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.
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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.
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Dan took this photo of me while we were riding along the Clarke's Fork River towards Sandpoint.
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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.
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