TheScooterScoop

(One of these things is not like the other. Come on, can you tell which one? Click on the image to make it bigger… it helps.)

Meet Marty, a mild-mannered, 2-wheel enthusiast who co-owns Go Moto, a scooter shop in Minnesota (title link). In February Marty normally likes to get out of the cold for some nice riding down in Mexico… but, he doesn’t do a leisurely scooter ride in Cancun. No, Marty likes to ride his dual sport motorcycle through the treacheries of Tarahumara.

This year he figured he’d throw himself a curve ball. Marty left behind his desert-ready duel sport and hopped on his Diamo Torino 150. Is he nuts? Um, yes… he is. But, that didn’t prevent him from surviving enjoying the ordeal adventure. Let’s look a a couple of pages from his riders diary [my comments will be in square brackets, like this]:

SCOOTER vs SIERRA TARAHUMARA

It was a sunny day in early February, around 70 degrees, as I got ready to enter Mexico for my dual sport trip through Copper Canyon, to the Sea of Cortez, riding, are you ready for this? A scooter [friggin' sweet!]. After an hour of easy paper work I started across the desert on a new Diamo 150 Torino, a 150cc liquid cooled scooter manufactured by CF Moto in China [Diamo is distributed by LS Motorsports who also distributes Italjet, who is my employer... so I hope this goes well]. I added an electrical outlet to run accessories, different weights in the variator, and trimmed some body work to make gearing changes easier. Otherwise everything is stock.

I crossed a couple of small mountain passes, then went through straight desert for 150 miles to Chihuahua City [which has got to be scary by itself. I used to make a yearly caving pilgrimage to Bustamante and the crappy roads + trucks = near death experience]. The weather remained nice all day and the bike ran great, 65mph on the down hills 45mph on the up hills. I got a hotel room mid afternoon not far from the city center and decided to go sightseeing. In the evening I found a bar full of New York Giants fans watching the Super Bowl. Happy Happy Giants fans. [What? A bar full of NY Giants fans... in Mexico? Totally twilight zone.]

Monday morning, the sun was out and the winds were calm. Yep, looks like another great day to ride. I went west out of town on hwy 16, a four lane freeway for 30 miles then headed northwest on the free road towards Cuauhtemoc. The wind was picking up and at this altitude, about 5500 feet I was in the low 50 MPH range. Still a nice day, and I was in no hurry. By the time I got to Cuauhtemoc it was a 40 mph wind and I was riding along at maybe 40 mph [does that sorta cancel things out? Like you were throttling to just stand still? Curious]. I found a wall to block the wind and changed the variator settings hoping to increase my speed, however it didn’t seem to make much difference.

It was another 40 miles south to Carichic, where I left the pavement for 45 miles of dirt road fun! Being in the forest, the wind was not so much of a problem. On these roads on a scooter, 10 to 30 mph proved to be the normal speed. The dirt roads in this area vary from bad gravel roads to ATV like trails. Easy on a dirt bike, not so easy on a scooter with a couple inches of suspension travel. The Torino has good forks but like most scooters, pretend rear shocks.

I headed to Bocoyna, and south to Creel, totaling about 175 miles for the day. The hardware for the trunk mount wasn’t up to the pounding from the rough roads. I dealt with that the next day. I got a hotel and called it a day.

Tuesday I woke to snow, blowing snow, and temps in the low 20s. [so much for getting out of cold Minnesota, eh?]

I found a shop to install some self tapping screws between the trunk mount and the aluminum luggage rack. I didn’t experience any more problems with this for the rest of the trip. The weather was still cold so I decided to spend another day in Creel.

Wednesday morning the weather looked better. I headed south around 10 am, a little ice and frost still in the shadows but it wasn’t a problem. The road south of Creel is a great cycle road. Good pavement, light traffic, and never ending curves. Throw in amazing mountain scenery for a great way to start the day. 60 miles later and it was time to play on another dirt road! I went about 15 miles along a ridge before I came to Batopilas canyon. The road drops sharply, about 5000 feet in ONLY 12 miles!

Here is the view from this spot over the edge (and yes, my trusty Dual Scoot brought me there!): [wholly guacamole! Glad I'm not afraid of heights. It's still breathtaking.]

The street tires slipped around a bit in the sand and large loose rocks, but I was able to not pitch it over a cliff. At La Bufa I stopped where some teens were working on there decrepit old truck. The oldest asked if I have any gas so I gave them my extra gallon. [what a good sport! Bravo Marty!] He poured it into the gas tank which was on the ground a few feet behind the truck. I said “Adios” and got to Batopilas after another 15 miles along the lower edges of the canyon. The Torino was doing everything asked of it without complaint. [ok, I'm feeling pretty good about this now.]

Batopilas is a small remote town of about 2000 people at the bottom of the canyon. While they are having winter in Creel, Batopilas is always having summer. For hundreds of years this was a silver mining town, the mines are mostly closed now. Evidence of another enterprise greets me as I entered town – a bullet riddled suburban and house front on the main street. Seems two nights ago there was a shoot out. The stories vary but I think it was the Federalies and the exporters. [is it too late to turn around now? I'm a bit of a bulletophobic.]

I spent another day here being a tourist and eating great Mexican food.
Friday I headed down the canyon early, over mountains and through canyons. I stopped in the small town of Rodeo and got something to eat at the store. At most, a hundred people live here. 75 miles of mountain trail to the nearest paved road – makes this little village very remote. Rarely do the people of this town hear a motor vehicle so when I showed up the whole town seemed to stop and take notice. They came out of their homes and businesses. The children and teacher ran out of the school to see the big event of a visitor. Most of the children were quite shy and hid behind someone or something.

After another hour and a half down the road I reached my biggest obstacle, the Urique river. It’s only knee deep, 100 feet across, and not moving real fast, so with help I could get across. I carried my luggage across. I would need to plug the intake and exhaust, and I would need help pushing it across the river because many of the rocks on the river bottom are as big as your head. Just as I was getting ready to plug the intake/exhaust a four wheel drive pickup came down the hill. This was the first moving vehicle I had seen since leaving Batopilas 40 miles and 4 hours ago. 50 pesos later I was across the river loading my gear back on the Torino. [whew, looks like your good joss is paying off].

The next 5 miles into the town of Tubares were the worst miles of the trip with many step rocky rutted grades. [ugh-lee!]

[wow! pretty!]

Refreshments in Tubares:

I continued down a rough gravel road for around 70 miles to the city of Choix where I got back on the pavement.

On the way to Choix:

After an easy 25 miles down the pavement I got to the city of El Fuerte where I got a room at the motel Guerrero. The people at this hotel are very accommodating. They allowed me work on my bike in the courtyard so I changed the oil and changed the transmission back to highway specs in the courtyard of the motel. Then it was time for some of the best tacos in Mexico: at a street corner taco stand. [seriously, Marty is telling the truth. I've not been disappointed by street corner tacos in Mexico.]

Saturday morning I rode two hours to Topolobampo on the sea of Cortez to reach my furthest destination. I don’t know if it’s true, but for now I will claim to be the first to ride through Copper Canyon to the coast on a scooter. [you rock Marty! Very impressive!]

The Torino seemed to be happy about this also and didn’t miss a beat. It was getting 85mpg on the paved roads and 65 on the dirt roads. The 1.8 gallon tank gives reasonable range considering the excellent fuel economy. I decided to stay in El Fuerte for another night. The owner caught some bass that day, and fixed great fish dinners for the hotel guests. Lots of fresh Bass and rice made for the best dinner of the trip.

Sunday I went north on hwy 15 for 150 miles to Ciudad Obregon. I wasn’t sure if there would be hotels in the mountains so I stopped here for the night. Highway 15 runs parallel to the coast, 10 to 30 miles inland – not much to see through here just a travel day, but Its Sunny and 80 degrees.

I got up early on Monday knowing I had a 350 mile ride through the mountains to Cuauhtemoc. North from Obregon I turned right in Esperanza. The two lane road had a different highway number than any of the three maps I had. I couldn’t find any other roads so I took this one, hoping it would get me to my destination. I traveled 100 miles through the lower mountains to the town of San Nicholas where I was searched at an army checkpoint. This is normal in Mexico and isn’t a problem for travelers. I turned right on Hwy 16 and started to climb the mountains. Soon there was snow beside the road, but luckily this didn’t pose any problems. Just before Yecora I stopped for breakfast at a small place in the country. They served eggs, ham, a pot full of steaming beans, and a bowl of light cheese. It all appeared to be local, never having touched packaging, and giving off the aroma of a barnyard. It was worth the trip just for this meal.

I got back on the road and in the 350 miles I rode that day, it felt like I was in a 35 mph corner for 200 miles. It was a long day, but of some of the best riding of the trip. Good pavement, light traffic and tall mountains. I arrived in Cuauhtemoc just before dark and searched out a bargain hotel.

I got up the next day and knowing I was only going to Chihuahua I decided to take a longer route north through the Mennonite communities. They don’t have regular names – only numbers like Campo 20 or Campo 70.

At Campo 72 I was a little cold so I stopped at a road side café to get warm. Inside I was surprised by a staff that speaks far better English than many areas of Minneapolis, even though they say they were born here. The women wore typical Mennonite long pale print dresses and sounded like they were from Des Moines. [twilight zone again?]

I continued on, over some small mountains and after a quick search by the army, I headed south into Chihuahua. I spent another day in Chihuahua being a tourist, Pancho Via museum, Governors palace, etc.

It was only 150 miles back to the border. It was a cool ride in the early morning and I was a glad to have the electric vest. I checked out of the country before noon and the ride was over. 1800 miles and the Torino worked better then I had hoped – quite a bargain at $2400. It ran and started better as the miles accumulated. I only added a couple scratches to the body work.

Torino 1, Sierra Tarahumara 0.

Thanks To LS Motorsports, Diamo, Go Moto MN, and Repsol for the support.

Wow! Hell of a ride Marty. You’ve got some cajones, my friend. Maybe it’s time to organize a scooter rally through Mexico. I imagine it helps to make this ride with a big-wheel scooter, eh? Don’t think my T5 would have faired quite as well. Thanks for sending over this report! I hope it inspires other scooterists to make some exciting rides this spring. Send us your story and we’ll put it up for the world to see.