Dual Sport in Southwest Colorado
For our trip this year we decided to make it a dual-sport trip in Southwest Colorado. Steve and I had traveled down the Million-Dollar Highway in the summer of 1995, and fell in love with the area. We thought if we ever had the opportunity we should come back to this area and ride the trails.
Conclusion:
The debate on the right bike will last for probably some time. I think if I had it to do over again I would buy a dirt type bike and bolt a license plate to it. I saw a number of Honda XRs, and Kawasaki DXs that were not perfectly street legal, but out there the police don't seem to hassle them. If I had to take my bike out again I would have a 13 tooth counter shaft sprocket rather than the standard 15 tooth. I tried to make this change at Chuck's shop but he did not have one. The jetting on the Yamahas were somewhat suspect. Mike had to drop three sizes to find the perfect mixture of gas and air. While Steve and Ralph's bikes went unmodified the Kawasaki with its vacuum diaphragm carburetor performed the best. A good map is essential in Colorado, and while we had several maps it was still difficult at times to navigate to the best places. I would also stick with an 80%-20% (dirt-street) tire. What performance you lose on the street is well made up for on the dirt. The one area where we were covered was clothing. This is one area that translates back to street riding very well. We all had some sort of riding suit and would have mighty cold without them.