What state are you from

Re: What State are you from?

Alex..what toute did you take from Colorado to Alska?Alcan? I heading there 2014 and looking for the fastest and best way. And maybe if you're not doing nothing you can come with? Leaving NH 6-23-14.

Re: What State are you from?

I usually stay there for only a couple months in Sept. and Oct. during the salmon run and hunting seasons. The route I take goes thru Alberta to Lake Louise where I sometimes stay a few days. Then thru B.C. on Hwy. 16 instead of the Alcan, and Hwy. 37 to Whitehorse, Yukon.

I've done this route many times both ways, but have also taken the ferry boat from Vancouver up the Inside Passage for a change of pace. It's a couple days longer, but a very nice way to see remote parts of B.C. and Alaska that you can't get to any other way.

I don't usually have a plan as to when I go....depends on what's on the calender.

You might consider going on the Trans-Canada Hwy to Calgary instead of US interstates for a unique trip, but gas prices and motels in Canada are much higher than US. Either way, it's a very long ride from NH and you will need at least 6 weeks. It might be better for you to fly to Seattle and rent a bike there for the rest of the trip if you don't have that much time off.

Re: What State are you from?

Hmm.our potential route is whatsever intrstate to Helena,MY then up to Calgary to Edmunton then over to dawson creek. Trying to stay out of Canada as much as possible because everythng is much ore expensive. We're taking 5 weeks and hoping thats enough. AVG 400-600 miles a day, I imagine that'll decrease once on the ALCAN so I hope to have much bigger miliage days while in the lower 48?

How is gas and hotels on hwy 16 and 37? Ferry is much $$$. Had thought about that for the way home until I crunchd the numbers..still may opt for that on the way home?

will give you a holler just to see what your doing,lol. Thanks a bunch for the hands on personal experience intel.

Re: What State are you from?

As you know, gas and motels in Canada are very expensive. Ditto for Alaska--right now over $5.00/gal for reg. I am getting 60 mpg on the road, so I never worry about finding gas, but did buy one of those 1 gal gas cans that fit the H-D saddlebags. I have a funny story about a BMW guy riding with me from Whitehorse to Lake Louise that I'll tell later.

There are enough motels all along the way. I try to make sure the forecast is sunny (no rain) before I head out of Lake Louise, Alberta so I get a long day (about 900 miles) of riding. It's much nicer to stay extra days in Lake Louise if raining.

It's still a fabulous ride even after doing it twice a year, and truly is the last frontier.

Re: What State are you from?

How're you getting 60mpg?

Re: What State are you from?

From Maryland

Re: What State are you from?

I can't explain it completely, but the 96 motor is very stingy with fuel, much more economical than the 103. It has never been tweaked, still the original factory tune. I do have a V&H FuelPak tuner on it, which only changes the a.f.r. fuel injection ratio when it's running 1/2 wide throttle or more. When I changed the plugs at 100,000 miles, they still looked good and clean burning--but changed them anyway.

If a motor is running smooth, I don't know why someone would want to mess with it by hot-rodding it. These bikes were not designed to be used as hot rods, but to give many years and miles of trouble-free riding. When I see someone trying to soup up a heavy bagger, I think of trying to hot rod a big Cadillac--why would you do that?

Re: What State are you from?

Like you I am chosing not to do anything to the stock setup. Despite being the 103 I'm avging about 45-47 MPG. Not bad for a 103 motor. As well my loud pipe days are behind me. I like tooling seemlessly and quietly thru what ever foreign neighborhood or highway. Not knocking loud pipes in any way.....just to each there own.

Suprised you went with an after market tuner. HD deeply imbeds its codes and aftermarket tuners try to fuel the factory codes. And again to each their own.

Re: What State are you from?

Badinfluence, look at my last two posts on the "HP" thread today to see why.

Quiet pipes are good on a long trip, but I do like medium loud myself. Another reason why I have the custom molded ear speakers.

Re: What State are you from?

I 94 to I 90 is the route I used to go west from Quebec a bunch of years ago. you can get off I 90 and go up towards Great falls and straight up to Canada. You're wise staying on your side of the border to save money. Some day my wife and I are going to go up to Alaska on the bike but we're still working on the Colorado/Utah/Arizona/New Mexico part of the continent..We aren't even close to getting that done yet.

Re: What State are you from?

Sleepy, I have often wondered why the price of gas and motels are so much higher in Canada. You have more oil than all the U.S. combined, yet the price jumps $2-$3/gal as soon as we cross the border. And why would motels be so much higher?

Re: What State are you from?

Canadian $$ vs American $$...Exchange rate sux...Back in the early 2000's Canada was a great deal...Made a few trips up there...Took the ferry from Portland, ME to Yarmouth, NS, rode around for a week and it cost me about $550.00...I just had to pay food and gas...Great package deal put together by the NS Tourism Dept...

Re: What State are you from?

I have had to travel to Canada a few times for work. I also noticed the high cost of certain things. Could it be due to the somewhat socialized form of government?? Just asking, no opinion.
We had a business associate, an older man, who required a coronary bypass operation. This was in the mid 1980's. He was on the waiting list. US side friends tried to get him to come to the US for the surgery right away. He refused saying he would be fine. A year later he died waiting. Of course I don't know the whole story but supposedly thats the facts.

Re: What State are you from?

I don't have a clue as to why gas is higher except that we're dumb enough to pay it. We have the oil but a lot of it goes south to get refined. I think my wife and I were in Utah/Colorado the same time you were up in Alaska. Gas in Alberta was 1.15 per litre when I left and when we were in Kanab gas was around 4 dollars per US Gallon..cheaper than us but not a huge spread. I think some of the mom and pop joints for motels can be a little cheaper..Canmore as opposed to Banff/Lake Louise. There just isn't the numbers to support good competition up this way. The Yukon used to be quite expensive25-30 years ago when my parents lived there..everything was expensive then.

Re: What State are you from?

I think we pay more personal income tax up here. We're such a small market we don't have the economies of scale that you guys have. I have to confess I really don't know much about the American system at all..[too busy trying to figure out the Canadian one.. ] We have the Canada Pension Plan/old Age Security and for lower wage earners at retirement, the Guaranteed Income supplement..If you don't have another vehicle for retirement this will put some food on your table. You guys have social security? [fedreal program?] I think both countries have some type of welfare program, where in some cases people are better off being on Welfare because you get an allowance for all of life's staples including medicare and dental care.
Our country has socialized medicine..we call it universal medicare. Most provinces don't charge any fees for it..Alberta did but a few years ago they stopped charging. Seniors get dental and prescription meds paid. The rest of us need insurance. The medical system has been called a large ponzi scheme

Canada's health care system a 'ponzi scheme': Think-tank | Money | Toronto Sun


Having said that my wife just came out of surgery and got excellent service and there have been many cases of good service. I'm sorry to hear of your colleague ,usually they are pretty timely on bypass procedures..up this way anyway. A buddy of mine went for a physical a few years ago..got the stress test.[treadmill] and wound up getting shipped to Calgary and got a quadruple wihing two days of his stress test results.

Re: What State are you from?

I did check the posts out and thats amazing..you have an engineers meticulous ly over thinking mind,lol. I mean that in a good natured way.

I'm leaving mine stock. I'm good with the factories calculations and MPG. CC'er don't bother me neither.

Re: What State are you from?

Because they have a few taxs because of socialized medicine. An 18$ chineses restaurant meal here in the USA costs about 18$. Same meal in Canada is about 36$. aND EVEN THOUGH THE $ EXCHANGE RATE HAS LEVELED OFF YOU'RE STILL GETTING LESS FOR YOUR USA CURRENCY (sorry accidently pushed caps).

Re: What State are you from?

Between my sons early hockey years, my motorcycle riding and my interest in Oak Island Oak Island - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I have spent much time in Canada, as far West as Winnepeg and as far east and Nova Scotia and back when the exchage rate was awsome and some what leveled the playing field.

What now? 4.5 liters to a gallon and $114.9 to $130.9 a liter? Thats crack.

Re: What State are you from?

When I was riding thru B.C. and Alberta, I saw $1.40/liter for regular gas. That's about $6/gal US, so I rode with a very light throttle and was getting 62 mpg (thank God).

I expect high prices in the Yukon cuz EVERYTHING has to be shipped in. You get your moneys worth in the primitive scenery though, and almost no people on the road until Jasper, AB and south. There are many small motels to choose from, but prices are staggering so I usually camp around the lakes. This is perhaps the most beautiful and clean country I've ever seen, which makes me wonder why there aren't a lot more people here.

Aside from the natural beauty, I believe Canadians are the nicest human beings on the planet (until you face their hockey teams). The RCM police are actually the good guys (unlike ours) who will help you no matter what, and may even give you a break when speeding (I always go 20km over the limit). Traveling across this country is safe and enjoyable--just expensive.

Based on the States of origin from out responding members: Michigan,Oregon,New Jersey,Maine,New York,North Carolina, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, New Hampshire and Indianna, it seems like the fairest location would be Kansas which is basically the middle of ther lower 48 states.

Its not looking good as I don't see riders from Oregon,Maine, New York, New Jesey, rising out 1500 miles just to say hi to some complete strangers. I'll post a poll so that the posters opinions dictate the outcome.