I bought my first dual-sport

For the last two years I’ve been thinking about getting a bike that can go on road and off road. I wanted to start small, after all I’ve never ridden on dirt before. After considering a few different bikes, I chose the Yamaha XT225 for a few reasons, one of the most important reasons was the low seat height, a lot of the off road bikes are very tall.



I wanted a used bike and I looked long and hard, but I couldn’t find one that I wanted to get. Some were too far away and some were already a few years old but hadn’t even had their break in service done. These bikes really hold their value too. I found a used one in Wisconsin for a good price but then when I called around I found a brand new one for a few hundred dollars more, so I went for the new one. It’s a left over 2006, and I got it for a $100 over dealer cost.



This afternoon I took my first ride on the XT225. It’s so weird to ride a bike that is so slow and so light. I didn’t feel safe on the paved roads not able to accelerate quick enough, so I rode though residential streets looking for dirt roads, but these are the suburbs of Chicago and dirt roads are hard to find. I did find some dirt near the railroads.



Then I found a patch of land behind some factory that was pretty cool.



Parts of it had gravel and further down it was overgrown by vegetation, I rode as far as I could.





Then I saw the sun going down and a storm moving in, got home with 24 miles on the odometer. It will take a while to brake this one in.

So I guess I own four motorcycles now.

My ST3 is getting worst

I brought the ST3 back to the dealer today. If you are counting, that’s the third time in 3 weeks that I brought the bike in for this problem. But this time I think they figured out what it is that’s causing the bike to idle low and the tack jumping up and down, feeling like it will stall on. The bike feels like it’s running on one cylinder. I’m just glad this bike comes with a two year warranty.

Later that day I got a phone call, apparently the exhaust spring was broken and they will be replacing the ECU. This was a problem on the 2004 ST3, mine is a 2005, but it sure looks like it suffers from the same bad components. The new ECU should be arrive in about 10 days.

Day 2: Flat 4 Tour

It rained all night but we woke up to brilliant sunshine. The group met up for breakfast and left by 9AM for Wisconsin.



Winona, Minnesota - a crisp sunny morning



Ducatis and corn



There is a wild animal in the corn



Nope, that’s just Jenya



Lunch stop in Rockton, Wisconsin



HD riders do clean their bikes a lot :)

A great day of riding with perfect weather. We all had a blast, I got home around 10AM.

Day 1: Flat 4 Tour

Time for Flat 4 Tour, I’ve been organizing this ride twice a year for the last six years, unfortunately the weather was looking bad for this weekend and half the people decided to cancel and stay home. 17 people still showed up.



A cool and foggy morning



Rain ending in Iowa along the Mississippi River



Rain clouds behind me on CY9 in Iowa



Wet pavement and some sunshine



By the time we got to the next gas stop the sun was out and it was in the 70’s



The group at the gas station



The girls

We arrived in Winona, MN at around 5:00PM, the sun was already low on the horizon, so we got to the motel and relaxed for a bit. Then a couple hours later went to the Green Mill for dinner and drinks. It was a good time and the weather turned out pretty good.

9/20 Bike Night

Another nice but chilly night for a bike night.



Got to ride the new and improved 900SS with the CF canisters





Ducs at bike night



Someone like Red Bull



My friend Rick showing off his GPS display
- yes, he rides a ST3



A chilly night calls for some coffee

I took the 900SS for a 20 miles ride after coffee, it was pretty cold when I got home. The exhaust sounds amazing. I have to get some aftermarket canisters for my ST3 next.

Back to the dealers with the ST3

So I stopped by the dealership and had them put the plastics on straight, and then had them look at the bike since it was still running weak, kind of peculating and idling low. They test road it, said it was stalling at times and backfiring, adjusted something and sent me on my way home with the ST3. I didn’t feel that much improvement but the two mile ride home wasn't long enough to be sure. It was raining so I didn't want to ride tonight.

They scratched up my tank

I picked up my 900SS from the dealer, my bill for the valve service was a bit over $400. The CF canisters sounded amazing on the way home and right away I felt the bike had more power. In addition to the CF cans I also have a K&N filer now. The bike is also a bit taller, they adjusted the shock.

I got all the way home and proceeded to examine my bike and then I almost had a heart attack. My tank had a few nasty scratches on it. Apparently someone scratched up my tank while doing service on my bike. I contacted the dealer and they will paint my tank over winter. That’s great but I’m not happy, thy seem to be very careless.



Nasty scratches on my tank



My 900SS is back home with CF canisters

Carbon fiber exhaust for my 900SS

I already had installed the used CF canisters that I got of craigs list a few weeks ago, but the bike wasn’t running good so I took them off and waited until the bike went in for service so they could adjust it for the new canisters.

I’m trying to save some money so at lunch I went to the dealer, they rolled the bike out in to the parking lot and I installed the new canisters.





Remus carbon fiber made for Ducati canisters



Stock canister left, CF canister right



My 900SS looking do naked



New canisters on my 900SS

900SS 6,200 miles valve service

I dropped off the 900SS today for the 6K valve service and picked up the ST3. This is going to be a very expensive week. Last week was not as expensive and I toured for 10 days straight. The bill for the ST3 valve service was $700. The 12K service is way more than the 6K service they do more things.

I rode the bike home all two miles and realized that it still wasn’t running good. Whatever it was it had nothing to do with the chain. And the plastics were misaligned. I’ll be bringing this bike back for sure to have them look at it again.

ST3 12,400 miles valve service

I was a few hundred miles overdue for the service already. The bike hasn’t been running good since we left Nebraska, I was told by the service manager a new chain would fix that. I guess I didn’t take that good of a care of my chain and now at 13,000 miles I needed a new one. I could have gone another 1,000 miles with the old one and keep adjusting it but since I was touring next weekend, I decided to let them put a new one on. I just didn't have the time to order one and install it this week.

Day 10: Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois

We woke up to rain and fog, it rained pretty much all day as we rode though the flat landscape.



Bikes parked at the Holiday Inn



Gassing up in the morning, it was all bikes at this gas station



Almost home, a gas stop in Iowa

We arrived home before 9PM, at least it was not raining at home. What a great trip! Tomorrow morning, I go back to work.

Day 9: Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska

My chain needed adjustment for the first time at approx. 12,000 miles



Sandy washed her bike, Paul helped :)



Then, Paul got a test drive on the ST4s



And on the ST3



After a wonderful breakfast and some hanging around, Sandy and I were packed and ready to go. Paul and Deb were going to escort us toward Limon, CO.



Paul and his R1



Deb and her R1



Straight roads all day



Welcome to Kansas



Welcome to Nebraska

It started to rain at the border of Kansas and Nebraska, by the time we got to Lexington, NE it was dark and we had been riding in the pouring rain for a while. We grabbed a room at the Holiday Express and ordered a pizza to be delivered to our room.

Day 8: Utah to Colorado

The morning started with rain, continued with rain and ended with rain. You could say it rained ALL day, the roads were amazing but it was chilly at times with the rain.



Near Moab, UT



Rainy and foggy Colorado





It was pretty chilly at Monarch Pass at 11, 300+ feet

We arrived in Colorado Springs and found my friends house. Then Paul, Deb, Sandy and I went out for dinner and beer. We had a great time chatting about motorcycles and rides.

Hatch to Monticello, Utah

We had a lot of ground to cover today so we were to leave and on the bikes at 7AM. We headed toward the amazing route 12. The scenery on 12 was breathtaking and it was hard not to pull over for pictures every few miles. The road itself was great too, the curves twisting and turning though beautiful rock formations and changing colors and shapes.

This has to be one of my favorite roads in the USA. Some people go to Deal’s Gap for twisties, I rather come here and ride 12, 24 and 95. It’s THAT good. This is open range country, so there were cows hanging out in the road, but not where you’d expect them to hang out. Not in the flat areas, where there was grass near the roadway. They were up in the hills and near the canyons. We would go through a corner and there would be a cow standing in the road or a cow just about to cross the road.



On 12 near Bryce Canyon











That is a huge sign

The temperatures were cool this morning, the skies were overcast and there was a light drizzle at times also, but it didn’t spoil our fun at all, even when at times drizzle would turn to light rain, the road was still so much fun that it didn’t matter to us if it was wet or dry. The small towns we passed on the way were really neat, too bad we didn’t have time to stop and look around.









Then in Torrey we headed east on 24, which is another one of my favorite roads, through Capitol Reef the rock formations are just amazing and the curves here are my favorite type of sweepers. You can really get in to a rhythm as you turn left and right and left and right and left and right. We stopped for a mi-day snack at one of the scenic pull outs. The sun had come out and the temperature was in the high 80’s now. There really weren’t a lot of people here, we’d only see a car go by once in a great while.













Rt 24 though Capitol Reef



Our lunch stop on 24

In Hanksville Sandy took off to buy some fossils and I hang out at one of the gas stations where I talked to a few HD riders and the lady that ran the gas station. The wind was picking up again and the HD riders had come from the south and told me I’d be riding in to more rain on 95. As we departed, it seemed we were riding in a full blow sand storm, the winds were pretty strong and we were being blown all over the road.We were enjoying the awesome sweepers through the canyons and then the rain started up again just as we approached the Glen Canyon overlook. At the scenic overlook we found two Triumphs with Texas plates. We chatted with the riders a bit, one of them frequents ST.N. After a few minutes they headed north and we took off towards the south.



Glen Canyon





View from the Glen Canyon overlook on 95

The rain was light, sometimes a drizzle and sometimes none at all. Since I’ve been on 24 and 95 before, I rode it a bit harder then before, even when it was raining. That road is just like a roller coaster and is great when going fast. Since there are no towns or gas stations for 122 miles between Hanksville and Blanding, I bet the only way they could catch speeders is using air planes and with the clouds and rain they would have to fly pretty low. This road was just as amazing as I remembered, actually it was even better traveling south then it is traveling north, because you can see the nice scenery all around as the road dips down in elevation.



Once past Blanding the rain started up again and we decided to again grab a motel room for the night. We checked in to the Best Western in Monticello and by the time we got on our bikes to move them in front of our motel room, it was pouring rain. I’m so glad I brought that small folding umbrella, I unpacked my hard bags without getting the contents too wet, I’m just to lazy the bags all the way off. We also used the umbrella to walk next door to the Spur restaurant for dinner. The Spur was a real western type place and we were served by real cowboys and cowgirls. It’s a family owned place, the daughter which was our waitress had on her boots, wranglers and big silver buckle and a toothpick in her mouth. His was not a fancy place and there were only 5 things on the menu plus a few specials. This was also a dry town, so no beer for us - again. The food was just OK. Sandy went to soak in the hot tub outside in the cold rain and I stayed inside the dry motel room to figure out the route for tomorrow. It kept raining hard all evening and all night.



Spur restaurant menu 1 meat 2 meat 3 meat 4 meat 5 chicken



Spur restaurant check