Easy rider...

Never miss an opportunity to ride your motorcycle:

The winter doldrums begin--few opportunities to ride motorcycles

Yeah...it's that time of the year: minimal motorcycle riding.

As a pacifier, I looked over my photos from our July trip to Al-a-bam-a to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum to see their collection of motorcycles.

Here are two photos of preter-motorcycles:

A few Whizzer motorized bicycles. I forget what the placard said, but these were early 1900 vintage Whizzers.

This is a Honda Cub. I should have snapped a photo of the placard of all of the motorcycles but I didn't...I think this bike would have been made circa late 1950s to early '60s. 

The Ten Weirdest Motorcycles Ever Made

Technically, 10th motorcycle is not so weird.

'via Blog this'

Robbie Maddison rides motorcycle off ski jump - GrindTV.com

This got me to missing Evel Knievel...

'via Blog this'

Bienville Legacy Superbike by JT Nesbitt Comes to Life

Whoa!

'via Blog this'

11 of the most beautiful motorcycles we've seen this year

Wow! Custom motorcycles making the popular press.
I'm pleasantly surprised.

'via Blog this'

Solo motorcycle ride south -- lessons learned

While on a continous 25-hour, 1200 mile, stopping only for potty breaks, gas, snacks, and leg stretches motorcycle ride, you formulate important thoughts. Here are some of mine:


1. I wasn't surprised to find Waldo in Florida.


2. Somebody has taken down a lot of those South of the Border billboards. Thank you.


3. Some of the potholes on I-95 in South Carolina are huge. They are scary. Best case scenario hitting one on a motorcycle is that you'll damage your bike. You can figure out the worst case scenario. Dodging these at 3am took concentration.



4. Nothing has changed much on Main Street, Daytona Beach since I was there nine and a half years ago.

Wait...the price of motorcycle parking has changed. It's doubled.



5. Riding one of these is inspiring:


Riding one of these is not:




6. If you've had a motorcycle riding suit for 15 years, it fits better when you remove all of the safety padding. Who needs padding?

Solo motorcycle ride south -- it's over Part 2

I forgot to add the obligatory motorcycle route map:

Solo motorcycle ride south - it's over

I'm back home. I arrived yesterday morning at 9:30am and was too tired to update my trip notes until now. Here's the summary:

Update:

As I mentioned in my previous post, I left Walterboro, SC at 8:30am waiting for the rain to stop. By then, I had decided I would make a go for Key West. It would be a long 700-mile ride, but so what?

While on the road, it dawned on me I better check hotel availability so I pulled into a rest area in southern SC and made a phone call. The hotel price provoked me to change plans. I decided instead to go to Jacksonville, hang a right to Mobile, and then another right for home. But when I got back on my bike and headed for the rest area exit, I passed this motorcycle and grabbed both brakes skidding to a stop:

Whoa!
A bobber.
No rear suspension beyond the rigid seat and less than 1" up front. Clip ons. Pretend rear brake (that is, hub brake with shoes). I don't know Harley motorcycles well enough to tell you which motor it had beyond it being a Sportster engine. And, unless you're the size of an 8-yr old, you'd be all scrunched up when riding this bike.

I looked at the license plate and it was from Texas! Someone rode this thing from Texas!! Probably going to Biketoberfest. No new smell shiny faux leather jacket with matching boots and chaps and fingerless gloves rider here. No Tim Allen, John Travolta, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy Wild Hogs poser here.

The dude riding this bobber is the real deal--and yes, it's a dude because no woman I know would be crazy enough to ride a bike like this for more than 10-miles. I waited for the rider to come out but he never showed--he was probably inside waiting until his coccyx recovered. So I got back on my bike and headed south. I was inspired. I was going to Daytona. I wanted to see more.

Pre Biketoberfest:

250-miles later I was going down Main Street at Daytona Beach. Even though Biketoberfest didn't officially start until Thursday, there were lots of riders. Too many riders. Too many Wild Hogs riders (see above).
Funny, not much has changed in Daytona Beach since the last time I was here for Bikeweek in 2005. I decided to leave.

On the road again...for 25 hours:

I headed for home. I arrived at 9:30am Thursday morning having ridden through the night. I spent 25 hours on the bike and traveled about 1200 miles. I might be eligible for another Iron Butt certificate, but I already have one of those the time I went crazy in March 2009.

It's good to be home.

Solo ride south - Day 2 morning

Going to wait until rain passes before hitting the road. 

It dawned on me Daytona's Biketoberfest starts tomorrow...that explains all off the motorcycles I saw yesterday on trailers and in the back of pickups. I'm not sure I'll drop in for that, we'll see. 

Need to get going...burning daylight