Indiana Motorcycling

Made a trip to my old home town around Louisville, Kentucky. Got a lot of photos on my "Richmond and Me" blog of Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana. I also have a number of photos on my photo page which has a link on this page. Interesting area and a fun place to be. Saw a few interesting bikes there, and have a few photos here. Took the photo above of the Honda CB-160 at S+S PowerSports in Clarksville, Indiana. They have a few good old classic motorcycles there as do most really good bike shops. I love the old motorcycles, it was a really different era then, but many of those old Japanese motorcycles are still on the road.
Few bikes went through as many changes as Honda's Gold Wing. It started out as a stripped down bigger version of the Honda CB-750, but people started adding wind protection and bags to them. This one has a Windjammer fairing and bags by the legendary Craig Vetter. That was a very popular addition to the bike which now is one of the premier touring motorcycles in the world today. Over the years the bike and the engine has grown in side, and many features have been added to the Honda Gold Wing of today. I got to ride one of the new ones (for a short time) a few years ago, think that for going from coast to coast it would be one of the great rides to do that on.
Bike below is a Honda 600 VLX Shadow. I had the pleasure to ride one prior to my Kawasaki Vulcan for some 8 years and 36,000 trouble free miles. The bike never let me down. A bit small for me size wise (but still more comfortable then a Harley Sportster) the 600 had good power and simply great fuel mileage. This 600 has a custom paint job so not sure what year it was, but liked the look of it and nice to see one again. Honda makes some fine motorcycles, I have owned a few over the years, as well as a few Yamaha, Kawasaki, and Suzuki motorcycles. I have to say all of them have been great rides, problems over the years were few and far between.
Got a last photo here which is of S+S Powersports. Took this early; its a very old dealership. I had a good relationship with them over the years, and liked dealing with them, and it was good to wander around the store again for a short time during my visit.
While I was able to check out some sights in Kentuckiana, I also got in some nice motorcycle rides (and got some very important maintenance done) in Carolina during my vacation. It was a wonderful time riding with good friends, and enjoying some wonderful weather in North Carolina. I will be featuring some photos from those rides in my next post here!

A Weekend to Ride

Have been enjoying a fine few days. Will be featuring some photos from Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana where my wife and I spent four fine days. There will be some photos of the city on my "Richmond and Me" web site, and of course "Kentuckiana" (as the area is called) motorcycling on this site. Wild to be there, did a lot of years riding in that area (though we took the car on this long trip from North Carolina. There are so helmet laws in Indiana or Kentucky, so strange to see riding without helmets (though that is also common in South Carolina). Many riders though did have helmets; in fact via an un-scientific poll seemed to be more wearing than not. I wear a helmet when I ride, but have no problems with people choosing not to wear them. Went by my favorite Southern Indiana motorcycle shop (S+S Powersports in Clarksville) where I purchased my Honda 600 Shadow a few years ago; still no sign of the new model 2011 Honda motorcycles.
I also did not see them on my return to North Carolina when I dropped into Ride Now in Concord, NC on Saturday. Went there to (finally!!!!) get my rear tire and tube for the bike. I also got a set of front brake pads; got the tire put on (sparing my fingers and knuckles great pain) but will be doing the brake pads myself. With labor costs being what they are, and the job being amazingly simple (have the bike's service manual, its a minimal job) will do that myself. I do a lot of service on the Vulcan, its a very user friendly bike. That is the nice thing about cruisers, easy access and simplicity. Sure it does not have that "jet fighter"like performance (which is very cool though, love the feel of a sport bike at throttle) but sure is easy to do a spark plug and oil change on it. Plus I enjoy the hydraulic lifters on the bike; and shaft drive is pretty easy to maintain too. While I was there got a new helmet, its sort of aviation themed based on a helicopter pilot helmet, will be showing that in some future photos as well. Liked not just the theme but the design as well.
Ride Saturday was short, took a while to get the tire on there, and by early afternoon big storm clouds were rolling in (big storms were soon to follow). On this fine Sunday morning though, planning an afternoon ride with a friend around 2pm, and that will be a great deal of fun. Will have to take it easy for a while, new tires tend to be a little slick the first 100 miles, but a good warm sunny day to just take a short ride around this very interesting area. So will have some good photos coming up in the next couple of posts, I hope you enjoy them, and this wonderful weather. Spring is definitely here, and its time to ride. As always, ride safe!

Dad's Farewell (July 18-July 27, 2010)

Sad phone call on July 18 from my brother in Southern Indiana...Dad passed away that day. A great man, and a wonderful father he lived a fun and interesting 73 years. Patty drove from Carolina in the Vue, and I drove the Versa from Richmond to Louisville, Kentucky. Was a strange trip being as he is not there (a lot of time spent on visits to Kentucky was with him) but did enjoy seeing family and friends. One such is at the right; Ed worked with me in Concord, but moved back to Louisville. That is the bike he rode there; we had lunch at Bearno's Pizza on the Ohio River. Also saw much of my far flung family at the funeral which was nice, though wish we could get together more for better reasons.
I saw this motorcycle at the hotel. Brought back a lot of memories. Back in my Navy days, I rode a GS400 Suzuki in Hawaii. Actually it was Dad who suggested I get that bike; said an old beat up car would cost a fortune and I would enjoy the motorcycle more (had a few during high school which I did have a blast with). It was a good bike, and liked riding it around Hawaii which was a remarkable place to go riding. The GS-500 uses the same engine (100cc bigger), course its got a fairing but it is a nice looking bike and would be a great beginner motorcycle. Suzuki makes some fantastic motorcycles, and has some interesting models.
Also of interest was this Triumph Bonneville which I saw in downtown Jeffersonville, Indiana. Again, a good basic bike like the GS-500 but a nice looking ride, and was the start of the rebirth of a great motorcycle company back from the past. Saw a lot of motorcycles in the Louisville area during my visit; many of the riders wore helmets in Indiana and Kentucky...many did not (not required in those two states).
Got back in Concord on July 25 and spent Monday there before a Tuesday return to Concord. Did get a ride out on the Vulcan, still hot and humid, but the ride was a nice break from the stress and pain of the previous days. Dad is gone to a better place, will miss him a great deal, but the memories I have with him will live on forever!

Kentuckiana Visit in March

I visited the Louisville, Kentucky/ Southern Indiana area in March (from the 22th to the 26th) but made some time while visiting family and friends to check out some motorcycles. One of the great things about bike shops is that they often have some fine classic motorcycles on display. One such shop is S+S Powersports in Clarksville, IN. It was there that I saw this very fine (and rideable...has tags on it) Honda 350. I am very fond of these bikes, like the condition of this one (saw one a few weeks ago in Richmond, also in very good shape. Back in the day, you saw Honda 350's all over the place, a very popular bike.
Another great motorcycle is the Honda V-65 Sabre seen here. Believe that bike features the V-4 engine which the founder of Honda called 'the perfect motorcycle engine". Again, though a few years old, looks like it is ready for sale, and just came off the assembly line. Honda still uses that engine in the Interceptor which for this year has been punched out from a 750 to a 1200 and is said to be one fantastic motorcycle judging from the reviews I have so far read on it. The V-4 makes remarkable power (and yes, I have ridden them back in the day) with a remarkable sound when you get on the throttle.

Quite a few interesting bikes there, including this Honda CL-450. It was a "scrambler" type of bike, designed to roll down dirt roads (which was the reason for the upswept pipes) though certainly not a "trail bike" due to the fenders tight on the wheels. Still a lot of fun to ride, and again really old school with the round speedo and tach, the long seat, and the classic 70's styling. This 450 used a vertical twin engine, which many Honda's did. Another bike which was on display at S+S was a very fine CB-750 and a original Gold Wing. I purchased by Honda Shadow from S+S many years ago, before moving to the Carolinas.

I saw this custom motorcycle at Harley-Davidson of Louisville. In Louisville they have two locations; this shop is the one off of I-65 near U of L. Nice Harley shop (as they all tend to be) had gotten a shirt from there many years ago and wanted to see the shop this trip home. I liked this bike, often for some reason don't see green on custom motorcycles (though you do on Kawasaki Sport bikes) and liked the look of this bike. It was a very nice looking bike in person, low long and lean. By the way, that is my Nissan Versa in the window at far left....did not ride to Louisville on the Vulcan this trip, but hope to do that in the near future.
Last photo if the sales floor of Harley-Davidson of Louisville. Driving around Louisville was a lot of fun, felt like spring most of the trip (first day was pretty cold with highs in the 40s) but did get warmer. Helmets are optional in both states (Indiana and Kentucky) though did see many with them on, also many with them off. From my many motorcycle days there, always considered it a good place to ride, and a fun place to explore. Lots of good fun riding in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. There is also some good riding in the Carolinas, and hopefully will get some in here in the next few days!