Sedona Arizona Ride

[Tim B.]

Finally I got to take a Vision on a ride of some distance! I put 500 miles on the clock over 3 days on the mountain desert roads round about Sedona Arizona. It was pretty much a family affair. My dad, three brothers, brother in law and a co-worker/friend. I was the outsider on a Japanese bike. I was out gunned by German machinery ?all BMWs. An R75, K75, R100RS, and three shiny new rented RT1150s.

Can you spot the Vision?

I spent the previous two week?s evenings trying to get a Vision that?d been sitting since 1996 road worthy. The carbs did not cooperate so I ended up going with a borrowed pair from a friends bike. I spent the early morning of the first day of the trip trying Rick G's CLR method to clean the connectors hoping not to fry my R/R or stator before the weekend was over. Seemed to work!

Clean those connectors

Other than a clogged fuel filter on the first ride (I was just gaining on the RT1150s too!!), the bike ran pretty well even at high altitudes (about 5,000-8,000ft).

Sedona is amazingly beautiful. I live in Southern Nevada about 30min from Southern Utah?s color country so I?m close to a lot of scenic desert and mountain landscapes but Sedona was still amazing. Lots of green mixed in with towering red sandstone cliffs.

At our hotel there was a group out of Phoenix on a bunch of Ducatti Monsters (drool, drool).

First day we shot down I-17 to Hwy 260. We gained some altitude as we climbed up into the pines. Four lanes of high-speed sweeping turns and almost no traffic. As 260 intersects Hwy 87 it changes to two lanes and the turns get tighter. Unfortunately this was when my fuel filter clogged. I missed out on some great turns as I coaxed my bike down to our lunch stop at a little diner in Pine, AZ. My younger bro didn?t want to stop for lunch so headed down the road to Payson. He arrived as we finished lunch with a filter in hand. That fixed the problem.

The next morning my older brother and I were up early and headed up Hwy 89A out of Sedona up to Flagstaff. This is a great little ride if you can miss traffic. It runs up a canyon with a year-round running creek and is lined with deciduous forest. As the highway climbs up the canyon wall, the turns get tight and steep. What a sensation leaning into those uphill turns!

That afternoon was the best ride of the trip. We headed south on 89A to an old mining town called Jerome. It looked to be a biker/hippie sanctuary. (Maybe it was the motorcycle show in town). Bikes lined the streets. You had to crawl through the town at 15MPH. With all the people walking around it was more like 5MPH. It was fun seeing all the different kinds of bikes (and people) ?no other Visions to be found. The "best" ride I was referring to was up above the hillside town of Jerome. Twelve miles of twisting, winding mountain road. Heading out we had a pretty clear shot with almost not traffic. It was twisty nirvana! On the way back I missed my opportunity to pass a slow car and got stuck. I tried hanging back a few times but would always catch up.

The surprise of the trip was that a 550 could hang with bikes twice the displacement.
Was one fun trip.

[Dave T.]

Good story. I rented a Harley Sportster in Vegas last winter and rode all around. Lake Mead, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire and LV motor speedway. I can't imagine what it's like there in the summer though. 100 degree days seem just too hot.

If your fuel filter is plugging, I would get POR15 for your tank. I did and removed my fuel filter altogether.

As far as the V "hanging" with bigger bikes, I say it's all up to the rider. Here is me "waiting for the others to catch up" at a stop sign with a Superhawk and a VFR... ;D :o

[Kenny]

    We just got home from a trip to the west coast from Trenton Ont., Left home on the 25th of Aug and came back on the 19th of Sept.
   Riding on : One  Bmw R1150rt, one R100cs and one 83 Vision(red/white) with white Krauser bags. Guess what broke down?!
  (it wasn't the Vision) The trip out and back was just short of 10 thou km. My wife rode the Vision which had no problem keeping up with the Beemers and got better fuel milage and tire wear than the big boys.  The 1150rt lost the alternator in Vancouver and the R100's ring gear separated at the rivets. So much for overpriced toys!
                         Later Ken    

[Tim B.]

We're still in the 90s in October. 100 degrees starts feeling cool. In late July til early Sep it's not uncommon to be above 115F. We're just getting into perfect riding weather again. Gets a little cool in late Dec thru early Feb but typically doesn't freeze, then perfect again til May. When it gets hot, we head up to the high country not too far away.

Did you get a chance to ride the Superhawk? My bro is looking at one.
The Vision is a great poor man's sport v-twin.


 ;D

Man Ken, you guys get the iron butt award. Good to know Vision can be made reliable.

[Dave T.]

Did you get a chance to ride the Superhawk? My bro is looking at one.

No, didn't ride it. I have only ridden a late model sportbike once. I rode a 1994 ZX6R Kawi for about 20 minutes one time.

Chris was the group leader riding the Super and goes to track days frequently with it. I was there at the track one day in August with him, but I was in the beginner group and he was in the "rowdy" group (fast). Chris said that the fuel mileage sucks on Superhawks. 80 miles to the tankful when he's really hard on it, 135 miles when on the highway. I think that's 4+ gallons of fuel. ?:o

[rip_brotz420]

   the 82 is the poormans sport\/ twin but the 83 looks down at the red headed parent and realizes he is a step child

[RussD]

Hey Tim........is it me, or do I see a fairing on the bike in your roadside picture of it with the mountain in the background, and no fairing in the pic of you in the parking lot cleaning your electrical connections??  What happened to it? Sorry.......Just idle curiousity   :D

[Tim B.]

Good eye Russ!
I got the fairing down out of the attic at the last minute and brought it along. After the first ride trying to keep up with the speed demons on the big bikes I decided to throw it on. It's the Yamaha sport fairing. It only takes about 10 mins to put on. Makes quite a bit of difference at speed.