Trip to the mountains

[rigger4343]

Me and the girlfriend are going to be taking my XB9R to the NC mountains in about a month or so. We are going to trailer it up there, rent a little cabin and use the bike for fun riding and a little touring too.

My bike is in great condition and we normally have no problems ridding two up normally but since I have never had this bike in the mountains before, I thought I might ask if you guys that have been up there recommend anything special for going up there.

Currently the bike is fairly mildly set up. Tires are just about new and mechanically needs nothing. I was thinking of swapping out the brake fluid for some fresh stuff.

As far as us, I am about 5’7” and about 165 lbs. She is about 5’2” and about 110 pounds. She will be wanting to bring some pretty expensive camera equipment with us on the bike but most of it will fit in a back pack.

I am going to rig up a GPS on the bike because I know I will get lost. And it would be nice to be able to carry a few other things with us too. You guys have any luggage suggestions that would work okay for two up?

Any tips or ideas would be great!

 

[iman501]

for her sake, Backpacks get old really fast while on the bike, and if the camera stuff is heavy then she wont enjoy it much......

 

[user_deleted]

for her sake, Backpacks get old really fast while on the bike,

truer words were never spoken. dowco makes a $30 tank-bag that is large and fits firebolts nicely. available on ebay and amazon. a brake fluid flush and fill with dot-4 is always a good idea. do you know how to properly bleed and fill?

 

[rigger4343]

My next question was going to be about what tank bag to get that would fit the Buell without breaking the bank. I will check that one out.

And yes I can do brake work. I will do most anything to my own bikes.

I assume the old girl, (the bike, not the girlfriend ), will do just fine up in the mountains. Its more me and my old back that I am more concerned about.

 

[rigger4343]

Is this the bag you are talking about?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/290710551158?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649

Would you trust it to hold some really high dollar camera stuff? It looks like it would be a decent little bag and for the money, it is probably hard to beat.

 

[rigger4343]

Just found this one on ebay too. It cost a few more bucks but looks like it might be a little nicer.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CYCLE-CASE-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item3a72e18008&vxp=mtr

 

[rigger4343]

It looks like maybe the second would be easy to take off and carry with me if I wanted to. Looking for suggestions on the tank bags so please chime in and give my your thoughts on these or other bags.

I wont use it all that often so I don't want to spend a bunch on one but if it is a nice bag and easy to use, I could use it to carry lunch to work and do other little things too.

 

[iman501]

I know a lot of tank bags are magnetic. Keep in mind the buell doesn't have a metal tank like all other bikes. So unless you glue a magnet under your airbox, You may have to figure out a way to secure the bag if it doesn't come with it's own straps or something.

 

[user_deleted]

Is this the bag you are talking about?

yes sir rigger, the first one is the dowco i spoke of. can't beat it for the price, lots of storage, slightly expandable top, rain cover, NON-magnetic, easy to attach properly. the second one you listed link to looks excellent as well. they all have a single strap that goes down rear towards seat and if you have any installation questions let me know and i can shoot you some pics of how i do it. i've installed about 8 of the dowco bags on assorted buells now and they're very nice, have soft scratch proof bottom as well. hope that helps.

 

[rigger4343]

Cool, thanks for the input. I may go ahead and order one up for my bike. It certainly does not look like you can beat it for the money. Would you happen to have a picture of one on a Firebolt?