101 days - Missed connections

Jim and I have been trying to get together for a shake down ride.  Our schedules never seem to work out.

Jim has been doing a lot of long distance riding related to work.  I've been doing a lot of commuting on the 990.  It is a great commuting ride, feels like playing in traffic on a hooked up powerful dirt bike.

One of my early concerns was being skilled enough on the bike to be able to handle riding in heavy traffic while lost and confused in a foreign city.  I figured there was time to learn since I'd have the bike for 1-1/2 years before departure.  I was right.  It has been a great bike to ride but not the most forgiving.  On my very first commute in  June of '10, it was raining (it was Seattle after all).  I was on I-5 in light traffic.  All of a sudden traffic came to hard stop in front of.  No sweat, I have lots of room, easy rear brake and we'll shut her down.  PROBLEM, it locked the the rear brake faster than instantly!  No sweat, let off the rear brake. PROBLEM, the engine braking was enough to prevent the rear from hooking back up.  Seemed like forever to get the clutch pulled (was probably just a fraction of a second).  Ok, note to self, it is a tall bike, it wants to lift the rear on braking and the rear is best used like a dirt bike for steering, not for any substantial slowing, and be ready with the clutch if you do.

Now that I have all the gear I intend to bring to South America now I've got to sort out packing.  I've had all but the new cot on the bike and there is plenty of room.  The bike still rides well all loaded up, which is exactly why we went with larger bikes rather than smaller bikes.

We are stilling up in the air on shipping.  We found a great shipper to get the bikes to Santiago for $637 per bike.  But we haven't been able to find a return shipper.  We are looking for help.