550 Mile Road Trip - What Gear to Wear?

[No Worries]

Originally Posted by jtemple

I'm going to make the trek to Sturgis on my ZX-10R here in a couple of weeks. It's 550 miles, one way. I'm trying to decide what gear to wear on the actual road trip....I want to wear the leathers, but I'm concerned about heat & comfort for such a long ride. I have ridden almost half of that in a day in leathers and not had any problems.

I'll have my Camelbak on, so keeping hydrated while sweating it out in leathers won't be a problem.

I would wear leather jacket and pants. But if I was going up there, I would go for the fantastic riding around western South Dakota. One day or night at Sturgis would be enough for me. Make sure you ride the east road up to Mount Rushmore, and don't miss the ride through Custer State Park. I camped out the last time I was there, but that was in 1982. Got arrested in Deadwood in 1972, but that's another story.

[jtemple]

Originally Posted by No Worries

I would wear leather jacket and pants. But if I was going up there, I would go for the fantastic riding around western South Dakota. One day or night at Sturgis would be enough for me. Make sure you ride the east road up to Mount Rushmore, and don't miss the ride through Custer State Park. I camped out the last time I was there, but that was in 1982. Got arrested in Deadwood in 1972, but that's another story.

Yeah, we don't do much of the Sturgis thing while we're there, from what I'm told. It's 8 hours of riding the Black Hills every day.

[fnfalman]

I am not familiar with this Joe Rocket leathers, but I would not consider wearing full track leathers for traveling just because it's so restrictive (though the Europeans riders like to do that). I do have touring/commuting full leathers that I usually wear for those occasions for the same reasons that Rae said: helps buffet against the wind beating on your body and keep your sweats from drying too quickly.

[Cutty72]

Originally Posted by t-rock

Yeah I got it about 2 months ago with just under 42K on it. 2k miles in 2 months isn't too bad I don't think.

4800 miles in 3 1/2 months... and some of that is winter in ND.

[OneSickPsycho]

Nearly 3,900 miles in 10 days. Oops... yer vaginas are showing.