Weekend in Steamboat Springs, and unexpected issue, and a Tire update

[SkunkWorks]

My Wife booked an excellent Room in Steamboat Springs for our family this past weekend.

I had to work Friday, but she wanted to get an earlier start to avoid the craziness leaving Denver for the weekend.
I packed a weekend's worth of clothes and stuff, and rode to work Friday.
I convinced the Supervisor to let me leave an hour early.................then he suggested I work through my lunch break and leave two hours early! Win-Win!

I departed work at 1:00pm, and plotted a route through the foothills to cut out most of the I-70 traffic. Routed myself over Berthoud Pass to Winter Park.
There was a County Rd I wanted to check out that cuts off some of Hwy-40 between Fraser and Parshall (CR-50)
It was smooth, fast dirt most of the way, with some good scenery.







I seemed to avoid all the afternoon rain storms, and only got sprinkled on for a few minutes.
The rest of the ride into Steamboat Springs was uneventful highway cruising.

The next morning, after free breakfast at the Hotel, The Wife and Boys wanted to go visit the Hot-Springs in town (and check out the water-slides)
I'm not a public hot-springs kind of person, so I took the opportunity to explore CR-129 north from Steamboat.
The COBDR uses parts of this road in section-6.

It starts out as a nice easy paved road, with lazy sweeping curves, and great scenery.
It was a nice relaxing way to start my morning!





I stopped at Steamboat Lake to check out the view.






Just north of there the road turns to Dirt, and becomes a smooth flowing rollercoaster of a road, through Aspen forests and open-range.
Now we're having fun!

 

[SkunkWorks]

While taking this picture something caught my eye....................or rather *didn't* catch my eye........
The bike was running at the time.


Just a few miles shy of the Wyoming Border I turned around to head back.
The plan was to meet the Family at noon for lunch, and then take the short hike to lower Fish Creek Falls in the afternoon.
No issues riding back. I stopped at the "Clark Store" and got a chocolate-milk. I sat on their front porch and relaxed while I drank.

Back in town, we got sandwiches at "Cruiser's Sub Shop". Excellent service, and great sandwiches........I highly recommend!

Around 3:00 we took the short drive up to the trailhead parking-lot for Fish Creek Falls.
It's a short 1/4 mile hike down to the Bridge, and the lower-Falls.

 

[SkunkWorks]

Back at the Hotel, it was time to delve into my headlamp issue.
I carry a spare bulb with me always........I unplugged the left headlamp, and plugged my spare bulb into the pigtail connector.
Started the bike, and the spare bulb didn't light either.

Remove the right side cover, check the headlamp fuse.................Blown!



Did not have a spare 20-amp fuse, so drove over to O'Reillys. Got a 5-pac of 20's, and another assorted pack of various amp ones.

Back to the bike, plug in a new 20-amp fuse and start the bike.................immediately blows the new fuse.

OK, unplug both headlamp pigtail sockets. Put another new fuse in and start the bike.................fuse does not blow.

Plug in the right headlamp only and start the bike......................fuse immediately blows! Gotcha!

Remove the right headlamp bulb. It's Burnt!



When it burned out, the filament-holder melted and connected the wires directly together.............Instant Short!



Put another new 20-amp fuse in. Install my spare bulb in the right side hole, and plug everything back together.

Headlights!



I have no idea how long the fuse had been blown, but I celebrated with a Corona..........



And then that escalated quickly!

 

[SkunkWorks]

The next morning after breakfast, we packed up everything, checked out of the Hotel, and made our way over to the Gondola.
Got our Passes, and rode to the Top!















After the Gondola Ride back down the Mountain, the Wife left for home with the boys, and I geared-up to Ride.

The trip home was uneventful, until I encountered heavy traffic near Georgetown.................and then the Lightning, Rain, and Hail..........That sucked!

 

[SkunkWorks]

A "Bonus" Tire update on the Trailmax Raid tires.

That ride to Steamboat Springs and back used up the very last of the tread on the rear tire.



It now measured 1mm in the center of the tire.
I'm calling it "Spent"
I've travelled 7,449 miles on this Tire.

Took it off to swap the old used Trailmax Mission back on to run the rest of that tire off.
It still has 4mm of tread left, so should last me the rest of the season.

While I had it apart, I check the brakes too.
rear pads still have plenty of life left.



Had to swap the Rotor and ABS ring back over to the other wheel, so I measured the rotor for wear as well......





The thinnest spot I could find on the Rotor measures 4.580mm
Minimum spec is 4.5mm according to Yamaha.
I'll run this one until I have to change tires again.

Back together and ready for this weekend in Buena Vista!



Also took a close look at my repair/reinforcement of my Bumot top-case rack to see how it was holding up.
NO cracks anywhere on the rack that I can find!



Some time ago I bought two spare rear Rotors when they became readily available, and were only $70 at the time.
I looked around the Garage to find them, to see what a brand new one measures.





The difference between a brand-new rear Rotor, and the "Minimum" Yamaha spec is .467mm (less than half a mm of wear)

I'm still on the original OEM Rotor, and right at 49,899 miles, at 4.580mm
I've been running "HH" rear pads for half of those miles.

I wouldn't say that I'm easy on the rear brakes either...........I use both front and rear equally most of the time, and I favor a bunch of rear brake sometimes when I'm in the dirt.

For those of you that are concerned with the life of the rear brake-rotor.............................Don't fret. They are good for around 50,000 miles!

 

[Boris]

Great photos, looks like a beautiful place to ride.

Rear disc….agree. Changed mine at 45k miles, although that was a little early, as I had a big trip coming up.

 

[Cycledude]

Where is the most reasonable place to buy a new rear rotor ? I have two rear wheels with rotors and according to your measurements they are both beyond shot so I will be buying some new rotors one of these days.

 

[SkunkWorks]

Where is the most reasonable place to buy a new rear rotor ? I have two rear wheels with rotors and according to your measurements they are both beyond shot so I will be buying some new rotors one of these days.

Partzilla currently shows them at $97.59 each plus whatever shipping is involved.

 

[BDanz]

What a great-looking ride! Thanks for sharing.

 

[RCinNC]

Yep, I replaced my rear rotor at 40, 956 miles. 8,737 of those miles were with EBC HH sintered pads. I truly believe that the EBCs are harder on the OEM rotor than stock pads. I'm still on the second rear rotor at about 106,000 miles, and my front rotors are the originals.

Colorado is so freaking beautiful that it's hard to believe it's a real place; it looks more like something Tolkien created. I've only ridden there once, and I sure didn't see as much of the state as I wanted, but it's number one on my list of states I want to re-visit.

 

[cyclemike4]

Yep, I replaced my rear rotor at 40, 956 miles. 8,737 of those miles were with EBC HH sintered pads. I truly believe that the EBCs are harder on the OEM rotor than stock pads. I'm still on the second rear rotor at about 106,000 miles, and my front rotors are the originals.

Colorado is so freaking beautiful that it's hard to believe it's a real place; it looks more like something Tolkien created. I've only ridden there once, and I sure didn't see as much of the state as I wanted, but it's number one on my list of states I want to re-visit.

I agree. I have only been there twice but it is a state I want to travel all over when I get there. Never enough time!

 

[RCinNC]

It's really something, isn't it? It's got a little bit of everything. The only thing that takes Colorado off the table for me as a place to live when I leave NC is the snowfall. But man, I could spend an entire summer there just exploring.

I rode through a chunk of KY last year, and it's another beautiful state. Nice people, too.

 

[RCinNC]

Where is the most reasonable place to buy a new rear rotor ? I have two rear wheels with rotors and according to your measurements they are both beyond shot so I will be buying some new rotors one of these days.

Rocky Mountain ATV is always my first stop for OEM parts at a good price.

www.rockymountainatvmc.com