Tenere across the USA

[PNWTEN]

Fast forward a month or so and I’ve left moms in Cajun country heading west to Texas to explore the Big Bend NP and Davis Mountain State Park then called to rescue a good friend.  The couple on DRZ’s are headed from Key West to Ushuaia. He has a show on the Discovery Channel www.shawncowls.com 

[Cruizin]

39 minutes ago, PNWTEN said:

Fast forward a month or so and I’ve left moms in Cajun country heading west to Texas to explore the Big Bend NP and Davis Mountain State Park then called to rescue a good friend.  The couple on DRZ’s are headed from Key West to Ushuaia. He has a show on the Discovery Channel www.shawncowls.com 

You are livin my dream! 

[PNWTEN]

Back in  Colorado for a bit then off to the Overland expo. Anyone heading that way? 

I left SoCal early last week heading through Arizona and into New Mexico   stopping  a couple nights for some boondocking in the desert. I did the “old 666” (US 191 ) from Clifton to Alpine in the van but will go back on the bike enroute to the Overland in Flagstaff. It’s an amazing road! 

Now I'm cabin sitting for a friend just outside Estes Park.  It’s looking into the RMNP with Elk, deer and the occasional wild turkey walking through the yard almost daily. Rough life

If you haven’t got your tickets for the Overland expo yet, they are going fast and always sell out before the event. Here is the link https://www.overlandexpo.com/tickets-west

You can look for my big blue van or a gnome in a kilt Stop by to say hi.

Oh yeh, the map is my route from  June 2018 to about last week, over 20,000 on the van and about 8000 on the bike. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2019 by PNWTEN

[TavisB]

Cool. Wish I could make it to that but not this year.

[PNWTEN]

My pics aren’t loading up to give an update so I’ll post my blog link this time, hope it’s ok? 

https://tenereacrosstheusa.com/2019/07/02/oregons-coastal-range/?fbclid=IwAR3xDbwEdrnA_RJE5Zap54Fzt6OeUm5s4tH9TrkG8gtbSJuHE1_MkjqNCco

[PNWTEN]

Where did I last leave off.. oh the Oregon range weekend.. Wow, seems like a long time ago! 

I had a great summer in the PNW on the bike and in the van. Got to meet and stay with lots of friends as I traveled. I know I put 10,000+ miles on the van but not that many on the bike.  I’ll never hit 100k on it  between now and the arrival of the T-700 next year.  

We had a few get together with the PNWTenere crew. I’ll post those pics.

Some are from the central cascades and some from the southern cascades. Fun was had by all? www.pnwtenere.com is the blog for our group. 

I’m back on the road now heading east for the fall colors of New England. If anyone is out that way, look me up! 

[PNWTEN]

This will be my route for most of October. I want to ride Mt Washington before the winter weather seta in Join me? 

[Phaedrus]

PNWTEN. Great post. Congratulations on the whole rig (Van+Bie) and most important on the trips. One question. How did the riding routine change after you got the Van? How far would you venture from home base (ie. Van)? I'm planning to have a similar rig with a friend of mine but we were thinking smaller bikes (Suzuki DRZ400) as we may not stray too far, but I'm curious about your experience, before and after the van.

[Cruizin]

Congrats on being featured in Ride Apart @PNWTEN ! 

[PNWTEN]

On 9/28/2019 at 1:05 PM, Phaedrus said:

PNWTEN. Great post. Congratulations on the whole rig (Van+Bie) and most important on the trips. One question. How did the riding routine change after you got the Van? How far would you venture from home base (ie. Van)? I'm planning to have a similar rig with a friend of mine but we were thinking smaller bikes (Suzuki DRZ400) as we may not stray too far, but I'm curious about your experience, before and after the van.

Before the van, it was multi day, multi state trips, tent camping or in motels. Now it’s day loops and back to the van for the night. That’s why I’m wanting the T-700 so much. 100 less lbs then the 1200 TÉNÉRÉ. It will be so much easier to get on and off the van.  

[PNWTEN]

I made my way into the northeast and New England after not seeing the T-700 at the AIMExpo in Columbus. I did however, see a few old and new faces though(Long Haul Paul,Erik from Twisted Throttle and John from Heidenau tires)
I tried to ride up Mt Washington in New Hampshire but “they” said it was too frosty for the bike and the van was too tall  

so I set my GPS to “walking” and found about 10 miles of dirt toad to the highest through road in NH at Jefferson Notch. 
oh and LOTS of trees are turning funky colors  

enjoy the pics! 

[ADVUSA]

Hey Glen!

 

I read about your travels and was tracking you around NE. Unfortunately I didn't meet you this time around, due to work. Sorry you didn't make Mt. Washington this time, it sure is a nice scene up there on a clear day. Anyway if your around LibVille CT again I'll keep an eye out for ya.  Safe journeys. Charles

 

 

[Cruizin]

17 hours ago, PNWTEN said:

I made my way into the northeast and New England after not seeing the T-700 at the AIMExpo in Columbus. I did however, see a few old and new faces though(Long Haul Paul,Erik from Twisted Throttle and John from Heidenau tires)
I tried to ride up Mt Washington in New Hampshire but “they” said it was too frosty for the bike and the van was too tall  

so I set my GPS to “walking” and found about 10 miles of dirt toad to the highest through road in NH at Jefferson Notch. 
oh and LOTS of trees are turning funky colors  

enjoy the pics! 

More great pics! Thanks for connecting me with Tim, he and I chatted about our motorcycling passions yesterday and boy, what a great guy he is. Twisted Throttle is gonna be a big part of this forum and they have some big plans for Tenere 700 Accessories and support for our forum.

 

Glen, you are a great ambassador for the ADV communitity. 

[PNWTEN]

There is a bit of history with Erik at Twisted throttle. I met him about 5 years ago at a horizons unlimited meet up in Mariposa Ca. He needed a bike to do his demo on and I let him use mine. We’d meet on occasion at IMS motorcycle shows in the PNW every year or so and he was kind enough to host me at his house in Rhode Island when I was on my 48 state ride in 2016. He even joined me on his TT Denali show bike from the house up to Bar Harbor in Maine.  Earlier this week he hosted me again as I passed through. A really great guy that’s trying to build a good company. 
(that vstrom 1000 is the bike that started the company when he was looking for after market parts but couldn’t find any.so he started selling his own)
 

[Noel McCutcheon]

Truly Fantastic / Vantastic... Yep, you’ll love lighter 700. What is the plan for the Super Tenere; would have been nice to have a 100,000 miles on her. Van builder likes / had lots of yellow paint. Here’s my Tenere 700 owner review : 
 

 

Safe travels. 

[PNWTEN]

Not sure what’s going to happen with Super Tenere at this point, I do have a shipping container back in Washington that I can pack it  away but ride on  special days or I might sell it.....cheap.

[Noel McCutcheon]

14 minutes ago, PNWTEN said:

Not sure what’s going to happen with Super Tenere at this point, I do have a shipping container back in Washington that I can pack it  away but ride on  special days or I might sell it.....cheap.

Selling Super Tenere May surprise you, as you could get someone wanting it because of all the places it has been, so yes cheap but some could pay nice price for it to. Yamaha dealers could be watching.... it’s all good.

[PNWTEN]

Did a really pretty loop yesterday in The northeast corner of Pennsylvania Found another Lake Como and a really huge train trestle

[PNWTEN]

Riding in the Smokey’s this week. Got to stay with a former president of the BMW owners group. Very cool to hear his stories about the life behind the curtain.  Spent time on the Dragon and Chelonia skyway last weekend and now in North Georgia at The Two wheels of Suches motorcycle campground “down by the river”. A storm blew through a couple days back so there are leaves EVERYWHERE! I won’t be taking these curves at my normal speeds. Venturing off the pavement later today when it warms up a bit(currently in the high 20’s )  The van is nice and warm though

[PNWTEN]

I’ll be waiting for it to warm up a bit before I head out today

[PNWTEN]

I found a few Super Tenere’s outside Warner Robbins Georgia yesterday. They were kind enough to show me around the area! This is one of the main reasons I do, what I do! Get out and ride with the local riders as I pas through!  It was a great day! 

[PNWTEN]

 

WWW.JOEHAULER.COM

I get a lot of inquiries about my hitch carrier, so I thought a dedicated post about it was necessary.

 

I first heard of Joe Desrosiers back in 2016 at the Touratech Rally east from a retired Navy pilot that needed a custom motorcycle carrier for his camping rig.  Joes custom carrier would be necessary for me to carry my Super Tenere on the van. There isn’t anyone making a carrier for that heavy a bike( that I could find or afford). He’s been building them for 22 years now so that’s a lot of hitch carriers out the door. He knows a thing or two about building the good stuff. I’m glad I found the right guy for the job!

 

I rolled into his shop one morning last July about 9 am and he started measuring then started cutting and welding. It took pretty much all day because I left the shop about 10 pm. It did leave with 3 coats of “rattle can” spray paint. ( I later had it properly powder coated in Louisiana at Rim Pros)

Here are the specs of my bike, van and the carrier.

The motorcycle is a 2012 Yamaha Super Tenere, when put on calibrated scales weighs 550 lbs without luggage and 1/2 tank of fuel.

The van is a 2018 F-250 Ford High roof, EXT long Transit w/ Ecoboost Turbo. Heavy duty class IV hitch factory installed  with a 772lb tongue weight. The van has Airlift Suspension  and 2,  2”x4” x 2’ steel tubing welded to the frame from the hitch to just short of the axel to reinforce the vans subframe.

The carrier is modified from his Heavy Duty Hauler line that normally has a 800lb to 1000lb rating. It’s constructed from 1/4” thick, 2” tube steel so it really is Heavy Duty!

 

The set up has served me very well since then. I haven’t had the bike on the carrier   the entire time, but I could easily say it’s been on the back for 10,000-15,000 miles since then. The van currently has 44,000 miles on the odometer.  The bike is on the carrier when I do short trips or I’ll be riding frequently as I make my way across the US. I can tell the difference between having the motorcycle inside the van or on the carrier, but it’s not unsafe in the least! It’s very solid!

The carrier was made so I can open the van doors all the way when the bike isn’t loaded. I also had an “L” bracket fabricated by Joe so I can hang the carrier vertically when the bike is inside the van. It’s the custom work like this that make it totally worth it!

When you call Joe, tell him the Kilted Cajun sent you! He is an absolute pleasure to work with!

[Phaedrus]

7 hours ago, PNWTEN said:

 

 

The van currently has 44,000 miles on the odometer.  

 

 

 

In only two years! Way to go bro.

You are circling the earth every year...You should get paid by Ford. 

[PNWTEN]

43 minutes ago, Phaedrus said:

 

In only two years! Way to go bro.

You are circling the earth every year...You should get paid by Ford. 

This is my InReach tracker since June of 2018 for the van and bike..

Tenere Across The USA

 

[PNWTEN]

5 hours ago, Phaedrus said:

 

In only two years! Way to go bro.

You are circling the earth every year...You should get paid by Ford. 

I have 85,000 miles on the Super Tenere and haven’t gotten much from Yamaha either