1,000 Miles in 19 1/2 hours on a Bonneville | GTAMotorcycle.com

1,000 Miles in 19 1/2 hours on a Bonneville

Blkbny

Well-known member
Rode little over 1,000 miles on my 2010 Triumph Bonneville in 19½ hours.
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Drove the entire Highway 401 from Guelph, Ontario, West until it ends in Windsor, East until it ends at the Quebec border and West back to Guelph. First fill up at departure from Guelph at 6:23 am Saturday 14 June, gassed up in Windsor, Ontario, at 9:51 am, Riviere-Beaud, Quebec, at 7:37 pm, and final fill on arrival in Guelph at 1:42 am Sunday 15 June 2014.
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The ride was very hard on me physically, my ear canals from the earplugs, cheeks from biting them while eating by just opening the front of my helmet, knees and thighs were sore for a couple of days. My shoulders – more precisely the area between the shoulder and neck – took it the worst and are very sore still. Fingertips were numb for 3 days. Another important appendage was numb for a couple days as well:confused2: Okay now though:D


Credit to the Burton saddle, Hagon Road Shocks and the sheepskin from Beefy – my butt was about the only part of my anatomy that wasn’t sore. Except for the areas that were numb.


Weather was a bit chilly, 11C was the low both evenings, 21C was the daily high. Got about an hour of off and on rain around Cornwall, had to stop for about 10 minutes under an overpass to let a cloud-burst roll by. ‘Fenda Extenda’ worke well and kept my feet dry.


What made the trip physically possible was stopping every 80 kilometers at each OnRoute. Filled up the tank every other OnRoute with about 7 litres of 87 regular octane. Alternate stops were some combination of eating, drinking, urinating and cleaning the bugs off my face shield. There is one leg between OnRoutes of 160 km from Cambridge to Port Hope each way, at this point I was really, and I mean, really, ready for a break. What’s amazing is how refreshing a short 5 minute break can be - fill the tank, walk 50 feet to pay cash, record info, have a sip of water and back on the road good-to-go again.


Brought 3 apples, 6 granola bars and 2 bottle of water totaling 1.5 litres. Treated myself to a Jr. Whopper for lunch and dinner meals. Had just enough water, the apples were amazingly refreshing and the granola bars were a good reason to stop riding as well. Incurred expenses of $110 for gas and about $6 for the pair of very tasty burgers. Had ten $10 bills in an envelope ready to buy gas, a Ziploc bag was used to compile the receipts.


Packed a microfiber cloth wetted with Windex in a Ziploc bag, used it at least 4 times to clean the bugs off my face shield, thanks again to Beefy for that tip.


Bonneville ran like a champ, not one issue on the road. I tried to maintain an actual speed of 110 to 115 km/h by the GPS whenever possible. This was about 120 to 130 km/h indicated on my speedo. Gas mileage was just a little over 60 mpg (IMP) after correcting for my odometer reading about 3% high, that’s a little over 50mpg (US).
Rear tire had 3.5mm of tread on departure, 2.2 mm when measured the next day.


‘Go Cruise’ throttle control worked great, used it for about a third of the trip.
The highway pegs/bar I fabricated and attached to the bottom of my SW-Motech engine bars were not useful at all. Worse than not useful in fact, the one time I tried them a got cramps in both legs when I moved them back down to the normal position.


GPS worked fine until it lost power from hitting the ridges across the top of Toronto.


Had to tighten the chain the next day, strip her of touring luggage and tool kit, remove the highway pegs/bar, wash her up and she’s back to being my daily driver. Looks great after polishing with a microfiber cloth that has been lightly sprayed with Lemon Pledge, thanks for that tip folks.


The worst part of the trip was the stretch across the top of Toronto and Mississauga. Travelling East at midday there was about an hour of stop & go, really felt like doing some lane splitting but wasn’t sure how the locals would view it, lost some time and used a lot of stamina. Coming back at midnight the highway was packed and the flow of traffic was very fast, 120 – 130 km/h in the slow lane, and very bumpy with joints or ridges or whatever they are. Difficult to see and prepare for in the dark at speed, several literally knocked the wind out of me. There were cars and bike whizzing by and doing rapid lane changes at what seemed 100 mph.


Do it again? Probably not, even on one of the longest days of the year there was too much very dangerous night driving, perhaps if I was to have the first fill up at around 4:30 am and slide across the top of T.O. at dusk, it would have worked out better, but I felt that the extra sleep was more important.


What disappointed me somewhat was that I was looking forward to the time by myself to think about life a little, reminisce and philosophize and so on, however the ride required so much intense focus and concentration that I had almost no ‘personal’ time. Just riding my Bonneville, but that’s what the trip was really about anyway.
 
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Congrats!

Can also clean face shield using small packets of fast food vinegar and napkins.
 
Can't blame you for getting east and west backwards after 19.5 hrs. Good job.
 
Don't fix it. It's genuine.
 
The thought of running the 401 all that distance isn't appealing to me. I'd rather take off some two lanes that run parallel to highway 7 or something similar.

Cruise at a little more relaxed pace like 100 km/ hr. That can bring about that life soul searching your looking for.

Congrats on the achievement though. Cheers.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Not trying to be a dbag... you basically drove straight.


I would've done less distance, but hit up something more interest and maybe even a cheap motel out in the sticks somewhere.
 
Congrats on the ride. Used to be a Guelphite myself, some nice roads around there. Was this for an iron butt challenge or something? Just curious because of the high level of detail with your writeup

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Yes, Iron Butt Saddle Sore 1,000.
Difficult to do on secondary roads, and yes, just basically driving straight starboy. Rarely drive the 400 series highways, prefer country roads.
 
Wow, well done. Quite a remarkable accomplishment

I've given consideration to such a ride, would prefer a mate though to keep me entertained and motivated. Can't find anyone interested. Surely as much a mental challenge as a physical one.

I didn't know the IBA recognized this route. Is any route approved, as long as it's 1,000 miles in under 24 hours, with the appropriate documentation? I thought the nearest approved ride for us folks in southern Ontario was one complete lap around Lakes Ontario and Erie. The problem with that ride is two border crossings, which could cause significant delays.
 
From reading the site any almost any route is okay as long as the documentation such as gas receipts for each turning point, a trip log and eyewitness forms are submitted.
There are clauses that some areas / countries simply don't have suitable roads to do the run legally or safely and will not qualify and that you can't drive a short route repetitively.
Final distances are calculated by the IBA using mapping software and your verified data.
 
From reading the site any almost any route is okay as long as the documentation such as gas receipts for each turning point, a trip log and eyewitness forms are submitted.
There are clauses that some areas / countries simply don't have suitable roads to do the run legally or safely and will not qualify and that you can't drive a short route repetitively.
Final distances are calculated by the IBA using mapping software and your verified data.

Right on! Makes more sense now. Totally understand the reasoning behind the route now. Congrats again and looking forward to the next one.

Myself? I'm still just bopping around the side roads of SW Ontario. Nothing too challenging from a riding perspective but, finding lot of interesting places and the odd little surprise.


Cheers.
 
OP - I'd go south to PA, instead of your route. Cheaper food, better food, cheaper gas, nice and twisty interstates.


http://www.ironbutt.com/ridecerts/getdocument.cfm?DocID=1

The worst part of the trip was the stretch across the top of Toronto and Mississauga. Travelling East at midday there was about an hour of stop & go, really felt like doing some lane splitting but wasn’t sure how the locals would view it, lost some time and used a lot of stamina. Coming back at midnight the highway was packed and the flow of traffic was very fast, 120 – 130 km/h in the slow lane, and very bumpy with joints or ridges or whatever they are.

I figured that you must have been stuck somewhere in traffic, since in 16hrs I could go 1355kms without rush.
 
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