My Summer Bike Ride

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 11:10 am

clinehall wrote:

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

Yeah. The F650GS Adventure would have been better for this trip. I thought the lows were easier to find than the Adventures. I can check with JB to see if its still for sale if you like. Its in Huntsville, AL.

Chad Culbertson wrote:

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

Yeah. We trailered the bikes to Raton, NM. Left the truck & trailer with a friend who lives out there, then did a big loop - returning to Raton. I much prefer a loop ride than a point-to-point where you have to ride slab on a dirt bike to get back to the truck.

Aaron Buckley · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 12:00 pm

Looks like an awesome adventure Cash. While I don't ride motorcycles, something like that is intriguing. - AB

Chad Culbertson · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 12:01 pm

Cash Davidson wrote:

Chad Culbertson wrote:

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

Yeah. We trailered the bikes to Raton, NM. Left the truck & trailer with a friend who lives out there, then did a big loop - returning to Raton. I much prefer a loop ride than a point-to-point where you have to ride slab on a dirt bike to get back to the truck.

That makes sense considering you said top speed on the DRZ is only 55mph, i'm guessing that's against the rev limiter too, certainly don't want to spend much time at that speed. Plus the really low gearing i'm sure make the slow stuff much more bearable.

JasonWatts · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 8:32 pm

Chad Culbertson wrote:

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!

They are nice bikes. but pricey. Give it a few years and they will be down to the right price.

If you do this again next year, I might be interested in joining as well. Where they mostly double track or crazy single track with lots of complicated stuff? My friend does stuff out in that area on is super tenere. I am impressed by what he can do with the bike.

Rodney, I keep strongly considering to sell my super 10 next year. Ask nice enough and it might be the motivating factor.

Donnie Barnes · **Posted:** Thu Oct 06, 2016 9:17 pm

Awesome trip.

There is another BMW option...the G650X. No longer available in the US, but it's a Rotax thumper with fuel injection on a BMW chassis. I took mine with me to Leadville for the three weeks I was there finishing my training and then racing the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race. Went over several 13k foot passes with it. Here's a gallery of it:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/32643830@ ... 2635652952

I now have some aluminum panniers on it. Still occasionally use it to take my mountain bike places. Get a lot of looks on the highway in that config, too, but it works GREAT. There are a few easy to do mods you need for the G650X for a trip like this, but the hard one is the rack you see on mine. That's post-Leadville because while in Leadville I ripped my top rack completely off some more traditional mounting. It's *not* the perfect bike for a lot of gear, though I think *mine* now is. But like I said, that rack is fully custom and wasn't trivial to fab.

I've done Imogene and Engineer passes in a Jeep, but not a moto. Would be fun, though! I'd ride that trip, but I hate tent camping with a passion, so I wouldn't *do* that trip.

--Donnie

RodneyWright · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2016 8:17 am

JasonWatts wrote:

They are nice bikes. but pricey. Give it a few years and they will be down to the right price.

If you do this again next year, I might be interested in joining as well. Where they mostly double track or crazy single track with lots of complicated stuff? My friend does stuff out in that area on is super tenere. I am impressed by what he can do with the bike.

Rodney, I keep strongly considering to sell my super 10 next year. Ask nice enough and it might be the motivating factor.

I'm not a bike person, so what's a super 10?

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2016 8:26 am

JasonWatts wrote:

Chad Culbertson wrote:

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!

They are nice bikes. but pricey. Give it a few years and they will be down to the right price.

If you do this again next year, I might be interested in joining as well. Where they mostly double track or crazy single track with lots of complicated stuff? My friend does stuff out in that area on is super tenere. I am impressed by what he can do with the bike.

Rodney, I keep strongly considering to sell my super 10 next year. Ask nice enough and it might be the motivating factor.

Of the 1500 miles, I'd say 1000mi or more of it is real easy double track that you can do in a Subaru. About 20% was VERY gnarly - either very steep and rocky or very deep sand neither was very big bike friendly. There was a little bit of single track. I'll be going again next year - I'm still working on route and schedule. I'll post up here once I get it firmed up.

I'm leaving Tuesday for 10days in New England - a fall foliage ride. Here's the route:

It's about 900 miles of dirt. Mostly well groomed gravel. I figure 4days - I'll likely be motelling due to temperatures. I'm taking the Cagiva as I expect to be rolling along pretty easily.

Here it is from 2 summers ago in New Mexico:

Cash Davidson · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2016 8:27 am

RodneyWright wrote:

JasonWatts wrote:

They are nice bikes. but pricey. Give it a few years and they will be down to the right price.

If you do this again next year, I might be interested in joining as well. Where they mostly double track or crazy single track with lots of complicated stuff? My friend does stuff out in that area on is super tenere. I am impressed by what he can do with the bike.

Rodney, I keep strongly considering to sell my super 10 next year. Ask nice enough and it might be the motivating factor.

I'm not a bike person, so what's a super 10?

Yamaha Super Tenere

JasonWatts · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2016 10:34 am

RodneyWright wrote:

JasonWatts wrote:

They are nice bikes. but pricey. Give it a few years and they will be down to the right price.

If you do this again next year, I might be interested in joining as well. Where they mostly double track or crazy single track with lots of complicated stuff? My friend does stuff out in that area on is super tenere. I am impressed by what he can do with the bike.

Rodney, I keep strongly considering to sell my super 10 next year. Ask nice enough and it might be the motivating factor.

I'm not a bike person, so what's a super 10?

As cash said its a Yamaha Super Tenere. Its in competiton with BMW's gs1200 and the vstrom1000. Sorry I should have spelled it out.

JasonWatts · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2016 10:38 am

Cash Davidson wrote:

JasonWatts wrote:

Chad Culbertson wrote:

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!

They are nice bikes. but pricey. Give it a few years and they will be down to the right price.

If you do this again next year, I might be interested in joining as well. Where they mostly double track or crazy single track with lots of complicated stuff? My friend does stuff out in that area on is super tenere. I am impressed by what he can do with the bike.

Rodney, I keep strongly considering to sell my super 10 next year. Ask nice enough and it might be the motivating factor.

Of the 1500 miles, I'd say 1000mi or more of it is real easy double track that you can do in a Subaru. About 20% was VERY gnarly - either very steep and rocky or very deep sand neither was very big bike friendly. There was a little bit of single track. I'll be going again next year - I'm still working on route and schedule. I'll post up here once I get it firmed up.

I'm leaving Tuesday for 10days in New England - a fall foliage ride. Here's the route:

It's about 900 miles of dirt. Mostly well groomed gravel. I figure 4days - I'll likely be motelling due to temperatures. I'm taking the Cagiva as I expect to be rolling along pretty easily.

Here it is from 2 summers ago in New Mexico:

Please do keep us posted. I have a bunch of different directions I want to go next year with my automotive collection and vacation. Something like this could push me in a direction.

Jordan Normark · **Posted:** Fri Oct 07, 2016 12:06 pm

I've always wanted to take a leak on the Continental Divide...you know...just to see.

What a great trip and way to see that part of the country, it's beautiful out there.

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My Summer Bike Ride

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