KC to Grand Junction (with lots of detours)

[KyleZ982]

We covered approximately 1100 miles in 2 days taking I-70 to US 50 and staying on 50 all the way to Black Canyon.

We grabbed a hotel in La Junta, CO on night one. Got some great videos going over Monument MT and through the black canyon. I’ll edit them and post later in the week.

Today is a shorter ride to the Moab and maybe monument valley if our bodies agree.

 

[Phil Tarman]

Good riding where you've been and where you're going! Thanks for the pictures! Tell your dad "hi!" for me.

 

[KyleZ982]

Phil he said Hi back and he still beats himself up for not buying that NT in Shawnee!! Haha

Anyway today we ventured to the Moab desert region in Utah. Took Hwy 128 from I 70 through the canyons and the road followed the river. Absolutely stunning views and I’d have to rank it as one of my top 3 roads I’ve ever been on (I’ll know for sure after the million dollar highway tomorrow)

As far as the bike, I’ve put roughly 1300 miles on this trip alone.

Things I’m impressed with:

-How comfortable it is, the stock seat really isn’t that bad
-Handles the twisties like a dream
-The 700 cc motor is plenty of power even when weighted down with gear
-Radiator seems to keep up just fine, it was extremely hot and we were running 80+ on the interstate
-The height literally is perfect for my short legs
-May be weird, but I love the way the engine just purrs

Things I’m not too impressed with:

-One of my pannier latch’s broke already, I’m thankful for all the useful info on here about the external latch’s though.
-I saw somewhere on here that the headlight was straight out of 1988, I think that does 1988 a disservice haha

Honestly overall this bike is great, and with the low maintenance engine I could see myself keeping this bike for a long time.

One guy came up to me and asked if it was an ST, and when I told him what it actually was and that it was shorter, he was already asking where he could find one.

Kyle

 

[Phil Tarman]

Kyle, When I got my NT, I wasn't too impressed with the headlight. I ordered the original Denali driving light from Twisted Throttle the day I bought the bike, before I even got it home. They helped a lot, but I still wasn't overly impressed. Then one night, I noticed that when I was on low beam, the light was focused on the pavement barely 15-20 feet in front of me. I aimed them higher and that helped. Then I started noticing that cars didn't flash me very often but that trucks would flash me fairly often. That's when I realized that I had the headlights aimed quite a bit too high. I re-aimed them very carefully, trying to get the cut-off on the top of the low beam the same distance above the ground as the headlight itself. That made all the difference. Now, I don't get flashed unless I've got the headlights on high beam and when I combine the headlights with the relatively small Denalis, I can see a long way down the road. Mile markers show up nearly a mile away.

Plus having the Denalis mounted on the fender makes a triangle that helps me show up both day and night. After I mounted them, people in Ft Morgan, where I lived for 19 years started telling me that my motorcycle really showed up in the day and at night.

Oh, BTW, I agree with you about the ride from Cisco to Moab. You'll like the Million Dollar Highway, but I'm not sure its any better than CO-141 between Whitewater, Gateway, and Naturita. Ride that too if you get a chance.

 

[KyleZ982]

Sounds good Phil, I will look into those lights and maybe adjusting them as well. My Dad said we are doing CO-141 today on the way to Durango, actually as soon as we leave breakfast.