Headed to Prudhoe Bay in June

Neonguy95

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Headed to Prudhoe Bay in June. We are doing the trip in 17 days. Yes, we already know we are nuts. Yes we know it is 600 miles days. * everyone brings this up *


Couple of question bike has 12k miles on it now. I do not expect much more before the trip. I will leave with brand new K60's; the current K60's have 8500 and look to have another 1000 if I pushed them. So tires shouldn't be an issue.

I am going to install new front a rear pads. I will do a fresh oil change shortly before.

Has anyone made the trip? Any parts I should take with me? I carry plenty of tools probably too many. Test all the gear this past weekend. All is good in that department.

Advice, suggestions?

Oh I will be the only Tenere on the trip. 2 BMW's and 1 KTM 990R

Should be a blast. Thanks in advance.
 

limey

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I think the hardest part of the trip is the weather. Good luck doing 600 miles a day if the weather turns. One day sun and dry next pissing down and cold.

 

Siseneg

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Well .. hmm .. do I have any advice? Actually yes. We (my brother, a good friend and myself) rode the route in 15 days, out of Spokane, in 2005. I planned carefully, worked out all the fuel stops and built in 3 extra days 'in case' something popped up. Planned average was between 350 - 400 mi per day which was given to me as a reasonable number by a fellow who had done the trip a couple of years earlier. We lost our planned buffer days on the first leg. One bike blew a water pump near Lake Louise, not much in the way of help to be had and we had to backtrack to Calgary for a fix. With our buffer days gone the mileage average went closer to 425 per day. Surprisingly, this was difficult to maintain. Even in June, it was in the 30's and 40's and wet .. a lot. Traffic is a true bear from time to time. Road construction will cost many minutes per day, sometimes hours. We spent (more than once) 20 or 30 minutes stopped at a flagman waiting for the other direction traffic to clear, then rode at 20 MPH the 5 - 10 miles that was under construction. As far as I know, all the construction is done by now, but I'm guessing not as the ALCAN heaves badly each winter and is in rough shape all the time. I believe that a 60 mi./day pace is a stretch, if achievable at all. If you do push that hard, you will be facing the same issue we did at 420/day only magnified. Plan not to sleep (you are used to sleeping in the dark...once you get toward Liard, the dark comes later and later. You'll feel OK about riding till 1, then 2, then 3 A.M. and then it's still daylight and you cannot sleep well at all. Dangerous fatigue is a real consideration on a trip like this. Plan on clogging air filters, dinging rims, shaking parts loose you didn't know would fail (I tested my KLR on railroad tracks for several miles, then went back after more loc-tite). A headlight guard is mandatory ). The 18 wheelers on the haul road kick up a lot of gravel.

Get some 'Buzz-off' gear from whoever sells it these days. When you park, strip your jacket and slip on the insect-repelling clothing. You will save yourself some rash and burning from having to use DEET 100 for 3 or 4 days between showers. Don't ever open your tent until you're ready to dive in. Mosquitos will chase in.

Don't plan on being able to see through your windshield after two or three days, the bugs are thick.

Some places we stopped were out of one or two kinds of fuel. Some places we stopped for fuel ended up being a longer stop, just to recoup some energy.

I guess I'd recommend reading up on any other folks that have taken the trip. http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/threads/15269/, or, http://66.211.107.116/forum/showthread.php?s=3d66ed56b1cc2688294958be652b51b1&t=21798

Stop by for some amazing pie and ice cream here http://www.windband.org/alaska/yukon1/yukon1.htm :)

I know you said you've heard it all about the 600 mi./day pace. I would nonetheless advise against it, first from a push-the-limits-of-safety standpoint and second, form the point that with that pace you will miss the stunning beauty and cool people interactions along the way. It will limit your flexibility and put a high level of stress on your group.

OK< all that is worth 2 cents ::009:: but, having done it, I look back and can even re-think some of our priorities considering some things we missed. You may never get to make this trip again (other plans) so I recommend not missing the journey just for the destination.

They have a genuine article Polar Bear Club certificate if you swim in the Arctic Ocean (we did .. the water was 31, the air was 32, the wind was 21 MPH. Yep .. that was cold.
 

Neonguy95

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Re: Headed to Prudhoe Bay in June

I would love to be able to extend the trip, however work has me and one other guy locked in to 2 weeks off.

This won't be my only trip to Alaska. I'm 33 with no kids. I'll be back.

Yes 600 a day is rough. Do able; maybe or maybe not. What is there to lose?

Thanks for the advice. Bike protection is in place. Gear is in place. New tires and brakes and I am ready.

Thank you again.
 

autoteach

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The direct route is showing me 470 per day at 8k miles over 17 days. I have people tell me all the time that the mileage I want to do can't be done. 1200 miles later I am in Colorado, 21 hours on the road. If I were doing this I would try to click off 1000 up to Estevan, SK, Canada on the first day. The roads in the US allow for doing this, and you should try to take advantage of this for the days that dont go like this. A long day like this can be balanced by a lighter day and then up your numbers again. If you can do the 1k both ways this would mean that you would have 15 days to cover 6k miles. this brings your average down from 470 to 400. More or less, I am saying that when the weather permits, give it hell. Good luck and post pics. As for gear, make sure that you carry a spare (hopefully universal between the bikes) for both the front and rear for the whole crew. Plugs, pump, and pack light (on high milers 75% of what you pack doesn't even see sunlight). One of the pages on facebook just had a packing guide that was pretty good. I will see if I can find it.
 

whisperquiet

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This from CapsLock............

"I guess I'd recommend reading up on any other folks that have taken the trip. http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/threads/15269/, or, http://66.211.107.116/forum/showthread.php?s=3d66ed56b1cc2688294958be652b51b1&t=21798

Stop by for some amazing pie and ice cream here http://www.windband.org/alaska/yukon1/yukon1.htm :)

I know you said you've heard it all about the 600 mi./day pace. I would nonetheless advise against it, first from a push-the-limits-of-safety standpoint and second, form the point that with that pace you will miss the stunning beauty and cool people interactions along the way. It will limit your flexibility and put a high level of stress on your group. "

I say good luck with 600 mile average days. In 1999, four of us on KLR650s rode from Great Falls to the Arctic Circle for a total of 6100 miles in 19 days. It only averages out to 321 miles...........but, some days were easy; others brutal with crappy roads, construction delays, dust-dust-dust, mud-mud-mud, and lots of cold rain/sleet. One of the KLRs developed a water pump seal leak and we had to fill up the radiator reservoir every 40-50 miles for over 1500 miles of the trip as we could not locate replacement parts.

To the OP.......do the trip, ride as safely as possible, and plan for lots of unexpected delays. I believe it would be quite easy to accidently bend a rim on the S10 even if you try to ride carefully. It is hard to "stay on" all the time when trying to put in multiple 600 mile in less than ideal conditions/roads.

I would definitely take an extra air filter as I probably cleaned my KLR filter 3-4 times even running filter skins. Depending on how much road construction is gong on = how much dust is there?

Take great rain gear and heated liners/gloves to stay comfortable for hours on end in cold, damp weather.
 

528Hz

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My advise would be more on the spiritual side of things. I would advise to plan and visualize your trip with the warmest intention possible as often as possible. Sure, take spare parts like levers, air filters, plugs, spare tires if you have to but your will and intent towards something or lack of either always have a final play on how any of your undertakings go and can make a difference between hassles at the borders and having a flirty conversation about motorcycles with a cute Canadian immigration officer lady, stressful ride and enjoyable ride. For example, planning to take spare levers because you might crash versus taking spare levers in case you meet a stranded rider who will most likely become your best friend for life for saving his butt in the middle of nowhere. That way you have spare levers while expressing a positive intent.
I sincerely wish you the best time of your life. I am going there myself, heading out end of June ::003::
 

HoebSTer

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Take everything you want, but only what you need. You shouldn't need too many tools except for tire irons and basics. The lighter the bike can be, the less likely for handling issues leading to dumping bike. As others have mentioned on flatlands knock out couple 800-1000 mile days. Get up early knock out 200 miles before 9-10 am. This can be done easily if you maintain 200 miles every three hours including gas stops.
In my opinion, you wont need extra air cleaners or maintenance parts for this bike. Ride it and service when you get home except for oil change in Whitehorse.
Good luck!
 

iridemotorbikes

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Have a great trip, sounds like you guys are on a tight time schedule but personally I like to be able to stop/stay/explore if I come across something cool. Plan for a couple weather/mechanical down days.

Have fun, slow down take pics..
 

phplemel

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Plan for a day in Whitehorse to revive & do any maintenance. Yukon Yamaha is right on the hwy & Myself or Rem are always available to offer advise or a yard to sleep in. The dealer here is great so even if you dont have too, stop in
 

Siseneg

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We changed tires in Fairbanks at an abandoned gas station at 2:00 A.M. ... then went looking for pizza. ::008::
 

Karson

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So for you guys that have done the Alaska trip before - was it the best 3-4 week trip you've ever taken? Or, was it simply a bucket list item to check off, but when the time for vacation rolls around again next year, or the year after, you'd rather do something else?

I've heard it both ways.

528 - that's the mindset I take when I pack my toolkit on the bike. Initially, I think about the tool(s) being needed for me, but as I'm rolling it back up, the thought's always in the back of my head that I'm packing my kit in case someone else would need them, not me. I've got a valve stem puller tool, even though I don't plan on using it to remove the core, the mindset is that I might need to help a KLRista pull a new tube. Stuff like that...
 

eemsreno

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HoebSTer said:
Take everything you want, but only what you need. You shouldn't need too many tools except for tire irons and basics. The lighter the bike can be, the less likely for handling issues leading to dumping bike. As others have mentioned on flatlands knock out couple 800-1000 mile days. Get up early knock out 200 miles before 9-10 am. This can be done easily if you maintain 200 miles every three hours including gas stops.
In my opinion, you wont need extra air cleaners or maintenance parts for this bike. Ride it and service when you get home except for oil change in Whitehorse.
Good luck!
This is the best advice I have seen on here yet.
Pack light.
This bike won’t need extra parts like air filters, do that when you get home.
600 mile days are very doable with the 3 bikes going, Your not on a KLR here, this bikes can eat up miles and spit them out.
On our trip to Dead horse we road 10,916 miles in 18 days. over 600 a day average.
People that ask me if we would have went slower if we had more time,
I say “NO” we would have just rode more miles.
This can be the trip of a life time.
It was for us.

 

rem

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Install a set of those little neoprene fork seal protector thingys. And maybe have an extra set with you. As I recall, every bike that went up there without them, came back with leaky forks. This may have been mentioned ..... if so, I've said it again. It's important. Best of luck, and yes, as Phplemel said, please check in. You're welcome to camp at my place, etc. Gimme a shout as the time grows near. ::008:: R.
 

justbob

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I went to Prudhoe Bay in 2004, it was 11,200 miles in 23 days, averaged out to 486 miles per day. I have ridden over 500,000 lifetime miles but this is the only time I have taken 3 weeks for a trip. I was fortunate to be with a great group of guys and the weather was fantastic, except for the heatwave in Alaska that caused a rash of forest fires and closed some roads which prevented us from going to Chicken. . This was a great trip, probably the best ever for me but I dont have a burning desire to do it again. Travel in the great northwest is expensive.
 

Karson

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rem said:
Install a set of those little neoprene fork seal protector thingys. And maybe have an extra set with you. As I recall, every bike that went up there without them, came back with leaky forks. This may have been mentioned ..... if so, I've said it again. It's important. Best of luck, and yes, as Phplemel said, please check in. You're welcome to camp at my place, etc. Gimme a shout as the time grows near. ::008:: R.
Are you talking about the Kriega fork guards? I thought about those, but heard that at the end of every day you should take 'em off and clean inside of them and along your forks with a rag. Something about the mud/grit getting caught up in there. The nice thing about those is they're velcro on/off. I've not found a longer neoprene guard that is velcro that's easy to take off/put on. The ones i've seen slide down from the top of the fork tube.
 

Doug C

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Either Kreiga or Shoksox for these forks up there are a must have in my opinion. Dont need cleaning daily. But could if you wanted to. We allowed four days for the return trip from Fairbanks to Deadhorse some do it in one day up and one back if the weather turns ugly that would be two very long days. We met a crazy wing nut from Belgium on a tenere 660 who did it return in one day ??? Its been removed from my list don't plan on going back anytime soon. Glad I did go its an awseome trip. with scenery to match.
Doug
 

rem

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Karson said:
Are you talking about the Kriega fork guards?

Yep, thems the boys. Well, I've never been totally covered in mud like you may encounter, but I took mine off a couple times in a year or so and it was clean as a hound's tooth up in there. I think if they're put on good and tight, etc., they will do the trick. I know that the boys who had them didn't have any fork leaking problems. Maybe some of them will chime in. R
 
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