Continental Divide Trail

Has anyone out there ridden the trail? Thoughts on taking the wr250r versus a vstrom 650. I am considering riding the trail from Coleman, AB to Yellowstone in early July and am wondering which bike would be most suitable.

Mark K.

Ummmm... i've ridden along the Divide out here in Colorado. But i don't believe that's what you're talking about, lol.

Funny you mention that. The trail does extend down through Colorado and all the way to Mexico. How did you find the ride. What bike were you riding?

Mark K.

Let's go to the map... Ahem... Who's got the map ? * chuckle *

Mark, I vote for the WR so you can post the trip report here and we can enjoy your trip with you.

...otherwise I'm not how sure it'll go over. Some don't even like my KTM avatar ! * LOL *

Let's see your list of trades.

mkearl wrote:

Funny you mention that. The trail does extend down through Colorado and all the way to Mexico. How did you find the ride. What bike were you riding?

Mark K.

I've ridden along and across the Divide on the WR and some of my current and past sportbikes. Depending where, it can be as high as 13K feet above sea level.

Here's a picture with my 'o5 GSXR 1K (Street Fightered).

Often referred to as the CDR or Continental Divide Ride, you'll find many RR's on ADV if you dig around. Might give you an idea what you're in for. It actually originated as a bicycle tour as I understand. I believe BigDog gave away his gps routing for this one.

Here's our own 10cup's rr >>> http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=499127

I don't know if the vstrom is fuel injected or not. If not, I'd suggest the WRR just for the ease of fuel management at altitude. If you want more rr links, let me know, I've got 8 or 9 saved.

I'm highly considering the ride for 2011 and the WR250R would be my bike of choice. I used to own a BMW F650GS Dakar, but the little WR is far easier offroad and there really isn't a need for the higher speeds of a 650 on gravel roads. . . 55-60 mph average is more than enough. If you do the ride on the 250, a few extra clothes, tent and bag will easily fit on the back of the WR.

I say you should be good to go and you can laugh at all of your buddies that can do hill climbs or struggle in their overloaded 650's.

Thank you for everyone's feedback. It sounds like the wr250r is the bike of choice. I am thinking the first week of July if anyone is bored and wants to join in along the way.



Mark K.

I guess one thing I will need to consider is fuel management. I wonder if I can do it without having to buy the extra large tank?

Sounds interesting. Heading South from Coleman could work. Heading North you soon (couple 100 km) end up at a National park boundary where you are threatened by life and limb not to enter by motorized vehicle.

I haven't read all the thread links here. Do you have a map or a route in mind?

As for fuel, a few 1l MSR fuel bottles can augment the WR nicely. I've also used small fuel cans strapped to the back. That's what we used at Moab since my wife's XT225 gets WAAAAY better milage then my WR and has a bigger tank too. (but my suspension rocks!)

Zed,

See below a link to the trail. Pretty cool ride from what I have been told. It goes as far south as mexico. I don't have the time to go that far but would like to take it part way.

http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/greatdivide.cfm

Mark K.

A friend and I are planning to ride the CDR next summer. We bought the WRR's specifically for that mission (and the TAT). We plan on following BigDogs South to North route. The only concern is there are a couple of sections that will require 200+ miles between fuel stops, so we are obviously going to need bigger tanks and spare fuel.

I will try to find BigDogs RR on advrider and post a link.

I know this is an old thread. I thought I would comment since I had so much fun on the CDT on my WR. I went with another rider on a Honda XR650L. We used the Cannonshot GPX tracks. The tracks make the ride very easy to follow. Most days we didn't bother bringing along any paper maps. The tracks even tell you where to take pictures.

We rode the CDT from Montana to New Mexico. The bike was a blast. It made all the "hard" parts of the CDR like Fleecer Ridge and Lava Mountain Trail just a lot of fun. We found some single track trails near Steamboat Springs Colorado. The only issue with the WR is that some times you ride pavement up mountain passes and it was hard to get the bike over 60.

Between Pinedale and Rawlins Wyoming there is a stretch of about 225 miles without gas. I took it easy and the WR got about 80 miles per gallon. I had a stock tank and added Wolfman Racks and a 1.75 gallon Rotopax. That gave me more than enough range. I did have to dip into the Rotopax for fuel a number of days. The only maintenance was one chain adjustment over 2800 miles.

I would highly recommend the ride. We rode for 12 days and made it as far south as Los Alamos. I would liked to have ridden to Mexico but ran out of vacation time.