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I got my Talon shortly after moving to Utah after I learned they could be licensed and driven on the street pretty much anywhere I wanted to go, and the offroad sticker was usually enough in most rural areas such as mine. With literally hundreds of miles of trails just in my county alone, I knew I would be able to enjoy my pricey new toy often, instead of going through the hassle of trailering it to some random spot just for a weekend ride, then storing it for months until the next chance to camp and ride came along. Besides the trails through national forest and BLM land, the hops to the grocery store or post office make the Talon useful as well as ornamental.
Fast forward to this past 4th of July weekend, I had a nice ride planned out exploring the geology of the Markagunt plateau and the various stream tributaries eroding away from Cedar Breaks that eventually join the Virgin River and continue to carve out Zion Canyon. Either that or just a good excuse to blast along some new trails around southern Utah. Near sunset, I deviated from my planned route to dash up to the top of 11k+ft Brian Head peak in order to catch the full moon rising along with a colorful sunset enhanced by CA wildfire smoke. While up there, I bumped into some weekend tourists riding SxSs together. They were a couple in a non-memorable belt driven unit, and a solo guy in a new Yamaha YXZ. I was mildly interested in the YXZ since it was the only other option with an actual transmission when I was shopping. We chatted a bit, they asked for some local advice on trails to explore, and I mentioned I was about 90 miles into a 120ish mile trip. This revelation totally flabbergasted them; the concept of a SxS riding solo that far with no support team or chase vehicle on standby was apparently entirely foreign to their belt driven life. That part of our conversation ended with the YXZ dude saying :”Honda reliability, I guess.”
Rides like the one above are common for me. A couple times a week I’ll hop in my Talon and go explore. Short trips are 50ish miles long, longer ones extend to 120-130 miles, and lately these are usually at night since it’s cooler at 10k feet than at home. My main limit on trip length is how long do I want my dogs left home alone. That Honda reliability quote popped back into my head the other evening when I was out in the middle of the Escalante Desert, after dark, and roughly 30 miles from the nearest known outpost of civilization. The GPS said I was on a trail, but the only signs I had to follow were wild horse hoof prints and piles of horse crap. Actual tire tracks were rare as I slalomed between the juniper and pinyon trees in a pitch black no-name canyon. I made my way out of the canyon and eventually found signs of man again, unfortunately those signs were where all the local pig farms were tucked safely away from towns and people. Since I was now on a network of graded gravel roads, I was able to leave the swine stench behind with a quickness and dive back onto the desert trails that led home.
So, I have to wonder, am I nuts to depend on “Honda reliability?” I know that riding alone has increased risks, I’ve taken steps to mitigate those risks by carrying gas, water, recovery equipment, two independent GPS systems, and a first aid kit. Since I am often well beyond cell tower range, I am working towards adding HAM radio and learning how to use that, too. I ride (usually) established trails, but I do hustle along, averaging about 25 - 30 MPH for many trips. I don’t often need 4WD or low gear, instead, throttle and momentum get me through most trail challenges I come across.
On a side note, I’ve not needed the gas yet. My farthest run to date is 136 miles, with 6.0 gallons added for ~22.5MPG. Those are the raw, uncorrected for 30” tires figures. In theory I went about 7% farther on the larger tires, which bumps the MPG to about 25. (In reality, the 7% theory seems closer to 3% at the sidewall squish zone.)
Fast forward to this past 4th of July weekend, I had a nice ride planned out exploring the geology of the Markagunt plateau and the various stream tributaries eroding away from Cedar Breaks that eventually join the Virgin River and continue to carve out Zion Canyon. Either that or just a good excuse to blast along some new trails around southern Utah. Near sunset, I deviated from my planned route to dash up to the top of 11k+ft Brian Head peak in order to catch the full moon rising along with a colorful sunset enhanced by CA wildfire smoke. While up there, I bumped into some weekend tourists riding SxSs together. They were a couple in a non-memorable belt driven unit, and a solo guy in a new Yamaha YXZ. I was mildly interested in the YXZ since it was the only other option with an actual transmission when I was shopping. We chatted a bit, they asked for some local advice on trails to explore, and I mentioned I was about 90 miles into a 120ish mile trip. This revelation totally flabbergasted them; the concept of a SxS riding solo that far with no support team or chase vehicle on standby was apparently entirely foreign to their belt driven life. That part of our conversation ended with the YXZ dude saying :”Honda reliability, I guess.”
Rides like the one above are common for me. A couple times a week I’ll hop in my Talon and go explore. Short trips are 50ish miles long, longer ones extend to 120-130 miles, and lately these are usually at night since it’s cooler at 10k feet than at home. My main limit on trip length is how long do I want my dogs left home alone. That Honda reliability quote popped back into my head the other evening when I was out in the middle of the Escalante Desert, after dark, and roughly 30 miles from the nearest known outpost of civilization. The GPS said I was on a trail, but the only signs I had to follow were wild horse hoof prints and piles of horse crap. Actual tire tracks were rare as I slalomed between the juniper and pinyon trees in a pitch black no-name canyon. I made my way out of the canyon and eventually found signs of man again, unfortunately those signs were where all the local pig farms were tucked safely away from towns and people. Since I was now on a network of graded gravel roads, I was able to leave the swine stench behind with a quickness and dive back onto the desert trails that led home.
So, I have to wonder, am I nuts to depend on “Honda reliability?” I know that riding alone has increased risks, I’ve taken steps to mitigate those risks by carrying gas, water, recovery equipment, two independent GPS systems, and a first aid kit. Since I am often well beyond cell tower range, I am working towards adding HAM radio and learning how to use that, too. I ride (usually) established trails, but I do hustle along, averaging about 25 - 30 MPH for many trips. I don’t often need 4WD or low gear, instead, throttle and momentum get me through most trail challenges I come across.
On a side note, I’ve not needed the gas yet. My farthest run to date is 136 miles, with 6.0 gallons added for ~22.5MPG. Those are the raw, uncorrected for 30” tires figures. In theory I went about 7% farther on the larger tires, which bumps the MPG to about 25. (In reality, the 7% theory seems closer to 3% at the sidewall squish zone.)
