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Tourer
Posts: 307
Columbia, SC | So next year, I'm moving one duty station over, and to spare my wife the moving pains and new job searching pains, etc. etc, I'll just be commuting. About 100 miles each way (1.5 hours).
So what accessories should I be saving up for to make it easier for myself and the bike? I'm thinking #1 will be a driver's backrest. What else?
Alexi |
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Visionary
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New Bohemia, VA | iPod... |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 741
Central New York | Full face or Flip up helmet and good quality, comfortable rain suit.
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Tourer
Posts: 494
Akron Ohio area | Life insurance. |
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Tourer
Posts: 337
san antonio, tx | I used to do a 63 mile commute, 126 a day.
Don't know where you live, but you're going to need good riding gear for whatever weather conditions you run in to. No point in buying cheap stuff either, you'll just have to buy it again.
The backrest is a fantastic piece of equipment.
If you don't have them already, think about putting the lowers on.
A sheepskin seat cover makes a huge difference in comfort. I've never found anything, for any price, that's better in the heat.
Flat tire kit with the Co2 inflaters. I've never tried the stuff you put inside the tires but considering you're going to be changing tires every 3-4 months, that stuff might get sort of expensive. If you're going to be putting that many miles on, you might want to think about setting yourself up to change your own tires. You'll save a few hundred a year on that.
Keep a spare cellphone charger in the trunk.
Stuff a $20.00 bill down in the bottom of the trunk and leave it there. You're going to forget your wallet one day and you're gonna need gas.
From there, I might think about something like the CeeBaily headlight protector and maybe that stick on paint protection film. |
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Visionary
Posts: 2118
Pitt Meadows, BC Canada | I could NEVER do that - 100 mile commute. Wow! You see - I would turn it into 250 miles (I ALWAYS make bike errands last 2 1/2 times further) and eventually one day I just wouldn't make it back or the family would one day shoot me cuz they didn't recognize me.
Good luck, Alexi - maybe you should trade the Victory for a Smart Car ... would be dryer and cheaper, and you'd be sure to go straight home. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | Get some highway pegs too. Although the Visions floorboards are ample enough; you like the ability to change the orientation of your legs on a long ride.
My commute is 104 miles round trip; not as long as your future one. However the Vision makes the commute an absolute snap; so much more enjoyable than toiling along in my F150.... |
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Tourer
Posts: 307
Columbia, SC | donetracey - 2011-10-13 1:33 AM
Good luck, Alexi - maybe you should trade the Victory for a Smart Car ... would be dryer and cheaper, and you'd be sure to go straight home.Actually, the wife and I just bought a 2012 civic which gets 38+ mpg on the highway. So for a REALLY bad weather day, I can use that and she'll use our crappy car to go to work.
Some GREAT ideas above though! I'll look into convincing the wife for a roadcraft light for myself, some lowers, and that $20 bill thing is a GREAT idea! I'm gonna find that for all my vehicles from now on! NEVER would have thought about it!
Alexi |
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Puddle Jumper
Posts: 40
South Central Pennsylvania | I have a 400 mile round trip daily commute now, and other than a good helmet (shark evoline series 2 ST) and gloves, I've only added the lower wind wings. Tunes are nice, but keep the focus on cagers in morning rush hour. Most have not yet had their coffee, or finished shaving. |
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Visionary
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Memphis | If you're not used to wearing them, you might want to consider earplugs. Makes a huge difference in the long run. Will get to destination much more relaxed. If you haven't used them before, it will take several styles to figure out what is best for you. The radio will actually sound clearer with the road roar filtered out. |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 752
Broken Arrow, OK | keep the focus on cagers in morning rush hour
+1
If you're seriously going to be biking it the majority of the time, invest in the geekiest high vis clothing you can get. More the merrier. Be seen |
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Iron Butt
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Peachtree City, GA | +2
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Tourer
Posts: 323
Troy, NY | iPod and lowers should do the trick along with good jacket & pants for weather - wet and/or cold. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | alexi - you don't say where you are or what kind of road you'll traverse. I use to do a 100 mile round trip daily in a car and it was in the middle of nowhere. It would have been great on a bike. I do a 32 mile one wayer on the bike now, it moderate traffic, rain or shine. Will you ride the same way and what longitude are you in? If we knew those answer we may be able to suggest better. Assuming you have all else that you need, a rack of tunes will get you there before you know it. |
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Tourer
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Columbia, SC | varyder - 2011-10-13 11:11 AM
alexi - you don't say where you are or what kind of road you'll traverse. I use to do a 100 mile round trip daily in a car and it was in the middle of nowhere. It would have been great on a bike. I do a 32 mile one wayer on the bike now, it moderate traffic, rain or shine. Will you ride the same way and what longitude are you in? If we knew those answer we may be able to suggest better. Assuming you have all else that you need, a rack of tunes will get you there before you know it.Excellent points. A little more info....
I'm stationed in Fort Gordon, GA (SC border). My new duty station next year will be Fort Jackson, SC (Columbia, SC). One duty station over, and it suits me just fine. So weather should be pretty good all year round (a few cold days in Jan/Feb, but that's no biggie). And I'll be taking Route 20 (interstate highway) for the majority of the miles up and back.
I've got a good pants/jacket right now, and I'll be buying frogg toggs to keep me dry (those things work REALLY well!). But I am thinking about a teiz suit. More interested in a zip-on one piece suit, and the price is right.
I honestly didn't have any problems with my legs and so think that the lowers probably won't be needed. But I'm getting some good ideas here.
Army issued me some earplugs and they have you test a bunch out to find the best fit. I'll try riding with them now and see how it feels on my commute right now. I do get a little annoyed with the road noise.
I'm also considering rigging my bike to play through my helmet speakers (you can find the line-out thread on the forums) so the music will be a little louder, and still not to the point where it'll disturb people at red lights.
Alexi |
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| Ear plugs are one of the things you should not go with out. The twenty dollar bills is very good. I would buy a heated jacket you just don't know how nice there are in cold weather and really nice when being caught in the rain.
I would do fog lights ya never know. Now heirs what I would do put a car tire on the rear. There only $115 bucks and you should get about 25 thousand miles out of it.
Next GPS something that will tell you construction and accidents or traffic delays.
May you go up in ranks and have safe riding rear around |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 721
| sfalexi - 2011-10-12 8:43 PM So next year, I'm moving one duty station over, and to spare my wife the moving pains and new job searching pains, etc. etc, I'll just be commuting. About 100 miles each way (1.5 hours). So what accessories should I be saving up for to make it easier for myself and the bike? I'm thinking #1 will be a driver's backrest. What else? Alexi Considering the cost in fuel and you just might be able to get a helicopter pilot's license AND a kit built helicopter from a company such as Rotorway AND it would cost you far less in gas costs as your flight would be in a straight line and probably only take 20 to 30 minutes. 
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Iron Butt
Posts: 763
Anderson, IN (48mi NE of downtown Indianapolis) | I keep normal wear items stocked in my garage for quick repair. If I was riding 200 miles/day I would keep the following on hand at all times: brake pads, headlamp bulbs, drive belt, spark plugs, air cleaner, oil&filter, etc. |
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | understanding his youth, stamina, and vitality it will be exciting....for a while. Then practibility will begin to creep in and he'll find an empty room in the barracks and go home on the weekends, or just a few days a week. Then the little apartment will come along, then finally, "honey, do you think you can look for a job around columbus?" I do wish you the best and I had longed in my youth for a similar circumstance. Age starts to say, "the closer the better." |
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Visionary
Posts: 2118
Pitt Meadows, BC Canada | And ya get bored living alone a few days a week, so you go out to be with other people, and meet a very nice young .... well, you know the rest. |
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Tourer
Posts: 307
Columbia, SC | lol. Already got my friend up there and a room if I need it (if a day runs long and it's just not worth coming home that night or I have a nighttime concert so need to stay there all there). And the wifey is looking for a closer job as we speak.
BTW, why the HELL haven't I ridden with earplugs before?! I used it on the way to work today after lunch and on the way home. MUCH MUCH better. Still heard the radio really well, and it was clearer without the road/wind noise bothering me.
I HAVE considered darksiding simply because my daily driving will be mostly highway. Still unsure about it, but it seems that enough touring bike riders do it that I would have really heard as to whether it's TRULY dangerous or not by now. Haven't heard too many darksider "never again" stories. Mostly just "don't act like it's a sportbike and you'll be fine".
Alexi
PS - Looking into getting custom fit earplugs. Just gotta convince the wife it's the right thing to do. |
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Tourer
Posts: 337
san antonio, tx | I think the audio line out thread you referred to is mine. I'm still working on it and hope to either get it done by the end of this weekend, or decide that it's just not really feasable.
If it does work, I'll be posting the "how to", to include options for both bluetooth and/or plug in earbuds. If it doesn't, well, it was fun trying.
One thing I'm finding out as I'm poking around with this project is that it's going to be a little complex if you don't have any electronics experience. If there's interest I might put a few extra together.
Edited by cchristo 2011-10-13 4:01 PM
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Visionary
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Rancho Cucamonga, CA | sfalexi - 2011-10-13 1:41 PM
I HAVE considered darksiding simply because my daily driving will be mostly highway. Still unsure about it, but it seems that enough touring bike riders do it that I would have really heard as to whether it's TRULY dangerous or not by now. Haven't heard too many darksider "never again" stories. Mostly just "don't act like it's a sportbike and you'll be fine".
Alexi
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I still act like it's a sportbike and love to leave a bit of floorboard metal in the mountains by me.
BTW, how much do new floorboards cost?
Edited by Nozzledog 2011-10-13 7:20 PM
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Tourer
Posts: 447
Cleveland, GA | Might want to consider Gerbing heated jacket liner and gloves. Wonderful! |
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Cruiser
Posts: 199
Salt Lake City | I can't offer better advice than what has already been given, but just wanted to offer my thanks for your service. I have a very good Army buddy that I ride with, and several others that ride with us. You guys are the best! Ride safe, brotherman. |
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Next year have a 200 mile daily commute for work - what accessories should I buy?
