2025 Scooter Cannonball

Overview

On June 27, Chris read a story about how the IronButt Rally might not happen in 2025 due to loss of event insurance. That article mentioned that some IronButt riders were considering doing the Scooter Cannonball instead. Chris checked out the site and thought it looked interesting. Some discussions with Kathi and reading the FAQ, we found that the Benelli TNT 135 qualifies as under 200cc, single cylinder, and wheels smaller than 13". Seeing that registration had been open for just a couple of weeks and only 30 of 300 spots remained, Chris filled out the registration form and started thinking...

A couple of days later, a discussion with Dave Nicoll (and a little encouragement from Ana and Kathi) turned into criminal enablement, and both Chris and Dave signed up for this absurd event.
 

Attendees


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Note: calendar days are clickable to see each day of the trip
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Where we stayed

Bike Prep/Farklization

The Benelli could use some improvements to make it more capable and comfortable.

Fuel Cell

The Benelli has a 1.9 gallon tank and gets about 100 mpg in light riding, but maybe ~70mpg at WOT. Safe range is perhaps 120 miles per tank. Adding another gallon expands that to almost 200 miles. That's enough to decrease fuel stops to just 2 per day (plus one after arrival) and gives a LOT more flexibility with fuel planning.

Seat

Wind

Wind protection is key to comfort and, done right, might also improve top speed and increase range.

TBD

Baggage

Dave and I have reserved space in the SAG truck for a 35 liter dry bag for clothing, toiletries, etc., but we will still need to carry rain gear, clothing layers, food&water, tire patch kit, a few tools, etc. So having a baggage box will be handy.

Oil changes

The oil capacity is only one quart and I think oil should be changed every 1500 miles or so. That implies we start with a fresh oil change and then do a change half way through the trip at ~1500 miles. And again after shipping the bike home at ~3500 miles. The only tools needed for the oil change is a TBD mm wrench, a water bottle to catch the old oil, and maybe a small funnel. Save a little used oil for the chain.

Tire changes

Warmup/Shakedown Rides

To test the concept of riding a 135cc motorcycle 380—450 miles each day, Chris plans to do one or two long warmup rides before the real deal. Here's an example of a 2 day ride to Gold Beach and back:
 

Expense Sharing

Chris is covering registration and lodging costs on this trip. Other costs such as gas and food will be shared this Google Spreadsheet and we'll settle up at the end.

Scooter shopping

SH150i 2010 89xx miles $1600  Everett WA     windshield and top box, dropped on left side
SH150i 2010 6200 miles $2100  Portland by Dan RSix
SH1    2010 1760 miles $2300  Eugene         like new, short windscreen, top box, listed for a year


https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Seaside,+OR+97138/Pendleton,+OR/McCall,+ID/Pocatello,+ID/Grand+Junction,+CO/Santa+Fe,+NM/Pecos,+TX/Kerrville,+TX/South+Padre+Island,+TX/@36.9272594,-112.8276478,5.57z/data=!4m58!4m57!1m5!1m1!1s0x5493612cb60e6667:0x8d640cf4541bfd22!2m2!1d-123.9226385!2d45.9931636!1m5!1m1!1s0x54a2e143d6f4685b:0xa1431081cc39651c!2m2!1d-118.7885967!2d45.672075!1m5!1m1!1s0x54a659e630979ba1:0x63b51760e0318a36!2m2!1d-116.1171311!2d44.906183!1m5!1m1!1s0x53554f20d5d09b0d:0x70c6a2484ce39b0!2m2!1d-112.4506191!2d42.8621042!1m5!1m1!1s0x8746d6e322e77057:0xcc63f451cebf7c56!2m2!1d-108.5506486!2d39.0638705!1m5!1m1!1s0x87185043e79852a9:0x8c902373fd88df40!2m2!1d-105.937799!2d35.6869752!1m5!1m1!1s0x86facd074f616309:0xedfa2effa03ee7b1!2m2!1d-103.4932293!2d31.4229124!1m5!1m1!1s0x86597161d333dbff:0xb7837af6efd44c27!2m2!1d-99.1403189!2d30.0474332!1m5!1m1!1s0x866fa99bb46fadef:0x4d5bb25cc3dbb322!2m2!1d-97.1681257!2d26.1118401!2m1!1b1!3e0?entry=ttu


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