Home › Motorcycle Rides › Phoenix
RideWolf · Phoenix
Canyon lakes east, pine country north, a genuine biker town on the city’s edge, and a historic trail that just came back from the dead. The Valley has the roads and the riders. What it’s missing is the thing that connects them.
You’re on the list — we’ll be in touch. Now go ride.
Free to join. The first 500 Phoenix riders get a permanent Wolf Pack badge.
Phoenix is one of the biggest metro areas in the country, and it rides like it: bikes on every freeway, packed dealership lots, a whole town on the northeast edge that turns into a rally every weekend. But the Valley is enormous, and that’s the problem. Your riding twin might live in Chandler while you’re in Peoria, and the two of you will never meet at a gas station. The distances that make Phoenix a great place to ride are the same distances that keep its riders strangers.
I know the shape of that problem from Los Angeles. I wanted a bike for thirty years, bought one at 50, and the only reason riding stuck is that family knew a crew and Leo pulled me in. Sprawl doesn’t hand out that kind of luck very often. Phoenix sprawls harder than we do. That’s exactly the gap RideWolf exists to close.
Start with the comeback story. The Apache Trail spent five years mostly closed after fire and flood wrecked it in 2019. ADOT finished the restoration in September 2024, and after this July’s monsoon knocked it out again, crews had it back open within weeks. The paved run from Apache Junction past Canyon Lake to Tortilla Flat is the classic: saguaro-lined twisties, a one-lane bridge, and a saloon that’s been feeding travelers since 1905 at the end of the pavement. Check az511.gov before every single run out there; this road earns its legend by occasionally disappearing.
Bush Highway is the after-work ride: Salt River sweepers, Four Peaks on the horizon, and the Saguaro Lake loop thirty minutes from most of the East Valley. Watch for the wild horses, they cross wherever they please. The Beeline (AZ-87) is the escape hatch, climbing from the desert floor to Payson’s pines, where it’s routinely 20 degrees cooler and the Mogollon Rim roads keep going. And AZ-89A over Mingus Mountain into Jerome is the pilgrimage: stacked hairpins up and over 7,000 feet, then a descent straight into a mile-high former mining town where the burgers are famous and the bar has been pouring since 1898.
| The ride | What it is | ~Length | Skill | Where to meet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apache Trail (AZ-88) | Saguaro canyon twisties to a 1905 saloon; check az511 first | ~18 mi paved | Easy–Int | Tortilla Flat |
| Bush Hwy / Saguaro Lake loop | Salt River sweepers, the Valley’s after-work ride | ~35–40 mi | All | Saguaro Lake Marina (Lakeshore Landing) |
| Beeline Hwy (AZ-87) to Payson | Fast sweepers, desert floor to 5,000-ft pines | ~75 mi | All | Payson; THAT Brewery in Pine |
| AZ-89A Mingus Mtn to Jerome | Hairpins over 7,000 ft into a mining-town main street | ~25 mi (110 from PHX) | Int–Adv | Haunted Hamburger · Spirit Room |
| Cave Creek → Bartlett Lake | Biker-town start, empty desert rollers to the water | ~50 mi RT | All | Buffalo Chip Saloon |
| Old Black Canyon Hwy to Rock Springs | The pie run; beyond it, Crown King is dirt and ADV-only | Half-day | Easy | Rock Springs Café, 7am–8pm daily |
Practical notes the listicles skip. Stopping anywhere along the Salt River or at Bartlett’s recreation sites takes a Tonto Daily Pass, $8, bought ahead, because riding through is free but parking at the water isn’t, and most sites have no pay station. Mt. Lemmon’s famous climb is real and worth it, but it’s a Tucson ride, about two hours from central Phoenix, so plan it as a full day. And the monsoon, mid-June through September, is not a rumor: when a dust wall rolls in, the state’s own advice is pull aside, stay alive, lights off, and wait it out. Flash-flooded washes are a no on four wheels and an absolutely-not on two.
The Valley’s meet-up culture is real and spread out, like everything here. Cave Creek is the anchor: the Buffalo Chip runs live bull riding Wednesday and Friday nights, gates at six, and the whole strip fills with bikes on weekends. Rock Springs Café off I-17 has been the pie stop for generations of riders, seven days a week. Tortilla Flat gives the Apache Trail run a destination, and up in Jerome, the Haunted Hamburger and the Spirit Room turn the Mingus run into a day with a reward in the middle. The Harley dealers around the Valley run events year-round; check their calendars, because schedules move with the seasons here.
One thing Phoenix riders get that almost nobody else in the country does: lane filtering is legal in Arizona, within strict limits. On a road with two or more lanes in your direction and a posted limit of 45 or under, a two-wheeled motorcycle may pass stopped traffic in the same lane at no more than 15 mph. That’s the whole permission: stopped cars, surface streets, walking-pace-plus. Splitting between moving cars, and filtering on the freeway, are still illegal. Helmets are required under 18, and everyone needs eye protection unless the bike has a windshield. Ride like the law is narrow, because it is, and enjoy being the state everyone else’s riders are jealous of.
RideWolf’s job in Phoenix is beating the sprawl. This is how.
Early access for the Valley. No club dues, no forum lurking, no hoping the guy at the next pump is friendly.
We match you with riders across Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler and the whole Valley who ride your pace and your side of town.
Dawn patrol on Bush Highway in July, all day on the Beeline in January. The season never actually ends here; it just changes what time you set the alarm.
Cards on the table: I’m an LA rider, and Arizona is still on my list, not in my logbook. But researching this page did something to me. A road that died in 2019 and came back in 2024, a saloon at the end of it that outlived the road twice, and a state that trusts riders to filter at a red light? That’s a riding culture worth building a crew in. If you’re in the Valley, get on the list and start it.
— Johnny, founder. Started at 50, rides Sundays with the crew that took him in.
Six months of perfect riding, six months of alarm-clock riding, and roads worth both. Free to join, and the first 500 Phoenix riders wear the Wolf Pack badge for good.
Every direction works. The Apache Trail and Bush Highway cover the east, Cave Creek and Bartlett Lake the north, the Beeline climbs to Payson’s pines, and AZ-89A over Mingus Mountain is the classic day run. RideWolf matches you with Valley riders so you’re running them together instead of alone.
Plenty, but they’re scattered across a huge valley: Cave Creek’s weekend scene, dealer events, and informal crews on every side of town. The hard part is finding the one that fits your pace and your zip code. That matching is exactly what RideWolf is built for; early access is free by email.
Splitting between moving cars is illegal. Lane filtering is legal within limits: on roads posted 45 or under with at least two lanes your direction, you may pass stopped traffic at no more than 15 mph. Freeway filtering is prohibited, and riding more than two abreast in a lane is too.
The paved section from Apache Junction to Tortilla Flat is open and is the ride most street bikes want; ADOT reopened the full route in September 2024 after five years of fire and flood closures, and cleared it again after monsoon damage in July 2026. It closes when storms hit, so check az511.gov before every run.
October through April is prime, with all-day rides in real winter while most of the country is parked. Summer flips to dawn starts in the valley or altitude runs to Payson and the Rim, which ride 15 to 25 degrees cooler. Mid-June through September, respect the monsoon: dust walls and flooded washes end rides fast.
Riding the road is free. Stopping at the Salt River or Saguaro Lake recreation sites requires a Tonto Daily Pass, $8 for 24 hours, and most sites have no pay station, so buy it ahead online or at a vendor. An annual Tonto Discovery Pass runs $80 if the river becomes your regular ride.
