quote:

Originally posted by Chris42:
Ridewv - would really like making a connection at or before the Wellsboro, PA rally. If you are coming from the south we could meet and ride together for the rest of the trip north.

That sounds good. I have a lot on my plate this Summer (building a motorcycle garage, timbering pine trees, selling one house, etc.) nevertheless I'm about 80% sure I'm going. We should touch base sometime in early July.

I want the new Triumph Bobber Black. It’s totally pointless, but I lust after it, and therefore I know it’s the best decision.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:

quote:

Originally posted by SHOOTIN BLANKS:

Seriously, in May I plan on heading to Virginia to pick up Skyline Drive then the Blue Ridge eventually making my way to Macon, Georgia....

About 179 miles down the Blue Ridge Parkway from where it begins, at the end of the Skyline Drive, is a nice motorcycle campground to stay the night. In fact it's so nice I make it a destination a couple times a season. Friendly people, CLEAN, hot showers, and great riding all around the area. http://www.willvillebikecamp.com

My camping days are behind me. After a long day I much prefer the comforts of a nice hotel with a bar.

quote:

Originally posted by Surefire:
I want the new Triumph Bobber Black. It’s totally pointless, but I lust after it, and therefore I know it’s the best decision.

I like the way you think.

I don’t really need a new one until I fix up a few of my projects but the finance deals Indian is running on their Scout.....yeah it’s VERY tempting.

This point not too sure of anything this year. I have to replace the inner fairing on my '02 FLHTPI and do the upgraded S/E hydraulic cam tensioner kit. The tensioner kit is first up, next month. Fairing, later on.

Also I need to get ahold of a friend who does painting. I want him to paint my 82 FLH in red "Boat Flake" Metalflake, a 60's motif. That is my around town bike, solo seat, slightly warmed over Shovelhead motor.

And still trying to put together a California trip or getting someone coming back from there to bring my project bike, a '65 Suzuki 80cc Hillbilly, the street/trail bike to me. A friend gave it to me, going to be a camp bike and teach grandkids how to ride when they get old enough.

quote:

Originally posted by SHOOTIN BLANKS:

My camping days are behind me. After a long day I much prefer the comforts of a nice hotel with a bar.

An internet friend of mine, a bit older than I, says "I don't mind camping under the stars...as long as they're on a Hilton hotel."

After trading in our ‘05 HD on a new one in ‘16, the Mrs. and I have been doing longer trips than before. Last year we did a nice trip up to Michigan totaling 1600 miles.

Because of time constraints this year, were going to take backroads through WI and head to Duluth, take a day and ride the shoreline up to the Canadian border and back over the course of 5 days. We also do a couple of trips with friends up into WI, finding and riding new roads each year.

Now...weather needs to cooperate. Forecast calls for 6” of snow today...

I bought and enjoyed an Indian Scout last year. Now I'm still waiting for the snow to melt so I can get it back out.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:

quote:

Originally posted by calugo:
The water cooled R12RS are nice bikes, I took one out for a spin while I was having my K16GTL serviced at Hermys BMW. BMW has done a good job bumping HP up to 125 and increasing torque on the boxer engines but not enough for me to buy one. I was looking for a second bike to complement my K16GTL and I almost bit on the RS but I was looking for lots more HP so I settled on a 2017 Kawasaki ZX14R

I dunno this bike seems pretty darn quick and fast to me, it's the fastest bike I own and personally have no need for anything faster.

2015 BMW R1200R 0-60 mph 2.8 | Quarter mile 10.8. Top speed over 140 mph.

But like you say if that isn't enough BMW makes much faster bikes as do the Japanese.

The R12RS is quick for a boxer engine but nothing compared to the ZX14R, S1000RR/R/XR or other high performance bikes from Europe or Japan. My ZX14R pulls like getting shot off a aircraft carrier and if you're not holding on tight it'll ride out from underneath you. I love it but it's been to cold to ride it so I've only been able to put 700 chilly miles on it since I purchased it in December :-(

One destination I plan to hit this year is the Dingess tunnel in southern WV;


.....The passage home included a drive through a one lane train tunnel nearly 4/5 of a mile long.

Still the primary entrance into Dingess, West Virginia, the story of this tunnel dates back nearly a century and a half ago, back to an era when coal was still king in the West Virginia mountains.

For generations, the people of what is now Mingo County, West Virginia, had lived quiet and peaceable lives, enjoying the fruits of the land, living secluded within the tall and unforgiving mountains surrounding them.

All of this changed, however, with the industrial revolution, as the demand for coal soared to record highs.

Soon outside capital began flowing into “Bloody Mingo” and within a decade railroads had linked the previously isolated communities of southern West Virginia to the outside world.

The most notorious of these new railways was Norfolk & Western’s line between Lenore and Wayne County – a railroad that split through the hazardous and lawless region known as “Twelve Pole Creek.”

At the heart of Twelve Pole Creek, railroad workers forged a 3,300 foot long railroad tunnel just south of the community of Dingess.

As new mines began to open, destitute families poured into Mingo County in search of labor in the coal mines. Among the population of workers were large numbers of both African-Americans and Chinese emigrants.

Despising outsiders, and particularly the thought of dark skinned people moving into what had long been viewed as a region exclusively all their own, a handful of the residents of Dingess, West Virginia, are said to have hid along the hillsides just outside of the tunnel’s entrance, shooting any dark skinned travelers riding aboard the train. Source 1, Source 2

Though no official numbers were ever kept, it has been estimated that hundreds of minority workers were killed at the entrance and exit of this tunnel.

Norfolk & Western soon afterward abandonment the Twelve Pole line. Within months two forces of workmen began removing the tracks, ties, and accessory facilities.

Soon, silence reigned in the rugged mountains overlooking the area. Gone were the whistles of locomotives and the rumble of cars. Nothing but a long and winding bed of cinders, decayed ties and several steel bridges remained.

For decades the skeletal remains of Norfolk & Western’s failed railway line stood as a silent testimony to the region’s ghostly ways.

In the early 1960’s, however, the resourceful men of the mountains commandeered the former railroad line and built upon its beds a road for motorists to travel upon.Source 3

Unfortunately, residents of this impoverished region failed to secure funding from the state’s legislature to improve the tunnel and bridges, thus today – over half a century later – residents of this community are forced to drive atop countless one lane train bridges and through a one lane tunnel nearly a mile long.

To the residents of this community, such a drive is just another part of their daily routine, however, for visitors, the notion of driving through a 3,300' one lane tunnel is both a cause for photography and dread.

The Dingess Tunnel stands as yet another testament of how life in Appalachia - even in the twenty-first century - continues to be a struggle; an unseen struggle that seems to have been forgotten by mainstream American culture. http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1137805

The forum picked my last bike a couple of years ago (I put a poll up with a list of models) selecting the S1000RR over the R1M and Repsol CBR 1000.

Ive been looking at Ducati's now for about 6 months and honestly I'd have one already but my wife is opposed to a 3rd bike. As long as Im willing to get rid of the BMW she is ok with it...

That new Pani is really calling my name. Alot...

Current -


and hers -



Im shopping today - and contemplating the "beg forgiveness option" as I dont want to sell the BMW.

quote:

Originally posted by TKO:
The forum picked my last bike a couple of years ago (I put a poll up with a list of models) selecting the S1000RR over the R1M and Repsol CBR 1000.

Ive been looking at Ducati's now for about 6 months and honestly I'd have one already but my wife is opposed to a 3rd bike.....
...Im shopping today - and contemplating the "beg forgiveness option" as I dont want to sell the BMW.

Post another poll then you can blame us.

quote:

Originally posted by TKO:
The forum picked my last bike a couple of years ago (I put a poll up with a list of models) selecting the S1000RR over the R1M and Repsol CBR 1000.

Ive been looking at Ducati's now for about 6 months and honestly I'd have one already but my wife is opposed to a 3rd bike. As long as Im willing to get rid of the BMW she is ok with it...

That new Pani is really calling my name. Alot...

Current -


and hers -



Im shopping today - and contemplating the "beg forgiveness option" as I dont want to sell the BMW.

It's always better to beg for forgiveness than ask permission but I'm not married so don't take my advice :-)

Bullets and Bloodstains a tour of the battle of Franklin

Have an overnight trip planned for the Bullets and Bloodstains tour of the battle of Franklin

Cummins falls state park

Plan on stopping and swimming under the falls at Cummins Falls State Park