Passes and Canyons Blog

Man oh man! Gas for $4 a gallon! Sure would be nice to get, oh, about 80 miles per gallon. Well, some people do. But you can bet they don’t do it in a Hummer.

On the other hand, take that little scooter next to that green Kawasaki in the photo below. That person is getting around 80 MPG. And probably having more fun getting to and from work than they ever have before.

Even better than that, Yamaha claims that their Vino 125 gets 96 MPG, and the Yamaha C3 is rated at 115 MPG. Now you’re talking saving real money!

Of course, there are some trade-offs. Those two little Yamahas don’t have much speed and you can’t take them on the highway. However, some bigger scooters don’t cost a lot more than those and can hit top speeds of 75 or more. It’s always a matter of trade-offs.

So, what kind of gas mileage does that Kawi guy get? On a sportbike like his (or hers, you never know) he’s surely in the 40-50 MPG range. The fact is, most motorcycles will get mileage in that approximate range, even the bigger ones. For example, I get around 45 MPG on both my Honda CB750 Custom and my Kawasaki Concours. A Honda Goldwing, one of the biggest bikes on the road, can get up to 40 MPG, although it does have six cylinders and therefore is not as efficient as the more common one-, two-, three- or four-cylinder bikes.

Another big road bike, the Harley-Davidson Road King, is rated at 54 MPG on the highway and 35 in the city. The Yamaha FJR1300A delivers around 40. Honda’s Shadow Spirit 1100 is rated at about 48 MPG on the highway and 38 in the city. (Sorry I don’t have city/highway splits for all these bikes.)

The mileage you get on a bike generally depends on the same three things that determines a car’s fuel efficiency: weight, your driving habits, and engine size. The big six-cylinder bikes eat more gas than a V-twin, but any bike with six cylinders is also a heavy bike. For a smaller bike, around 1,000 cc’s, you’ll get pretty much the same mileage with a V-twin or an inline four.

And then, as the city/highway splits show, speed matters. While I normally expect 45 MPG from my 1,000-cc Concours, riding easily on curvy mountain roads has at times given me as much as 55 MPG from the beast.

Do the math. A lot of other people already have. There are a lot more people joining us on the roads on two wheels. Welcome to the club.

Biker Quote for Today

Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.

I’m going to be doing something totally different this Saturday. I’ve signed on to be a Motorcycle Lead for some bicycle races.

In case you don’t know what a Motorcycle Lead is, they ride ahead of the pack of bicyclists presumably ensuring that other traffic stays clear for the racers. I say presumably because I’m not totally sure what else they might do. I guess I’ll find out when I get there.

This set of races is being held at the little town of Deer Trail, out east of Denver along I-70. I’ll need to be there at 8 am and will be there all day. The thing is, I get paid to do this. My wife, who is nuts about babies, says it’s as if she were getting paid to hold a baby. I get paid to ride my motorcycle.

The one experience I do have with the concept of Motorcycle Lead goes back to when I was a newspaper reporter and photographer. The Red Zinger Classic, which later became the Coors Classic, was held at that time around Boulder. One of the races came through our area, so I was sent out to cover it. I got to ride on the bike with one of the Motorcycle Leads and shoot pictures along the course. Some good action shots. I wonder if I’ll be carrying any photographers.

So anyway, this sounds like it could be fun. I’ll give you the report on Monday.

If anyone is interested in coming to the races, here’s the website:
http://www.cyclingevents.com/DeerTrailRR/Default.aspx

Biker Quote for Today

Four wheels good, two wheels better.

How hardcore are you anyway? Hardcore enough to do the Big Dog?

First let me tell you what the Big Dog Ride is. OK, first of all it’s for BMW riders, so that lets a bunch of us out. What they say on their website is this:

The BIG DOG RIDE is a BMW “Invitational Ride” for owners of BMW G/S and GS model motorcycles. It is neither a race nor a rally. It is an annual gathering of a fraternity of BMW aficionados of G/S and GS styled motorcycles that mutually appreciate riding their motorcycles with like minded philosophers in the best environment for on and off-road riding in the world, the Rocky Mountains of North America.

Then there’s this:

Each year an entrant can expect to ride between 800-1,200 miles on the BIG DOG RIDE over some of the highest, toughest mountain passes in the Rocky Mountain range, sometimes reaching 14,000 feet above sea level. Rain, snow and sleet can be encountered in August, as well as 100-degree heat. The BIG DOG RIDE has been to Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and Montana. Riders often make numerous crossings of the Continental Divide, sometimes fording swollen streams, and riding over snow fields and shale cliffs. It is not unusual for a rider to be in a single-track path no wider than 24 inches, with a drop-off of 1,000 feet on one side and a sheer rock cliff on the other.

And then this:

The BIG DOG RIDE is not for the meek, mild or poseur GS rider. It has rightfully earned the description as being the “highest, toughest BMW motorcycle event in the world.” It is dangerous, and fun. BIG DOG riders can be heard laughing from mountain tops at the start of the event to the finish, as well as from and to their homes, often as far away as Vermont, Florida, Canada and California.

Here’s where the name comes from:

On the second ride one of the errant participants found himself stuck on a snowfield. He had to disassemble his motorcycle to turn it around, then with the help of several others; they pushed, pulled and dragged both rider and BMW back up and over the pass he had come down. The “helpers” were likened to the big Saint Bernard dogs of the Alps famous for rendering assistance to stranded hikers and skiers. After several more mishaps where riders had to be helped by their fellow entrants as they pushed their personal riding envelopes past points of explosion, all the riders came to be known as “BIG DOGS.” The event in the third year was called the BMW GS BIG DOG RIDE, and that’s the name that has remained.

OK. I could go on quoting their website but you can go there yourself and read and see it all. This year’s event is Aug. 14-17. Any Big Dogs out there?

Biker Quote for Today

You start the game of life with a full pot of luck and an empty pot of experience. The object is to fill the pot of experience before you empty the pot of luck.

Here’s something you don’t often see. There was an article in Wednesday’s (3-26-08) New York Times about a bunch of new motorcycles being released. Apparently the article is reprinted from AutoWeek because you can read it on their website. Or read it on the NYT site and get the tables and photos.

Titled “Posh Bikes Rev Up Amid Slowdown,” the gist of the article is summed up in the lead paragraph:

Get set for an invasion of high-end motorcycles–just as the economy is heading into a possible recession.

The article continues, saying:

Manufacturers are rolling out a troop of powerful, opulent, feature-laden machines at prices that would have seemed outlandish for something on two wheels just a few years ago. Several motorcycles that recently went on sale or are expected in dealerships this spring cost between $15,000 and $40,000, more than a Mercedes-Benz C-Classs sedan.

While at first seeming to raise a red flag about pricey new bikes at a time when the economy is hitting a reef, the article then goes on to discuss the reasons why motorcycle sales may be recession-proof. These include the statistics about the aging riding population, with more money and more time to ride, as well as the idea that even people of average means can afford a higher-end bike, as opposed to the flashier, higher-priced cars.

Models discussed in the article include the Ducati Desmosedici, BMW HP2 Sport, Victory Vision Tour Premium, Harley-Davidson Rocker C, Honda Gold Wing Airbag, and MV Agusta F4-R 312.

Biker Quote for Today

If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.

Recap: Steve and some buddies are coming from New Zealand in 2009 for some motorcycle touring in Colorado and Utah. This series of posts lays out their proposed routes, with my comments. Your comments are welcome as well.

Day 6

All right. Today the group is doing a day ride and returning to Torrey for a second night. Here’s the map; click to see it enlarged.

Leaving Torrey, the riders head south on UT 12 through Boulder and Escalante. The road turns west and they pass through Bryce Canyon National Park, eventually meeting US 89 a little north of Hatch. They take a right and head north on US 89 as far as Panguitch, where they pick up UT 143 heading southwest.

Just when they reach Cedar Breaks National Monument they pick up UT 148, which carries them through the Monument to UT 14. A left turn onto UT 14 takes them back through Hatch to the intersection with US 12 again, and the rest of the day’s ride is retracing the route that got them here.

I’d like to tell you more about this ride, and I know I’ve been on most of these roads, but it hasn’t been recently. That’s why I pretty much stick to Colorado on this website, it’s what I know really well. If you have information to share about this route please leave a comment. Thanks.

Update

It seems the spammers have latched onto this particular post so I’m going to need to turn comments off on this one temporarily. After they fail to do their dirty work they’ll move on and I can open up comments again. Sorry for any inconvenience.