Riding My '95 Steamer Solo From NY to CA and Back Again June/July 2025

[ssevy]

Stay tuned...

[Lee337]

 

[93TigerBill-2016]

 

[ssevy]

I am leaving in one week to ride solo from Glens Fall NY, to Los Angeles CA, hopefully arriving at my youngest daughter's apartment on Father's Day. Having previously ridden solo to LA in 2021 on this same bike, I am both excited and somewhat trepidatious about my upcoming journey. The aforementioned 2021 trip was during the Covid pandemic, and I tented and kept to myself in as isolated a fashion as I could. Having to forego all of the interesting social interactions with people along the way was something that I dearly missed, and I hope to do much better this time. The April weather had me snowed in for a few days last time, but the recent storms across the Midwest and south have me concerned about what I may encounter in June this time around?
Oh well, you can only control what you can control, and the rest is in Karma's hands, so might as well get going on what I can do to prepare:
First task is to replace my wheel bearings. I have just over 80,000 miles on the bike, and while the old bearings are working just fine with nary a sign of trouble, I think it is prudent to replace them now. Headstock bearings are also showing no issues whatsoever, and since they do have a "tell" before they need replacement, I am not going to do those.
Other things being replaced include a new chain and both sprockets, all brake and hydraulic fluids, any brake pads near the end of their life, and two fresh tires. I will also check the valve clearances and grease all fittings. Plugs are pretty fresh, so I will probably just run them, as they are easy enough to change along the way if need be. I also need to see how old my coolant is, as it will be hot in the western states.
Riding gear will be a separate discussion as I get closer to next week's departure.

[ssevy]

First task: remove the front wheel and take out the bearings. I left the brake calipers connected and zip-tied them to my crash (sorry, "engine") bars, so they were not dangling with their weight on the lines and fittings. I photographed everything as I went, as the speedometer cable run in particular has to be "just so" or you risk damaging it. Being on my third one, I speak from experience on this
Once I had the wheel off, I placed it on top of my new back tire to protect the rotors from damage as I worked on it. I used Sin's trick and bought a Rawl anchor to insert in the bearing, and then flipped the wheel over and drove it out with a big bolt that I had. Everything went smoothly, and I took apart the speedo drive and cleaned all of the old nasty grease out of it. It always amazes me the square feet of coverage one good blast of compressed air blown into a greasy item can achieve, including bare arms, nearby cabinets, and especially eyeglasses. Additionally, Brake Cleaner is an excellent tool for locating any unnoticed cuts you may have on your hands and fingers, and also a good reminder that a dusty box of rubber mechanics gloves is buried somewhere on the workbench.

Here are some photos of the wheel bearing removal process for your enjoyment:

[Lee337]

What riding gear is always a tricky one with the changeable weather in the UK. I ended up with some textiles that have a waterproof shell so I don't need to take a waterproof oversuit. As they have removerable liners, they do for summer & winter. the only other thing I take is a bamboo base layer which tends to keep me warm in cooler weather & cool enough in warmer months to keep me feeling comfortable.

I usually find it difficult to decide what to take, especially if camping along the way, even with panniers, tank bag and topbox, I still ended up buying a roll bag for tent, sleeping bag & self inflating matress. That was on my XC, I only did a few away trips on the Girly & for that managed to cram everything into the panniers. Didn't take the tent though as I stayed in AirBnB.

I like the method for bearing removal too, never seen that one but definitely one to remember.