Touring on your TRX.

[ge0ff]

Howdy team.

Short time lurker, first time poster. I've been reading as much as i can on this forum - great community you've got here.

I've just bought myself a lovely red trixxie from '96 that i've fallen in love with. In any case, i'm sort of loosely entertaining the idea of covering a not insignificant amount of kilometers over the Christmas season this year.

The old man and I would plan to make our way from Perth, WA to Hobart, TAS. To cut down on the incessant Nullarbor we'd probably ship our bikes to at least Adelaide or something, maybe Melbourne even, before the ferry.

Who's done some miles on their TRX? What setup did you have? She's mostly stock outside of the pipes, so i'm on the scout for some luggage.

[Con Rod]

done a few far rides on mine and plenty of 3000km weekends.

If you use oil carry a litre bottle in the tail.

Luggage wise I have a top box, but before that I used to just strap stuff over the tail. Panniers might be an issue if your pipes sit high.
It tours well on standard gearing.

There is a good thread here but a search for luggage will trow up a few options

http://www.trx850.com/phpBB_forum/viewt ... it=luggage

[trixynut]

Buy some of those padded cyclists shorts.

seriously.

[trixynut]

Oh and welcome aboard!

[ge0ff]

I have to admit to already owning cycling shorts....my 2nd hobby!

Thanks for the links Con Rod!

[Stu99]

I have to admit to already owning cycling shorts....my 2nd hobby!

Thanks for the links Con Rod!

If you are a cyclist any motorbike seat is a lounge chair by comparison.

[Rod.s]

I've been touring my TRX since I bought her and apart from the seat and luggage the best mod is to drop the carb needles one clip after a rebuild, this will increase you distance per tank out to around 400K's.




My setup and i add the tank bag if I'm camping, but always leave the bagster tank cover on when touring




The other thing i have done is fit Honda CB750DOHC cam cover bolts to the rear as tie down points for extra stuff, this gives you 6 tie down points including the factory 4. You can get wider ones and they come from the later goldwing 4cyl.

[ge0ff]

I have to admit to already owning cycling shorts....my 2nd hobby!

Thanks for the links Con Rod!

If you are a cyclist any motorbike seat is a lounge chair by comparison.

You're not wrong. I've never had any huge issues on my last bike doing long-ish days in the saddle.

I've been touring my TRX since I bought her and apart from the seat and luggage the best mod is to drop the carb needles one clip after a rebuild, this will increase you distance per tank out to around 400K's.




My setup and i add the tank bag if I'm camping, but always leave the bagster tank cover on when touring




The other thing i have done is fit Honda CB750DOHC cam cover bolts to the rear as tie down points for extra stuff, this gives you 6 tie down points including the factory 4. You can get wider ones and they come from the later goldwing 4cyl.

Awesome, love that kind of stuff with the cam cover bolts. Nice improvisation. Your pipes are fairly high like my carbon staintune cans - do you have any issues with the bags in such close proximitiy? What are those, motodry's?

I'll probably wind up shipping the bike to the east coast because of the fuel range. Too hard basket. I've done the nullarbor a few times, though never on a bike, and dad has done it on his Rocket 3 so there's no novelty there any more. Good one to tick off but i'd prefer to meet the bike in Melbourne for the ferry over now.

[Rod.s]

http://www.trx850.com/phpBB_forum/viewt ... f=5&t=8411

http://www.trx850.com/phpBB_forum/viewt ... f=5&t=7032

[dfh]

I'm in Adelaide & toured the TRX a fair bit. Just got back from 5500km trip in 10 days on my TRX- Adelaide- Snowys- Genolan caves- Thunderbolts way - Oxley Hwy ( 2 times ) - Nymboida Hwy - Gwydir Hwy - return via Sydney (Putty Rd) - Snowys again then back to Adelaide. My '96 model has 147,000km on it now. Make a great sport touring mount. Maintanance wise make sure your valve clearances are within spec & I have found going from a 525 to 530 chain on stock gearing has done wonders for chain life. My 96 has consistently used 500 to 750ml per 1000km all it happy life except the following 10,000km after its head rebuild. On my "spirited" run down & up the Oxley Hwy or when hacking around he Adelaide Hills it uses much more than it did when "cruising" through the backroads of central Victoria at 130 to 140 or trundling round town. Pretty obvious its sucking oil past the valve stem seals on deceleration from higher revs, which doesn't bother me one iota. Often wondered what they did to the TDM 900 head to stop that (oil suckthrough kills cat cons real fast). Mine has always had the noisy 3rd gear but it is no worse now than when it was new, lending credence to the old line "they all do that sir". Rebuilt the carbies 20,000km ago. Averaged 5.1l/100km on my trip. Only annoyance really was the flat spot around 3500rpm and the lack of a 6th gear to close up the gaps in the gearbox, especially obvious chasing my mate on his Aprilia Falco. OTOH the TRX murders my other travelling companions BMW f800 for midrange grunt & acceleration whilst handling much better too. Not all parallel twins were created equal

As for shipping to Melbourne, why not ship to Adelaide. The Adelaide Hills is a biking nirvana & will help to tune you up for Tassie, plus Adelaide to Melbourne via the Great Ocean Road is a great run in itself. Have fun 7 drop a line if you do come to Adelaide.

[pbear62]

Hi Geoff,

Welcome to the forum - there's few other Perth-ites on here.

I've got a Ventura rack for mine with an R-Jays gearsack. I don't leave the rack on normally but it's handy
if I do need it & it works well. I also use a small R-Jays tank bag - big enough for phone, camera, wallet etc.
This has a detachable clear map pocket on top too.

Re: Your trip to the east - we went to the MotoGP at Phillip Island a few years ago & trucked the bikes to
& from Adelaide - great ride from there to Melbourne etc without getting the flat area on the centre of the
tyres from the Nullabor crossing!

Just out of interest, does the rego number on your bike end in "344"? (My previous red '96 model was on
Gumtree a while back - maybe you have it now?

Andy

[craybait]

Has anyone pulled the fairing off and put a tall givi screen,you would need to do a headlight/speedo mod a bit like a bonnevile with screen.I find the head buffeting troublesome as the speed gets up.
Any suggestions.[besides buy a bonny]

[Con Rod]

You can just get a taller screen

There are touring scrreens for the TRX.

I think Rod may have one??

http://www.polo-motorrad.com/en/tourens ... x-850.html

[craybait]

?any idea how Rod found it,
I tried a double bubble and it moved the turbulence higher up the chest and was more noticeable under the chin.I wondered if anyone had swapped to a touring fairing ?from another bike.
I ride with guys with 1200 adventure tourers and the blast at 110/120 klm gets tiresome.I am very happy with my bike now with over exhaust ,and the ignition chip from Brian,now trying to make it into a tourer!

[Rod.s]

?any idea how Rod found it,
I tried a double bubble and it moved the turbulence higher up the chest and was more noticeable under the chin.I wondered if anyone had swapped to a touring fairing ?from another bike.
I ride with guys with 1200 adventure tourers and the blast at 110/120 klm gets tiresome.I am very happy with my bike now with over exhaust ,and the ignition chip from Brian,now trying to make it into a tourer!

Dino, has a touring lip screen and he's 6'3". He reports that the wing blast is directed into the top of his helmet. I had a touring lip but changed it fro a standard screen as I'm taller and due to two stuffed shoulders can't get down on the tank anymore As well i have flipped my bars, just makes for a very relaxed touring bike. Ask Cobba he just loves it!!

Rod