Passes & Canyons Blog

Big, 800-pound bagger motorcycles are very popular, at least in the U.S., but there’s one place you’ll never see them: at the Department of Motor Vehicles on the license testing range.

When you’re getting your motorcycle accreditation you have to pass the written test and also pass a driving test, just like with a car. The driving portion for a bike takes place out in the parking lot, where they set up cones and have you ride through the course demonstrating your competence. On a scooter, or a small bike, such as a 250cc Honda Rebel, it’s easy. For a beginning rider to maneuver their full-size bike around the course, the likelihood of success is minute.

I didn’t know this when I bought my first bike. But I learned.

I had ridden motorcycles whenever I had the opportunity for many years, but it was only once I bought my first bike, a 1980 Honda CB750 Custom, that I got licensed. My friends told me then that it would be good to get a small bike to take the test but I didn’t have any idea where to get that small bike so off I went on my 750.

Now, a 750cc bike is only considered a mid-size bike anymore, though it was a big bike in 1980, and it still weighs about 500 pounds. I suspect the licensing examiner was surprised to see what I rode in on but no matter, let’s go do the test.

The first part of the course demonstrates handling control. You have to weave around cones in a slalom pattern at slow speed. Then there was a right turn, and another right turn, which set you up to come into a much tighter box where you have to do a 180-degree turn.

I did not make it through all the cones and when I came around for the 180 I had not understood the directions properly. I thought the examiner told me to stay outside the lines, when in fact I was supposed to stay inside them. I was successful in staying outside. You then start out from a spot where you accelerate forward and then brake and swerve sharply as if you were avoiding an obstacle. That part was easy.

Of course I failed the test. And I was very surprised when she told me I utterly failed to make the U-turn within the lines. Ooooh. Within! I get it now.

Second Try
Now that I knew what the test consisted of I practiced. I showed up again a few days later, not at all confident I would succeed, but willing to take a shot at it. With no training I instinctively figured out that to weave through the cones I had to drag the rear brake, where you keep the engine revved for stability while working the rear brake to move forward at about walking speed. To my relief, I got through the cones just fine.

Heading into the U-turn I now knew I needed to stay inside the lines and, dragging the rear brake again, I successfully executed the turn. Coming out of it, however, the lean was too great and the bike laid over on its side. It didn’t actually go all the way down; it ended up resting half-way up on the foot peg. I looked at the examiner and she said she couldn’t help me but if I got the bike back up I could keep going with the test.

I raised the bike and continued and everything else went fine. She passed me. Yahoo!

I have since learned that one of the major benefits of taking a Motorcycle Safety Foundation riding course is that you learn on small bikes and at the end of the course you do the riding portion of the test. If you pass, all you have to do to get your license is go to Motor Vehicle, pass the written portion, and pay your fee. Of course you also get some training in the process, which is a very good thing.

Had I known all this that’s probably what I would have done. I didn’t, though, so now I take pride in being able to say I passed the test on my real, full-sized highway bike. And I love the looks of amazement I get when I say that.

Biker Quote for Today

We know you’re a poser if you put your pony-tail back in the drawer after you get home.

With so much of the world currently shut down you might wonder what people are doing with all this time on their hands. If you are like me, you’re probably at least trying to clear some long-delayed projects off your to-do list. One of those items would entail motorcycle maintenance.

Now, I’m not a guy to really dig into the mechanics of my bikes. I almost never do any more than change the oil and filter. Plus cleaning. Maybe if the weather stays nice now I’ll get around to cleaning my bikes for the first time in, oh, two or three years. But I have spoken with Joel, my mechanic, and he will be putting a new front tire on the Concours sometime soon.

Others amongst you are more inclined to pull the bike apart. And for that you need a shop manual. I have Clymer manuals for my CB750 Custom and my Concours but when I bought the V-Strom I went looking for one and none of the shops I went to had it. So I looked and found one online.

This all comes to mind because last week I got an email from Mark asking if I would be interested in a guest post about a website that provides shop manuals for most any bike at a modest cost. This site is a UK site called RepairBooks.co.uk. I went there and looked it over and figured this could be useful information for at least some of the folks who read this blog.

But I wasn’t thrilled with the post submitted–it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good enough for me–so I figured I would do one on my own. This way they will get the link they want–which helps their Google ranking–and I’ll end up with a post I am satisfied with.

So I did an online search and found all sorts of resources. I very quickly found the Clymer site but this is the highest-price option. You can get an online manual from Clymer but it is only a one-year subscription to their service and it costs $19.95, and not all of their manuals are available online. Rather than do that I would just buy the hard-copy manual for $26.95 (most) or $39.95 (some)–whatever the individual price is.

On the other hand, why pay when you can get it for free? Carl Salter offers manuals in PDF at no cost. I already had a V-Strom manual but it is divided into separate sections, which can be convenient or inconvenient depending on your usage. Salter had a single PDF so I downloaded it and now I have both.

And if I don’t tear into my bikes, why do I even need a manual? Well, sometimes things break or don’t work properly. I use the manuals to try to diagnose the issue. Sometimes I still end up paying someone else to fix it but at least now and then it will be something I can handle myself. As I said above, why pay when you can get it for free?

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you have all the tools to work on every Harley ever made, but not any to work on your ol’ lady’s car.

Lane splitting, in the U.S., is generally not legal and many riders outside of California–where it is legal–consider it insanity. In other countries, however, it is common and accepted and practiced in ways that will never be tolerated even in California.

So just for your amusement–or horror–here is a video Jerry Pokorny sent along that was shot from a helmet cam that will have you on the edge of your seat. This thing is intense. (No gore, just OMG!)

Biker Quote for Today

At the end of the day, it’s still a show about guys who ride extremely fast motorcycles for a living. — Doug Liman

So I did it. I finally made a coronavirus era trip to Costco and I did it on the V-Strom as I had said I would. I bought everything on my list and a few extras and the huge bags that bike has ate every bit of it and could have held more.

First off, the bike came to me with two absolutely enormous Givi side bags. I don’t normally keep them on the bike except when I travel but I put them on for this occasion. And there is also a fairly large top bag on the rear that holds quite a bit, too. Heck, as long as I’m not buying some ginormous package of toilet paper–Costco size–I could probably do most of my Costco shopping on this bike.

Not having been to Costco in about six weeks, before all of this coronavirus shutdown got rolling, I was a bit leery, wondering what it would be like. I pulled in and the parking lot was not as full as normal but I could see a long line of folks waiting to get inside. I parked and put on my mask and took my place in line. They have freshly painted markers every six feet along the sidewalk to keep people from getting too close.

I pulled out my phone to text Judy to say I was in a line to get in, but it was moving quickly, but the lady just in front of me turned to me and started chatting. I never did text Judy because we talked motorcycles the whole while that we waited.

Yes, she was retired, about my age, and she used to ride motorcycles. She said she rode a Harley Low Rider for many years but then a friend suffered a horrible crash and was left a quadriplegic. That scared Wanda (that’s who this was) and she decided that if you’re scared you have no business on a motorcycle. So she sold it.

But she missed riding and after awhile she bought a Yamaha V-Star. She said she really liked the V-Star better than the Low Rider but after awhile she got scared again and sold it. But she was adamant that she continues to keep her M on her driver’s license. She might yet ride again some day and lord knows you don’t want to have to take that rider’s test again.

So we talked bikes. She asked me if I’d ever gone down and I told her about the time up by Deckers when I was coming down the gravel road pretty slowly when a dog walked out right in front of me from between two parked cars. She told me about putting her foot down once at a stop and discovering only then that there was a rut and only air where she expected pavement. I said yeah, I’ve done that, too.

She also told me of how she twice got her leg burned by the exhaust on that Low Rider. I concurred and told he that while I have never owned a Harley I have ridden them at times. Once it was raining and I had my rain suit on and at a stop one time I looked down to see that the leg of my rain suit was melting against the pipe.

In this manner we whiled away the time until we got to go in. And then for the first time in weeks, the store had everything I came for. And the bags swallowed everything I bought.

Biker Quote for Today

Biker Mom. Like a regular mom only cooler.

While I acceded to the logic offered by Brook Reams and my wife, other motorcyclists are sticking with the argument that coronavirus-conscious riding is not a bad thing. For one, even though I have quit going on them, the RMMRC continues to hold regular rides.

Motorcyclists in other places seem to have adopted the same thinking. Here’s a story about a bunch of riders who were ticketed for doing so, and the remarks of one who protested that they were doing nothing wrong.

The guy made the argument that they were observing proper distancing restrictions and were treated unfairly, as in getting profiled. There seems to be some argument on both sides.

First off, they went for a group ride and then stopped for snacks and beverages at a convenience store. When they stepped outside to consume their purchases the store manager told them they had to leave the property, so the went across the street.

Now, there’s no way from available information to know whether they truly kept their distance from each other, unlike with the RMMRC for which I can attest that we/they do keep a distance. But then the police showed up and started issuing tickets. Here’s where the profiling came into play.

Apparently there were not just people on bikes, there were others in the group who were in cars. And some of the riders had passengers. Well, the cops issued tickets only to the riders. None to the passengers, none to those in cars. So what’s up with that? If you’re supposed to stay home except on necessary travel they were all in violation.

The guy quoted in the story cited the fact that you are allowed to go out for recreation and he argued that riding was his kind of recreation. I have said the same thing. But as others have countered, the kind of recreation you get riding a bicycle is physical, while motorcycling recreation is only psychic. You can say it was for your mental health and that may well be true but I don’t think the police are going to buy that.

And what was not cited was the double-barreled argument I got that if you should crash and go to the emergency room you are using medical resources that could be used on coronavirus and you are also much more at risk of contracting the virus in an ER than you are at home.

So I continue not to go for pleasure rides but I’m thinking that at some point, when the trend of infection is dropping and medical resources are not over-strained, I may go riding again and take my chances on the possibility of a crash.

Biker Quote for Today

When you truly don’t care what anyone thinks of you, you’ve reached a dangerously awesome level of freedom!!!

I spoke earlier this week about how the idea that riding motorcycles was a good thing to do to keep your distance from people had gotten shot down. OK, I get it. But I’m not going to let my last such ride go to waste. This ride was on Wednesday of last week.

Figuring that riding motorcycles was a good thing to do while staying away from other people–thank you coronavirus–I intended to go on a ride the RMMRC had planned for Tuesday last week. I managed to let time slip up on me, however, suddenly realized that even if I hurried I was likely to be late. With this group, when they say kick stands up (KSU) at a certain time, they really mean it.

I hustled on down to Performance Cycle and sure enough, there was nobody there. So I just wandered on home; it was a beautiful spring day so it was nice to be out riding even just for a short run. Besides, there was another ride planned for Wednesday.

On Wednesday I did not let time slip by. The meeting place was Sam’s #3 over on Havana and I was there a bit early, playing it safe. But there was not one other soul around. What the heck? I pulled out my phone and checked the notice to be sure I was not mistaken about the date, time, or place. I was not. So I sat there.

Maybe two minutes before KSU Bob and Robert glided up next to me on their matching Gold Wings. OK, it was going to be just the three of us.

Robert was in the lead and he took us on a ride only he could plan out. Which is to say, we headed out east on the prairie and went on some roads I had never been on, and the reason for this route was that he said he likes to periodically go past places he has lived in the past. And apparently Robert has lived in several of these isolated housing developments way out away from anything else out there.

That was fine. We didn’t care where we went, we just wanted to ride.

Eventually we ended up down south at Elbert and kept heading south. Then west to CO 83 and back toward the city. Nothing special about this ride other than it was a great day to be out on a bike. And now it looks like it will be my last pleasure ride for who knows how long. That right there is what will make this ride memorable.

Biker Quote for Today

She loved her brother, I remember back when he was fixing up a ’49 Indian. Told her ‘little sister gonna ride the wind, up around the moon and back again.’ — Emmylou Harris

OK, this is starting to demand more seriousness. I wrote about how the RMMRC has been doing some rides that were “coronavirus conscious” but I’ve gotten shot down.

First my wife, Judy, pointed me to the state’s website where it details the particulars of the overall order to stay home. It specifically says that pleasure driving or motorcycle riding is prohibited. Oh rats. I mean, it seems like riding a motorcycle is a great thing to do because you don’t come in contact with other people and you’re wearing a helmet and gloves.

Judy replied that yes, but suppose you got into a crash. You would then go to an already overloaded emergency room and use resources that could otherwise be used combating the virus. OK, that has never happened to me in all my years of riding but it could happen today–no one ever knows when that crash will happen.

Then I sat down at the computer to put something together for the blog and I had a comment on my post about that RMMRC ride, from Brook Reams. He basically said the same thing Judy said:

So, if anyone has an accident and goes to the emergency room, they are not only absorbing scarce ER people/time/space/equipment that is needed to treat Coronavirus patients, the person is going to be in a place with a high opportunity for exposure to the virus.

From that perspective, these rides are not “Coronavirus conscious,” they are selfish.

OK, I get it. As I said in my reply to Brook, oh well, it seemed like a good idea.

I had also been getting emails from ABATE members about riding being a no-no. So the word is spreading. There was another RMMRC ride set for Sunday and I was torn about going on it but decided not to. I kept checking back to see if it was canceled but apparently not.

It’s not like we haven’t been taking this isolation thing seriously. Judy has only left the house in the last couple weeks to go bicycle riding. I have only left the house to go to the grocery store and to ride my motorcycles and the bicycle. We haven’t seen our grandson in three weeks and that’s really killing us–we’re used to keeping him two days a week while Mom is at work.

So OK, just hunker down and get through this. One thing though: we are low or out of a number of things we typically get at Costco. I have stayed away from there so far but was thinking about heading over sometime soon. I have huge bags on my V-Strom, and we don’t need anything bulky like toilet paper. When I finally go to Costco I’m going on the V-Strom.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you spend more time polishing your bike than caressing your woman.

We were in Natchez, Mississippi, a couple weeks ago, headed north to Vicksburg. Judy suggested we take the Natchez Trace part of the way, until the direction of the road diverged too much with our objective. Sure, why not. I had never been on the southern end of this road and I was curious.

I had been on the northern end of the road, quite a few years ago now when I was sent by my job to do some work in Nashville. When I bought my airplane tickets I made sure to schedule my return for Sunday so that after I worked all week I would have the weekend there to be a tourist and also to ride some new roads.

Back in those days it was not so easy to find motorcycle rentals but I did find one Harley dealer in Franklin that had rentals. I reserved a bike. They said they had helmets and rainsuits to lend so I needn’t bring mine. Here was a lesson in the making.

I got to the dealership and picked up the bike. My plan was to spend a day riding south on the Natchez Trace, spend the night somewhere, and then take different roads back. There were a couple issues, however. First off, it was raining. And the only helmets they had to loan me were open-face. That might be fine in nice weather but in the rain? I’d just have to make do.

The other issue was that the only rainsuits they had were sized to fit someone over six feet tall weighing 300 pounds. I could have gotten two of me into this thing. Once again, I’d just have to make do. So the lesson is, always take your own helmet and rain gear. But it took me a second lesson to really learn the part about the helmet.

Anyway, I headed out and made straight for the Natchez Trace. I got on the road and started cruising. But after about 50 miles I was bored out of my mind. It was a pretty road, winding its way along hilltops through forest. On and on and on. I’m sorry, but after you’ve seen about a million trees there’s just not a lot of interest in another two million or three million.

I got off the Trace and considered my options. It was still raining. I decided to bag it, and took the regular roads back to Franklin and the dealership. At least the local roads had some interest–I got to see towns and homes and farms and all that. But I turned the bike back in and spent the rest of my time doing other things.

Ever since then I had wondered if perhaps it was only this stretch of the Natchez Trace that was boring. Maybe further south it gets more interesting. So when Judy suggested it I was plenty willing to check it out.

Well, I have to tell you, it’s not just the north end. The south end of the Natchez Trace is just the same: miles and miles of a winding road going past several million trees. Now, it was pretty, and that far south the spring was in full bloom. It was not an unpleasant drive. But I would have no interest at all in taking this road for 200 or 300 miles. Fifty was plenty.

Now I know. My curiosity has been satisfied.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if your Christmas list has no words, just part numbers.