| Author | Message | ||
     Hogluvr |
This Ohio boy is heading to the big city to pick up his new-to-him RS in the a.m., wish me luck!  | ||
| Sleez |
have fun!!! | ||
| Steeleagle |
Sweet! Don't feed the bears on the way! | ||
| Reepicheep |
Cool! Have fun! | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Be careful, it's a jungle out there. You'll be posting pics of all this, of course. Right? Have a great time and I hope you get to see Court in the process. Make him buy the BBQ, you get the beverages. The boy can EAT! | ||
| Hogluvr |
Well, 23 hours later my new baby and I are home, tired and delirious. Details to follow when I regain consciousness  | ||
| Steeleagle |
Way cool. Pictures, or it didn't happen! | ||
| Hogluvr |
Ok, had some weird problems with my camera so only a few pics, sorry. Left at just before 3 a.m., man that's early on a Saturday!!  An hour later had my first "incident". I-80 splits off and becomes PA turnpike, I was to stay on I-80. Got a couple miles past the split, there is another split and it's I-80 all the way to NY, unfortunately a FedEx truck pulling doubles didn't quite make it around the curve, rear trailer flipped. End result, road shut down, can't get onto I-80!! After about 45 minutes of driving around, stopping and asking for alternate routes, got back onto I-80 and all is good. Drove for a few hours, after awhile I was down to 1/4 tank, started looking for a gas station. There were lots of exits up until this point, now nothing but blacktop and trees, starting to sweat.  Now I'm down to 1/8 tank, it starts going pretty quickly from here pulling a 1000# trailer, trying not to get into panic mode. Come up to a rest area and decide to stop, they usually have a map posted, wanted to see how far I needed to go until the next exit. When I walked up saw an interesting sign posted on the glass.  Next exit was only a few miles up the road, pulled into a gas station with about 1/16 tank of gas by now, on fumes but all is good! Things were pretty uneventful after that, PA is a long state to drive across! Fought the sleepies a couple of times, it had been raining the whole time up until this point, sun finally tried to peek out.  Finally made it across PA and into NJ, figured I'd better get gas again before entering NY. Is it me or is it kinda strange that they still have people pumping has for you, haven't seen that here since the '80's. As a matter of fact that was my first job as a teenager, told that to my kids and they just looked at me like a couple of deer in headlights! Anyway, now I have followed MapQuest's quirky directions and now find myself at the Holland tunnel, ready to head into NY. As I go through the toll gate all the nice, lovely people are cutting me off trying to get in front of me, some a-hole in a Nissan tries it twice, watches as my trailer fender removes the dust from his door, I may be a poor 'ol boy from Ohio but I've driven through traffic too! He did end up backing off, it was total gridlock at this point. Now comes the next incident. From inching through traffic my front brake is trying to lock up, happened once before when I hit a huge chuckhole but not since. But now I can smell the brake burning and feel the truck dragging, figured I needed to push on and get through this madness! Made it through the tunnel into NY, man it's another world over here!! It's now noon and the place is loaded with cars and people, can barely move. I inch my way down the 8 blocks or so I need to go to turn onto the Manhattan bridge and continue on to Brooklyn, it is total chaos. Everybody is beeping and swearing at each other, there are vans that I assume are delivering stuff, no markings, that just pull out in front of you and then just stop! Same with buses, they try to take off your fenders to get in front of you. Toto, I'm not in Kansas anymore!!  Finally make it to the Manhattan bridge, map says I need to go down Flatbush Ave. for several miles and I will be there, looks like a smooth ride from what the map shows, guess what? More of the same, except instead of 8 blocks it's now about 8 miles!! My truck and trailer are swerving in and out of traffic, swearing along the way, maybe I do fit in here lol!! Now the brake smell is really prevalent, starting to worry how the hell I'm gonna make it 500 miles back home, figured I'd just take it as it comes. Hey look, Ave R, I made it!! Ken the owner is waiting there for me as I pull up. He is as nice as they come, but what would you expect from a fellow Bueller?  After a few beers and an hour and a half of chewing the fat, it's time to load up the bike and head back for home. Ken gives me directions for an easier way out of the city, thank God!! I am now on my way back home, cross into NJ and heading for PA. I make it into PA and head toward I-80 when a monsoon hits! Holy crap, the truck and trailer are both sliding, people are pulling off or just stopping right in front of me, it gets totally crazy. I think I've only driven through a storm that bad once before, when I was driving truck, wasn't any fun then either! Finally, get through the storm, hit I-80 and head back home, a little more rain but nothing like before, and no further incidents. 23 hours later, sleepy and tired I finally pull back into my driveway at just before 2 a.m. Total miles driven 1055.1, ouch! Crashed out and slept most of the day today, this old body was sore and tired and didn't want to get out of bed! My baby is now unloaded and sleeping in her new home. It was a long, rough journey but it was worth it, the end result was we both made it back unscathed.  I am now eating dinner at 10 o'clock at night, have to get up early and pull 10's this week in the hopes of getting off early Friday for my next road trip, a week's vacation with the kids in N. Myrtle Beach. Another road trip, but compared to this one it should be a piece of cake! | ||
| Coxster |
What a find! The RS1200 is what made me a fan of Erik's creations, and that is one BEAUTIFUL bike! Saving a photo for the screen saver  | ||
| Court |
I'm so sorry I was out of town . . .what a trip! That is a gorgeous RS1200 . . looks to be in perfect condition. Well done! Court | ||
| Ratbuell |
Very nice. I'm sorry I didn't get to spend money on it, but I am glad it stayed "in the family". Enjoy the ride! | ||
| Steeleagle |
Good recap and nice bike! Enjoy! BTW: Berea area is near my old stomping grounds. We may have to hook up when I renew my membership in the family some weekend. | ||
| Davegess |
Cool tale, cool bike. | ||
| Dannybuell |
That bike looks like a virgin! Congrats! p.s. get your brakes fixed. | ||
| Ustorque |
Wow, what a beauty! Congrats on the new bike, what i wouldn't give for a day on that on some nice quite back roads! | ||
| Court |
A day on the RS1200 . . . . on some lazy back roads . . . . would be a rare and satisfying experience. There are no bikes currently made that handle like the RS1200 (except the RR1000, RR1200 and RSS1200 in that group). Years ago . . . and at about 100 appearances at various locations . . . I did a thorough explanation incorporating my "imagine a plumb bob hanging out of your ass" story. Keep your "quick" and "sharp" handling bikes. The RS is what I've described as "elegant" handling. A careful study of the RS (old timers recall the "milk crate" chronicles) will show why. The bike rewards the wise with a ride that's amazing. I miss mine and this RS1200 is a pristine example, rarer than some yet realize for interesting reasons, and a museum piece that I hope will be ridden from time to time . . precisely as intended. Art. | ||
| Hogluvr |
Thanks for all the compliments guys! She is a real beauty, a work of art. I just had to sit down and stare at her for a while before I pulled her off the trailer yesterday, simply an amazing machine. A couple small flaws in the paint and that's about it, Ken took very good care of her. I've got to email that picture I took of him with the bike, I'm pretty sure he was tearing up as I was pulling away. And yes she will be ridden, maybe not as much as my other bikes, but she will see blacktop again, the first time in 14 years since Ken was last able to ride her. Erik built these bikes for that purpose, and I am anxious to see what amazing things he did with this bike!! | ||
| Zenbiker |
Ouch!!! That bike is so pretty it hurts my eyes!! Or maybe it is my new glasses, either way, very nice and clean. Although I have 2 pristine S2s in the garage, I envy you. | ||
| Two_seasons |
Love that bike. Looked hard at it too, when it was for sale. Love Brooklyn too, a very unique community! | ||
| Rich |
Congrats! | ||
| Court |
Mike: What manuals and paperwork did you receive with the RS1200? Court | ||
| Davegess |
Riding one of those is a rare pleasure. Not hyper or intense in any way but deeply satisfying. I used to work long hours at the old Jefferson street building and one of the perks that kept me very happy was being able to grab a shop bike and take it to dinner. An hour on an RS just before sunset will keep one very focused on making more of them | ||
| Hogluvr |
Court, Got the owner's manual and title, that's about it. Ken thought he had the original bill of sale but couldn't find it, said he'd send it to me if he came across it. Thanks for the compliments guys, she shore is purdy, ain't she??  | ||
| Coxster |
hogluvr - some day this cold winter, you could scan the manual and post it for the rest of us to drool over. Thanks again for your chronicles on this quest  | ||
| Leftcoastal |
Thanks Michael for the tale and photos! That bike's a beauty - You're a lucky man to have it in your garage! Keep after Court about any manuals you didn't get with the bike - he has a vast store of them, somewhere, and if you're willing to wait a bit, he will try to locate them and get you copies. At least, that's the rumor! Well done on your new-to-you museum piece! | ||
| Kalali |
What a great story and what an awesome bike. A piece of American motorcycle history. Thanks for sharing and enjoy the new ride. | ||
| Court |
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| Hogluvr |
Very cool stuff Court! Ken came through for me, got a package in the mail today, had the original bill of sale from the dealer in Mt. Vernon, IL. He also sent me about 8 new unworn t-shirts! A first-class act! | ||
| Davegess |
Mt. Vernon, IL That brings back memories, those guys were a good Buell dealer back in the day. Not big volume but they knew how to sell them. Can't remember the owners name but he was a character. | ||
| S2pengy |
Dale Walksler who owns the Wheels Through Time museum now in Maggie Valley NC., but was in Mt Vernon Il | ||
| Davegess |
That it, Dale. I used to call him up and twist his arm to take another RS. Every once in while he said yes. | ||
| Rex |
May have to check on a manual for my RSS | ||
| Hogluvr |
It's so cool to see this post and see all the memories come rushing back, I really love reading this stuff! It's like I own a time machine  | ||
| Whistler |
Nice to discover this is fun and informative section of the Bad Web. Thanks Mike for posting this very interesting thread. |
