SlingShot Touring / How do YOU do it?

    I’ve been wanting to start this thread for some time now. Seems we have just about everything but touring covered in threads so far. For those of us that pack up, gas up and go for two plus days or more I ( selfishly ) thought a thread that expounded on tips and tricks would be helpful.


    Over the past years Paula and I have “refined” to our liking many things that help us get on the road and make the journey more fun, efficient, and comfortable all the while not looking like Jed Clampett heading west. So… my goal here is to provide a thread for those of us that "pack up" to learn form others that do also.


    So subjects can be anything along the lines of bags, storage, covers, ride comand maps,
    tires, glove box lights to cup holders. I said “selfishly” above because there are so many
    great ideas on this forum if I/we can pick some up that make our trips better I am all
    ears. And of course I will chime in too. All with the understanding that we are all individuals and one “tip” may not be for all but if it helps a few then that’s the point!

    We’ll get there when we get there and not a minute before. 😎

    I had a couple of Pakit Raks from my two wheel days and even used on on my Can-Am Spyder. They worked great and just had to do a little modification for the Slingshot...

    When the going gets tough.... Downshift.

    Quote from EjFord

    Packinmg for one (male) is a whole lot easer than for two. Takes Georgia a week to pack for a two week trip and barely have room in my Lincoln Navigator for all the stuff. I do like the idea of this thread, it will give all ideas for there ventures.

    Boy that is the truth... a few years back I had a new GF and we were taking a trip from Denver to Jackson, MS on my Goldwing... when I got to her house she had 6 bags lined up to take.... I just chuckled and said.. "Which one to you want to take?"...

    When the going gets tough.... Downshift.

    Quote from SoCal

    billythekidd nice set up!
    what is the bar in this picture out to the left? Did you make these yourself?

    Do tell!


    That bar comes with the Pakit Rak... there is a sleeve on the bottom of the bag that the bar slides into to hold the bag to the platform. The Pakit Rak setup is kind of pricy but since I had them laying around I thought I would mod them for use on my Sling. I can fill it up with those bags and rack... but am not sure about filling with the California gas nozzles. We don't have those here.


    When the going gets tough.... Downshift.

    billythekidd you just exemplified my reasoning for this thread! I really did not know that this set up existed nor have I seen the retention bar used. I am still very happy with what I came up with cannibalizing from other rack ideas but this is one I would have definitely looked at had I known about it. Thank you for posting !

    We’ll get there when we get there and not a minute before. 😎

    With all the bags up high I found myself with a tall learning curve in the curves. Having this weight high meant me having to reel it in as far as being aggressive in the corners. I increased the compression and rebound on my DDM shocks on our last tour and this seemed to help a little bit, thoughts?


    interestingly enough when we do tour and pack rat seldom do I see my mileage slip. The extra weight doesn’t seem to matter when it comes to miles per gallon

    We’ll get there when we get there and not a minute before. 😎

    Quote from SoCal

    billythekidd you just exemplified my reasoning for this thread! I really did not know that this set up existed nor have I seen the retention bar used. I am still very happy with what I came up with cannibalizing from other rack ideas but this is one I would have definitely looked at had I known about it. Thank you for posting !

    https://pakitrak.com/

    When the going gets tough.... Downshift.

    I received the Sling on Feb. 12, 2015 and that summer Brenda and I just used the behind the seat storage for our one-week trips. The problem was we could not add anything else while on our weeklong trip. The winter of 2015 was when I built the roll bar luggage racks for the use of, what I call the tube bags (21 long and about 10 to 12 inch wide. That by itself gave us some more storage to play with and that was enough. Since then, I have bought the medium sissy bar bag that loads from the top, but we rarely use them. So far, I have around 125,000 miles on the two Slings, road tripping/Touring. Ala.- S.C.- N.C. Tenn.- Vir.- Ga.-Fla. I think I even hit Kentucky once.

    Quote from wjfyfe

    If I may add, I believe that I have read here that using equipment that (over) loads to the rear of the SlingShot has been blamed for at least one accident? Maybe somebody else can bring that forward?


    Bill

    There was one... How you load, how you drive, lots of factors go into any accident.

    Quote from FunCycle

    I forgot to say that this summer (2021) I only made the one trip to Maggie Valley. I may have only put around 5,000 miles on the Sling this past year. Normally each summer it has been 4 to 6 weeks total on the road since Feb. 2015.

    My milage was way down this last year....but did get in 8297 miles.. Planning way more of 2022.