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Ride Report: Vancouver to Hope to Princeton to Merrit to Spences bridge and back

5K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  bacchus40 
#1 ·
Yesterday a group of very talented riders started our first big BC ride for the season. Sorry no pics, but a simple report:

Hope to Princeton on Hwy 3:

The road has a few slight rough spots, however, the pavement from last year is still in extremely good condition following this winter. Roads were clean of silt and debris. There was some laser enforcement just past the hope slide area, but after that, it was cold to Allison Pass. From there it warmed up a bit and from Sunday Pass to Princeton was almost perfect! No traffic, just glorious warm nice roads.

Princeton to Merrit on HWY 5a:
Again, the roads were in great condition with only a few small bumps in corners that have been there for years. very little rocks and debris on the road surface. Flooding in the area seems to have no affected the highway at all, except that there was little traffic at all. The lakes seemed a bit high, but otherwise, just a great little road with great curves on the way to Merritt. It's a short route, but always surprising at how much fun and pretty this stretch of road can be. As you get near the Aspen Grove junction of 5a to 97c, there is a LOT of loose gravel from the efforts of the highway crews to keep the ice down over the winter. Approach the junction with caution, and you'll be okay. It's always a bit dicey to cross here on the way south to Merritt.

Merritt to Spences Bridge on HWY 8:
As we left Merritt to spences bridge on HWY 8, we were diverted with detours through Merritt due to flooding. The amount of devastation through the lower Nicola valley from the river is pretty apparent. It was strange to see this river so damn high. Luckily there was only a small section of almost washed out road near the reservation that did stop traffic for a bit. About 12km from Spences bridge, there was a few mountain goats on the road and the river was just a foot or two from actually hitting the highway as well! This is a beautiful curvy road through desert like conditions. Very warm, and the road surface is good, albeit a little rough in some spots, but nothing terrible. You can still maintain good corner speed though the twisties if you pick the right line.

Spences Bridge back to Hope on HWY 1:

This is a fairly large highway with a few nice high speed sweepers. Traffic was very light and while there was some enforcement in action, mostly with rolling radar in cars, the lack of traffic made this part quite enjoyable. There were a few areas of the Thompson river that got more than a few looks as it's running extremely high.

HWY 1 from hope back to Van:

Damn abby tulip festival! Traffic and more traffic made this last leg a little less enjoyable, but overall a great day! 650KM of some of the best local roads that we often ignore.

On this ride, my group has gotten rid of our old Sena communicators in favor of Cardo Packtalks. The Sena comms cannot even hold a candle to the Cardo units! We got great range, great clarity of communications, no popcorn sounds, and a self-healing mesh of riders. The cardo is a great upgrade over the Sena units!
 
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#6 ·
I heard about the floodin' near Spences bridge..

we were out n' about to Princeton this past weekend, came home early no wanting to stretch the day out to Merritt.

thanks for sharing! :coffee

so damn glad we did not do this!! last leg of the trip would have driven me nutts!.. I was home n' having a beer at 3:45 pm... :laughing
 
#9 ·
That's a very tough question! The Escort Redline is still almost top in range of detection, but is now old enough to be really bothered by anti-collision systems in most cars these days. The Escort X50 is still the best value detector, but also is prone to the same problems as the Redline. The GPS models that are newer really only offer a DB of fixed camera locations, etc, so not worth it for bikes. The new Uniden R1 & R3 units are up n' coming as being VERY good units, but we don't have one in our group. All reports on those detectors are outstanding though.

I have a V1. Valentine designed the product back in 1992, and because these units are factory updatable, they still provide a great value. The newer "ESP" technology in them means that they can be programmed by the end user for custom sweeps using an optional bluetooth module and an App on a modern smartphone. I use mine this way: I know what radar is being used by enforcement based on reports of the areas off other forums. I in turn create these "custom sweeps" in the main app and because the detector doesn't need to sweep for outdated methods, it increases the range and speed of detecting. I almost have the range of the redline! What is even better, my bluetooth module fits under my motorcycle seat and I use an app from the google play store (Android only!) that keeps running the background on my phone. This app reads the detector in real-time and announces the hit over my bluetooth streaming helmet unit, in this case a Cardo Packtalk. So I get to chat, listen to music, and have radar sounds in my helmet, so I don't need to keep watching the detector. It was spendy, but works very well. I even have voice announcements! "KA 33.7 band detected" and stuff like that. Because I bought it recently, it was also programmed from the factory to ignore quite a few of the car collision systems out there, so that's also a bonus and doesn't require me to get rid of K-Band, which is still in use in some areas. It detects laser from a VERY far distance, providing that there was "Splashover" from a previous vehicle ahead. Otherwise, Laser just alerts you that you've been caught. All in all, I'm happy with that purchase and it's saved the group more than a few times, so it's paid for itself already.

The other bonus of the V1 is that it indicates direction of the hit. Either forward, side or rear. The directional aspect is very nice to have.
 
#14 ·
this is what i'm reading.. I wish I could find a proper report on the REDLINE EX though as one dude on
the forum mentioned he felt range had gone down on the upgrade.

being that I ride out on the open road all the time I can see the collision avoidance systems a pita, as
cagers are clearly half asleep out there :coffee
 
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