Twin Cities to Canada Ride

Welcome to Ride & Rally, to Fix My Hog. Brought to you by Gatorz Eyewear, fit, form, function, proudly made in the USA. Footwear provided by Harley Davidson Footwear. What's up, everybody I'm Nate and you're watching Fix My Hog. So today I'm bring you a ride report. I'm about to take a four day trip up in to Canada out of the Twin Cities. So I wanted to do this trip after living in Minnesota for a while, because I heard that the highway 61 scenic route right out of Duluth up into Canada is gorgeous. And what a better way to see it than on the seat of a Harley Davidson? The bike I have here today is a 2015 Sportster, this is my personal bike and I can't wait to take it up there. So the first thing you've got to think about when taking a trip though is bike safety, is the bike gonna run right for the duration of your trip? A couple of things you want to think about is checking the tires, make sure the tread within factory spec. Check the PSI and make sure within factory spec. Check your brakes make sure that those within factory spec. And then check all the levers and controls, make sure they all snap back without catching anything. And make sure you do this with the handlebars on both sides. Another thing I like to do is totally pack the bike down how I'm gonna take it out on the trip. Put all the clothes on, put all the tools on, and just make sure that the bike is well-balanced and can be comfortable and safe for the duration of the trip. So I'm gonna do that in a little bit, but first I'm going to take you through a run of what I'm going to be bringing with me. It's a four-day trip and I've tracked the weather and it doesn't look like it's going to rain and it doesn't look like there's going to be any temperature swings. So I'm getting pretty lucky because currently all I have to take things with is a swing on bag and a tool holder. So we're going to run through what I've got. So I've really, really narrowed down the tools I'm going to bring to the tools that I would most likely need if something should happen. And what that's going to be is a quarter inch Allen, sometimes my handlebars like to move around a little bit so I like to take that just in case they need to be tightened back up. I bring a quarter inch open end wrench. I just got a new clutch cable installed on there so I'm bringing two set of sixteenths in the event it starts to stretch or come out of spec so I can get that tightened up on the side of the road. Crescent wrench, monkey wrench, always good to go, I like to choose shortest, skinniest one I can find to get in those tight spaces. As always bringing a jumpstart pack in case my battery dies. Always bringing a knife. I've got some zip ties always packed up that I leave in my saddle bag. And one thing that I like to do is talk about security. You're leaving your bike overnight, bikes were very easy to steal, and Harley Davidson's are especially appealing the thieves. Now there's not a lot you can do in terms of security on a bike. But one thing that I like to do that's fairly easy is get two disc lock breaks. I like to put one on the front side of my front disc and on the back side on my back disc that way even if the thief does put the bike in neutral they can't really roll it back and forth too much. And the only way you're going to steal it is getting four guys picking it up and putting in a bed. And if that's what you're doing, your bike's gone anyways. I've checked some of the parking lots via Google Earth to see if there's a good thing to chain to the frame and put around like a light post, and there's not, so I figured considering I don't have a lot of room this is going to be the way I'm gonna go. Moving on, ear plugs. I'm looking to do 800 miles and that is going to be very fatiguing on my ears and on my concentration. So earplugs are a definite must. Of course I've got my helmet for safety. I am bringing two pairs of gloves, one for the mornings when it's chilly, and one in the afternoons when it's warm. Absolutely bring any meds. I'm an allergic to hay fever and pine and I'm going to be all up in there so I'm definitely gonna bring some extra allergy meds. A tire plug kit, just in case I get a pop. Clothing. This is a motorcycle trip, I'm not looking to go to fancy restaurants. I'm going to be on the bike most the time wearing my riding gear. So I really only need a T-shirt, jeans, and here I also have rolled up a pair of socks, a pair of underwear, a toothbrush, and I brought deodorant. Because I will be crossing the international border you've got to think about paperwork, right? And paperwork begins with a passport. I'm also bringing a driver's license, proof of insurance, and a copy of the title for the bike should any problems arise. Of course, I've also got my Kevlar riding jacket to keep me safe and my Kevlar jeans that I have on right now. So I'm going to pack this all up, I'm gonna hop on the bike, I'm going to go for a rip, make sure everything's working out and we'll see you in Duluth. So the route I took was I-35 North out of the cities headed toward Duluth. The ride's pretty easy. It's all highway miles with a couple of nice rest stops. But as you get up into Duluth, you're going to want to jump on Highway 61. 61 is going to be the road that takes you up along Lake Superior. Coming out of Duluth actually, you're going to want to hit a North Shore Drive, that's going to be a lot closer to the lake. And, but before you do that, a good spot to stop here as you can see, is at Fitger's. They have a couple of different restaurants in there and it's a brewery as well. They have actually a really good elk burger that I chowed down on, it was super good. And that whole area is really cool with different stores and restaurants and whatnot like that. On the way up off Highway 61, I stopped at Temperance River State Park which is an awesome, super scenic, really good hiking as well. And then there's multiple beaches littered throughout that Highway 61, between Duluth and the border. Obviously stop at Hunt Thunder Bay Harley Davidson after you cross into Canada and say, "Hello," from America. And one thing that's like really unknown is that when you're actually crossing the border you cannot film any video of the crossing itself, which I learned hard way. Really the trip is just all about being on Highway 61 with Lake Superior on the side and, you know stopping along the way. There's a bunch of great mom and pop stores that will have real unique gifts, if you're looking for something to bring someone back home from your trip. And on the way back down you really get a scenic view of St. Paul on 35 headed South. So I'm back in the Twin Cities and what a fantastic trip. As you saw it was four days. The weather was great. It wasn't too hot. It wasn't too cold. We got to see some amazing places like Gooseberry Falls, Temperance River, Palisade Flip. I even got to swing by the dealership up in Canada and pick up a T-shirt. In terms of what we brought tool wise, definitely the zip ties were the hero of the trip because this is the shirt that I picked up, and it has been zip tied to my handlebars all the way back from Canada. You know, didn't really run into any problems on the trip in terms of, you know roads and that kind of stuff, except for washboard gravel. For those of you that have ridden washboard gravel on a Harley you know how fun it is. The bike ran great though. I had no major problems except for a seat bolt. The way the seat is put on the bike, it is bolted in the back, and the front has a tab, it slips up under the gas tank, and this, the backseat bolt either vibrated out or backed out. And I noticed it in Canada and the nearest hardware store was 60 miles away, back in the US. So definitely got some sketchy miles in, which every real bike trip has. And besides that, the bike ran great. We had no major problems, which is great. Although because Fix My Hog is available on mobile, if your bike does experience major problems just flip out your cell phone, pull up Fix My Hog, and figure out how to get yourself back on the road. So until next time, my name is Nate and we've got more ride reports coming, so make sure you stay to watch Fix My Hog.