The Officially Unofficial Motorcycle Thread

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Edit: Just verified via text that the dates are the 13-14 of Oct for sure.
 
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For any of you planning on attending make sure you bring some appropriate (warm) clothes. Daytime high will probably be low 60's and down to the 30's overnight. When we're on the trails and working a bit it should be perfect riding weather but the road sections will be chilly. I highly recommend a balaclava or neck gaiter, you don't want any skin exposed to the wind when we're on the slab. Wind-proof gloves will go a long ways towards keeping you comfortable too, especially if you don't have handguards.

If we end up exploring around Crested Butte subtract about 10 degrees from those temps.

We will very likely be riding through some snow in the high country and/or on the passes, I don't expect much from Glenwood to Paonia but some of the areas around Crested Butte will almost certainly have snow. If you're interested in attending but worried about riding conditions let me know. We're just out to have a good time. If anyone is feeling uncomfortable with the terrain we'll go look for something else to explore. I want the weekend to be fun and laid back, I don't want to return to town beat to crap with busted bikes, that's not what we're after here.

I hope more of you can join us, it would be fun to get a good sized group together for this ride. As of right now I think we have 4 confirmed and 1 maybe. If you're interested this ride is open to anyone who wants to ride some bikes and have some fun. This isn't a club run so everyone and anyone is welcome to join us.

Ryan
 
Cool. You could post this over on Rising Sun too if interested. Those guys love the color Orange.
 
My handlebars were stolen!!! J/K.. New setup should be in tomorrow!.

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Got my bars, risers and headlight guard on today! A few more adjustments along with some grips then out for a test ride.

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I got sidetracked with work but I'll have the .kml file for the route ready soon. I just have to map the Crested Butte sections. I also called Electric Mountain Lodge and they are open that weekend, I thought it might be a cool spot to stop for lunch. Menu is standard fair, Burgers, Sandwhiches, Soups, Salads. And most importantly, Beer.
 
Since I ran out of stuff to do on the CRF I have been turning my attention back to the KLR. I'm using Plasti-Dip on all of the plastics. I am interested to see how well it holds up, it seems remarkably tough. I made a template to drill mounting holes in the universal Acerbis Supermoto fender I am using and I couldn't mar the finish with a sharp philips head screw driver. It's a work in progress but it is going to be totally blacked out when I am done. And since the world needs contrast I am doing a mix of gloss black and flat black.

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Got the front end put back together this evening. Starting to look like a proper motorcycle again.

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Rear fender plasti-dip'd

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Starting to get a little carried away here, ordered up some Wolfman Saddlebag racks and Givi Crashbars. Somehow my plan to put a little work into the KLR so I could sell it turned into a lot of work and a lot of money so I could keep it. :hhmm:
 
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Very cool!
 
That looks great. I think I'll copy it some day. The plasti on my front grille still looks great. Holds up to bugs, power washing, rock chips etc and if it does go bad, just peel and reapply.
 
That looks great. I think I'll copy it some day. The plasti on my front grille still looks great. Holds up to bugs, power washing, rock chips etc and if it does go bad, just peel and reapply.

Awesome! This is my first time using it so I didn't know what to expect in terms of durability, if it's holding up on your grill with the way you drive it should do just fine on my KLR! :D
 
Pre-Run Report

So I decided to take a mental health day yesterday and played hooky. After much deliberation I determined some time on the bike would do me good and headed out the door with the intention of cruising around for an hour or so. I ended up riding through to Paonia with a beer-break at Electric Mountain Lodge. I left at 3PM and got home at 8PM. The last hour was chilly but the rest of the day was perfect riding weather.

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Sunlight Mountain, I'll be skiing here soon enough.

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Fall is in Full Effect

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First time riding the CRF with a street bike helmet, the difference in noise level vs. my dirtbike helmet is huge. It made for a very quiet relaxing fall ride.

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Obligatory Poser Shot

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I ran into some fellow outdoor enthusiasts

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I had some dark clouds threatening all afternoon, but never got a drop.

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Glad I left the house.

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I even found some excellent single track in my wanderings.

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Even at the highest point in the ride the temp was still quite comfortable.

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I took a crack at moving this tree, said F#&% it and rode over it.

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This turned out to be one of my favorite rides ever. Perfect temp. Perfect Scenery. And this layer of leaves with some tacky mud below was a complete hoot to ride on. Slick enough to slide the bike around, but a whack of the throttle would dig through the leaves and you had all the traction you could want. It was highly addicting!

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After you get over 4-Mile and Baylor the roads open up a bit and the speeds increase.

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Excuse the weird stitching my panorama app is a bit off at times.

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The scenery changes, but it's still not too shabby.

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About 2.5 hours in and I'm almost to the lodge, I can taste that beer already!

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Ahh! A nice refreshing BlueMoon, my sports drink of choice for adventure motorcycling.

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Dining area at the Lodge. I scanned the menu and created a .pdf, there were a couple other people eating and the food looked excellent! I was starving but I needed to hit the road or I would be doing a lot of riding in the dark.

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Hit Paonia and headed back up 133 towards McClure Pass. I had to stop and clean my faceshield so I snapped a quick photo in front of this big-ass silo.

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Near the top of McClure Pass: I may have passed a few slow moving tourists on the way up and one lady from Arkansas felt the need to stop and inform me that I had been exceeding the speed limit. She cut her lecture short and sped off when she realized I was taking a leak next to my bike.

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It's all downhill from here... I rode a couple miles down the dirt rode that starts at the summit. Some great scenery and camp sites, I need to go back and explore this area some more.

After exploring the summit for a while I cruised down 133 past Marble, Redstone and coasted into Carbondale on fumes. Put 4.3 gallons into my 4.0 gallon tank and slabbed it home on Highway 82. I can't wait to do this ride again in a couple weeks!

Combining this ride with Kebler Pass and some exploring in that area is going to be a beastly day. At this juncture I would like to motion for grabbing a hotel in Crested Butte on Saturday night. Getting home to a hot shower and a hot meal was the perfect end to a great day of riding.
 
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Here's the route to Crested Butte. The BLUE sections are paved road, the ORANGE sections are dirt.
 
Love the route and love the pics! T-minus 3 days! What time are you hoping to head out in the am on Saturday? Have you thought of a return trip? There is a good route that goes from Paonia to Silt over the eastern edge of the Grand Mesa that could be a good option if you want to change it up.

Forecast

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Love the route and love the pics! T-minus 3 days! What time are you hoping to head out in the am on Saturday? Have you thought of a return trip? There is a good route that goes from Paonia to Silt over the eastern edge of the Grand Mesa that could be a good option if you want to change it up.

I was thinking about Schofield to Marble but I am 100% open to suggestions. Is the route from Paonia to Silt all slab or is it some dirt as well? I'm going to be on the CRF so 65 is about max cruising speed for me for any extended period of time. I would take the KLR but my crashbars won't be here in time and I don't want to risk destroying the plastics I just replaced :D
 
That route is called Dirt Hill
 
After my regear I'm maxed at 78MPH, happy at 65. It's going to be cold.

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Picked up a couple things.

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I'm up for any route for the return. Scofield would be cool as well.

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