Originally Posted by
markbvt
Yeah, you're looking at 700-800 miles of dirt/gravel roads (depending on how much progress they make paving this summer) with wildly variable conditions. You will encounter lots of deep, loose, trackless gravel, probably some mud, and definitely conditions that change in the blink of an eye. You want as much traction as possible, trust me.
Even with TKCs on my Wee-Strom, it was a pretty sphincter-clenching ride pretty much the whole way. It was much easier when I did it on my XR650L -- in part because that bike does much better in those conditions, but also in part because the conditions were easier in general on that trip.
--mark