Passes & Canyons Blog

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.

Judy and I have a couple Sena communicators we use when we ride together but these guys I’m going on this trip with soon all have Cardos. My choice was to be the one not linked together or go get a Cardo. I got a Cardo.

We had a pre-ride get-together the other day to make plans and for those with Cardos to get all synced up. I didn’t have mine yet but immediately afterward I went to Performance Cycle and got one. I had the guy install it for me, which was a really good thing because he–with all his experience–did not find it an easy job.

I have two helmets these days, one a good Shoei that has the Sena in it. The other is kind of a cheapie I bought mid-trip when the RMMRC did its Great River Road trip in 2022. If I had other options this might not be the helmet I would choose to put the communicator in but it was what I had so I did. So now I have two helmets, one with the Sena, the other with the Cardo, and I’ll decide which helmet to wear at least sometimes by who I’ll be riding with.

I’m assuming having this communicator will be a good thing. Dave said it would be because he once did a ride in Spain where everyone else was linked but he was not. He said it was terrible. They’d all do something they had discussed and he’d be sitting there wondering . . . What? He said the other guys always forgot he was not in on their conversations.

What I hope does not happen is that there is this constant chatter that disturbs my solitude. I like riding alone and when I’m riding with other people I like the solitude of the ride where it’s just you. I hope turning this thing on and off is easy because I may do that a lot. Or maybe just turning the volume down will suffice. But then they may decide something and I won’t hear it and I’ll be the one saying “What?”.

I’m eager to see how this thing works and how well. From what people say, a lot of these guys in the RMMRC have tried Sena and have not been happy with them, which is why they switched to Cardo. And in the meantime, a box of Sena equipment that was no longer wanted has made it to me, which could be a good thing if the ones Judy and I have ever crap out. I try to keep them fresh by plugging them in every couple months, rather than letting the batteries drain dead, but who knows. Of course, the batteries in these ones I just got are probably dead and may not work all that well. Who knows.

Anyway, you can bet I’ll report here on how this thing works on this trip. Stay tuned.

Biker Quote for Today

A motorcycle can sing on the streets of a city.

If you think the money you pay each year to enhance rider safety should be spent to defer costs for rider training the time to contact your legislative representatives is now. A hearing will be held Wednesday afternoon for the re-authorization of the Colorado MOST (Motorcycle Operator Safety Training) program. The hope is to have the simple re-authorization bill amended to mandate that the money–at least some of it–be used in that manner. I mean, come on, “Training” is in the name. Putting up road signs that say “Motorcyclists use extreme caution” does not constitute training in anybody’s book.

The word from Stump, ABATE of Colorado’s legislative liaison, is that there’s no good way to know when in the afternoon the bill will come up, but it would be good to have at least a few interested members of the public on hand to testify. ABATE members will presumably be there so that base is probably covered. The other thing that matters–what you can do, and should do if you care about this–is to immediately contact your reps to let them know what you want them to do.

This hearing is with the Senate Transportation and Energy committee. Here are the members who need to be contacted.
Faith Winter (Chair) — 303-866-4863 — faith.winter.senate@coleg.gov
Lisa Cutter — 303-866-4859 — lisa.cutter.senate@coleg.gov
Marc Catlin — 303-866-5292 — marc.catlin.senate@coleg.gov
Tony Exum — 303-866-6364 — tony.exum.senate@coleg.gov
Nick Hinrichsen — 303-866-4878 — nick.hinrichsen.senate@coleg.gov
Kyle Mullica — 303-866-4451 — kyle.mullica.senate@coleg.gov
Byron Pelton — 303-866-6360 — byron.pelton.senate@coleg.gov
Cleave Simpson — 303-866-4875 — cleave.simpson.senate@coleg.gov
Tom Sullivan — 303-866-4873 — tom.sullivan.senate@coleg.gov

Stump provided a little background on what’s going on. Here’s part of it:

Also related to our bill, Larry (Montgomery–ABATE’s state director) and I met with Chris Corbo (MOST Director) this week to express ABATE’s concerns with the program. He actually requested the meeting because he said he’s been getting inquiries from Legislators about the MOST Program. The hour and a half meeting was MOSTly good (excuse the pun) but a lot of his answers were, “You have to ask MSF about that.” He conceded that the 9 years till the next sunset review is too long and should be 5 years. He also gave reasons (excuses) why there shouldn’t be subsidies: too much paperwork, too much time to write checks, need another person to do the extra work, abuse by vendors, etc.

So it’s “too much trouble” to do what the program was set up to do. At least this shows that people have been contacting their reps and the reps are pursuing the matter. That’s good news.

Biker Quote for Today

Like dogs, motorcycles are social catalysts that attract a superior category of people.

By now you know the drill: The temperature was supposed to be about 70 and that demanded a ride. Bruce put out the call through the RMMRC and seven riders showed up to head down to Elbert for lunch.

Five of us were regulars but we also had two new guys. Cool. We need new guys. Seven of us headed south. Bruce led us down Peoria to Lincoln Boulevard, east to Chambers, and south to Hess Road. It’s always interesting going through this area because there’s so much construction going on and you get to see what’s new and how much farther the urban sprawl has spread. At Hess it used to be a T intersection, and still is, but not for long. A lot of homes are going up south of Hess and a big road has been plowed. It’s just dirt now but not for long.

At Hess we headed east, crossed Parker Road, and got onto Hilltop, angling southeast. At Singing Hills Road we turned due east and here we were in for a new surprise. Somewhere out there was a new road being built to the south. More sprawl. Pretty soon houses will sprout. Something new to watch.

We worked our way around and got to Elizabeth, then turned south. That road eventually turns east, then south again and you’re in Elbert. The South 40 Bar and Grill was our destination. We got seated and just a moment later another guy in motorcycle gear walked in. Turned out he was a friend of Bruce’s who was just out riding aimlessly and decided to stop here for lunch. The more the merrier.

After lunch we started to disperse. Yoel, one of the new guys, had somewhere to be. I also had an appointment back in town and so I headed back the way we came. Paul, the other new guy also had somewhere to be. The rest were planning to go south a bit further and then cut over to pick up CO 83 back to town.

It was a good day for a ride. Good day to meet some new folks. A good day in March. We love this weather.

Biker Quote for Today

Good vibes and motorcycles will get you anywhere.

This is going to be more the piece I started out to write a week ago, about best rides. I really should have been thinking in terms of best roads. So now that I’ve got my head screwed on straight, let’s go.

One was the Stewart’s Point Skaggs Springs Road in California. The company I was working for sent me out for a month to Sacramento and I was determined to ride while I was out there. My bike was back in Colorado, however, so I went to a dealership there and ended up speaking with the owner, asking if he would agree to sell me a bike now and then buy it back from me a month later, of course for a bit less. He said sure, no problem. Bless his soul.

That put me on a 1984 Honda Nighthawk 550. And every weekend I was there I took off on Friday after work and came back to the motel on Sunday evening. I rode down to Yosemite one weekend and covered as much territory as I could in the time I had.

On one of these trips I headed through the Northern California wine country. I had a map but mostly I was just wandering. I decided to take a road up past this big lake and somewhere along the way I saw there was a road that cut through the hills to the coast. Oh, yeah, I definitely want to go to the coast.

This road was the Stewart’s Point Skaggs Springs Road. I almost lost the trail getting to it, finding myself in a really odd little hill community with not a lot of road signs. But I made the correct turns and was on my way. What a road! This little piece of great asphalt (roads stay nice in California because they don’t suffer the freeze-thaw cycle we get here in Colorado) was the most curvy little thing you can imagine. And in most places it was only one lane wide. Deep in the forest. If not for the road itself you could have believed the nearest civilization was a thousand miles away. It was unreal.

And then it came out right on the coast, on Highway 1.

A few years later when the OFMC made its first trip to California I took John and Bill to this road and while John loved it as much as I did, Bill said it started making him feel motion-sickness with all the constant curves. Sorry Bill. We loved it.

Then there was the Alpine Loop, in Utah, on another OFMC trip. The three of us were in Heber City headed for Salt Lake City and we asked a local what the best way to get there was. We were figuring a loop north and then west or else a different loop west and then north. Nope. This person told us about the Alpine Loop, which took the diagonal–more or less–through the hills and brings you out just south of Salt Lake City.

To get to it we just needed to head west, toward Provo, but then turn north and follow that road up past Sundance, Robert Redford’s place, and just keep going. Wow, what a road!

Once again, this thing was full of twists and turns and at places it, too, was one-lane. Instead of going through cities and riding the interstate we were in the hills away from traffic and congestion and out where it was gorgeous. What a fabulous ride. The road did finally bring us down into Little Cottonwood Canyon, which spills out onto Sandy, Utah. That road was so good we’ve been on it at least twice more since then. And who would have known it was there were it not for that friendly local. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So that’s a couple. Maybe I’ll remember a few more and revisit this theme again.

Biker Quote for Today

Taking the scenic route all summer long.

I took a short, no-big-deal ride on Sunday, just my monthly run to the wine store that I do on a bike as often as weather permits. But then I started checking to see if I could spot anyone using their phone in their car.

That practice became illegal earlier this year and theoretically there should be fewer people doing it. And also theoretically, you ought to be able to notice a lot more cars with hands-free attachments on their dashboards or windshields. I don’t search extensively; I’ve got a motorcycle to ride after all. But especially when I’m on a multi-lane street and I’m easing past someone it’s not hard to take a quick glance in as you go by them.

What surprised me was how many hands-free mounts I saw. Wow. People really are taking their safe driving seriously. Some at least.

That’s not to say that everyone is. I did see one woman with her phone pressed up to her ear, and another one who was looking into her lap rather than at the road ahead. I actually favor the one with her phone to her ear because at least her eyes were on the road. At that moment. Who knows where they had been a few moments before or after.

Mostly what I saw was people driving their cars. What a concept.

Driving while using your cellphone is not specifically a motorcycling issue, it’s really a motorcycling, driving, walking, bicycling and whatever else issue. Those people cause crashes. I know this first hand; fortunately I was uninjured by this red-light runner. My car was totaled.

Be smart. Be considerate. Don’t use your phone when you’re driving. And call out any of your friends who still just don’t get it. The life you save may be your own.

Biker Quote for Today

You own a car, not the road.