IGETAROUND
Active member
This is a tale about my trip to California from which I have recently returned.
I traveled to the west coast with a longtime friend, Rodney and his BMW RT 1200 (I think that's correct); and I on my Spyder pulling my time out camping trailer. We left Plainwell, Mi. @ O dark thirty on July 1st, taking Mi 127 to I-75 and over the Mackinaw bridge to US HWY 2. We stayed on this road until Montana, where we arrived @ Billings on Day three and stayed @ a KOA campground; which we used as our base of operations for 7/4/16. The Morning of the 4th we set out from Billings for the Bear tooth highway. Now for those of you who have not ridden this road it's ~ 50 miles in length climbing up and down through the mountains. The summit is 10,700 feet in elevation and was a joy to ride, traffic was light and we could pass when needed. Having never ridden the Dragon, I only have Smuggler's pass in Vermont to compare it with. Both the Dragon and Smuggler's pass are much shorter in length and don't contain the vistas that are available on Bear Tooth. Bear Tooth winds down on the Wyoming side into the Chief Joseph highway which snakes on high speed sweepers through the foothills on the way to Cody, Wyoming. Rodney and I both agreed that Bear tooth was much more fun so we rode it again on our way back to Billings. If you're in this area of Montana, I highly recommend that you make the time to ride Bear Tooth.
From Billings we headed north and west on I -90 to Mazula, Mt., and then took US -12 to Lewiston, Idaho. US-12 is ~ 200 miles of twisting and sweeping two lane that makes your heart sing. It travels through the Lolo national forest and makes a nice end of the day ride into Lewiston. We picked up another fellow biker who was astride a new Harley trike with ALL the bells and whistles. From Lewiston we continued north and west to US -14 and followed the Columbia river gorge west. We stayed overnight around Salem, Oregon then rode over to the pacific coast highway, 101; and followed this south to Eureka, California, where we stopped for the night and looked at the redwoods and elk in the area. In the morning I continued south to Fremont, California and my sisters home for a week long visit, while Rodney and his friend headed back towards Lewiston, Idaho.
After a relaxing visit with my Sister I began my journey home to Kalamazoo, Mi. I traveled on 1-80 east and made West Wendover, Nevada on my first day after a stop for a great breakfast in Truckee, California. From Wendover, I pushed on to Dix, Nebraska where I stayed the night in a small trailer park. Dix is ~ 29 miles into Nebraska, and I stopped here from exhaustion and 100+ degree temperatures. One gas station, cafe and a small trailer park which was owned and run by the mother of the gal who ran the gas station. From Dix, I pushed on to a KOA in Newton, Iowa, again stopping from the high temperatures sapping the vitality out of me. From Newton, Iowa I continued on to Joliet, Illinois, where I got off I-80 and took 30 east to 49 north back to I-94 east and home to Kalamazoo, Mi. All tolled I traveled 6,170 miles and other than a complete tire change in Fremont, Ca the Spyder performed flawlessly.
My rear tire had 17,000 miles and the fronts were the original OEM's and had 25,000 miles on them. I replaced the rear with another Kumo, and put Continentals in OEM sizing all the way around front and back. Ordered the tires from Discount tire online; they won't question you if you tell them your putting them on a Morgan kit car. They did not have the correct cones to balance the front tires nor the rear. I had no bounce, shimmy or other signs of imbalance on the trip home. IMHO the need to balance new tires is highly overrated and a marketing job by the tire manufacturers.
This is the longest trip I've taken on the Spyder to date and other than the DESS problem @ ~ 8,000 miles I have had flawless performance from my RS/SM-5. The forums for the spyders definitely over play the problems that the unfortunate few have. For a machine that was newly designed from the ground up just eight short years ago, I would venture to say that none of the big 3 from Detroit could have as thoroughly worked the kinks out of a new product which had never before been produced that quickly.
I know this is a little long in the tooth but after having most of the month of July off from my job it's enjoyable to write about my adventure.
Al in Kazoo
This is a tale about my trip to California from which I have recently returned.
I traveled to the west coast with a longtime friend, Rodney and his BMW RT 1200 (I think that's correct); and I on my Spyder pulling my time out camping trailer. We left Plainwell, Mi. @ O dark thirty on July 1st, taking Mi 127 to I-75 and over the Mackinaw bridge to US HWY 2. We stayed on this road until Montana, where we arrived @ Billings on Day three and stayed @ a KOA campground; which we used as our base of operations for 7/4/16. The Morning of the 4th we set out from Billings for the Bear tooth highway. Now for those of you who have not ridden this road it's ~ 50 miles in length climbing up and down through the mountains. The summit is 10,700 feet in elevation and was a joy to ride, traffic was light and we could pass when needed. Having never ridden the Dragon, I only have Smuggler's pass in Vermont to compare it with. Both the Dragon and Smuggler's pass are much shorter in length and don't contain the vistas that are available on Bear Tooth. Bear Tooth winds down on the Wyoming side into the Chief Joseph highway which snakes on high speed sweepers through the foothills on the way to Cody, Wyoming. Rodney and I both agreed that Bear tooth was much more fun so we rode it again on our way back to Billings. If you're in this area of Montana, I highly recommend that you make the time to ride Bear Tooth.
From Billings we headed north and west on I -90 to Mazula, Mt., and then took US -12 to Lewiston, Idaho. US-12 is ~ 200 miles of twisting and sweeping two lane that makes your heart sing. It travels through the Lolo national forest and makes a nice end of the day ride into Lewiston. We picked up another fellow biker who was astride a new Harley trike with ALL the bells and whistles. From Lewiston we continued north and west to US -14 and followed the Columbia river gorge west. We stayed overnight around Salem, Oregon then rode over to the pacific coast highway, 101; and followed this south to Eureka, California, where we stopped for the night and looked at the redwoods and elk in the area. In the morning I continued south to Fremont, California and my sisters home for a week long visit, while Rodney and his friend headed back towards Lewiston, Idaho.
After a relaxing visit with my Sister I began my journey home to Kalamazoo, Mi. I traveled on 1-80 east and made West Wendover, Nevada on my first day after a stop for a great breakfast in Truckee, California. From Wendover, I pushed on to Dix, Nebraska where I stayed the night in a small trailer park. Dix is ~ 29 miles into Nebraska, and I stopped here from exhaustion and 100+ degree temperatures. One gas station, cafe and a small trailer park which was owned and run by the mother of the gal who ran the gas station. From Dix, I pushed on to a KOA in Newton, Iowa, again stopping from the high temperatures sapping the vitality out of me. From Newton, Iowa I continued on to Joliet, Illinois, where I got off I-80 and took 30 east to 49 north back to I-94 east and home to Kalamazoo, Mi. All tolled I traveled 6,170 miles and other than a complete tire change in Fremont, Ca the Spyder performed flawlessly.
My rear tire had 17,000 miles and the fronts were the original OEM's and had 25,000 miles on them. I replaced the rear with another Kumo, and put Continentals in OEM sizing all the way around front and back. Ordered the tires from Discount tire online; they won't question you if you tell them your putting them on a Morgan kit car. They did not have the correct cones to balance the front tires nor the rear. I had no bounce, shimmy or other signs of imbalance on the trip home. IMHO the need to balance new tires is highly overrated and a marketing job by the tire manufacturers.
This is the longest trip I've taken on the Spyder to date and other than the DESS problem @ ~ 8,000 miles I have had flawless performance from my RS/SM-5. The forums for the spyders definitely over play the problems that the unfortunate few have. For a machine that was newly designed from the ground up just eight short years ago, I would venture to say that none of the big 3 from Detroit could have as thoroughly worked the kinks out of a new product which had never before been produced that quickly.
I know this is a little long in the tooth but after having most of the month of July off from my job it's enjoyable to write about my adventure.
Al in Kazoo
