Last month, we embarked on a 16 day, 2,400 mile roadtrip that took us to Rochester, Toronto, Detroit, Louisville, and Seneca Rocks. This trip was a smaller follow-up to the epic nine week, 8,500 mile ride we did last year. (One day I’ll get around to writing up that trip…)
Our spring fling was a blast despite several days of wet weather and our new bike performed flawlessly. I’ll be sharing some highlights of the trip over the next few weeks. Below you’ll find details on the bike and the gear we wore.
The Bike
We’re riding a 2022 Yamaha Tracer 9GT that we bought used in December with only 100 miles on the odometer. We traded in last summer’s roadtrip bike, a 2005 Yamaha FJR1300 towards the purchase price.
The Tracer 9GT is entirely stock, except for the following upgrades we’ve made since December:
- A Madstad windscreen. Much larger and better than the stock version.
- SW-Motech Crash Bars. For the no-speed tip-over that fortunately hasn’t happened yet, but inevitably will.
- SW-Motech Adventure Rack. For carrying our Kriega drypacks (1x30L, 2x10L).
- SW-Motech Pro City Tank Bag. An expandable 11L-14L bag that locks into place with a magnetic tank ring (sold separately, of course).
Our Gear
For these big roadtrips, Alex and I are full-on ATGATT.
Alex wears:
- Sedici Sistema II modular helmet.
- Olympia Airglide jacket and pants.
- Helite Turtle 2 airbag vest.
- Forma ADV Tourer boots.
- Sedici Mona gloves.
I’m wearing:
- Schuberth C3 Pro modular helmet.
- Helite Adventure airbag jacket.
- Dainese New Drake Air pants.
- Frogg Togg Road Toad rain overpants (when needed).
- Forma Adventure low boots.
- Sedici Corsa gloves.
For communications, we’re using the Cardo Freecom 4X headsets.