My Summer Bike Ride

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 10:00 am

I've been pretty quiet this year on the racecar front. Having two kids in college, I've temporarily turned to motorcycles as a (slightly) cheaper form of entertainment. This summer I took a couple buddies out west for a 8day, 1500mi dirt ride thru Colorado & Utah. Here's the route:

The plan was to trailer the bikes to Raton, NM; follow the Trans America Trail (light grey line) west to around Salina, UT; turn north on the Great Western Trail (green line); then turn back east on some various tracks I pieced together (dark grey line) leading us to the Continental Divide Trail (purple line)in Steamboat; and finally turn south on the CDT to NM.

Some pics & Vids (short clips and highlights):

Day2
https://youtu.be/rHnYY_zPGag

Day3
https://youtu.be/wzpclgdmDow

Day4
https://youtu.be/XoRFdwW82v8

Day5
https://youtu.be/IhqWG9QpETE
https://youtu.be/wfPrKvPQ4qk

Day6
https://youtu.be/vGZ5jS7hqN0

Day7
https://youtu.be/cM3tmyQkB78
https://youtu.be/397RH5AT1bs
https://youtu.be/gjqMsegTbFQ

Such an spectacular place - can't wait to get back!
Cash

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 12:50 pm

That looks like an absolute blast. If I can buy my BMW 650 GS, can I tag along next year?

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:28 pm

That looks epic. Not a bad way to spend a week.

You get my approval on the knob and woodford as well.

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:40 pm

RodneyWright wrote:

That looks like an absolute blast. If I can buy my BMW 650 GS, can I tag along next year?

Sure! Always looking for riding mates. The F650GS in the pictures is for sale if you're interested - located in Huntsville, AL. I gotta say though, it was NOT the right bike for the trip. Too heavy, too low & not enough suspension.

Mike, we over-packed with everything but liquor. We ran out around day 5. It was hard enough to find gas & water, but finding a liquor store was near impossible!

BTW, we camped all but one night and saw temps ranging from 35 to 102deg. Loved every minute of it!

If you haven't checked out the videos - look at day 3 (Imogene Pass) & day 5 (Moab). They're the best!
Cash

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 3:06 pm

Cash Davidson wrote:

Sure! Always looking for riding mates. The F650GS in the pictures is for sale if you're interested - located in Huntsville, AL. I gotta say though, it was NOT the right bike for the trip. Too heavy, too low & not enough suspension.

That's disappointing to hear, always liked those GS bikes. So what would be your "used" bike of choice for something like this?

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 3:22 pm

RodneyWright wrote:

Cash Davidson wrote:

Sure! Always looking for riding mates. The F650GS in the pictures is for sale if you're interested - located in Huntsville, AL. I gotta say though, it was NOT the right bike for the trip. Too heavy, too low & not enough suspension.

That's disappointing to hear, always liked those GS bikes. So what would be your "used" bike of choice for something like this?

Probably a KLR, XR650, DR650, or the like. Lighter the better for off-road in my opinion.

I love the new Africa twin for a bit bigger more powerful bike, but whew is it pricey!

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 3:56 pm

RodneyWright wrote:

Cash Davidson wrote:

Sure! Always looking for riding mates. The F650GS in the pictures is for sale if you're interested - located in Huntsville, AL. I gotta say though, it was NOT the right bike for the trip. Too heavy, too low & not enough suspension.

That's disappointing to hear, always liked those GS bikes. So what would be your "used" bike of choice for something like this?

I have gotten this question a bunch. Chad is thinking along the right lines - but 650 is the biggest bike you'd want. Most people over estimate how much power you need - you don't need that much. And most people under estimate the effort required to ride a heavy bike in difficult terrain for HOURS. It can be exhausting - day3 (Imogene Pass) it took us 5hrs to cover 25 miles!

I'll share the thoughts from the two guys that went with me:
Scott sold his BMW 1200GSA & bought a KTM 690 Enduro for this trip. After the trip he wished he'd gone smaller. He is keeping the 690 & buying a DRZ400 for his son for next summer.
JB bought his BMW F650GS thinking it would be a good all-around bike. After the trip he bought a Yamaha WR250R.

I think the WR250R is the perfect bike for the trip - fuel injected, water-cooled, 6-speed, light. The down side is they ain't cheap - even used. Dealers say they could sell 10 times as many as they get from Yamaha. I think the DRZ is a realistic choice. They are widely available for under $3k in very good condition. Easy to work on. Huge aftermarket. The bike is essentially unchanged from 2000 to present. It's a lot like me - a little overweight, a little slow, a little soft, runs out of breath at high altitudes (due to the carb), but adequate to get the job done and have fun along the way.

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 4:36 pm

Cash Davidson wrote:

RodneyWright wrote:

Cash Davidson wrote:

Sure! Always looking for riding mates. The F650GS in the pictures is for sale if you're interested - located in Huntsville, AL. I gotta say though, it was NOT the right bike for the trip. Too heavy, too low & not enough suspension.

That's disappointing to hear, always liked those GS bikes. So what would be your "used" bike of choice for something like this?

I have gotten this question a bunch. Chad is thinking along the right lines - but 650 is the biggest bike you'd want. Most people over estimate how much power you need - you don't need that much. And most people under estimate the effort required to ride a heavy bike in difficult terrain for HOURS. It can be exhausting - day3 (Imogene Pass) it took us 5hrs to cover 25 miles!

I'll share the thoughts from the two guys that went with me:
Scott sold his BMW 1200GSA & bought a KTM 690 Enduro for this trip. After the trip he wished he'd gone smaller. He is keeping the 690 & buying a DRZ400 for his son for next summer.
JB bought his BMW F650GS thinking it would be a good all-around bike. After the trip he bought a Yamaha WR250R.

I think the WR250R is the perfect bike for the trip - fuel injected, water-cooled, 6-speed, light. The down side is they ain't cheap - even used. Dealers say they could sell 10 times as many as they get from Yamaha. I think the DRZ is a realistic choice. They are widely available for under $3k in very good condition. Easy to work on. Huge aftermarket. The bike is essentially unchanged from 2000 to present. It's a lot like me - a little overweight, a little slow, a little soft, runs out of breath at high altitudes (due to the carb), but adequate to get the job done and have fun along the way.

Are the 650 singles like the XR, DR and KLR that much heavier than the 250-400cc bikes? I'm guessing most of this trip was sub 55mph speed limits it sounds like. I would imagine you'd want the 650 if you intended to spend much time on 65mph roads. That said, the CBR250 I have does just fine at 65-70mph, so I guess the smaller bikes would work just fine and be even better off road.

I've contemplated wanting to get into a dual sport, I grew up riding on dirt and being able to get to some of these really cool places via public roads sounds awesome.

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 5:20 pm

A XR650 is only 346 lbs wet, but it's air cooled and carb'd. On the upside though you get a 650 for just 20 lbs more than a DRZ400, also I imagine there are some pluses to not having the complexity of a liquid cooled bike off-road. On the flip side, liquid cooled dirt bikes have been around a long time and I don't ever hear any complaints, so maybe it's the way to go for sure.

I do know Hondas have legendary reliability though so I suspect the XR650 would do just fine. The KLR is quite heavy though, like 100 lbs heavier, that's a bit surprising.

Also noticed Honda has a CRF250L now, which has a 6 speed, fuel injection and liquid cooled. It's got less suspension travel and is 320 lbs instead of 290 like the WR, however, it's also $1700 cheaper.

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 6:45 pm

Our average speed was 25mph. There were times when on nicely groomed gravel we could do 50mph, but there were lots of times we were 15-25mph. My DRZ has a top speed of about 55 with the off road gearing I run - 14/50.

Michael Westerfield · **Posted:** Wed Oct 05, 2016 7:26 pm

Cash,
I think they make a knob 120 now. Maybe get more "mileage" out each bottle?

clinehall · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 7:17 am

I would have expected a light weight liquor container that would enable you to carry a larger supply.

clinehall · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 7:19 am

Is that a f650gs low? My wife had one and I've thought about getting her another if I could find one.

Vincent Keene · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:14 am

clinehall wrote:

I would have expected a light weight liquor container that would enable you to carry a larger supply.

Or putting helium in the tires to make the bike lighter.... :mrgreen:

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 9:58 am

I take it you guys trailered out there then and left the truck/trailer parked somewhere?

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