2014 Colorado trip and ride report

[desertgasser300]

I have had alot of emails asking about the toy hauler so I decided to include some pics and and a report of how it did camping.

Initially I had plans to head out to Colorado with a friend of mine, but he backed out at the last minute. A quick post to this forum and had an invite from Jacob Berg to meet him in Colorado with him and his friends. As it turns out Jacob and I know and ride with some of the same people, small world!

The trip started out at 5:30 am from AZ. and pulling the trailer was smooth. The van avg. about 12/15 mpg depending on the terrain. Driving thru the steep passes of Colorado proved to be easier then anticipated. Although I do believe the trailer brakes were not functioning, but it wasn't bad as the trailer is very light and easy to stop. I just was very careful when going down hill not to pick up to much speed if an emergency stop had to happen.

I was to meet Jacob in Sargents and ride for two days then move to Silver jack reservoir and ride for another two days and then off to Rico to met Jacob's friends from Phx. for another two days of riding. But as reality will have it 5 miles out of Ridgeway the van quits running. Turns over but no starting. A quick call to the AMA roadside assistance and an hour later my entire rig is being towed to Turner Chevrolet in Montrose. Kudos to the AMA they were very helpful and diligent in getting the right service truck out to me. This was saturday night and as any great dealership in a small town was closed on sunday. So for two nights I gave the dealership free security being camped out in there back lot.


Come monday the verdict is in. The plastic tabs that hold the wiring loom to the frame broke and the wires to the fuel pump fell onto the exhaust and melted. $300 (ugh) later and I was off to Silver Jack reservoir to meet Jacob and ride already having lost two days of riding I was itching to get on the bike. Had I known or had a map there were trails outside of Montrose about 6 miles away across the highway from were I was stuck.

At silver Jack i found a nice campground with no one in it but me now!



Tuesday Jacob and his friend Toby show up and we didnt waste anytime hitting the trails. We ran a trail that escapes me up into Nates creek. During this trail one of the riders Toby met with an unfortunate get off into the pines. After a few minutes of digging the bike out Toby had decided to turn around and head back to camp. When Jacob and I finished the trail and came back to camp we found Toby had gone into the closest town and went to the E.R. when he returned the next day he told us he had broken a bone in his face(orbital)?

Wednesday we did Alpine trail, which is a march straight up as you can watch in the video. Only problems with the bike was I kept losing the bottom coolant hose that attaches to the STOOPID thermostat. It didnt over heat it just built up enough pressure to pop that hose off. When I put the hose back on I noticed the lack of a lip on the thermostat to hold the hose on properly. Anyone still running the thermostat may want to check to make sure there is enough of a lip to keep the hose on? Or just get rid of it all together. I have since replaced it with an in-line cooler.

These are the only pics I took and the only video I got because I could not re-charge the GoPro.

The video is pretty long, but I left in all the tip overs I had on the switch backs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFHHr9fxUxQ