Passes & Canyons Blog

It sure was sweet, wasn’t it, when gas prices dropped so low. Those days are over.

Back when everything was shut down AND Russia and Saudi Arabia were having a price war I watched as gas prices at the pump dropped lower and lower. Holy cow, what a great opportunity to save some money. Only problem was, like everyone else, I wasn’t going much of any place to use the gas I had. And I didn’t need gas. Between my car and three bikes, none of them were anywhere near low. But I really wanted to buy gas.

I finally reached a point where it made sense to fill my Honda. On May 8 I put 3.57 gallons in the Honda, at $1.189 per gallon. Total for the fill: $4.24. Terrific.

Then four days later I filled the Concours. It took 5.38 gallons and I paid $1.339 per gallon: total $7.21. I could get to like this.

I rode the Honda a good bit and filled it again on May 13. This time I paid $1.6999 per gallon. It took 3.35 gallons for a total of $5.69. Still not bad.

By June 14, when I filled the Kawi again I paid $2.269 a gallon. This time it cost $7.96 to put in 3.51 gallons. I don’t like the direction this is heading. And then on June 24 I put 3.09 gallons in the Suzuki and it cost $7.72, at $2.499 per gallon.

Welcome back to the real world. We knew it wouldn’t last but it was nice while it did. And I’m glad I got to buy at least a few gallons really cheap. I mean, $1.189 per gallon? In 2020? No one would have believed that a year ago.

In the meantime, the last time I put gas in my car was February 23. That’s the one I wish had been close to empty on May 8.

Biker Quote for Today

It takes both pistons and cylinders to make a bike run. One is not more important than the other.

Big, 800-pound bagger motorcycles are very popular, at least in the U.S., but there’s one place you’ll never see them: at the Department of Motor Vehicles on the license testing range.

When you’re getting your motorcycle accreditation you have to pass the written test and also pass a driving test, just like with a car. The driving portion for a bike takes place out in the parking lot, where they set up cones and have you ride through the course demonstrating your competence. On a scooter, or a small bike, such as a 250cc Honda Rebel, it’s easy. For a beginning rider to maneuver their full-size bike around the course, the likelihood of success is minute.

I didn’t know this when I bought my first bike. But I learned.

I had ridden motorcycles whenever I had the opportunity for many years, but it was only once I bought my first bike, a 1980 Honda CB750 Custom, that I got licensed. My friends told me then that it would be good to get a small bike to take the test but I didn’t have any idea where to get that small bike so off I went on my 750.

Now, a 750cc bike is only considered a mid-size bike anymore, though it was a big bike in 1980, and it still weighs about 500 pounds. I suspect the licensing examiner was surprised to see what I rode in on but no matter, let’s go do the test.

The first part of the course demonstrates handling control. You have to weave around cones in a slalom pattern at slow speed. Then there was a right turn, and another right turn, which set you up to come into a much tighter box where you have to do a 180-degree turn.

I did not make it through all the cones and when I came around for the 180 I had not understood the directions properly. I thought the examiner told me to stay outside the lines, when in fact I was supposed to stay inside them. I was successful in staying outside. You then start out from a spot where you accelerate forward and then brake and swerve sharply as if you were avoiding an obstacle. That part was easy.

Of course I failed the test. And I was very surprised when she told me I utterly failed to make the U-turn within the lines. Ooooh. Within! I get it now.

Second Try
Now that I knew what the test consisted of I practiced. I showed up again a few days later, not at all confident I would succeed, but willing to take a shot at it. With no training I instinctively figured out that to weave through the cones I had to drag the rear brake, where you keep the engine revved for stability while working the rear brake to move forward at about walking speed. To my relief, I got through the cones just fine.

Heading into the U-turn I now knew I needed to stay inside the lines and, dragging the rear brake again, I successfully executed the turn. Coming out of it, however, the lean was too great and the bike laid over on its side. It didn’t actually go all the way down; it ended up resting half-way up on the foot peg. I looked at the examiner and she said she couldn’t help me but if I got the bike back up I could keep going with the test.

I raised the bike and continued and everything else went fine. She passed me. Yahoo!

I have since learned that one of the major benefits of taking a Motorcycle Safety Foundation riding course is that you learn on small bikes and at the end of the course you do the riding portion of the test. If you pass, all you have to do to get your license is go to Motor Vehicle, pass the written portion, and pay your fee. Of course you also get some training in the process, which is a very good thing.

Had I known all this that’s probably what I would have done. I didn’t, though, so now I take pride in being able to say I passed the test on my real, full-sized highway bike. And I love the looks of amazement I get when I say that.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if you put your pony-tail back in the drawer after you get home.

My curiosity was piqued recently when I received a notification of a silent auction to be held at Fay Myers Motorcycle World. “Aren’t silent auctions generally for charities?” my wife asked. Yes, so I had to go see what it was all about.

I got to Fay Myers and as usual there were a number of bikes outside plus a whole lot more inside. You could identify the ones being auctioned by the tags. Outside were generally older, used bikes, while inside were newer and new bikes.

It was a full range. The cheapest bike I saw was this 1987 Honda VF700C Super Magna, shown above. It listed a starting bid of $200 or you could buy it now for $380 (plus tax). OK now, that’s an inexpensive bike! I wonder what condition it’s in and how many miles it has on it.

There were some others outside that were pretty cheap: a 2002 Suzuki VS800 Intruder starting at $980; a 1998 Yamaha XVZ13 starting at $500; a 2006 Harley FXDI starting at $4,600. Inside the prices were much higher.

So what was the scoop on the silent auction? Here’s my take. I have to say I think it was definitely a gimmick. That said, if they had something you actually wanted you might have been able to get it for a pretty good price.

Take that VS800 Intruder. Starting at $980. Or buy it now for $1,240. If you really wanted it you could bid just a small amount more than the base price but you would risk someone else outbidding you. So what, bid $1,050 and hope? Or just buy it outright? But I would guess the buy-it-outright price is pretty much what you could have bought it for yesterday. Or could buy it for tomorrow.

With the higher-priced bikes I’m guessing again that the buy-it-now price is pretty darn close to its everyday price. And the higher priced bikes have a smaller percentage difference between starting bid and buy it now. Like a 2018 Honda Goldwing GL1800DJ with a starting bid of $19,167 or buy it now for $19,549. That’s only a $382 difference on a nearly $20,000 bike. Heck, if you can’t negotiate down at least that much you’re not trying.

The one good thing I think you could use this kind of sales event for would be to see what the dealer is willing to sell things for. Then, armed with that info, when you go to buy later you’ll know they’re willing to let it go for that amount so you’ll make sure not to pay more than that.

Bottom line, I was not impressed. But it was interesting to go check it out.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if people know you’re a biker even when you don’t want them to.

The Progressive International Motorcycle Show (PIMS) came to Denver this past weekend and of course I went down. PIMS doesn’t generally come to Denver but I had been to the show some years ago in Greenville, South Carolina, so I was interested to see how it compared. Somehow it didn’t seem as big and there didn’t seem to be as many people as in Greenville.

No matter. There was still a lot of interest.

One thing I had not seen before that seems to have become widespread is the use of rollers to allow someone to actually ride a running motorcycle right there on the spot. The motor is running, the drive wheel is turning, you’re just not going anywhere. What I didn’t understand was where the exhaust was going because I didn’t see any hoses hooked up to the exhausts, only fans presumably to disperse the fumes.

Of course exhaust was not an issue for one growing segment of the motorcycle world: electric bikes. One fairly large area of the exhibition hall was set aside as a riding track that was part of the Discover the Ride program. This program aims to introduce new riders to the world of motorcycling. There were a bunch of Zero bikes to be ridden but there were also some Yamaha power-assisted bicycles, actual mo-peds.

Then in the opposite corner of the hall was a much smaller track for kids on kid-sized electric bikes. Most of them seemed tentative but having fun, although there was one boy who truly knew his stuff. He was zipping past the others at full throttle, sliding his inside foot on the curves, clearly not doing this for the first time.

I was surprised to see that Moto Works Denver had a display. I did a blog post on Moto Works Denver in August of last year and their community garage program. I mean, this is a big deal show and there are plenty of small, independent shops around but they don’t have booths at PIMS. I talked to the guy, who was not King Browne, the guy I spoke with for the post in August, and he said PIMS had approached them because they wanted to promote the community garage concept. So, cool. I support the community garage concept, too.

Of course all the manufacturers had their large spaces, showcasing all their new bikes. Plus the folks selling helmets and other gear. Over in the Honda area I was particularly interested to see the new model CB1000. When Honda introduced this bike some years ago it was styled to evoke the old CBs and it didn’t look all that different from my own 1980 CB750 Custom. Well, the bike has apparently sold well enough but the styling has moved on. This latest CB1000 looks totally modern, no signs of retro. Still a nice bike, though.

I’ll be focusing on specific pieces of PIMS in my next few posts. Stay tuned.

Biker Quote for Today

He was a crazy biker in a motorcycle ridin’ daredevil show. — Nanci Griffith

I make note of my odometer readings on all three bikes and my car at the end of the year and once again I put more miles on my bikes than I did on my car. It has been quite awhile, actually, since the last time I put more miles on the car than on the bikes. I try to ensure that the bikes get the bulk of the miles.

That said, my mileage overall for the year was down. In 2018 my total mileage was 10,158 (7,230 motorcycle miles); in 2019 it was 8,011 (4,777 motorcycle miles). I guess I just don’t leave the house as much as I used to. Still, that was 4,777 miles on the bikes versus only 3,234 miles in the car. But there have been years when I’ve put more miles on the Kawi alone than I put on all my vehicles last year.

So which one got the most riding? Once again it was the V-Strom. This has totally to do with tires. I was getting set to go on the OFMC ride last year and looking at the tires on the Kawi I was not confident. I wanted to take the Kawi but the tread was getting thin. But it was not thin enough for me to want to get new tires yet. I briefly considered taking the CB750 but it has the least luggage capacity so I took the V-Strom.

All told, I put 3,494 miles on the V. That compares to 2,425 the year before.

The Concours was the one that really got short shrift last year. That wonderful highway bike was only ridden for 688 miles, versus 4,336 the previous year. That has got to be the least it has ever had. (Nope, I checked my records and I only rode it 666 miles in 2013.) I want to ride it on the OFMC trip this year so I’ll make sure to wear out those tires and get new ones before that trip comes around.

In last place as always is the CB750. I only put 595 miles on it last year. But that’s up from 469 miles the previous year. I made a special point of riding that bike more.

So what am I looking for in 2020? By golly, I will put more miles on all three bikes, I swear. And if I can put fewer miles on my car that will just be a bonus. In particular I want to put more than 1,000 miles on the Honda in one year, something I haven’t done since 2009. That used to be my only bike and it always got lots of miles.

And let’s see if I can exceed 10,000 motorcycle miles this year. You know what they say about a dirty job that someone has to do. Well, I’m more than willing to do the dirty work.

Biker Quote for Today

The cost of not following your heart is spending the rest of your life wishing you had.

Every year about this time I start thinking about the riding I hope to get in before the end of the year. It’s totally arbitrary but one thing I do is look at the odometers on each of the bikes and try to get each one to turn over one more thousand mile mark before the year is out. I usually fail.

Usually I seem to be more than 500 miles off the next thousand on all three bikes. Back when I only had one bike that was a possibility, to ride that much in the time remaining. Now with three bikes it’s much less possible, unless I just go crazy and ride and ride and ride every warm day we have.

This year is a little different. I’m only 24 miles from the next 1,000 on the Honda. For once I’m going to roll that one over, no doubt. And while this will depend on the weather, I may very well roll the Kawi over, too. That bike is only 257 miles away from its next 1,000. Heck, I’ve got more than two months to do that.

But then there’s the V-Strom. That’s a different story. I’m more than 600 miles shy of the next 1,000 on that bike and while that’s certainly possible, I know myself and I just don’t expect it to happen. Besides, that means all three together would be about 900 miles. Heck, I’m absolutely certain I won’t drive my car 900 miles in the time between now and December 31, and it goes places even when there’s snow on the ground.

Sure I could go out on a nice day and ride to Lamar and back but what would be the point of that? And the fact is, I’m one of the most environmentally conscious people I know and I have questioned myself more than once on the idea that for recreation I go out and burn dead dinosaurs. How much does that cancel out all the recycling and composting and public transit riding I do?

No, I’ll get out on each of these bikes several more times this year but only for a fun time, not to grind out miles just to meet some arbitrary objective. But who knows. If the weather permits the RMMRC to continue these every other weekly Wednesday rides those miles will add up. I’ll be choosing which bike to ride based on how close each is to that next 1,000.

Biker Quote for Today

Got a big bucket list, and before I kick it, gonna buy me a Harley and Route Sixty-Six it. — Billy Currington

I went out to ride with the Wednesday morning group from the RMMRC and it turned out to be just three of us this time. As we pulled out of the parking lot, me in the middle, it occurred to me I was with Robert and Dave, who I have come to think of as the “Go Fast Buddies.”

I’ve ridden with these guys before, but in larger groups. They’re always out in front, getting further and further ahead. The last time we were leaving Deckers and I inadvertently got between the two of them and it wasn’t long before Robert blasted past me and then the two of them took off.

So here I was again, in between them. That got sorted out pretty quickly, however, in the heavy traffic on I-25. A truck pulled in between me and Dave, who was leading, and before I could see an opening to pass the truck Robert raced past us both using the exit lane. He caught up with Dave quickly enough but we were pretty far west on C-470 before I caught up with them.

All this time I was thinking about what was ahead on this ride. I just told myself I was going to ride my own ride, period.

We got off C-470 at Wadsworth, then turned west on the road up Deer Creek Canyon. I knew what was coming. It was going to get curvy and they were going to go fast. But I was also thinking about the fact that I’m not a half bad rider myself. And I have spent years deliberately practicing leaning off the bike so as to take a curve at higher speed with the bike not leaned over excessively. I decided that my own ride that I was going to ride was going to include seeing how close I could keep with them while still feeling secure and in control, that is to say, not scaring myself.

And I did pretty darn good. From Deer Creek Canyon to Turkey Creek Canyon the turns got tighter and while there were occasions when due to the curves I lost sight of them ahead of me, all it took was a little more straight and there they were, not that far ahead.

We did a bunch more twisty roads and I held my own. But I could never keep right up with them. And that got me thinking, too.

I can take curves kind of fast because I lean off the bike to provide counter weight to keep the bike upright, in the way that racers do when they lean off so far they drag their knee pucks on the ground. I never saw the Go Fast Buddies do any leaning of this sort. They were both on recent model Gold Wings, which appear to have very low centers of gravity. All my bikes have high centers of gravity, although on this day I was on my CB750, which is the lowest of the three.

Still, this is something I have observed many times with the OFMC, how these guys with their lower bikes can always go faster than me around curves. Without leaning off the bike.

Maybe some day I’ll have a bike with a low center of gravity. Then watch out. I just might become a member of the go-fast community.

Biker Quote for Today

Reasons not to date a motorcyclist: Our idea of dressing up is putting on a clean black t-shirt.

In the early days of the OFMC we were a pretty homogeneous bunch. At first we had two Hondas and a Yamaha but John soon gave his Virago to his son and bought his own Honda Shadow, nearly identical to Bill’s. I, of course, was on my CB750 Custom.

And our clothes were pretty standard: blue jeans and whatever layers on top we could piece together. It was a while before any of us got around to buying an actual motorcycle jacket. When we did they were generic jackets, not trademarked with by motorcycle make.

A lot has changed in 30 years. While I still have the CB, I rarely ride it on the annual bike trip any more, and nobody else even owns a Honda now. We are also fully geared up now, and manufacturer brands show up a lot.

This really became evident when, on our recent trip, we stopped at a rest area in Utah. Others stopped at the rest area included a young couple from California. At one point the guy came directly to me and asked how I liked my V-Strom. He himself has a V-Strom that he got from his dad and he loves it.

We didn’t ask but he volunteered that it was pretty easy to know who rode what bikes. Dennis rides an Indian and he had his jacket off, revealing an Indian t-shirt. Bill rides a Harley and his leather jacket is emblazoned with the Harley logo on the back.

And there I was, with the only semi sportbike wearing a mesh jacket and motorcycle riding pants, not jeans. The kind of gear you’re not likely to see on someone on a Harley or an Indian. Not too hard to add one and one and come up with two.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Clothes make the man.” I offer this variation: “Clothes make the make.” If that dude is wearing a Harley jacket he’s probably riding that Harley.

Biker Quote for Today

You’re a biker wannabe if you ride a Ducati. (OK, over time I’ve put up a lot of these “wannabe” quotes but have never found an appropriate place for this one. I guess it’s because it is just inappropriate. I love Ducatis. Rode a Monster once and what a bike!)