I'd been trying to do a 3-4 day ride in SE Oregon or NW California after finishing up my house rebuild in August & September and couldn't make anything happen. I finally committed to Nov 3-6 regardless of whether anyone else could make it. It was a solo trip. I trailered the XR over to Bend from Corvallis Saturday morning and was going to stage from Bend, but part way there I decided to head on down to Christmas Valley (closer to Silver Lake really) and stage from my wife's uncle's little slice of heaven BIke all gassed up, I rode over to the the turnoff to the Black Hills Botanical area directly south of Christmas Valley to start the ride, cutting over to Fandango I decided to see how the Shinko 700 rear tire I'd bought for a NW California (mostly) road tour would work out over 800 miles of SE Oregon Turning toward Fandango Fandango down in the valley I took the easy route, here's some vid. I finally got my Contour Roam helmet cam set up properly and this trip was its first successful outing
I took Hogback into Plush for gas and had a yummy hamburger lunch Then went over to the east side of Hart and Crump Lake to visit the glass house again Then on toward the old wagon road Entrance to the road Rough And rougher Finally up on top. Pretty featureless Comes out near Jacobs Reservoir Here's some vid Shirk Ranch down in the distance Video of riding up to the grave marker an old guy showed me back in June, right near Shirk Ranch
I went south around Shirk and over to Beatys Butte Rd, going north to the turnoff up West Gulch Rd that goes between Beatys and Mahogany buttes. Pic up at the summit, looking east Looking west Looking north at Beatys Vid up near the top of Beatys The top
I took the road down, planning on finding the spring coming out of the rocks. Wasn't too tough After that I went back south along the east flank of Beatys and took the road going NE that comes out near Big Fish Fin on East Beatys Butte Rd. I was determined to find the road that the Benchmark atlas and the Harney County hunt unit maps show that take off that road to the SE. After a ways down that road it was now the umpteenth time I'd not found that road, so I climbed a hill to the south, hoping to find the road from the ridge. I went south once on top, following a cow or horse trail, and after a while it became clear it wasn't in that direction. It was now about 5:00PM and the sun was setting soon, so I made camp and prepared for a long boring night. A quick afternoon ride, 175 miles. I should have brought a book to read. It was going to be a long night.
Very nice indeed. I want to see the glass house more than anything, but a few days out cruising in open country is always good. I have an account with money for a DR650 and I am looking, but Montana/Wyoming is a tough place to find your used bike. I think it can happen by next spring! Jason
oregonlmd Thanks for posting this GREAT report, you Oregon guy's have it good. Solo riding can be great but the evenings a little slow. I like to sit back and soak in the subtle things that mother nature has given us. The 606 is my favorite rear tire so far but would like a few more miles out of it, are you dissapionted in the Shinko?
"Ohhh my God" ... these places like the show, "very lovely" ... And your XR ... good bike greetings Medel
I have logged a bunch of singletrack miles on a Mefo Explorer. All on the WR. It is my favorite 50/50 tire. The 606 and Mt21 are my favorite street knobbies. I have a buddy that swears by the Pirelli Mt43 on the highway. I think that will be my next experiment.
Sunrise the next morning, 6:33AM (time change happened that night) and 44 degrees That was a long night. Biggest problem riding alone in the winter is that there's just nothing to do once it gets dark. Nobody to shoot the shit with, and if you didn't bring a book the 13 hours of darkness gets pretty damned boring. Beatys is looking good I found that road I was looking for, it was a bit west. It turned out to be nothing but a track for ranchers to maintain the water troughs. Headed out Long Draw via Acty to go into Nevada, was going to check out Thousand Creeks Gorge. Vid of road heading toward 140 Gorge in the distance I didn't really understand where I was going and couldn't get close to the gorge. I've figured it out now, maybe next year. Took 140 east to Denio Jct, had a good opportunity to see what the BRP would do. Looks like 95+ On another ride in this area last June the bike was running terrible and was just jetted way too rich. Also, the thing had a hanging high idle. The other XR we had along on that ride ran much better and didn't have the idle issue, even though the jetting was exactly the same. Before I sold that extra XR I swapped carbs and it made my bike work much better. Another ride in August from Bend to Paisley and back proved that though it was better, it was still just too rich. I found a jetting chart and sure enough it recommended two steps down from what was in there, so a 170 instead of a 175, and I just happened to have one in the toolbox. With that change, the bike runs PERFECT at the 4000+ foot eastern and SE Oregon elevations. Probably better than any other dirt bike I've ever had. Its amazing. Gas in DJ (58 degrees, 9:30), then over to the Trout Creek Mtns And finally up in the burned stuff. And some snow The riding was amazing. I haven't had that much fun on dirt roads in a long time. A bit of vid More pics Sweeping west to east, looking south And more Headed to Disaster Peak Road. The poof-dust filled ruts were terrible McDermitt for gas, food, and phone calls. Weather was amazing. 68 degrees, 11:50. Diesel at $5 a gallon!
That Shinko 700 may be a fine tire for some uses, but on this bike, in these conditions, under my ass, it was not so great. Very unpredictable breakaway in a slide, and really just not that much traction in the dirt (that was to be expected when comparing it to a knobby tire). Further, after a highway speed pavement run, the tire was pretty hot. All loaded up and running 18PSI, maybe that was to be expected too. Still, I'd pick it for the NW Cal mostly-pavement ride I had bought it for (and didn't do). It worked fine on pavement and well enough on dirt, and is cheap. I've run the 606 in this area and didn't care for it, either. The only tire I've used so far that I really liked in these conditions was the Dunlop 952. The next one I'll try on the XRR is a Dunlop MX71. YMMV, blah blah blah.
I think ... you're lucky to ride a bike, for those places ... Good for your "shown review" greetings Medel