Estimating Fuel Usage For Long Trips | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Estimating Fuel Usage For Long Trips

If you do plan to go through the US, get travel medical insurance, just in case. Last time I checked it was very cheap, and could avoid some insane bills should something bad happen south of the border. Also consider something like CAA Plus, as I think they also cover issues in the US as well (through some partnership with the AAA, but I could be wrong on that one).
 
Just thought I would share an update. I've got the side bags on the bike!

It should be 14 degrees on Thursday I am tempted to fill her up and try to empty the tank, to get an idea of the distance/tank and fuel consumption.

Thank you everyone for your input! I will definitely be upgrading my CAA membership it is very worthwhile idea!

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As has been mentioned, FZ6 has a 19L tank. My old FZ6 pretty consistently returned 300km until the reserve light came on, or 360km to bone dry. Didn't really matter how I rode, what speed I rode it at, stop/go, highway, 100km/h winds (screw you South Dakota!) didn't matter, it was always around the same mileage. One exception being high altitude, my fuel economy was probably 15-20% better at 10k feet than sea level, but I had zero power.

If I'm on major roads, I'll generally fill up when the light comes on. I've never run out of gas on major highways. If in the boonies and not sure where the next gas station is, I start looking around 200km or even sooner depending on how remote I am. New Mexico taught me that...

CAA Plus is a must, saved my wallet many times, add on CAA medical too. I buy a yearly policy from them so I don't have to get a new policy every time I cross over. They paid for my broken arm in Virginia without much hassle.

Repeated 1000km days are really hard on the body, trust me, I've done lots of them. I generally have zero issues doing singular 1000 plus km days, but start stacking them and you're going to get sore and tired super quick. Whenever I've gone touring for a week, I'll generally do 1000-1200km days for 3-4 days in a row then take a rest day then repeat. That rest day usually consists of me lying in bed unable to move for the whole day. Probably my most condensed trip was 8k km across 8 days of riding, one of those days was a rest day, didn't even want to look at my bike for a week after that. For me, 6-800km is the sweet spot of making ground but not killing my body. There's also a huge difference between straight highway and curvy scenic roads as far as their effect on you and the time it takes to cover ground.

If you want a good warmup to see how your body deals with the long miles you can try a trip to deals gap on a long weekend. I'll generally do this once a year. Day 1, take the interstate south to Robbinsville or thereabouts, it's about 1300km. Day 2, ride Deals Gap and general area, start heading north once you get tired of the twisty roads (I'll generally cover about 400km of highway going north). Day 3, straight home, about 900km of interstate.

Most people will tell you to take breaks often, I'm actually the opposite. I find I tire a lot more if I take a 30-60 minute break here and there versus just hammering through the miles. If I feel my focus on the road wavering, an energy drink is a life saver.

BTW, good looking bike. Makes me miss mine, http://i.imgur.com/zW9yAfk.jpg
 
Sleep is critical to long tours and sometimes hard to come by in a noisy new area.
Stick in the earplugs and off you go as the world fades out.

Even a mid afternoon nap along a busy route - the ear plugs silence the traffic making it easy to doze off.
 
If you do plan to go through the US, get travel medical insurance, just in case. Last time I checked it was very cheap, and could avoid some insane bills should something bad happen south of the border.
This is good advice even if you plan to stay entirely in Canada, as coverage across the provinces is not equal. You could have to pay out-of-pocket for some services in another province, then go through the red tape of trying to make a claim against Health Ontario. CAA travel insurance is pretty cheap, and may save you some headache's in the event something happens.

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/public/programs/ohip/outofprovince/travellers.aspx
"Typically this coverage (while out-of-province but within Canada) is for insured physician and hospital services only. Therefore, when travelling outside of Ontario but within Canada, the ministry recommends that you obtain private supplementary health insurance for non-physician/non-hospital services."

OHIP only reimburses at Ontario rates, so if out-of-province rates are higher, the difference is out of your pocket. Also...

"Ambulance services provided to Ontario residents outside of Ontario, but within Canada are not covered byOHIP. If you plan to travel outside of Ontario, it is strongly recommended that you obtain additional private medical insurance and fully understand what your policy covers."
 
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While I have done an almost Iron But there wasn't any thrill to it. Try to see something without looking through the visor. Read Max Burns "These are a few of my favourite roads" and take a few side trips. If you are really in a hurry or on a budget fly instead. It's faster and cheaper when you calculate in the motels and meals.

In the boonies gas stations can close for weird reasons so top up every half tank and take a few minutes to walk around and stretch.

Fatigue sneaks up on you. If you find yourself making clumsy shifts, forgetting turn signals etc you may be more tired than you think. Motels are cheaper than coffins.

Definitely get travel insurance. I lean towards CAA. OHIP doesn't cover ambulance (Air ambulance can be five figures), getting your busted butt home, etc.
 
Dehydration and sunstroke as well sneak up. Got caught out on a long loop on the TransCanada in cool weather but strong sun that as on my face all day due to the curve of the road.

Driving into Ottawa into the sun on a holiday return traffic two lane as pure scary hell...finally pulled off and tried to sleep for a bit - but I was truly at risk and my own bloody fault.
Learned my lesson with no harm but a scare.

Learned another lesson on that trip - take the time to do up the seals on the rain gear instead of rushing and trying to beat the rain.
Wow was that miserable...total downpour - soaked under the rain gear and no place to pull off ( loose gravel shoulder in pouring rain in holiday traffic is NOT the place to pull over. )

Tim's never looked so good....didn't get dry til I got home in Sauga :(

Do up the seals...especially at the neck
 
Dehydration and sunstroke as well sneak up. Got caught out on a long loop on the TransCanada in cool weather but strong sun that as on my face all day due to the curve of the road.

Driving into Ottawa into the sun on a holiday return traffic two lane as pure scary hell...finally pulled off and tried to sleep for a bit - but I was truly at risk and my own bloody fault.
Learned my lesson with no harm but a scare.

Learned another lesson on that trip - take the time to do up the seals on the rain gear instead of rushing and trying to beat the rain.
Wow was that miserable...total downpour - soaked under the rain gear and no place to pull off ( loose gravel shoulder in pouring rain in holiday traffic is NOT the place to pull over. )

Tim's never looked so good....didn't get dry til I got home in Sauga :(

Do up the seals...especially at the neck

Don't do what I did. Packed the rain gear in the bottom of the bags.
 
Dehydration and sunstroke as well sneak up. Got caught out on a long loop on the TransCanada in cool weather but strong sun that as on my face all day due to the curve of the road.

Driving into Ottawa into the sun on a holiday return traffic two lane as pure scary hell...finally pulled off and tried to sleep for a bit - but I was truly at risk and my own bloody fault.
Learned my lesson with no harm but a scare.

Learned another lesson on that trip - take the time to do up the seals on the rain gear instead of rushing and trying to beat the rain.
Wow was that miserable...total downpour - soaked under the rain gear and no place to pull off ( loose gravel shoulder in pouring rain in holiday traffic is NOT the place to pull over. )

Tim's never looked so good....didn't get dry til I got home in Sauga :(

Do up the seals...especially at the neck

Don't do what I did. Packed the rain gear in the bottom of the bags.
 
Hehe

I just give up on rain gear here in Aus. Its so hot and humid I'm soaked inside by sweat in 5 minutes.

I ride with mesh and poly and it all dries right quick.
 
Tim's never looked so good....didn't get dry til I got home in Sauga :(

For some reason I thought you were based in Barrie?..
 
Also consider that the quality of the gas may effect mileage. A few years back 3 us headed up the James Bay road to Radisson and our mileage dropped noticably - not sure what else could have effected all 3 bikes.
 
- not sure what else could have effected all 3 bikes.

The temptation to ride at 150 plus ???? just sayin'...

We almost got caught out being rather aggressive with the throttle - would have looked seriously stupid calling CAA with TWO empty jerry cans that we didn't bother to fill for the first leg....did need them for the long stretch.
 

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