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 The San Francisco Bay Area has some of the best motorcycle riding in the country. Hundreds of miles of twisting mountain and coastal roads within minutes of the cities, pretty much perfect weather year-round, and legal lane splitting? Combined with the usually insane traffic in the urban areas, it's no surprise that there are a ton of motorcyclists in the Bay Area. And with that large population comes a lot of really cool stuff! Lots of good motorcycle shops and stores, a generally friendly attitude to riders in the area (if cars notice you splitting, many will move over to give you room) and the occasional awesome rare bike on the road. Yeah, there are a lot of guys wearing vintage helmets on barely-broken-in Ducatis, and middle-aged tech managers on Ewan McGregor Specials. But for every ten of those, you'll spot something weird and wonderful like the old couple riding down to Half Moon Bay on matching GB500s, or the guy in a Dainese one-piece suit carving up the Great Highway on a Zuma 125. There have been a few Bay Area threads before, but right now they've all fallen into the archives. Here's the ultima edizione. Please post pictures of your favorite cup of cold-brew coffee on your favorite model of Ducati and/or the current state of your CB350 cafe racer project -- I know you've got them. Videos (many shamelessly stolen from previous threads) A decent showing of some roads in the area, complete with socked-in Golden Gate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaRVAfbD_6k Note young techie motorcycle of choice: Ducati Monster with upside-down mirrors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1dciknKdmg One of the great rides on the peninsula, down through the Big Basin redwoods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EISRoiRBITw Another one of my personal favorites for a weekend blast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjaTJoAYrNY A little slower and more hidden, but beautiful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL-xnX1l7FY Oh, I guess this kind of stuff happens too https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69jRcK-XVLE and how could we forget https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qbzrTn2g0c Nice Rides (please describe your favorite rides and I'll add them to the OP) Obviously, this is only a small fraction of the awesome roads out here. No matter where you are in the Bay Area, you'll probably have half a dozen smooth, winding roads within a half hour's ride. If you're willing to go a little further out -- say, up past Napa or down south towards Monterey, or as far west as the Sierra Nevada -- the list is endless. These are some of my personal favorites. Keep in mind that every beautiful twisty road out here is likely to include at least one of the three major Bay Area hazards: (1) sand and gravel patches, (2) packs of road cyclists, or (3) terrified/gawking tourists driving 5 miles per hour. Ride your own ride, don't outride your sight lines, and when you do pass cyclists or cars, do it graciously and safely.  Hwy 9 through the Big Basin Redwoods mapBeautiful scenery, not usually that much traffic, good road that you can ride smoothly. There's an alternate route around here on Hwy 236, which goes through the park itself; this is much tighter and very dramatic, but some of the turns will slow you to a crawl, and there's a high chance of finding a snail-mode tourist van with no passing possible for several minutes. At certain times of the year there's also likely to be water/sand/branches/boulders on the road. So caveat emptor. Skyline Blvd/Hwy 35 area mapA smooth, beautiful and popular ride -- and includes one of the several "Skyline Boulevards" in the Bay Area. My particular favorite loop starts off Hwy 92 between San Mateo and Half Moon Bay. At the top of the crest in 92, turn south and ride for 13 miles until the junction with Hwy 84 at Alice's Restaurant. This intersection is always popular with motorcyclists and car enthusiasts, so every weekend you can find all kinds of neat stuff parked out front while people eat (good food, too. Get the Le Mans burger). From Alice's, turn west towards San Gregorio to get back towards the ocean. Reach a T-junction and head north on Highway 1 for a few miles (passing one of the best vistas in the area) until Tunitas Creek road. Take this winding 2/1-lane road up through some beautiful stately redwood groves until you get back on Skyline heading north. Alternately, once you reach Alice's, you can head south towards highway 9 as described above, or go east for a quick trip back into the city and the highways. Beware: on weekends, Hwy 92 leading up to the start of this ride is packed with beachgoers trying to get to Half Moon Bay from the valley cities. Look out for patches of running water on the road in the spring, especially near the upper part of Tunitas Creek. Mt. Hamilton through Mines Rd. mapOne of my personal favorite rides. Start in San Jose on Alum Rock Avenue and ride the Mt. Hamilton road on 20-30 miles of gorgeous twisty climb through ranchland up to the top of the mountain. Hang out at the observatory at the top and look all the way down to the north end of the bay. When you're done, head down the back side of the mountain and continue through totally different looking terrain (much drier and scrubbier) until you hit the San Antonio Valley. Cruise up Mines Road into Livermore for a total of about 65 miles of rising and falling two-lane twisties. Hazards include gravel and sand on the roads, road cyclists (especially on weekends) on the way up the mountain, and the occasional cow, so ride easy and enjoy the view. There's a small cafe/pit stop called The Junction about halfway through where you can get food (e: currently closed for renovations) but there's no gas for the entire ride, so fill up before you leave. San Pablo Loop mapA pretty ride with a mix of scenery that puts you back where you started at the end. Get up to the top of Grizzly Peak (a great view in itself) and find Tilden Regional Park. Take Wildcat Canyon, Bear Creek, Alhambra Valley and the San Pablo Dam road in a big loop around the San Pablo Reservoir. Lots of ranchland and cows, good quality road surfaces, not a whole lot of cars, but plenty of cyclists. You can turn east instead of west on Alhambra Valley and end up near Walnut Creek after some more nice lowland stuff. This area leads to a ton of other options; for instance, hook down south on Grizzly Peak afterwards to get to the next ride. Grizzly Peak to Hayward mapAwesome chain of roads that get you from Berkeley to Hayward and back without ever seeing more than two lanes. One section of this is another Bay Area "Skyline Boulevard." The surfaces here are excellent and I've found you can usually keep up a good pace, with lots of open sightlines and well-planned curves. There are usually a lot of motorcyclists out and about on weekends, but I've also run into a surprising number of slow-moving cars full of gawkers. You can get to some segment of this chain from basically anywhere along I-580. Muir Woods / Stinson Beach / Mt. Tam mapA great ride that's not too long, but with so many things to stop and do along the way that you can easily make a day of it. Cross the Golden Gate Bridge and get off at the Mill Valley exit, then follow the signs down the winding roads towards Muir Woods. Check out the big trees if you like. The Pelican Inn just down the road is an English pub and guesthouse where you can grab fish and chips and a Ridgecrest to Fairfax mapThis is one of my other absolute favorite roads in the area, but the caveat is that it may or may not be closed halfway through, and I haven't figured out the schedule or logic for it yet. Go up Mt. Tam and instead of going to the peak, head west along Ridgecrest for one of the cleanest, smoothest roads with the best view in the whole area. Eventually you'll come into the forest and there will be a fork, and maybe a gate shutting it off. If the gate is open, head east down a rather nasty bumpy road for a few minutes until you hit the bottom, and then ride along a pristine alpine lake on more smooth, totally empty roads all the way into Fairfax. If you're up for more, take Sir Francis Drake north towards Point Reyes, Bodega Bay, and the Russian River. A+ would ride again any time the way is clear.  Skaggs Springs Road / Stewarts Point to Geyserville. mapZ3n: Golden Gate -> 1N to Stewart's Point, right on Skaggs Springs to Healdsburg then hop on the 101S to River Road/Highway 116, which hits 1 again, take 1S to the Panoramic Highway for variety, and then back to home. Note that Skaggs Springs is every type of road in one road. NeuralSpark: Fill up in Stewarts Point, 'cause it's 43 miles of nothing but scenery and no cell service. I was contemplating spending the night camped out underneath the Shadow in this picture until a kindly farmer siphoned the gas out of his lawn mower and gave it to me. Route 20 thru Jackson State Forest mapM42: one of the more sublime roads I've ridden up there. Usually completely empty, perfect pavement, just smooth as gently caress. Gawd drat I miss CA. Drive-thru tree mapSeamusMcPhisticuffs: Another great ride is to go all the way up 101 to Legget and the Drive-Thru Tree, then down Highway 1 to Fort Bragg/ Navarro to 128 back down to 101. Local Wildlife: where are you and what do you ride? (will update continuously) Sagebrush is in San Francisco and rides an '88 Hawk GT and a '71 CL350. pokie is in Santa Clara and rides a '14 Kawasaki Ninja 300. cursedshitbox is currently in Concord and rides a old heavily modified DRZ. NeuralSpark is in San Francisco and Cupertino, and rides a Ducati Monster 796 (no inverted mirrors) and a BMW R1200RT. SeamusMcPhisticuffs is in Ukiah and rides an F800GS. Z3n is in the East Bay and rides an S1000XR Sagebrush fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Apr 5, 2016 |
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Apr 1, 2016 07:48
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clutchpuck posted:My wife and I are going to be in SF later this month for a weekend. Will be car-less. Dubbelju is the place I hear talked about the most. I've never rented a motorcycle, but I've ridden by their place many times and they seem like an upright outfit. Depending on your budget and preference you can rent anything from a Sportster to a KTM 1190. I was down at Alice's once and ran into a German tourist who'd rented a Harley. Chatted to him for a while. "Ah yes, the Harley-Davidson! Yes, you see, I had wanted to rent something much more, sporting? Much faster? Like the Ducati or the Suzuki. But they had no more! So I got the Harley-Davidson and it is...very bad. It is so heavy! And then you lean (imitates leaning motion) the foot, BOXES, the foot boxes (makes *kssshhshshskskk* sound) do you know? Ah, it is very comfortable though. But not a sports bike." Speaking of which, I rode down to Alice's today (did the #2 loop I posted in the OP). Great ride and scenery, as usual; colder than expected up top, as usual (I should really get used to this); got stuck behind a car doing literally 15mph on the 40mph Hwy 92 on the way in, as usual.
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Apr 2, 2016 06:31
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Surprisingly no! This time it was a 20-year-old beat to poo poo Corolla . The driver even stopped for a green arrow at the bottom of the hill to yield for other cars, who had a red. Some people just really shouldn't be on the road.
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Apr 2, 2016 21:03
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NeuralSpark posted:Took tomorrow off to head north up 1, and wander around on the BMW. Going to attempt to make Fort Bragg but will probably call it somewhere around Point Arena. Take pictures and post a report!
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Apr 5, 2016 22:36
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I've gotten the helmet-tapping signal a number of times and also used it myself on occasion. I didn't always find a cop down the road every time someone signaled it, but I think that's the commonly accepted meaning. The other one I use a lot is pointing down at the road surface as I pass someone to warn them about a hazard ahead (gravel, pothole, branch, etc). ElMaligno posted:East Bay Definitely camp! All the time! Not only is it way more badass, but even in high season it's like $5-10 a night for a groomed campsite with potable water and an outhouse somewhere, or $20 for a place with showers and electricity and toilets and a general store. But if you want to stay in Yosemite, you need to register your campsite now -- if any are even still available. They fill up almost as soon as the registration opens. Luckily there are a bunch of state and national campsites not far from either entrance to the park, and the park pass is good for 7 days after you buy it, so you can spend a couple of days there if you like. I use recreation.gov for most camp sites...I think Yosemite has its own system.
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Apr 7, 2016 02:47
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Mark Twain: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." It drives me insane. I wake up here in the city and it's like living in a cloud. Misty, cold and overcast 24 hours a day in the summer. Yesterday I rode down to San Jose, and as soon as you hit Stanford it's suddenly hot and sunny again. Rode back up around midnight and the whole south bay was pleasantly warm, then again blam, reach the Crystal Springs reservoir and it's cold and clammy fog and mist all the way home. Blech. I tend to stay on the inside of the bay late at night if possible (i.e. take the 101 rather than 280) because it's so much warmer on the east side of the mountains.
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Jul 31, 2016 17:33
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Skywood gets super pissy about people parking there and going to Alice's. They've had signs up all over the place about it for years...now I guess they're going to start calling the cops. Their loss.
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Aug 6, 2016 18:59
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Eh, horns are easy to wire up. Honestly all you need is 12v straight from the battery, through a button, through the horn, back to ground. Unless the wiring harness is seriously destroyed I bet you can splice some new wires into whatever's left.
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Aug 7, 2016 18:40
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Soooo "collision causing factors" means "any motorcyclists riding slightly aggressively" I assume. It'd be nice if they would also pull over cars who cross the double yellow and cyclists who weave in the lane without checking their blind spots.
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Aug 20, 2016 00:27
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Well 35 between Half Moon Bay and Alice's was a total shitshow today. It was overcast but warm enough in the city, so I decided to do a test ride down the peninsula after doing some work on the bike. There's apparently some kind of art show up on top of the mountain, though, so basically the entire length of 35 was packed with cars parked on the shoulders, people wrapped up in blankets randomly wandering across the road, and Priuses suddenly slamming to a a stop because Is That A Space? I Think I Saw A Space! Plus, while it wasn't exactly raining, the coastal mist coming over the ridge was so dense up top that anything facing forwards gets soaked regardless. Blech Bike runs great though.
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Sep 3, 2016 23:37
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I'm open to a group ride if everyone's cool with the whole "ride your own ride" thing and is mature. No one pushing people, outriding sight-lines, etc. I wouldn't expect that to be much of a problem with this forum, but eh, you know. Had a couple of lovely experiences before. Racing is best left to the track, and group rides should be about enjoying a cool change of scenery in a spirited manner IMO. I have weekends and Fridays available for the most part
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Nov 15, 2016 08:04
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Yeah, I was up there the day before yesterday and the guy putting up the barriers said there was a sinkhole and multiple trees down across the road.
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Jan 14, 2017 04:13
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stop leaving ladders in the road  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk_CXpHDga4
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Mar 13, 2017 03:40
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One-stop shop? One of the bigger Cycle Gears (the one in SF is much bigger than Redwood City and has a good selection, never been to the SJ one) or the Dainese D-Store in the city. Obviously the D-store only carries Dainese stuff, and I think AGV helmets, but they have nearly everything they make in every size. $$$ though. SF Moto on 8th street has a wide range of helmets in stock but not that much other gear.
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Mar 21, 2017 02:30
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Couple videos from Mines Rd today. The bike ahead of me is Pokie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EBys2YMKcg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOxJDkWld4o
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Mar 26, 2017 03:17
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You really can't put a price on a helmet. Try them all on, get the one that feels best. Spending a couple hundred bucks extra on the one thing that'll save your life in a crash is a real no-brainer (ha).
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Mar 28, 2017 00:04
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dema posted:Was hopping today. ha, I think that's the exact same pulloff that pokie/tactical lesbian/chichevache/cursedshitbox/myself stopped at for pictures a month or so ago.
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May 1, 2017 07:29
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Capn Jobe posted:Been taking the Vulcan S around Redwood City, and to work (also in RWC) a few days this week. Definitely improving every time I take it out, but am still not as confident as I would like to be. Pokie's 92 -> 35 -> Alice's -> 84 -> 1 -> 92 loop is the classic peninsula ride. The best section of that road, IMO, is 84 to San Gregorio. When you're confident going a little further, continue south on 35 instead of turning at 84, and you'll end up in the Big Basin Redwoods and stuff down towards Santa Cruz. Lots of good roads down there too. Once you get confident with the freeways, hit up the SF Bay Area thread for recommendations and group rides and stuff. Also join the layer-dan Slack chat. There's at least half a dozen people around here who are usually up for something, and there's a stunning amount of gorgeous rides within a ~100 mile radius of the area.
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Oct 21, 2017 03:53
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Oh, yeah, that bit blows. Really tight and full of potholes and usually slippery pine needles everywhere too. It might be fun to ride in the uphill direction on a dirt bike with a closed course. Luckily that's only about 10 minutes of the ride and I think the rest of it makes up for it. I really like riding across the dam at the bottom.
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Jan 6, 2018 23:00
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How long of a ride and how twisty? If you want to stay in the East Bay, go to Livermore and take Mines Rd. south until The Junction (notable roadside restaurant/bar in the middle of nowhere), then continue on 130 south / San Antonio Valley Rd. up the back side of Mt. Hamilton and back down into San Jose. About 80 miles and just gorgeous the whole way. If you want to cross the bridges, then the classic easy one is San Mateo bridge to 92, up to the top of the ridge, 35 south to Alice's. Then from there you either take 84 W to San Gregorio and ride along the ocean towards Pescadero, or continue 35 S to the Big Basin redwoods. Then there are a variety of different paths you can take to Santa Cruz. Also about 80 miles give or take.
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Mar 10, 2018 19:54
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Just keep in mind that if it's getting late in the day (after 4:30 PM or so), the marine layer will be coming in on the coast, and the ride up 1 will be rapidly getting foggy and cold. I would aim to stay on the bay side of the peninsula if the sun starting to go down by the time you're heading back.
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Mar 11, 2018 08:48
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okay, sure. i'm in the city itself so i can go wherever
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Jul 18, 2018 20:26
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Where's the BBQ from? Looks awesome. Also is the glory hole still wet? 
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Mar 17, 2019 03:51
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Twisty two-lane country roads are your friend. Highways are your boring acquaintance at work who annoys you sometimes but is mostly harmless. City streets are the meth addict who bangs on your door at 11 p.m. to angrily yell at you because someone told them you insulted their mother
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Aug 4, 2019 16:21
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| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 07:06 |
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Greg12 posted:livermore to mt hamilton in less than 15 minutes holy gently caress It's not the entire ride -- the video is a bunch of clips stuck together. Riding the entire length of Mines Rd in 15 minutes would mean he averaged a little under 200mph. I don't see any particularly dangerous maneuvers in the bits that he posted. Agreed that you gotta watch out on that road, though; even on the weekdays many times I've come around a blind corner to find a brodozer or horse trailer or UPS truck barreling towards me well over the line. Also boulders and deer and turkeys and sand patches. It's a pretty ride but not one to push too hard on. Also yeah get a full face helmet
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Jan 16, 2021 21:48
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