Earache

I like going there just for the food! Breakfast burrito smothered in red and green chile at Tia Sophia's is my favorite.. Dinner burritos with chile are great too... Thw wife doesn't enjoy a good fart as mcuh as I do and opted for some tamer food...

Shots around town...

Santa Fe Hilton kicks all sorts of ass. great bar, great pool, night time fireplace by the pool...

A few more pics of the roads, etc... Lots of wide open stuff, easy curves in NEw Mexico..

You had time contraints then - we won't have any so the pace is as fast or slow as you want it to be. The roads out west aren't technical at all. Very long, sweeping turns tht are generally wide open as far as sight lines go. No tight curvy shit with blind corners at all. So it's nothing like riding in southern Ohio or anywhere else in the east or south. One turn might take a mile and a half to complete as it goes around a mountain. But they do have some drop offs on the outside of the curves that are longer than ours...

2nd season, 42nd season - makes no difference. You could easily do this ride with 2 years expereince. My bud's girlfriend did it last year in her 3rd year of riding on her R6. It's not a race, lots of stopping to take pictures, breaks, etc. It's not as hard to do as you might think.

So Ben, what day are we going? Setting a firm date now might help others plan. July and August are out. We'll sweat our nuts off in New Mexico and southern Colorado during that time of year. Mid June would be best as far as weather goes. Say June 12 - 21, 2009? The first day we should try to make it to Columbia, MO. Roughly 530 miles from Columbus and 750 miles from Denver. If you were able to leave a bit early from work - say 3:00 PM or so on Friday - we'd be there in time for late dinner at the Hooter's conveniently located next to the hotel that I always stay at in Columbia. The next day's ride to Denver is then a piece of cake. What sez you?

Forgot to answer the other question; Garmin Zumo 550's are the one most long distance bikers are using. I say this based on the number of threads about GPS's on the long distance / sport touring /adventurer forums I'm on. Waterproof, works with gloves, decent screen dispaly size, built specifically for motorcycles, loaded with good mapping, has a decent mount, Bluetooth, XM built in, etc. See for yourself at : https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=414#zumo

Just be sure to get a few things; 1 - a screen big enough to see while on the bike 2 - does the touch screen work with gloves? 3 -decent support in case it dumps on you 4 - pre-loaded with the maps you want? 5 - other types of maps available ( such as topography, lakes and streams, etc)? Garmin has been the standard over the past years, but other are making inroads. I use a Garmin 2610 on my bikes. Loads of decent mounts available (be sure to get a locking one for bike use). But you'll most likely need to rig something up to use it on the bike. I use a RAM ball moutn system. Rubber mounted, doesn't vibrate and saves the unit from vibration. I made my own mount for the bike - be happy to whip one up for you as well if you want one like mine.

Another weird soft drink from the south, like Ale-8 and others. Still not as good as RC Cola and a Moon Pie though.

Why not? My bud Joe rode his '02 R1 to California and back with me last year. And his bike had 60,000+ miles. My other bud Dave, who also did Cali last year with me, rode his '99 R6 to Cali and back with me in '05. Bike had around 40,000 miles on it. Joe is 45 years old and Dave is 43 or so. If the old farts can do it, so can you. Even though we're all old, we don't really baby our bikes much and ride at a decent pace. If you have a Japanese bike with less than 35,000 miles on the clock, I'd say it's good to go. Bikes with more mileage than that should probably be gone over by a competent mechanic beforehand, but should still be able to make it. I'll be riding my '02 ST1100 with 80,000+ miles on it ......again.

I'm going there for Christmas next month. Looking forward to it!

Santa Fe is very cool if you're into eating and drinking. Fantastic restaurants and bars in town. We stay at the Hilton Santa Fe - right in the middle of it all... Canyon near Taos....

And if we head to Santa Fe instead of Utah, expect this....

Ouray, CO.... Same shot in the winter. No bike this time though... Rocky Mountain Nat'l Park... Various Colorado pics...

8 nights in hotel @ $100 each divided by two people = $400 lodging 4,200 miles @ 40 mpg = 105 gallons at $2.00 each = $210 fuel 9 days X $35 for food = $315 Total = $925 Add more if you like to drink and eat a lot, gambling money in casinos, etc. But I'd plan on at least $1,500 cash. Plus, you'll need a set of brand new tires and a set of brand new brake pads, fresh oil change and a good chain. So factor that in as well. But that can be taken care of ahead of time.

Route 50 in Bumfuck, Nevada.... Sweating in Eureka, NV - one of the two gas stops across the state...

Nevada in the summer is no fun at all. Utah is bad enough! Bedrock, Colorado locate don the Utah / CO border. Nothing but an old store... Mount Evans, highest road in the USA...

The abbreviated one week off from work trip. 2,000 miles each way and easily done in 9 days, (one 5 day work week off and a weekend on each end of it). Takes in Colorado, Rocky Mtn Nat'l Park, Mt. Evans, Aspen, Ouray, Gateway with a side trip into Moab, Utah..... Close up of the Colorado and Utah portions....

The one above is a 6-7,000 miler round trip. We could do a shorter version - forgot we discussed that. I'll see if I can find another saved map.

Ya mean this one? Just an outline of a trip I've done many times before....

Same here - I've had Sirius for about 4years and it has gotten better and better. Listen to lots of news, Stern and soem music. But as I drive all over the US, it's nice to have the same stations wherever I go. Wifehas it in her car as well. I'll be addding Sirius to my bike(the ST) over the winter. Working on a new antenna and mount system with an inventer out of Florida to make some bike specific mounts for a smaller shaped antenna. Should be cool if it works. I'm waiting on the antenna prototypes right now and should have some mounts whipped up soon.

I picked up Brian's swingarm today and hope to have something fabbed up in 3-4 weeks. Have vacation this week and will start on it late next week. I'll post up some pics as I go..........

+1 on Recon's suggestion about the bearings. Replace as needed. I assume the oil and fluid have already all been changed? If not, change'em.

If you know, how long ago was it underwater? I probably wouldn't worry too much about it at this point. The rectifier and black box "might" crap out earlier than they would have normally - or might not. The wiring harness "might" rust and crap out earlier too. Might not. Just no way of telling. I'd apply dialectic grease liberally to all connectors after cleaning them with some residue free contact cleaner and hope for the best. For $2,500 I'd just ride it until it dies.