Pretty good day today

Went up to Globe AZ today for lunch and some of the usual silliness. An old riding buddy has recently relocated back to Arizona after being away for 7 years. He is a Guzzi fanatic as well. I spent most of the day chasing him through the canyons.

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Got pretty good mileage too
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great looking bike and wall.

93℉!?!?!?! and that seems to have been in the shade!

Looks like another fun day Enzo?

Nice shot.

Glad you had a good ride out.

41mpg? nice

Great! How does he like the California?

rboe, he loves the California, dam thing is fast and handles really well. He's also got a new Tuono on order from AF1 in Texas as soon as they arrive in the States.

We missed you at the AZ Not-a-Rally last weekend. Could have been a GRiSO rally, instead it was more of a Stelvio Rally.

Love the wall!

like to try the 1400 0ut
Enzo have you ridden one and if so whats up?
thanks
Keener

keenerkeen07 wrote:

like to try the 1400 0ut
Enzo have you ridden one and if so whats up?
thanks
Keener

I haven't ridden the California yet, my friend wanted to swap bikes for the ride back to the Valley that day, but the GRiSO was running so sweet after the 6k service I just did not want to get off of it. If we go out again next week I will ride the Cali and let you know my thoughts. I can tell you that dam thing is fast and seems to fit his style well, balls to the wall most of the time.

rboe wrote:

We missed you at the AZ Not-a-Rally last weekend. Could have been a GRiSO rally, instead it was more of a Stelvio Rally.

We both really wanted to go at least for a day but our schedules never lined up, next year hopefully.  Incidentally I am headed out to Tonopah tomorrow of Tuesday. I going to look at a 2004 Ducati ST3 for sale out there, always wanted the one with the three valve ST motor, smooth as glass.

Fuck Tonopah! Found myself there last May with belts showing through on my rear after only 2700 miles. There is nothing in Tonopah except for an out of business motorcycle shop. Had to ride cock-eyed all the way to Carson City trying to stay off of the center of the tire. Got a new tire the next day, but I was lucky I didn't kill myself on a blowout...

Tonopah.
Yeah.
Rode thru there once. In 1987. Got gas and LEFT.

Enzo the baker wrote:

rboe wrote:

We missed you at the AZ Not-a-Rally last weekend. Could have been a GRiSO rally, instead it was more of a Stelvio Rally.

We both really wanted to go at least for a day but our schedules never lined up, next year hopefully.  Incidentally I am headed out to Tonopah tomorrow of Tuesday. I going to look at a 2004 Ducati ST3 for sale out there, always wanted the one with the three valve ST motor, smooth as glass.

i road a ST3 ...back in 2007 ..i think the best of the ST line, smooth as you said ..and great mid range power.. and set up they handle very nice indeed .. if its been maintained they go many miles/km ...hope it works out or you
Keener

Jude and I stayed at the big historic hotel at the top of Tonopah back in 2013 when we were doing the big trip on the Cali 14. We found it fascinating. Claims to be the home town of the stealth fighter squadrons. Interesting old mining town we thought but we are desert lovers so we're a bit odd and know it!

Pete

Esther and I passed through there too, in the summer of 2009. We'd spent the night in Caliente, Nevada and when we got up in the morning the woman who ran the motel asked, "Which way are you going?" "Oh, we're headed across the Extraterrestrial Highway to Tonopah", I cheerfully replied. She said, "You do know it's 211 miles between here and there and there's no gas in between, don't you?" Well, no, I'd looked at the map the night before and it looked like there was a town about half-way. Apparently, there used to be. Needless to say, 211 miles is well beyond the range of my GRiSO and Esther's California Stone so we filled up to the brim, and bought a full gas can to carry along with us. We made it across without incident and along the way I distinctly remember passing under the edge of a rain cloud where one lane was bone dry and the other was in a downpour. Unbelievable how sharp that line was, stunning and beautiful in that barren desert landscape. When we got to the gas station in Tonopah I said to Esther, "Man, I wish some other motorcyclists would be heading the other way so we could pass this gas can off to them". No sooner had I uttered those words than a couple rode in on their Harleys. Of course, I went over and talked to them and asked,  "So, which way are you headed?" Oh, we're going across the Extraterrestrial Highway to Caliente". I replied, "Well, you do know it's 211 miles between here and there and there's no gas in between, don't you?". Bewildered as we had been earlier in the day, they happily took the gas can off our hands and headed off in the other direction. I still  regret that I didn't pull out a Sharpie and write our names and email addresses on that red plastic can - I'll bet it's still traveling back and forth between Caliente and Tonopah to this very day.

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Great story that, and good to see people helping one another.

Liked the story, Street. Any more like it from our esteemed group?

The Extraterrestrial Highway really is a kick in the pants.  We were not warned of the 211 miles (or we didn't see the signs that were probably there.)  We had fueled up a bit before Caliente so we just blew right through the last gas and headed for Rachel assuming there would be gas there.  Oops...

So we had a bite to eat at the Little A'Le'Inn and contemplated our predicament.  We each had enough gas to go back to Caliente to fill up and grab an extra couple gallons to get the four of us across, but that seemed counter productive.  So we had planned to go on towards Tonopah until the first one ran out of gas and then the big tanked 1200GS would go on ahead and fetch gas in Tonopah and bring enough back to get us all across.

Listening in on our conversation, the colorful owner of the Little A'Le'Inn volunteered that they keep a fueling station on site for their own vehicles and though they don't generally sell to the public, she took pity on us and offered to sell us enough to get us across to Tonopah.  She even sold it to us at the going rate, which was nice.  So off to the back of the compound we went where one of the "hands" showed up, connected the electric pump to his pick-up battery, and gave us each a few gallons to get us on our way.  Good people there...  Make sure to stop in and have a bite if you ever find yourself on the ET highway.  Here are some pics.

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Upon arriving at the very same Shell service station in Street's photo above, I was shocked to see this after only 2700 miles on a brand new set of Pirelli Diablo Rosso II tires.  While they are a wonderful tire through the twisties, they are an absolute shite tire for touring!

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Fook!!!  There was only one motorcycle shop listed in Tonopah, so I rang the dude up.  "Do you have a rear tire in 180/55-17?", I ask.  "No", says he, "I don't stock any tires, but I could order one for you and have it in the next day or two..."  WTF?  No Tires???  Ugh, checking the map it's either 211 miles to Las Vegas (in the wrong direction), 115 miles to Bishop, CA (also wrong direction, but closest), or 223 miles to Carson City, NV (kind of the right direction).

I know that I can find a tire in Vegas, and I know of at least 3 places to get a tire in Carson City, but I have no idea what might be in Bishop, CA.  Both Bishop and Las Vegas would add another day to our itinerary that we couldn't really afford, and my compadres weren't about to send me off alone with that rear tire.  So, I made the decision to slog the 223 miles to Carson City on a hope and a prayer.  Fortunately, there was a pretty stout crosswind for nearly the whole route there, which made riding the tire as off-center as I could a bit easier.  So off we went and about 3.5 uncomfortable miles later we made it into Carson City, checked into a hotel, and went out for beers... and some food.

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The next morning after coffee and a few calls around town, we popped over to Adventure MotoStuff from whom I had coincidentally purchased my C-Bow bags and mounts some months prior.  When I rang him up on the phone he told me that he had just recently started offering tire mounting and balancing and that he had a Michelin Pilot Road 3 in stock.  "How soon can you fit me in?" I ask.  "How soon can you get here?" He asks.  So off we went to the other side of town.  He told me to ride around back and that the door would be open.  So I pulled in and rode right up on the lift.

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Midway through the tire change, another customer popped in and seeing my GRiSO up on the lift said, "hey, I've got one of those."  And after chatting for a bit he asks, "Have you heard of the GRiSO ghetto forum?  Lot's of good GRiSO stuff there..."    "Why yes," says I, "What do you go by on the board?"  "[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]," says he...  What a small GRiSO world...  Also got to meet his cool dog, named Luxel, not coincidentally...

Anyhow, Adventure MotoStuff is a super cool shop, with shit-tons of gear to look through.  Really well stocked.  So after another hour or so of browsing and buying we were off, each about $300 lighter and happy for it.

I mounted up one of the Hepco Becker Stryker bags just to see how it would do on the GRiSO.  It sure looked sharp, but felt a little flimsy.  It's a semi-rigid pannier, but there's not much substance to it in an effort to keep it lightweight.

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So all was well, that ended well.  If you ever find yourself in Carson City, make an effort to get over to Adventure MotoStuff.  It's well worth the visit!

Damn Steak, I wish we'd stopped at the Little A'Le'Inn, that place looks awesome, and I love the UFO recovery truck, must collect a lot of those buggers out there.

Here's my close encounter:

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Nice thread. Couple of top yarns from y'all. Have some cred.
Is it OK to mix Strayan and Yank?

Another great story and pics to back it all up as well. Reckon you did well to get that far with the tyre like that - It's a weird feeling riding a bike where you know you have to take it steady, it can be pretty stressful just concentrating on that itself.

Glad it ended well.