| Author | Message | ||
     1313 |
Well, this is quite late, but what can I say. My experiences getting to (and at) Homecoming this year make this the most memorable and enjoyable vacation I have had to date. My theory is a lot of pictures and a few words to describe the pictures. So here goes: Before I left New Bern, NC I decided to do something I don't normally do. That's right, I WASHED my S2 for the trip. I heard a little scurrying around as I was putting the hose on the spigot. A little investigation revealed just what my helper was.  With the S2 all clean and a halfway decent nights sleep it was time to load the bike up and take a picture of the odometer before leaving home base and a couple of 'before' pics.    I had posted the directions mapquest had given me in the C-3 (Carolina Corner Carver's) BRAG section of the Tale Section a day or two before I actually left. One of the C-3 group members (M2nc) said he knew of a better route and after much deliberation said that he would show me the shortcut. The shortcut involved going through Cincinnati and he was planning to go to Cincinnati that weekend anyway. I just delayed his departure a little bit. Once we got into Kentucky we met an onslaught of rain. The shortcut Carlos was introducing me to involved getting off I-64 at Grayson, KY. Here are our bikes just after we got off I-64 as we took a break from the rain.  Carlos had managed to arrange free lodging for us at some relatives place in Cincinnati. By the time we had arrived in Cincinnati my odometer was getting closer to the 100K mark.  The next day was pretty uneventful, even with going through Chicago on I-94 (6:00 p.m. or so on the Sunday before Memorial Day no less). That is until I was just South of the Wisconsin state line. Then something magical happened that made me pull to the side of the Interstate and whip out the camera.  And just a tenth of a mile later I had the same urge.  This time there was some geographical markers around me to document my location.  The skies in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin did not look to inviting but when I reached 100,000 miles it seemed as if a higher power interacted.  This Homecoming was destined to be an extra special event for me as a friend I had met while in Germany on business (who also owns the most beautiful X1 I have ever laid eyes upon) was coming over. Here Frank and I are with one of the truly German presents he brought. A 2 liter bottle of German Bier (that's beer to us Americans).  Also imported from Germany were 3 of the latest issues of Fighters Magazin, a Buell 2005 Prospekt, and a cool 2-sided 2005 Buell poster showing the German Buell line up on one side and the CityX on the other side. Since it was too expensive to ship Frank's X1 over for Homecoming I had arranged for him to borrow a '98 S3 from my best friend. Because the S3 wasn't registered we took Franks rental car on our first day bombing around together and after registering the S3 we hit a few of the Southeastern Wisconsin Buell places to take in. Our first stop was Uke's H-D/Buell in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Every single bike I've owned has been bought from Uke's, so I may be a little biased but Uke's has always given me the best dealership experience. Since it was during the week we had to sweet talk someone from Motorclothes to show us around the museum. Here are some pics.       Since my S2 had a little disagreement with my Dad's shed, with the shed winning, we had to go to Don & Roy's in Brookfield to order a Yamaha snowmobile mirror to replace the one that my Dad's shed thought looked better broken in two. After Don & Roy's it was time to go over to Hal's H-D/Buell. On the showroom floor they had a dealer race replica of Mike Ciccotto's XB12R.   Also on display on the balcony of the entranceway were a couple of past Hal's Buell racebikes.  At this point Homecoming was still 2 days away... 1313 (Message edited by 1313 on July 03, 2005) | ||
| 1313 |
Speaking of beer, it's time to get another one.  BRB, 1313 | ||
| 1313 |
After spending the night at my parents house about a half mile from the Buell factory, and with the S3 now being registered it was time to do some riding. Our first destination was at Alpine Valley to take some pictures of the Buell's by the East Troy Mafia Staff Car. Oh wait, that's just my Dad's 1951 Buick...  In case some of you don't know, Alpine Valley is where Stevie Ray Vaughan's helicopter crashed ending the life and career of one of the greatest modern day Blues musicians. It's kind of interesting that Erik Buell and the Thunderbolt's playlist is heavy on SRV with the Buell factory only being about 3 miles from the ski hill that the helicopter crashed on. Our next stop was at the Capitol Drive H-D Engine plant. I wanted to show Frank where the motors in our bikes were made.  Also at Capitol Drive taking a tour at the same time as us was a couple of guys from Switzerland aboard 1947 Knuckleheads. They were taking 3 months and spending the time riding in the US and Canada.  After taking the tour (given by a retired ex-co-worker - man was it weird having the tour guide call me by name) we headed off to Fuel Cafe on Milwaukee's East side for a light mid-day snack and to enjoy the ambiance of the Fuel Cafe. Since they are renevating to outside of the building, and it is somewhat sparse on light inside the Fuel Cafe I don't have any pictures. But if you are ever in the area it is definitely worth the time to stop by and check it out. The walls are covered with pictures of motorcycle road racers, sidecar racers, ice racers and pictures of just about any form of racing motorcycle there is. After chilling out at Fuel Cafe for quite a while I decided it was time to show Frank some more of the city of Milwaukee. As we turned the first corner we were greeted by another photographic opportunity that Frank described as 'Only in America'. In this guys front yard, immediately in front of his house was an old Model A as one would find one abandoned.  And in the rest of his lawn was the front end of a VW Beetle and both ends of a classic Cadillac sticking out of the ground.  A tour of Milwaukee's sights would not be complete without visiting H-D's Milwaukee HQ on Juneau.  With the lighting conditions at the time we stopped at Juneau I was able to take some artistic pictures.  After leaving Juneau it was time for some final sightseeing in Downtown Milwaukee on our way to dinner at the Safe House. http://www.safe-house.com/ For those visiting Milwaukee a trip to the Safe House is definitely in order as you will not find any place quite like it anywhere. Just be sure that you know the password to get in or else everyone inside will be laughing when you finally gain entrance. Also, when you leave if you find the exit that requires a quarter you will have truly experienced the Safe House. After a good meal it is time to head back to my parents house in East Troy to sample the German Bier and get some rest as tomorrow is finally Homecoming! 1313 | ||
| Awprior |
Brankin, Great pics. The Safehouse. Been there a few times, the first time I was the last to arrive. My friends were entertained. Enough said. Great place, great food. Drink a few too many Sprechers and try to find the bathroom and you find a brick wall... | ||
| 1313 |
It's finally Homecoming! This is just some of the stuff I found interesting while we were hanging out at the factory. Cool tail piece for an XB Lightning.  As usual my friend Jeff was present with one of his RS1200's.  After rooming with Jeff at Daytona in March I was kind of disappointed that this was the only time Jeff was around for the events of Homecoming. It was probably best as the last time I hung out with Jeff for an extended period of time in Wisconsin was definitely an experience NOT to remember. But back to the topic at hand. A race air cleaner and a fairing lower on an S3.  It seemed as this year Homecoming had brought a lot of significant Buell's out of the woodwork.  I even brought the Buell Brothers shirt with me that Roger gave me many moons ago - too bad I outgrew it and couldn't wear it at Homecoming. This here, boys and girls, is a 148,000 mile S3-T.  This is the one picture that Frank said that he had to have of the two of us at Homecoming.  A group of Buellers (mostly badwebbers) decided that we should go on a little tour tracing the history of Buell. With 13 Buell's in the pack (gotta love that number...) we went for a ride on only some of the best roads that East Troy and the surrounding areas have to offer on our way to the old quonset hut. At one point on Road X we were met by this very enthusiastic guy who gave us a thumbs up and flashed his headlights at us. Even though it was black car it wasn't a cop it was Erik himself. As we reached the quonset hut it was time for a couple more pictures.   While everyone else headed up to the host hotel in West Bend, Frank and I had to go back to my parents house to pick up our supplies for the next few days. Since the mirror I ordered at Don & Roy's was in we stopped there on our way up to the hotel in West Bend. I was surprised to find that the friend who helped me with the custom bodywork and paint on my S2 had his RZ350 at Don & Roy's Sportbike Night (always held the Thursday night before the races at Elkhart).  1313 | ||
| 1313 |
As Frank and I arrived at the host hotel Thursday night (long after dinner had ended) one of the front isolator mount bolts on Frank's borrowed S3 decided that it was done doing it's job. So in addition to replacing the rear rubber on the S3 we had to somehow extract the remainder of the bolt still in the front head before any fun could begin on Friday. Thanks to Jose bringing his stands Frank and I were able to pull the back wheel off the S3 to have West Bend H-D/Buell swap out the rubber with a tire that the owner of the bike provided. After getting the new rubber back on the bike we decided to nurse the S3 to the dealership to let them have a go at extracting the remainder of the front isolator mount bolt. The time for the Technician to drill out the bolt, remove the portion of the bolt remaining in the head, replace the bolts and geet the bike back to being roadworthy was just .7 hours! Even having lived in SE Wisconsin for 13+ years I don't know how long West Bend had been carrying Buell, but the Techician that worked on the S3 knew how to work on Buell's and the dealership had the bolts in stock - both of which were quite a pleasant surprise to me! Unfortunately because of the activities with the S3 I was unable to participate in BattleTrax, but it did leave me with time to check out this interesting hillclimber.  Pictures like these 2 say that there are other Buell riders who ride their bikes.   Some of the cool stuff back at the hotel after Friday's activities.    Here Norbert's S2-T (on the left) demonstrates the characteristic S2 lean while Buellish's S2-T demonstrates the upright posture of the custom sideplates made for use with the late tube frame Buell sidestand (while the S3-T in the background can be used for a comparison).  There ended up being two smiley faces in the parking lot by Friday night, but unfortunately I was not present for the creation of either one.  After the nice dinner at the hotel (although being from SE Wisconsin I really wanted to cut out of dinner and have the traditional Friday Night Fish Fry) it was time for Erik Buell and the Thunderbolts to provide the musical entertainment for the evening. Sorry, I didn't take any pics of the band, but other Homecoming threads make up for it. Tomorrow it is off for day 1 at the race track. 1313 (Message edited by 1313 on July 03, 2005) | ||
| 1313 |
At Road America the BRAG Hospitality area was set up right by turn 5 and, let me tell you, it was set up like never before. Below are some of the cool static displays.     There were demo rides available on the '05 Buell's.   Erik was signing autographs on whatever you brought for him to sign. Here Erik is about to sign Frank's cool Carbon Fiber Bandit helmet.   I can't believe that nobody caught the new for '06 Buell that was hiding in plain sight (althought very cleverly disguised) at the BRAG Hospitality area.  I guess it wasn't apparent unless you looked at the front of it, but this has got to be one of the new for '06 Buell's.   Among the bikes in attendance at Road America was this pristine RS1200.  Even though some badwebbers flamed this bike, if I could afford to build a bike right now I would be building something very similar to this.  To me the bikes I've owned and ridden have been chosen by me to please nobody but myself. The bike was for sale at the track, but I would still rather build it myself. In an effort to show some people how my S2 differs from a stock S2 I took these pictures of Court's S2 next to mine. How many differences can you spot?   Here's Roger's bike again, but this time with a rare '96 High Voltage Yellow S1 Lightning ridden by his son. When was the last time you saw a High Voltage Yellow S1 ('96 only color)?  After hanging out at the BRAG Hospitality area for a while Frank and I decided it was time to check out the pits. Before the rain made us cut our tour short I caught a couple of shots of these BMW sidecar rigs which I thought showed plenty of attitude.   Killing time inside the BRAG Hospitality tent during the rain I decided to take this picture of this XB9R in everyone's favorite color.  After the rain finally subsided I caught this picture of an RS1200 with the flip up seat upright. How many of you have seen an RS1200 with the flip up tail section actually up?  When I was living in Wisconsin my S2's plate was I8DUC, so when I stumbled accross this XB9S from Minnesota you know I had to take a picture of it.  After everything had dried out I decided to go up to watch the racing action. The rider in the next picture went down with his bike flipping wildly and some of his body parts appearing to bend in unnatural ways. But I am disappointed in my skills as a photographer as I was so caught up in watching and exclaiming 'Ooh, ah, oh, that's gotta hurt' that I didn't even think to take a picture until he was getting the bike back up.  After the races were over on Saturday and we let the traffic leaving the track thin out we headed over to Seibkin's Resort to check out the scene there.  One of the more unusual bikes in attendance at Seibkin's was this 1917 Indian. When the owner rode it off into the sunset it sounded pretty much like a modern day Harley with a mild set of pipes.  My eyes just noticed that R1200GS in the background. I picked up a British bike magazine, Bike, recently that says the R1200GS is outselling the R1. Just thought that fact was interesting information. The ride back to the hotel definitely included adventure as one of the 11 Buell's in the group ran out of gas. A little time on the roadside netted a couple of water bottles full of gas from Jose's bike to nurse us all to the next gas station. Tomorrow would be day 2 at the track for most people, but Chad (skeeter_xb) and myself thought that we should show Frank some more American culture by going down to Uke's H-D/Buell for their 75th anniversary party. 1313 | ||
| 1313 |
Sunday at Uke's we saw many interesting sights. From a ratted-out Jap bike:  To this V-Rod with a wild airbox cover (I guess the V-Rod boys are catching up with the Buell boys and opening up their airbox covers...):  I upheld my Homecoming tradition and took some pictures of shirts during my time in Wisconsin. I think this was my favorite.  Uke's had their drag racing V-Rod and M2 on display.   To anyone that has seen the radiator shrouds on my V-Rod they will appreciate my sheer irony in seeing the Buell stickers stating 'Own the Corners' so close to where the radiator shrouds contact the ground when you are leaned over.  The main reason for taking Frank back to Uke's was because Bubba Blackwell was scheduled to do a jump as part of the 75th anniversary celebration. Here are some pics of Bubba warming up for his jump.     And one shot showing the bikes he performed stunts with.  One thing I really love about digital cameras is that they take so long to take the picture after you snap the button. Here's the pyrotechnics after Bubba jumped the 10 Ford trucks in front of Uke's.  After Bubba's jump I decided that there was one more American institution that Frank should visit before calling this trip to the US complete. That American institution is Hooter's.  Who know's maybe we would be like some outspoken badwebber and overhear some info on the new Buell's for '06 while we were eating dinner. On our way to Hooter's we had to stop at House of Harley (H-D/Buell) in order to get one picture to prove to Frank's friends that 'Yes, everything is bigger in the US.'  After Hooter's Chad was headed back to the hotel in West Bend while Frank and I left for my parents house before we both headed our separate ways the next morning. 1313 | ||
| 1313 |
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. Frank's flight out of O'Hare was at 1:30 p.m. and I had to be back at work on Wednesday morning and it's a 2 day ride back home. Before leaving my parents house, my odometer was displaying:  Good thing it is broke in... As I will really need to get on it if I want to make some time, especially after the delays in dealing with Chicago. Because of Carlos showing me the shortcut on my way up to Homecoming I was able to make it to West Virginia before I stopped for the night. The next morning I actually put 9/10 of a mile on in a parking lot in order to safely get this next picture.  I have pictures of every bike that I have ever owned when the odometer reads 1313.0 miles, but only you and I know this one is really 101,313.0 miles. I made it back home in a lot less time by taking Carlos's advice on the route, but still ended up putting about 2,900 miles in the 11 days of vacation (with 2 whole days not even riding).  1313 | ||
| Blake |
OUTSTANDING! Thanks for sharing all that. I felt like I was right there with you. Really great stuff! | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
what Blake said.  Ferris | ||
| M2nc |
Brankin, Always glad to be of help. Great pictures. For my part, not long after the pictures of our two bikes in Grayson KY, a familiar stripe showed up on my back tire. Still 50 some miles from our destination, I had to try to find a dealership open that could help a wayward traveler that over estimated the life span of a sport bike tire at freeway speeds. Most of Sunday I spent trying to find an open dealer to change out the back tire and finally found Harley Davidson of Cincinnati Eastgate HD/Buell on the east side of Cincinnati. I explained my dilemma and asked for help. The manager said no, too busy selling t-shirts to help me. So if you live in Cincinnati, consider yourself warned, HD of Cincy will leave you stranded, so develop a business relationship with someone you can count on. Having to be at work the day after Memorial Day, I set out on Monday for home with 650 miles in front of me, and a striped back tire behind me. I looked up Buell Dealers on my route and made my first stop at South Charleston WV HD/Buell. The dealership was closed but I met some guys with Buells nearby that told me I was out of luck there for finding someone to change out the tire. So back to the interstate I went and headed for Virginia. After stopping at Bluefield VA HD/Buell to find them closed too and getting some lunch, I inspected the back tire to find the first small spot of white on the back tire. Knowing I was pushing my luck, and only being a little passed half way, I call in the calvary. I called Dave (AydenXB9) and told him my dilemma. He hooked up the trailer and headed my way as I jumped back on the Interstate and headed his way. We decided that the halfway point was the Greensboro HD/Buell dealer, also closed. Just after passing the West Virginia/ Virginia line I decided to get off the Interstate a while. The speeds were the cause of my fast deteriorating back tire and at 70mph I was a target on the interstate. Knowing that US52 use to be the North-South path before I-77, I pulled off on US-52. Wow, a must from now on. As I approached the Jefferson National Forest, I hit a mountain pass, switch backs, decreasing radius turns, the whole bit. Just to put icing on the cake, the road had just been black topped, the lines hadn't even been painted. "Saving the center of the tire," I enjoyed the ride all the way down to Wytheville VA. There I jumped back on I-81/I-77 and head toward NC. Just before the big downhill on I-77, I decided to get off the interstate again and head to Fancy Gap VA and back onto US-52. Just before that big downhill I decided to stop and check the tire. I met a guy on a HD Fat Boy and he was heading the same way. After seeing that the white stripe was now longer, the guy on the Fat Boy decided to escort me to Winston Salem NC. Nice guy. Now about twenty miles away from our meeting place, I waved off my escort and headed down Business 40 to keep my speed down. I rolled into the dealer at Greensboro NC to find I beat Dave there. Thirsty I went to pull out to get a drink to see Dave in his Jeep pulling the trailer. We literally arrived within a minute of each other. Dave said he missed the exit the other way and saw me going the other way. If it wasn't for that we may have made it there at the same time. We loaded up the bike and headed the last 150 miles with the bike on the trailer. With 5700 miles on the back tire, that was the best mileage I've gotten out of a D205, though if I had my way, I would have only gotten 5200 miles out of it. Carlos | ||
| Pdxs3t |
Cool Thread,thanks for sharing the ride, next best thing to being there! | ||
| Reepicheep |
Sorry to hear about your Cincy experience. F&S Buell in Dayton would have been a better bet. They were my "local" dealer, even when I lived in Cincinnati. Geesh. Even aside from the "rider down away from home" aspect of things, with the amount of profit on a dealer tire install, you think they woulda found a way to work you in. | ||
| M2nc |
Reep, F&S was unfortunately closed for the holiday. The sad thing about HD of Cincy-Eastgate was that I first got a hold of a salesman that must have come from the service side of things. He told me he could change the tire because the service department was closed but he had to ask the Manager and would call me back. The manager told him no because they were too busy. Nice guy huh. No blood, no foul though. I made it home safe and added it to the A in BRAG. Dave & I have a good laugh after we pulled out of the Greensboro HD dealer. | ||
| Buellish |
Brankin, Great pics and commentary.I'm with you on that Super Glide w/the XB fork,wheels and V-Rod illumination.To hell with what any body else thinks!It makes me want another HD.I keep looking at the photo I took of it,and getting ideas. Mike | ||
| Oldog |
what can I say, thanks for sharing Brankin Jim | ||
| Nitsebes |
Thanks for the pics 1313. |
