Passes & Canyons Blog

If you’re like me and the your main riding group of buddies (in my case the OFMC) doesn’t do as many rides as you might like to do, joining a public group can solve that issue. For me, that came a number of years ago in the form of the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club (RMMRC). Nowadays I ride a lot more with the RMMRC than I do with the OFMC.

Well, you can, too. At this moment the RMMRC has four multi-day rides planned and posted on the site. Club membership only costs $12 a year and all sign-up is handled through MeetUp.com. Here’s a quick run-through.

2024 BMW National Rally — While officially a BMW rally, in reality all makes are welcome. The RMMRC does this rally most years because so many club members do ride BMWs but it’s really just an excuse to go somewhere. The plan is only to spend about half a day at the actual rally.

The group going will be leaving Denver on Monday, June 10, and returning on Thursday, June 20. Each day’s ride will be in the 300 to 350 mile range.

Colorado Scenic Highways — I’m going to be going on this ride, which leaves on Thursday, June 27 and returns on Sunday, June 30. The three overnight destinations are Crested Butte, Grand Junction, and Durango. Then the only long day’s ride is coming home from Durango.

Glacier & Banff National Parks — This trip will run from Monday, August 5, to Friday, August 16. It’s kind of a skinny loop so that means no actual back-tracking, which is nice. Sometimes on these rides you have little choice but to return on at least some of the roads you went out on. I won’t be going on this ride, partly because it doesn’t work with my schedule and partly because I did a very similar ride a few years ago. About the only place we didn’t get to on that trip that this trip will hit is Calgary. I’m sure it’s going to be a really good ride.

Colorado 4-Corners Tour — This is a 4-day, 3-night tour starting from and returning to Morrison. Total tour is just over 1,000 miles with daily mileage between 250-340 miles. The stops are Walsenberg, Farmington, and Ridgway. Departure is Thursday, September 19, and return is Sunday, September 22.

So hey! Not getting in enough riding? Here’s your chance. You’d be very welcome. What are you waiting for?

Biker Quote for Today

You are not alone bro, your bike is with you.

I had seen an article about the opening of a REV’IT! store in downtown Denver. Really? There is enough demand for an actual bricks and mortar store of REV’IT! products in this town? I had to check this out.

Then I took a quick look at Google Maps to be clear on my destination and noticed two things. First, the REV’IT! store was right across the street from Erico Motorsports, which I’ve been to previously, but also, right next door to Erico was a RevZilla store. I didn’t know RevZilla had physical stores either, and there it was in a cluster with the other two shops. More and more interesting.

It was morning and I saw that REV’IT! opened at 11 but RevZilla opened at 10 so I headed down figuring to go to RevZilla first. I parked in front of REV’IT! next to an Indian, crossed the street, and went in RevZilla. There I met Scott who gave me a tour of the place and told me this store had been open about three years. It was the first bricks and mortar store RevZilla opened. They now also have shops in Philadelphia and Newport Beach.

Curious, I asked Scott if, like China Town and Little Italy, did this area have a nickname? It seemed suitable. Yes, he said, it’s called Octane Alley. OK, that’s fun.

RevZilla primarily carries gear such as jackets, pants, and helmets, plus some supplies like oil and cleaners. Other less common items can sometimes be special ordered.

Next, heading over to REV’IT! I was greeted upon entry by Meg, who is the owner of that Indian out front. The sole focus in this store is on REV’IT! products, which consists of boots, gloves, jackets, pants, and riding suits. Plus, this location is the US Headquarters for REV’IT!. Meg not only showed me around the shop, she took me in back to the offices.

I inquired about a replacement insulated liner for my REV’IT! pants but Meg confirmed what I had been told by corporate that something like that can’t be had individually. That was what I figured but it never hurts to ask. What the heck ever happened to my liner? Corporate had suggested I purchase a pair of their insulated inner pants (don’t call it underwear! the tag read) so I asked to look at these. They didn’t have my size in stock, though, so I didn’t try them on. This is just the sort of thing I would like to try on before buying.

The atmosphere around Octane Alley seems pretty collegial. Meg said she knows Scott over at RevZilla and she told me how John, at Erico, was hoping to convert a small space between the Erico and RevZilla shops into something of a gathering spot offering seating, shade, perhaps concessions. That would be nice.

It was a good visit, nice talking with these folks. And now Octane Alley is a place in my mind. And yours.

Biker Quote for Today

Never sacrifice style for speed.

OK, this is just for fun. I saw this headline the other day that I just had to click through on: Czech president injured while racing motorcycle.

Oh wow. Do you really mean the Czechs have a president who is cool? Apparently yes.

In this story from the BBC it tells us that “Czech President Petr Pavel has been taken to hospital after injuring himself while riding a motorcycle.” And it also says, “Czech police said they were not investigating the accident because it happened on a closed racing circuit – not on the road.”

That’s right. He wasn’t just riding a motorcycle, he was racing. And yeah, he had an unplanned get-off, but nothing serious. They just took him to the hospital for a couple hours for observation, in case something cropped up that was not immediately apparent. That happens. In the crash scene management class I took awhile back they talked about how someone may feel just fine immediately afterward only to have shock set in a little later. But he was fine.

So I was just letting my imagination go on the idea that we would have a president who rides motorcycles. Can you picture Joe Biden on a motorcycle? Nope. He’s at an age when not many of us are riding anymore. When the reflexes are gone it’s time to hang up the keys.

What about Donald Trump on a bike? OK, I could visualize him riding bitch with someone else at the controls but I don’t think I’d like to be that person. Don’s got some weight these days and I’ve had one experience riding with someone like that and I don’t want to do it again.

Back sometime soon after John and I first got our bikes we went over to Al’s to drink some beer and play some music. Al wanted to go for a ride and he climbed on my bike behind me. Now, I weighed about 140 then and Al had to have been close to 190. Not fat but large and solid. And Al was very excitable, meaning he didn’t just sit there passively being a passenger. No, he was shifting his weight and turning this way and that, throwing me way off balance and making me fear we’d crash. We went just a few blocks and I stopped and insisted he ride behind John, who is bigger. John didn’t care for it much either so we didn’t go very far.

Let’s go back a little further. How about Barack Obama on a bike? Now, that I could see. He’s a lot younger and he’s athletic. And here’s the funny thing. I Googled “Barack Obama on motorcycle” and I got a lot of links to photos that people have Photoshopped to make it look like he’s riding a motorcycle. Humorous.

But the Czechs have an actual president who rides his own. The BBC article says he rides a BMW R1200 GS. Cool. Maybe some day we’ll have a biker-in-chief.

Biker Quote for Today

“You see, I don’t know how to ride a motorcycle, actually.” — Henry (the Fonz) Winkler

I got my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom back from the shop Wednesday and it’s running great. But I’m totally baffled.

I took the bike over to Colorado Moto Service specifically to finally get work done to stop it from smoking like crazy whenever I fire it up. It’s been doing this for years and lately had gotten a lot worse. Spend the money and get it fixed!

Well, I took it in and they told me they were not seeing any smoke. How could that be possible? I had all kinds of theories: Maybe the guy would just fire it up and hop on and ride away, thus leaving all that smoke behind him and much more dispersed. I don’t know. But I was determined to start the cold bike myself and then have them watch while it warmed up and started producing blue clouds.

So I told Judy not to leave as soon as she dropped me off–she might be taking me right back home while the bike stayed there. And I didn’t tell them I was coming so they couldn’t “get it ready” for me by warming it up in advance.

The mechanic who worked on it was very nice and totally deferential: “You’ve had this bike a long time and you know it better than anybody . . . ” And I was determined to show him what he should have seen immediately.

I threw my leg over and laid my hand on the engine to make sure it was cold. It was. I set the bike upright, turned the key, pulled the choke, and pressed the starter button. It turned over nicely but didn’t catch and he realized he had the gas turned off. So, gas flow enabled, I pressed the starter again. It turned over and caught. I told him now to wait a moment because the engine had to warm up before it started burning oil out of the cylinders.

And we waited, and I revved it, and it ran nicely . . . and it never did start smoking. Never. I just have no idea what to make of it.

But that’s OK! If this issue somehow mysteriously solved itself now, finally, and I don’t have to pay $1,000 or whatever to have it fixed I’m fine with that. In the meantime, they synced the carburetors and the bike is now running like a champ. Plus, miraculously, while they had it, the ignition switch developed a problem (what better place for that to happen) and they diagnosed that and fixed it. Heaven forbid it had happened to me out on the road.

And I got out of there for less than $600, whereas I was sure I was going to be paying about a grand more by the time they finally found the problem I had taken it in for.

So now there’s just one more hurdle to pass. It’s parked in my garage now but the next time I take it out to ride will it smoke? If it does I have only one theory: they parked it on the side stand and I always put it on the center stand. Is it at all possible that that somehow makes the difference in oil getting somewhere it isn’t supposed to be? If that happens heck, I’ll just start parking it on the side stand. Problem solved.

I’m going to be very curious to see what happens.

Biker Quote for Today

I’d risk the fall just to know how it feels to fly.

I got a heads-up recently from Greg Drevenstedt editor’s column in Rider magazine that told me there have been significant advances in rider safety equipment of late. Figured I ought to look into it.

This “First Gear” column in the May 2024 issue was talking about inflatable vests made by Alpinestars. Said Greg in his column, “Recently we’ve added a new piece of protective gear to our arsenal that I’ve required all staffers to wear any time they are on a test bike or at a press launch: an airbag vest.”

The two vests he discussed are the Alpinestars Tech-Air 5 and the Tech-Air 3, priced at $789.95 and $599.95 respectively. But it turns out that Alpinestars has a much larger line of such gear. Mostly it’s jackets or vests but they do have one, the Tech-Air® 10 Airbag System, that also protects your hips. That baby will run you $1,099.95.

That ain’t cheap, and with good insurance you might pay less than that in hospital bills, but I think I’d rather skip the injuries altogether. The pain from my wallet is a lot more bearable than the pain from my body. Nevertheless, the Tech-Air 10 appears to be targeted for sale to racers so let’s go back to the vests.

First off, in terms of advances in technology, whereas old-style inflatable vests were triggered by a cord connected to your bike that activated when that connection was broken, these new units have gyroscopes with all kinds of computer programming to tell them when to deploy. Also of interest, they deactivate below a certain speed. As the material on the website explains without such deactivation you could have a situation where some buddy comes along and slaps you soundly on the back . . . only to have your vest do its thing. Not something you really desire.

When the vests do go off they pump air instantly into a series of tubes throughout the vest. It’s literally an airbag kind of thing. I don’t think it takes any imagination to see how that would provide you a lot more protection than just armored riding gear. Plus, you would wear the vest either under or over your regular riding gear so you’re not choosing one or the other, you’ve got both.

And the thing with under your other gear is that these things are remarkably slim. Uninflated it looks pretty much like another vest.

Not to make this simply an Alpinestars commercial, I searched for inflatable motorcycle vests and found that there are a variety of others on the market, too. The first one I looked at was Helite Moto. It turns out they also have inflatable jeans. Helite has both cord-activated models and electronically activated model vests. The latter run around $800.

And then on Amazon I found more, often at much lower prices, but all with the cord tech, not the gyros.

So first we had cars with airbags and they have saved many thousands of lives. Now the idea of an airbag for a motorcycle is a real thing.

When I was a lot younger I was poor and the question of whether to get something like this would never have come up because that’s just way more than I could have considered spending. Now I’m intrigued. Of course if I ever do get something like this you’ll read about it right here.

Biker Quote for Today

A motorcycle is an artist’s brush on the canvas of the open road.

OK, what happened in 2023 might seem like old news but you have to understand that pulling all these statistics together and analyzing them is time consuming and reports on highway fatalities and such are always released well into the following year. It’s the best information we’ve got so we just have to go with it.

So anyway, it seems like pretty good news that the Colorado State Patrol has released 2023 data showing that drunk- or drugged-riding fatalities went down a whopping 36 percent in 2023. That correlates very nicely with the latest overall traffic fatality data just released by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) that shows traffic fatalities in Colorado decreased by by 5.8 percent in 2023, 764 down to 720.

According to NHTSA, about 14 percent of all US traffic deaths are of motorcyclists so if that percentage is carried through on the Colorado figures that would mean about 101 motorcyclists were killed here in 2023. A lower number is good but that still means 101 of your friends or my friends or somebody’s friends and family members died. Better is better but it’s not good.

Restating what we all know, Col. Matthew C. Packard, chief of the Colorado State Patrol, said “Experienced riders don’t take unnecessary risks. Whether consuming alcohol, marijuana or another substance, intoxicated riders are more likely to lose control of their vehicles and crash.”

At the same time, better truly is better, and a 36 percent drop is amazing. Maybe people really are changing their thinking. I know it used to be a common thing with the OFMC that soon into the day’s ride John was sure to pull off somewhere and pull out his pipe. And stopping somewhere along the way to have a beer was totally normal. It has been years since we’ve done either of those things so if our thinking has changed it makes sense that many other peoples’ thinking has done so as well.

Let’s all keep up the good work. I wonder if a year from now the 2024 numbers will show a similar improvement.
<3>Biker Quote for Today
A motorcycle is like a drug but it doesn’t clog your arteries, impair your brain function, or send you to a rehabilitation center. Plus, it’s completely legal – if you have a license.