the waste that we cause and how it can be reduce by simple yet effective changes. Simple changes like riding the Symba.

People that know me know that I have been car-less now for almost a couple years. I decided that I could live without one and on this trip I was considering getting a car again but am still not sure about it…it would feel as if I was going backwards and I don’t like to look back. I always want to move forward, keep heading forward. This was why this trip went by so quickly. Many folks were very surprise at how fast I traveled. For me it was about moving forward. Each time I had to stop for something it felt as if progress had stopped. I don’t know if this is a city mentality or what. The ironic thing was that on this trip I wasn’t concerned about time or date, I really didn’t know what it was unless I asked someone. The reality was that I didn’t really care for time. I had also reflected back and looked ahead on many things one of which is getting back to my roots of bicycling again. Bicycling, my first passion, has been neglected for the past few years as I got more into motorized two wheelers. I will always love two wheels but just need to give more equal time to each type. I look forward to having many more adventures on two wheels.

I’d like to thank the folks that made this trip a success: Pete McIntosh, Grace Chao, Bill Allison and all the folks from Carter Brothers. Thank the folks that shared my adventure on their website: Suzanne McIntosh from Symplifylife.com, Steve Guzman from TheScooterScoop.com, April @ Scoot Magazine, Nate from TeamSymba, David Harrington from JustGottaScoot.com, Ryan from Seattle Scooter Center. Thank the folks that helped out while I was on my adventure: Fred and Christa for hosting me in Seattle, Pedro from Vespa Portland for the oil, the Canadians Rovic and Wolf for hooking me up with a welder, and Linda for the bug bite remedy and interesting conversation.

News of the fire spread quickly and, with the phone system down in Alabama, our Fort Worth office was flooded with calls from the entire powersports/scooter community with an outpouring of concern for the family and employees of Carter and the entire Brundidge community. I can tell you, your calls and prayers are very much appreciated.

Joey Meredith and the Montgomery Advertiser have graciously allowed us to post a link to their online photo gallery. You may click the photo above to see more photos from yesterday morning.

Just washed the bike and did some maintenance. Boy that Alaska dirt is really
hard to wash off, there were spots where I used a brush and it still would not
come off, still some dirt left. Dirt got in every nook and cranny on the bike.
I was told that once a vehicle does the Dalton it will never be the same again,
I’ll have to agree completely. The calcium chloride they use on the “haul road”
is very corrosive and I didn’t see the corrosion until after the wash. Every
nut/bolt on the underside of the bike is corroded, the sleeve (made of cast
iron) is corroded, pretty much any metal part that is not painted has some level
of corrosion. Good thing the painted parts are okay and looks good clean.

Everything on the bike was stock except the spark plug. Normally it is a NGK
C6HSA. I first used a CR7HSA then put on a CR8HIX (iridium) cause it last
longer and wanted a cooler plug for prolong high speed riding. I also made some
adjustments to the carb and oiled up the foam air filter (it came dry).

List of inventory: used
2.5 rear tires used, half a front
one puncture rear tube
10 oil changes (1 bottle each)
an iridium spark plug
swing arm pivot point nut (loose/lost)
exhaust manifold bolt (broke) and nut

What the bike needs now:
chain/sprocket/chain ring
rear wheel flange damper
The chain is completely stretched out and has many kinks in it. The rear axle
has been adjusted back by about 3/4″ normally on a chain drive 1/2″ adjustment
is the life of a chain.

Damages:
Foot pegs, both are bent from drops, twice on the shifter side and once on the
throttle side. I can’ take the muffler off without taking off the pegs now
cause of the bend. Also I can’t heel shift cause of the bent peg, I have to use
my toes on the back shift lever. Better if it had folding pegs. Foot brake
lever is slightly bent up from hitting things cause by lack of ground
clearance. The foot brake lever touches the exhaust header which causes lots of
noise and vibration.

Having put almost 8k miles on the bike I really like it. The only thing I don’t
like is the clunky shifting. You have to use firm pressure on the shift lever.
If light pressure is put on the 1st to 2nd shift there is a tendency for the
gear to pop back to 1st. This caught me off guard many times and still does. I
don’t up shift with my toes cause I’m not able to put enough pressure lifting my
toes up. I use the heel shifter for up shifts, stomping down on it with my
toes.

At first I wasn’t sure about the gearing, think it was too short then too tall
but now I think it is perfect.

The brakes on this bike is very strong much more then I expected. I can easily
lock up the front wheel, makes threshold braking exciting.

The suspension has much more travel then expected and performs very well both on
pavement and dirt. I use a combination of 1 and 2 person on the rear shock
during the trip with all the gear and one person with no gear. The frame handles
really well too. The geometry makes the bike very neutral. With such a good
combination of frame and suspension, the bike handles technical twisty roads
surprisingly well.

Ride quality:
The ride is not Cadillac smooth but feels very sporty with a neutral riding
position.

Wheels stayed true this whole trip.

The seat wasn’t as bad as I thought. My rear didn’t bother me much. What did
was the edge of the saddle, it digs into the back of my thigh. That part needs
more contour.

An annoyance was the gas tank. The opening just isn’t very practical. Gas gets
sprayed up everywhere if not careful. Also it is very easy to over fill the
tank and eventually flood the engine, happened twice.

Speedo is about 3mph optimistic. I ran by countless road side radar and they
mostly show that I was going about 3mph less then the speedo indicated. There
were a few that showed the same speed and a few that showed 5mph optimistic.
I’m gonna go with the majority of about 3mph off.

The clutch only needed the break in adjustment and it hasn’t been out of
adjustment since. Part of what makes shifting clunky is that the clutch has
full engagement once you shift unlike a manual clutch where you can ease on the
clutch engagement.

The motor runs strong but can get a little buzzy at higher rpm. One of my main
concern was when I was using 10w-40 and had what sounded like viscosity break
down and possible piston/rings on cylinder contact from prolong periods of high
load on the motor. The motor still ran fine but after each of those events I
had more metal particles in the oil draining then other times besides the first
oil change. 20w-50 works best for this motor under prolong load. Also It seems
like the motor consumes a little oil. I pour in a full bottle of oil each
change but can never get out the same amount. It usually consumes about 100ml
if using mobil 1 20w-50 up to 200ml if using something else. Once I figured out
the oil issue I did a change about every 1k miles.

The carter made rack (an accessory) is great, very high quality, fits
perfectly. It didn’t bend, distort or anything. The SYM front rack (also an
accessory) held up just as well.

The leg shield doesn’t cover much. If you tuck your legs in you can mostly be
covered but your feet will always be exposed. If you look at the bike from head
on you’ll see that the foot pegs extend well past the leg shield. Even with my
feet against the engine at least half of my feet is still exposed.

Grips. At first I didn’t like the contour grips but found that they help me keep
throttle position. I reposition the grips to fit ergonomically while near WOT.

Stock front tires works surprisingly well in all conditions, I prefer them over
the Gazelle up front. The stock back is okay but feels a little flexy compared
to the Michelin Gazelle.

The gas gauge has 5 lights the first/last will give about 25 miles each, while
the thee middle goes about 15miles each. The last light will stay solid for
about 5miles then start to blink then you’ll have about 20miles left. The
longest I went on a tank was 110miles, shortest was 90miles.

I’ll give a non bike summary of the trip later…still feel a little beat up.

The last few days have been bitter sweet knowing that the trip is coming to an
end.

Riding into WA it got very warm and nothing but blue skies. Rode through the
way that I had originally intended to go north where I got stuck in the snow.
There was only a few patches of snow left on the side of the road. Went into
Portland and stopped by the SYM dealership there and did an oil change, thanks
for the oil guys! They have tons of Symbas in stock. The heat wave was
happening all in the North West, it was almost 100* in the Portland Area. Got
to the coast and it got cold and foggy. Put the rain suit back on. The fog
lasted all the way home. Once I got to hwy1 I rode the bike harder then I had
ever ridden it, WOT all the way. I love CA and it’s twisty roads. Canada and
Alaska didn’t have much twisties at all. Their roads are meant for 18wheelers.

The bike is very balance and handles really well. The suspension works great
for what it is. I was able to pass up cars in the technical sections of hwy1.

Got into SF and was pulled over for a burnt out license plate light. When I got
back into the USA I was really thrown off by the traffic density and over
stimulation of signs. It was a strange feeling, almost overwhelming
confusion..got used to being in Canada and Alaska with not much people or
advertisement.

It felt good riding familiar roads again. What I was surprised of in Canada and
Alaska was the lack of big trees. Most all the big trees there were only about
a foot in diameter and mabe 20-30 feet in height, very small compared to the big
trees here in California.

Up loaded more pics. I’ll write up a summary later on, think I need a break and
go on a ride with my CB.

It is amazing how everything looks differently with clear blue skies. Yesterday
was the first day that I was able to ride without my rain suit since I left
California. The trees, mountains, towns and people seems so much more colorful
when the sun is out. Canada is much more beautiful under the sun instead of
constant grey clouds.

The riding has been going quickly. There is mostly a tail wind. From Cache
Creek down it is constant down hill following a river. Camped out just past
Hells Gate and for the first time on this trip there were almost no mosquitos.

Went through the second rear tire. The stock back tire lasted about 4k miles.
I switched back to the stock front tires and threw the Gazelle that was on front
to the back.

Woked up to clear sunny skies this morning, first warm dry day in two weeks. The last couple days have been COLD and WET, I actually got chilled yesterday for the first time on this trip. I was told today by road crew that it had snowed a little last night in the mountains where I had rode through today. Good thing I decided to stop early before the mountainous section.

Had to fix the rear flat again. Seems like the Slime patches I got doesn’t work very well, it is the pre-glued type. When it is cold the patch works fine but once the road dryed and the tires got warm the patch fails. So I spent some time on the side of the road again but at least it was dry gravel instead of mud. I tried “fix a flat” in a can and it just squirted out the puncture. I think I’m only gonna use thick rubber patches with vulcanizing rubber cement from now on. Before the trip started my main concern with the bike was tubes. I’m not a fan of tube tire set up. They take a lot of time to repair and is more prone to flats. Tubeless are much less troublesome, even my mountain bike uses tubeless tires.

The bike has been running really smooth. I had flooded the motor a few times from over filling the gas. If you fill up make sure to stop once it gets to the top and not try to squeeze in that last ounce of gas other wise it will overflow into the evap canister. Once the canister fills it will overflow into the air box, and that will fill and gas will flood the carb then the motor. I also use a whole bottle of oil instead of the recommended 800ml..it fills up to the very top of the full mark. Taking out the oil screen/filter will allow you to drain out more oil then just the drain plug. The chain has stretched more then I had expected but the chain ring still looks good. Not sure how much the chian cover has protected it from dirt/dust. May be in normal round town riding it would be fine but dirt road riding gets dirt EVERYWHERE.

The road between Watson Lake and Fort Nelson had lots of wildlife, tons of black bears, buffalo and some reindeer. Hwy 97 is a very scenic road just as nice as Hwy 37, different but nice.

Had my first camp fire last night of the whole trip, probably my last one. Needed it to warm up. Covering so many miles per day doesn’t leave time to enjoy camping life. The last few day’s pace has been a little slower. I think the next few days I’ll cover more distance until I hit the coast then slow down again.

Since I left Whitehorse it has been nothing but cold and rain. The Alcan is very scenic between Watson Lake and Fort Nelson (Rocky Mtns.) with lots of wild life. Saw more black bears and a heard of buffalo. It is by far the most varied roadway on this trip for Canada and Alaska. As I mentioned in my introductory post, the north is very well
developed, I did’t go for more then an hour without seeing another person…actually when I was lost in the mountains near Mt. Rainer and Mt. St. Helens I went longer without see another person then I ever did in Alaska and Canada north. Because of the remoteness of the north there are only a few highways so everyone has to travel the same roads.

Last night I had a cinnabon and a brownie for dinner, places here close EARLY. I’ve been eating well this whole trip except last night. All restuarant, home cooking is my preference. I budgeted $30 a day for food and more or less am in the ballpark. I only eat two meals a day to save $$ and also travel time. So far I’d only paid for 3 camp sites and stealt camp all other times.

Changed out the rear Gazzelle in the rain and mud, they lasted about 2k miles, waswell past the wear bars almost bald. I’m running the oem rear now and just had a flat, repaired the flat in the mud…at least it wan’t raining during the repair.

I’m out of the mountains now so hopefully it will warm up.

Whitehorse was the first night in a while where it got kinda dark at night…the days are now getting shorter. Which means I have to wake up earlier and stop sooner

Seems like the ride back is going way faster then the way there. I think I had a head wind north to Fairbanks. Today has been really cold, hands constantly numb. I didn’t stay in Tok last night, was making such good time that I was able to cross the border and stayed just past Beaver Creek. Tomorrow might be a lazy day. Once back in the States I’m going to go down the coast all the way home. Think I’m gonna take the Alcan all the way back to Prince George, more inland means more warmth. It’ll add about 100miles no big deal.

Saw three moose in all..boy they are BIG. The scenary in Alaska as well as most of the Yukon is very similar and is very consistant not much variety.

Gas in AK is about $3.50 while here in Canada about $4-$5+ per gallon. The roads in Canada are much nicer then AK.

The bike is covered in Alaska dirt. I’ll need to find a place to rinse that stuff off the wheels for easy tire changes. Also caked on dirt will reduce engine cooling efficiency. Will do some maintenence tonight. I’m gonna have to change the rear tire soon, down to the wear bar already. Think I’ll throw the stock rear back on till that is all the way worn. The Michelin Gazzelle didn’t seem to handle gravel much better then the stock tires. My gas mileage has been about 100mpg give or take.

Folks have been reacting in awe of the trip on such a small bike. The most shocked folks are the BIG bike riders, they just can’t believe that I’m on this trip. The usaul questions from folks about the bike are expected: how fast, what cc, mpg?, how far on a tank. The question for me are you are from where!!? Alabama!? No, I tell them JUST riding from CA.