First Road trip Las Vegas - Bryce, Utah - Death Valley, CA

[Conman]

First trip worth posting. Rented a 2012 BMW G650GS in Las Vegas. Met up with my co-worker and headed north towards Utah. Original plan was to ride to Capitol Reef National Park but weather was getting worse and worried about black ice. So only made it to Bryce Canyon before heading back to Vegas. Went West to Death Valley. Going from freezing to 80s F made for interesting packing. Lucky the rental bike had great saddle bags for my weekend trip. Two and a half days just about 1,000 miles.

Loved the trip so much, I just picked up a 2009 F650GS to start riding.


Some pictures of the trip:




A few KLR650s Death Valley:


My new to me Adventure touring bike:

[samthg]

Congratulations on the new bike. Looks like you got in alot of good miles. You are not gunna get away with just a few pics. We gotta have more! Was this your first time in these area's?

[Conman]

Originally Posted by samthg

Congratulations on the new bike. Looks like you got in alot of good miles. You are not gunna get away with just a few pics. We gotta have more! Was this your first time in these area's?

Thanks. I need to get more pictures from my co-worker and will add. :) I used a helmet camera and need to edit the video as 99% of the video is boring.

First time riding the West Coast. Incredible the views you guys have! I am already planning another trip for later this year.....

Cheers,
Con

[samthg]

Before you head back out, post up in Regionals/West for some suggestions & go down to your local AAA office and get this map.

Great map with fantastic detail on the back.

[DualSPRTfan]

In like Flynn!

Was just in Vegas, looking forward to this one.

Nice bike btw, let us know how you like it.

[Bike Holiday]

Nice trip can you give some details about where and how much it was to
rent a bike also about your new bike it looks great cost insurance etc
Thanks

[Conman]

Few more pictures:

Zion Canyon National Park:


Amazing the elevation change:

You don't want to see me without a helmet!:

Snow Banks at the top of Bryce:

Few nice Red Ducatis in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, NV:

Some nice antique cars in Death Valley:

Price Premium to fill up in Death Valley:

[Conman]

Originally Posted by samthg

Before you head back out, post up in Regionals/West for some suggestions & go down to your local AAA office and get this map.

Great map with fantastic detail on the back.

Thanks for the tip.

We brought this book along: Scenic Driving Utah, 3rd Author Chirsty Karras
http://www.amazon.com/Scenic-Driving...c+driving+utah

We mostly used byways.org and Google Maps to map out each day.

[poolman]

Looks like a great ride and congratulations on your new (to you) F650GS. The second picture in your post is really nice, it that Bryce Canyon?

I rented an F650GS last year from BMW of Las Vegas and had a blast exploring the Red Rock Canyon area:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=765000

Thanks for posting,

[Conman]

Originally Posted by Bike Holiday

Nice trip can you give some details about where and how much it was to
rent a bike also about your new bike it looks great cost insurance etc
Thanks

It was pretty easy to rent a bike. I rented the bike from BMW Motorcycles of Las Vegas which is part of the Eaglerider Motorcycle Rental/Tour. Just checked their website and prices have increased. :( The price per day does go down when you rent 3 or more days.

http://www.bmwoflasvegas.com/rental_information.htm
http://www.eaglerider.com/

The rental bike was a 2012 BMW G650GS; had saddle bags which was great to store everything. I brought web nets just in case but did not need them. The Bike had a Moose pannier rack system and Pelican cases as a previous rider tipped it over and smashed the BMW bags. I actually liked the Moose/Pelican system as it worked well and looked great on the G. For all you short legged riders, the G is a great bike with a low seat height. The G I rented had the normal(low seat) with standard height suspension. The Dealer did have the forks pushed up to the handlebars to get it as low as possible.

MPG, I was getting 67MPG when riding the canyon areas but on the highway it dropped to 56MPG but I was cruising 75MPH+ most of that time. I had to fill up the G twice as much as my co-workers R1200RT as his tank was huge compared to the G.

As for the bike I just purchased, it's a 2009 F650GS. I was looking to get a G with lowered suspension but found the F that was already lowered and had the low seat as well. Spec-wise, this makes it lower than a lowered G. I was surprised sitting on the F, that it felt lighter than the G. Maybe cause the G I rented was not lowered and this sat over an inch lower. The seat profile is flatter too, so it is easier to get my short legs over the F's seat.

Comparing the two, the G rode great but the extra 20HP plus smoother engine of the 800cc Twin(vs. the Single 650cc in the G), was night and day. The G's throttle was not as smooth as the F. The cockpit feels bigger so standing does not feel cramped like on the G. Foot pegs way better on the F. I am planning to rent a G again(lowest seat rental bike I found so far) but if you are looking to purchase, I would recommend getting an F Twin vs the G.

Insurance, was a little worried the 800cc would push the insurance premium high, but I thought it was reasonable compared to my Suzuki DR200se 200cc Dual Sport I have as well. Maybe the model name being "650" helped there. Should quote out a F800GS to see if the price is different.

Con

[Conman]

Originally Posted by poolman

Looks like a great ride and congratulations on your new (to you) F650GS. The second picture in your post is really nice, it that Bryce Canyon?

I rented an F650GS last year from BMW of Las Vegas and had a blast exploring the Red Rock Canyon area:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=765000

Thanks for posting,

Thanks for posting your ride! Would love to bring my dual sport to RRC(to afraid to beat up the rentals). I was thinking since my co-worker lives in the Vegas area, buy a used Dual Sport to ride the "unimproved" roads of RRC and Death Valley. The KLRs riders we met in Death Valley just toured the dirt roads there.

As per your ride report, Valley of Fire is one place I would like to go as well.

I do suggest trying lower Utah in the off season. Feb. was not the right time because of black ice(I booked it around a conference like you did). Probably April before the mass of tourist coming in the summer or later in the year.

Someone should start a rental ride group tour post to book ride groups around their "work" conferences in Vegas!

Cheers,
Con