Homer Alaska without my Airhead!

[larrylarry75]

Hi Everyone! A few of you know my Airhead blew it's rearend a couple of weeks before I was scheduled to head out on my trip to Homer Alaska. Without reasonable time to do the fix I decided to buy a new ride and get on with it. Although I looked at the new BMWs I was swayed by the proximity of the local XXX dealer so I decided to go with a 2007 Ninja 650R. The rest is history, I'm pretty certain I was the first (and maybe the last) to ride one 7000+ miles up the Alcan and tell the story. I met a lot of interesting folks on all sorts of rides and had a great time. When I got home I posted a whole slug of pics on a travel blog: http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/blog-79612.html
After the dust settles down I expect to dig into the Airhead's hindquarters and see what's going on. Still, I've no regrets about doing the trip on another brand, it was worth it every mile of the way. Before setting out I got a lot of good information and suggestions from BMOA members and I'll gladly pass along whatever info anyone needs.
Ride safe,
LL75

[SheRidesABeemer]

Your ride report is a hoot. Nice pics too. Thanks for sharing it! :clap Who would have thought to take a Ninja?! What are you going to do with it now?

[Voni]

Love your sense of humor!

We're planning the Cassiar next summer. How do you deal with the slimy parts???

Thanks for sharing!!

Voni
sMiling

[rinty]

Larry:

Great trip report!

So were you fantasizing about being Sjaak Lucassen when you picked a Ninja for your trip?

Rinty

[BradfordBenn]

Very Nice!!!!

[terham]

That's a very enjoyable and entertaining read with some nice photos. Looks like you had a heck of a trip. There's a review of the Ninja 650R (along with the R1200ST) in the current issue of Road Runner that's pretty favorable.

[paulfinney2]

So that's what you've been doing. Job well done. Great photos and diary.
Now, how do we find Mathias Schmid's website?

[larrylarry75]

Your ride report is a hoot. Nice pics too. Thanks for sharing it! :clap Who would have thought to take a Ninja?! What are you going to do with it now?

Hi Gail,

I can't believe how fast time has flown this past year, I'm just now getting caught up responding to questions about my Alaska ride on the Ninja. To answer your question about what I'm going to do with it, more of the same and I hope real soon! I wanted to head to South America this summer but too many business things got in the way so I'll probably have to settle for something closer.

Since the Alaska trip I've located factory brackets to go with the GIVI soft bags so I won't need to rely on my home made ones. Perhaps of interest to some I'd like to mention that GIVI gave me a brand new set of bags to replace the ones I took on the trip as they'd developed a couple of wear issues. What a great company they are to do that, I'd highly recommend their products and their support is the best.

Sad news too, hard as it is I'm selling my R80/7, it's simply too big a bike for me and that's that. I'll be in the market for another BMW when it's gone but I don't know which model it will be, something better suited for short guys I think.

Best,

Larry

PS - In the interim there's a chance I may do a trip on my latest alter-ego (pic below) but I'm not sure how soon or where. It's not a beemer but I expect some riders may recognize the connection between the Aprilia Pegaso and BMW's older dual sport 650 series. The sidehack is Russian, a Sputnik, lots of ground clearance and a definite hoot to ride.
Whodathunkit?
:laugh

[larrylarry75]

Love your sense of humor!

We're planning the Cassiar next summer. How do you deal with the slimy parts???

Thanks for sharing!!

Voni
sMiling

Hi Voni,

When I hit the slimy parts I slowed down a bit, maybe to around 25mph or so. The scariest times were when I was forced to stop on slimy hills, although after awhile you get acclimated to it and it's not so unsettling. The people who seemed to be having the worst times were those with big fat bikes or really tall bikes. If you haven't already gone on your trip you may want to think about how well your ride handles in gravel or mud, fully loaded. That's what really prompted me to buy a smaller bike and even then it was challenging at times. No matter what though, take the trip, it's a great ride.

Best,
Larry

[larrylarry75]

Larry:

Great trip report!

So were you fantasizing about being Sjaak Lucassen when you picked a Ninja for your trip?

Rinty

You really don't want to know what I fantasize about.....:nyah
:kiss

[larrylarry75]

So that's what you've been doing. Job well done. Great photos and diary.
Now, how do we find Mathias Schmid's website?

I haven't visited his site for awhile but here's the link: http://www.mathiasschmid.ch/

He's probably still out there flogging around, interesting gutsy guy, scary bike.

Best,

Larry