Archive for the ‘V-Strom’ Category

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Playing It Safe

Monday, November 9th, 2020
cb750 custom, concours, v-strom

I love having three bikes, partly because they’re so different and each has its own strength.

I maintain the iron rule that I ride each of my motorcycles at least once every single month. (I did finally miss two months following heart surgery two years ago.) As such, when we get to this time of year it pays to be preemptive. You never know when the weather will turn and your plans to ride next week get shot to pieces.

The weather so far in November has been spectacular. Plenty of time to get in at least three rides. So on Monday I was planning to ride one bike, then a second on Tuesday, and the third on Wednesday going on an RMMRC ride. Then life stepped in.

Judy and I had been hoping to squeeze in one last camping trip this year and on Monday she said let’s go camping–today. There was no way I could say no to that, nor would I want to, so Pawnee Buttes here we came. I can ride later.

Of course, that shot Tuesday as a day to ride as well but I could still go with the RMMRC on Wednesday.

Then I woke up on Wednesday feeling decidedly under the weather. Of course probably the first thing most people think of at this moment when they feel sick is, is this Covid? I didn’t figure it was but even if it was just a cold I saw no reason to share it with others so I did not ride with the RMMRC. Besides, I felt like crap.

Now the situation was turning. The weather forecast said the nice days were going to end soon. Snow was projected for Monday. Fortunately, on Thursday, I was feeling quite a bit better. Is that all this cold has to throw at me? Hah! That’s nothing. So I went out on the CB750. Then on Friday I rode the Concours.

On Saturday the cold–which is what I had deemed it to be by this point–came back to bite me and I was not feeling good. But I had that V-Strom to ride and snow was still being forecast for Monday. Sure the likelihood is that after a brief cold spell things will get nice again, but I’ve learned not to trust that assumption. So on Saturday I rode the V-Strom. I made it serve double duty as I stopped off at Walgreen’s to pick up some throat lozenges and Tylenol. And then Sunday I was still feeling like crap, spending most of the day on the couch trying to breathe through all the sinus congestion.

But I got the bikes ridden. I sure hope that’s not the last riding I do in November, but if it is, I did get each one out.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker when you make your bike payment before any other bills are paid.

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Posted in Honda motorcycles, Kawasaki, Suzuki motorcycles, V-Strom | No Comments »

A Different Kind Of Throttle Lock

Monday, September 28th, 2020
Kaoko throttle lock

This is the Kaoko throttle lock he had on his ST.

I was riding with the RMMRC recently and there was a new guy on his first ride with the group. I didn’t catch his name. What I did catch was that he had a throttle lock I’d never seen before.

throttle lockOf course, the large percentage of modern touring bikes come with cruise control built in. Cruise control is superior to a throttle lock because you set the speed and the engine revs more going up hills and less going down so you stay a constant speed. With a throttle lock, unless you adjust it, you’ll slow down going up and speed up going down.

Plus, in my experience, they have a tendency to slip so you periodically have to adjust them.

And I do have extensive experience here. I have throttle locks on all three of my bikes. Two of them are the type that clip on the bar and to set it you snap it shut. With a flange braced against the box that houses your kill switch and starter button it stays in place and keeps the throttle from backing off.

throttle lockThe other kind, which I have on the V-Strom, is just a lever that rotates when you turn the throttle. To set it you push it forward with your thumb so when you release the throttle it rests against the brake lever, blocking the throttle from backing off.

The first kind, which I have on the CB750 and the Concours, works best. It can slip but you can tighten it. Still, I’ve never been able to get it set on the Concours so it doesn’t slip. The second kind would probably work best if it tightly grabbed the bar but at least on my V-Strom it does not. So it slips a lot and there is no adjustment. Basically I have to speed up more than I really want, set it, and then I have a short time to relax my grip before I have to do it again.

So I was very interested in this throttle lock on this Honda ST. It is made by Kaoko and it’s more expensive than the others: about $130 versus $15 to $20. What the guy told me is that he had to take the weight off the end of the bar and then jam the coned end inside the plastic tube that allows your throttle to rotate on the bar. Then to use it you push the knob forward and set the throttle where you want it. Then let go.

How well does it work? He didn’t say a lot about that but he sure didn’t complain about it. If you ask me about my throttle locks I’ll tell you about their deficiencies and well as their benefits.

So will I try one? Oh, maybe, but spending $130 on something that might not be better than what I have is a hard choice to make. What I would really like would be if the company offered to either give me one or let me try one so I can then test it and write about it. That’s how I get a lot of my gear. But if I do end up with one, one way or the another, you can bet I’ll be telling you about it here.

Biker Quote for Today

If I was a motorcycle, a Vincent red Rapide, I’d ride around to your house, baby, get you up to speed. — Mark Knopfler

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Posted in Honda motorcycles, Kawasaki, Motorcycle Gear, Suzuki motorcycles, V-Strom | No Comments »

The Hills Are Full Of People

Monday, September 14th, 2020
Model T and motorcycles

The Phillips 66 in Morrison is a big meeting place and this morning it was packed with two different bike groups as well as a group driving their Model T Fords.

Kudos to Bob for planning and leading an RMMRC ride that went well off the beaten track and introduced me to roads close to town that I had never known existed. One over-riding aspect of this route was the demonstration of just how fully built out the hills west of Denver are. I had heard before that if you flew in a small airplane above the foothills you would see that there are people everywhere. This ride really proved that out.

We started out from Morrison, jumping on C-470 briefly to get over to U.S. 285 heading southwest. Very shortly we turned off at the Tiny Town exit onto Turkey Creek Road. Just past where Deer Creek Canyon Road runs off to the left we made a right turn that took us up into the heavily developed (relatively speaking) area between Turkey Creek Road and 285. Following a variety of local roads we looped through the area and ended up back on Turkey Creek Road probably only a mile or so from where we got off. But in the interim we would around through a very nice area on some nice roads. With houses all along the way.

Continuing south and west on Turkey Creek Road we then turned off to the south on Hilldale Drive and into another area of houses. Here, though, the road climbed and we ended up on what is aptly named City View Drive. The city and the plains are clearly visible from up here, as is U.S. 285 off to the north.

City View Drive

This aerial view doesn’t really show you what City View Drive is like but it goes high and you can see a long way.


This is where things got a bit out of kilter. Looking at the map today I see what I think must have been Bob’s planned route. If you make the right turns–GPS probably your best bet–you can work your way over to Pleasant Park Road and back onto 285 at Conifer. Bob’s GPS was not serving him well. We made several wrong turns, ended up on dirt roads and generally groped our way until we found our way back to where we had turned off Turkey Creek Road.

But we were still seeing some roads and some views we had never seen before. I had no complaint. I was on my Concours, which generally hates gravel, but in fact it really hates loose gravel. Because this was hard-packed dirt I had no problem.

Besides the demonstration of just how full the hills are of homes I was also struck by how very many people we saw out walking, either on their own or walking their dogs, along these roads. They were everywhere and for the most part they were very friendly and waved–and in one case even cheered– as we went by. I suspect they don’t get many motorcycle groups cruising through their neighborhoods.

We then followed Turkey Creek Road to where it terminates back at U.S. 285 over by Meyer Ranch Open Space Park. That ended the first segment of this ride and the other segments warrant their own space so I’ll save them for later blog posts following this one. There is one other thing I want to mention here, though.

This was a fairly lengthy ride altogether. Bob had promised “111 miles, 1 million curves” and that really gives you an idea of what this ride was like. With that kind of promo I knew I would be most comfortable on the V-Strom but I had not yet ridden the Concours in September so despite knowing the V would be the better bike for the ride, I rode the Connie.

That was OK because I’m a pretty skillful rider and I had no problem maneuvering that big bike through the many switchbacks and tight curves we traversed. To my surprise, though, by the time I got home I was exhausted. Riding a motorcycle is not a passive activity the way that driving a car can be, and hours of steering a big bike through serious twisties adds up to significant effort. I got home just in time to go to my appointment at the gym and by the time I was walking home from the gym I found myself stopping every place I found shade to rest. I was tired!

Biker Quote for Today

Top 10 signs that a computer is owned by a Harley rider: 03. — Expansion slots have Genuine Harley-Davidson bike parts installed in them.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Kawasaki, motorcycle clubs, Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Riders Club, Suzuki motorcycles, V-Strom | No Comments »

Heading Up Cumberland Pass

Thursday, July 23rd, 2020
motorcycle on Cumberland Pass

The road up Cumberland Pass is rough but no problem at all on a dirt bike.

Judy and I wanted to go camping and we had not been over Cottonwood Pass since they finally paved the whole thing last year. I discussed that in this post.

So we got up on the east side of Cottonwood and found a campsite. The next day we went over the top and down to Taylor Park Reservoir. The day was still early so what do we do now?

Looking at the map we could see that another road ran from the reservoir up to Tin Cup, a so-called ghost town that I thought I would never get to because I thought the only way there was over a really difficult four-wheel-drive or dirt bike pass. That’s Tin Cup Pass. But the drive from the reservoir is easy on a gravel road treated heavily with magnesium chloride. So we went.

There really wasn’t much at Tin Cup but there was a crossroads where you could go straight or else turn left. Left was over Tin Cup Pass, down to St. Elmo on the other side. We were in Judy’s Subaru Forester. We weren’t going over Tin Cup. Straight ahead, however, was Cumberland Pass and the map showed it to be in better condition than Tin Cup Pass. OK, we figured, we’ll go as far as we can and if it gets too rough that will be the time to turn around.

It’s needless to say that the drive was beautiful. Basically what you’re seeing is how this part of the world looked long before the white man ever came on the scene. Except for the road, of course.

We took it slow, and the Subaru was up to it. Along the way, however, numerous dirt bikes and ATVs went blasting past us as we pulled over to let them by. Those are definitely the kind of vehicles you want out here. We were generally going about 7 or 8 miles an hour and they must easily have been doing 20 mph or more. Of course, on the other hand, most of them were eating dust or wearing masks and goggles to keep the dust out. We enjoyed our closed windows and AC.

It was not a bad road. There were a couple times when it got rough enough I started having doubts but those stretches passed and all was fine. We got up on top of the pass and there were a slew of ATVs and dirt bikes. One of the ATVs was having problems, and this is not a place where you want to be calling AAA to. They finally got it running and that guy headed down with another behind him for security.

Up on top there were several roads going off to the surrounding hilltops and there was a group of bikes and ATVs up on one of them. Heading on down the other side the road went into a deep valley that looked like more nice riding. That goes on to Pitkin, over near Gunnison. We didn’t want to push our luck and we really didn’t have time anyway but I have no doubt it would be a great ride.

So, bottom line here, if you’re into dirt biking, and especially if you’re not an expert dirt biker, Cumberland Pass definitely gets my recommendation. Would I do it on my V-Strom? Yeah, I would. I’ve been on rougher roads than this on the V. I wouldn’t touch it on my other two bikes, though.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if every magazine you subscribe to has the word “Biker” on it somewhere.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Dirt biking, V-Strom | No Comments »

Costco Shopping By Motorcycle

Monday, April 13th, 2020
motorcycle loaded with groceries

Granted I don’t fill my cart at Costco like some people do, but this was a pretty typical run for me, and it all fit in the V-Strom’s bags.

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.

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Posted in V-Strom | No Comments »

Good January Riding If You Have The Gear

Thursday, January 23rd, 2020
motorcycles and riders

An earlier RMMRC ride.

There were about 10 guys but only 4 motorcycles showing up Wednesday morning for the RMMRC‘s regularly scheduled breakfast and ride. I was on my V-Strom while the other bikes were two Goldwings and one Shadow. It was definitely cool but if you wore the right gear it was a very nice day to ride.

I sure wore the right gear. I had my electric vest and my heated gloves, plus my Rev-It riding pants with long underwear underneath. I’ve got to tell you, the more I wear those pants the more I fall in love with them. This was a really, really good purchase.

One of the four of us riders was Don, who got connected to the group via the Meet-Up site. Don came all the way down from Louisville. It was his birthday and he had taken the day off from work, so he wanted to ride. Welcome Don, I hope we see you again.

Having Don join us was indicative of a shift in RMMRC thinking. The group for years had maintained a standalone website but the member who was supposed to be tending to it managed to let the hosting contract lapse. We had already added the Meet-Up page and that has the advantage of exposing other people to the fact of the club’s existence and, at times at least, bringing them to the rides. After some discussion it was decided not to reestablish the old web site, just use Meet-Up. So if you have any old bookmarks for www.rmmrc.org you might as well delete those.

The ride was no big deal; we didn’t have anything great in the way of ideas–just let’s go ride. We wound our way, avoiding highways, to the underpass under I-25 just north of the Castle Pines exit and then over to Daniels Park, down to US 85, up through Sedalia to pick up C-470 and then went our separate ways where that road intersected US 285. Robert and I headed east and home from there while Don continued north toward home. Bob had split off for home back at Daniels Park.

The thing is, the route was not important. It was just a great January day to be out on the bikes. It was windy, especially along the foothills, so I had chosen the V-Strom. I really wanted to ride the Concours but with all its body work it acts like a sail in high winds. I still got blown around on the V, just not as much.

So, we’ve had a lot of cool but clear days so far this January. You don’t have to have electrics, although I strongly recommend them. Just dress with all the warmth you can and get out there. There’s a lot of good riding to be done.

Biker Quote for Today

Why bikes are better than women: When riding, you and your Motorcycle both arrive at the same time.

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Posted in Colorado motorcycle rides, Suzuki motorcycles, V-Strom | No Comments »

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