IBA ride

[mehaffydr]

A Buddy got me wanting to do the ultimate coast to coast from Deadhorse Alaska to Key West Florida. Thinking maybe late summer. Was just wondering if anyone hear has done this. My maine concern is of course the section from deadhorse to fairbanks ( all gravel).

The IBA gives 30 days to do the whole ride so if I could get the gravel done ok on the FJR the rest would be no problem other than alot of miles on the bike. So just wondering if the Dalton hyway is goood enough for a ride on the FJR.

Thanks for any info

MIke

 

[FJR_pig]

That would be a blast. Tip of the cap to you for even attempting it, if you do. Wish I had the time to try that.

 

[SkooterG]

There are several of us (Myself, TWN, Skyway, Orangevale, ????) who are trying to get this together for next summer. Though the haul road has been done before on an FJR, the consensus amongst our group is that it is NOT the bike of choice. You have to get really lucky in regards to weather amongst other things if you want to do it on an FJR. It could very well ruin the bike.

 

[rickcorwn]

Here's a good ride report clicky

Scooter's right the Haul Road will f'up a good street bike in a hurry, hell it'll f'up anything on a bad day.

I've thought about doing this ride a couple of time myself. One of the ideas I thought about was to ride to Fairbanks and rent a KLR to ride to Deadhorse and back. Of course the IBA wouldn't certifie it but then sometimes it's not just about the cert.

 

[smitty141]

Mike, I have a brand new KLR 650 you can use... What you think?? Smitty

 

[KSFJR]

Mike, I have a brand new KLR 650 you can use... What you think?? Smitty

One of the guys that I rode with a few times in a dual sport group here in KS did that on a KLR650 but went from FL to AK. He put something like 75,000 miles on a KLR in 3 years.

 

[mehaffydr]

There are several of us (Myself, TWN, Skyway, Orangevale, ????) who are trying to get this together for next summer. Though the haul road has been done before on an FJR, the consensus amongst our group is that it is NOT the bike of choice. You have to get really lucky in regards to weather amongst other things if you want to do it on an FJR. It could very well ruin the bike.

I am also thinking next summer. I just wanted to start some pre planning to decide if I could do it on the FJR. I have been to fairbanks but not ant further north. The 414 mile gravel strech is of course the main concern.

If you guys dont mind I would like to maybe be included in this plan.

I am thinking of maybe shipping bike to fairbanks and flying to there so I dont have to take as much time from work.

Then riding to Keywest and then home to St Louis. Which direction were you guys thinking?

 

[stryg8r]

I haven't ridden the road myself but the UCC is on my short list of rides...so I've done a fair bit of research on it. I'm also considering it next summer and wouldn't mind riding up with a few other like minded riders. Let me know if there's room for one more.

I agree with Scooter that doesn't make much sense to ride the Haul road with ANY street bike. I also agree with Rick that the road will chew you up and spit you out. But many have done it on street bikes including a gaggle of Gold Wings, a few FJR's, and even some crazy old dude on a Ducati; who later showed up in ads for Avons. One of our own has ridden the Haul road, but didn't get away completely unscathed. https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=15182

Despite all that I think the road can be safely traversed on an FJR. IF, like Scooter said the weather was good. If you get into any rain that calium chloride mix they use up there turns to pig snot and it's a whole new ball game. But given the haul road is less than 10% of the total mileage from Prudhoe Bay to Key West I'd use the FJR. In fact, I think if you got lucky and hit the perfect weather pattern you could probably finish in record time on an FJR....(Scooter?). But then again I've never been accused of having too much common sense so take that for what its worth.

Here's a few links I've found that paint a fairly good picture of the highway.

Chris Sakala's ride report (made the UCC in less than 5 days) https://www.beadrider.com/crosscountryride/index.htm

Julian Whaley's UCC ride report (one of my favorites) https://ca2e.org/Events/The_Ultimate_Coast_...t_Adventure.pdf

More pics of the Dalton Highway (from ADVRider - WARNING: You may get trapped on this site looking at all the ride reports! Don't click this link unless you have some free time to kill!! https://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread....light=haul+road

FJR ride report https://carotidbattery.com/archive/2006/07/...MyKeyboard.aspx

VStrom ride report from ADVrider. (See warning above) https://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196720

Some more pics of the Haul road https://cyb.smugmug.com/gallery/340805/9/13550314#P-13-9