330 days until I ride 17,800km across Canada off-road🇨🇦
Hey there all,
The title basically says it all, I have been wanting to do this trip and I’ve kept putting it off for years, but I’ve had enough and I’ve set myself the requirement to start training and prepping for next year leaving on May 29th 2027
I am 21, and a fairly seasoned rider with about 30k km of off pavement travel on my bike and plenty of other experience with cross country racing and mx
My main questions I’m looking for experienced input for are these:
#1: Should I get and build a dual sport specifically for this journey or use my bike I have now?
My 2014 f800gsa is a great bike and has been really good to me on all my trips, but it weighs north of 600lbs when loaded for a few weeks and is starting to show its age with all the abuse it’s gone through. I’m planning for about 2000$ worth of work on it to make it new for this trip. There are more upsides and downsides, but I want to keep this post shorter so people actually read it lol.
#2: what kind of budget should I operate off of?
right now I’m operating on a 65$ a day budget, I have means for more but I also don’t want to blow my entire savings. This accounts for food and a tank of gas a day (about 25L/450 km, this will differ greatly per day) and a room/shower every 7 days. I have 2k set aside for pre trip mods/repairs, and 1.5k set aside for emergencies in case I need to pay a local to throw my bike in the back of his truck or repairs.
In all it’ll be right around 10k total
#3. What kind of spares should I bring?
Currently I have a spare set of tubes, patch kit, spare chain, a few spare bolts that I know sometimes work themselves loose, 2 spark plugs and a toolkit (I’m currently ordering one that contains more full-sized tools) spare clutch, brake, and shift levers. I will have a spare fuel bladder although i shouldn’t need it because of my decent range.
#4. Should I pack comfortable, or pack light?
Of course living off my bike for several months would be much more enjoyable if I packed heavier, but that would make the technical and tougher portions of the track way harder. I’m just curious if anyone has done an ultralight trip and if it’s worth it.
If anyone has suggestions for other things or considerations I’d love for your input, I’ve been planning this for a while so I think I’m all set as far as planning and gear goes, but you always miss something.