Finally did it! Ran my first SS1k Yesterday.

Speedywho

Premier Member
#1
After talking about it forever I finally did it. I ran my first documented SS1000. As you can see from the Spotwalla I attached I took a pretty safe and easy route with lots of interstates and gas stations. I planned this route using Google maps, then established my planned stops with a conservative estimated range of my bike. I wrote the stops, estimated trip mileage, and gas usage on blue tape and stuck it to the inside of my windshield and went for it. I rode my 2003 Valkyrie that's MPG hovers around 30 on 75mph interstates, so my range isn't the best to begin with. The wind across I-40 was killer yesterday, WeatherBug said it was 25-30 switching between a headwind and quartering from the left. The bike gets less than stellar MPG at highway speeds and the wind made it way worse, Yikes.

Everything was pretty mellow since I planned the route and my stops so well. Then all I had to do was ride the plan. The wind did cause me to add an extra fuel stop but that was no biggie. One part that a was a pain in the butt was gas stations that receipt printers didn't work and I had to walk in when I wasn't planning on it. There were several where that happened, oh well. The Road Runner Travel Center in Lemitar, NM clock was about 1:12 off that was weird. So I went in and bought something to get a receipt and the cashiers system was off the same. Ok no biggie I'll grab $20 from the ATM.... no address on the receipt.... 0/3 time to keep moving. It was the halfway point with correct times on the stops either side of it so I won't worry about. I noted the time issue in my ride log.

I got good pictures of the receipts with my ODO, close up pictures after the ride of receipts numbered according to the stop, used SpotWalla, saved my Google Maps routing, and already filled out my report. Feels pretty good.

It was a ton of fun I'm glad I did it.




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Speedywho

Premier Member
#2
Total chicken scratch but I knew what it meant. Stop and trip mileage on the left and the vertical one is miles in-between stops, miles to go, and estimated gas usage to double check and adjust stops if needed. My trip odo is my only gas gauge until it starts sputtering, and I gotta flip it to reserve. Next bike will have a much greater range that's for sure
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Not a bad picture of the bike at the second stop, I snagged pictures of the bike and pump after fueling just in case. Why not right.

I set up the bike with a Ultimate Solo with backrest, a 17" Memphis Fats, Kury Highway pegs with short arms, grip puppies, a go cruise, and a custom rear luggage rack I made myself in the garage. I welded up some brackets that mount to the sissy bar and passenger seat mounting areas. I need a weather proof duffle bag but that one works for now.

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Firstpeke

Well-Known Member
#4
Well done and welcome to insanity..... I hope your verification is successful and you get that precious IBA number and certificate in due course!

Beautiful looking machine, it looks like a comfortable seat too!

I wish our gas was $4 a gallon.... mind you it would need to be to run at, what in the UK, would be 36mpg (imperial).... otherwise some of our longer rides would be just a ridiculous amount in fuel!
We currently are running at over $8.77 per UK gallon...... when I was in Norway in June/July it was averaging around $11.67 per UK gallon!!!!!
 

Terrywerm

Active Member
#8
Speedywho, my son and I did our first SS1000 last year, and he rode a Valkyrie. He experiences the same poor fuel mileage as you, particularly at highway speeds. In order to avoid extra fuel stops he added a 5-gallon auxiliary tank on the back rack, and it worked great. I don't have a pic handy but can post one later if you are interested, along with pics of how he plumbed it in.
 

Speedywho

Premier Member
#9
Thanks for the support everyone.

Yeah Terry the Valkyrie isn't the ideal setup in stock configuration for IBA rides, but I love it for what it is. I always wanted one and came across this one that was practically new. I was thinking about finding an Intersate tank for it to give me an extra gallon. An Aux Tank isn't a bad idea either I'm sure I could easily mount it to the luggage rack I made. But in the long run I'll be adding a Goldwing to the garage for these kind of rides so I might just leave this one alone and use it for fun and local rides.
 
#10
Around 40 years ago, I did a ride from Norfolk (VA) to the NW portion of LA (around 1150 miles). The wind was so strong coming out of Norfolk that my bike was actually tilted into the wind just to go straight. With the Windjammer fairing that I had on the KZ750LTD and it's 3.4g gas tank, I pretty much had to be looking for a gas station at 100 miles or need to get prepared to start pushing it. To make it even more fun, back then credit cards like MC and Visa were not as common as these days, but there weren't credit card machines at the pumps anyway. And gas stations were not open 24-hours either. That was back when I was in the military and I didn't get paid enough to spend money on a hotel, so I rode it straight through. Looking back, I'm pretty sure it was a lot easier than the SS-1000 that I did in October... Getting old sucks...
 

Speedywho

Premier Member
#11
I've got 4 rides certified now and 1 that I'm waiting to get approved. I submitted that one before I bought the Premier Membership, oh well it'll be checked in soon enough I suppose. Next ride on tap is the Santa Sore 1000. My wife works in the hospital and has to work Christmas this year so I have a free pass. Might as well check that one off the list. Really looking forward to the spring to put some serious miles on.