Ride Report #46: Napa County

Labor Day 2018, September 3rd, Akshay & I rode some new roads in Napa county. We started early from Fremont, took I680 to Fairfield, which is actually in Solano county and then road towards Lake Berryessa.

While the first 65 miles of freeway were long and boring, the Hayabusa made it somewhat easier. There was no traffic whatsoever, and we were comfortably doing 90-100mph on the freeway. Those speeds are very natural to the Busa, one doesn’t feel the wind very much and the bike is very stable.

The first twisty road was Wooden Valley Road, connecting the freeway to Hwy 121. A nice rural stretch of wide sweepers, followed by Hwy 121 and then Hwy 128. We then turned right on to Berryessa Knoxville Road towards Lake Berryessa. It was a little bumpy going downhill from Hwy 128, but soon the road surface improved. Nice wide sweepers, great views of the lake and not a lot of traffic… we had a great ride. I didn’t know that Lake Berryessa was man-made: it’s actually formed by a hydro-electric dam, the Monticello Dam, at the south end of the lake.

We stopped at the bridge over the lake, where Pope Canyon Road meets Berryessa Knoxville. We took a few pictures and were on our way. Pope Canyon is also fun, just a little rougher though. It took us to the town of Pope Valley (population 583) at which point we branched off onto Howell Mountain Road.

Howell Mountain is a true gem, like Pescadero Creek Rd, with tight uphill (for us) turns, good quality tarmac and mostly full tree cover. We did encounter a couple of big rigs coming down the road which made it a little unnerving in the curves. We gassed up in Angwin (I didn’t even know this town existed – nice little charming place) and took our final twisty road of the day, Spring Mountain Road, towards Santa Rosa.

Spring Mountain was also fun, with little traffic, nice curves, but the pavement was quite rough. We stopped briefly on the road for a break, and then made it to our lunch spot, Russian River Brewing Co.

A couple of Pliny’s later we made the long slog home, all of it on the freeway (101-580-880). Thankfully there wasn’t a lot of traffic and we got home to Fremont in the late afternoon. A nice day ride to Napa and Sonoma!

 

Ride Report #45: Sierra Pass Ride

The most enjoyable ride of this summer was on July 29th 2018, riding the usual route through the Sierra passes. The route was identical to RR40, RR37 and RR14… seems like an annual tradition now. I posted a thread on BARF and surprisingly a large group of riders joined. In total we had 8 riders and a wide variety of bikes: BMW S1000R (Akshay), BMW R9T (Bobby), Suzuki Hayabusa (me), Yamaha XSR900, Triumph Tiger, another BMW S1000R,  and two Ducati Multistradas, one of them the Pikes Peak edition.

Group photo of all riders, on Hwy 4 near Alpine Lake:

One of the Multistrada riders compiled this video, I think it came out very well. It clearly shows the smoke in the central valley from the various forest fires.

450+ miles, not a bad day!

Ride Report #43: Napa, Lake, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties

Saturday September 23rd, Shobhit was flying in from Seattle and the plan was to ride to the Sierras. But due to a freak weather event, there was heavy snow up there and all Sierra passes were closed. We decided to ride to the North Bay: in and around Napa, Lake, Sonoma and Mendocino Counties.

Akshay recently bought a 2014 BMW S1000R, so we decided to ride all three of his bikes (S1000R, S1000RR and FZ1). This have him a chance to ride his bikes back to back and compare their performance out on a long ride.

We started off in the morning at Niles, the 4th bike being Bobby’s GS BMW.

This was a long ride: we stopped in Napa for coffee, then took the Silverado trail to Calistoga, then Hwy 29 towards Clear Lake, Hwy 175 back towards 101 and finally Old River Road to Ukiah. We then crossed Hwy 101 and took Hwy 253 to Boonville where we had a decent but underwhelming lunch. We then took Mountain View Road to the coast and made our way South on the coastal highway.

While the roads were pretty good throughout this trip, I was not pushing it on any of these bikes. I got to ride all 4 bikes for a decent stretch and in my mind the RR was the clear winner.

The highlight of the trip was a short stop we made at The Zen House – a motorcycle repair shop named along the lines of Pirsig’s famous book. It was a cool place with a few old Ducatis parked up front. The lady behind the counter was friendly and chatted with us as we bought t-shirts.

The coast as fun as usual:

Akshay’s three bikes, gassing up at The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas

At the Crystal Geyser Calistoga Beverage Company:

Ride Report #42: 2017 Summer Motorcycle Trip

All we ever do, is all we ever knew…

Among other things, Seattle has produced some amazing music, through the 90s, 2000s and even today. I don’t know when it went from grunge to indie folk, but every now and then I hear an interesting band, I Google the name, and they’re from Seattle. Coincidence?

Motorcycling, music and nature: there is some connection, I just don’t know yet, or maybe I do. Like Kurt Godel’s connection with Escher and Bach. Maybe the neurons in my brain treat these experiences in the same way. Or maybe I’ve developed a cognitive association, so my brain thinks that riding a motorcycle is a like hiking a trail in Yosemite.

We started Day-1 (July 2nd 2017) from Niles, customarily for the fifth year in a row. Akshay (FZ1), Shobhit (FZ1), Bobby (R1200GS), Bill (Ninja 1000) and me (Hayabusa) – five riders this time – one more than last year. Bill was the oldest of the group (pushing 70) but arguably the youngest and wildest at heart. I met Bill through the ZRXOA (“the OA”) and he’s been super fun to ride and hang out with.

Our first stop was at Boonville, CA along Hwy 128, which is a long ride from Fremont, most of which is on the freeway. It was getting hot by then so the mesh gear helped. The Hayabusa handled the freeway with ease, it’s just mostly putting along at speeds below 100 mph.

There is a little bit of fun on Hwy 128 before you hit Boonville – I played around with the Busa, throwing it bit by bit into the turns as I started getting comfortable. Lunch in Boonville was at the Buckhorn Pub – below average food with average beer. It was 100F by then. The problem with Boonville is that there’s this awesome brewery in town but they don’t serve any food. Food is a mile+ away, so you have to skip it, or bring it with you to the brewery which is not easy on a motorcycle. I also noticed that the restaurants are expensive in Boonville.

We continued on Hwy 128 and turned off on Flynn Creek road. Rode to the little town of Comptche and took Comptche – Ukiah to the coast. Both these roads we nice, with thick forest cover, low traffic, good tarmac and nice turns. On Hwy 1 we road up to Fort Bragg and stopped for coffee. It was in the low to mid 60s on the coast, much cooler than the inland, so some hot coffee felt good.

We continued along Hwy 1 – riding the incredible stretch between Westport and Leggett. I’ve ridden this part of Hwy 1 a few times now and it is by far my favorite part of the coastal highway. We gassed up at Leggett, at the same gas station where I bought my Ninja 1000. The kid manning the gas station was talking about how cannabis prices have fallen drastically since it’s become legal in CA. Hah, who would have known!

Our next stop was the Avenue of the Giants, CA Hwy 254. There was a little bit of twisty fun at the beginning and road is pretty scenic but the whole experience was a tad underwhelming. Maybe I’m just spoilt having been to Muir Woods and to Sequoia NP so many times. The “Giants” were magnificent, yes, and the shaded road in very scenic.

We switched bikes briefly while Shobhit rode the Hayabusa and I rode his FZ1. We rode 101 to our hotel in Fortuna (The Redwood Riverwalk hotel) and had dinner at the Eel River Brewing Co. The food and the beer were both great after which we retreated to our rooms. The drinking continued a little with some nice Battlehill Invergordon.

On day 2 we left early after having breakfast at the hotel. We took Hwy 36 to Hwy 3. Both roads were superb as expected, having ridden them back in 2014. There was a little bit of construction on the west side of Hwy 36 where the road narrowed to a single lane. We didn’t stop in Mad River or Hayfork, but continued on towards Weaverville where we had lunch at the Stagecoach Pizzeria and Cafe. At this point, Bill decided to leave the group and ride straight to Willow Creek, our final destination for the day.

We pressed on, Hwy 3, through Trinity Center, Coffee Creek, Callahan and Etna. These are all really small towns, like 5 houses and a store each. It was very hot again (105-110F) and the tar snakes were making it tricky to ride. I slowed down considerably, not keen on pushing the big bird on soft unstable tarmac. We stopped at a Trinity Lake vista point and took a much needed break from the heat.

We gassed up in Fort Jones and took Scott River Road towards Hwy 96. This is a nice goaty single lane road with steep drops and no barriers on either side. We stopped for a dip in the Scott river (now easily 110F).

Hwy 96 was a great discovery. It’s not a tight racetrack like Hwy 36, but it has wide open sweepers with a clear view of the road and amazing scenery to go along. The small towns along Hwy 96 are quirky filled with interesting people. We stopped for gas in Happy Camp. Here’s a picture with Bigfoot.

Shobhit and Akshay decided to ride on to the Oregon border from here. It’s only 20 miles or so, but being exhausted from the heat, Bobby and I decided to stay back in Happy Camp. We chatted with the locals in Happy Camp and their stories were truly amazing. One guy was a fire captain with 7 kids who talked about his daily work routine during the fire season. We also chatted with the lady who worked at the town store. Turns out her sister was married to the fire captain. Then there was this other lady who seemed paranoid about an impending nuclear disaster there. We met a few more – a Ukrainian programmer and a Nigerian girl wearing a Black Lives Matter hoodie … who spoke Hindi… really bizarre town.

The rest of Hwy 96 was excellent. This is a relaxing road, great for cruising along without worrying about blind corners. The road follows the Klamath River, gently meandering through the mountains. There was no traffic at all – we probably passed 4 or 5 cars on that entire highway. We rode through the Indian reservation and made it to our hotel (The Bigfoot Motel) in Willow Creek. Dinner was across the street at Pizza Factory after which we sat outside our hotel rooms for some more drinking. We ended up chatting and drinking till late at night with Bill entertaining us with many of his stories.

By the third day we were quite tired, so we decided to head straight back home. We rode Hwy 299 to Weaverville and had omelettes at the Nugget. It was the 4th of July and we were just in time for the parade. As we started to make our way out, Shobhit’s battery died. A local policeman tried to give him a jump, but the FZ1 battery was completely dead. Being the 4th of July, most stores were closed, but luckily a local mechanic spotted us and came to help. He went over to his shop and brought Shobhit a replacement battery and we were on our way.

From Redding we took I5 all the way home – the long, straight, boring freeway, but we were eager to get home soon. Bill left us at Redding as he went to see his mom. We made it back home, tired, but in a good way. The Bay Area had cooler weather (90s) and that was a big relief.

A thousand miles on this bike now and I’m starting to get to know her. The bike obviously has tremendous power, but the pull in the 5k-9k rpm range is downright scary. It corners well for being 575lbs. It’s not a nimble 600, but it is a mighty fast and comfortable touring bike.

Kawasaki ZRX1200R: 5000 mile review

The ZRX1200R is a cult bike – much like Reservoir Dogs and the Big Lebowski – either you get it or you don’t. This is an old-school retro muscle bike with a few modern touches. It’s been out of production for over a decade now and the only people who care about it are the enthusiasts. If you’ve started your riding career in the last decade you probably don’t care about it much.

Anyway, the bike is all engine, all torque, all muscle. The engine builds power amazingly well through the rev range and keeps me smiling all the time. It’s very easy to wheelie, easier than the Ninja 1000. The 45 tooth (+3) sprocket on the rear helps, but it’s just a matter of blipping the throttle and going wide open to bring up the front end. Very easy in first gear, but possible in second gear too. My bike has a dynojet stage 3 kit, muzzy header and a Dan-moto pipe. The muffler is very quiet at idle, but makes a nice growl when the engine is revved up.

The ergos on the bike are fully upright and extremely comfortable. The seat is plush (Mr. Wog pleated seat) and it looks as good as it feels. The handlebars are wide and the bike requires very little effort to turn. On the freeway the air flow is clean with no turbulence or buffeting. The bike offers a lot of storage under the seat. With the Ted’s battery out kit, it is actually possible to fit a whole gallon of milk there!

The ZRX has an active and vibrant enthusiast community. I’ve made many friends through that community and they have been very helpful when working on the bike. I never thought I could rebuild a set of forks or carbs, but that was possible with a lot of help from the forums. Parts are cheaply & readily available and a lot of different Kawasaki parts can be used interchangeably. These bikes are truly easy to work on – pull the tank off in 2 minutes – and everything is right there.

The other thing about the ZRX is that it gets a lot of attention. Anywhere I go people come over to look at it and talk about it. Most people ask “What year is that?” and are usually surprised to hear that it’s a 2004. Every now and then a knowledgeable person comes up, recognizes it’s a ZRX and says “Nicely done!”.

 

With all this being said, the ZRX is a joy. From a 450 mile tour to a trackday, it can do everything and it does it in style. I’m truly happy with this bike and it will always have a special place in my heart.

Trackday: Thunderhill West

Trackday at Thunderhill West, Saturday May 13th 2017.

I hooked up with Bill and Arash over ZRXOA (thread) and bought my ticket for the event. Bill came over to my place  the previous Thursday and picked up my bike and Akshay’s bike and loaded them into his van. Bill’s Chevy van is perfectly set up for carrying two bikes.

The day of the event, I got up at about 4AM after sleeping for only about 2 hours the previous night. I was excited and the adrenaline made it hard to sleep! Akshay and his Dad came over to my place at about 4:45AM and we left for the track in his SUV. The two hour drive to the track was uneventful and we got there at about 7:15AM. Bill and Arash were already there, so we parked right next to them.

I registered myself at the welcome desk and then took the bike for a safety check. That went quick (5 seconds) without any concerns, and we then gathered for the 8AM rider meet. There was lots of information there, mostly about rider safety, the various flags and general information about the track.

The first session started at 9AM. I had signed up for the slowest C-group, so I went in at 9:40AM. Each session was 20 minutes long. The first couple of laps we were following a control rider at a snails pace getting familiar with the various turns on the track. Once he moved to the side, I started riding faster, increasing my speed over consecutive laps. I found the time slot of 20 minutes per session to be perfect – any longer would have been exhausting and any shorter would have been too less time to do my best on the track.

I ran the 9:40 and 10:40 AM sessions, but I skipped the 11:40 session. I was a bit dizzy after the first two sessions, not having slept well the previous night. I felt much better after lunch and enjoyed all the afternoon sessions.

The ZRX did incredibly well on this tight track for being a 500+ lbs bike. The instant torque in any gear really helped a lot. I even tried running a few laps in 3rd gear, without a single gear change.

For most of the day, I was riding conservatively, just trying to get a feel for things, and trying to get the lines right. I did have a couple of “sticky” moments, one in turn-8, which is a blind turn at the crest of the hill, and one in turn-4, which is decreasing radius turn. Both times I saved in well before I ran off the track, but I paid more attention to these sections in the following laps.

I started in C group and in the morning session I was easily passing 2-3 riders in every lap. By the afternoon, the slowest of the riders had dropped out and there was less passing. Towards the end of the day, I was being passed every other lap by a couple of aggressive kids I think those guys were from morning B group.

The most worrisome part of the track for me was the straightway. Here you have 4-5 bikes riding pretty close to each other, all gunning it to their max, reaching speeds of over a 100 mph. Then they all brake at different points and magically fall in line to take turn-1. On the first couple of laps this high speed clustering was a little unnerving, so I started to take it easy on the straight, allowing most people (except the 250s) to pass me.

Here is a picture of my rear tire at the end of the day. It was practically bubbling from edge to edge.

Unfortunately Akshay lowsided his BMW in the first afternoon session and had to sit out for the rest of the day.

https://youtu.be/t59efGLRd2I

https://youtu.be/Uy65kkHcZNo

Ride Report #41: Santa Cruz Mountains

December 3rd 2016. This was a ride organized by Bill from ZRXOA. Akshay (FZ1) and I joined Bill (Ninja 1000), Arash (ZRX1200) and Vijay (R1200RT) for an excellent ride through the Santa Cruz mountains. We met up at the intersection of Skyline and Hwy 92. After a few greetings, the usual “ZRX shop talk” and admiring each others bikes, we rode down at a brisk pace to Alice’s restaurant. I was surprised by how fast Arash and Bill were riding. Bill is 67 years old, with probably over 4 decades of riding experience, but he rides like he is 27. Arash too, as I learnt over the course of the day, is a very skilled rider.

We stopped by the STP area, admired the bike entourage and then continued down Hwy 84, Pescadero, Cloverdale, Gazos Creek to Hwy 1. We had lunch at Whale City Bakery Bar & Grill in Davenport, which serves the typical touristy fare. A quick sandwich and beer later we were on our way. Vijay decided to return to San Ramon and did not continue along with us.

Next up were Boony Doon and Empire Grade – both favorites of mine. We then rode down Jamison Creek Road to Hwy 236, which was my first time. Arash rode this entire stretch of 3 odd miles with the engine off! It was actually quite incredible – with no throttle, no engine braking and just downhill momentum, he was pretty fast through the corners, making it look very easy.

We gassed up in Boulder Creek, rode up Hwy 9 and took a short break at Skyline. From there Akshay and I parted ways with Bill and Arash and took the long freeway ride back home.

It was great meeting new ZRXOA riders and I had an awesome fun day of riding. I hope to ride with these guys again in the new year.

Ride Report #40: Sierra passes

I love riding the Sierra passes, so I try to make it over there every year and last year was no exception. On a similar route to RR 37 and RR 14, Shobhit, Akshay and I rode the usual loop of 450 miles in one day (October 9th 2016). The weather was clear and the roads were superb.

A few memorable moments from the ride:

Instead of the usual I-580, we used Patterson Pass to get out of the Bay Area. A nice twisty road to warm you up for action in the Sierras.

We had breakfast at Alicia’s Sugar Shack in Twain Harte and the breakfast burrito there was awesome! Great food and quick service.

Sonora pass was cold, but sunny. The ride up there was superb – as always – the tarmac is in great condition.

We couldn’t ride Hwy 89 over Monitor pass because of a big rig diesel spill, so we had to ride up all the way to Gardnerville (Nevada) and then come back down to Hwy 89 and Hwy 4. Added about 30 miles of riding to an already daunting 420 mile day.

We had lunch at Wolf Creek Restaurant & Bar in Markleeville – the place was just average.

I clearly remember on the eastern slope of Hwy 4 where the road is all twisty and goaty, I gunned the throttle on a bump and accidentally caught air – massive air – probably more than a foot. It was scary to jump a 500+ lb motorcycle and control the landing.

Along the way, at the turn towards Hwy 89, I accidentally knocked off a pod filter off my carb. I could put it back on using a ziptie, but I realized that those filters are fragile and come off easily.

All in all the ZRX did wonderful. I was not very tired after a full day of riding and that speaks to the comfort of the ZRX. As usual, it always draws a few looks and people tend to ask me “What year is that?”.

2004 Kawasaki ZRX1200R

I have now become quite used to changing motorcycles every year, usually after my annual summer trip. The Kawasaki ZRX1200R has always been high on my bucket list, so this year I got one. First here is the story of how I got it.

I’ve been a member of the ZRXOA forum for several years now, and I occasionally check out the classifieds section for interesting bikes. One day I came across this white ZRX (unusual color for a ZRX, but my favorite color) still listed on the forum. Bike was listed in June 2015, but there weren’t any takers. I even posted to the thread, saying “Wow, amazing bike. I love white bikes and this one is A+. If this were in CA, I would have probably bought it”. Well anyway, life went on, I kept riding the Ninja 1000, but I kept looking at the bike, and secretly drooling over it.

So one fine day, June 17th to be exact, almost a year after the original listing, I emailed the seller a casual “Still for sale?” He got back saying yes, and the ball got rolling. I spoke to him on the phone – he appeared solid. The price was right (ZRXes are great bargains now), so the momentum was building. I posted to the ADVRider forum and a member (inmate) there (Tony, SGrider) could go out and see the bike physically. He reported that everything was good and the seller was trustworthy.

I paid the seller using PayPal, a first for me, and contacted Haul Bikes for shipping. They had a $400 summer shipping special. They picked up the bike on July 19th and delivered it on the morning of 13th August, three days before we were going to Europe.

I was instantly thrilled by the bike. I loved the looks, the sound, the power and the feel. Some glamour shots from a couple of days after getting it:

 

Initial impressions on the bike were great. I took it for a short 20 mile spin the day I got it. My butt dyno said its faster than my Ninja 1000. The Danmoto can had a nice growl to it. The frame was noticeably softer and more flexible than the Ninja. Turning effort was about the same between the two, but the Ninja was definitely more confident through a turn. The ZRX is much more composed on the freeway though; it is relaxed at 80mph while the Ninja is busy.

A more detailed review later!