Took a little ride…

I’ve been working on getting through the break-in period on my new Tuono Factory, so I can ride her the way she’s meant to be ridden. Owner’s manual calls for not exceeding 7000 RPM for the first 600 miles, and 8500 RPM for the next 600. The area roads typically being wet, cold, and dirty this time of year, I haven’t been able to put too many miles on her since the December purchase. However, last Saturday we had a pretty decent day (temps got up to around 60), so I decided to take a longer ride in the afternoon.

Most of the really fun roads in the area are at the higher elevations, which means it’s colder and wetter. I decided to ride out toward Hell’s Canyon along the Oregon border, where there are some really fun and scenic roads. The first and last hour of the loop are a little flat and boring, but once you get there it’s pretty great! I packed along my Canon in a backpack, hoping for some good photo opportunities.

As I approached Cambridge, the snowy mountain tops in the distance were really pretty.

Not far from Cambridge, a very twisty road takes you to Brownlee Reservoir, along the Snake River at the border between Oregon and Idaho. That’s where things get really photogenic, even this time of year before things really start to green up.

 

The roads were still pretty dirty, in fact at one point while navigating the extremely tight twisties along the reservoir, my brakes were pretty ineffective due to the lack of grip, causing me to cross the double yellow line into the oncoming lane (not good!). Thankfully, the roads were pretty empty so I didn’t get plowed. I slowed down a little bit after that. 🙂

I liked the reflections in the glassy river on this one:

 

We did about 260 miles on the trip, which got me past the first threshold of the break-in, allowing me to rev her a little higher. Big difference between 7000 and 8500! The bike is remarkably comfortable on a long trip like that. You definitely feel the wind blast more than on a bike with more windscreen and fairing, but I was still quite pleased with how easy it was to ride that far. Hoping for more good weather in the coming weeks!