840 miles 2-up in 56 hours on a 250, would you do it?

I did!!!  It is possible.  The route went from Phoenix, Az. to San Diego, Ca. via I-8, then up the coast through La Jolla (for a stop on the beach), Carlsbad (more beach), Dana Point and back to Phoenix via SR-74 and I-10. 

     The Good.  Secondary highways, 347 and 238 from Phoenix to Gila Bend, Az., highway 101 along the beach from La Jolla to Oceanside, Ca., and SR 74 from Dana Point, through Lake Elsinore, to Palm Desert was wonderful.  Power never seemed an issue here and flipping through the mountain curves was a blast.  One advantage I found of an underpowered bike, you can ride it as hard as you can but since you aren't going to eat up the straightaways with the same vigor as a more powerful bike you don't catch cars as quickly.  This for me increased the fun time since I would stop and wait for the cars to catch up and then take off and blast off until I catch up to the cars ahead of me again, then stop and wait for those behind again.  On a faster bike I would have had to stop a lot more often, and the lack of power is meaningless in the curves, so I had a blast.  :-)  Also the driver seat is wonderful, I could have rode full fuel range the whole trip. 

     The Bad.  Freeways.  Make sure your tire pressures are right and maybe a little on the high end.  I was lazy and didn't adjust the pressures at first for 2 riders.  After adjusting I was able to maintain the speed a lot better.  But even at that I was at GVWR and no vehicle performs well there.  Brakes and handling were great, but climbing hills becomes a problem.  I could maintain 70 after increasing the tire pressure, but in AZ 18 wheelers are allowed to go 75, so watching out for approaching trucks is a little unnearving.  The last of the bad is the pillion (passenger) seat.  It is a plain rectange.  At the begining of the trip we had to make pit stops every hour to get off the bike for 10 minutes, by the time the trip ended we were down to 30 minutes.  I do plan on buying another driver seat and retrofitting it to the pillion and I'll write up a full report when I do. 

     Still absolutly jazzed with the bike.  My expectations for a 250 were low, and it still has exceeded all expectations.

1616 miles.