MacDuncan

Well done SocalHodaka, the bike looks good and also looks like it fits you well. Good to hear you are having fun on it. Cheers

Most of you will understand that I want a garage with 20 bikes to choose from daily... (much like Jay Leno's garage of cars ) However, that may not be a reality for this fella. I will likely sell a bike or 3 soon. 2013 v-strom 650 Adventure (original owner), 13,000+ miles, ~$ 4,300. One of the best attributes of the bike is that you do not have to be tall to feel comfortable as the seat height is ~ 32 inches tall (Nice to flat foot). Also nice that it zips to 3 digit speed as needed. Used mostly for street camping, roaming Colorado Rockies Hiways, quick loops to Borrego for Lunch 2-up, ride bagless or with 3 Hard boxes, At 6' + the buffeting was a concern, so all options have been done to make a quiet cockpit, but that depends on the riders height. Running shinkos, dry cover for seat for rain or heat, aftermarket screen, skidplate, bar extenders, engine guards, etc. (Pics below) 2008 WR 250r - ~ $3,100. less than 2000 miles. A more recent arrival to the barn in hopes that my daughter would ride with me. Her enthusiasm is high, but dang, so is the bike as most seem to be these days (and for a newbie that at every stop has to jump to the side to touch the ground and only have the back of 1 knee on seat (she is also new to clutch work), that seems tough . I know the original owner and the reason I picked it up is frankly.... how could anyone find a wr250r these days with less than 2000 miles on it knowing that they are one of the most dependable bikes up to tens of thousands of miles on them. It was stored covered, but outside, so it has a bit weathering shown, but it is still quite clean. I knew I would need to go through it, so I did, so all fluids are new, tires are newish, has numerous upgraded parts that would help with future bike camping.... bike runs great. However, the price may seem high, even though I will take a loss on it due to the surprise of finding out when the forks were serviced by Suspension 101, I had to replace more than fluids and bushings.... however, the suspension is like new now. (Pics below) 2021 Tenere 700. (original owner) ~ $9,100. This bike is fantastic. Best reason is how the motor pulls beautifully from any rpm. There are tons of reasons to love this bike. I used it for Borrego loops and riding to resort towns in Colorado 2 up, riding the CO BDR solo and then on the road to tour in Wyoming, Camping off the bike was great, but riding dirt too was a bonus. It has been farkled well (skid plate, engine guards, anti-vibrate speedometer bar, Camel easy clutch pull, barkbusters, Center stand, bigger wind screen, heated oxford grips, soft luggage pannier guards, luggage tail rack, headlight guard, running motoz, etc. What I was unable to do based upon my skill level is to steer the bike with the throttle and lean only when packed up for an overnight on skinny mountain roads (inside story). (pics below) Test ride other bikes to know if any of these bikes would meet your need to ride. PM preferred for actual potential buyers. . Mac Looping Yellowstone 2-up on vstrom: Camping in Joshua Tree on vstrom: Finding Continental Divides on V-strom (2-up): VStrom Today: Colorado BDR solo on T7: Road touring in Wyoming on T7: T7 Today: Local road we all know:

I think Suspension 101 defaulted to original specs because it was primarily intended for my daughter. I was ok with that even though I planned to ride it too as I aged, and since 1/2 inch of air while jumping is my max, and I rarely do whoops seriously - haha. It wouldn't surprise me if he could offer a good deal on a stronger spring for SDAR folks if he has one in his shop.

Happy thanksgiving Mimi, I hope your favorite local trails are still dirt, and not snow, so you can zip along in that wide open land! Cheers

Great cruise Goofy, glad to see you out and about! Hope you continue to share thoughts and strategies, and reflections (gear, bike, riding, route... ), about your outing even after you get home! It is always good to get insights from those who HAVE done it. . Safe travels home. Cheers

Well done Alpha, that looks like a fantastic exploration! I love to do just that, and enjoy knowing that you did! Cheers

Wow, that looks like great fun! Thanks for sharing!

Well done Zubb, and as you stated, it doesn't always need to be Toads wild ride to enjoy the ride, roads, bike, peace, etc......

Even without a boat, I can ride my moto to Glascow.... Did we win goofy?

Goofy, all that was shared by others regarding the loop is correct, but even though it may be a casual ride for many, it can be fun to zip around the perimeter , especially if you just need a quick moto-spin on dirt (but no zip-zam-zoom around blind corners as other motorcycles may be looping on the other direction, and there are occasionally jeeps crawling about). For add-ons, you can always toss in the entrance from Pine Valley to Kernan, and after the loop toss in the glider port out-n-back, and then maybe Noble Canyon. We used to toss in Fred's canyon once atop Noble to zip back down to Kitchen Creek, but there are many posts addressing that portion of the playground. It makes for a nice day from town. (Sorry, I do not recall where I captured the pic in the earlier post). cheers

PB, cite your sources!

Thanks Goofy, It is interesting how it is occasionally challenging to navigate new explorations (and research) when names are the same for different areas. It might be fun for you and others to enlighten us with names that are the same, but are in different areas. For example, you might earn a pricey ticket if you rode Black Mountain in Poway on your moto, but Ramona Black Mountain sure is fun. And, if the weather cools a bit in 8 days, I might ride to Picacho on the CABDR, but not the Picacho in Arizona. And, it was a coincidence that I was just wondering if the snow on Canebrake has melted enough to ride to Kennedy Meadows without going up the Kern, nor the 9 mile asphalt, but there isn't much snow in Canebrake if you wanted to also do a loop by the mud caves. - smiles. I appreciate the research and info about Dual Sporting you have been pushing out lately. Cheers, Mac

Hey Zubb, well done, for me, the track was easily seen, and it matches Gaia. Mac

I had a few days off and asked 3 buds to rally for a ride. One opted out at the last minute, but the other 2 said "let's go"! My work week was crazy and I couldn't find time to prep before Friday night. Even though most of the time we leave for multi day trips on Saturday around 6 am, I asked them if we could leave late Saturday morning, which means the Saturday ride would be a late afternoon short one. I was so proud of my buds who showed up at my pad without knowing where they were going for a few days, and frankly, neither did I. No plans, gotta love it. In fact, the only decision we made as we left was to head out on 67 or 8 (but that dang hiway 8 construction traffic jam/merge can be discouraging, so we cruised out 67N). I had info from Oracle, so we were headed the right direction, although even some low areas can have rain issues too. We wandered through Borrego Springs eventually and out to the Salton Sea, while keeping an eye on the sun so we could drop the bikes quickly and ride for a couple hours before dark, while also hoping that the location might also accommodate a place to camp. Fountain of Youth was considered, but a fire pit and late night beers may not have been ok there, and it was getting late! We almost stopped at inspiration wash just beyond Borrego, but there were quite a few folks, and we didn't really want to ride the routes we had ridden not long ago, so we kept going..... maybe truckhaven??? Holy Toledo, Yikes, as we approached Truckhaven, on that crazy damaged bouncy road, there were millions of people, thousands of jeeps, tens of thousands of rzrs, campers within 5 feet from each other...and so much noise and dust it made us shudder! No way, so keep going..... I began to think about stopping in Box Canyon (away from all the Gun shooting though), and leading a loop by starting out Bradshaw, cut over to Chirroco, and then maybe Palen Pass or Joshua tree...... but to my amazement, even though I often see hundreds of campers in that canyon, nobody was there... so bizarre, especially on a Saturday... and I didn't want to leave the trucks and all our gear isolated in that canyon.... so keep going..... Hmmm, as we exited Box canyon, and with the sun getting lower, we saw many very nice looking campers, motorhomes, etc.. dispersed just across hiway 10 at the entrance to Joshua Tree. Free campsites about a football field away from each other.... looks promising, and I had heard about a little loop near there. We landed a nice spot and quickly geared up and took off on bikes towards the Joshua Tree park, hmmmm, after some paved miles, we began to wonder if our plans would falter as we couldn't find the dirt, so maybe a passive asphalt spin in the beautiful park..... that could be nice.... (sorry knobbies) but right as we were slowing to enter the vehicle line to enter the park officially, the dirt road was just to the left... throttle on...... Pinkham route. It was casual loop and it was nice to be in the dirt after a fairly long pack and travel day.... A good 40 mile spin followed by a nice fire and brews. In the morning, we packed up to head east, but one of the trucks sounded the dreaded "click, click". With some maintenance beyond just jumper cables, we got moving and headed east on 10. Our late start had us thinking about maybe camping at at Walter's Camp and doing some BDR, and finding Hyduk road, but we opted to find a breakfast burrito in Blythe before deciding. We left Blythe headed south for about 100 yards ....and then I pulled a U-turn and headed to KOFA. Late start?, so what! It should not take too long to circumnavigate KOFA! We pulled into Palm canyon which has those fantastic large empty lots of free camping with fire pits, and with the next camper often 2 football fields away... Nice. We packed up and each took a 1 gallon Gas bag and 2 MSR 30 oz bottles. We had to ride a pole trail to get to Kings road and the entry point as our camp-spot road dead-ended to the east. All good, bikes sounded great, not too dusty, communication radios kept us in touch, spot on weather and spectacular views with the alluvial fans greened up from recent rains. WOW! We rode all day and the roads were fantastic, not too fast, but not too casual. In the first 50 miles, we only passed a couple rzrs, and 2 bicycles (pedaling in the deeper sand - ouch). The sun was getting low and we knew that moving at about 20 miles per hour in the rough stuff would make us head home in the night. My 525 halogen was like using a candle, but the other bikes had decent lights, but we slowed a bit as we were tired and didn't want to bif way out in nowhere. We plugged ahead and got back late (~160 miles). No dinner, no fire, just drop gear, enjoy the big moon for a brew or 2, and hit the pillow. Day 3, I proposed a 150 mile loop, but was out voted, it had to be around 40, but I knew once we got moving we would likely do 80 miles. We went north to the MrsT & T entry and cruised around turning randomly, it was great! Some roads had short stretches where you could grab some throttle, but there were lots of sleeper rocks that stuck up about 4-10 inches that had potential to toss you sideways if not paying attention, or maybe threaten a dreaded pinch flat! ... so alert throttling when you could was great, and called for. We didn't see any sheep, but with zoom zoom-ing, not likely. Hey, wait, like finding Waldo, where are the riders???? haha Oh there they are- taking a short break in the shade! A great Day 3, this time followed with some good camping food (that we skipped the night before ). And, a nice place to chill in the beauty of KOFA- Gotta Love it! Great rides and adventure. Cheers.

Given recent weather and road closures, my thoughts of playing in Death Valley and further north next week have changed. I may go play around Picacho, section 1&2 of CABDR, KOFA, Patton's cabin near Palen pass, etc... and maybe see if I can connect East KOFA to Arizona Peace Trail (is there a connector?). Is there a "best" part of the Peace Trail below Hiway 10? Pics, tracks and suggestions welcomed. . Mac

Thanks Oracle, Bike ran incredible. I may have a tiny start to a seal leak at front sprocket, but the bike took off like a jet when I asked it too. . I'll start a ride report.

Heads up to any going to Alamo Lake area.... I looked at that route to Alamo Lake on the internet before heading out a few days ago and a bunch of folks shared that some of the entry points were so flooded that many pieces of the route that connect to that area were swamp like... but I didn't confirm in person... but KOFA was spectacular!

Good intel Oracle, thanks.

Well done Zubb, - Nice riding and writing!

Thanks PB, I rode that a couple weeks ago and it was fun.

Great research Goofy, quite a few SDAR rides used that route to connect to overnight locations and extended longer rides. Thanks.

Dag nab it Moto_rph, grrrrr. Sorry to hear. I too, like all of the members here who have had a bif that sidelined them for awhile, are wishing you a speedy recovery.

Before Goofy can tell me, "pics, or it didn't happen", I thought I would drop a quick note about a recent ride. I enjoy reading about other ride Write-Ups, especially when they add insights beyond just pics, heck, I have so much to learn still (gear, routes, mechanical, etc...) !!!!.... and I learn so much from this site, thank you all!..... so I often feel that I should contribute as well. It was a special ride because I hadn't been on a pedal bike or moto bike for quite a while. I even began to wonder if I should actually have moto bikes in the stable..... (what's that phrase - hop back on the horse if you were bucked off?) ..... so what better reason to find out but to wander around the desert for a few hours (Rhetorically - if closer to 70 than 60 years old, how many bikes does one need? Udo, we know your answer. , and the Breakfast club dudes too (although recent jeep comments and new dusty outlanding rigs have surfaced, like that scary phrase, (with age comes a cage. . ) With some time off work, I saw an opportunity to zip out to Ocotillo to do a little loop and get through that Painted Gorge loop gate before it locks on Jan 1. I wasn't able to collect any my immediate rider riding buds for the spontaneous outing, but I often find some extra freedom in solo travel (contrary to all the logical warnings). I was gonna ride easy to protect a recent injury because I was not 100% yet, but I wanted to try out one of my 2 new chest and rib protection armor pieces. #1, for larger bike, likely worn under a jacket - Forcefield EX-K Harness . #2, for smaller dual sport, the Fox raptor, which now sells as CE2, instead of CE1 protection. Not actually try it out fully, just feel how felt while riding - smiles. I laughed out loud as it took me a couple hours to simply pack the gear, and load the bike in the morning (although I grabbed a few extra items in case an overnight became a choice). It was nice that I wasn't in a rush for a change. I left El Cajon around 10 am and all went well, except that I-8 eastbound road construction where 3 lanes merge to 1 just past Alpine... really?? Parked in Ocotillo, it was beautiful, warm, and the windmills were not moving at all. I brought a Ham radio tuned to SDAR channel just in case I heard some chatter. I turned on Delorme and started tracking notifications as an FYI for someone back at the house in case I land somewhere and don't move for a couple hours (while remembering that I always wait 15 minutes after my return to the truck to turn off tracking because while using the 10 minute free notifications, it can appear to someone at home that I may have biffed short of my return to original location if I shut it down 8 minutes upon arrival, if the last point was sent 9 minutes earlier). I headed out towards Plaster City and randomly turned North along the way to find the entry point to the gate for Painted Gorge Upper level (actually had to do it intuitively as I forgot to re-populate my Map 78 with ocotillo region since my trip to Mammoth and recent CABDR explorations). (Still thanking Crawdaddy for his routes in mammoth, and forever will as I show other riders the magic of that region!) Ouch, I was riding at newbie levels as the bike felt very unstable to me - grrrrr... so nice and easy was the call .. that's ok for now.... I guess.... Found the gate, it was open, Yahoo. It was really nice roaming through the PG road as the canyon was narrow. I navigated the soft stuff cautiously (boringly) and bobbled along the rocky sections, although not with a high level of confidence as the larger rocks deflected my front tire often and I lost my line a few times that put me mighty close to a steep drop. I wasn't interested in finding out if the new armor would do as it was supposed to. . About 3/4 ths of the way up, I paused.... as I was proud of my effort, but decided that conquering the earlier 10 - 20 yard sections of rocky stuff successfully (maybe luckily) did not have me prepared for what looked like a 100 yard section of rock which lied ahead... while solo... So a pit stop to bask in the temporary glory was warranted. The views to the east were fantastic! The ride down was significantly easier as I also began to feel more at home on the bike, especially in the smooth sections shown below. Upon leaving the Gorge, I rode some mighty soft washes, and some whoops, as I headed east and then north at random turning points as I planned to head towards the bridge by way of the pelican/stork at the top of a local knoll just before entering the wash to the bridge..... Some nice desert blooms all around! I don't recall if the sand climb on the right in the background is the climb to the metal stork, but I do recall that with the influx of rzrs going up it these days, it has gotten significantly more soft ( I used to casually climb it in first gear, but now need to get a 3rd gear running start to make it, but that could simply be operator error. It was a nice ride to the Bridge from there, as I enjoyed riding in the wash, while being careful not to open it up knowing that some very soft silt sections randomly appear through that section. I was the only motorcycle I saw the entire day, but a few 4x4 and rzrs were gathered at the bridge: Next stop, superstition.... But darn, the roads I used to approach superstition were so dang soft and I was zig zagging far more than was normal, and it was a bit uncomfortable knowing that some rzrs were buzzing past me going 60 mph. I pulled over a couple times to get my wits about me, and it was nice that a couple of the rzr folks asked me if all was ok. (all good, just felt a bit out of place). I have climbed superstition a few times from the west (the soft side), but thought it best if I pass it this time around. I knew that my shinko fatty up front was worn, but when I looked closer, I noticed that almost all of the side knobbies had cracks almost 3/4ths of the way down each of them..... on both sides, for the entire 360 degrees.....in fact, I could use my fingers to peel them back quite a bit (maybe the recent rocks on Painted Gorge ripped them??) and my Goldentyre rear was looking pretty smooth, so for now I will use that excuse for my lackluster performance - haha. Still pretty terrain though: I contemplated heading south east towards Camacho's diner, but I think it was closed, so I headed towards Plaster City. Finally, on my return towards Plaster City, I began to feel like I was telling the bike where to go instead of the other way around. I gambled a bit by opening it up a little, and voila, the perma smile could have been seen in my helmet easily except I was still riding through the desert without a soul in sight. I was quite happy once the machine and I became more connected. Once I hit the asphalt at Plaster City, I slowed down to a comfortable 30 mph and basked in the feeling of contentment as I rode into the sunset: A great trip! 60+ miles and a few hours of joy! Ok, I'll keep that bike for sure. . I considered doing it again with new folks the following day as there was a group meeting at the Stagecoach RV park as posted on ADV Rider, but although I drove through the park for a few laps, I didn't see any bikes... so I was likely a day early for that gathering, so headed home. Cheers.

That's a great report and congrats on a rewarding ride!

Yikes Zubb, you better be careful.... a posting like that which may be making fun of older folks could be sacrilege in the moto world! smiles. We all want to ride forever . And I anticipate that the last remaining bike in my stable will be a smaller dual sport (Get one Bub-hannah) Zubb, I can see myself on a trike like that still looking for adventures down the road, and maybe with you..... and although it will be fun racing you around the orange cones on your basketball court on a trike before too long, you'll still need to be careful that you don't cut the corner and tip over and get hurt - haha. And by the way Zubb, that was a nice offer by you to help that rider on ADV who high sided, as I was feeling sorry for that dude too (RIBS!!!! ) And JaJa, no need to answer as we all know if you can ride a bike, you will, and if you can find an adventure, you will, and if it doesn't kill you, it will all be good. Hope that is a long long time away still . Zubb, I didn't wear the Adventure bike chest protection in the desert, but I did wear a new Fox Raptor. I had been wearing one on the dual sport for a long time and it has taken some decent impacts to my upper body, but I do not think many riders who may be using an older one like I was until recently actually know that it is CE1 (still better than most roost protectors). My new Raptor is CE2, and it is easy to see and feel that it is about twice as think. I wear it as an outside armor on the dual sport. Level 1 protectors: The maximum transmitted force must be below 18 kN, and no single value shall exceed 24 kN Level 2 protectors: The maximum transmitted force must be below 9 kN, and no single value shall exceed 12 kN. In regard to the Forcefield you asked about, I will use it for my Adventure Bike, it was super comfortable today on my first ride wearing it, and I liked that I had in on as some of the traffic today was acting sporadic in the rain, especially as I was heading south on 15 approaching Hiway 8 and random folks started slowing way down when it poured RAIN as others used that caution to speed up to pass and fill in the gaps - grrr. It fit great in the jacket I got from you (no shoulder pads or elbow pads, and I did take out the D30 back protector to make room). I will post some pics: velcro waist band is part of the armor set, and keeps it secure. Still a little gap of unprotected area, but nice chest and front rib coverage. Thanks to those who shared support, here and on other threads. Cheers