Hello, and welcome to ADVrider’s Photos of the Week. We have a featured image to start us off this week from @Skunk-Works, who says this lovely shot was taken in Marble Canyon during a ride to Arizona with a friend more than six months ago. He was riding a 2014 Yamaha Super Ténéré. Following are two more from Skunk-Works and that Arizona trip.
A trip resumed
We have five pictures from @The Thin Man, who says he rode from Tucson, Arizona, to Bend, Oregon, last October, but had to suspend the trip at that point “due to a health issue my wife was experiencing.” He stored the 2006 BMW R1200R at his brother’s house in Bend for the winter, and picked it up in April to carry on. He explored the Metolius River area near Bend with his brother, then went to Portland to visit his daughters and granddaughter.
“Rode the entire Oregon coast (with only one day of rain),
“and Highway 1 in Northern California.”
“Across the Central Valley to the Sierras, which got a late spring snowfall,
“and through Joshua Tree National Park and finally home. 4,200 miles total.”
Up, up, up to Appalachia
Here’s a wide shot from @fortismonsadv, who says he and two friend from “parts from across the country” hooked up to “ride an Appalachian 2024 route” a few days ago. Those bikes are a Suzuki V-Strom 650, a BMW GS 1200, and a Honda CB5X. Click for a bigger pic.
Kiwi Rally
Here are four shot from @basicsmith, who with his best friend Ben traveled on two Honda NBC110 Super Cubs in 2022 to the Cold Kiwi Rally, which “is a 2 night event hosted in a farmer’s paddock/field just out of Waiouru, a little town on the desert road in the North Island of New Zealand.” He and Ben had previously bought the two Hondas and rode them about 1500 km home.
The first photo was taken on a bridge near Mangakino very early on in our 250 km trip from Cambridge to Waiouru (pronounced why-ew-roo). Since our bikes only cruise at about 70 kmh and stopping for food and rests we arrived at dusk and set up our tents in darkness.
The middle day we decided to go for a “gentle” ride on Turakina Valley Rd., a mostly-gravel 200 km round trip road going from Waiouru to Taurimu Road to show Ben the farm that my parents grew up on.
These next two photos are of a cable box that has been used for about 25 years (after the last one washed away in a flood) for access to part of the farm that is usually only accessible by crossing a flood-prone river on a 4×4 or quad bike, so without this box big enough to fit a farmer, dog, and the occasional sheep, that side is essentially cut off during winter. I’m aware these aren’t technically motorcycles as the “motor” was us pulling ourselves over with a rope.
Some unexpected bike issues happened while we were about 2 hours each way out of phone signal. Ben’s bike started making a terrible rattle and at one point it seized and locked the rear wheel. It started back up after we’d pulled over and we had no choice but to continue, knowing whatever damage was already done. We got back to the main highway and began the struggle back, Ben’s bike now had lost his taillight too so I was behind so we could still be visible to cars. We made it back to camp just before midnight for another cold night camping.
The last photo was me with our gear all packed on our bikes ready to make the trip back, stopping at some hot pools to warm up first.
Turns out the issue was an Aliexpress centrifugal clutch we both put in our bikes, one of the teeth snapped off and got caught in the oil pump, so for about 200 km Ben’s bike was running with no oil.
The beauty of these bikes is that he rebuilt it for less that $500, new cylinder, crank, and bearings … after all this it still hasn’t stopped me from buying those cheaper clutches, but now I cut off the spring-loaded split gear before installation, which is made out of soft pressed-metal made to look like hardened steel.
You gotta give these guys credit for perseverance! Thanks for the story, basicsmith.
Chilcotin adventure
The next five photos were taken by @DonBrom during an August and September ride through the Cariboo Chilcotin area of British Columbia in western Canada. “These are in the Bella Coola area. I camped at the top of Heckman Pass as it was peak bear salmon fishing season further towards Bella Coola. I then spent a couple of days on the back roads around Bella Coola chasing waterfalls during the intermittent rain. This made the run back up Heckman and along to Nimpo Lake as slippery as with the bitumen a welcome relief for the run back to Williams Lake. The appeal of B.C. and the Chilcotin will see me riding their backroads again this August and September.”
That’s good water. Don’t eat the minnows.
All the food groups in one place.
Sunday ride
Editor @Kawazacky says he went for a Sunday afternoon ride to Campobello Island in the Canadian east coast province of New Brunswick a few days ago, “and made sure everyone packed their passports, so we could return home via [the U.S. state of Maine.”
It was all fun and games until it started to rain and I had to stand around in my underwear in the lineup for the Deer Island Ferry, zipping my liners into my pants.
Then, when we got to the ferry slip to Campobello, the run hadn’t started for the season, so we had to turn back. And once we hit the mainland, firehose-level rain started.
However a good time was had by all, especially when The Dukester discovered an ice cream stand by the ferry lineup . . .
Pavement or no pavement
Here’s a shot of @JoWul’s 2014 BMW F800 GSA, fitted up for a Trans Labrador-Nfld trip a few years ago. The trip was planned “to view that beautiful part of eastern Canada before the TransLabrador Hwy was fully paved over. So between a section on the very notorious Hwy 389 in Quebec and Hwy 510 I was able to enjoy about 700 km of gravel. Even now that the entire Labrador section is paved, I would not hesitate to do the tour again and see all the sights I missed during my first trip.”
Photo taken with a Sony A6000 and an 18–200 Sony lens.
Here’s the deal
In last week’s POTW, we identified the occupant of the sidecar – and the picture – in error. Here he is again, and according to @busyguyfish, this is our submitter’s father-in-law, Ray Slaboda, “who was a Paratrooper with the 101st during the Korean war.” The shot was taken after a short ride to lunch in West Covina, California, last September.
And this guy:
is Brooke Mohun, who will turn 98 later this month. That’s busyguyfish in the driver’s seat of the 2001 BMW 1150GS (he’s a Vietnam vet). Looking comfy in the Ural sidecar, Brooke has every reason to feel relaxed and ready for a ride: he was a turret gunner in an Avenger Torpedo Bomber during WWII. He told busyguyfish “that they had a hard time keeping gunners because so many of the planes didn’t make it back. He considered the job that of a test pilot because it was always a test to see if you would return alive.”
Below, another shot of Mr. Mohun, who we presume got home alive, again.
Loving it!
Here are some shots that’ll make you want to stay healthy and live into the golden riding years. The following are from @Fortrider, who says he loves retirement. “Currently riding in Ireland, beautiful country. Some camping, B&B’s and occasional hotels. We leave Ireland later this month and head back into Europe mainland. Heading to a couple GP races and parts unknown.” He and his wife are aboard a couple of Triumph Tiger 900s.
My wife is a trooper and still going strong after 52 years of riding, but we have downsized to the lighter bikes and the more occasional hotel. Last summer was 65 days from S Spain to Nordkapp and back. This summer we will be on the road for a bit over 3 months.
In case I didn’t mention it we love retirement.
All photos taken with a Canon G5X a few days ago.
Hot + Cold in Utah
We conclude this week’s festive adventure with two shots from @KBishop522, who just a few days ago was on a rented KTM 790 Adventure for a four-day guided tour around Moab. “The pic with me on the bike is just after riding the Schafer switchbacks and just before riding the White Rim.”
“The pic of the bike only is on the Geyser Pass road at at elevation on 10,650 feet. It was 98 degrees in Moab and 51 degrees at the pass. That was a cool experience; pun intended!”
So, folks, that’s it for this week. Thanks for coming buy sharing the popcorn! We look forward to further adventures with y’all next week. And don’t forget: that orange thing right below is not for looking at, it’s for clicking. So click away!
