Anyone ride to Alaska? A couple of us are thinking about a 2011 trip up.
How bad is the road? Can we expect to beat up the bikes form stones? Any information will help. Lots of question if someone has made the trip.

 

you might look at this link below..A good thread on alaska...There are alot of threads on the gl1800 forum..for alaska..Hope it helps.

http://gl1800riders.com/forums/showt...ghlight=alaska

 

A buddy of mine rode his new Roadglide up there last summer. He had a great trip.

Mark

 

Made the roundtrip in 2000 from Houston - 10,300 miles in 21 days of riding doing 825 miles on day 1 and 900 miles on day 2.

Did the trip on a 1997 Honda ST1100 (7.4 gallon gas tank). No damage to bike at all but rock chips could possibly occur. I had a couple of flat tires so carry a tire plug kit and air pump that works off your battery.

Roads were not that bad though the crews were repairing them from the winter damage. We went second week of June returning around July 4. If you go later in the summer the roads will be better but the mosquitos will be worse. We were told mosquitos were large enough to carry off a moose but we had virtually no problem with them.

The Alaska trip was undoubtly the best overall riding experience of my 130,000 miles of riding. By all means don't pass up a ride of a lifetime.

hondo aka Big Red

 

check out advrider.com lots of post about Alaska there. I have been on the Alcan many times. Pick up a milepost from your local barnes and noble. its a mile by mile guide to the alcan and other hwys up north. they update it every year and even have where the construction is at. The road is paved except where they are doing construction. It is a fun trip and everyone should do it. Of course i would do it on a BMW F800GS instead of my street glide so i could do the top of world hwy and all the way to prudhoe. My dad lives in Anchorage and if you need any help while your their he would be glad to show you around. And if im home at that time, i will too. good luck in planning the trip of a lifetime.

Crash!!!

 

I and two of my sons went last year to Fairbanks via the Alaskan highway. I had talked to other who had done it previously and they had stories about huge pot holes trucks throwing rocks etc.

Our trip was much better for two reasons. The traffic is down almost 80% due to the economy. One cafe owner said that motor homes and semi traffic was down so much that he was not sure if he could stay open much longer.

The road had some major rework in 08 was the other reason.

We did encounter many gravel areas but no pot holes. There was a problem through B.C. because of a huge forest fire. It was driving the animals onto the right of way. Herds of buffalo, elk, deer, wild horses and bear.

Everyone that I talked to said get the Mile Post magazine which shows all the services at each town. That turned out to be not quite as needed. As I found out only the places that paid from $1k up are listed in the book.

The best detail was in the big HD ride atlas. A better idea is make a list of each town on the highway and look on the web site for it to find all the services in that town.

The best method we had for booking a room was to decide in the am how far we would go that day. Then we would call that motel and book a room. Even with the lower traffic there was not enough rooms to just ride into the town that evening and expect to get a room.

We found a great B&B in Fairbanks. The lady there is great to suggest activities in and around Fairbanks. The B&B is www.aaaacare.com.

The owner is Pat Obrist. The breakfast is great.

The B&B is a couple of blocks from the HD dealer. My son had a tire replaced there.

From there we went to the Arctic Circle.

Almost any bike will do. I had a Buell Ulysses, one son had a Street Bob and the other had a BMWR1200R. He complained the most about discomfort. I'm 70 and was on a sport bike. My 6'5 son was on a little ol Street Bob. We saw Ultras, Wings and a mixture of BMW models and an occasional Versa.

 

I would like to do this trip as well and even though my Road Glide would make it there and back with ease, I don't have a point to prove, and I would probably just buy a Kawasaki KLR 650 for 2500 bucks. I would then do the trip and sell the KLR for 2600 bucks.

 

You sir, have some lucky sons.

 

Great information. We are planning on having our wives fly up and then ride back. My buddy and I will be riding from Pa on a couple of Ultras. Any advice on what route to take. We can be pretty agressive mileage riders. Can we get there in 7 days?

 

Once you can get on I-90 go to Butte Mont. and turn north on I-15. In Canada it is 4 (I think) to 43 in Edmonton which goes west to Dawson Creek.

The trip I took from Illinois and back took 14 days. That was over 600 miles per day. It was tough. Stop, eat, fuel, restroom and take off. 12 to 16 hour riding.

Speed through five states, two provinces and one territory. Getting stopped for speeding in Canada can be big $$$. The first day from my house to the Best Western in Sturgis was 13 hours and 856 miles. The Whitehorse to Fairbanks was 861 miles 15 hours. It was at the end of June when there was almost 24 hours of daylight.

I think that going all out you could get to Fairbanks in 9 days but you would need some luck. I was on a sport bike so you should do it with less fatigue than I did.
When I got back I sprang for an Ultra.