Anyone been to James Bay recently?

[slowbird]

Nope.

Issues with the bike have made this trip a bad idea for me.

[oomis]

I just got back from another trip up the JBR over the Canada Day long weekend. Conditions were exactly as I remembered them from my trip up there 2 years ago. The road's in good condition, the bugs are awful , the gas is expensive and the people are amazing.

Once again, I had my *** handed to me by the JBR. I rode my new to me vstrom 1000, and it looked like I had tons of tread on the rear. At the top of the JBR in Radisson, I was well, well past my wear bars. I limped home down the JBR at between 80 and 100 kph, had two holes that I patched, and by the time I found a new rear tire (at the Harley dealership in Val d'Or, of all places) the tire was as thin as a balloon.

I can't wait to go back.

Looks like I will soon have some time off and I hope to head to James Bay in about a week. This far north the "buddy system" doesn't sound like a bad call. Anyone keen to tag along?

I will be tenting it. I will stop for the odd pic and interesting site, but for the most part I don't do a lot of "lolly gagging". ~140 kph sounds about right. I expect to stay a full day at the end to see the dam tour and run the extra bit of gravel so can I dip my feet into the salty waters of the Arctic ocean.

If anyone has been this summer I would love a PM with your phone # to get the low down on conditions etc.

Did you get there yet Slowbird?

[regder]

Not Mike100, but my fizzer has run out of gas many many times. Assuming I'm not riding aggressively, light starts flashing around 300, you're good for 50-60km after that. Have never done anything special after running out, just get some gas in there and fire it back up

Hey Mike100,

I see you also have an 06 FZ6. Are you getting about 300kms before the gage starts to flash? have you ever run out of gas?

I heard years ago the FI needed special priming if you run out of gas. Any truth to that?

[dirtbag]

oomis,

did you camp on the way up? if so where?

[oomis]

No, I didn't camp. Frankly, if all you're doing is running up to Radisson, I'm not sure why you would camp.

The bugs are ferocious, and the JBR is a one day ride with time left to spare.

[gwelfmike]

I did it last year and camped, the Municipal camp site is great and cheap, clean bathrooms and showers and they have an enclosed kitchen for people to hang out if the bugs are too bad.

Do the dam tour, it is great when I did it last year it was just me and the tour guide.

As for gas, on my Yamaha FJR1300 I drove with caution ( 110 average ) I did the 381 kms on one tank of gas, but I brought an extra gallon just in case, on the way back I decided to throw caution in the wind and did the 381 kms in about 2 and 3/4 hours and ran out ( well it started bog down) and put the gallon in for the last 50 k's.

Great ride and would do it again in, maybe next year.

[dirtbag]

No, I didn't camp. Frankly, if all you're doing is running up to Radisson, I'm not sure why you would camp.

The bugs are ferocious, and the JBR is a one day ride with time left to spare.

The run up from my place is 1600kms. I have to camp somewhere. If I understand you correctly - there is no need to camp on the JBR specifically. Did you camp somewhere in la belle province?

[oomis]

The run up from my place is 1600kms. I have to camp somewhere. If I understand you correctly - there is no need to camp on the JBR specifically. Did you camp somewhere in la belle province?

I did one day from Toronto to Matagami, QC, and stayed in the Matagami hotel there. From there, it's 6 kms to the start of the road, easy peasy.

Day two is an easy run from Matagami to Radisson. Lather, rinse and repeat on the way back.

[dirtbag]

What happened to Vlads link? I thought someone had linked the thread of Vlads trip to JB. But I was just through the entire thread and can't find it. Anyone help??

[polarized]

Haha alright. But if you're ever on an 03 SV650 in the middle of a desert and need to get the gas station 400km down the road and you have a full tank... go around 130-140

When does your low fuel warning light come on? I've gotten around 330km on my '08 sv650 and I thought that was cutting it close. How many litres have you filled up the tank with? I put in close to 14L after going for 330km if i remember correctly.I think the maximum is 18L with the fuel pump and whatever else inside the tank.

[oomis]

What happened to Vlads link? I thought someone had linked the thread of Vlads trip to JB. But I was just through the entire thread and can't find it. Anyone help??

http://www.gtamotorcycle.com/vbforum...ight=james+bay

[dirtbag]

I can now say I have sipped the brackish water of James Bay.

From door to door it was 4500kms over 7days. We made a detour out to East Main (100km of gravel each way) to find the grave stone of my buddies great x4-5 grand father who worked the HBC post and died in 1821. We did find it.

We also left this same guys Ninja at kilometer 381 after it blew it's guts out 20 km south of there. Luckily the other fellow didn't have a homophobic "two ball rule" and we did manage to get all three of us out to the coast.

After riding pillion for over a 1000km there was a 2003 Triumph 955 Sprint purchased in Amos.

We camped rough by just pulling off on dirt roads and finding a place to pitch a tent most nights. Twice we stayed at the road side camps provided. However we didn't make the suggested voluntary 5$/ night donation since the signs asking for my money was about the only english signs I saw. When they start adding english to the interpretive plaques and roadside stops (i.e. quite treating non french speaking visitors like second class citizens) then maybe I'll be more likely to make a donation.

[slowbird]

Sounds exciting. Congrats.

What happened with the Ninja guy? Why'd his bike blow?

[dirtbag]

The Ninja? It was a 1987 with well over a 100k on the dial, that had been pushed hard.

It gave out a large cloud of smoke, felt real sluggish as he got of the road and then scrambled to splash water on something under the carbs that was burning. Afterwards it was leaking oil and coolant. It would start but made a horrible clanking sound. He decided the $500 in gas and 3 days to pick it up just wasn't worth it.

$50 got it moved up to km 381 and disposed of.

[mike100]

I can now say I have sipped the brackish water of James Bay.
From door to door it was 4500kms over 7days. We made a detour out to East Main (100km of gravel each way) to find the grave stone of my buddies great x4-5 grand father who worked the HBC post and died in 1821. We did find it.

Dirtbag
So did you take the FZ6, and if so how much gas did you need to carry to make the 381km stretch with no gas stations?

[Diesel]

Is the Rupert River completely diverted now?

[dirtbag]

Yes I rode up on my FZ6. Turns out there is a gas station at about km250 so we didn't have to use our jerry cans. This station should be open for another two months while they build a mine, then it closes. Mileage on the JBR did seam low. I was hauling quite a bit more gear and we rode briskly sure, but the mileage seamed quite bad.

We stopped to view the Rupert. About 35% flow IIRC. It's sad to pass a number of the rivers and see so much riverbed dry.