Cave Creek, AZ. 6505 miles.

I am taking a few days off from the road to spend with my parents in Arizona so there won’t be much in the way of travel stories until Monday when I head up into southern Utah for one of my most anticipated legs of the trip.

I took the down time to give the bike some much needed maintenance. A thorough degreasing and road grime scrubbing for the chain and sprockets and a fresh oil change and a once over of the whole bike to tighten down any loose bolts as I had developed a leak from the gearbox sometime int he last few days. Found the culprit and torqued down everything that needed it.

I figured I would take the opportunity to do a write up about the bike mods and the touring gear since I have gotten a lot of questions from people about specifics. I’ve been pretty happy with the entire setup so maybe someone will find this useful when planning any long runs.

The Bike:

2014 Triumph Thruxton 900

865cc engine with a 90mm bore. It sports a smallish 4.2 gallon fuel tank and gets somewhere between 35-45 mpg depending on how hard you’re riding. That gives it a range of basically 150 miles which is a bit on the short side, but I’ve only had a few close calls between some remote gas stations. The stock secondary air injection and O2 sensors have been removed so good luck passing an emissions check in CA but the performance difference is noticeable. I’ve removed the stock airbox and installed DNA pod air filters to the throttle bodies with a British Customs ARK. I also replaced the stock exhaust pipes with D&D slip-on free flow pipes. The EFI has been remapped with a custom tune purchased from Triumph Twin Power (Thruxton Performance Tune 11, to be specific). All of this combines to add about an extra 20% horsepower over the stock setup which is pretty noticeable. The TTP tune in particular is a work of art that completely changes how the bike rides especially at high speeds. The throttle curve is perfect and while there is still plenty of vibration above 5000 rpm I don’t think you could make these bikes run much better without a complete overhaul of the engine. The stock 18-tooth front sprocket has been replaced with a 19-tooth one. This adds quite a bit of extra headroom at highway speed, reducing vibration and eliminating the usual annoyance of trying to find a 6th gear that isn’t there. The tradeoff is some loss of drag off the line but especially on a long trip spent mostly at high speed you’d never even notice.

Perhaps more important than the engine modifications is the suspension upgrades. I replaced the rear shocks with Hagon Nitros, which are heavy springs with an adjustable preload and damping. In the city I will loosen them up to help smooth out all of the potholes, but on the highway I like to keep them pretty tight as there isn’t a lot to worry about in terms of road bumps. They do a great job of keeping the rear tire planted to the road in high speed curves. In the front forks I replaced the internal springs with Bitubo Race Suspension cartridges. A little on the pricey side, these practically turn the Triumph into a superbike as far as handling goes. It maneuvers through the tightest curves with almost no manual input and almost completely eliminates all wobble below 100 mph. Dunlop Roadmaster II tires in the front and rear fill out a very nimble, steady, and secure suspension system that makes the bike enormously fun to ride as well as a perfectly suitable touring machine.

The Gear:

The Schuberth C3 Pro helmet is the most comfortable helmet I’ve ever worn. Most modulars let a lot of air in through the seams which leads to noise, but the C3 is designed like the door on a German sports car. It latches securely closed and seals off the entire neck roll from air which means great noise reduction on the highway. Most importantly, Schuberth tests their helmets in a wind tunnel and they are second to none in terms of aerodynamics. There’s only so much that can do for you with no fairing at 90 mph, but when dipping down into the air foil from the Thruxton’s flyscreen the helmet cuts through the wind completely. I splurged on the Schuberth SRC bluetooth system for this trip and I’m glad I did. It replaces the stock neck roll and connects directly into the helmet’s built-in antenna system for a communication system with no need for an ugly module clamped to the outside that adds to wind drag. It pairs via bluetooth with my iPhone and that takes care of all of my GPS navigation and music needs. It’s not a cheap setup, but if there’s one thing you shouldn’t skimp on it’s a helmet.

The luggage consists of the Cortech Sport 2.0 saddlebags and the matching 24-liter tail bag. All are expandable and lock together simply. They can be pulled off the bike in 10 seconds and only take slightly longer to remount just to make sure the balance is right. Well constructed, I do recommend installing pan or luggage rails as despite my best efforts the saddlebags tend to sag by the end of a long day and grate against the rear wheel if you aren’t vigilant to adjust them. Along with a small backpack and a bungee net I have all the storage space I need for tools, rain gear, a few days’ worth of clothes, and whatever else I feel like lugging around. There is a matching magnetic tank bag that I might consider for future rides if I was going to bring more substantial camera gear.

Maybe the greatest investment I’ve ever made for long rides is the Airhawk 2 seat cushion. It straps on and off in seconds. You inflate it by mouth and it will easily go 500-600 miles before you need to worry about it again. It doesn’t feel very substantial at first but after a few hundred miles you realize that you have absolutely no tailbone or lower back pain. It also vents air through the mesh cover to have the dual effect of raising you up an inch or two above the engine block and venting cool air between your nether regions and the heads. I’ll never ride more than a few hundred miles without it again. I have met at least a dozen long tour bikers on this trip and they have all had them on their bikes and swear by them.

After searching around a while for the best iPhone mount I finally found a great little product from Arkon. You would think finding a good iPhone mount would be easy, but I am not exaggerating when I say I bought and returned at least 10. Every one of them had some small imperfection that made them range from annoying to downright useless. The Arkon isn’t the prettiest thing in the world (as you can see in a lot of my pictures) but the handlebar attachment is solid and substantial and clamps on quickly with two allen screws. The case attaches with what looks like a very cheap plastic screw ring but I’ve found that it holds perfectly secure on the bumpiest road and is able to be pulled on and off quickly. The case is waterproof (which I can easily attest to) and opens with a zipper which can be opened up top to vent air through the case and keep the phone cool. I ran a USB charger to my battery tender cable and secured it along the frame underneath the tank. It comes right out from behind the instrument panel and into the case – Fully charged phone all the time, no fuss.

I’m sure this is more than just about all of you ever wanted to know, but somewhere out there is someone who will get a little benefit out of something in this list.

Tomorrow I am hoping to do a quick day ride up into the pine hills of Tonto east of Phoenix before spending one last night with my parents and heading up into southern Utah. This is maybe my most anticipated leg of the trip and I can’t wait to explore the canyons stretching into Colorado.

Wyatt Neumann was a phenomenally talented photographer and director, a loving husband and father, and a passionate motorcyclist. On June 11th he was doing what he loved riding in Delaware when he suffered a brain aneurysm which caused him to lose control of his motorcycle. He died shortly after. Wyatt was instrumental in both inspiring this trip and planning many of its routes and logistics. The title of this site was unapologetically stolen from his series of photographs from his own travels. He leaves behind a wife and two young children. A memorial fund has been established to help his family in this very trying time. Please consider donating. Any amount will help. Thank you.

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