Rossi Rifleman

Yeah, the spare is an interesting compromise, you have to move the brake disc when you change tires and it a 50 mph donut. Most of the diehard Ural drives I know carry a spare tube and/or a patch kit and a set of tire irons. They say they can change a tube faster than change a spare. There is a very active Ural forum, I'll see if I can find the address.

www.sovietsteeds.com

Take a look see lots of good info for owners and prospective owners and a great bunch of folks.

Make smoke,

I've liked them since I saw them on a run coming out of Columbus for some run they were doing in the winter. They were heading to Michigan looking for snow I guess. Crazy if you ask me. lol I think it could be fun to have a 2 wheel drive model.

Cruisin' up through the Pacific Northwet on an old Honda

Old Honda's just keep goin'. Rode my 27 year old Transalp north from New Mexico this past June to visit a friend who had relocated to Sandpoint, ID a couple summers ago. On the ride north another buddy accompanied me on his Honda 919. I had anticipated riding my KTM 950 up there, but during a home remodel this past year, had bikes stored in another friend's garage/shop. Had completely either overlooked or misplaced the registration renewal and tag for that bike. I didn't notice the expired tag until I was packing bike the night before leaving. I contemplated my situation (and risks) but decided to press my old Honda Transalp into service. This bike is a veteran of two previous trips to the western arctic, but still runs like a champ.

For those unfamiliar with the Honda Transalp, it was a model that was imported to USA for only two years, 1989 & 1990. It is based upon a 600 cc vee-twin water cooled motor. The bike's design was perhaps more of a styling tip-of-the-hat to the african desert racers, but it still is capable of rugged forest road riding as well as highway work. While it was an extremely capable and reliable model, it was a sales flop at the time with american riders. It remains popular to this day in europe, and is still manufactured by Honda in Spain, in the old Montessa factory I believe. It may be one of the most rider friendly motos ever made.

We rode up through western Colorado and Utah, past Bear Lake into Idaho. Northwest of Missoula, MT, we followed the Clarke's Fork all the way to Sandpoint. I have ridden much of the early part of this ride, so didn't stop for a lot of photographs. It's all great riding country in any case.

Here's some photos from the recent ride.

Taking a quick break with friend, Dan, north of Salmon, ID.
Rode up into the Bitterroot mountains to camp one night. A short barreled S&W .44 mag was good psychological comfort for the night. Was not feasible to try and hang our food.
Dan took this photo of me while we were riding along the Clarke's Fork River towards Sandpoint.
A view from local ski area overlooking Sandpoint, ID at Lake Pend Oreille (pronounced "Ponderay"). This is a huge lake, stretching perhaps 25 miles south of Sandpoint. It is about 1,100 feet deep in some places, and the US Navy has used the lake to test its nuclear submarines.

Cruisin' up through the Pacific Northwet

The cabin my friend George lives in outside of Sandpoint
I rode past this Alpaca Ranch each time I went into town. Cute little critters, look recently sheared.
After leaving Sandpoint, I rode solo, down through Washington, to the Columbia River Gorge and then on to Portland to visit a family member who lives there. I rode some backroads, along the east side of the Yakima Indian reservation (Bickleton Road) from Prosser, WA to the Columbia River. I came around a sharp corner to see this view of Mt. Hood far to the south of me.

Riding along the Columbia River Gorge, Washington side
On way south from Portland, I stopped by the Bonneville International Speedway. lots of standing water this time of year.

cruisin' the Pacific Northwet

The salt flats is still quite wet w standing water, but there were dryer sections here and there. saw several other bikes out on the salt, so gave it a whirl myself. Rode down through Gateway, CO, chose to ride up a side canyon forest road to find a place to camp. This is where a Transalp can shine a little, even with luggage.
Campsite for the night. Great and quiet place - that is until the sun set and the coyotes took up howling. That is a sound to behold in the canyons !
At this point I was still a few days from home, as I rambled around familiar territory in Colorado.

Great pics Thanks for sharing

Great pictures and a great time I bet!

Looks like you had a scenic ride for sure great pictures. I love hearing about rides like this.

Nice pis, thanks for posting,
My new retirement condo should be finished tomorrow,,, I ordered a Springbar Tent.

I looked at the Springbar tents before I bought mine, I went with the Kodiak Canvas from Cabela.
Going to try it out next week at Salt Fork state park here in Ohio.