Ride from El Paso to San Francisco-San Diego on a 250

On June 14 through the 20 we are planning a ride from El Paso to San Francisco then down PCH to San Deigo returning through Pheonix back to El Paso. My son and a few others are going to accompany me. The total trip is about 3200 miles. But here's the real kicker my son who is 17 and graduates this year is wanting to do it on his 05 Ninja 250. This could be interesting we will avoid freeways as much as possible. for those of you in the know we will hit highway 191 in Arizona which is twistyist road in America( the old 666) 95 miles and 495 turnsAny input would be helpful. I will up date this as I get it mapped out and we will include pics etc. as we go!

From El Paso, take 28 to Las Cruces, then 185 to Hatch. Get back on the highway and turn West on 152. Run that till it turns into 180. Turn off 180 to 78 and then on to 191. 191 is great till 260 then take that west and after you get to the Sedona area I can't recommend any good roads.

But if you follow that route you will have a blast. I did that route a few years ago on my way to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.

When you reach Malibu on PCH, jump on Mulholland Dr, taking that all the way across to Topanga Cyn and back to PCH, then Sunset all the way into Hollywood, across to the ACH (CA-2) to Wrightwood, up to Crestline and Big Bear, the loop back to the SW to the Ortega Hwy which takes you back to the beach at San Juan Capistrano. Gets you around LA while staying on some fantastic roads... two birds, one stone.

Thanks guys you have some what mirrored what I have been planning will try and get some routes etc posted in the next few days.

250cc long trip? A couple of long adventures here on twt to mexico on a Nighthawk and another on a Ninja. Then I was reading this today:

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513116

Thanks for reference on the trip advrider. Good thing my son is very small and lite! He will be riding at a severe cc disadvantage. I'm hoping that the twisty roads will actually work in his favor. The other bikes are a Svs 1000, CBR1000, Ducati 1198, Kawi Zx-10. But I promised him I would hang back with him at 80 will the other guys get all the tickets!

I've ridden my 250 on a few 500-600 mile days. It's a very capable bike at legal speeds, and is actually pretty comfortable too. The best thing about the 250 is tires last forever and it's easy to maintain.

Anyway, definitely a 15t front sprocket is a must.. not sure if he's done that or not but I finally did it when I needed a new chain, and I wish I had done it sooner. It doesn't really reduce acceleration other than 1st gear (negligible), and makes higher speed riding more comfortable.

250's are very sensitive to altitude though, so he'll feel a definite power loss if you go through any higher elevation areas. Also it gets blown around very easily, so hopefully you won't encounter any super windy days. Sounds like a really fun trip!

Someone is going to do it on an 1198.. wow... I'd be more worried about that guy than the 250 rider

Thanks for the idea for a sprocket change sounds like one more thing to put on our to do list. Thanks.

I took the ride to Flagstaff with my brother on a 650 Shadow cruiser, which is one of the slowest most underpowered bikes ever. My brother is slightly fluffy and the bike has troubles with hills. He was fine up until we got on the freeway. With the heavy spring windstorms (you will encounter these) he couldn't do 75 like the rest of us so we went 65 and were fine. The 250 should be faster and your son should be lighter than my brother, so you guys should have no troubles. Make sure you tell us about your adventure.

We had done a couple of day runs of about 400 miles each time. He is able to run about 80. We tried some hills when we went and ran to Ft. Davis. I'm going to change the front sprocket to drop the rpms. Working on posting the map and then we will send up dates as we go.

Freewaystreak said:

Thanks for reference on the trip advrider. Good thing my son is very small and lite! He will be riding at a severe cc disadvantage. I'm hoping that the twisty roads will actually work in his favor. The other bikes are a Svs 1000, CBR1000, Ducati 1198, Kawi Zx-10. But I promised him I would hang back with him at 80 will the other guys get all the tickets!

Click to expand...

I'll be the nutcase on the ZX10R, btw. Woohoo

"Burn some dust here, eat my rubber!" - Clark W. Griswold

First day's ride. 1st map posting attempt. Let's see what happens...

Ok, tried to embed a html link to google maps, but it failed.
Here's the link to the map posted below. Zoom in between "D" and "E" if you like.
The curves just keep looking better and better, the closer you zoom in.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...&sspn=6.006097,11.634521&ie=UTF8&z=7&dirflg=d