So we're renting 6 dirtbikes this weekend out in Vegas

[Quigs]

Any of you been out this way and have recommendations on where to go? We have 6 bikes and a trailer, straps, gear, and gas cans, and we're picking them up on the strip. (We = me and the guys I'm working with out here.)

Plan is to find somewhere good/legal and flog 'em all day tomorrow, which will be my first day off in 4 weeks.

[Rambunctous]

Mexico?

[Paul_E_D]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (webOS/1.4.1.1; U; en-US) AppleWebKit/532.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/1.0 Safari/532.2 Pre/1.0)

never been, but there's some sick terrain right outside the city. Theypost pics on ktmtalk all the time

[Quigs]

Mexico?

We only have one day (tomorrow) off, so it has to be something relatively local.

[DuncanMoto]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.297 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

I think it's called valley of Fire. It's a state park.
I probably have some tour stuff at home I will see if I can dig it up.
Just remember take extra drinking water.

[breakdirt916]

paging spydah?

he did some riding in the desert

[Quigs]

One of the guys going with us decided on a spot, though I can't remember the name. I've been to Valley of Fire though and it is pretty awesome there.

The place we rented 'em from is called EagleRider. Basically $200 for the bike, helmet, goggles, gloves and a shirt for 24 hours. Not too bad, other than the fact that everyone that works there is a douche.

Anyhow, here's the stuff ready for tomorrow morning.

[Quigs]

That's a damn good idea!

I'm probably going to stick to the quad. I don't really have the gear with me to feel comfy on the dirtbikes.

[breakdirt916]

bump

bored this weekend and need to get out of town

anyone do any dirt riding in vegas??

valley of fire looks close - only a 50 mile drive...I was thinking of doing a 7:30-10am ride to beat some of the heat...then head back to the strip to get hammered and broke gambling

then on the way back, was going to checkout Primm or Barstow

[nt650hawk]

No dirt but this is a lovely route. http://goo.gl/maps/Ym3ST

Valley of Fire is absolutely amazing. Don't know about the dirt travel. when out in Death Valley there seemed to be more dirt/Adventure bikes that were Dirty.


Sand Dunes.http://goo.gl/maps/HV6Zi

[nhbubba]

No dirt but this is a lovely route. http://goo.gl/maps/Ym3ST

It seems silly to go all that way and avoid Death Valley NP (Badwater Road). Taking Badwater adds maybe 40 minutes to that route.

[breakdirt916]

yup yup...was thinking about a street ride, but more hot than I want right now to ride 8 hours during the day

requested 2 long weekends in Sept and Oct - will likely do a street ride 1 day, then dirt the next day...although I haven't ridden dunes before...but want to mount a paddle tire first

darn those intarwebs...they spark an interest (for me it's vegas area of southwest right now), then all you want to do is quit work and ride

[nt650hawk]

It seems silly to go all that way and avoid Death Valley NP (Badwater Road). Taking Badwater adds maybe 40 minutes to that route.

into consideration for next time. Just going thru DV was a last min decision. Do I/don't I have enough time.... I got back to the drop off with 20 min before the shop closed.

[nhbubba]

I did a lot of 190 and 127 through that area when I went. I took 190 up to Furnace Creek and Dante's View (which is pretty stunning by the way). 190 was okay. Dante's was way better. Very few campers and way more corners. I then took Badwater through the NP down to 127. 127 was a monotonous back breaker for me. So straight. Such a low speed limit. And so boring. Badwater has a low limit and is in a NP. (Read: Enforced by the feds, which I hear is bad news bears.) But the scenery is 500x more wild than what I saw of 127.

Just so close, I'd feel I'd have to do it. Your enough time angle should be solvable with sumore right wrist.

If on a dual sport or real adventure machine, West Side Road looked pretty fun. Also Badwater south of the fork for Jubilee Pass looked knarly. Although Jubilee Pass was pretty fun and scenic. I was on a rented machine and not ready for that kind of off roading. So I stuck to the paved stuff.

[nt650hawk]

Dumont Dunes
http://www.blm.gov/ca/st/en/fo/barstow/dumont.html

[breakdirt916]

when you coming back to Vegas gino??

I've got a bike you're familiar with: plated KDX200 you can ride through those dunes...

let me do a couple trial runs first...I want to see how much of it *really* needs a paddle tire

[SVRACER01]

I did a lot of 190 and 127 through that area when I went. I took 190 up to Furnace Creek and Dante's View (which is pretty stunning by the way). 190 was okay. Dante's was way better. Very few campers and way more corners. I then took Badwater through the NP down to 127. 127 was a monotonous back breaker for me. So straight. Such a low speed limit. And so boring. Badwater has a low limit and is in a NP. (Read: Enforced by the feds, which I hear is bad news bears.) But the scenery is 500x more wild than what I saw of 127.

Just so close, I'd feel I'd have to do it. Your enough time angle should be solvable with sumore right wrist.

If on a dual sport or real adventure machine, West Side Road looked pretty fun. Also Badwater south of the fork for Jubilee Pass looked knarly. Although Jubilee Pass was pretty fun and scenic. I was on a rented machine and not ready for that kind of off roading. So I stuck to the paved stuff.

need some more info here. i had originally routed our honeymoon via 190 (from west to east), but then i changed it to take badwater to 178. what kind of low speed limit are we talking here?

whats my best option?
A)deal with the possible boringness of 190 for the views of dantes and deal with backtracking to get back to 190
B)deal with the possible boringness of badwater rd for the views from the valley floor and deal with backtracking after doing artists dr
c)start on badwater, hit artists dr, then backtrack to 190 and then do dantes and then backtrack and continue down 190 to vegas
D) something i havent though of yet

[nhbubba]

what kind of low speed limit are we talking here?

The kind you can mostly ignore.

When I was there in May, I didn't see a single Fed employee while in the park. Not a single ranger. Not a single LEO. Nothing. I could have screamed through there at a buck twenty and probably got away with it. Of course I didn't know this and kept it to 50-60. I honestly doubt you'd be bothered by the limits in the park if you are 2-up on a HD dresser with the missus in tow. On your 'tard, maybe.

Also remember it isn't like New England; there are plenty of legal passing zones and even when it's a double stripe there is tons of room to pass anyways.

By the way. The park fee is self service. You stop at an automated kiosk to pay your entry fee. No rangers, no gate shack, nada. You are printed a receipt you are supposed to keep with you. But again, no feds => nobody to check. That said, park entry fee for a bike is all of $10. I'm a weenie, I paid.



As to your route choice, I would have a really hard time going all that way and skipping the park proper (Badwater Road). If for nothing else but for the "been there, done that" aspect. Badwater isn't the most epic road in that part of the world. But it doesn't suck either. And Jubilee pass is pretty neat too.

If you skip Badwater, definitely ride out to Dante's. As an added bonus, the road from 190 up to Dante's is a half decent twister. And parts of it are "closed" to bigass campers and fifth wheels. (Although I got the idea it wasn't well enforced.)

If you take Badwater all the way through the park, adding Dante's tacks on at least an extra hour or two to your day. I found it worth it.

I skipped Artists as it was an extra 40+ minutes out of my way. If taking Badwater South to North, you can divert onto Artists and not miss much except some fairly boring valley floor. If going North to South (as I did) you have to back track to do Artists and repeat that stretch of boring valley floor. I deemed it not worth it and rode past. I don't know what I missed.

Dantes'



Valley Floor (Badwater Basin, lowest point in US)



I'm glad I saw both. Jubilee Pass Road offers some giggles too. In the end I'm glad I did what I did; approach DV from the west on 190, ride past Badwater to see Dantes, backtrack to Badwater, Badwater through Badwater Springs to Jubilee Pass back out to 127. I'm told that the sections of 127 between Jubilee Pass and the 190 junction are just as long, straight and boring as the stretches I did between Jubilee and I-15. I can't imagine passing on Badwater for more of that.

If you're headed for Vegas, you can skip all that 127 and take 178. You'll miss Dumont Dunes in the distance, which is neat. But isn't worth the drive, IMO.



This is 127 south of Jubilee pass headed for Baxter, CA. IIRC the dunes are just visible in the left part of the frame. Straightest fucking road I've ever fucking seen. Like fuck me! straight.

[nt650hawk]

when you coming back to Vegas gino??

I've got a bike you're familiar with: plated KDX200 you can ride through those dunes...

let me do a couple trial runs first...I want to see how much of it *really* needs a paddle tire

If work sends me again, end of Feb/beginning of March.. Feb 22-26 is the conference and I'll take a few extra days to just buz around.

[tls25rs]

If work sends me again, end of Feb/beginning of March.. Feb 22-26 is the conference and I'll take a few extra days to just buz around.

If you do get to go and go riding out there and want company give me a heads up. I could be persuaded to head out there, vaca for a couple of days then rent a bike and ride around.

[nt650hawk]

If you do get to go and go riding out there and want company give me a heads up. I could be persuaded to head out there, vaca for a couple of days then rent a bike and ride around.

Noted.


http://www.eagleriderhonda.com/#!/home hmmmm Triumph Tiger????? +AMA discount..

Rode the ST1300 last time.



Valley of fire...
so tranquil



Look Closely!!!!!!!


Lake Havasu

[breakdirt916]

if both of you guys want to ride dirt, no need to rent, I will gladly supply the toys

I just purchased a family package - just got a deal on a bunch of bikes, small quad and trailer



total fleet:
-1994 YZ250 (plated)
-1990 KDX200 (plated)
-2000 YZ250 - off-road only
-2007 XR650L (plated)
-2001 YZ426F - off-road only
-2007 XR250R - off-road only
-200? RM85 - bored out to 125, off-road only
-1998 CR80R - mini supermoto
-?? Yamaha 125cc 4t quad

I'm moving most of the bikes by next year as I don't need that many bikes...so hit me up to see what I still have by then

and I can likely join for a street ride for a couple days

[nt650hawk]

Look Joel
YZ426F - off-road only


maybe I'll tell Kate she can not to come this time!!!!



I paid the fees as well. if it helps helps the areas looking the way it does. I'm fine with $10 here $10 there.

[breakdirt916]

Awwwww yeah

Slipped a $20 bill between the driver's license and cc when I checked in, and casually asked "are there any complimentary upgrades?", and the chick bumped me up to the room with a jacuzzi

[SVRACER01]

Valley of fire...
so tranquil



Look Closely!!!!!!!

we did the lake mead/VoF/red rock canyon loop when we were in LV. VoF was nice. i really enjoyed LM though. cruise set at 65 and just motored through the sweepers. i saw 2 cars and 1 bike.