UPDATE: January 2014 – and there was one…I will keep this page as is but know Cheryl has left the partnership to go “find herself” and now there is one rider…me Leslie. Still will travel…still love my bike, love my job, love my dogs and look forward to some soul searching solo trips.
We are two women from Maple Ridge, BC Canada.
CHERYL LETKEMAN
Born on March 17, 1970 in Murrayville, British Columbia
Adventures:
2012 Over 8000 KM’s of riding and trips ( KLIM Summit) & Dawson Creek back country
2011 June 29th – August 11th – Triumph Tiger 800XC Alaskan Adventure (14,000 KM)
2010 – Summer – 12000 kms Cross-Country tour Vancouver to New York and back
Adventures :
2012 Summer – Over 8000 KM’s of riding and trips ( KLIM Summit) & Dawson Creek back country
2011 June 29th – August 11th – Triumph Tiger 800XC Alaskan Adventure (14,000 KM)
2010 – 12000 kms Cross-Country tour Vancouver to New York and back
This is where we went in the Summer of 2011!
Summer 2012
Advgrrl Motorcycle Adventures & More 
Just subscribed to your blog and am eagerly awaiting the adventure. Ride safe.
What a fun adventure. Ride safe and enjoy.
Having a bit of trouble finding out how to send you guys an email…maybe this will get to you!
Ray Jardine
Hi Soph9,
I visited Ray Jardine’s website and he sure has some good designs for ultralight tarp/tent with a net inner tent. Making me think that it might be a way to go for a fairly inexpensive tent that weighs next to nothing. Weight does affect the fun factor. But I like camping! I like my kid’s chair, my Big Agnes 15 degree sleeping bag with the insulated core air mattress and I take a small pump from Coleman or one of those step-on air pumps, and my best idea…a peanut butter jar with lid for “tossing it out the back door” in the middle of the night! Take a MSR whisperlite international stove or the new to me JetBroil kit. I’d like a tent that fit in the sidecases. I have my grandfather’s old treadle sewing machine but I flunked Home Ec. in high school sewing! Have made 3 things….2 motorcycle MX shirts (Can AM & Yamaha in 1975) and a splash cover for our Grumman 17 foot whitewater canoe. That’s the extent of my sewing! I know the treadle will go thru’ a thick pile of material as it sewed thru’ inner tubing on the splash cover.
I’m giving his designs some thought. I like ‘tarp tent’ designs too and the Six Moons designs as well. Both very light. I still like room to keep all my goodies inside when I finally land somewhere for a rally. I have a BA Parkview 3 tent discontinued now so I have lots of room. 8 pounds. And I bought one of those Catoma 30 second 2 man tents too but it packs long at 26 inches and still weighs 8.5 pounds. My long term dream would be to have a sidecar which serves as a RV…fold up tent or sleep inside like a coffin with some way to cover it. Wonder if Cabelas fold down cot/tent could be rigged to fit on a sidecar bed. All ideas but thought I’d pass them by ya for comment.
Cheers,
Sue who has about 22 lbs in a dry duffel from Pacific Outdoors on the passenger seat plus the tools and clothes etc in the sidecases either on the R65LS Beemer or the Triumph Bonneville with Micatech cases. Not bad but could be much better!!
Hi there….we look for comfort versus weight although even with comfort we still are not too heavy on both bikes. We just got the BA Gore Pass 3 tent so we could have more room int he vestibule area and I like the side doors. We carry as many tools as we can and Cheryl usually carries the bulk of the tools. Actually her bike is always heavier than mine because she insists. I love Ray’s ideas…he is a fascinating brilliant man that Ray Jardine. I can not sew at all nor am I that creative. We have been using our Jesse luggage and have our packing down to a science now and seems to work but we always bring too many clothes. Each trip we are getting better not taking as much but in the end seem to over kill the clothing. Even on our Triumph trip we had Jesse luggage and took too many clothes.
The BA tent is a little longer than our MSR so we will now need to carry it in a dry bag instead of our side bags. A bit of a bummer but we will make due. Any ideas are good ones but have to be tried out for practicality. Keep reading Ray’s page and let me know if you implement any of his ideas. Leslie
Sending you a ‘hello’ from England!
Really pleased to find your blog. I’m always on the lookout for decent blogs by female bikers but they are few and far between! I currently ride a Triumph Speedmaster having passed my test last year, however I’m beginning to feel I bought the wrong bike and should be on something like the Tiger! I’ll be keenly following your adventures from now on!
Best wishes
Kate
Congrats Kate and we can relate to maybe buying the wrong bike. You live and learn but kinda hurt the wallet at least in our case. Good luck finding that perfect ride and really happy you found our blog! Hope to see you back and let us know if you get a Tiger! 🙂 Leslie
Hi there,
My local dealer is going to loan me a Tiger for the weekend at the end if this month ! So excited! Will let you know if I decide to join the ranks of ADV riders!
Regards
Kate
Tiger XC?
Not sure to be honest, although having read a stack of reviews I get the impression that the XC is a bit more off-roady and I will be using it for some gravel roads and fields to get to campsites but I doubt much more than that, I’ll be more road based. Plus both got amazing reviews so I’m not sure I need the extras of the XC. Having said that you two sang its praises ! Did you get to ride the ‘non-XC’ and compare?
sure did watch this
I get the impression from another of your films I watched that you might prefer the XC – you were gushing in the other one ! Is that a correct assessment ? What was the difference in the seating position ? You mentioned that the street felt more ‘street’ and like your Honda, pretty inexperienced so what does that mean in practice?
Cheers
Kate
We prefer the XC over the street because of the width of the handle bars, larger front tire and the front beak….which you can add the to the street. Both are great bikes but we just like the SC looks and feel better also we go off road when we can. The street felt like my Honda CBF1000. Feels more like a street touring bike to me but again does not mean it is not an all purpose bike. The SC also has a great street feel, it’s the engine I think and riding with Triumph’s gel seat sure makes this bike comfy on the road. Either way you can go wrong. The seat can be adjusted so you will need to find the height and angle you like. We hope BMW for 2013 introduce an adjustable seat for their 800 series.
Thanks for that, really helpful. I’ll let you know how I get on ! Got a nice little trip over to the Isle of Wight planned so plenty of miles to give it a good run. The guy at the dealership I’ve been talking to has a Tiger and is in to ADV bikes in a big way (Geoff – his review of the Explorer is on the front page of their website http://www.jacklilley.com) and I know will guide me (& honestly without a big sales push).
Take care
K
Seems there was a birthday lately?!….St. Patrick’s day for Cheryl! Hope it was a good one!
Think I’ll take a wander over to our local Triumph dealer and check these bikes out!
and Cheryl had a great birthday thanks….stayed a little too late but she had nice time.
I love and fallow you babes 🙂
thanks Murat!
Update from England ! I will be getting a new Tiger 800,ABS (street) in 2 weeks ! My dealer is doing me a great deal on a part X with my current bike. I had a fantastic 2 days on it, a little of which included some gravel roads which the bike more than coped with so I haven’t gone for the XC. I’ll be getting a couple of accessories (hand guards, engine guard and beak to give it more of an XC look. It was a dream of a ride and I was completely bowled over by the bike. I was excited about my last bike but nothing like this !! My first decent trip on it will be the end of this month when I head north to visit my parents in the beautiful Peak District. I’m a convert !!
Best wishes to both
Kate
awesome Kate…great to hear…and nice that you added the beak…gives the bike that “mean” look! Keep us posted and be safe and have fun exploring where this bike takes you! Congrats!
any update? You loving the bike?
Hi there,
I sure am ! I didn’t do as many miles on it as I would have hoped last year (work became an olympic venue so work was rather nuts last year) and I had the first three months of this year off it due to ill health, so luck hasn’t been on my side. However, I have had plenty of trips to the north of the country on it to visit family, a day trip over to Bruges was fantastic (and riding the bike up on to a ferry for the first time was very exciting!). It’s been put through its paces as I’ve dropped it a couple of times and it’s been knocked over by a neighbours car – but it always bounces back up and is fine ! I’ve got a whole host of things planned this year though, so I’ll be more than making up for last year !! Hope all well with you both
K
Hi ladies. Hope you don’t mind but I made y’all BikerMonkey’s Blog of the Week. You guys are doing some awesome stuff and I enjoy the blog. Ride Safe. BikerMonkey
Love it thanks!
@kate…good to hear you both bounce back. Hope you stay healthy and get to ride your trips. Thanks for the update! L
Guys, the more I read about you the more I like you ! Cheryl, love your job…I’m a programmer but used to be an EMT and went to the coroner 3 times. Loved finding out “what was the cause of death. Quick questions: how come you moved from Triumph to BMW and how do you like your F800GS? I just got my F700GS and it’s painstaking to get accessories ! what’s your advice…shall I move to 800 or do you see any potential to my 700 ? Do you see 700 having any potential to raise above expectations? Even with BMW is difficult to get stuff for the 700. I was looking over to trade my 700 for a Triumph 800 Tiger (that’s why I decided to ask for your advice, I remember reading you had Triumph’s).
I’m lost here and you guys are the only ones that make sense, share good quality of experience and have been around…
Take good care of yourselves and stay cool !
Greetings from San Antonio TX !
We never owned the Tigers just borrowed them for 44 days in 2011. We went with the BMW F8’s because when it came time to buy we felt more affinity towards the Beemers than the Triumph. Plus we had Jesse Luggage all ready that could mount on the new bikes. What do you mean painstaking to find accessories for the 700? What type of rider are you? How tall are you?
Depending on how you ride the 700 is a great bike for even dual sporting. We had 201 F650GS’s and went everywhere. L
Great going girls, good job.
Steven just grrl now 😉