Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127216
o f. banked turns, which kept us gn nn m g. We soon reached Idyllwild and decided to stop and ea t. As we rod e into town for th e second tim e, we seemed to · a ttract more atte ntion from th e local s than the day before. We parked our bikes across the street from th e restauran t and a numb er of peo p le wh o were wa lking on the sidewalks came over for a closer look. T hey were chec king ou t the bikes and asked us. many questions, such as which bike was the best, where we had been riding, where we were 00 hea ded nex t. And so on . . .... But what struck me funny was that V many of the peo pl e we talked to had so me kin d of motorcycling expe- ..0 rience, and th ey were go ing to tell V us all about it whether we liked it ;> o r not. " Yeah, I used to ow n one of th ese things," o ne elderly man told us. " I used to rid e with Malcolm Smith and race in th e desert , but that was a long tim e ago, things sure have changed since I was riding, my son, he rid es, in fact, he races motocross , blah, blah, blah . . ." ~ 8 o Z No sooner had I looked back w here I was going th en . . . Wha m!!! The sou nd of splinterin g wood, crunc h ing plast ic and my Bell Moto 4 sm ack ing th e tree echoed thr ough th e forest. Kinn ey was still quite far away, yet he heard it clearly, and v isions of Pa ul Bun yan dan ced through his head. A III cou ld see was stars . . . The KLR lost the co nfro n tation with the tree. Its fairing was cracked, with pi eces of it laying everywhere; th e h eadlight wa s pointing alm ost stra igh t up; a nd th e right turn signal was sheered 0 ((. After abo ut 30 minutes of bending and twi stin g, we pa tched up th e KLR to wh ere it look ed respectabl e again. A few mil es later we had ano ther scare when th e XT600 I was riding stop ped dead in its tracks for no apparen t reaso n. We were a long way away from civi liza tion a nd it was ge tti ng late.· Further in spection revealed th at the XT wasn 't ge tting any spa rk. This wasn 't good, becau se th e last ' tim e th is happened to me, o n another bike, the resu lt was a lon g p ush. With th e too ls I was carryi ng in my fannypack, I rem oved th e sea t and gas tank a nd found a wire from the coil had disconnected itself. The XT fired right up and we were off and running aga in. A few mil es la ter we were back o n pavement and closing in on Palm Springs. At twilight, th e six of us were cru ising down th e palm treelin ed main strip, Palm Can yon Dri ve, alo ng with th e man y RollRoyces and exo tic sports ca rs th at are simp ly part of Palm Springs' exclu sive lifestyle. We checked into o ur hotel roo ms. showered, and too k a couple of taxis to the local ca nt ina for dinner and a marga rit a to toast a thoroughly successfu l da y of riding. No doubt, we were in for a ni ght of professional bench raci ng. But we had one more da y to go. •••••• There was a pounding on the door. " C'rno n, lets go." It was Nate. "M eet you over at th e Denny's across th e street in 30 m inutes," he said. It was eigh t o'clock Wednesday morn in g, and despite som e compl aints of sore muscles, we were read y to hit th e trails again after breakfast. By nine o' clock th e six of us were riding ou t of town and heading back up the mountain. The desert su n was hot, bu t as we climbed, the clear air becam e coo ler and much more pl easant. We turned 0 (( th e main h ighway and found a new dirt road, alt hough we had ridden portions of it the day before. The road was approximately 15 mil es of pure fun. It twi sted and turned, had uphill s and downhills, a nd wen t o n and on. Nate, Brian and Paul were cru ising up front , handl ebar. to handlebar, whil e Tom, Kinney a nd I hung back. In some sections of the road, towards th e bottom of th e mountain, there were white silt beds abou t a foot deep. One bik e would leave a plume of du st that you co uld see for miles. But du st had nothing to do with Nat e's sudde n urge to tr y so me Acapu lc o cliff divin g o n h is KLR250. In order to keep u p w ith Kit, Paul and Brian, I had to ride th e little KLR on the edge th e w ho le tim e. A nd so me ti mes tha t edge was little m ore than a small berm at th e side of a road cu t in to th e m ount ain. Overshooting th e berm meant a long plunge down th e cliff. I'd spent most of the ride in m y peers' dus t, but now I was out front and showing Paul how yo u' re su pposed to ride in the dirt. I was hungry fo r air time on th e flat fire roads, and one sharp rise look ed lik e a good ramp. It was th e most air I' d get th e w hole trip , but unfo rtu nately I cou ldn't brake in th e air f or th e upcom in g left turn . L uc ki ly, th ere was a small turn out that gave m e, and Paul, since I'd suc kered him into th e sam e situation , time to stop at th e edge of the cliff. Th e experience must have been too hairy for th e road guy since I continued down th e road by m yself. •••••• The dirt road ended at a Ranger Station, a nd we stopped to rest th ere under the cool shade of a tree, right next to a water fountain. As we rested , we studied th e map and decided to begin our tarmac trek back up the .moun ta in to Id yllwild a nd have lunch , since it was alrea dy almos t one o 'clock. After ea ting, the plan was to exp lore a place called Black Mountain. The highway back up to Idyllwild was another twisty road, wit h a lot " Street legal vehicles on ly; nO.ATVs or dirt bikes," th e sign read. No problem. The seco n d sign read, " Black Mountain - 12 mil es." We had just turned 0(( th e main highway and onto ano ther dirt road. as we pr oceed ed to o ur final destination before heading back home. It was mid-aft ernoon as we began the twi sty climb up th e mountain. In deep woods, we climbed higher and higher and th e ai r became cooler and coo ler. It was tim e to stop and slip into our riding jackets. proved superior), but it did both well enough to be judged best overall. It's powerful, torquey, and although a bit on tbe heavy side at 338 pounds dry, it 's at least balanced like an MX biike. Andlt.loves fast slidmg on fire roads. The KLR'650 is available in blue/ wh ite with green g'!;apbics for $3499. In 1990, Lwasakif is. adding a variant of the KLR650 to their lineup ~ahJ:iough the KLR will continue to be sold). €aUedthe Tengai, the new bike is essentially a KLR650 with " Paris-Daka r" bodywork. The KLR250 offers many of the same features of its larger counterpart with a bit-less of two important items - cost and weight - and a lot less ofano~her,- horsepower. The smallerKLR250's powerplant is essentiaIlY'''