I was up in Alaska a few years ago on my Electraglide , and anyone that has ever ridden up there knows that there are two seasons… Summer and construction… I was staying in Toq and headed out in the morning in the rain and the fella at the motel told me there was construction about two hours south… I get there and he wasn’t kidding, they were replacing a bridge… And had build an access road around it, and it went down into a creek and up the other side… Loose gravel, steep and mud because of the rain… They had a pilot car…

So it’s our turn to head and there are three adventure tour bikes in front of me… I went up and told them, for gods sake don’t stop… They all look at my bike, laughed about it and said we won’t… So Off we go, down the steep part get down to the creek and start to head up the steep bit up the hill… It is muddy, but I’m doing fine… And then stupid idiot in the pilot car stops to let someone in the passenger door… The guys on the ATV have to stop, but I know if I do I’m so screwed, I’m either going to go down or I’m not gonna get going again if I stay up right…

So I stand up on the floorboards, throttle up and start to pass everyone on the right hand side… As I get up to the back of the pilot car there is just enough room for for me to get by… So I throttle up past the pilot car and climb up the rest away the hill standing up… I get to the top of the hill and the traffic control guy stops and start screaming at me… I said to him “I want to talk to your boss right now”… So he comes over and starts yelling at me also then I explain to them what happened, that the pilot car stopped so someone didn’t have to walk up the hill… He takes one look at that person driving the pilot car and heads over… and started screaming at her… A fun addition to a great adventure



Just minus the puppy... 1100+ lbs when I leave home for 3 months and have no idea where I’m going… This one was British Columbia to California to Alaska to Ontario and back to the Irma in Cody for a whiskey... then home via Chief Joseph and the Beartooth

 

I don't plan to take my Limited back to Alaska anytime soon, but if I do, one thing I'm going to add is a belly pan/skid pan. That road construction ain't no joke, and the bottom of the engine is a bit vulnerable to big rocks.

When I went to Deadhorse, the northern 250ish miles were in the rain, and it was tough. I'd seriously consider one of these for another adventure up there.

 

Rocky, this wasn't as bad, but I came off a single-lane dirt road in the WI bluffs by the Mississippi River back on to a paved highway. The entire apron had washed out in a rainstorm and was still running like shallow rapids. It was 11 miles to backtrack, so I did the same as you, and stood on the floorboards of my lowered Shovel FL, dodging the chunks of asphalt scattered in what was now a ditch. When I got to the motel, I used the wasrebasket out of the bathroom to wash the mud from the underside of the bike. No one screamed at me though.

 

They do indeed, and I had 'em. They aren't like gigantic Harley hoops, they're bars that closely follow the shape of the cylinders, so they stick out maybe a couple of inches from the end of the cylinder heads.

I had many, many opportunities to pick the Guzzi up, and in almost every case the tires were completely off the ground. It's very difficult. I made the process infinitely easier by getting a MotoWinch, which yanks the bike up to the 45 degree angle, that thing saved my back and my life on more than one occasion.

It's a brilliant bike, at a brilliant price, with a shaft drive. But it's still extremely heavy, even though it's lighter than the superporkers like the 1250GS.

 

On cars and adventure - I was doing the Arkansas portion of the TAT on my GS with Metzler Tourance tires - not ideal for anything more difficult than a gravel road. It was narrow, rutted up twin track on a rainy, rainy day and the Arkansas mud was slippery. I had hit a deep patch of mud at speed and damn near yard saled the whole mess all over the trail at one point. There were a few water crossings, and a coupe of steep climbs with rock shelves that I had to loft the front end over. I got to the top and congratulated myself for my amazing skills. It was maybe 30 seconds later that a beat up red Pontiac Grand Am passed me going the opposite direction. A nice young woman waved at me as she went by. honestly wanted to flip her off.

After that I made my peace with that fact that one man's "adventure" is just another person's daily commute.

Here's my glam shot at the end of Warloop, which I'm thinking the Grand Am wouldn't have been able to do. Hopefully.

 

See, that picture right there is exactly what I'm talking about. The GS is propped up at an angle on those huge cylinders, its tires are firmly on the ground, and it's 10,000 times easier to pick up that gigantic fat heavy bike from that position, than it is to pick up a flat-sided bike that's leaned over to 80 degrees or so with its tires fully in the air. That aspect alone would have me considering a GS over a Pan Am if I wanted a superheavyweight adv tourer.

And sand? Sand is the devil. I think the acronym for S.A.N.D. is something like "Satan's **** Nasty Discharge".

 

What do you guys think the realistic chances are of HD having success with the PA? The market is getting really crowded and ADV is the fastest growing segment so competition will be fierce. There is plenty of interest in this segment and HD might stand a chance if they dont go too overboard with the price and the reviews are positive.. I think the comments in this thread show there are many HD owners who will at least be taking a good look at the bike and test rides etc....Whatever happens I think this is a good move for HD. It gets boring seeing the same offerings year-over-year. I will be looking forward to test riding the PA but am not in the market as already have an ADV. It would really need to blow me away--at least blow me away more than a similarly priced GS. I also don't know if the Bronx has been officially cancelled or not....there is conflicting back-and-forth news since August. Whats the real status with that? Anyone know?

 

I think it will really come down to pricing. If it's priced too high it will fail right out of the gate.

Then, of course, it actually needs to perform.

 

To be honest I really think the Pan America will go the way of the VRod.
They will sell it for a few years and then cancel it.
It's going to be very hard to break into the market when you have established companies like BMW, Honda, Yamaha, & Triumph making great bikes.

 

The Pan America is the first model with the Revolution Max engine. I think that other models will follow that use some of the Pan America's major components. If anything, they'll change the Pan America but not kill it. For me, the Pan America would be a "utility grade" touring bike with occasional use on gravel roads and fire roads. My dirt bikin' days are behind me.