Sturgis.

[Anna]

How many here made it this year ? I missed the first day but I had a blast .
Tell us what you ride ! Don't be shy its ok.
CDQ , a Moto Guzzi lol. Somehow I pictured you on a Moped in a crowded marketplace trying to sell
cameras !   

[Conan The Librarian]

I'm amused by what it has become.

[ChungDoQuan]

'03 1100 EV1100 California. Not very fast compared to others, 'bout like a Harley until you get into the twisties. Then that ol' Tonti frame (same as a LeMans) is at home! I didn't make it to Sturgis this year, but got to ride in southern CO, northern NM, AR, TN, KY, and IN. 

Oh, yeah, That big flat spot in the middle-- Texoma?
 

[Dee]

Never made it to Sturgis even when I lived in the Panhandle. Too far for me. I did make a toy run Saturday in Texas. About 1200 of us. It was a fun day. I ride an 05 Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 Classic with a few extras.

[Anna]

I'm amused by what it has become.

It was only my second time there, I usually do Aspencade here in NM. But that's only a two hour ride
from here so it sort of takes a lot of the adventure out of it.Your right,Sturgis has changed a lot from
what I remember back in the 90s. To commercialized and the entertainment wasnt all that great like
it once was. Aspencade though still has the appeal of what it always has been, but even its getting
so crowded that the town Ruidoso or Red River can't keep up with the demand.

Conan, what surprised me at Sturgis was how little a presence but for the attendees that Harley
Davidson had there. All the Jap bike manufacturers were doing a much better job of representing
themselves than Harley did. Harley just acted like ( we are Harley and who are you ? )
And once more, all the new Harley's looked the same except for those that belonged to the people
there. In the early turn of the century it was like they all had the same paint scheme. But of course
their only US completion, Indian,  folded up and closed the doors AGIAN in 2004 leavening thier
customers holding the bag. I hope Polaris is able to make it work this time and they do have the
Victory line which are very nice bikes.

CDQ, that's a nice ride your talking about. It's a little on the $$$$$ side but who am I to talk.
If you look the new Indians are about 3k higher than the equivalent Harley. Plus they don't build
the Scout anymore but they said they intend to rerelease it if they keep getting the demand for it.
But to compare an Indian to a Harley that's like comparing a Lincoln to a Crown Victoria 

[guzzijohn]

Sturgis has way to many people for me. Guzzi events are more my liking. The annual Kansas rally as about 75 people. A national rally will have between 500-800 people. That is more my speed. I have always been treated with respect at biker bars when on a Guzzi. Guzzi riders are not 1%ers, we are more like .01%ers!
GuzziJohn

[yellowtail3]

Sturgis would be a long ride from NC. I'm more likely to take a trip to Deal's Gap come spring.


2003 FZ1 for me (bike #6). Here it is, daughter on back. For contrast... the second pic of of my first bike. I'm the one in the middle, circa 1977 or so...

[Conan The Librarian]

I don't ride anymore, and gave up in the early 1980s. Highlights were living on the road for about three years with an early Honda 4, back when people realized that there was a new type of motorcycle that could be ridden from coast to coast without a lot of the hassles of the older bikes. Sturgis, Aspencade, and Daytona were a very different scene at the time.
 
At the time, most serious road riders preferred the Hondas, BMWs, and yes, Goot-sees (Moto Guzzi). At the time, the Guzzis were among the best bikes available, with the only drawback being limited parts network. On the other hand, they seldom needed anything difficult to obtain. Keeping a set of points, condenser, and plugs was common practice.
 
Back then, Harley was in the dreaded AMF years and they were producing garbage that literally fell apart while riding. The only good Hardly-Ablesons at the time were older shovels and pans that had been built by a good custom man. I rode with several HD riders and they just had so many problems: mechanically, with cops, and with thieves.
 
Today, HD makes fine bikes, but its market is one of the weirdest I've ever seen. 50-somethings who buy into the rebel marketing approach on the one hand, and week end road riders on the other hand. I live in a state with a lot of Harleys, and I am shocked, truly shocked, by how few miles most of them have on them. A ten year old bike may have under 20k miles. (I used to put about 35k per year on my bikes and never needed bottom end work on any of them.)  This shocking abuse of fine road bikes is absolutely tragic. They are tools of adventure, and yet they just sit.

[guzzijohn]

Currently the biggest problem for Moto Guzzi is lack of dealers. The good news is that with the internet I can have 95%+ parts for either my 75 or my 2011 at my house within three days. In the last few years since Piaggio has taken Guzzi over build quality has come back with a vengeance. My 2011 Norge is a fantastic road bike with very rider friendly power and handling. It is still loafing at 90mph and I have had it up to 140 indicated on a private runway. That was with the side bags and trunk on. It was rock solid at that speed.
GuzziJohn

[Conan The Librarian]

It was like that for parts then. You needed to know who the distributers were, and have a parts catalog, all of your model information, and the phone number of the people you could buy parts from. It really wasn't that much of a burden.
 
Good that you're actually applying the bike. Most people who own them are probably just weekend social butterflies who use them to squish ants in their driveways.

[guzzijohn]

Quote from Conan:
"Good that you're actually applying the bike. Most people who own them are probably just weekend social butterflies who use them to squish ants in their driveways."


Most Guzzi owner are serious riders and some rack up amazing amount of miles. I know two that have multiple bikes and still have over 300K on their Guzzi. A famous Guzzi rider in Texas bought a new Guzzi. When he went to pick it up the dealer asked him when he thought he might want to schedule the 1,000 mile check, he replied "tomorrow".
GuzziJohn

[Pinkerton]

I've only missed about 10 years of the Sturgis Rally in my lifetime, This year I drove an 88 Ramcharger   I live about 10miles out of town and have to go through to get to work. I grew up in the area and the only years I didn't see where spent in the Army and college.
 
The rally has changed greatly over the years, a few years back it was shameful seeing the price gouging that was occurring but I think that's improved some, back then the lodging and camping sites cost a premium and some locals rented out their homes for outragous prices as well. I was grabing something in a crowed gas station one year and a person working there saw me in the sea of bikers and told me to go over to a certain checkout because they would give me "the local price", those practices just hurt buisness and I think the vendors in the area finally realized it. I work close to the Full Throttle Saloon and a few years ago after work stopped at the Thunder Dome to check out the custom bikes, as I was leaving a group of bikers at the campgound asked for a ride into town, about a dozen piled into my truck and I dropped them off on the way, they were telling me that the campground had a bus that would take people into town for $10 a person one way .Nice people that offered to pay me even though it was on my way, I couldn't accept so they gave me Freedom Riders beer coozy.  Traffic seems to flow better in the last 5 years as well. I used to have to plan an extra hour into my travel time to make a 13 mile trip to work, now it's maybe an extra 15 min. at the most, and at the same time the area keeps estimating huge crowds of 350,000 to 400,000 people?
 
The crowds are not as wild especially compared to the 80's and early 90's , and for the most part everyone is pretty polite. When I first got out of the Army, I worked security at a casino in Deadwood over the summer, if someone came in with a knife or weapon we would have to ask them for it, tag it an hold it until they were ready to leave or not allow them to enter. Darn near every biker that came in had a knife on their belt but not a single one argued or put up a fuss every single one I delt with was cool as could be about it, and this was 93 when things where a bit wilder then the last few years.
 
I'm glad you had a good time, and hope people like you keep coming, it's a great tradition for the area.

[Conan The Librarian]

GuzziJohn:
 
Thank God! A bastion of sanity in a world gone mad!
 
There have been so many good side effects of having been into touring the country. I've always planned the family vacations and for several years my wife and kids would see what I proposed and they'd question it because it sounded like a bad idea. They always had a great time, and they quit questioning and just accepted it. It's nice to be trusted like that.
 
As for Sturgis, I say skip it and go earlier. Heading west, turn left instead of right and head for the Custer area. It's prettier and there's more to do unless you have to have adult entertainment. Not a lot of people go to eastern Montana, but there's a lot of cool stuff to do there outdoors. It's a lot more than just Little Bighorn.

[Pinkerton]

Conan:
 
That's good advice, and explains why the Sturgis Rally is different than it used to be. Lots of people are coming earlier or later around the time, staying in other areas around the Black Hills and maybe checking out the Rally once or twice and spending more time touring the rest of the Hills. That would account for the huge numbers of people estimated but it seeming like much less each year. It sure makes my getting to work and back home much easier. Hullete Wyoming has something every Wed. of the Sturgis Rally that seems to cause a mass exodus from the area for a day each year but I've heard it's choas and not family friendly.

[kennyd]

04
bonneville


Don't like crowds.  The only "ride" I participate is the Elephant Ride, used to be cross Guanella Pass(11,000 feet) in Colorado second Sunday in February.  Now the road is mostly paved and they close gates up high so it has gone from street bikes and old Indians and GS beemers to almost all dirt bikes trying for the top.  There are several Urals that show up, and some Rokons.  I still have a photo of the Bonny wearing a tire chain that made it into the local bike rag.