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Feb. 2nd, 2004 01:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizillaI left early Saturday morning and drove my truck to Cleveland for the motorcycle show. There was much snow between here and there, and single digit temps, but still some of my friends teased me about not riding there.
These motorcycle shows aren't that thrilling, really. If they had them in the summer, I don't think I or most of my friends would bother to go. But I have a lot of riding buddies who I don't see as much of in winter, and it's fun to meet up with them and geek about all the various bikes, and argue for our favorites. The show was packed. I'll go again in three weeks when the show arrives in Detroit, and see it with a smaller crowd.
I was keen to see the new Suzuki DL650 V-Strom. It has the SV650 motor in the same frame as the DL1000. So it feels remarkably similar, but it's about 50 lbs lighter, with less horsepower and it costs $2500 less. It's got a lower seat height but not by much. I hope someone I know buys one and lets me test ride it.
I stopped by the Yamaha booth and asked if they were showing the new two-wheel-drive dirtbike that they ran in the Paris Dakar this year, but they were not. They said a lot of people had been asking about it though, they wished they had one to show.
KTM had a 950 Adventure that had been lowered, and I still couldn't flatfoot it. I could get one heel down but not both.
Jennifer liked the Moto Guzzi Breva. Phil liked the DL650. Milt liked the FJR1300.
I went to the Autocomm booth and spent way too much money on little black boxes and wires and adaptors and stuff, to install a CB radio in my V-Strom. Jennifer got a Bohn back protector and Mike Freeman got a new flip front helmet.
After the show, Phil and Jennifer and I went to dinner with the HSTA at a nearby restaurant. It was crowded and noisy there. I sat next to Doug Grosjean, who is always entertaining. And I won a prize in the raffle, it's a free entry to the Mail Pouch Fly-By.
After dinner we went back to David Ryder's house and joined the Sabmag gang to tell lies for a couple hours. Milt made his trademark margeritas. I stayed the night there. In the morning I overslept and didn't get to say goodbye to Milt before he left to fly back to California. When David and Susan and Mike returned from taking him to the airport, we sat around and told lies for another hour or so, and then I drove on home.
There was a radar cop sitting on US23 in Michigan. Very weird. I suppose it makes sense; that area's been built up a lot in the last several years and there are far more cars there now. I guess the days of using that stretch of road for top speed testing are over.
This evening I worked in the garage for a little while, organizing the tools in the new toolbox. Michael helped me lift the old toolbox up on top, so now I have a tool cabinet on wheels. I'm totally geeked!
These motorcycle shows aren't that thrilling, really. If they had them in the summer, I don't think I or most of my friends would bother to go. But I have a lot of riding buddies who I don't see as much of in winter, and it's fun to meet up with them and geek about all the various bikes, and argue for our favorites. The show was packed. I'll go again in three weeks when the show arrives in Detroit, and see it with a smaller crowd.
I was keen to see the new Suzuki DL650 V-Strom. It has the SV650 motor in the same frame as the DL1000. So it feels remarkably similar, but it's about 50 lbs lighter, with less horsepower and it costs $2500 less. It's got a lower seat height but not by much. I hope someone I know buys one and lets me test ride it.
I stopped by the Yamaha booth and asked if they were showing the new two-wheel-drive dirtbike that they ran in the Paris Dakar this year, but they were not. They said a lot of people had been asking about it though, they wished they had one to show.
KTM had a 950 Adventure that had been lowered, and I still couldn't flatfoot it. I could get one heel down but not both.
Jennifer liked the Moto Guzzi Breva. Phil liked the DL650. Milt liked the FJR1300.
I went to the Autocomm booth and spent way too much money on little black boxes and wires and adaptors and stuff, to install a CB radio in my V-Strom. Jennifer got a Bohn back protector and Mike Freeman got a new flip front helmet.
After the show, Phil and Jennifer and I went to dinner with the HSTA at a nearby restaurant. It was crowded and noisy there. I sat next to Doug Grosjean, who is always entertaining. And I won a prize in the raffle, it's a free entry to the Mail Pouch Fly-By.
After dinner we went back to David Ryder's house and joined the Sabmag gang to tell lies for a couple hours. Milt made his trademark margeritas. I stayed the night there. In the morning I overslept and didn't get to say goodbye to Milt before he left to fly back to California. When David and Susan and Mike returned from taking him to the airport, we sat around and told lies for another hour or so, and then I drove on home.
There was a radar cop sitting on US23 in Michigan. Very weird. I suppose it makes sense; that area's been built up a lot in the last several years and there are far more cars there now. I guess the days of using that stretch of road for top speed testing are over.
This evening I worked in the garage for a little while, organizing the tools in the new toolbox. Michael helped me lift the old toolbox up on top, so now I have a tool cabinet on wheels. I'm totally geeked!
