Passes & Canyons Blog

We just got back from our annual OFMC motorcycle trip and already the musical chairs have started. With our group up to 10 guys now, it seems like every year someone shows up on a new bike.

Last year it was Dennis, having traded his Gold Wing in on a new Harley Street Glide. This year Brett sold his Fat Boy to his brother Matt and got himself a new Street Glide almost just like Dennis’s. And Matt came along for the first time, the new kid, on what is now his Fat Boy.

Already now we know there will be at least two people on new bikes next year. During this year’s trip Bill and Friggs swapped bikes a couple times so Friggs could get a taste of Bill’s Fat Boy. You see, Bill is very interested in a new Harley Ultra and meanwhile, Friggs has decided it is time to move up from his old Virago. So Friggs will buy Bill’s Fat Boy and Bill will get his Ultra.

Incidentally, that will move our group one further into the Harley column. Just a few years ago we went out with nine guys and among them were five Hondas, one Yamaha, and three Harleys. With Bill and Friggs dealing it would line up for next year at three Hondas, one Kawasaki, and six Harleys.

Except that may not be the line-up. John has also made up his mind that the time has come to replace his 16-year-old Honda Shadow. And he, too, had been seriously eyeing the Harleys all these other guys are riding. However, to my surprise, he told me the last day of the trip that he had been cured of his Harley envy. It seems he talked with some of the Harley guys and was aghast at the cost of the regular service requirements to maintain the warranty, as well as Dennis’s remark to Friggs that the new handlebars Friggs wants for the Fat Boy will run him about $800.

Mind you now, John has an almost totally stock Shadow and it has been pretty nearly everything he has wanted. He has never been in the position of spending money on his bike. I agreed with him that the Harley prices seem pretty high but when I bought my Kawasaki Concours the first thing I did was put on risers to bring the grips 3 inches closer to me, at a cost of $300. And then I added a backrest for Judy so she feels more secure on behind me, also at a cost of $300. Harley gear may be more expensive but all motorcycle gear is pricey.

So it looks like John will be on a new bike next year but at this point he doesn’t know what it will be. I’m betting it’s a Gold Wing.

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Biker Quote for Today

Remember, only you can convince yourself to ride a wheelie on a Bagger!

That’s my friend Randy there in the photo, on his first bike, back when we both had dark hair and more of it. He still has that Triumph Bonneville, although it’s in pieces stashed in boxes around his house. Today he rides a Bonneville T100.

So it was Randy who tipped me off that Northern Colorado Euro Motorcycles would have a truck in from Triumph offering demo rides last weekend. I took a ride to take some rides.

Cutting right to the heart of the matter, I loved the Bonnevilles I rode. Yeah, I rode two of them. The basic Bonny was the first one I rode and then I rode three cruisers, the America, the Thunderbird, and the Speedmaster, in that order. While I liked the Speedmaster best of those three, none of them matched the Bonneville, in my opinion, so I rode another Bonneville, the T100 this time, like Randy’s.

I’m not going to repeat my discussion of each of these bikes, you can read that on Examiner, but I’m sold on the Bonny. It was light, agile, powerful, and a whole lot of fun.

Thanks for the heads-up, Randy.

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Biker Quote for Today

Aging and still riding is like the talking dog. It does not matter how well the dog talks but rather that the dog talks at all.

A very busy weekend, what with all the motorcycle riding I had to do. This is a dirty job and . . . oh yeah, you probably don’t want to hear it. OK, it’s a sweet job.

On Saturday, as I said I would, I went to test ride Zero electric motorcycles. Local Zero rep Chuck Pratt and a bunch of folks from the home office were on hand with a variety of bikes, offering test rides to all comers.

It was an absurdly windy day and there was no dirt to test ride the dirt bikes in, but it was still enough to get a feel for what an electric motorcycle is like. After being reassured that the thing really is running, as you sit there without holding a clutch in, squeezing brakes, or anything else, you twist the throttle and by golly you take off!

I’ll be giving a full report on Examiner.com about the Zeros, and I’ll come back here and link to that report once it’s up, but there’s one extremely interesting thing I want to share with you here. If you live in Colorado, you can have a Zero S (street) or DS (dual sport) for an incredible price.

They are listed at about $10,000 but thanks to state and federal tax credits for purchases of electric vehicles, a Colorado resident can ride off with one for only $5,100. That’s mostly thanks to the Colorado tax credit, which is the largest offered anywhere in the country. If I had room to park a third bike, and a normal job that actually paid real money, I’d be a fish on the line for them to reel in. You might want to consider it.

Old Bike Ride 8

Sunday was a whole other gig. Working through Norton Colorado, a group of local Norton owners, Bob Ohman put together this eighth annual ride of old bikes. The loosely structured–and completely unenforced, as far as I could tell, but who cares?–rules were you needed to be riding a bike at least 25 years old or be at least 65 years old yourself. I rode my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom.

This was a ride the way things used to be before lawsuit-happy Americans ruined things for themselves and others: no riding fee, no liability waiver–just come and join the gang and go for nice ride on a terrific day for riding. And there were Ducatis, Hondas, Nortons, BSAs, Yamahas, Harleys, at least one Laverda, and a bunch of others. Oh yeah, an Indian or two.

Heading out, the first thing we did was ride to the top of Lookout Mountain and then stop near Buffalo Bill’s grave for more schmoozing and ogling of old iron. Then back down the hill and up Clear Creek Canyon to the Peak to Peak Highway, and north to the Millsite Inn, outside of Ward, a popular biker stop.

After lunch and more ogling it was pick-your-own-route back to Golden and regroup, or head on home. Other than being more chilly than expected up on the Peak to Peak, we couldn’t have asked for a nicer day to ride and it was a lot of fun. Last Sunday in May; put it on your calendar for next year.

Biker Quote for Today

I may be a poor rider, but my bike sure is SLOW.

Hot diggity, I’ve been waiting for this. Come Saturday I’m going to finally get the opportunity to test ride some Zero electric motorcycles.

I first started trying a couple months ago to set something up so I could see what these new-fangled electrics are like. Well, the day is nearly here. And you can bet I’ll have plenty to say afterward. Stay tuned.

I’m counting on getting to ride all four of the 2010 models, but that may depend on how many other people are there with the same intentions. Zero currently sells these four:

• Zero MX is a motocross bike, set up for the track and for jumps
• Zero X is a dirt bike, for trails and technical stuff
• Zero S is a street bike
• Zero DS is a dual sport bike

The one thing I’m wondering about is if we’ll get a chance to actually ride the dirt-oriented bikes in dirt. This event is taking place at a parking lot and if all we get to do is ride the dirt bikes around on the pavement that won’t be truly satisfying. Who knows. I guess I will come Saturday. And you will soon afterward.

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Biker Quote for Today

Loud pipes risk rights!

I want to give a big thank-you to David and Wade at Colorado Sport Bike Rentals, in southwest Denver, for giving me this opportunity: I recently took their rental Can-Am Spyder out for a day to see just what these things are like.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the Spyder, that’s it in the picture there. It’s a three-wheeler with two bike-sized wheels in front and one car-sized wheel in back. As such, it turns like a car, with you steering to the right to go right, and steering left to go left. You do not lean into the turns the way you do on a two-wheeled cycle. Rather, you brace yourself on the rear-set pegs and lean across the body of the bike into the turn. It takes some getting used to.

I was out on the Spyder for 4-5 hours and the broad, well-padded seat never got uncomfortable. These machines are definitely good for riding all day. Being accustomed as I am to a large windshield or full fairing, I did wish I had something more than the bikini fairing to block the wind.

The Spyder is a pretty heavy machine so it’s probably a good thing that it comes with a reverse gear. You have to learn the drill to engage it: Drop into first, pull the R lever toward you, then click the foot lever down again. Easy as long as someone has explained it to you in advance, as David did. And in case you forget, the owner’s manual is slipped up under the cowling above the instrument panel.

The suspension was nothing to brag about going over rough pavement, but that’s true of my Concours, too. These things aren’t cars.

So I headed out after a brief familiarization in the parking lot and paid special attention to the attention the Spyder and I attracted. If you want people to look at you the Spyder is definitely your ticket. Stopped at a red light, a mom and her kids in the car next to me were all eyes. At another light on Federal Blvd. two guys eyed us with considerable interest and the passenger rolled down his window with one question: How fast does it go?

I couldn’t give him a good answer because I hadn’t been on the highway with it yet, but I can tell you now it will go as fast as you need to go. The engine is about 1,000cc and while it is not exploding with power it does respond to that twist of the wrist. And trust me, until you get some miles on it, you’re not going to want to twist that wrist very far, especially in the curvy stuff. Heading up Bear Creek Road to Evergreen I was definitely slowing the traffic behind me.

Stopping in Evergreen and several other mountain towns I deliberately set myself up to be approached by the curious people walking past. They didn’t disappoint me. The most common question was, “Do you need a motorcycle license to drive one of these?” Yes, you do, although here in Colorado you can actually get a trike license that lets you drive a three-wheeler but is not valid for you to ride a two-wheeler.

With three wheels, and perhaps due to seeing those two wheels in front of me, I never even had the inclination to put my feet down when coming to a stop.

Eventually I did get the hang of it and the more I did the more fun it was to ride. By the time I was headed toward Golden down Clear Creek Canyon I wasn’t even delaying the traffic behind me. But neither was I in any danger of getting a speeding ticket. I’m betting that if you ride one of these things regularly and get really used to it it all gets to be second nature.

Probably the bottom line in all this is, would I buy a Spyder? Truthfully, no, I would not, not at this time. I like two wheels one heck of a lot. But let some time pass, to where I’m getting quite a bit older and riding a two-wheeler is no longer a good option, and yes indeed, I could be in the market. In the meantime, if you’re looking for something completely different just a day or several, you can rent one from David and Wade. They’d be happy to hear from you.

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We don’t stop riding because we get old, we get old because we stop riding.

I’ve never heard of U.S. Highland, have you? Apparently they make motorcycles engines and now they’re planning to make motorcycles–a lot of them–in the near future. This photo is one of their promotional shots, of the Desert-X.

What I’m able to learn is that this is a Swedish company that moved to the U.S. two years ago. They set up shop in Oklahoma, in the town of Mounds. I’ve never heard of Mounds, either.

The company currently has 30 employees but says it will be hiring 300 when it goes into production. They plan to build both street and off-road bikes, although it is expected that making motors for other companies will remain a large part of their business.

At a time when other manufacturers are struggling it’s good to see someone with bright hopes for the future. Let’s wish them success.

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Biker Quote for Today

Get yourself to the hills and be uplifted, assuming you’ve got some good knobbies.

Gary France is a Brit who is planning an extended tour via motorcycle in the U.S. this summer. He and I have been in communication in regard to his route and I periodically check his blog, http://garysusatour.blogspot.com/. Well, I checked it today and he had just put up a post about a motorcycle insurance specialist, Carole Nash, who had put up a list of her Top 20 Biking Blogs. As you might expect, the list leans a bit to British blogs but not entirely. Gary’s blog was one of them. As I guess they say in England, he said that “I am chuffed to bits.” (That means he’s pleased.)

Now, the reason I was thinking about Gary is that I was going to do this post about him and his planned ride. The time is drawing near. But when I saw the list I figured I’d pass that along to you. In Carole Nash’s post she tells a bit about the blogs and has a screen shot of each one’s home page. I’ll just give you the links and a couple comments.

It’s a good list. There are several I recognize and would include in my own list if I was making one. They include Helmet Hair, Bikes in the Fast Lane, and Cyril Huze. Worth checking out.

Helmet Hair
Bikes in the Fast Lane
Forty Years on Two Wheels
USA Tour on a Harley Davidson (this is Gary France’s blog)
Ouch! My Piles!
Atlas Rider
Fuzzie Galore
No Foreign Lands
Knuckle Buster
Saul T Nutz
Twisting Asphalt
Bike EXIF
The Kneeslider
The Scooter Scoop
Honda Motorcycles Blog
Swag’s Rant
Motorcycle Training Blog
Cyril Huze
Faster & Faster
Chessie’s Tales, Motorcycles and Rides

By the way, Chessie is another I’m familiar with and that’s because she has read some of my stuff and left comments. I’m pleased to see her in this list, too.

Finally, as a bonus extra, commenter Glen Hughes noted on Carole Nash’s post that she left out this good one, which I’m also familiar with: Rippin Kitten.

Of course I would add the Passes and Canyons Blog as a favorite, but you already know about that one. And I’d also give you Redleg’s Rides. So that should keep you busy for awhile.

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Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycles tell us a more useful truth: we are small and exposed, and probably moving too fast for our own good, but that’s no reason not to enjoy every minute of the ride. ~ Dave Karlotski

It’s no secret that Jay Leno loves old, classic cars and motorcycles, and has the money to buy whatever he wants. But did you know that he has a website where you can look at what he’s got and read a lot about them?

Using the poetic, symbolic title of Jay Leno’s Garage, the site is a treasure trove of classics. I suppose some people might view this as Jay showing off, rubbing people’s noses in what he has that you don’t, but I prefer to think of it as a true enthusiast doing what he can to share with other enthusiasts. And truth be told, I’ve never heard anyone accuse him of the former, I’m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised if someone did. And if they do, I am of a different mind.

So check it out. At the very least you may enjoy killing an hour or two drooling.

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Biker Quote for Today

It’s not the fastest bike out there, it’s not the most well behaved, but what it does is put a smile on my face every time I ride it and isn’t that what really matters?