Ride With Tank

These are the dog days of winter for motorcycle riders in Ohio.  This is the lowest point of the year, but the IMS really helps me get through the winter.

The show this year was pretty disappointing.  There really was not much to see.  The displays were smaller than in previous years.  BMW, Victory, Triumph, KTM, Ural, Moto Guzzi, Aprilia, and MV Agusta were all no shows.  Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Harley were the only ones in attendance, and most everything they brought can be easily seen at your local dealer where there are no admission fees and parking is free.

I did get a look at the new Honda VFR and while it is a very interesting machine I just think there is too much technology and complexity there for me.  Many will love the bike, but I would prefer something simpler at a lower cost.

Honda also brought the NT700V.  I was really looking forward to checking this one out.  It really does look like a great bike.  This would be a great machine for someone who just loves to ride and does not need to own the latest technology.  Priced very reasonable, it appears to be a fantastically useful machine, with limited maintenance expense and bother.  I was hoping one of these could end up in my garage, but once again seat height is the issue.  The seat is just too high for female riders.

It seems like I say this all the time, but I just don’t understand why every motorcycle does not have adjustable seats, pegs, and handlebars.  One size does not fit all, but the manufacturers just don’t seem to understand this.  Forget about the dual clutch transmissions and variable valve timing and all that other crap and give us a motorcycle that adapts to us instead of forcing us to adapt to it!  Will this ever happen?  I am beginning to loose hope.

Another thing I can’t figure out is wide tires.  Is there any limit to how wide people want their tires?  Why do people like them so much?  Am I the only person who thinks they are completely stupid?

The best thing about the show this year was running into all my friends.  I’m not even going to try to mention you all by name, but it seemed I could not go more than 5 or 10 minutes until I ran into someone!  I will mention a few by name because they came from so far away.  The first distant friends I came across were Brad and Charity from the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort.

Brad talking to future Dragon slayers.

I have to say that guys seemed like they wanted to talk to Charity more than they wanted to talk to Brad, and she was doing a great job.  Even late into day three she dtill had a big smile and lots of energy.  I would have been pretty wore down by then.

Next I ran into Darryl and Lori from Killboy.com.

It was great to see them also!

I did get to sit on a bike I have been dreaming about a lot lately, the Honda Ruckus.

I’m gonna get me one of these some day.  They look like a ton of fun!

Another highlight of the show for me was a presentation put on by Lee Parks, author of one of my favorite books, Total Control: High Performance Street Riding Techniques.  The presentation was a quick overview of the book and it was very interesting.

Lee Parks IMS presentation

I talked with him for a little while abd he seems like a nice guy.  Then I got a picture of us for my wall of fame.

Lee Parks and Tank

After the show on Saturday I met up with some folks from rideohio.org for a fun evening.  There is a great bunch of folks on that board and I encourage everyone who loves riding to pay it a visit!

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It seems like the weather has been better in November than it was in October!  I have been lucky enough to get out the last two weekends in a row!

Saturday the 14th I had to make a choice.  Some of my Ride Ohio friends were riding out in Amish country and visiting one of my favorite places, Heinis Cheese Factory.  I also got a email from Ray inviting me to ride with the Gold Wing guys.  I decided to go with the Wingers because I have not ridden with them yet this year.  I was still a little nervous anout my decision because the last time I rode with them at the end of the season the ride resulted in tragedy for me.

Photo by Nick

In the photo above you see the bikes ready to leave.  You don’t see a Vstrom because I was not there yet.  I am very rarely late for a ride, but I was 8 minutes late for this one.  Eight minutes was long enough because as I approached the gas station I saw them going through the traffic light heading north.  To be fair, I never confirmed that I was riding so nobody was expecting me.  A little twist of the throttle and I caught up to them.  Of course, I was nearly out of gas so I made them immediately stop at the next gas station.  I hate being the guy who shows up late with no gas!

Ray planned a really nice route, but he kept checking this strange poster that he called a “map” every time we stopped.

Photo by Nick

I guess it helps you find places, but it doesn’t tell you where you are and it does not have voice comands, but it is really easy to see even in direct sunlight and it uses no batteries.  What will they think of next!  I might get me one of those “direction posters” myself.

Picture by Nick

We stopped for lunch in some little town in the southern Ohio hills.  Pretty good food and reasonably priced.  Most of us had cheeseburgers and they were big, meaty, and delicious.

Ray - Photo by Nick

Ray is probably the cheapest person in the world.  I have heard rumor that he plans his routes based on where the lowest priced gasoline is.  We stopped for gas at a place where Christians were passing out free bread.

Free Bread

I have no idea how Ray found out about this, but we got a tank of gas and a loaf of free bread!  The crazy thing is that we had just finished eating lunch, and Nick comes out of the gas station with two pepperoni rolls!  I figured he was going to eat them later, but next thing I know:

Nick Eating Again! (?)

Free bread makes everyone happy!

I had a great day riding with some great folks on some great roads!  Hopefully next year I can hook up with you guys more often!

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