| Author | Message | ||
     Cityxslicker |
OK Ground Hogs Day is over. Is it time to throw off the winter and start planning the 25th Anniversary YET? I wont be making it to MBV. So the big Buell Ride for me this year is the Anniversary, Homecoming. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
I'm stoked, this will be my first ride to ET for an anniversary. If I'm in town for the weekend, I'd like to hit Dana's bar and anything Buell going on for Summerfest. | ||
| Birdy |
Been thinking about taking a boat there!  No I haven't been drinking check this out. How'd that be for style to show up on a boat on a Buell! I'd miss Chicago too! http://www.lake-express.com/ | ||
| Court |
There is a thread, with lots of neat photos, of when Chauly (I call him Chuck) and I took the ferry from Michigan to Wisconsin a couple years ago . . . I highly recommend it. In fact, if I could pull it off this year I might try to . . Looks like I may have 25 - 50 guests arriving in NYC from overseas for the event . . . Anyone else (based on the ad that ran today by the Travel Agent in Europe for the Buell Homecoming trip)  think Buell is underestimating the potential crowd? Somebody might find and dig that thread out . . . the boat is amazing . . the moment they pass the breakwater . . . that babe FLIES ! | ||
| Birdy |
Court there are two of them One run a bit to the north and is larger but slower. They even list Motorcycles. http://www.ssbadger.com/newhome.aspx | ||
| Etennuly |
Wolfridgerider, Us_uly, Jimduncan69, myself and many other Buellers did it last year. $70.00 each, mention the Buell Homecoming, and order ahead of time for tickets to make sure of passage on the right day at the right time. It is a first class ride and a nice place to take a nap after a day and a half of riding to get there. No Chicago, and a short hop to host hotels after de-boarding. | ||
| Jimduncan69 |
Chicago isn't that bad. Mark "wolfridgerider" and I had no problem making our way home thru there at 85 to 90 mph...... It was kinda like pole position on atari! | ||
| Socoken |
Im seriously considering going for my first time. It would be a lot more fun if I had a tour guide though, anyone passing through La Crosse, WI? | ||
| Badlionsfan |
if i go, that'd be the way i'd do it. eff chicago on a holiday week. | ||
| Court |
The Badger is the older northern ferry. The Lake Express is the southern high speed unit. Chauly (I call him Chuck) and I took the Lake Express and it was an absolute delight. I'm certain either would be a wonderful experience. I'd take it even if Chicago wasn't there. . it was simply fun. . . one of the reasons I ride Buells. Chicago, speaking as a person who used the 973 mile driveway to driveway for extensive product testing, is a crap shoot based on local conditions. Like NYC they have traffic reports with genuine traffic jams at 11:00pm on Wednesday nights if there is any incident. It could be good (I've made it through in under an hour) or bad (I've spent over 2 hours) . . it's a crap shoot. Either way . . . just make sure you are there. | ||
| Danger_dave |
I'm going to start rattling the 'sponsorship' tin to see if I can get there. We can produce something about the event worth a couple of hundred thousand you tube hits. I'll start annoying my Publisher and H-D Aus first. | ||
| Paint_shaker |
I'm in!!!! Leave has been approved!!! I will be there... Now.... who's lawn can I crash/sleep on??? | ||
| Court |
Dave: There will be folks from Australia present as well that would be interesting to interview. We're meeting Paul and Kathy in Italy and traveling for a couple weeks with Buellers from several other countries. Then we'll all head back to NYC to meet what looks like 25-50 coming from The Netherlands and head to East Troy. The Aussies at the factory could be an interesting sidebar . . . I met Ross and Charles (Townsville and Sydney) on the road one day, saw their S-1's, introduced myself and started talking. They pulled into the factory late one day and I gave them the tour. Paul and Ross (Pilot) have been to Buell events in the USA (before they got together and set the land speed records in Oz) more times than most USA Bueller. It's truly going to be a once in a lifetime event. The Buell folks unfortunately block access to internaitional Buellers on the website so I've conducted a bit on an ex parte action . . . the event was written up with all instructions about who to contact for travel to Buell, in Holland yesterday. Could be fun. By the way . . . . if your wife comes along I'm pretty sure there will be some interesting SCU happenings. Both Erik's wife and mine would shoot us if we threatened them with a day of tire kicking. There is a new Calatrava facility in Milwaukee and, unbeknown to some, Milwaukee is a hub art art and cultural activity (old beer money) and I'm seeing a side trip to Frank Lloyd Wright's home. . . I, for one, think it's time he is held accountable for those straight back chairs . . . everyone knows chairs require 15o to accommodate shoulder blades. . . . Anyway . . . get in gear and let me know what I can do to help make it happen. | ||
| Chauly |
I'm back from Urp (I was in "the Italians' neighborhood in Como, but didn't have the contact info...  ), and planning upcoming riding this year. I'm pretty sure the Homecoming is on, riding up from Central VA through WV, KY,OH,IN,MI, Lake Express, WI, then reverse. (I may have my 10 yo grandson with me, but it may be too much ridng for him. We'll do a couple of long weekends' stuff before then.) There's one guy joing me from the Richmond Riders (Cary Abrams), and maybe more. Court, I still think you should lead the gang south before you go west, showing them a bit more than I-80! (Message edited by Chauly on February 03, 2008) | ||
| Damnut |
Court, Are all of you going to ride from NYC to ET? If so, when are you planning on leaving? I wouldn't mind joining that convoy as I will be going that way as well. | ||
| Davegess |
Chicago is certainly a crap shoot on traffic. One thing you can count on is that the morning and afternoon rush hours will suck. It is possible to scream right through at 90 mph and it is possible to take an hour to go 5 miles. My wife used to do it every day, she has had things like truck tires come bouncing over the median right into here lane, she has had people come across three lanes of traffic and run right into the concrete median for no apparent reason. It can be a very nasty drive. | ||
| Court |
>>>>she has had things like truck tires come bouncing over the median right into her lane, My riding partner, Vickie's cousin, who rides one of his 7 bikes EVERY day . . . one one unusual day had to pick up kids in Brooklyn. He came through the toll booths on the Verazzano Narrows Bridge in their Honda minivan. Just as he is coming on to the bridge . . . an 18 wheeler going the opposite direction, about 60mph, lost a complete wheel and Budd rim. The thing was bouncing like a golf ban thrown on a concrete sidewalk when it hit his car. It totaled the Honda and crushed . . . as in totally demolished . . . the 3 childseats in the back. . . took out every window and the roof was on the back seat. He, other than being bombarded with all the flying glass was uninjured but pretty shaken. Scored him a cool $400,000K settlement (see 7 bikes above) and taught him a good lesson. He, as I mentioned is one of those guys who almost NEVER drives. . . . I mean the family goes to FL on vacation and he follows the car on the Busa and the kids alternate riding with him . . . . You can learn a great deal from a true combat rider. I'd put, in the Unites States, NYC and Chicago in the same league. They can hold lots of surprises. The best thing that happened to me was the time I left East Troy on an X-1 with a set of brakes under test to make the ET-NYC-ET run. I was running late, left ET about 3:30 PM and had to be at a 9:00AM funeral in NYC the next day. Lit out of 2715 Buell Drive and headed down Highway 120 thinking I make better time staying off the interstate. I was the subject of 3 "near miss" radar attacks before I joined the interstate near Kenosha. Then I hit Chi-town at frickin' rush hour and spent two hours, feet down, duck walkin the bike through town . . . and I was distracted just enough to loose track of my fuel burn which, of course in the continuing sage of Court the riding idiot, had me run out of fuel in Gary, IN about 30 minutes after dark. Gary, Indiana didn't just get it's reputation . . they earned it the old fashion way. Pushing a motorcycle through the worst 'hoods in the dark is unwise. . . doing it in a blue Aerostich with lots of cables, wires and a manufacturers plate doesn't help. It was a long way to the Amoco station in the days when, absent GPS, you just pushed the bike around looking. I was pleased enough when I got back on the road to not bitch about holding the throttle at 3500 as the Phillips system relearned "normal" and slowly forgave me. This was the same night I pulled into the remote area of Pennsylvania at 3:00AM to buy the Trojan cruise control. There were two rubbers in the pack and I still recall the kids face as I took one, tossed him the other one and told him "go have a good time". 44 States. 10,000 stories. | ||
| Court |
You may want to read and carefully think about the above before you think about riding with me. Anymore, if I am going to go further than 500 miles, my wife won't let me go unless I go with Chauly (I call him Chuck) as a de facto riding chaperone. He's perhaps one of the top long distance guys and infinitely less a public danger than I. | ||
| Oldog |
This was the same night I pulled into the remote area of Pennsylvania at 3:00AM to buy the Trojan cruise control. There were two rubbers in the pack and I still recall the kids face as I took one, tossed him the other one and told him "go have a good time". Roflamo! } | ||
| Court |
No better cruise control for a Buell than a rubber. . . but a lubricated one can spoil a perfectly good trip. . . ya learn a lot circling the United States a couple times. | ||
| Slaughter |
Awww geeeez Sunny just asked me WHY do you need a rubber if you're just using your hand???? (OUCH!) | ||
| Court |
SMART ASS ANSWER OF THE YEAR 2007: A college teacher reminds her class of tomorrow's final exam. "Now class, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury, illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!" A smart-ass guy in the back of the room raised his hand and asked, "What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?" The entire class is reduced to laughter and snickering. When silence is restored, the teacher smiles knowingly at the student, shakes her head and sweetly says, "Well, I guess you'd have to write the exam with your other hand." | ||
| Jlnance |
FWIW, I came back from homecoming last year via Chicago. It absolutely sucks. They sprinkle the interstate full of toll plazas. And I think the tolls are something like $0.80, so not only do you get to deal with pulling up, finding neutral, taking off your gloves and fishing money out of your wallet, you get to deal with change! I'm sure if you live up there you figure out how to deal with it. But we don't have toll roads in NC, and I found them a PITA on a bike. | ||
| Jlnance |
I took one, tossed him the other one and told him "go have a good time". ya learn a lot circling the United States a couple times. I see that one of those things is that it's unwise to return home from a business trip with a rubber in your pocket.  | ||
| Court |
>>>I see that one of those things is that it's unwise to return home from a business trip with a rubber in your pocket. Please . . . don't get me started on that. I have a REALLY FUNNY story. Remind me to tell you, perhaps at Homecoming how similar an empty Trojan pack and a pack of matches feel in the pocket of your jeans. It was a bad night to be a "perfect gentleman" when I saw Nancy's dad fumbling with his lighter and handed him my matches. I could have SWORN I threw that empty pack, not the matches out, parked on that country road. . . . It was our last date. | ||
| Buellinachinashop |
Can anybody confirm or deny that Queensryche is playing the HD stage at Summerfest for Buell's 25th? I've been hearing rumors. | ||
| Slaughter |
How about airport security? I'd just emptied my pockets of change, keys, taken off my watch and shoes and then set off the alarm. Take my glasses out of my pocket. Alarm goes off again. I'm sent to the "wand lady" who goes over me and it's beeping on my shirt pocket. She asks me what's there... guess what? Yep - foil wrapped. Tripped the aiport alarm. We both felt a bit awkward for a moment there. | ||
| Unibear12r |
Aw yes. X-ray security machines. Once upon a time... I was working one at one of our courthouses when a woman ran her purse through. I'd already learned the hard way to NEVER dump out a purse when the conveyor accidentally did so once. This purse had more wires, batteries, cylinder like thingies than I'd ever seen before. Could have been about FIVE bombs or so. But the lady and her husband looked very much like your typical local red neck couple. So I had to do a visual. Purses can be nasty. Hypos and razors and the like. I pop this thing open and it's full to the brim with small odds and ends and shredded paper! So I had to dig. I could feel many heavy cylinder like objects towards the bottom of the purse. I see one end of one poking up and it has a dial on it's end. I grab it and pull it out... It's a seven inch, ahem, marital aid. There's about thirty people trying to get in the courthouse. I don't know who was more embarrassed - myself, the lady or her husband. I knew what they looked like on the X-ray monitor after that tho... | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
That lake express thing is insane! I took it last year and I think the whole trip took 2.5 hours. I was really impressed.  Check out the cool old Porsche | ||
| Crusty |
Can anybody confirm or deny that Queensryche is playing the HD stage at Summerfest for Buell's 25th? I've been hearing rumors. Just so long as it isn't Elton John. |
