Portland to MT and back...

[oisterska]

Well, just some shots of my ride from pdx to helena mt.

At the farm (Ione, oregon):
nullhttps://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-L5IO7wQnZ0U/T-aCkErpK2I/AAAAAAAAClI/n_VyxHmIVnI/s800/IMG_20120621_100249.jpg

Lake Wallowa (north-eastern oregon):
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-m8iOu6jr2q0/T-aCQxT_F0I/AAAAAAAACk0/xZSuQYVGv00/s800/IMG_20120621_164803.jpg

Joseph Canyon (between Joseph and Asotin):
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-WabP8MvkvP4/T-Z_NceTf4I/AAAAAAAACgg/nntW_BV4tTQ/s800/IMG_20120622_095353.jpg

Best damn road I've been on. Ever. Most, tightest curves, almost zero traffic, tons of elevation gain/loss. We continued along through southern panhandle idaho and lolo pass (too hot to take pics). Lolo pass/idaho panhandle was nice, lots of high speed sweepers, but nothing compared to the stretch between Joseph and Asotin.

The XT performed excellently, averaging 46mpg and 70mph. Doing 80 on the freeways with a headwind she dropped to about 40mpg. As a prerunner for Alaska in august, I've learned I'll need a few things: a tarp, another cookpot, maybe another tooltube (megatube!) for gas, and a hatchet. Looking forward to hatchet shopping!

More pics to come, depending on the route back.

[oisterska]

Crap, how'd that happen? Any mods able to put this in the main xb12x/xt thread?

Thanks!

[BuellRiderX]

Nothing comes close to the Northwest scenery! Nice bike [up]

[theoctopus]

I moved your thread into the XB12x sub-forum.

Sounds like a fun ride.

[oisterska]

...and here's a shot of that road (credit goes to N-Id-Jim at advrider for the pic, it was way too hot to stop for a shot when I went through).

Rattlesnake Road:
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0ZvhnhKgsUU/T-sxkpSGI-I/AAAAAAAAClk/2IlqGFbfsRc/s800/rattlesnakeroad.jpg

[user_deleted]

great pics and you're right....from the aerial shot i'd say that's an incredible road. how did the Uly work?

[oisterska]

Fully loaded, 2-up, the XT performed like a champ! That damn bike feels almost more planted in the curves when loaded. Super fun! Looking forward to some backroad twisties today, heading south from ceour 'delene (sp?) into ne oregon then home tomorrow.

[user_deleted]

oisterska: don't know the year of your uly but mine is 2007 with 3800 miles on it and slightly annoying low speed leanness....just annoying, not problematic. did the breather reroute and iridium tipped plugs. how does yours act at these low revs? just wondering.

[oisterska]

Well, it works pretty good i suppose, and it's a 2009 XT w/ stock plugs, a K&N and a reroute. I was cruising fully loaded at around 2200-3500rpm most of this trip except for some freeways at 80+/- at ~4000rpm (and some full tilt passing just to clear the plugs, of course!) and I most always could apply throttle and get 'er goin no problem. True that they are a bit sluggish below 3000rpm but nothing that is, as you put it, problematic. Did you notice any difference w/ the iridium plugs? I've got a set just sitting around waiting to be thrown in.

I also have a EBR ECM for a hawk exhaust and a fresh xb9 pipe just waiting to be shipped out to Randy, hoping this will do a bit for the throttle feel.

A few MT pics to wrap up this ride report. (Sorry, no moto-pics!)

Lewis/Clark caverns:
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rZXxG_plqd4/T-ugE-L-q5I/AAAAAAAACrc/IIp-Ra5IGF0/s800/IMG_20120627_141049.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-YuvMceiA4ts/T-uhEKMKYKI/AAAAAAAACt8/-jR-krgwCEk/s800/IMG_20120627_135024.jpg

Elkhorn Ghost Town:
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TpbCjb-zwHs/T-ufOtM4eXI/AAAAAAAACpo/BQcpLp2Nkz4/s800/IMG_20120627_155503.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lQR_EKHI72U/T-ue1Lc9owI/AAAAAAAACpE/BVlByo0G6zg/s800/IMG_20120627_160305.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-xacwHgbeR6U/T_EOkaVPxjI/AAAAAAAAC9M/JaqruRzWYyU/s800/IMG_20120627_153842.jpg

The Elkhorn Graveyard: (Notice the ages. Found out later that there was a flu that wiped out the Elkhorn children around 1890. Creepy seeing a graveyard full of kids tombstones)

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-TFXD_WKASNA/T-ueitXjlQI/AAAAAAAACos/fM99QIMHF28/s800/IMG_20120627_162310.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3hYrhoNgZOg/T-uedDaLz8I/AAAAAAAACok/bMO5K2QLSJU/s800/IMG_20120627_162330.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-_30AffTBvDE/T-ueRY0oDCI/AAAAAAAACoQ/JdM3DIfJZ9c/s800/IMG_20120627_162603.jpg

[natez1]

Rattlesnake Pass is the road and man let me tell you, doing that road on a fully loaded E-glide was a CHORE! I had to stop several times to rest and refocus, it is taxing physically and mentally, on my Buell it would have been funner but still exhausting for sure. Glad you had a good test run and a safe one too.
Ride-on