A GS in Sturgis 2015

[bomber737]

Hi to all

I recently returned from a trip to sturgis this year and I had a wonderful trip. I though I would share my experiences and some great pictures of my trip. I wound up putting around 1800 miles on my gs in 5 days and had the chance to really get in touch with my inner GS. My story starts on August first when I got married to a wonderful woman who also owns a Gs thanks to me. You can see the build for her bike on the site. We did a quick 2 day honeymoon and on aug 3rd, I dropped her off at her house and went home to load up my GS and change the oil. A few days before I had put new tires on my bike and installed a set of JBM industries vac slide diaphrams. I did take it out for a test drive before I left but only put 30 miles on it. Everything seemed kosher so I went. I went with Perelli sport demon this time as the duros had 8000 miles on them and were beginning to cup. They did wear very well and they were great tires in the rain. I can say that I absolutely love the suspension up grades I have done to my bike and it made this ride way more enjoyable. I cant say enough good things about Deycore rear shocks and sonic straight rate springs with race tech gold cartridge emulators.
My bike all loaded up and ready to go From Brookings.

I was planning on leaving around 5am but as things go I didnt leave the house until 7am. So the first trial began, as I got into the mpls/st paul metro area I was in stop and go traffic. I went 24 miles in 1.5 hrs not a good way to start the day but you have to just press on. When I finally got out of the cities I was able to make up some time. I was supposed to meet up with a friend who lives way way up north in minnesota and he had ridden down to Brookings SD the day before and was waiting on me. The ride through Minnesota was beautiful and very relaxing but there are sooooo many little town between where I live and Brookings it was slow going. I finally made it there around 1pm. Not to bad and we made plans on getting to Pierre SD at least and if not to late to make it to Wall.

We made it to Pierre, I was completely wasted from the wedding, honeymoon and getting up at 4am to leave. I have to add that I have the coolest wife in the world. She had to work the day I left for Sturgis and she still said I should go and have fun, how cool. I went across most of Minnesota 100 miles at a time stopping to get a red bull use the bathroom and move on. The bike in the background is my friends giant 2000cc Kawasaki, you cant even hear my bike running next to his. This was the last time I heard my bike run for the next 4 days.....Once we gassed up we were on our way. I purchased a go pro like camera and I will try to include some videos I took on our adventure. In 6 short hours we were in Pierre for the night. I was done and had to get off my bike for the night. I will be writing this for the next few days as its now late and I am tired so stay tuned much more to come..........

 

[Ecklund]

Thanks for posting this.

Reminds us that Sturgis is suppose to be about riding and not some weird life style.

Good pics of the bike. I have a similar suspension set up. Agreed; immense improvement over stock and worth the money. Will check out the Daycore shocks.

 

[Eli69]

it's unnerving when you can't hear your own bike running. i'm looking forward to more roadtrip pictures.

 

[bomber737]

Its not daycore, its dey-core and they are located in Lake Elmo Minnesota, they are more of a snowmobile speciality shop but do motorcycles if you cantact them. Great people and are very hands on customer service. They set my shocks up for my weight and the weight of the bike. They also matched the spring rate of my front springs. The nice thing about these shocks is they are rebildable, and custom valved. They also damp in both directions.

 

[Ecklund]

Its not daycore, its dey-core and they are located in Lake Elmo Minnesota, they are more of a snowmobile speciality shop but do motorcycles if you cantact them. Great people and are very hands on customer service. They set my shocks up for my weight and the weight of the bike. They also matched the spring rate of my front springs. The nice thing about these shocks is they are rebildable, and custom valved. They also damp in both directions.

Yeah, even if you mis spell it the magic googles gets you there. The price seems right and it does appear they know what they are doing.

I should know about my next contract gig soon. And then I'd like to ask them about a set of piggy back type shocks. I'd really rather not spend a G on shocks but I'd like them to function at least as well as the Progressives with the HD springs I have now.

From your description their shocks have appropriate damping in both directions. Sounds like the right answer for a decent price.

 

[bomber737]

Yep I agree even spellers like me can find what I'm looking for. The dey-core guy is not big on the piggy back shocks. I can't remember the reason but I'm sure he's very willing to chat with you about it. I think my set cost me $450.

 

[steve murdoch]

Bomber, so far, so good!
I will certainly be following along.

 

[bomber737]

Day two started with on a good note. Little ham and some biscuits and gravy and I was rarin to go, unfortunately the bike had other plans. When I got the bike back on the road I changed out the ignition. It was flaky and every now and then it would just shut off when I was riding. All I had to do was wiggle the key and back it came so I just replaced it with a new one. I have never used the steering stem lock and it turns out I shouldn't have at the hotel. I went out side and loaded up my bike, put my key in to disengage the lock and the key wouldn't go in. No matter what I did it would not unlock. So out came my tool bag and I wound up removing the ignition and pulling it apart. Luckily the electrical part of it came out of the bottom and I was able to wire tie it to the clutch cable and get my bike started.

Once again, major problem fixed but I did have a sore thumb for a few days and a few broken fingernails. It worked but was a p.i.a. I reloaded the bike and off we went. Leaving Pierre was our entrance to the prairies of South Dakota.

This is a video of us getting into the bad lands from the plains.

[video]http://vid1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd414/bomber737/Sturgis/Going%20to%20sturgis%201.mp4[/video]

75 miles outside Pierre we decided to stop and get gas so we were near full by the time we got into sturgis. It's is not the place to be low on fuel. We gassed up and had some RC cola, when was the last time you saw that stuff and not been in Canada. Where the town was I don't know as you can see from the pictures we were in the middle of no where.

 

[bomber737]

Day two continues,
While we were in Milesville finishing our RC colas a guy trailering a road king pulled up. Turns out a large piece of farm equipment had spilled a bunch of hydrolic fluid on the road in the direction we were going and this guy's bike had slipped out from under him. He was pretty banged up and it was nice to see all the people at the gas station pulling together to get the guy to the hospital which was a ways away and help try and fix his bike so it was rideable. The bike was kinda a mess with broken lowers and an bent highway bar and shift lever among a few other road rash items.

Jerry and I got back on our bikes and left, we had friends waiting for us at the Buffalo chip and we were eager to get some sight seeing in before it got dark. The roads in that part of South Dakota are really nice. I am used to Wisconsin and Minnesota roads and usually they leave a lot to be desired. Up and down hills and through valleys we went then back to wide open prarie. The weather couldn't have been better as it was 75 to 80 degrees and nice sunshine the whole way.

[video]http://vid1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd414/bomber737/Sturgis/Going%20to%20sturgis.mp4[/video]

We finally got to the Buffalo Chip campground and that was where the traffic really started. It took us around 30 to 40 minutes to get into the campground as they have a stoplight set up at the entrance and there are a lot of people comming and going. Once we finally got to the registration desk and got our wrist bands I called my wifes friends we were staying with and they had left for the day already. I have to admit that her description of the trailer and where it was located in the campground was extremely poor and there was no way we were going to find it with out them. The place was packed wall to wall, or more accurately field to field. So we walked aound the goings on there for an hour and it got really hot. I needed to get back on the road to cool off so we looked at a map and decided to head down to Mt Rushmore. It only took us 30 minutes to get out of the "chip" and headed into town. More traffic and more traffic it was crazy. But it actually only took us 1 hr to find a road south out of town and we headed to a town called Nemo. The road to nemo was a very twisty mountain road and a lot of fun to ride and yes we did find nemo.

We found a great little place and stopped for lunch. If you ever find nemo I recommend stopping for the pork chop hamburger. That is a pork chop on top of a hamburger patty with all the fixins, it was delicious.

From Nemo we headed south to Mt Rushmore. The road became less windy and we were able to pick up our speed some. It only took us about an hour to get up to Mt Rushmore, we parked the bikes and walked up. I have not been there since 1977 so it was like I had never been there. Who really remembers sights when you were 7 years old.

The pace was crawling with people. Bikes are only $10 to get into the park and you are good for a whole year. The view was amazing and they have a bunch of coloms you walk through with the dates all the states became states and their state flags.

Here is some vid of us riding to Mt Rushmore
[video]http://vid1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd414/bomber737/Sturgis/going%20to%20mt%20rushmore%201.mp4[/video]

 

[bomber737]

More day two,

Jerry and I finally got ahold of the people we were staying with and they back at the camper. It was time for us to get on our way back to the Chip. It was getting late and I really don't like riding in an unfamilular area at night. Not to mention the mule deer and antilope roaming around. So we headed back up Hwy 385 toward Dead Wood. Hwy 385 seems to be the quickest way back to Sturgis but there was a lot of traffic going through Dead Wood and they gong was slow. We stopped a couple of times to get some water and look at what some vendors had to offer. One guy made custom hats, vests and seat covers. He really knew what he wanted for his wears and wasn't afraid to ask. He wanted $450 for the hat I liked so I had to pass on that and his vests were at around $2200. I guess he figures if you can afford a $30,000 Harley you can afford a $2200 vest to go with it. Glad I looked like I was on a budget riding my GS. The road from Dead Wood followed along a river valley and brought us into the west side of Sturgis.

[video]http://vid1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd414/bomber737/Sturgis/Going%20back%20to%20camper%201.mp4[/video]

Thats where The traffic got really bad, so we ducked into a gas station to get some gas. Like I said in first post, this is not the place you want to run out of gas as it takes a long time to get anywhere. It took us 2.5 hrs to get on the east side of town and it started to rain. We had been watching the weather on our phones as we rode around and been good at going where the storms weren't. Our luck finally ran out as we got half way through Sturgis and it started lightly rainning whick became a heavy rain as we got on east side of town but at least it was helping cool down my engine. The wind also came up as the storm got close so I figured id be ok to continue to the chip with out letting it cool down. I now know what its like to get through town 5ft at a time. The good news is I know my GS is not prown to overheating, I saw quite a few Harleys and other makes bailing to the side of the road to shut down. Seems like sportys really dont like prolong idleing.

This picture as when we were getting out of traffic but as you can see, taillights ahead for miles. We finally got back to the Buffal Chip in the rain and of course we had a hard time gettin in contact with our friends. Once we did we found out we were still a mile away fron the camper so back to the road we went and rode down to where we were camping. If you have ever been to the chip you know you are camping in a field and there are no paved roads so baha'ing through the puddles and mud we went. We finally arrived at the camper around 10pm and I was ready to get some dry clothes and cover up my bike. Not that it really needed it. As we were siting in the camper it started thunderstorming. Yea.

 

[bomber737]

On day 3 I awoke to clear blue sky's light winds and sunshine. Jerry had already been up and out side cleaning his bike so I got up had some coffee and went out side to access the condition of my bike. It was a mess, mud was everywhere and the condition of the road in front of the camper was terrible. Standing there looking at my bike I watched a Harley of some sort attempt to use it. Man the mud was flying and the guy almost wiped out a few time before he finally got back to the grass. I guess he thought the standing water would clean his bike off some as he kicked up water. It was quite comical. I grabbed a rag and started cleaning the mud off my chain and the rest of the bike.

Once everyone was up we went for bfast. Different menu this morning and I had home made corned beef hash and eggs with a home made biscuit. I was ready for another day on the road. We heard about a free bike wash and decided to go get out bikes cleaned before we set out and headed into town. The night before we had really studied the local map and found a way around most of Sturgis and it only took us an hour to get through town. Not to far from downtown there is a church and they hold a yearly bike wash. We pulled in and were met by a pastor who explained what they were doing and why prayed for us for a minute and we got inline.

 

[bomber737]

At the bike wash they offer many services like boot shines, hand and back and neck massages. They also have brats and hot dogs, ice cream, coffee and juice and it's all free, they won't even take a donation. I tried and they flatly said nope. It's ironic that I ran into a friend of mine washing bikes. Her and her husband go every year and work at the bike wash. It's just a small world and what are the chances that I would be qued into their line to get my bike washed. Once your bike is washed they say a quick prayer for you and you move on to the drying people. Once their done it's off to pose by your bike for a picture they put on their site for down load and your done. I was done first so I had some time to relax and get a massage, have a dog and some coffee.
A couple of the others in the party had not been to Mt Rushmore so it was decided we would head there first then south to Custer State Park then up to Devils tower and back. So we left Sturgis found Nemo once again and headed down south along hwy 385 to Mt Rushmore. Along 385 there is a beautiful lake with a visitor center and it was hot out so we stopped.

The guy on the left is Bill the Harley rider and center is Al, he rides a Kawi full bigger and myself.

it hadn't changed from a few days before more company is always better and they have some of the best ice cream there. A little ice cream and we were of to Custer Park via hwy 16A. The route we chose took us over the top of the mountains with a lot of switch backs and a few 1 lane tunnels. It was beautiful and there are some challenging areas on that road. Unfortunately we did come across the aftermath of 1 fatality with the ambulance, police and a histerical wife on the side of the road. It is a sobering experience seeing that as we were allowed to pass, I hope to never see it again.

#2 [video]http://vid1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd414/bomber737/Sturgis/Mountain%20road%20to%20custer%20park%201.mp4[/video]
these videos are in the wrong order
#1 [video]http://vid1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd414/bomber737/Sturgis/Mountain%20road%20to%20custer%20park.mp4[/video]

We decided to do the circle route through Custer park and not more than 5 miles into it we stated comming across wildlife. Antelope, Buffalo and a few mule deer. Down the road we went as we were running out of daylight to get up to the devils tower but the wildlife had different ideas. As we came over the top of a hill there was a traffic jam of bikes and buffalo. The heard decided to mill about on the road and I watched with amazement as people stood by there bikes as the Buffalo walked past them. People really have no respect for the danger they were in, at least we were 75 yards away if they decided to start running. those people had no chance if they did that. As we stood there a park ranger walked past us and we started chatting. She told us that earlier that day a couple of bikers had got between a female and a male buffalo and he had tossed the bikes over his head getting to the female.

[video]http://vid1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd414/bomber737/Sturgis/Custer%20park.mp4[/video]

After about 45 minutes the heard started moving of the road and we moved on. The rest of the ride through Custer Park was just enjoying the scenery. Once out of the park we headed for the town of Custer. It was quite a ways and we got to ride on the needles highway.

By the time we arrived in Custer is was around 6:30pm and every one needed gas. A quick check of the weather and we found out there was a few thunderstorms between us and the devils tower so we wound up scrapping that idea. So back to camp we went, found nemo again and made it through town in record time. Once you find alternative routes around down town its not that bad. We finished out the night having dinner at the chip and watching Tesla, Styx, and Def Leppard in concert. The frozen t-shirt contest was quite entertaining as well. By 12:30 I was ready for bed. Thus ended the day

 

[bomber737]

Day 4 started like day 3. Beautiful blue skys and light winds. It was warming up faster that day and we planned on taking it a little easy and not doing so much riding. Bfast was once again great, biscutis and gravy again. We finally found the showers so I got to have a hot shower that day. it was nice not to pour a bucket of water over my head and wash up outside the camper, not that I have a big problem with hair care. We decided that day was going to be the day we went downtown and walked around and went back to the camper through spearfish and roads to the north. Once again the traffic was horrific and I was glad to only spend 1.5hrs getting to downtown. We wound up parking in a local ladys front yard, she was delightful and allowed us to park for 5 bucks. WE were only 1 block off of main street. Her only condition to park was we had to have a glass of water and put a pin on a board with a map. We spent about 5 minutes chatting with her and went for a walk. Main street is a swarm of people and the streets are lined with every kind of bike you can imagine. For me the coolest part of Sturgis was to see all the custom bikes. You see them at the shows and on tv programs but you never see them going down the road, kinda makes you wonder if they actually move under their own power. At sturgis they were actually being ridden around.

Man was it hot that day, I think it got to 95 degrees. We stopped into one eyed jacks for a drink and were greeted by a super hot chick almost wearing clothes. Sorry no pictures of her....About this time we had had enough of downtown and left for spearfish and back to the camper. 4 hours downtown was plenty enough for me. We arrived back at the camper around 7 and walked over to get dinner and see that nights concert. I can't remember who was playing but every band had put on a good show and I have never seen any of them before. That night after the concert it was the final selection of Mss buffalo chip, yet another good show.

 

[allojohn]

Good read - thanks!

 

[bomber737]

Saturday brought the winding down of my Sturgis adventure. We had planned to leave that afternoon until we found out we were all invited to a pig roast/birthday celebration. We broke camp and got out bikes loaded up and ready to leave the chip. Jerry and I went downtown for 1 last walk around and to buy t-shirts for the family. You can't go to sturgis and not buy a shirt, right. So we did.

While we were down there we came across a small museum and went in. It's pretty cool, they had a road king that was completely chromed. Some gentleman from Mexico purchased it and had it disassembled and every part chromed. It was quite a sight my it must have been impossible to look at in the sun. They also had a few BSA's and Norton's and 1 Vincent and some other odd Harley's. There used to be a much larger museum but it was only open during the rally so the guy who owns J&P cycles purchased it and moved it to Animosa IA. I went there with my now wife on our first trip together and it is well worth a stop if your ever near that area.

Mission accomplished and we headed out of town to meet up with our friends at their house. What they forgot to tell us was it was 3 miles up a mountain on a dirt road. I was glad that I had purchased a couple of sissy bar bags at the chip and I got all my gear inside them. Once we got there we were able to rest for awhile and found out we had to go back down the road and up different road down the valley. Off we went again down the rutted dirt road and back out on the highway to the new destination. The other dirt road was much nicer and we arrived at the pig roast ready to relax and meet some new people. As I walked into the garage to grab a soda and what do I see, a really nice GS1000 with a side car no less. Just then I happened look over and saw the owner of the side car bike was admiring mine. I started talking with him and found out he acquired it at an garage sale for next to nothing and had it brought back to life. Next thing you we are looking over his bike and talking about what he's had done and how it rides. Turns out he uses it for day trips with his wife and dog around the black hills. He and the wife on the bike and the dog in the side car.

Then he offers me the chance to take it for a ride. Well I jumped at the chance and off I went down the road. It was really fun and kinda weird since I have never ridden a bike with a side car. Turning to the right it really wanted to lift up the side car and it pulled to the left when you put on the brakes so I am assuming the geometry is now quite set up correctly but it was still a hoot to ride.

 

[bomber737]

The last thread was getting long so here are a few more pictures of the

side car GS

After the pig roast Jerry and I said our goodbyes and headed south through Rapid City and points east. When we were at the roast we watched some big big thunderstorms develop and move east. We heard on the radio that Sturgis had been hammered by some huge storms with 70 mph straight line winds, I was glad we had left when we did. As I rode east I watched the storm that went through Rapid City and got as far as Wall SD when I decided I had had enough. It was getting cold and the road was wet and I didn't think I was going to make it another 60 miles with out running into weather so I stopped and got a hotel. I slept like a rock I can tell you. The next day was going to just be a short 400 mile ride to Luverne MN to see some friends.

 

[bomber737]

I woke the next morning to cloudy skys and slightly cooler morning temps. I was glad my jacket had a water proof liner so I was warm. I loaded up my bike and I was ready to leave by 8am.

It did really heat up later in the day. I really liked riding through South Dakota, going the speed limit of 80 you can cover some miles quickly. The bike's mileage didn't like it though. Between me and the bags on the back acting like a big sail my mileage dropped to around 38mpg. I made it about 170 miles and I stoped for some bfast and gas up. Seems everywhere I went I was approached by guys who used to own a GS and regret selling. I had at least 4 people come up to me at the bike wash. That never hapened to me when I was riding my 81 Honda CB750F Supersport and that was a nice bike as well.
Here is the CB right after I got it back on the road. I do sometimes miss that bike. I put a lot of trouble free miles on it and took it on a few 1000 mile trips.

Back to the story, I left and headed for Luverne MN at great speed and wouldn't ya know it. The wind must have come up and I was so having a zen moment I didn't notice and as I passed Mitchel SD I decided to press on since I had only gone 155 miles. I got about 5 miles past Mitchel and the bike started dying so to reserve I went. I have to admit, I have never had to switch it to reserve and I really did not know how much fuel I had left. My bike has a Pingle pet cock and I can usually make it 200 miles before I need to start looing for a gas station. Not that day, so I slowed down to 60 and hoped I had enough gas to get to a turn around and get back to Mitchel. As luck would have it 15 miles down the raod I found my first opportunity to turn around and there like an oasis in the desert was a gas station. As I pulled in I breathed a sigh of relief and shut her down. I was surprised to find I still had .8 of a gallon left. I put in 4.2 gallons so i could have gone another 20 or so miles, now I know. AS I sat there had a red bull and relaxed before my last push to get to my friends house I finally got ahold of them and made arrangements to meet up. I rolled into Leuverne around 2pm and met up wit my friends.

It was nice to se a few familiar faces and get off the road once again. My friends are riders as well, Nancy owns a 07 Yamaha 650 and Marvin owns a 76 Goldwing, 87 Goldwing and a 02 Yamaha Royal Star. Marv took me over to the garage he rents and I put my bike to bed for the night and unloaded what I needed for the night. I have never ridden any of Marv's bikes so I got a chance to ride Nancys 650 first then I took out the 87 Goldwing and finally the Royal Star Venture. I really lked the first 2 but the Royal Star was quite a pig. Very heavy steering and I am just not tall enough to ride it comfortably but it was fun to give it a try. I bet it would be a great touring bike for someone taller than I and having a radio would be nice. My helmet has bluetooth installed in it and I think I listened to every song on my phone a few times over. The nice thing was no matter how long a day I had, my helmet never ran out of juice to run the bluetooth so I was never musicless and I have a USB charger on my bike so my phone is always fully charged.

Marvin took out my GS for a spin later that afternoon. He is still a Goldwing guy, why I can't understand but to each his own. Right after I got back from my last ride on the Royal Star the storms moved in and man did it rain. Those cells were topping out at 55000ft. There was hard hard rain, lightning and thunder. I was glad I was under cover and didn't have to ride through it. Once the rain quit we went to dinner at a really nice local place and finished out the night visiting the guy who I needed to pay for one of my next projects. I made a deal for the new bike a few years ago and never had a chance to go get it so this was a prefect opportunity to get him paid.

What is the next project you might ask, its a 1978 GS1000C skunk. The bike is complete but it has a stuck engine. A year ago I picked up a 79 GS1000 with no title and that bike is complete as well. So I have some decisions to make in the near future. Spoke wheels or mags, unstick the stuck engine with only 9500 miles on it or use the running one I have with 45000 miles on it. Yes I have many decisions to make. Once that was done back to the house we went and I made it about 30 more minutes and I was out. I think Nancy was still talking to be but I cant be sure.

 

[bomber737]

The last day of my trip had arrived. I needed to get home as It was my day to have my daughters so I started early. I had the last 256 miles to cover and be home by 3pm. I loaded up my bike and was rolling by 8:15. I had time for 1 last picture with Marv as I got going.

The weather gods had truly blessed me on this trip and this day was no exception. Blue skys and warm temps. i headed east to Worthington MN then headed north toward Mankato. I got to Mankato around 1015am and stopped for gas. Since I was going to get home early I decided to call my mom and dad and have lunch with them. If you are even in the St. Paul area there is a little town called Lake Elmo. In Lake Elmo there is a bar called the twin points tavern and in my opinion they have the best burger in the twin cities. I arrived at the twin points at noon and my journey had come to an end as home was only 14 miles away. In all my trip took me 1789 miles and 6 days of pure enjoyment. If you can ever make it out to Sturgis I can't say I recommed the Bufalo Chip but its a place to lay your head, accomidations are not really that hard to come by and if you ask me your better off staying in one of the little towns surrounding Sturgis. Thanks for reading and Ill see you on the road.

 

[steve murdoch]

Nice travelogue, bomber.
The big smile on your mug in the last pic also tells the tale.
I vote for a Skunk with wire wheels for the next project.

 

[bomber737]

Thanks. It was a great trip and I was hoping to see some other vintage Suzis out there but I didn't. I'm not sure if I'm smiling because I was going home to see my kids or if I was slappy from being on the road for 5 days. I got home and I fell asleep.