2004 Ducati 999 on 2040-motos

Kawasaki Vulcan tech info

Type:Cruiser Phone:(678) 622-4996

Moto blog

Old Dog, New Tricks: Tackling The LA-Barstow To Vegas Dual-Sport Ride

Joining the 39th running of the famed event on a Ducati DesertX and a Kawasaki KLX300 Credit: Photos by Cait Maher, Evans Brasfield, Grumpy, and Ryan Adams Let’s be honest, dual-sport motorcycles aren’t really designed for touring, despite my best efforts ( here and here). The bikes are merely street-legal dirt bikes without much accommodation for creature comfort. So, spending 220-ish miles flat in the saddle from Las Vegas, NV to Palmdale, CA, mostly on Interstate 15, is a platform for cataloging discomforts, and after riding approximately 360 miles, mostly off road over the two previous days, my aches-and-pains were legion.

2010 Kawasaki KLX110 Launch

The last time I rode one of Kawasaki’s 110cc MX bikes, I was banging elbows with Gary Nixon in a journo race on Max Yasgers, I mean Mertens Dairy farm in beautiful Sonoma, California. Battling against experienced racers, a muddy track and humorous rider-to-motorcycle ergonomics, I managed to outshine all of the racing glory at the nearby Infineon raceway by taking home the gold, shoes. Top prize for endangering my life in a battle of laughter and pocket-sized Singles was a pair of size 13 sneakers spray painted gold.

Simon and Leo

If you are a track day regular this year, you may well have bumped into former racer and friendly Kiwi, Simon Crafar. I first met him in Malaysia in 1990 when he was riding for a Yamaha dealer team, sweating his way round circuits like Shah Alam and Johor Bahru but with a long term plan to make it onto the World scene. And he didn’t take long as after riding for Honda in the UK in 1992 he moved to WSB in 1994 and enjoyed success with both the Honda and Kawasaki factory teams.