Passes & Canyons Blog

I went dual-sporting again this weekend with Kevin Smith over in the Gunnison area. Kevin lives over there and rents V-Stroms through his company, Colorado Mountain Moto. Last year we rode Cinnamon Pass. This year we rode Carnero Pass.

Never heard of Carnero Pass? Neither had I. But it’s the perfect example of what I keep saying, that I want to do a lot more dual-sport riding because I know there are a lot of fabulous roads in this state that I’ve never been on because they are not paved.

Oh, and just to make that last statement seem a little foolish, Kevin’s wife Janet rode with us–on her Ninja. Now, Kevin says this Ninja 500R is really more a standard than a sportbike, but still, we were on dual-sports and Janet was on her Ninja. It’s a matter of attitude. Some people say “A touring bike is whatever bike you’re on when you go touring.” I guess you can say that a dual-sport bike is any bike you’re on when you go dual-sporting. This is the bike Janet has so it’s the bike she rides wherever she wants to ride. This is not the first gravel mountain pass road she’s been on on that bike.

Now, I still wouldn’t have wanted to have been on that road with my Concours. But my CB750 is a different story. That bike just handles better on gravel than the Kawi. And if that Ninja could do this ride my CB could, too.

So where did we go? We headed east out of Gunnison just a few miles to where we turned off on CO 114, which runs down over North Cochetopa Pass to Saguache. We went over the pass but before we got as far as Saguache we turned off onto Saguache County Road 41G. This is the road that goes up over Carnero Pass. Carnero is almost as high as Slumgullion Pass, which we crossed later, but you’d never know it. I guess we had done most of our climbing coming up North Cochetopa, and so even though we down then a ways, it didn’t seem like that much further up to Carnero after we got off CO 114.

Coming down, though, we had a pretty good descent as we made out way toward Del Norte, where we finally reached the pavement again. In the interim we rode some very nice roads and saw some terrific scenery and just generally enjoyed a day out away from pretty nearly anyone else. We did go back to Gunnison via South Fork, Creede, and Lake City, though so that was all paved and populated. The aspens are turning, though not quite at their peak yet, and it was a beautiful autumn day, though it did get blustery in the afternoon. What a great day to be out on some great roads. I love living in Colorado. (You can read more about it and see pictures from the ride on Examiner, via that link immediately below.)

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Dual-sport riding out of Gunnison

Biker Quote for Today

The quickest way from Point A to Point B is not on a straight line, it’s on a motorcycle.

I did go to ride Kawasakis on Saturday as I said I was going to but it didn’t work out quite as I expected. They had quite a turn-out and so instead of letting you sign up for three bikes in quick order, you could only sign up for one, and by the time I got there around 10:30 a.m. the earliest I could get a ride was 1:30 p.m. Ouch. And there was only one bike available then, the Z1000 Ninja. Fortunately, that was a bike I wanted to ride.

I didn’t really know what to do. It’s too far for me to have gone home and come back, but what was I going to do with the time? I made the decision not to decide and just hung around for awhile, but that got boring. Just for lack of anything else to do I approached this guy who was looking at the Concours 14 and asked if he had had a chance to ride it. I mentioned that I had and I loved it.

We got to talking and enough of what I said about my own bikes apparently clicked and this random guy, Evan Lyons, suddenly said, “Are you the guy who does that blog?” Yes, he really did mean this blog and he told me he was there at the demo event because he had read about it on this blog. Blew me away. (And that’s Evan in the picture checking out the Concours, just right of center. I shot the picture before we met and looking through my shots later, there he was.)

I know people do read this blog and visit the MotorcycleColorado.com website because I get web statistics from Google Analytics and they tell me exactly how many visitors there are. But in five years I’ve only met about half a dozen of you so it’s always a real kick to come face to face.

So I talked with Evan and his wife, Noel, who ride a YZF600 and a ZX-6, respectively, and got acquainted. It seems Evan found the site thanks to a letter to the editor that I did awhile ago that I never expected to be printed. I had picked up issue #1 of the reborn Motorcycle Escape magazine, which I just chanced to run across on the newsstand.

I liked the look of it and bought it and when I read it I found they had a nice piece on riding in Colorado. Then what honked me off was that they had a little blurb about another website featuring rides in Colorado, which, when I checked it out, I felt didn’t hold a candle to this one. Not that I’m biased or anything but I really do think this one is far better and yet here these guys were getting the spotlight and not me. (Hey, I’ll let you decide for yourself. That other site is ColoradoMotorcycleRides.com. Check it out.)

So anyway, just feeling a bit annoyed, I wrote a letter to the editor saying “You guys screwed up. You should have spotlighted my site.” And completely forgot about it.

I’ve looked for issue #2 of Motorcycle Escape but never spotted it. But apparently they did publish it and Evan got a copy. And apparently they published my letter. Evan saw it and decided to check out my site. And he read the blog and read about the demo event. And he came and we met. How’s that for a chain of events?

Anyway, Evan and Noel left because their ride was even later than mine and they figured to do something else and come back. I was on the verge of just forgetting the whole thing when it occurred to me that Thunder Valley Motocross Park was just down the road and on such a nice sunny day I should be able to get some good pictures. I had been there once before shooting pictures but it was overcast and my old camera was slow and I didn’t get much that was very good. This time I got a lot of good shots and I’m sure you’ll be seeing some of them here from time to time.

Then I went back and rode the Z1000 Ninja. But that’s another story, told here. I will say this: I was surprised how much I liked it.

Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
Demo riding the Ninja 1000: A modern-day standard

Biker Quote for Today

The Internet is great for motorcycling, but I’ve never done any riding on my keyboard.

The Kawasaki Ticket 2 Ride tour is coming to the Denver area this weekend so what the heck, I’ll go do some demo rides. If you’re inclined to do so as well, they’re going to be setting up out at Bandimere Speedway.

They’ll be there on Saturday and Sunday. Sign up starts at 8 a.m. and rides start at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. It’s first come, first served they say. Generally the earlier you get there the better chance you’ll have of getting some rides in without having to kill a lot of time in between.

This same tour was down in Scottsdale when I was there for Arizona Bike Week. The way they worked it there, and the way I assume they’ll be working it here, is that you fill out the paperwork and then tell them what bikes, up to three, you want to ride. They then schedule you in for those three. If you want to ride more you then go back to the sign-up desk later and see if they can fit you in. If they can they will.

What’s more, if they have a ride going on and there are bikes unclaimed they’ll announce that and let anyone who wants to jump on those bikes.

Kawasaki has two tours going this summer, this one and the Vaquero Nation tour. The Vaquero Nation tour is not coming here, so I presume that if you want to test ride a Vaquero they will have one or two but it will be harder to get on one if they are in demand. Beyond that, they’re bringing at least one bike of the entire Kawasaki line-up, with the exception of the dirt bikes. But if you’re specifically interested in one particular bike, all the more reason to show up early.

Me, I just like to ride as many different bikes as I can, just to see what they’re like. I’m going to be hoping to get a shot at the KLR 650, maybe a couple Ninjas, and if I stick around for more, maybe a Vulcan. Or I might take another Concours 14 out for a spin. I absolutely loved that bike when I rode one in Scottsdale.

Maybe I’ll see you at Bandimere.

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Biker Quote for Today

A bike’s true beauty is measured by the number of beautiful places it has taken you.

I mentioned last week in a post entitled “Prying New Doors Open” that I had made a connection with the editor of Kawasaki’s Accelerate magazine, and that I had sent her one story on spec and a proposal for another. Well, I got a reply a few minutes ago and she declined the story I sent her but did say, “I hope you will stay in contact and feel free to run additional story ideas by me. I’m sure we can come up with something for you to work on in the future.”

That sounds pretty darn good to me. You can bet I’ll be sending story ideas.

So anyway, I did this piece that she wasn’t interested in and rather than let it go to waste, I’m going to run it here. Here you go.

My Ticket to Ride with the Vulcan Nation

Kawasaki rolled into Scottsdale, as did I, and we both had the same destination in mind: Arizona Bike Week. Team Green had the jump on me, so when I rolled up the tents were in place and all those shiny new motorcycles were parked haphazardly, awaiting set-up completion. I especially took note of three Concours 14s and promised myself to get better acquainted with at least one of them.

My ’99 Concours and I came down from Denver in two days of fairly hard riding. We were ready for some R&R. Connie was headed over to GOAZ’s Kawasaki dealership for new tires. I was happy to find one tent site remaining in the shade of the one big tree in the camping area at WestWorld, the huge Scottsdale events complex where Bike Week is held. Nothing much to do but relax for a couple days until the rally opened.

Camping just down the hill from the demo area, I was first in line when registration for demo rides opened, and for my first ride I selected the C-14. I inquired about the differences between the Ninja 1000 and the Ninja ZX-10R. “Night and day,” I was told. “What kind of riding do you do?” I’m primarily a touring rider. “Then you really ought to try the Ninja 1000.” OK, sign me up. That will be my second ride.

“Have you ridden the new Vaquero 1700? We’ve got almost a dozen of those and it’s our top-of-the-line cruiser.” No, I haven’t. Let’s make that number three.

With my ride tickets in my pocket and a stamp on my hand I had a little time. Nice of these Kawasaki folks to provide coffee, cold beverages, fruit, and munchies for us. I partook.

Soon the call was given to assemble for the pre-ride briefing. It was the usual spiel, don’t pass, no sling-shotting, etc., but also a heads-up about filling out a form to get $250 back on any Kawasaki purchased in the next month. And be sure to get a ticket from your ride leader for a free T-shirt, please do the survey, and afterward, go get your picture taken on that Vaquero back by the blue screen.

Throwing my leg over the Concours 14 I was struck, as I had been other times I had looked at them, by the seemingly massive size of the machine. With its 7.5-gallon gas tank way up high, my own Concours is pretty top heavy, but it handles well at speed. How was this one going to handle?

We took off and my answer came right away: Like a dream. We got out on the road and I was right behind the ride leader. He would take off like a rocket and so would I. He’d go swooping around curves and I was right there with him. We wrung those machines out and I got an excellent taste of the C-14’s abilities. Upon our return, as I dismounted, the only thing I could say was, “I love this bike!”

I rode the other two and over the next few days I rode several more bikes but my fascination was with the Concours 14. I did like the upright riding position of the Ninja 1000 far more than I’ve liked other sportbikes, plus, the power was awesome. And the Vaquero is a terrific “we’ve got it all” cruiser, but I’m just not a cruiser kind of guy. (Although that Vaquero T-shirt I got is very cool–one I will actually wear.)

What I especially appreciated was the opportunity I had in one place to try so many different Kawis. I have a second bike, a 30-year-old standard, and for years I told myself that whenever it retired I would replace it with a ZRX1200R. But Kawasaki stopped producing that bike awhile ago and I haven’t settled on anything else. I’ve started doing some dual-sporting so the KLR650 and the Versys are both of interest to me, and now I’ll add the Ninja 1000 to the list of possibilities. I got to ride them all at Arizona Bike Week.

It was my good fortune that both the Ticket to Ride tour and the Vulcan Nation tour were together there in Scottsdale, because they would be going their separate ways when they left. Sue Slate, one of the ride leaders, told me they had the complete Kawasaki line-up on hand and they loved to give rides. In the Kawasaki tent it was the practice, if a ride was preparing to leave and there were bikes unclaimed, to announce that “If you’ve got a helmet and a stamp on your hand, climb on any available bike and go.” That’s a marked contrast to other brands offering demo rides in that one of them limited each rider to no more than two rides a day, while another wanted $50 to let you demo their bikes.

So the rally ended and, with good new rubber on my ’99 Connie, we headed home. She’s still got a lot of miles in her so I won’t be doing any trading any time soon, but this trip settled one question for certain. I know now what my next touring motorcycle will be.

Biker Quote for Today

I can tell better stories when I ride alone, but I have better time when I ride with friends.

A big Oopsie! award goes out this week to Kawasaki. It seems the producer of the super hot Ninja sportbikes had a bit of a design or production glitch.

The Ninja ZX-10R is the 998cc member of the Ninja family and a popular bike. However, if you want one of these babies just at this moment you’re out of luck. In fact if you already bought one you’re out of luck.

Kawasaki announced a couple days ago that it was putting a “technical hold” on all 2011 ZX-10Rs and telling dealers to return any unsold models to the company’s warehouses. What’s more, they are contacting all buyers who have already taken delivery to reimburse their purchases and take the bikes back. That’s right, you bought that, and paid for it, but you can’t keep it. We’re taking it back.

Of course, after whatever fixes that are needed are made, the bikes will be distributed again to dealers and they’ll go on sale. Buyers, on the other hand, are apparently not guaranteed to get “their” bike back, even if they had already done some customizing. Instead, they will “be among the first to have the option of receiving a new unit once the technical hold has been lifted.”

In its statement about the technical hold, Kawasaki was not specific about the nature of the issue. They did say that the ZX-10R will only go back on sale once “Kawasaki is 100 percent confident they reflect company standards for this highly technical, race-bred machine.”

OK, and so here’s a question: What’s the difference between a “technical hold” and a “recall”?

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Holiday gifts for winter motorcyclists

Biker Quote for Today

It’s not the bike so much as it’s the rider. Put the stock pistons back in the bike and quit messing with shit you don’t understand.

Well, OK, not quite. You might think that a rally for the folks who ride a bike that has been in production for nearly 20 years with only minor changes — very much like the old Volkswagen Beetle — would be a huge gathering.

In fact, approximately 250 Kawasaki Concours riders gathered this week in Frisco, CO, (no, Frisco is not short for San Francisco) for the Concours Owners Group 2008 National Rally. And unlike some rallies, nearly everyone rode their bikes to this event. No trailers for this group.

So, I have a Concours. I was there. I wasn’t there for very long, however. The rally started on Monday and I was starting a new job on Tuesday. Rats. So I cruised up on Monday just to say hi and shoot a few pictures.

Those Connie riders are an independent bunch, however, so efforts to get a lot of the bikes together in one place for a photo failed. Harry van der Laan, of Delfzijl, Netherlands, tried to set that up for me. Thanks just the same, Harry. Harry, by the way, is probably the Concours owner who came the farthest for the rally. He didn’t bring his bike all the way from Europe, though. He bought one here a couple years ago and stores it with Rick Hall, another local Connie rider, when he’s not here. He also makes it available to bikers from other countries who come here to ride. Nice guy.

So I had a nice ride in gorgeous weather while most folks were slaving at the office. And I did see more Connies in one place than I’ve ever seen before. And I met some nice folks.

Hey! That’s about got it covered. That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Biker Quote for Today

There’s something ugly about a NEW bike on a trailer.

This may not be a big deal for most motorcyclists, but I just got highway pegs on my Kawasaki Concours. So why is it a big deal for me?

Because for many, many years there were none available. The fact that you can finally get highway pegs for a Concours is thanks to Murph, not Kawasaki. Who is Murph? Murph is a guy who has taken it upon himself to create and market a wide variety of accessories specifically for the Concours. With the first highway pegs he created for the bike you had to cut a hole through your body work, which a lot of guys did, but others were reluctant to do.

But Murph kept at it and now he has come out with a set that requires cutting through a bit of plastic underneath the body work (out of sight) but not the body work itself. You mount the main bolt to the spot where the radiator bolt normally resides, and then a bracket goes sideways from that spot and pokes out one of the vent slots on the fairing. That’s where you attach the pegs.

Now, I’m pretty handy with a wrench, but trying to get clear on what I needed to do to install these things had me bothered. Fortunately, I didn’t have to go it alone. The local chapter of the Concours Owners Group, which I recently rejoined, has a yearly tradition of meeting at Rick Hall’s place up the South St. Vrain Canyon for Wrench and Retch. Folks ride on up to Rick’s and help each other out with the work they need to do on their Connies. Steve, whose last name I didn’t get, has a 1999 Concours, same as mine, and has the same pegs, so he helped me install mine. Rick supplies the tools and the workshop. Rick also cooks up a big pot of chili each year for after the wrenching is all done.

So finally! Now I can go out on these long trips we take each year and I’ll have a way to reposition my legs. Heck, I used them on the way home. From Rick’s I went on up the St. Vrain to the Peak to Peak Highway and on home that way. It was about 75 miles and my legs were ready for some shifting long before I got home. And by gum, they work! Thanks Murph.

Biker Quote for Today

Always replace the cheapest parts first.

After 21 years Kawasaki has totally redesigned the Concours, a bike near and dear to me because I ride one. You’ve probably heard about it–it’s been in all the moto mags. All the reviews have been strongly positive, and the one thing absolutely everyone is saying is that this thing has serious power.

Now Rider magazine has published a shoot-out between four big sport tourers, the Connie, BMW K1200GT, Honda ST1300, and Yamaha FJR1300A. A side-by-side comparison strikes me as the best way to judge something like this. The bottom line is, they unanimously prefer the Honda, with the Connie coming in third. When I bought my Connie I was also interested in the ST but the price differential was too big to swallow. The ST is still more expensive than the new Connie but the difference is enough smaller that, doing it again today, I’d probably pay a little more for the ST.

Here are a few notes about the Concours 14:
Base price is about $13,000, compared to the $8,000 I paid for my 1999 in 1999.
Fuel capacity is 5.8 gallons, compared with the 7.5 gallons in my ’99.
Gas mileage is 36 mpg. I get about 45 mpg on the ’99.
Displacement is 1,352 cc vs. 996 cc on the ’99.

Plus it has all kinds of cool extras that the older models don’t have. So there is good and bad. One thing for sure, it still looks like a Concours. Here’s a shot of a ’99 model like mine and another of the Concours 14: