While in Arizona we went out horseback riding for a couple of hours. I hadn't ridden a horse since I was a kid (almost forty years ago - back then they were tiny prehistoric horses). I got Butch, who liked to eat a lot and thought it a good idea to stick his nose up the horse in front's ass to get it back to the paddock early for lunch. He managed to piss off half a dozen horses doing this. I ended up with mighty sore knees because I kept weight on the stirrups for the entire ride. Partly because it was suggested and partly because it took weight off the horse's back. Working with an animal is a very different process than inhabiting a machine. I imagine that developing a longer term relationship with the creature eases the guilt I was feeling over using the animal. If I knew that Butch enjoyed taking people out and going for a walk I'd have been a lot happier with bothering him with it. His habit of rushing the other horses suggested that he wasn't enjoying hauling my heaviness around though. How different is riding a horse from asking a taxi to drive you somewhere? In both cases you're paying an organization to provide an animal that will transport you (one a horse, the other a machine assisted human). In the case of the taxi driver you can at least communicate with them and get a sense of their willingness to do the work. You can probably do that with the horse too, but the non-verbal communication takes longer to figure out.
I don't worry about my largeness (6'3" 240lbs) hurting a motorcycle but it was on my mind with the horse, even though they gave me one of the biggest ones they had. My animal empathy is overdeveloped, no doubt, but even with a machine I still sympathize with its situation, it's one of the reasons I take care of mine so diligently. With an animal I'm unfamiliar with I'm not clear on our relationship. If the animal doesn't want to be there it sours the experience. Put another way, I've never met a motorcycle that wasn't eager to be ridden - it's their purpose. We might have domesticated horses but their reason for being isn't to carry people around. While machines may have their problems they have also offered us an opportunity to stop using many animals as chattel for our own ends. I enjoyed the horse ride and I'd do it again, but it would be nice to better understand the horse and their situation. Knowing that a horse was excited to see me and go out would go a long way toward enjoying the ride more in the same way that taking out an excited dog for a walk is a positive process. Two days before our rental horse ride I took a rental motorcycle out for the day and didn't have anything like the same moral quandary, though perhaps I should have.
It's wonderfully quiet out on a horse in the desert.
It was a cold and windy ride through the Superstition Mountains yesterday. The route we took after taking Gaylen's advice at azride.com gets you out of the city and into the desert quickly and lets you bypass most of the urban sprawl east of Phoenix. Our trusty mount was a Kawasaki Concours 14. I thought it would be interesting to compare my 20 year old Concours to a younger one. After I got myself turned around and rode ten minutes the wrong way into Phoenix, we got moving in the right direction and soon found ourselves on the Bush Highway, a twisty, bumpy highway that doesn't go anywhere - I guess that's why they named it that.
It took me some time to get used to this unfamiliar bike. The gear shift was very close to and felt lower than the foot peg which made for awkward shifts, and the brakes felt very (dare I say over?) assisted unlike the old-school hydraulic brakes on my classic Concours. When you applied the front brake you stopped in a hurry causing my pillion to plough into the back of me a number of times until I got really ginger with brake application. The other off-putting part was that each time I used the front brake it was accompanied by a loud electrical whining noise like a cicada chirping. Sometimes it would stop when I let go of the brake, sometimes it would keep whining afterwards. I was unsure if this was a Concours 14 thing (doubtful) or an azride.com maintenance thing. CoG didn't suggest any known brake electrical noise problems so I suspect this is a maintenance issue. The azride.com website didn't mention what year the Concours was (unlike other rental sites which tell you it's a 2015 but show you a five year old bike), but based on the body the bike we had was a pre-2011 model. Maybe it's starting to get cranky in its old age.
Taking a water break on the Bush Highway. It was about 15°C, comfortable riding weather. Up in the mountains it was 5°C when we stopped for lunch.
After owning three Kawasakis I have to say, man do they know engines. Every one I've owned or ridden has had a jewel of an engine and this Concours was no different. Passing through the tunnel leading out of Superior, the engine sounds echoing off the walls were spine tingling - it sounded like something straight out of MotoGP.
With that big wobbly wind screen up high you're in a big air bubble, but it looks ungainly. Fortunately you can lower the screen in town to restore a sportier look.
The engine didn't disappoint in power either. My Connie does the business with carburators and 300 less ccs, but what this bike does with the monsterous ZX14 1300cc lump is truly ominous. I've ridden fast bikes before and this is one of the fastest.
On mountain roads this newer Concours felt smaller than my bike though they weigh the same. The newer bike is much narrower and quite wasp wasted compared to the chunky older model. That monumental engine that produces sixty more horsepower than my bike probably helps with that feeling of lightness too.
Wind-wise, I was able to ride in jeans all day into single digit Celsius temperatures without a problem. The heat that pours off my Concours was absent on this one, though it was a cold day so it wasn't something I'd notice anyway. The windscreen is electrically adjustable and at the top it stopped all but the top of my head getting hit by wind (I'm 6'3" and I had given up on windshields doing anything for me). My bike gets me squarely in the shoulders and up all the time. I didn't like how much the windscreen wobbled at speed, it looked flimsy, not to mention goofy in its highest position. Once I was back in town I lowered it back to a less Jurassic Park look. Goofy or not though, it made a cold ride through the mountains much more bearable. A transformable windshield is a piece of magic, though a more solid feeling one with manual adjustment would do the job better. I'd rather not have the added weight and complexity of the electrical one.
You can see just how ridiculously high the risers are in this view of the Concours back in the lot. The big googly-eyed headlights don't do much for me either.
I've got a 32" leg and find my bike a bit cramped. The ZG1400 was a bit more relaxed in the legs. After a couple of hours in the saddle I had no problems. The ergonomic problems began where azride.com made changes. The huge risers they installed on this Concours looked like comedy units off a 1970s banana seat bike - huge bull horn things that put the grips right under my nipples, or so it felt. They pushed me so far back that I was riding more on my tailbone - cruiser style - than I otherwise would have. The narrow Concours 14 seat wasn't build for this contortion and it became quite uncomfortable. It makes me wonder how the stock handle bars would have worked. I have low risers on my old Concours and have a slight forward lean, which I prefer to a bolt upright or reclined stance.
No fancy paint, electrical wind screens or whining electronics, but it's a solid old thing that does the business with gusto. I'm still wishing for the bike bag to magically whisk my bike along.
All of the electrical noise from the brakes and fuel injection made me cross. I don't mind electronics (I teach computer engineering), and my Ninja had EFI that was bullet proof, silent and efficient, but when the electronics are whirring away it is intrusive and just reminds you of another expensive thing that will break on you. I don't feel that this Concours 14 gave me a fair idea of what the breed is capable of. I'd especially like to try a newer one to get a better sense of the machine. Maybe Kawasaki will be doing a riding tour again next year and I can try a 2016 model. That whacky old-guy handle bar riser (and accompanying sore ass) conspired to make me long for my own bike. It might not have the heat management, or easier reach to the ground (which I don't need anyway), or fancy moving windshield, but my old Concours feels solid, is usually the fastest thing on the road when you twist the throttle and offers a satisfying mechanical simplicity that I missed on this electronically whinny newer machine.
Since missing the opportunity to ride in the desert last time I was in Arizona, I'm aiming for a day out on two wheels over this Christmas holiday. Since the adventure bike I want isn't available, I'm looking at a pavement orientated trip. That doesn't mean I'm suffering for choice in Arizona though.
Route 60 from Globe to Show Low has fantastic reviews and offers a winding way through the mountains. The views are so spectacular that I won't tire of seeing them twice. You see different things riding the other way anyway. The section of sweeping switchbacks on the way down to the bridge over Salt River look fantastic...
...though I hope I can keep the bike in my lane unlike Sparky in the streetview above.
Route 60 over Salt River looks special.
Phoenix to Superior on the edge of the mountains is about an hour, then it gets even better!
From Superior, AZ into the mountains it's beautiful riding... easily a hundred miles of sweeping curves and glorious high desert scenery. It's only about an hour from AZRide on lightly trafficked, arrow straight roads to get to the good bits, and even there you're in the desert surrounded by massive saguaro cactuses soaking up the heat.
Once into the mountains, the roads are interesting and the views astounding.
A nice thing about not doing a loop means that we'll know when enough is enough and turn around. I was knocking myself out in BC to make sure the bike was back on time. It won't be an issue on this out and back excursion. I'm hoping to get the new Concours from AZride.com sometime between Dec 24th and the 30th for a foray into the high desert, hopefully on a weekday when the roads are quiet. It'll handle my son and I with ease while making mince meat of those twisty mountain roads.
I've been through the desert on a lousy rental car with no name, now I'll do it properly on two wheels!
I landed a free trip to Arizona a couple of years ago for an educational conference. I'd never been to the desert before, it was a great trip but the cunning plan to rent a bike fell apart when I discovered they don't rent over the Easter weekend when I was flying in. Ever since driving a lousy Nissan rental car through the Superstition Mountains, I've wanted to go back and do it properly on two wheels. My time has come! We're doing a family trip to Arizona over the Christmas break. Opportunity never knocks twice, except when it does, like this time.
Eaglerider's selections look all of a kind, a kind that doesn't really grab me.
Eaglerider has a huge selection of bikes, but AZ Ride has exceptional customer ratings. I'll end up looking into both and seeing which grabs me.
AZ has the Indian Scout, which tickles a fancy (riding in the desert with an Indian Scout, c'mon!), along with the ZG1400 Concours, which I'm curious about for obvious reasons. Eaglerider has a lot of Harleys and a smattering of other very heavy offerings from other manufacturers. In other locations they offer Triumphs but not in Phoenix. Scraping floor boards doesn't make me think of spirited riding, it makes me think of a poorly designed motorcycle. Lugging a massive hunk of iron that can't corner around the desert doesn't strike me as a good time. Looking at what's on offer, and taking into account the customer ratings on Google, I think I'll be giving AZride a go. They're both up the right end of Phoenix to get to easily, so location isn't a factor. I'll be aiming at a Concours if my son wants to come with or the Scout if I'm solo, then it's off into the Superstition Mountains for a day... or is it?
309kms/192 miles, with that many bends should make for a good day of riding
The road to Roosevelt is something else. I skipped it in the Nissan rental car, but on two wheels it might be reason enough to live in Phoenix. It's about 80kms of serious switchbacks through breathtaking high desert, except it's a dirt road! All my day dreaming about riding switchbacks of smooth Arizona tarmac aren't happening unless I go the long way around and stay on paved roads. Once up on the plateau I'll make a point of stopping at the Tonto National Monument, which is a magical place. The ride back down the other side offers a couple of nice stops, but also some tedium. If that road to Roosevelt is as magical as it looks, I might just come back that way.
How do you say no to a road like that? AZride has a BMW 800GS Adventure, but a ride like this would be the perfect time to try the new Triumph Tiger Explorer - alas, no one rents it. I've been eyeing the 800XCx as well as the new Explorer, but no one rents 'em. There is a Triumph dealer in Scottsdale. Think I could convince them to let me have a 300km test ride along that crazy road?
***
In a more perfect world I'd rent bikes I'm curious about owning. A short list would include: The new Triumph Bonneville with the Scrambler package (favourite classic) - It'd also look awesome in the desert!
A Kawasaki Z1000 (favourite naked bike), though Kawi just came out with a Z800, which I'd also like to have a go on - but I'd be trapped on pavement.
The Kawasaki H2 (because it's bonkers) - but not so good on a dirt road in the high desert...
The Ariel Ace (because it's sooo pretty) - but I suspect it lacks off road chops.
I'm in a conundrum now. I really want to ride out of Apache Junction on the Apache Trail, but the bikes I want to ride are all pavement specialists while the adventure bikes I'd want to rent aren't available to ride. Meanwhile Triumph cruelly taunts me with their lovely new machines.
Damn it! FOLLOW UP
Instead of turning left before Globe, head on towards Show Low. The roads be magic there!
All is not lost. If we're on pavement for the ride there is a nice triangle that'll make for a fine high-desert ride. The road north out of Globe into the higher mountains looks like a corker too. I don't think I'll be suffering too much if I can't ride the Apache Trail. Either of those would be a blast on a big Connie. Now to find a day when the weather is cooperating and see if I can make this happen.
