California Tour Mid of September

[bmw-mechanic]

hello,

it`s time to visit again California, the last visit is 20 years ago now.

but this time with motorbikes. vacation, no business trip

1.st part of the tour will be from San Francisco down to San Diego (coastal line). The 2nd part is back to San Francisco
the upstate direction via Bakersfield or Ridgecrest to the Mammoth Lakes and the Yosemite National Park back to San Francisco.

does anyone of you have some good hints, what`s good for driving and visits.

regards

dieter

[Darryl.Richman]

How much time do you have? What kind of riding do you want to do? What else do you want to do/see?

Naturally, CA-1 from Monterey to San Luis Obispo is required. Do you want to go around LA, or do you want to visit tourist spots there? The coast line from LA to San Diego is mostly built up. I would recommend taking County Roads 6 and 7 in San Diego county, on your way to visiting Mt. Palomar Observatory, they will put a grin on your face. On the way back up, I would follow the foothills of the western side of the Sierra Nevada, CA-49. Lots of history and fun riding.

It will still be hot and dry in most places. Bring a water bladder with you, keep it full, and drink often.

[bmw-mechanic]

hello darryl,

sorry for my late response, i was busy last week with finishing my r85 cubic capacity reworking.

engine is fine now, but i`ve hat big trouble with the pushrods. there were visible drag marks. so i was forced to reduce the outer diameter of 0,3mm. it`s a pleasure to have a lathe in the cellar room.

california, ok, our flight takes place from 10th to 11th of sept. from frankfurt to charlet (greensboro), and then to san francisco.
they`ll pick us up in SF with the shuttle bus to mountainview. we can leave our travel baggage there. Bike rental is california motorcycle adventures.
We selected the "milwauke dream bike" because they didnt offer beemer airheads or triumphs, they offer only harleys.

we`ve been testing these bikes in the meantime, because i`m only familiar with motorbike weights of lower than 300kg.
but ride these big harleys is not that big deal, if you don`t have always >300kg in your brain.....

1 st part is the coast line to LA (closest possibility to the water, if we want to get closer to the coast line, we should use a raft or better a motor-boat , and then the 76 to the west coast of the sierra nevada, direction to yosemite and lake tahoe. which will be 2nd part.

3rd part is then from lake tahoe via sacramente back to SF and back to mountaninview.
En route is as well santa cruz

if you want to do a short tour review, i `ll send you the *.gpx dataset.

by the way, do you plan a germany or alsace tour this year?

regards

dieter

[bmw-mechanic]

I`m overworking now the 10 GBytes of Pictures i`ve made during our california trip.

it was phantastic there, we started at Palo Alto, the Old Honda Drive (ca84) to Monterrey and Pesmo Beach, then the coast line to Santa Monica, Angeles forest or Angeles crest (ca2), Mojave desert to Ridgecrest (China lakes). then to Three Rivers, the Sequoia (ca 180)we did three times because of the grin in the face, Kings Canyon. Oakhurst was the next stop (superb bbq with locomotive smoker!!!) Yosemite, Tequoia , Mono Lake , Bodie (was closed ) Coalville (Motel in the middle of nowhere) Lake Tahoe, Virginia City to Reno Sparks.
At Reno it was so terrible hot ( nearly 35°C) that we decided to ride back to the coast to Eureka.
from there through the Avenue of Giants, Lost Coast (still a magic grin on my face) to Medocino. Then slowly back to the North of San Francisco, Point Reyes, SF Downtown and back via the La Honda to Palo Alto.

In amount we did 3000 miles in 11 days.


Here some inpressions of the tour.

enjoy

regards

dieter

[Darryl.Richman]

Fabulous! Glad you had a great time! Come back again some time, there's more!

[bmw-mechanic]

hi darryl,

definitely, i`ll be back sometimes and i`m shure that this return will not take 20years.

but then with a litte more time, 2 weeks are very short!!!

unfortunately, i didn`t get more vacation signed from my employee.

but the next tour, my motorbike choice will not be Harley Davidson again, next time i`m looking for a Triumph tiger or a flattwin airhead, GS or something like that.

The Harley is very good and comfortable, but small and dirty roads, loose gravel and so on, it Shows you the Limits.
Harley is "Eisenhaufen".

if you go by car, you`re always alone, but with motorbike it`s very different.
So we met lots of motorbikers who had good advices to go (driving the Lost Coast was one of these), dinking some beer in the evening and riding the next day a few hours with us.
best question was, what motorbikes do you have at home.(do they always expect that you have more than one? )

yep, never sell a motorbike.

back at home, i did a ride with my old R65 (or better now R85). i thougth i ride a Mofa, hercules or zündapp or something like that.... and my colleque hat the same effect with his ktm and ducati....

regards

dieter

[Darryl.Richman]

I guess that the Lost Coast would be a tense ride on those big Harleys. The pavement is narrow, bumpy and broken up, and there's always some stretch that is torn up for repairs. But it's beautiful, I'm glad someone pointed it out to you! Actually, you could spend a week in the area and ride new, exciting roads every day. Kind of like the Eifel.

[bmw-mechanic]

absolutely, this road was a tense ride. but not the only one, kings Canyon and the Angeles crest have the same pavement, broken up and always loose gavel. (Eifel is not that bad to compare!)

you have to take care of the motorbike and the tires.

to be safe, we ordered ensurance if a tire is broken, but, on the other Hand, how Long does it take until they`ll pick you up and change the tires or have another bike with them.

3 days minimum are lost.

the next time we go there, we`ll ride to the North.



regards

dieter