Passes & Canyons Blog

So I got that new front tire put on the V-Strom. And while I was at it I had them go ahead and do an oil change. Now I’m ready for a 3,200-mile trip.

This was Fay Myers where I took it. I got there early on Friday and was able to go straight to the desk and get the whole thing arranged. The guy I dealt with was great and the whole thing took about an hour and a half.

As a plus, when I got the invoice and paid, I saw that they had basically done an overall check of the bike, which is a good thing to do before a trip. I know they do these things because if they find anything else they thing needs doing they want to bring this to your attention so you can presumably pay them to handle it.

So:
Inspect steering and suspension–check
Check battery and charging system voltage–check
Check operation of lights/switches/meters–check
Inspect/adjust control and cables–check
Inspect/top off cooling system–check
Inspect brake pads–check
Inspect brake fluid level/condition–check
Inspect/top off final drive oil–check
Inspect chain–check
Set tire pressure–check

Hey guys, thanks. I think I’m good to go here.

The funny thing was that then the next day I went for this ride with the RMMRC and mentioned to Bob that I had had the work done, and at Fay Myers. He asked me, “Do you trust them?” That took me by surprise, and as I told him, I had never heard anything to suggest that I shouldn’t. He didn’t elaborate but I thought that was odd. So yeah, I do trust them. Why shouldn’t I? Odd.

Now I need to start pulling things together and making a number of pre-trip decisions. And as departure day draws nearly the forecast keeps looking better and better. April can be tricky but it looks like we’re in luck. Oh boy.

Biker Quote for Today

How many motorcycles do you need? N-1, where N equals the number needed for divorce.

To say that there were a lot of motorcycles out on Saturday would be a gross understatement. With temperatures in the 80s Denver set a new record high for the date. Meanwhile, not just motorcyclists but hikers, bicyclists, ATVers and everyone else was out in full force. This included the RMMRC.

Six of us gathered at the Phillips 66 in Morrison, along with about 30-40 other bikers in numerous groups. In an inauspicious start to the ride, Charley, who has recently had surgery and has trouble getting his leg over the saddle, ended up pushing the bike over and falling with it. With all these bikers around a swarm immediately gathered and got him and bike back up. He was unhurt and fortunately this was not a portent of ills to follow on the ride.

We headed north on CO 93 out of Golden, across Rocky Flats, to the south end of Boulder. Boulder is this huge blot on a rider’s route. There’s no good way to get through it and getting around it is limited by the fact of mountains on the west side. Fortunately what you can do at the El Dorado Springs intersection is go east a short distance and then turn north on Cherryvale Road. This takes you a good ways north up past Baseline Reservoir to where you go east on Baseline Road and then you follow a zig-zag pattern up through the less heavily developed portions of east Boulder.

That’s what we did, got into Niwot intending to go west on Niwot Road, but got to the Longmont Diagonal and found the road closed for construction. This put us on the Diagonal headed toward Longmont. With some more bobbing and weaving we finally reached CO 66 and were able to turn west to Lyons, our lunch stop. At Smokin’ Dave’s we found two more folks waiting for us. We got seated and ordered and in walked Bruce. The group keeps growing.

After lunch we headed up to the Peak-to-Peak Highway via CO 7, the South Saint Vrain road. This road had been closed for a really long time, including the last time we had been up this way but it is now finally open to traffic again. Nice.

So we took that southwest to meet up with CO 72, the first stretch at the north end of the Peak-to-Peak. It was starting to cook in the city but up on the Peak-to-Peak it was actually a bit chilly. I had started with a couple layer I didn’t need, had removed them, and now would have welcomed at least one of those back. But it wasn’t bad.

Motorcycles were everywhere. Every trailhead we passed had cars overflowing the parking areas. Bicyclists were everywhere. This was a day to be outside!

We headed south, with intentions of going back down via Golden Gate Canyon. However, at Nederland, with Bob leading, he missed the correct turn off the Nederland roundabout and we found ourselves headed down Boulder Canyon, right into the heart of Boulder. I had considered making the right turn and splitting off from the group but I didn’t. I figured what the heck, I ride Golden Gate a lot and almost never take Boulder Canyon. It will be a change of pace.

Of course Boulder was its usual horrible mess. Some of us managed to stay together and head south on 93 but bit by bit we got separated so by the time I got back to Morrison I was alone and just headed on home. And I was roasting. Really glad I had not put another layer back on, and wishing I could remove another layer, but not wanting to stop.

So. Good ride. Great day for a ride. And as for scuffing up my new front tire on my V-Strom, mission accomplished. What more can you ask for?

Biker Quote for Today

“Cyclists see considerably more of this beautiful world than any other class of citizens.” – Dr. K.K. Doty

Man, you think it’s going to be so simple and then it’s not.

I concluded I ought to get a new front tire put on my V-Strom before I leave on this California trip in a couple weeks, so I checked around.

Performance Cycle sells tires but they only mount them if you bring the wheel in off the bike. Of course I could get a tire there and take it to One Down Four Up to be mounted but that would require an appointment. I checked with Fay Myers and they sell tires and their website said you could come in and mounting would be first come, first served. So I decided I would do that on Tuesday.

Just to be sure I called on Tuesday morning. Following the phone tree I headed to service and . . . got disconnected. I called back, same phone tree, and . . . disconnected. Dang.

So I called again and this time I asked for parts. I got to parts and inquired about a tire, which they had, and the guy told me the price. Quite a bit higher than I expected but oh well. Then he took my name and number and said he would have service call me.

They called soon after and it turns out the website is technically correct but a bit incomplete. On Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday you need an appointment to have a tire mounted and you have to leave the bike there. No mount while you wait option. You can come in on Friday or Saturday and it’s first come first served, mount while you wait. OK, I’ll probably see you on Friday morning early.

Probably. If it’s going to be other than I expected let’s see if there is a better way, particularly since the price is unexpectedly high.

I called Performance to see what tires they had at what prices. I figured then to call One Down Four Up and see about getting the bike in to have the work done while I wait.

I called Performance, the phone rang and was picked up with a quick “Please hold.” I then sat there for 10 minutes or so listening to the list of things Performance offers and the assurance that “A fellow rider will be with you shortly.” Now and then that would be interrupted by ringing, which would only be replaced with the spiel again. I hung up.

I considered calling One Down Four Up and asking when they could get me in but I hesitated to make an appointment until I was sure I would want to get the tire from Performance. So I called Performance again.

This time I got right through. And despite what their promotional spiel says, the prices they were asking for all but one of the tires we discussed were higher than what Fay Myers had quoted me. The one cheaper one was a Shinko, which I have run before. Because this is an 80-20 street/offroad tire and I pretty much just ride on the street this tire has not worn well for me.

Bottom line, I decided I’ll just run over to Fay Myers Friday morning. I’ll need to adjust my schedule to make it work but oh well. Sure would have been nice if I could have done this Tuesday morning.

Biker Quote for Today

My motorcycle takes me places my car never will.

From time to time I go all meta on this blog, which is to say, instead of writing about motorcycles on the blog I write about the blog. “Meta” basically means self-referential. I learned the term when I was writing software user guides and there was this constant mention of “metadata.” Metadata, it turns out, is data about the data. Self-referential.

I’ve done this a few times, particularly a number of years ago when someone hacked the site and played all kind of mischief.

This time it’s not damage but a curious situation. Apparently somebody in China has a bot (I assume it’s a bot, no one would do this in person) has gone through the entire site–especially this blog–visiting every single page.

I first noticed it about a month ago when I went to check my visitor statistics and found that the number had shot through the roof. In the previous month there were a reported 1,537 visitors and then the next month that number stood at 8,351. I gasped and drilled down. And what I found is like what you see above in that screen shot: thousands and thousands of one-page visits all from one source in Beijing.

The way I figure it, some company in China is scraping all my content, probably for use in training an artificial intelligence tool. Intellectual theft as it were. Everything here is copyrighted but nobody is asking my permission or paying me for it.

I had figured that this was a one-shot affair but it seems to be continuing. Yesterday’s traffic was more than 50 percent from this bot. It’s not like it’s costing me something out of pocket but it screws up my stats. I have kept stats on this site ever since I launched it and now my traffic numbers are just garbage. I don’t see that there’s a thing in the world I can do about it so I just hope they get what they want and then leave for good and let me get back to normal.

Biker Quote for Today

Ride now; beer later.

Two recent reports suggest that Colorado’s law forbidding use of a cellphone while driving, except in hands-free mode, is having an effect.

The more significant of the two is from the Colorado State Patrol, which, according to an article in The Denver Post on April 1, said that distracted driving citations have increased in 2025 by 135% over the previous year.

As far as I can tell, it’s playing out exactly as I said it would. Driving with your phone in your hand is now illegal, but it is only a secondary offense, meaning you can’t be stopped just for that. So what will happen is that the cops will stop you for something else and then tack on the citation for using your phone, while perhaps being “nice” to you by not citing you for what they “actually” stopped you for. Or maybe they’ll cite you for that, too.

And the point, really, is that if they see you engaged in careless or reckless driving they could stop you for that before. It’s just that now, with the emphasis on getting people to be aware of and obey this new law they are apparently focusing more on stops for careless/reckless driving.

Either way, I’ll take it.

Meanwhile, a report from Cambridge Mobile Telematics (CMT) says that the data “reveal a 3.3% reduction in phone motion distraction statewide, an improvement that CMT estimates to have prevented 88 crashes, 49 injuries, and $3.5 million in economic damages since the law began.”

CMT uses data drawn from cellphone tracking. Just in case you wondered if your moves are being tracked, presumably anonymously, be assured that they are. According to the report, “CMT defines phone motion distraction as when a phone moves with its screen on while a vehicle is in motion. The study analyzed over 3.8 million trips in Colorado between December 1, 2024, and February 11, 2025, measuring changes in distraction before and after the law took effect.”

Mind you, the improvement is measured in seconds, but all it takes is about one or two seconds of inattentive driving for you to totally change your life or the life of someone else.

One question here that I wonder about is how they distinguish between phone use by a driver vs. by a passenger. I would guess they can’t, so the figures are overall. Still, considering how much of the time people are alone in their cars, sussing out how much of the phone use is passenger vs. driver is not of overriding consequence. If the amount of time is declining that’s a good thing.

Still, let’s not fool ourselves. Just in the last week I’ve been behind a car that repeatedly wandered over into the next lane and when I was able to shoot past the guy he was looking at his phone. In another instance I was behind a guy who had his phone on a mount on the dashboard. I watched as he repeatedly reached up and tapped it, scrolled it, and pretty much constantly interacted with it. That is not hands-free. We’ve got a long way to go to fix this problem but at least we’re making a start.

Here’s a question I know most of you have asked at one time or another: Should I get a new tire on my bike before I leave on this trip?

I’ll be heading out in late April on this 3,200-mile California trip with several guys from the RMMRC, riding my V-Strom. The front tire is definitely not shot but 3,200 miles is a lot. Does it have enough tread to make it?

My friend Jungle has always taken the approach of putting new tires on all around any time he and Willie are setting out on a long trip. But Jungle is a motorcycle mechanic and he can do the swap himself at no cost and then keep the old tire(s) around to put back on when the new one(s) are wearing out. For me or you that swap is going to cost about $60. Or more.

So how to decide? I pulled out my paperwork and found that I bought this tire two years ago and it has 6,000 miles on it. Now, I had the tire put on by one shop and six months later I had that bike in to another shop where they told me I should replace it, not because it was worn out but because it was built in 2017. Well, I just had it put on six months earlier and there was no way I was going to replace it then.

How many miles can I expect to get on this tire? I consulted the Stromtroopers forum, which is for V-Strom riders. Although those guys acknowledge that you might wear out this tire in as little as 5,000 miles, the consensus was that you should generally expect to get 10,000 to 12,000 miles on it. That suggests that I’m good. But I figured I’d check further.

I had the idea of measuring the tread in the brand new tire I just had put on my Honda and comparing it to what is left on the V. It was a rough measurement but the new tire seems to have about twice the tread that the old one has. That would suggest again that I do have enough rubber to do this trip, with the expectation of replacing the tire soon after getting home. I wasn’t done looking around, though.

The next question I Googled was how to know when a motorcycle tire needs to be replaced. Here I came up with an old rule of thumb I had not thought about: They say to put a penny in the groove and if you can see all of the top of Lincoln’s head it is time to replace the tire. I tried that and yeah, I can see all of his head. That suggests I should replace it.

I was talking with my wife about this at dinner last night and her thinking was that putting a new tire on would allow my wife (her, of course) to have peace of mind while I’m gone. And wouldn’t I hate to have trouble on the road, and put my riding companions at such an inconvenience? Particularly when for under $200 I can eliminate all such concern?

I think I can see where this is headed.

Biker Quote for Today

Keep the wheels turning and the adventure burning.

I’ve written any number of times about the smoking that my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom does when I fire it up. So I decided it was time once again to take it in and pay what I knew would be a large price to get it worked on and actually fixed. Aside from everything else, it embarrasses me enormously to think one of my neighbors might be looking out their window when I’m generating this huge cloud of blue smoke. This is serious air pollution.

I had taken it in a year ago to get the work done but for some mysterious reason the bike would never smoke for the guys at the shop. And they said they couldn’t work on it in good faith if they couldn’t see what the problem actually was.

So they did a thorough tune-up and gave me the bike back in really good running order and it didn’t smoke. How weird. It has smoked for years. And it didn’t smoke for me, either, so somehow the problem had gone away and I didn’t have to pay for it. But then about six months later it started smoking again and I started thinking about taking it somewhere else and telling them just do the work. You have my direction to do so. But I also shot a video. That’s what you’ll see up above.

It shows me firing it up and there is no mistaking the clouds of blue smoke that come pumping out. I showed this video to Jerry at One Down Four Up, where I took it this time. He might not see it with his own eyes but he saw it on the video.

So they looked it over. They also found that there was only about half as much oil in it as they should be so they did an oil change, and in the process found that a spring and a ring that is part of the oil filter housing was missing, presumably forgotten by the last place when they put it back together. Once they had done that they fired it up and guess what: It didn’t smoke.

Jerry suggested I just keep a better eye on the oil and keep it topped up. I asked nevertheless for a quote so I would know how much actually fixing it would cost me. I was ready to spend the money.

It turned out the price he quoted me was a lot higher than the already absurdly high figure I had in mind. OK, maybe I won’t go that route after all. But I did have them put a new front tire on. Heck, why not? I just saved a couple thousand dollars.

But this got me wondering. Is there some connection between being low on oil and burning oil? I asked Google that question. The answer I got back was “Yes.” Ooooh, really? What it said was that if there is not a proper amount of oil the motor is not cooled as effectively as it is intended to be, and so it gets hotter and ends up burning oil it would not have burned otherwise.

That didn’t totally make sense to me. Where is it going to get this oil it’s going to burn? Of course I knew the head gaskets leak–that’s what I was going to pay to have fixed.

I told Jerry about this and he suggested that perhaps as the engine gets hot the metal expands and that creates the opening for the oil to seep into the cylinders, where it gets burned. This is speculation.

The bottom line, however, seems to be that my chronic neglect is at fault here. I have said many times that I’m a bad bike owner. I don’t give my bikes the kind of care they should have and because they’re so well built they just keep running anyway. But apparently I’ve been running chronically low on oil for years. When I took it in the first place they put in enough oil and it didn’t smoke. It didn’t smoke for me until six months later when I had let it run low again. Then the next place filled it with oil and it didn’t smoke.

Does this make it through your thick skull, Ken? Check the oil regularly and top it off whenever it’s low. Better yet, change the oil regularly. This is not rocket science. And if I grow neglectful again, at least when I start noticing smoke again take that as a serious clue to deal with the oil. I think I’ve learned my lesson. I think. I hope so.

Biker Quote for Today

To my motorcycle: Thank you for putting up with me, being there for me, and loving me in your own special way.

I told my wife, Judy, at lunch the other day that I had spent the morning spending an obscene amount of money. I was making my motel reservations for this RMMRC ride to California in April. I’m figuring that by the time you add in motels, gas, and food I’m going to be spending around $3,000 on this trip. Yikes!

Why so much? Mostly it’s motels. There are only four of us going and two have agreed to share rooms. I would have been fine sharing with the fourth but he prefers to have his own room. I have no idea why; I just know that some people do prefer their privacy, even if it means paying more.

What a difference from the early days of the OFMC. Back in those days, long ago, we were not anybody’s idea of flush. John and Bill and I would get into town, split up, and go check prices and availability at several motels, then regroup and choose. Most of the time we got rooms with two beds and we rotated whose turn it was to sleep on the floor. We also carried tents and sleeping bags to we could camp if we wanted to or needed to. We didn’t make reservations in those days so sometimes that camping gear saved our butts.

So affluence is a big part of this spending escalation. We never went the expensive route back then for the simple reason that that was money we did not have. Cheap was a necessity. Fortunately those days are over. I’m not crazy about spending so much on this trip but I have the money and it is money I can afford to part with.

The other thing is aging, although for myself that really is not an issue. The group of us who are going got together the other day to prepare and they all agreed that camping is well in their pasts. Gosh, I still enjoy camping, as does Judy. But beyond camping, these guys have certain standards for accommodations that rule out most of the cheaper places. For instance, we’ll be in St. George, Utah, one night and there are a lot of places where you can get a room there for less than $100. The place the group selected, however, runs about $200. This is one instance where I opted to stay down the road a couple miles and pay about $60 less. It’s still a plenty nice place and I don’t know what the reason was for choosing the higher-priced place but I just can’t see any reason to pay that price.

In other cases there really was no choice. We’ll be spending one night in Death Valley and there are not a lot of accommodations available in Death Valley. And then, the place we’re staying has much higher rates on the weekend and we will be there on the weekend. So I’ll pay about $270 for one night in a two-queen suite all by myself. The point here is that we’re going for the real Death Valley experience. I’ve never been there so I’m not sure what that consists of but I’ll pay the fee and find out.

So it ought to be a really good trip. And I suppose there is an off chance that some fifth person will yet show up who I can share rooms with. But I’m not expecting it. It’s just money, you can’t take it with you when you die, and I have no heirs. Why not spend it.

Biker Quote for Today

I don’t want to know how much your motorcycle cost, shut up and ride.