Banged out 1,390 miles in the past three days and the SD did awesome. Check out the full ride report here- http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1009226

Great narrative, fabulous photos. Thanks for sharing.

Enjoying the report! Can you describe what failed on that Ram mount for the phone? I just bought the same one and was hoping to use it this weekend...

I just hit an expansion joint, the grip wasn't tight enough and the phone came out. I just saw something falling by the time I looked down and there it went into the morning rush hour traffic behind me.

The one you see in this picture is actually a RAM mount as well that works great, but it wouldn't fit the Note 2 with a waterproof case so I got that one to try. The only thing to consider is you need a thin plastic\rubber case so the plastic posts on the mount and the plastic housing of your phone don't grind each other down.

Dammit, too late to buy something else now for Saturday's trip. I am going to try some velcro or possibly a zip tie to secure things, but get the specific cradle as soon as possible. I do have the iPhone 5. A friend of mine has one of those universal X-wing types and he swears by it, but he does not wheelie. I think wheelies (and expansion joints) are going to put that thing to the test. Feck.

Great photos and write up. It looks like the bike will tour well. 400 and 460 miles a day is a true test of how comfortable a motorcycle has to be and the 1290 served you well. I have found that throttle rockers can eliminate a fair bit of fatigue on the throttle hand. I did not notice whether you had one on or not but if not, I suggest you try one out. I live in Los Alamos Ca. and I purposely rode through Los Alamos NM to see my sister city. I was raised in Livermore Ca. and all the nuclear propeller heads would fly out to Los Alamos for D.O.D. research. I always wondered what it looked like and I can tell you it is the prettier of the tree named towns. Your fuel mileage is incredible. That feels good when your in a foriegn area and you can rely on descent fuel economy.
Will the summer trip include riding and working?
Aerostich might want to think about introducing an orange roadcrafter if these bikes prove reliable as touring steeds.

great post , thanks for sharing