Nothing Left But the Packing

This is not how I usually like to have my bike about a day before I leave on a major trip.  I needed to wait until the last minute to put on some new tires to maximize their durability.

My friend Craig came over tonight and brought his No-Mar tire changer to do the job right in the garage.  It was pretty quick, only about an hour to change both tires and tubes.

I went with the Continental TKC-80's which seem to be the favorite of people doing the Trans-Lab.  They'll offer a good ride on the asphalt as well as needed grip in the gravel.  They will also last the entire trip.  A number of my friends run them so I'm anxious to see how they do.

new front tire

few things in motorcycling are better than new tires

Craig's generosity doesn't stop there.  He offered me a large MotoFizz camping seat bag to use for my trip.  Whatta guy!  The bag is really the answer to my storage problems.  It's waterproof and it allows me to pack a few more things.  Now I can actually bring a pair of jeans, a heavy sweatshirt and some tourbooks.  It's also much easier to store and retrieve my stuff than undoing the dry bag.

I tried mounting it a couple of different ways and think I have settled on the sideways method.  I can use it as a backrest and it doesn't hang over as much.  This thing is big, more storage room than I need, but it will come in very handy for two weeks on the road.

Thanks Craig!

Tomorrow's my last day at home.  I'm a bit sad and anxious but it's time for this adventure to begin.  The only thing left to do is pack.