Passes & Canyons Blog

OK, this is a huge mea culpa. I wrote last year about how I sold my 1999 Concours to Steele’s Cycle and then a couple weeks later I looked on their site and they had a 1999 Concours listed as sold. Long story short, I assumed–there’s that word–that this bike was mine and they had cleaned it up a bit and had already sold it. Good for them.

I did note, however, that the odometer reading was not what mine showed. I assumed–there’s that word again–that if you sold a bike to a salvage yard they would want to pull from their parts inventory to make the bike as cherry as possible for resale. Which may well be true.

But I also assumed–again!–that in order to make the bike more appealing they had swapped out my instrument cluster for one showing fewer miles. Big mistake.

I got a call today, Saturday, December 6, from Steele’s. Matthew was most unhappy and insists that I come over so they can show me my bike still sitting in their warehouse. He would not make that demand if it were not true so I have already deleted the offending post. And I will go over there on Tuesday, the next day they’re open, and we will have a discussion. And I am posting this as soon as I finish writing it.

This is a huge public apology to Steele’s. I hope you can understand how I made this mistake. I sold you a bike, a couple weeks later I see on your site a bike just like mine–not a particularly common item 25 years after it was made–and assumed it was the one I sold. I was wrong. I apologize sincerely. I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Tuesday was sunny and nice. Snow was forecast for Wednesday. It’s a new month: December. With the stage set like that how could I not go for a ride. The only gear I didn’t wear was my heated gloves. I figured my fingers might get chilly but they’d be OK.

I had no idea where I was going. I headed south to start with and got to where I thought I might go east but didn’t. On further south and I got to Arapahoe Road. Here I turned east. Going west is out of the question now till next spring, except if I just want to stay in town.

I knew I had been out as far east on Arapahoe as you can go but I didn’t remember where it ends up. Guess I’ll find out again and decide where to go after that when I get there. So. Cross Parker Road, on past E-470, and then I remembered this was going to bring me up onto Smoky Hill Road. OK.

When I left home the thermometer out front, in the sun, had read 60. The one in back, in the shade, had read 50. That’s a fair representation of how much effect sunshine offers. And it was sunny when I left. By the time I reached Smoky Hill Road the sky had totally changed. It was fully clouded over and not a bit of blue sky to be seen. And the temperature had dropped. OK, I had never expected to take a long ride and this seemed like good spot to turn toward home.

As I’ve been out riding lately I have noticed again and again road work aimed at installing medians on major streets. I had just gone past some on Arapahoe Road but now, heading west on Smoky Hill Road I saw some of the strangest medians I’ve ever seen. Usually they put in planters and vegetation or else just some smooth concrete or concrete stamped to look like brick. Not on Smoky Hill.

In these new medians they’re putting in it is all rough, sharp, loose rock. Sharp, jagged rock about the size of a football and just spread out thickly on the dirt. This is the kind of thing that would eat your tires almost instantly. Nobody is going to willingly drive onto these medians. But I bet this is a heck of a lot cheaper than even the simplest concrete. Is that all it is, a cost-saving matter? It’s definitely not aesthetically pleasing.

Anyway, I got home and was not too chilled and I had gotten my December ride in, in case the bad weather persists. Not a day too soon.

Biker Quote for Today

Make noise with your Harley Davidson bike and work in silence to achieve it.

I’m down to only one motorcycle these days, and that one is my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom. I keep telling myself I will buy a second bike, presumably some time in the next year, but I don’t actually feel very motivated because I really like the V and it can do just about anything.

Of course, there are a lot of things it could do that I won’t try to make it do, primarily at this point because I don’t have the right tires for that kind of thing. I’ve quit running those 80/20 Shinkos because they don’t hold up to highway travel all that well and I do a heck of a lot more highway riding than off-road riding.

However, may people who own V-Stroms do have knobbies and they do take their bikes all kinds of places. And there is a thread on Adventure Rider where the theme/title is “Let’s see your Vstrom OFFROAD.” I was looking at this recently and oh man, some of these folks are up for a lot more than I am. Or maybe they weren’t really up for what they encountered but they did encounter it.

Just to give you some idea, I started on page 80 of this thread (there are 91 pages at this point, with 20 posts per page) and I’ll describe a bit of what there is to see.

Right away, in the fourth post on the page, we encounter a couple standing amongst some bikes, giving a thumbs-up, with the caption “High spirits before.” If that is not foreboding nothing is. You scroll down and they’ve come down a steep, gravel hill that comes to a large pool of water at the bottom, with one bike coming through the pool. The next several shots are a bike on its side, having come through a smaller pool, and then a different bike up to the saddle in a deep pool and the rider trying to walk it through.

But they made it and I’m sure they were proud of themselves. I’m not sorry I missed that one.

Next come a bunch of shots of bikes in great-looking spots, people really pleased with where they have gotten to. Some real feel-good shots.

Page 81 opens with a shot of a guy splashing through a stream. Yeah, I’ve done that. Then more shots of cool places people have gotten to. And then it starts going a bit off. First a shot of a dirt road, followed by a path that is mainly marked by other people’s tires having passed this way, followed by a long stretch of muddy road. Then a V-Strom high-centered on a pile of rotting timbers that the guy thought he could get over but was wrong.

A little later (caption “Oops!) we see a V half-way on its side with the front on dirt and the rear in a mud puddle.

Next some more “look at the great place I got to” shots. Envy is what I’m feeling now.

Then there’s another high-centered bike, followed by another bike up to its axles in mud. And a bike on the ground, with a shot showing that they have come through a so-called trail that is nothing but water hole after water hole. Then more mud, more water holes.

It goes on and on. And this was just starting on page 80 of 91 pages. Worth a look for the entertainment value and to see some great shots of some of the great places a motorcycle will take you. If you have the right tires.

Biker Quote for Today

I’m not a thrill-seeker; I’m a thrill-giver to my soul.

Taking a holiday today. I wish you all a happy Thanksgiving.

But yeah, I’ll put in a quote.

Biker Quote for Today

Two wheels, endless possibilities.

I wanted to ride Sunday but by the time I got stuff done that needed doing I had missed the window of warmth. The sky had clouded over and the temperature was dropping. So I got on the V-Strom and headed out. I’m no fair-weather rider.

I didn’t turn on the electric vest immediately but by the time I’d gone about two miles I did. Yep, gonna be a chilly one. Hope I don’t regret not having my heated gloves.

I had no idea where I was going. I’ve been heading to the hills as often as I could knowing the weather had to change soon, but this day the clouds over the mountains were looking threatening and I figured that was not a good idea. Instead of west I went south.

I still had no idea where I was going, though. On an impulse, I turned east on Belleview, through the south end of Cherry Creek State Park and it bends south to become Peoria. I went around Centennial Airport and to regain Peoria but hadn’t gone far when I concluded that yeah, it’s darn chilly. Maybe I don’t want to go too far from home. I turned west on Liberty Boulevard, which runs around the south end of the airport and over into the Inverness area.

Stopping to get a quick photo with the airport and mountains in the background I did see the only other biker I would see on this day.

Inverness Parkway took me north to County Line Road and I went west on County Line. Just because I didn’t want to get much further from home didn’t mean I wanted to head home. By now I was used to the cold and finding it brisk but pleasant. Thank you to the electric vest for that. Without it I would have been pretty uncomfortable.

I followed County Line all the way to Broadway and then turned north. What a lot of construction there is at the moment on County Line Road. I guess they’re expanding from two lanes to four in a long stretch of it. That’s probably overdue. Then going north on Broadway I hit a bunch more construction. These guys must be rushing to finish the work before bad weather sets in.

From Broadway I turned east on Belleview and headed back home. Not the longest or most scenic ride ever but it was good to be out on the bike for about an hour and a half. I still have a lot of making up to do from having missed the whole summer and I want to get out as much as I can, even when the weather is not the best. Sunday was one of those days.

Biker Quote for Today

The road is my stage, and my bike is my dance partner.

I need a new helmet. I still have one decent helmet but my best one, a Shoei, gave its life for me on June 29 and needs to be replaced. So while I was at Performance Cycle last week I looked, with the assistance of Stevie, at helmets. I hadn’t planned to but hey, I was there.

According to Stevie the best helmets are made by Shoei and Arai. I was interested to look at the Arai because I know the Shoei but don’t really know anything about the Arai.

The one thing that caught my eye immediately is that they specify whether their helmets are intended for people with rounder heads or people whose heads are more oval in shape. This is fabulous. When I started riding I had two Bieffe helmets and both of them were incredibly uncomfortable. Painful. That was a big part of why, in my early days, I mostly rode without a helmet; wearing the helmet I had hurt.

It was only when I needed a new helmet in the middle of the RMMRC’s Great River Road trip in 2022 that I came to understand. I was talking with a guy in a shop and he explained it to me. If you buy a helmet for a round head it is going to press hard into your forehead. That’s why you need an oval helmet.

Now Stevie, at Performance, was fully aware of this. That’s good in a salesman. And he said the Shoei was actually a compromise between the two extremes, while the Arai was an all-out oval. I tried on the Arai and I was not as pleased as I expected to be with the way it felt. It felt super snug. Stevie checked, having me push the helmet all the way one direction and then inserting his fingers between the helmet and my head and he said the fit was actually quite good. And maybe once I would wear it a while the padding would adjust to the shape of my head and feel good.

But then there is the price. The Arai runs about $200 more than the Shoei, and the Shoei is not cheap. We’re talking $650 and $450 respectively. It would be hard for me to pay that extra $200 for something that doesn’t feel especially comfortable. And maybe my head really is more midway between round and oval.

I think I’m going to get the Shoei. It’s the RF-SR model. Basic but a very good helmet. There’s a limited color selection so I guess I’ll go with white this time (my old one was black) for the increased visibility. And maybe I’ll put a bunch of colorful decals on it.

Biker Quote for Today

Adrenaline is my fuel; adventure is my destination.