For 600 hundred miles there are only two ways to cross the Colorado River the Navajo Bridge or the Glen Canyon Bridge. Before the construction of these you would have to use Lee’s Ferry which was not known for its reliability. Located on Navajo Nation land the Navajo Bridge is really two bridges one is a roadway and the other a walkway, it’s worth stopping to take a look, remember jumping from the bridge is not allowed.

Heading out of Kanab through Fredonia on 89A the road has many twists and climbs until it finally flattens out. The road will also take you to the road for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately there was some construction and we had to wait a half hour on the road, not really such a bad place to park but if it was a little warmer it might have been miserable.

Denny’s Wigwam was all in one, gifts, history, restaurant and bar; and it was located across the street from our hotel. After browsing the store we headed into the bar where we inquired about beer and what a surprise, beers named Devastator, Polygamy Porter whose motto was “Why Have Just One” and other strange brews. We met a couple from Belgium, Charlie and Bernadette; we shared stories and just had a good time hanging out. We then had BBQ for diner and the bartenders where very nice and put up with us and even took a picture with us.

Me and my buddy Charlie decided to do a quick road trip, head up to Page and then over to Kanab. Stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam and then we headed to Kanab. Found a nice place in Kanab the Parry Lodge and we stayed in the Sammy Davis Jr. room, this area is called little Hollywood because of the many films and television shows that were filmed here. The hotel is also located across from the only bar in town, how convenient for us.

Visiting the Glen Canyon Dam is easy, accessible with lots of picture taking opportunities. Glen Canyon Dam forms Lake Powell the second largest manmade lake in the United States. Cruising around the area is also nice, no interstates it’s a nice pace. I can imagine Page must get packed in the summer, the North Rim is not open yet and Page was already bustling with activity.

I’ve never been to Page before and Sandy as never been on a bike trip before, this was a good way to find out if she likes road trips. Getting there covers a few different terrains, riding through Flagstaff you climb to over 7000 feet with lot of green, and as you descend you’re riding in barren high desert. Much of the riding is through Navajo Indian Reservation it’s sparsely populated with small trading posts.

This is my third trip to Laughlin, Nevada in less than two months. Getting to Laughlin is a nice ride and there are inexpensive places to stay.  Me and my riding partner Charlie had nice weather getting there, but the return weather was not very good. It was what I called a three glove trip because I had to use three different gloves; it was also the first time I’ve had to ride in the rain since September. Some pictures we took, the picture of the rat Harley was a guy we met, Jeff wrote a book about his travels and he has hundreds of thousand miles on his 1982 Harley. We were so busy BS’ing that I forgot to write down the name of the book, he showed it to us and I forgot the title; I really wish I could find it.

Took a ride to Jake’s Corner Bar, they made a move called Jake’s Corner nice little movie that can be watched by all. The movie was actually filmed on location and the locals enjoy telling you about it if you ask and there is movie memorabilia around the bar/restaurant. The ride is about 180 miles round trip with good scenery; we had some burgers and then headed back. Check it out if you’re in the area.

Above courtesy of the internet

After more than 52k miles I wanted to upgrade the lean running stock engine, I wanted more power especially living in an area where the posted highway speed is 75mph. I called Fuel Moto and after speaking with Jamie I ordered the 4 inch slash up Jackpot mufflers, Dynajet Power Commander V tuner and a Fuel Moto Stage One air cleaner.

I received the package from Fuel Moto on Thursday I ordered it on Friday.  Less than 2 hours later everything was installed, the hardest part was routing the wire for the Power Commander. The overhaul install was easy, the instructions were clear and I would think most could do it with no problem. With everything done the first thing I noticed was how good the pipes look on the bike. To me the larger diameter muffler ascetically looks more pleasing and I really like how the slash-up follow the lines of the saddlebags. I’ve had nothing but positive comments on the pipes.

The moment of truth time to start it up; has soon as I started the bike you could hear the bark, it sure sounds like a Harley now. It’s going to take a while getting used to it’s definitely louder than stock. Two of my friends says it’s not obnoxious that’s a good thing to me; it does have a good bark when you get on the gas but quiets down when cruising. After riding so many miles with stock pipes it sounds sort of loud and it’s probably me more than anything else.

Throttle response right away felt improved; it seems to take a lot less effort to pull away from a stop. Roll on power has improved and now I pay attention because I was passing a car at about 55 mph I rolled on the gas and I completed my pass and when I looked down I was doing 80 mph.

I also did some aggressive starts and for the first time I went through the gears with a sense of urgency. Usually I think of my bike as a truck going through the gears, build revs slowly then shift, it build revs a lot quicker and when I looked down at the speedometer I was like wow that was quick.

Cruising down the highway as improved too, passing is easier, maintaining a steady speed is easier and the overall feel of the motor is just better. For some reason the bike seems to feel smoother at highway speeds as if there is less vibration, could be my imagination. I have to remember to shift into a higher gear because the bike sounds so much better that I’m delaying my shift, before the bike sounded like it wanted to grenade itself and I wanted to short shift it. For those that like to ride faster I can tell you the bike pulls a whole lot faster to 100 mph, I’m not sure if the actual top speed as increased yet. 

First tank of of gas (191 miles) I averaged 39 mpg which I think was very good. There was a mix of aggressive riding and taking it easy, my last tank on the stock setup got 42 mpg. The second tank of gas (160 miles) I averaged 42 mpg, about 60 miles of highway at 70-80 mph and the rest was 55-70 mph country roads. Stock the best I got was around 46 mpg and the worse I got was less than 36 mpg; it does not appear that there is a big difference between stock and stage one at this time.

I had one negative; the bike was harder to start following Harley’s recommended procedure. I called Fuel Moto and they said see if it’s better by not waiting for the fuel pump to prime just start the bike. I’ve been doing it that way and it starts as fast as before if not easier, so now it’s just a matter of retraining me. Now I flick the kill switch on, hit the start button bike starts right, not a hiccup in the last 350 miles.

Thanks to the people at Fuel Moto for putting together a quality package at a good value.

Fuel Moto Site

My buddy and riding partner Charlie informed me the other day that before he had Cataract surgery that he really couldn't see out of one eye and the other wasn’t that good. This after riding many miles together including a 2400 mile trip to Kansas, Colorado and four other states, he’s now telling me he really couldn’t see that well. Quite a few beers later and I realized we were a bug away from disaster, one bug to the good eye and Charlie was blind. Below are pictures from the trip where we were just a bug away from disaster.

Thanks Julie for sending the pictures.