Passes & Canyons Blog

It’s been quite awhile since I looked at this thread on Adventure Riders but it’s worth checking out now and then. The topic is, what stupid questions have people asked you on your bike?

• The steer horns I have on the front of my bike have gotten some nice questions that seem to be rather consistent by region. Texas/Louisiana: ”that’s from a hunt you went on right?” New England: ”is that in case you run into any animals at night?”
• You ride that all the way here? Yep, it’s too heavy to push.
• I ride a KTM 950 SM. when asked “what kind of bike is that?” I reply, “it is a KTM.” their reply, “Oh, I had a Kawasaki when I was younger…”
• When people ask me how fast it is I tell them I’ve had it to about 195. And most of the time they believe it.
• When I turned 16 and got my license, my dad let me ride his (then) R1100S up to the beach. I pulled into the motorcycle parking and took my helmet off, only to have a 21-year old on a CBR come up and ask “What are those things sticking out from the engine? Are they superchargers?”
  I was dumbstruck until he pointed to the cylinders. When I told him that it was an opposed twin, a.k.a boxer engine, he told me I didn’t know what I was talking about and told his girlfriend that they were superchargers. She just laughed at him because of the face I made when he asked me.
• OP: Why’s your bike so dirty?
  Me: Because I like riding it in the dirt.
  OP: Yea, I get that, but why don’t you wash it?
  Me: I do sometimes, but then it just gets dirty again, so why bother?
• I was running late Monday night so I walked into class ATGATT (‘stich, boots, helmet in hand, etc.) At the end of the class, the guy next to me asks, “Schwinn or Huffy?”
• My fav “goin’ ridin’?” to which I reply “nope, Im taking a trip to the moon”
• At the grocery store, I usually get (whenever I’m ATG), “so, you’re on a bike, ‘eh??” And I usually respond with…” Nope…gonna get shot out of a cannon…..again!”
• While wearing my Olympia mesh 1-piece during the Summer I often run out for errands at lunch and keep it on while I run in for a sandwich or at the farm stand. I often get asked if I fly a plane or if I’m in the military. Sometimes I get asked if I was skiing – yep that’s right…I’m skiing in 92 degree weather in NJ in July 150 miles from the nearest hill!

I know I’m dating myself here but Art Linkletter used to have a section on his show called “Kids Say the Darnedest Things.” You know what? People say the darnedest things. And there’s your proof.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: You don’t have to convince your motorcycle that you’re a motorcyclist and that you think that motorcycles are equals.

OK folks, this is serious. Unfortunately, the data I’m able to come up with are unclear.

I was on my V-Strom headed south on I-25 a few days ago and one of those highway message signs was saying something like “102 motorcycle deaths this year, be aware of motorcycles.” I swear it said 102 but now I can’t anything to support that number.

But that fired me up to look at the latest numbers. I mean, it’s only September and if we’re at 102 that’s a lot because whereas in 2016 the Colorado fatality rate hit 125, it had dropped to just (just!) 103 in 2017, again in 2018, and a third time in a row in 2019. And as recently as 2012 the number was only 79. So 102 in early September is a lot.

That’s not the whole story, though. In 2020 the number shot up to 140. That’s a lot! And in 2021 it was 137. Yikes.

Now, the most recent information I can find is saying we were only at 75 at the end of August. Something just doesn’t jibe here. I swear that sign on the highway said 102. And various reports I found said we’re up this year from last year, so in that case 102 now would make sense. Only 75 now would seem to suggest a downward trend. I don’t get it.

OK, I’m passing this along in real time. I just went to the Biker Down Facebook page and they have a photo of the sign saying 102, along with the note, dated September 7, “2 weeks ago, BikerDown Colorado was interviewed on Fox 31 with year-to-date statistics that 85 riders had passed on a motorcycle. Heading to DIA yesterday, the total is now 102.” Holy smokes! What the heck is going on?!

People, we’ve got to be careful out there. While it’s easy to point fingers at drivers on their cell phones there are riders at fault here, too. Jungle has always said that if you’re in a crash you were at fault. Yes, the other guy may have precipitated the situation but it is your responsibility to always be riding as though you are invisible and everyone else on the road is deliberately out to kill you.

It’s pretty hard to argue against that. Ride like your life depends on it. Because it does.

Biker Quote for Today

Cars have bumpers. Bikers have bones. Drive aware.

I’ve read more than once how one of the things bikers love about their motorcycles is customizing them and making them uniquely their own. Sometimes this means practical things like a more comfortable seat and other times it’s basically just farkles.
What the heck is a farkle? In a 2017 article by that name in Rider magazine, Jenny Smith offered this definition:

Farkle (n): A modification to a motorcycle that satisfies the following criteria: creates “bling,” serves a purpose (the usefulness of which is in the eyes of the farkler) and is most likely expensive. Often used among touring riders to denote or convey status amongst their peers. Ex: “I picked up a new farkle for my ST today: a GPS-based burger joint locator!” (v): To farkle; to accessorize one’s motorcycle with farkles. Ex: “Boy, John really farkled out his K1300GT; it’s even got a cup holder!”

I got to thinking about this the other day when I spotted a 1980 Honda CB750 Custom at 1 Up Four Down while getting a new tire on my V-Strom. Asking about the Honda the guy told me there was a problem with an aftermarket exhaust system. He then asked me if I still had the stock system on my Honda. Yes I do.

One thought leads to another–the proverbial train of thought–and that’s how we got here: a discussion of my own practices regarding farkles and aftermarket equipment.

In short, I’m not much into farkles but I do modify my bikes to make better them fit me and my style of riding. When I bought my first bike, the Honda, I immediately added a windshield. I have never enjoyed the powerful blast of wind against my head and chest so I added that right away. Then Bill and John and I started going on longer rides and I discovered I needed highway pegs and a throttle lock. Plus I got a case guard to protect the motor in case of a get-off.

That’s it, that’s all I’ve ever done to the bike other than replacing the sissy bar pouch it came with when that rotted away.

Next came the Concours and another immediate purchase: risers. Stock, that bike had me leaning way forward and very uncomfortable. I got some Helibar risers that moved the grips up and back a couple inches and it was a night and day difference. I wouldn’t have been able to ride that bike without them.

Then of course I had to get a throttle lock. But adding highway pegs was a tougher project. There didn’t seem to be any good way to do it, and the not so good ways meant doing permanent damage to the body work. Then Murph save the day and came out with a cantilevered solution that allowed you to mount the pegs without cutting into your plastic. Done.

That was it for a long time, until last year I finally satisfied a desire and got a top bag with a good mount to hold it. And that’s all I’ve ever done with that bike.

Comes the V-Strom and it already had aftermarket Givi side bags so I didn’t need much. Of course I added a throttle lock but I also put on a case guard and highway pegs. Then a top bag and that bike is set. What more could I need?

Well, of course, I do have tank bags for all three bikes, just as I have saddle bags for the Honda but those are not added on as parts of the bikes, they readily come right off and would not go with the bike if I ever let go of one of my bikes.

Yeah, if the aftermarket depended on people like me there would be a much smaller aftermarket. But mostly that market depends on people like Dennis, who is now on his fifth or sixth bike in the 15 or so years I’ve been riding with him. Somebody has to keep the wheels of commerce turning and I figure better him than me.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when your biggest decision of the day is left or right.

I’ll be leaving soon on this year’s OFMC trip and I plan to ride the Concours. So I got a new tire put on the V-Strom.

You have to understand, one of the best things about having more than one motorcycle is that if you’re planning to ride and find at the last minute that the bike you planned on has an issue, you just take a different one. I’ve run into that situation more than once.

Most recently, I was loading my Concours the night before departure on the Great River Road ride and found that the valve stem on the rear tire was totally rotted out. I immediately unloaded and moved everything to the V-Strom. I don’t expect anything like that this time but I wanted to be prepared just in case.

And man was that front tire in need of replacement. It wasn’t down to the cords or anything like that, but ever since I’ve had that bike I’ve run 80-20 Shinko tires that have an 80 percent bias for street riding but a chunkier tread that provides the 20 percent bias toward dirt. The thing is, in reality I don’t get off on the dirt all that much, but this tire doesn’t seem to like the pavement very much so it had a really odd wear pattern.

In fact, the guy at One Up Four Down, where I had the work done, commented on what an odd wear pattern it had, how the cupping was very unusual. Basically, the chunky tread along the outside was still thick but sloped down to almost nothing diagonally at an angle, while the inner portion of the tread was almost down to the DOT lines. Weird.

So I decided OK, I’ll just go with street tires. The guys next door at Let It Ride, where I bought the tire, recommended a Metzeler so that’s what I got.

In the meantime, while the guys were putting the new tire on I looked around at all the bikes they had in the repair shop. In the front of the shop, in an area where I was told the bikes were either ready to be picked up or were waiting for parts to arrive I spotted something very startling: A 1980 Honda CB750 Custom exactly like mine, except looking a lot more shiny and polished than mine.

It seems this bike, though, has an aftermarket exhaust system that has gone to crap and now they’re having a hard time finding something to replace it with. I still have the stock exhaust on mine and it works fine so whoever took theirs off and replaced it might have made a bad decision.

But there it was, looking very pretty and otherwise probably in a lot better condition than mine. I’m glad to see there are still others out there loving this old bike.

Biker Quote for Today

100 reasons not to date a biker: 38. “Am I dating an adult or a 10 year old” you’ll wonder sometimes.

Bill texted asking if we would like to ride up to Black Hawk for lunch and Dennis and I both said yes so we met at the usual place. Bill said he was figuring on going up Golden Gate Canyon so I had a flash. Have you guys ever been on Douglas Mountain Drive, I asked. No, they hadn’t so I led them on this ride.

When I first rode this road, last year, there was a sign at the top that said “Pavement Ends.” That was the case then, but this spring some time they sort of paved almost all of it. The sign is still there but now it’s largely incorrect. I would never had considered taking Bill and Dennis on that road but this newer, more paved road seemed like something they would be OK with.

The thing is, Dennis is very short and it’s a challenge for him to reach down and plant his foot, so he hates gravel.

So we went up from Golden Gate Canyon and dropped down into Clear Creek Canyon on Douglas Mountain Drive. We got to Black Hawk and parked and I asked how they had liked that ride. Anyone else I’ve ever been with on a first ride of this road has raved about how fabulous it was or how totally cool it was or something like that.

Dennis’s response: “It was a bit rough in places.”

Bill’s response: “It was kind of challenging sometimes.”

That’s it. OK.

So just as we came into Black Hawk, as we approached our turn, my bike sputtered a little like it’s needing to go to reserve. The odometer said only 118 miles and this bike (CB750) goes to reserve generally around 140 miles. So I didn’t immediately flip the petcock. Sometimes the warning can be subtle and it was this time. But then it just died. So I flipped the petcock, fired it up again, and pulled into the parking area and shut it back off.

We had lunch and played the machines a bit, which, or course, is what people do in Black Hawk. We ended up leaving with more money than we came with but the cash was not distributed equally. Bill won as usual, but only a little. Dennis had what is for him an extremely good day. And as usual I lost. You just have to think about it as paying by the hour for this particular form of entertainment, with the small possibility you’ll actually get paid rather than be the one paying.

Bill figured to just head back down through Clear Creek Canyon but he warned us there was construction going on and we might have to stop. OK. Then, taking the lead, he pulled into the gas station just down from Black Hawk thinking I might like to fill up. I appreciated his thoughtfulness.

That worked out perfectly then. We came onto a line of traffic stopped in the canyon but had only been there about two minutes when the folks ahead of us started to move. Great. And as we passed the line waiting in the other direction I counted at least 45 cars waiting for us to get clear so they could go the other way. Meanwhile, there were only three cars behind us. Great timing.

And then back in the city, after riding in canyon/mountain comfort, the heat soared and my last 10 miles were scorched. I’m ready for this heat to go away again.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if Jack Daniels makes your list of “most admired people.”

I was out on my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom last week and I realized I’ve been neglecting this old friend. It’s late in August and I was only getting out on this particular bike for the first time this month. Meanwhile I’ve put a good many miles on the other two.

Not only that, I’ve already taken the V-Strom on a trip of 2,800 miles this summer and in just a couple weeks I’ll be taking the Concours on a 1,500 mile trip. Meanwhile, even after my ride the other day I’ve only put 198 miles on the Honda so far this year. If I really love this bike (and I do!) how can I ignore it like that?

You have to understand, my Honda is not just a motorcycle, it is the physical realization of one of my fondest, most ardent dreams. My dream to own a motorcycle as a teenager was thwarted by my mother and years later when I finally got the CB I was absolutely in heaven.

Then, on top of that, when Judy and I got married she came with three kids who did everything in their power for the first seven years of our marriage to make every single day a living hell. There were two weeks every year when I was not in a constant state of rage. One was the week each year when she would take the kids and they would go off on a road trip, leaving me at home, blissfully alone. The other was the OFMC trip when I was gone, out on the road on my beloved motorcycle.

I remember one day heading out of town on the Honda and throwing my head back and screaming to the skies, “I love my motorcycle!!”

Fortunately, the kids finally all moved out and after a while they even grew up and became human beings. Every one of them now has deep regrets over how they behaved and how they treated us back then. And that’s great, we get along fine. I don’t hold it against them; they’re not the same people they were back then.

Also since then, I have acquired two additional motorcycles. And honestly, although I used to always do long trips on the Honda, the other two really are better suited for that kind of thing. So the Honda sits at home. But I still love that bike. And every time I do get out on it it just reminds me how much fun it is to ride. I just need to do it more.

Biker Quote for Today

Why motorcycles are better than women: You don’t have to take a shower before riding your motorcycle.

I’ve had motorcycle batteries on my mind recently because one of my bikes has one that is a bit long in the tooth. I’ve had battery troubles while on the road before and I’d rather be preemptive than have to interrupt a trip with problems.

So it was with some interest that within two days I got emails, both from Adventure Rider, about two hot new batteries, both claiming to be the best ever. One is by Shorai and the other is Antigravity. I’ve never heard of either of them. So what do ya got?

Shorai says this: “Originally founded in 2010 in Sunnyvale, CA, Shorai LFX has quickly become the world’s most popular lithium iron phosphate power sports battery. Shorai LFX™ batteries deliver more energy faster, with less weight and with less wear on the battery per start cycle than any other brand or technology available on the market today.”

I figured I’d take a look at what they have for my 1999 Concours. Wrong. Their selections don’t go back to that model, so I looked at other model bikes that might use the same battery. What I came to was the Shorai LFX21A6-BS12, which listed at $245.95. OK, that’s pricey. Maybe check for a battery for the 2006 V-Strom 650.

OK, that brought me to the Shorai LFX18A1-BS12, which lists for $209.95. That’s still a bit high but I guess it depends on what you get for the money. And that’s actually kind of hard to get a handle on. Not surprisingly these lithium batteries are much lighter than their lead-acid counterparts and they claim to provide better starting power. How long will this thing last? I can’t find anything on the website that speaks to that.

And by the way, the lowest-priced battery in their line-up lists for $109.95. It gives the size specs so if that one works in the space you’ve got it might do the job. But all in all I’m not satisfied with the information provided.

As for Antigravity, they say: “THE BEST BATTERY EVER?!!!
That’s a bold statement… but we feel it holds true if you are looking for the best Starter Battery for your Motorcycle, Powersport vehicle, or even your Car. Antigravity Lithium Batteries offer a first-of-its-kind Built-In Jump Starting that will save you from being stranded; they also offer more REAL Amp Hours than competitors, which increases starting performance in cold weather and offers more overall Capacity for your Bike. Additionally, we have Heavy Duty (HD) versions for those needing even more capacity and power.”

OK, so one key thing here is their “built-in jump starting.” That is, even when the battery is theoretically dead, there is a separate compartment or reserve somewhere that holds onto enough juice to get you going so you can get out of the boonies to some place where you can get service. That could be a very handy thing.

Again, I could find nothing specified for my Concours but for the V-Strom they offer two, the ATX-12 RESTART and the ATX-12 HD RESTART, for $224.99 and $259.99, respectively.

Now here’s an interesting thing. To jump start when you’re otherwise dead you have to push a button on the battery. That’s not generally a very easy thing on most bikes so they also offer a remote device that makes it easier–at a price, of course.

They do also speak to battery life, claiming that their battery will last up to twice the life cycle of other lead acid and/or lithium batteries. And the battery comes with four posts, not two, so it will fit in your space and connect properly regardless of whether your set-up is oriented one way or the other.

So OK, maybe I’ll look into one of these Antigravity batteries. If I do you can bet I’ll have a follow-up report down the road.

Biker Quote for Today

You might be a Yuppie biker if you can’t find your oil filter.

I was heading out last week on that RMMRC ride I mentioned and had only gotten as far as the collector street coming out of our neighborhood. I looked left and then pulled right, out onto Tamarac, and only seconds later a young guy on a sportbike blasted past me in the parking/bike lane on my right.

That definitely gave me a start and at first I thought I had looked but had not seen him coming along. But after zigging into the traffic lane he then zagged back into the bike lane to pass the car in front of me. So no, it probably wasn’t that I hadn’t seen him, he was probably behind the oncoming car I saw when I looked but in just a flash he had passed that guy and then was right up on me.

We continued up Tamarac and the car ahead of him stopped at a red light. The guy on the bike pulled alongside the car, using the bike lane, of course, looked both ways to see there was no cross traffic, and blasted on through the red. Another two blocks and I came up in the left-turn lane and while he sat at the red at Hampden I made my left turn. Just another of the countless examples I’ve observed where aggressive driving (or riding) gains you almost nothing.

So I headed west on Hampden and was approaching Broadway, but now, stopped two back at a red light, another young guy on another sportbike filtered his way to the front, pulling fully into the pedestrian crossing that everyone else had stopped short of. My immediate question was, is he going to blast through the red, too? He didn’t, but as soon as the light turned he screamed on ahead. And he kept doing that. Again it didn’t work very beneficially for him because by the time we got to where he turned left off Hampden I was still almost right up with him and I was just moving with traffic.

I also wrote not so long ago about coming south on Havana when a guy on a bike first went screaming past all the traffic ahead of him, using the center lane. At a red light with left-turn lanes in both directions he blasted on through the light using the turn lanes. Obviously, if anyone had been turning this would not have been possible but there weren’t and he did.

What’s with all this flagrant disregard of the traffic laws? It seems to have come on during the Covid lock-down. Back when the world had largely shut down and there was no traffic on the roads, the few people who were out found they could scream along at high speed and simply not worry about other traffic because there was no other traffic. Why wait at red lights for absolutely no other vehicles? And they liked that. Hey, who wouldn’t?

Now traffic is back to normal. But these guys are spoiled. They don’t want to give up their newfound freedom to scream down the road and ignore red lights. So they don’t.

That’s a little all right, until someone gets hurt. And really, do they think they’ll always be able to get away with it? I’m all in favor of flaunting the rules a bit as long as no innocent person pays a price. But when someone gets hurt it’s a completely different story. Maybe these guys ought to just accept that they had their moment but now that moment is past.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if You think black and orange would make nice house colors.