ctag's Washington-or-bust ST1100 affair

IMO there is not much from St Louis to Denver or Wyoming(northern route) That is where I would try to get 7-8 hundred miles in. Get a 5am start and that could leave you with a little wiggle room to see some stuff.
 
Not to mention, there's also a very recent thread about the AMA's 15-best motorcycling roads in the USA... so you might find time to do just one; you'll be in striking distance of several of those listed.
 
Welcome ctag!

Wow, what a great trip. Given the territory you'll be passing through, I'd recommend allowing time to experience some of the great scenery and attractions between your start and destination.

My biggest regret on my cross country bike ride was not spending more time in many of the places I passed through.

IOW, if I were doing this I'd load up on the outbound experience on the bike and fly back. But that's me.
 
Al st1100 said:
IMO there is not much from St Louis to Denver or Wyoming(northern route) That is where I would try to get 7-8 hundred miles in. Get a 5am start and that could leave you with a little wiggle room to see some stuff.
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Hey! There's the World's Only Corn Palace, and if you head north a little farther east you can catch the SPAM Museum. There must be a big ball of string in there too somewhere... :)
 
What is the distance you can get on an ST1100 tank? I get anywhere from 250 to 300 miles on my st1300. I would take your time getting to Washington State and fly back to Huntsville. Also are the Tabs current, or will they be current when you ride back? Also is there a throttle lock so you can give your right hand a break on the mile and miles of pavement that you will be putting under you.

Welcome to the forum.
 
My best distance on a tank was 300mi. I can do 250 every time without worry
 
It was pretty cool to see gas prices so low out west. Everything up here is at least .50 per more. And i still refused to drive thrifty!
 
Thanks all for the input and discussion!

Obo said:
80 hours (assuming 70mph for the 5100miles) in 10 days. Add in breaks to fuel up yourself and the bike and to bio out yourself and you're looking at at least 9 hour days. I think you'll actually be looking at longer days than that based on previous travels. Traffic delays and breaks add more time than you'd expect. There's also nothing worse than having to push yourself on days that you are tired to make up for lost time on previous days.

That's an aggressive time frame if you're not a frequent rider.
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Thanks Obo. I think I had early optimism from hearing that it only took my friend 3 days to get down here, now that I'm looking at 2 days minimum to make it to Denver I know why he had that radar detector installed.. I'm leaning more toward flying home; will keep discussing with roommate and also see how the shakedown trip goes.

mmmsted said:
If u ride that st, u just might have to buy one!
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I'm digging it so far, except for posture. I'm overweight and a little taller than my friend, and feel like a pretzel with the stock riding stance. I might have to find a red one like yours, boy that looks good.

CELarson said:
What is the distance you can get on an ST1100 tank? I get anywhere from 250 to 300 miles on my st1300. I would take your time getting to Washington State and fly back to Huntsville. Also are the Tabs current, or will they be current when you ride back? Also is there a throttle lock so you can give your right hand a break on the mile and miles of pavement that you will be putting under you.

Welcome to the forum.
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Thanks! The tag expires this summer, which is driving the trip's deadline!
I don't have any mileage data yet, only took it to work one day before I noticed the tire was threadbare and parked it.
I don't have a throttle lock, but just ordered some grip puppies for it, since it cramps my hand just like my CB does.

STRider said:
Welcome ctag!

Wow, what a great trip. Given the territory you'll be passing through, I'd recommend allowing time to experience some of the great scenery and attractions between your start and destination.

My biggest regret on my cross country bike ride was not spending more time in many of the places I passed through.

IOW, if I were doing this I'd load up on the outbound experience on the bike and fly back. But that's me.
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Thanks for the advice. I'm considering flying back as a real possibility, it would definitely be nice to be able to slow the schedule and pace now that I'm getting my head around just how far away this place is.
 
STRider said:
Hey! There's the World's Only Corn Palace, and if you head north a little farther east you can catch the SPAM Museum. There must be a big ball of string in there too somewhere... :)
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He didn't say anything about bringing the kids :rofl1:
 
Grip Puppies arrived early. Got them installed.
IMG_20210313_192355.jpg

While I was at it I took apart the turn signal switch casing and put some silicone grease in the mechanism. Better, but not the magical transformation it was for my Magna haha.
I also unbolted the throttle shell, but that handle doesn't seem to come off without going in and loosening the cables at the carb, so I just put some great on the 1" of space that got exposed and put it back together. Throttle is smoother, but still doesn't snap closed if you let go. Something to revisit.
 
Today I took both wheels off. I had planned to keep taking fairings off and working, but the bike feels pretty shaky on its jack stands, so I'm going to hold off until the wheels (+ fresh tires!) are back on.

IMG_20210314_195347.jpg

I measured all of the brake rotors, and they were in spec (front: 7.1mm, rear: both 4.7mm). The pads are all in the middle range of wear, but I want to replace them just while I'm here. I'm thinking semi-sintered to give more bite? The front brakes especially felt wooden during my limited test riding.

Trip planning continues. A friend lives in Kansas City and offered to put us up for the night. I'm thinking if we make the first day the longest (11hrs) and can make it there, then we can spend more time on the rest of the trip going further west. It'd also hopefully provoke any bike trouble on that day, closer to home.
 
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Thanks Toddc. I found the brake pad threads that agree OEM is best. Everywhere I've checked though shows them as unavailable. So right now I'm looking at "Volar Sintered HH" pads, since they at least have the HH rating I've seen.
 
Adept has them apparently. (Warning, Adept has some poor reviews, but I've used them 3 times and it was flawless, YRMV) These parts are for an 01, thats the window I had up. Run your year to be sure.....

Front: http://www.adeptpowersports.com/oem-parts/honda-pad-set-fr-brake-45105-ml7-405-part.html

Rear: http://www.adeptpowersports.com/oem-parts/honda-pad-set-rr-brake-06435-mt3-405-part.html

A cautionary tale: I replaced brake pads on my '01, but ultimately the calipers needed rebuilding. If they are dragging in any way, bite the bullet and go through them. I tossed pads in and hoped to get through a season. I got halfway and had to do the fronts. Its actually very easy, I did both in about 1.5 hours. You mention the brakes feeling "wooden". That is exactly how mine felt prior to the rebuilding, I think due to the sticky calipers. The brakes felt MUCH better after I went through them.

RT
 
Thanks for the links.

Adept's website is a little confusing. It shows those pad sets on the OEM diagrams as "NI" which I'm worried means no-inventory. It lets me add them to cart though, so I think I'm going to check the caliper seals and add any that need replacing, and then try checking out.
 
ctag said:
Thanks for the links.

Adept's website is a little confusing. It shows those pad sets on the OEM diagrams as "NI" which I'm worried means no-inventory. It lets me add them to cart though, so I think I'm going to check the caliper seals and add any that need replacing, and then try checking out.
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FWIW, the three times I have used them, if it says "ships in 1-2 days", the order has done exactly that.

Looking at the parts diagram I'm not sure what the "NI" means either. But I do note that there appears to be multiple pieces for the brake pads up through certain years. If I had to guess, I'd say that means "not indicated", and I would understand that to mean the part fits the application, but isn't correctly depicted in the diagram. Maybe the design was updated and standardized over the years. The parts also appear to fit multiple Honda models, so if you search the part numbers you might have better luck. Also, local dealers may have them in stock if they fit several models. Good luck.

RT
 
Thanks for the input. I'll give those brake pads a shot then. Still waiting to see if I need to buy seals first.

IMG_20210316_204053.jpg
New tires installed. Not balanced yet.
 
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