Great Day Trip!

Sunday Feb. 10th, 50 deg at 8:30 am departure, back Scottsdale 5:30.
I don't have any heated gear, and you w'ont need any for any part of this 385 mile day trip.
H87 “Beeline” to Payson, straight ahead, 60-70 mph easy cruising to wake up. Keep on 87N,, and met up with 4 Phoenix BMW riders in Pine,, for the rest of the trip. Snow on the roadsides in the elevations,, no ice, great road conditions, little or no traffic, continue on 87 to 260 west trough Camp Verde, lots of nice sweepers, keeping it under 90mph on this leg,, fantastic scenery,, Flagstaff snowcapped peaks in distance, fabulous,, 260 ending at 89, then to Jerome. Jerome is a little postcard kind of place,, switchbacks up into town,, lots of history, artsy place,,, try the fudge,, 20-40 rides there at mid day, so must be popular destination for riders,, bar on the corner of downtown has great character,, walked around for maybe an hour. Stay on 89 climbing out of Jerome on Twisties, then descending towards Prescott. Great twisties, some sand in centre track,, road a bit chewed up from sand and snowplows,, but still great,, hardly any traffic so nothing to hold you back from having a blast! Sand will be non-issue after winter and rain washes it away. Into Prescott for a mid afternoon coffee,, Staying on 89 and back into twisties,, no sand this leg and road is great, twisties are cleaner>safer>more challenging>fantastic!,,, vehicular traffic picked up only marginally,, but still easy enough to get in front of 4 wheeled stuff. Out of the elevation back into some sweepers and then straighter stretches where we are cruising at 100, and at times around 130-140 mph for what seem like 10 mile stretches,,, the Kawi concours14 is running about 7500rpm in OD at this point,, but I'm not out here to see how fast it goes, but it definately goes,,, just keeping up with the lead bikes,, and after that well pretty monotonous heavily trafficked from Wickenburg to Scottsdale on hwy60, where I get my ride to AZRide by 5:30, total is 385 miles.
There are few places that rent other than Hogs Wings and big Beemers. Azride have a small fleet, but pretty good variety of rides, very proffesional and knowledgeable couple run the joint. 9 out of 10 recomendation.
Kawisaki Concours 1400 is a sweet ride. Ridding position is upright, but it is so stable that I almost feel that I let my guard down tracking curves,, it just wants to carve right in and back out and handles those twisties like nothing,, but feedback is there and it still lets you know you have to push on the bar.. Could have kept riding for hours,,, didn’t squirm my butt around in the seat once, no joint pains, not tired at all. At 650 lbs, the weight distribution makes moving the bike around dead slow, seem like it's a lot lighter of a ride. Power band is impressive, distribution is consistent rpm dependent,, so the only downside to this ride is heat generation,, which I only notice from Wickenburg to Scottsdale, riding at 55-75 mph in 75 degrees,, and yep it's giving it off.
For 160 dollars rental 400 free miles, plus gaz, insurances, etc,, it works out to a pretty cheap couple of hundred dollars to trial a great ride on a route that I think described above as offering, well,,, everything.
There is absolutely nothing here,, close by where I live,, that compares to what you have there for riding,, so I'm not envious,, I'm outright jealous!
This is a great route for anyone from outside of the area too. lots of hotels, great AZ hospitality, so come in to the area, ride the route the next day, overnight and back home.
There is a ton do do other than Golf in Arizona!
Peter
(Ontario, Canada)

1600 miles in and around Arizona

I am grateful to be among AZRide's satisfied customers. Monica and Gabor have created something special and I highly recommend it to anyone who shares a passion for motorcycles and great scenery. Their approach and their fine stable of bikes make it easy once you stop dreaming and pick up the phone. The bikes are first rate and worthy of your confidence. I truly get the impression that Gabor treats each one of them as it were his only bike. Monica makes sure your questions are answered and that your needs are met. Arizona and the neighboring states take care of all the rest, providing unlimited options for magnificent views and memorable experiences.

I booked my trip for late September, 2007. Riding Harleys around Florida is nice but I always wanted to throw my leg over a BMW and I can never get enough of the West. I made the call and in no time had arranged for 7 days on a R1200GS. With my 6'5" frame and the kind of riding I had it mind, it turned out to be a great choice. Great at speeds and in turns. Sixty days to plan, gear up and anticipate the trip were put to good use and I spent many an evening in Google Earth trying to plan the perfect route.

My trip ended up covering 1600 miles of Indian reservations and mountain roads. After checking out Prescott and Jerome in AZ, I spent a night in Sedona and headed north through Oak Creek Canyon and on through the Navajo reservation and four corners area to Dolores, Colorado. I can recommend "Cabins at Bear Creek" near Dolores as a fine place to rest up to tackle the "Million Dollar Highway". The loop through Durango, Silverton, Ouray and Telluride provided views and twisties worthy of that name to a motorcycle tourer. A second night back at the Cabins and it was off for eastern Arizona and its White Mountains. Hannagan Meadow Lodge was my destination and provided a nice place to stay and a great place to ride. That was my first taste of the forests and meadows that you'll find at 9000 ft at the top of Route 191. Talk about your twisties, but be careful!

I made the trip alone this time and truly loved the solitude, but I may never again get that chance. After sharing my pictures and stories from the trip I'm afraid I'll be leading a tour group next time. The morning after one of my night's rests three older retired men stopped to watch me load up for my departure. I could see in their expressions equal parts of envy and regret. One of them said, "I wish I had done something like that when I was younger". At 52 I'm no kid but I thank God I'll never have to make that statement. I hope you don't either. Make plans now!

Steve from Florida

Jerry & Orv from WA

Orv and I had a great ride. The weather could have been a little better, but it was still far above what I found at home when I got back. It took me two tries to get up my driveway due to having to bash through the snow berm left by the snowplow.I was a little apprehensive about renting the SV650. I sat on one before I left and the stock seat height seemed fine, and I was afraid that two inches lower would be a problem. I also thought that three days riding without any wind protection would be pretty tiring. However, all your other bikes were too tall for this 5 ft. 6 in old-timer, so I went with the SV. It turned out to be a great choice. I was not aware from your website that you had a windscreen on the SV650, so that solved the wind blast problem, and the lowered seat height actually made the bike more maneuverable and easier to get on and off with the hard bags that were installed.
I last rode a motorcycle in Arizona in 1964 when I had a summer job at Ft Huachuca. I bought a 1962 Triumph TR6-C in Tucson that summer and rode it all over the southeast of the state. There were a lot less people then, but the mountains and desert are pretty much as I remembered them.


So, thanks for the great service and the pristine, new motorcycle. Jerry

Hi Monica,just wanted to thank both of you for the great service and would of loved to rented again sunday, but the weather changed that,guess it has to rain sometime,thanks again,will be back next year. Ken

Jim and Friends from Edmonton, Alberta

On behalf of our group of four escaping the cold grip of a western Canadian winter, a big thanks to Monica for organizing our rental and ride. Excellent communication from the very first inquiry, everything clearly spelled out at the pick-up and gorgeous bikes rolled out for our start. The dedication to service and customer satisfaction is evident from start to finish. Our short trip to New Mexico and Arizona was enough to want to return again. I would definitely recommend AZride.com to anyone serious about riding top calibre bikes in the sunny warm south west.
Best regards
Jim Carey