Phoenix

[Furiousgeorge]

I'm heading south to Phoenix in two weeks and looking for some suggestions. Guessing it's a little late in the year to do the Mtn. passes in CO. Probably going to head to Topeka then down and over to Albuquerque. Not expecting there to be tons of twisty stuff or any really. But if anyone has any suggestions or at least something cool to stop and look at to break up the ride, it would be appreciated.

George

[allonm]

George, back in April of 03 I did a week of riding 2 up with my ex wife in AZ on a BMW1150RT.
The plan was to go north of Phoenix to the Grand Canyon and across to Bryce and Zion park in UT.
Unfortunately we hit a snow storm in Flagstaff and anything north of there was covered with snow. 
(It wouldn’t have stopped if I was on a d/s solo  )
Our backup plan was to ride in the Tombstone Bisbee and Tucson area. The highlights, Coronado Trail Scenic Byway  on the south east side of the state and the climb to Kitts Peak National Observatory.
This was all on a big touring bike. I am sure there are a lot of d/s riding as well.

[Furiousgeorge]

I'll be on a SV so no dualsporting this trip. I'm doing a day ride out of Phoenix one day to Mt. something but was looking for something along the way. Trying to avoid higher elevations because of the chance of snow.

[tk]

On a business trip to Phoenix I visited a state (?) park that was no more than 1/2 hour drive from downtown Phoenix. Can't remember the name of it
but it was south or maybe southeast or southwest of phoenix. It was desert but had some slighly twisty roads. Interesting plant life and other stuff.
Worth checking out if you only have a short time to ride. It was free entrance back then (15 years ago).

[Jon]

I rode from Minneapolis to Phoenix on a sportbike two summers ago. It was a great route, not sure what you are looking for, but Utah has some great roads and AZ has some great roads too that should be ok. Colorado was the best, but this time of the year would not be desirable.

[Furiousgeorge]

Tony there's a short day ride called South Mtn. that allot of Sportbike guys do in the area. I rode some stuff to the east from Show low to Globe which was pretty good. Actually I'm told most of the roads to the east of Phoenix are pretty good. 87 to Payson, 188, 191 etc. There's chance I might go down there for work on a rare occasion and I've got bikes I can borrow, so with any luck I'll get to try them all.
The one thing I really like about ridding out west is the length of the roads, through the Mtn's It always seems like your ridding 30 to 100 miles of pretty good twistes before it will straighten out a little. No gravel in the corners. And very few crossroads. I even had people warn me twice of speed traps. Flashing headlights, this is something I almost never see in MN or WI.

Good trip, great weather the entire way.

George

[Furiousgeorge]

Jon, my preferred route is over to the blackhills then down through the bighorns then CO to AZ but I was looking to go south right away and avoid higher elevations since it was late in the year. I'm hoping to do some more riding out west next year. I took my 1st trip west to go watch the GP at Laguna the 1st year it came back, and I can't get enough of AZ, CO, UT, CA. This trip was just to drop a bike off for my sister and was a good excuse to get one more trip in before the end of the season.

George