Cross country trip - general observations

My apologies… been busy helping a friend put a deck on his house. I’ll give a few more dets.

My buddy rode his Goldwing. 2024 model I believe. Had 8k miles on it at the start. He got 44 mpg. He registered for the official ride with the SCMA.

I drove my 2023 MX5. 10k miles on it when i left. I got about 32 mpg.

I obviously couldn’t register officially but that didn’t matter to me. I have ridden various motorcycles in 49 of 50 states so doing this on a bike vs car really mattered zilch to me. As much as you’d think doing this in a car would be easier, it really isn’t. The MX5 is tiny and has no real room to move around; it’s just as confining as being on a bike. I drove with the top down about 98% of the time. Only had the top up in WA when it rained … not because I’m afraid to get wet but because I didn’t want to get my interior wet (mold/mildew concerns if it doesn’t dry properly).

We ran about 450 miles per day. We took two down-days to visit friends in CA. There is precious little time to sightsee along the way as you’re on the clock, so to speak, to get done in the allotted 21 days. We didn’t time our runs to avoid traffic; not really feasible when you have so far to go each day. You take them as they come.

At best you’ll average 60mph. Gas stops come every 180 miles or so due to needing to get out and stretch as well as limited bike fuel capacity. Last thing you want to do is runout of fuel so you don’t push it too close to the bottom of the tank. I basically filled up every other time he did. Some areas out west are fairly remote so you take on gas when you can.

Didn’t ride thru Canada; stayed in the States.
 
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My apologies… been busy helping a friend put a deck on his house. I’ll give a few more dets.

My buddy rode his Goldwing. 2024 model I believe. Had 8k miles on it at the start. He got 44 mpg. He registered for the official ride with the SCMA.

I drove my 2023 MX5. 10k miles on it when i left. I got about 32 mpg.

I obviously couldn’t register officially but that didn’t matter to me. I have ridden various motorcycles in 49 of 50 states so doing this on a bike vs car really mattered zilch to me. As much as you’d think doing this in a car would be easier, it really isn’t. The MX5 is tiny and has no real room to move around; it’s just as confining as being on a bike. I drove with the top down about 98% of the time. Only had the top up in WA when it rained … not because I’m afraid to get wet but because I didn’t want to get my interior wet (mold/mildew concerns if it doesn’t dry properly).

We ran about 450 miles per day. We took two down-days to visit friends in CA. There is precious little time to sightsee along the way as you’re on the clock, so to speak, to get done in the allotted 21 days. We didn’t time our runs to avoid traffic; not really feasible when you have so far to go each day. You take them as they come.

At best you’ll average 60mph. Gas stops come every 180 miles or so due to needing to get out and stretch as well as limited bike fuel capacity. Last thing you want to do is runout of fuel so you don’t push it too close to the bottom of the tank. I basically filled up every other time he did. Some areas out west are fairly remote so you take on gas when you can.

Didn’t ride thru Canada; stayed in the States.
Just out of curiosity sir and I'm probably not the only one, what was the status of the engine oil, fresh sump, slight mileage or say halfway through. Also conventional, a blend or full synthetic and of course which filter was used? Thank you.
 
Just out of curiosity sir and I'm probably not the only one, what was the status of the engine oil, fresh sump, slight mileage or say halfway through. Also conventional, a blend or full synthetic and of course which filter was used? Thank you.

Started out with a fresh sump of HPL PCMO and a Fram EG filter.
I'll post up info on those when I get around to an OCI soon.
 
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