Passes & Canyons Blog

Think of all I would have missed if I’d never learned to ride a motorcycle.

I wasn’t born knowing how to ride a motorcycle. I had to learn. Neither were you? What a coincidence. Eventually I did learn, however. You did, too? Good for us.

I did not learn by taking a class. Heck, I’m not sure I was even aware back then that classes like that were offered. If I had been I wouldn’t have taken one because I was poor. I was so poor, in fact, that I had to borrow money from my parents to buy my first motorcycle, although I never let them in on that secret till many years later.

Before I bought that bike, my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom, I had ridden motorcycles occasionally, although not recently. I had friends when I was younger who had bikes who occasionally let me ride, but it was only good fortune that kept me from crashing them. I didn’t know how to steer properly.

When I bought my Honda, a friend who had ridden scooters as a kid told me he assumed I understood about counter-steering. Nope. Never heard of it. He didn’t know how to explain it, other than you push the bar right to go left, so I was still none the wiser. But I now understood there was something I needed to learn more about.

Whenever I’m new to something I dive in and learn as much as I can as quickly as I can, mostly by reading. John’s first bike (as an adult; he had a scooter as a kid) was an old Gold Wing that someone gave him. (Nice, huh? Would like this free Gold Wing? Oh gosh, I don’t know. Sure, I’ll take it.) That was a bit too big a bike for him right off the bat but he rode some with another teacher at his school. Then when that guy died unexpectedly his widow asked if John would like to buy his Virago at a very low price. So John got rid of the Gold Wing and bought the Virago.

Along with the Virago, the widow gave John a bunch of her husband’s motorcycle magazines. These he shared with me. The first issue I ever saw of Rider magazine was the one with the newly introduced Honda Pacific Coast on the cover. I read those magazines cover to cover, including the ads, soaking up every bit of knowledge I could. Soon I was subscribing to Rider and Cycle and passing them along to the guys after I had read them. I still do that.

This–along with practice on the road–was where I learned about counter-steering. Along with a whole lot more.

I also learned about traction management. I’m talking about how you have the most traction when the bike is completely erect and the farther you lean the less available traction you have, right up to the point where you lose traction altogether and go into a low-side crash.

First John got a bike, then I did, then Bill did. We rode together a lot. One thing I quickly noticed was how both of them were able to go faster in the twisties than I could. I initially attributed this simply to the fact that they had both had scooters as kids and so were more experienced than me. Later I also figured out that both of their bikes had lower centers of gravity than mine, which just simply made it easier for them. (It’s funny to think of my Honda as having a high center of gravity. My two other bikes, a 1999 Kawasaki Concours and a 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650 are both very tall bikes and I have long come to consider the Honda as the low one.)

Trying to learn to ride better, and to keep up with them, I took to sitting up straight and leaning my Honda way over. I did not understand the risk that entailed as opposed to leaning my body to the inside of the curve and keeping the bike as upright as possible. But I never crashed and eventually I learned the ins and outs of maintaining traction.

Most of my friends to this day have never taken a riding class. Eventually I was no longer poor and I did take riding classes–a whole bunch of them ultimately. By then I could ride competently and what I ended up learning were some finer points that I had still missed. It may surprise you but even an experienced rider can learn something from a riding class.

I did learn to ride. And I like to think I eventually got pretty darn good at it. So here’s a thank-you to everyone–writers, teachers, other riders–who helped me get to this point. I don’t think I would have gotten this good without you.

Biker Quote for Today

On the bike, time stretches, and I glimpse moments of forever.

We had a big group for a while.

When the OFMC got going–before we even came up with the OFMC name–there were three of us: John, Bill, and Ken (me). John had bought a bike, so I bought one, so Bill bought one. Soon enough we decided we needed to go somewhere on these fine machines. That was 1989.

Things took a new twist in 1998 when John’s son Johnathon joined us for the first time, riding the old Yamaha Virago his father had given him when he moved up to his Honda Shadow. That started a chain reaction.

In 2000 Bill’s brother Friggs joined the group. The funny thing is, he didn’t even own a bike at that time. Instead, he rented a Harley. The rental had an “unlimited miles” note in the paperwork but when Friggs took the bike back after the trip the rental guy grumbled that unlimited miles didn’t mean that many miles. Oh yeah? Friggs bought a Virago shortly after the trip.

Then in 2004 things exploded. Bills’ son Jason now joined us and he brought along a friend, Todd. Johnathon also brought his friend Randy. It was also the first trip for Bill and Friggs’s brother-in-law Dennis. Now it was getting too big a group to just be showing up in some random town expecting to find enough motel rooms, but that was a lesson we learned on this trip, not beforehand.

In 2006 Johnathon brought another friend, Brett, and we had the biggest group yet. So we’ve got three original guys, one brother, two sons, one brother-in-law, and a fluctuating line-up of sons’ friends. In 2010 Matt, a brother of one of the friends (see how it spreads!) came along. Finally, in 2015, John’s wife’s cousin Frank joined us and we had the biggest group ever. From there the OFMC began to shrink.

Johnathon and Jason were the first to drop out. They were both young married guys with families and they made the decision that they needed to put their families first and not risk getting hurt badly or killed. Several of the friends fell away then, too. By 2017 we were down to John, Dennis, Bill, Friggs, Brett, and me.

In 2018 John, one of the three founders, did not come. His health issues had gotten too serious and he had sold his motorcycle. The end of an era. Then in 2018, on a clean, smooth road, for no knowable reason, Friggs went down. He escaped serious injury–thank goodness for his helmet–but after finishing the trip he sold his bike and has never ridden again.

Then in 2019 it was just three of us again, Bill, Dennis, and me. That continued until 2022 when we were joined by Bruce but Bruce didn’t make it in 2023 or 2024 so at the end it was just us three. Same number as we started with, two of the same guys. Can’t say for sure yet but it looks like that’s the end. At a poker game recently John asked if there would be a ride next year and I listened keenly to the replies Bill and Dennis gave. Dennis was non-committal, probably waiting for Bill to answer, and Bill said he was not inclined to. But he didn’t say a positive no. We’ll wait and see.

Biker Quote for Today

Motorcycling is like talking; the road speaks, and my heart understands.

I got a lot of good riding out of this bike and it hurt to sell it, but I’m not unhappy that it’s gone.

As all regular readers of this blog are aware, I sold my 1999 Kawasaki Concours back in March. It was the first time I had ever parted with a motorcycle that I owned. Riding for 35 years, I have owned three bikes and still own and ride two of them. Selling the Connie really brought mixed emotions.

It didn’t help, of course, that I ended up letting it go for a pittance. But after problems at the end of last year’s OFMC trip, and months spent waiting for the shop where I took it to do . . . nothing . . . it really was something of a relief to be done with it. But it was still sad and a bit wrenching.

During this time I looked around and found a used Yamaha FJ-09 at Vickery Motorsports that I was very interested in but until I could clear space in my garage I had nowhere to go with it. By the time the Kawi was gone the FJ-09 was, too.

So now whenever I get together with friends the question always comes up, are you going to get a new bike? My answer is as surprising to me as it is to them: No.

No, I really kind of like only having two bikes. I like having room in my workshop to use it as a workshop, rather than as a garage. I like having one less vehicle to maintain, pay taxes on, and pay insurance on. And it had gotten hard to find someone to work on such an old bike.

I also like not jockeying around this really heavy machine. Both my other bikes are much lighter than the Concours and I had been aware for a long time that the day was going to come as I get older when I was not going to feel up to handling that heavy thing. I’m not at that point, but already being free of that feels good. I also don’t miss having to deal with all that bodywork–the plastic panels covering the engine and forming the fairing. That stuff makes any work you do on the bike twice as much of a hassle.

Still, having finally sold a bike, I now feel a new freedom to think about doing so again. My main bike now is my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom 650 and I like it a lot but truth be told, I really would not mind something just a little bigger. Like that FJ-09, or the newer Yamaha Tracer. When I’m riding the V at highway speeds that little engine is very busy. An 850cc or 900cc engine would not have to be working quite so hard to hit those high speeds. Plus, the V-Strom is old enough that it’s now an issue to find someone to work on it.

I’m in no hurry, but what I foresee is to find an FJ or Tracer, buy it, and immediately turn around and sell the V-Strom. But right now I have not looked at bikes for sale at all, and I have no inclination as yet to begin. I’m just enjoying the two bikes I have.

Biker Quote for Today

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of riding a motorcycle.

I’ve loved this bike but I’m ready to let it go.

The latest on this idea I’ve had to swap out my 1999 Kawasaki Concours for a 2015 Yamaha FJ-09 is that the status quo seems to be reclaiming the momentum.

I really have made up my mind that I would like to let go of the Connie and replace it with something more modern, but as I said, I have to get rid of the Connie before I can do anything else. And that has been complicated by the presence of a mechanical issue, making the sale of the Connie extremely questionable.

Well, I talked with Mark at Rowdy Rocket Garage about what it would cost to fix the Kawi. I just didn’t want to spend $500 or more only to turn around and sell the bike for something less than the repair cost. It turns out, Mark said diagnosing the problem would take less than an hour of shop time, at $90 per hour, and then that would clarify what the fix would cost. Probably not a lot, he said. So now I’m looking–maybe–at having the Connie running well again for maybe as little as $200. OK Mark, when can I get the bike in to you?

As usual, for Mark it’s a matter of having to get a bike out before he can take another in. Check back in a few days. I did. Check back in a few days. Here we go again.

But now I’m totally onto the idea of fixing the Kawi. That way, I can just keep riding it, and enjoying riding it, and during next year’s riding season I can put the bike up for sale and hopefully get a decent price for it. Then, and only then, I can start looking for a bike to buy, and just be patient, take my time, and wait until I find a really great deal.

Yes that means that I’ll miss out on this FJ-09 over at Vickery, which is really too bad because it already has all the extras and is at a good price now. But they won’t have that bike come June or whenever I might manage to sell the Kawi. And wherever I find another one it probably won’t be five miles from my house. Although that could be OK; if I have to fly to Seattle and ride the bike home, oh, please don’t throw me in that briar patch. (Do people today understand that reference? If not, see Br’er Fox and Br’er Rabbit.)

The flip side is that maybe sometime next year I’ll be able to find a newer bike of the same sort for the same price. That would suit me fine. One thing I’m good at is patience. And maybe by then I’ll be willing to spend even more and get something even newer than that. To quote Irma Thomas, via the Rolling Stones, “Time is on my side, yes it is.”

Biker Quote for Today

Life is short, so grip it and rip it.

I want this motorcycle. Anybody want to buy a 1999 Kawasaki Concours really cheap?

OK, I’ve made up my mind and I really do want to buy this Yamaha FJ-09 sitting over at Vickery. But I have one big problem.

The problem is that I have the space to store three motorcycles, and I have three motorcycles. If I buy a new one I have got to get rid of one of the old ones. Which of the old ones to get rid of is not a problem, it would be the Concours. But how do I get rid of it?

They had told me at Vickery that they would do a trade-in but they also told me I would not like the price they would offer me. I understood that but I rode the Connie over there on Tuesday so Brent could look it over and give me a number that would at least enable me to process the whole matter further. Bill Vickery was there and the three of us went out to the bike. Bill expressed surprise at how clean it was and agreed that it was in very good shape.

Then he and Brent conferred and Brent came back with the number: $200. And they would put it on the floor with a $900 price tag. He urged me to put it on Craigslist or take it over to Steele’s to see what they would give me for it. Steele’s, of course, is a salvage yard, but they do sell used bikes, too. Maybe they would offer more than $200. Worth a shot.

The best thing, though, Brent said, would be to put it on the market asking about $700 and hope that some young guy who wants a nice bike but doesn’t have much money would fulfill his dream.

I looked on Craigslist nationally and found five of the old-style Connies. With one exception they were listed for prices well above $700, even one that’s older than mine. None of them have as many miles on them as mine does. The one exception had a price tag of $100 and the posting explained that it had an issue that the owner didn’t know how to fix so he was offering someone who could fix it a terrific deal. The post also was marked “Sold.”

Well, mine has an issue, a sticky throttle that Brent says is caused by an intake issue, which is a little different but related to what Mark at Rowdy Rocket Garage told me was a vacuum-related issue. No one is going to pay a lot for a bike they know they’ll have to turn around and spend more money on.

Sure I could pay to have the issue fixed and then ask more, but still, who at this time of year is going to be buying it? And sure, I can wait and sell it come spring but Vickery is not likely to still have that FJ-09 come May next year. And it’s a nice bike at a very nice price.

I went over there Tuesday in part to check out the seat height and although it is higher than my other bikes it still is no problem at all to get my feet down. Brent credited the bike’s narrowness for that. And the general riding position felt really good.

So how, in November, am I going to sell my Concours? I will take it to Steele’s and see what they offer. But if they offer $300 what then? Really, the bike has no financial value. But if I put, say, another $500 into it to get this issue fixed, it would then continue to give me years of riding. But at this point I have made up my mind that I would like a newer bike, with some of the newer features, lighter, and something I could take to a dealer if it needs work.

I want this Fj-09 and maybe the answer is to just accept that the Kawi has no value and take anything I can get for it and be done with it. Anybody want to buy a very nice 1999 Kawasaki Concours really cheap?

Biker Quote for Today

Buy a motorcycle because money returns and time doesn’t.

One reason it just seems wrong to get rid of this Concours is that I finally have this top bag.

OK, thinking out loud again.

I took two bikes out back to back this weekend, the Concours and the CB750. On the Connie first I was constantly aware of how the throttle will not back off instantly as it should. It got better later in the ride, I don’t know why, in that when I would come to a stop it would back off right away. But while moving, whether up- or down-shifting, the engine would race as I pulled in the clutch. Plus, it was like cruise control in that I could release the throttle entirely and the bike would just cruise along.

Mark over at Rowdy Rocket Garage swears it has to do with the vacuum mechanism and I have no reason to doubt that. But until it’s fixed it is extremely annoying.

Then I took the Honda out and it was so much fun to ride. The bike just ran, doing everything it ought to do. It was so nice. And that made me think: I would not put up with issues like this on my car. If something isn’t working right on my car I take it in and have it fixed. Time was when I was poor and I would live with such issues for a long time, but those days are past.

And so, OK, yeah, I could just take the bike in except it isn’t that easy. I’ve gone through all this hassle I’ve been having trying to find a new mechanic and/or find a slot to get a bike in. So it’s not that easy.

Meanwhile, I haven’t forgotten that fully dressed Yamaha FJ-09 sitting on the floor over at Vickery. I went over and looked at it at one point and I was very tempted. Did they still have it?

I checked their website and yes, it’s still there, and the price is just $8,000. I had been thinking $10,000. Is my memory wrong or have they dropped the price? Thinking 10 and seeing 8 makes it just that much more appealing. Now I want to go back over and check it out some more ASAP, like probably Tuesday.

Plus, Bill Vickery said they would take my Connie as a trade-in, so that’s good considering that it would probably be extremely hard to sell unless this throttle issue is fixed. And if it were fixed why would I want to sell the Connie anyway? Yes, I know they would give me peanuts for it but it would be off my hands. Talking with Bob at last week’s RMMRC meeting he told me he had a bike he just gave away because he couldn’t sell it. He tried to do a trade-in but the dealer said he would give him a better deal without the trade-in because they just didn’t want that bike he was getting rid of on their floor–they wouldn’t be able to sell it.

But if I would keep the Connie if the problem were fixed, why not just bite the bullet and get it fixed? For one thing, even if it cost a bundle it would still probably be a good bit less than $1,000, and that is versus $8,000 for this FJ-09. And that’s not even factoring in taxes or higher insurance rates.

I don’t know what to do. That’s why I’m writing this, to try to figure out my own mind. It works much of the time; it does not work all the time.

I’m just going to have to go to Vickery and check out that FJ-09 again on Tuesday. For one thing, it has a higher seat height than any of my three current bikes. When I got the Kawi it took me a long time to get used to that high seat. Then I got the V-Strom and it was even higher and it was just no big deal because I was already used to the Kawi. But now we’re talking 32 inches and my inseam is 29.

I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know. But at some point I will know and I’ll tell you all about it then.

Biker Quote for Today

A new bike can make you excited as well as emotional.

Motorado has a lot of bikes but not a lot of space.

It’s funny how you get an idea and if you let it it takes on a life of its own. I got this idea of swapping two of my motorcycles–the ’06 V-Strom 650 and the ’99 Concours–for something in between them that would fill both their niches. Then I mentioned it to the guys, who enthusiastically supported the idea. And now I’m looking at bikes.

Whoa. Hold on. Do I really want to do this? The more I think about it the more, when riding the old bikes, I find myself appreciating the things I have always liked about them. Why mess with what is already good?

But the thing is in motion. After looking at some new bikes and test riding one, I turned my attention to used bikes. Two reasons: a used bike costs less than a new bike, plus a used bike–if you choose selectively–will come with a lot of the extras you would need to pay extra for on a new bike.

I had looked at web sites and seen some bikes of possible interest so last week I decided it was time to see some of these bikes in person. I headed first to Aces because it was reasonably close but also because this is where my now former mechanic, Joel, now works. What I found was very different from my expectations.

I had the mistaken idea that Joel was the head of the service department at Aces but in fact, Aces does not do service. Joel is the mechanic on site with the job of doing whatever is needed by any of the bikes on the premises. So my search for a new mechanic goes on.

Then, second, pretty much every bike they had in their spacious showroom was a late model bike, mostly 2019 and newer. Yes you would pay less for these than for new models but we’re still talking pretty big bucks.

I did, however, get an idea for one model to consider and that was the Yamaha Tracer 900. The sales guy Joel hooked me up with said it was one of his three all-time favorite bikes and it seemed to fit in the middle ground where I was hoping to find something. Unfortunately, the 2019 model they had on hand does not have cruise control. That was only added to that model in 2020.

Leaving Aces I figured I was already over on the west side of town so I might as well go on over to Motorado at 6th and Sheridan. This proved to be a very different place.

In contrast to the huge showroom at Aces, Motorado has a much smaller space with bikes crammed in every square inch. They had several bikes I had seen on their website and I could check them out but only within limits. For instance, one bike was on its sidestand and I couldn’t stand it upright because the bike on one side was literally leaning onto it, just as it was leaning onto the bike on the other side. I figure if you are really interested in a bike you better have a check or credit card in your hand before you ask them to pull one out so you can really check it out.

On another I was interested in the seat height but it was on its center stand and there was no way I could rock it down to see how my feet touched ground. But at least at Motorado they had plenty of bikes that were not just late model, and they were therefore at better price points.

I don’t know. I guess next I’ll look more into buying from private owners. The problem there is that it’s much more of a buyer beware situation. And while it’s easy to take a used car to a shop to have it inspected by a mechanic, try that with a motorcycle. I’m trying to find a new mechanic to even work on my bikes and I’m not having a lot of luck.

So that just sends me back to the question of whether or not I even want to do this. But as Judy pointed out, if I had a newer bike I could take it to a dealer and they’d be happy to work on it for me. At least until it got old enough that they fired me as a customer again.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: Motorcycles don’t get pregnant.

The MP3 I test rode several years ago.

February 1 and 2 were good days to ride so I did. I took my Honda out of what we call the workshop and when I came back I rolled the Kawi out so I could put the Honda in first. That put the Kawi in position to come out easily so I could ride it next time. The V-Strom lives in the garage so I end up moving cars to get it in and out.

While I was doing all this shuffling of bikes, pushing them around, rocking them back onto their center stands, it struck me that these are heavy machines. I realized that at some point, still quite a few years down the line, fortunately, there is likely to come a time when I won’t physically be able to do it anymore. I’m healthy as a horse now, but inevitably there will come a time when I’m old and frail. What am I going to do then?

It was interesting that the answer presented itself immediately. I’ll switch to a scooter.

That’s not the only possible answer to that question. For a lot of people the answer is a trike. I know a lot of people who ride trikes now, and several of my riding buddies have spoken from time to time of switching to a trike when it becomes an issue. But I don’t like trikes; they steer like cars. They don’t lean. About the only way that they’re like motorcycles is that you’re out in the open. But heck, I could get that with a convertible and it would be almost the same thing, and a lot more versatile.

One three-wheeler that I might consider would be a Piaggio MP3. Like the Can-Am Spyder, they have two wheels in front and one in the rear, but the front end is totally different, and unique to Piaggio. On an MP3 the two front wheels work like one and you do actually lean. Don’t ask me to explain it, it’s a sophisticated design, but I rode one once and it was very nice. Then of course there are several other newer bikes like the Yamaha Niken that I’ve read good things about, although the Niken is said to be pretty darn heavy itself, what with a double fork up front.

No, I figure a scooter will be the way to go. First off, they’re light, but they can be pretty powerful. During the week I scooted everywhere a few years ago I spoke with a scooterist who told me he could easily hit 90 mph on his 250cc ride. I doubt I’ll need more speed than that when I’m 85. Even now, the speedometer on my Honda CB750 –an old bike–tops out at 85 mph.

Of course, there could be another alternative by that time. Electric motorcycles are getting better all the time and the ones that are out there now are light. They have to be in order to get any good distance on today’s batteries, but I’m betting that in 20 or 30 years you’ll be able to buy a great electric bike that is comparable to an 800cc motorcycle of today and it will weigh half of what my 750cc Honda weighs.

Nope. I can see me possibly owning a number of different bikes sooner or later, but I just don’t see a trike in my future. And I do hope to be riding in my 90s.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: Wearing two fresh rubbers makes riding a bike MORE enjoyable.