Yup, yup, I agree with the two posts above.
Loved my Victory Cross Roads, the best heavy cruiser I could have wished for. Wonderful bike once under power ... but when not under power, it weighed every bit of 800 pounds ... and eventually I got tired of that.
The CTX700 has brought the FUN back to my riding. Sometimes I wish for more power, or a little more mass under my @ss ... but that's the same sort of thinking that caused me to work my way up to an 800-pound heavy cruiser.
"Flicker" does everything I need, and darned near everything I want.
Yep, when you stay in motels you don't need to bring much. I can't afford that so I bought camping gear. One problem I had was getting a sleeping bag. Most of the down bags were too confining so I went with synthetic which doesn't pack down so well. It will be a lot of luggage but it will work out. My new seat will be built in a couple of months and with a few more dodads I'll be ready to go.
You're right, the perfect sized bike depends on a persons needs.
Deep gravel, deep sand and don't forget mud.
I recently discovered the dry bags after a little research and bought two of them. They are very wide, which I needed, and hang over my side bags, but that's okay. I bought a Eureka 3XT tent because it was on sale ($90) and it's a decent tent. I left it outside for about two weeks and it stayed dry and handled the wind pretty well.
I have a top case (55 liter) and two side bags, but all of them are too small for my tent and my sleeping pad. The top case will be used for my helmet and camera gear so that is all used up. The side cases will store extra gas. tire repair stuff, an air pump, plus extra clothes to keep warm and dry for easy access. That leaves no room for anything else. Each of my dry bags are 110 liters but one of them contains just the camping gear minus the sleeping bag. It's funny that years ago when I traveled I carried very few things, now I don't have enough room, what gives?
Thank you!
Not sure of your weight Duffy, but my wife is only 110lbs and I have had to replace her rear shock after about 61k miles. It was toast! That rubber piece is supposed to look like a doughnut. We pack pretty light and stay in hotels. I'm sure you are well under the carrying capacity for the bike, but just throwing it out there if you plan on a lot of travel in the future.
That's the one I got too. It's a little tall and makes it a little hard to raise for some people, but it's a perfect height when changing the rear tire.
I used to go on long trips with my BMW all loaded like that. 3 50 liter Givi hard boxes, two saddle boxes and a trunk with luggage rack. It would barely sit on the sidestand. It was fun though. I also had a Eureka 3xt. Best tent I ever owned. Do they have any more of them? My son returned it to my porch and my 185 lb Newfoundland thought it was a nice dog toy. Destruction. We just paid $400 for a big roomy Eureka 'Titan' B stock at the Erika tent factory and outlet in Binghamton, New York. Brand new tent. Huge. Not for the bike. For regular camping.
Did you have to put a 2 x 4 in there like the one I read about?
I just checked on the availability of the 3XT and they no longer have them. That was the only place that I could find that even carried them. The 2XT can still be had. I've only owned one other tent ( a long time ago) and it was very basic. No mesh, no bug screens, and no rain cover. It was very cramped inside. It was a two person tent, barely.
No, I didn't use a 2x4. I'm big enough that I just lift the bike using the passenger grab rails.