Tinker

I ride a vulcan 1500 classic, its a pretty comfy ride once I swapped out the shocks, fork springs and bars.

I have to buy fuel around 150 miles and I'm either old or just not up for it. but all I said is know who your riding with, your style is great for you, we went down the state routes the only interstate time was about 30 mins on 40. did you just hop over towards cinci and run down 75 to 40? it was still fairly slab, but alot more view and state route slabs are just less boring. I think my issue was we took the "scenic route" and proceded to slab it out and it wasn't what we had planned out/discussed

I rode to pigeon forge, TN fom scioto county last year, was right at 330 miles each way. there is only one bit of advice, if you are going for the journey, ride with like minded people, we went down as a group of 5, 3 of the 5 were there to get to the bar at the other end, we stopped for fuel 3 times less than 15 mins a piece enough to fuel and drink a water and hit it. if I had known we were iron butting I would have just trailered down. we did do the dragon on the 2nd day, it was nice, probably would have enjoyed it more if I had trailered down, or just stopped midway for lunch, was hard to shake off the exhaustion.. it was nice and I would do it again, just no rush. if/when I do it again I won't be basecamping at Pigeon forge. The ride back I knew my way and set the expectation I was stopping longer and not killing myself...and if they needed to get home I would not be offended if they left me behind. This was my first goup ride, and was my last with that group, I learned a valuable lesson about knowing who you are riding with on longer journeys. I think with reasonable break intervals 2 hours then stop for a bit(a bit for me would be 20 mins the first time 30 mins the second and at least 30 for the 3rd), 450 miles a day would be a walk in the park. I would pick your end of day place for the longer days to stay out of tourist zones or heavily populated areas, it will probably be cheaper and you wont be in intense traffic exhausted.

lol @ every post in this thread, I needed a good laugh thanks

I ride a cruiser, and I am generally a slow poke, the whole pushing your limits thing is not where its at... yet... chasing people with their bikes already setup for them is at best a questionable idea. you need to ride for you for a while, I recommend finding a "safe" road and work your muscle memory through it.. I enjoy some of the smaller state park roads, woven into the contour and if you get out on a weekday often really quiet. I was having horrible handling problems on my cruiser, my stock style beach cruiser bars had my weight too far back and was making the front seem squirrelly, threw a set of drag bars on and the change in posture and weight distro has made a huge difference in the handling and soon after my confidence. I only figured this out by going slow and slowly getting faster and trying different throttle levels to see what was happening through the turns. its your bike, keep the parts for resale purposes but make it fit you. as far as large group rides go, there are some real yahoo's in some of the groups I've ridden with, not from OR but in general, and the last thing you need is to misjudge a turn and have to go wide and there be a bike where there shouldnt be. small groups of people you know, that know where you are in your experience would be much safer for you and them until you get yourself and the bike dialed in. JMHO.

not just a manx, in my sand rail I get waves and thumbs up on mine constantly, I believe there is a psychosis of jealousy, or because its a vw we are just hippies who play in dirt or something. in the buggy people will look at me at the light, take pictures etc, on the bike most people seem to avoid eye contact completely.

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/news/3620906/Motorcyclist-dies-in-US-23-crash I didn't know him personally, but he knew enough of my friends its all over my facebook. my prayers go out to his family and friends.

Batshit crazy this one...(referencing the coffee before anyone gets upset)

my next bike will not be a cruiser, I'm reasonably happy with my '97 1500 vulcan, but I wouldn't mind looking at a smaller 500-600cc naked sport type for running around town on, back and forth to work etc, hell even a little 250 scooter would be nice. the only major draw back I have with the cruiser is its piggish heavy to deal with in parking areas etc, and for just running around can be more of a nuisance than a cage. the newer ones are way better with the lower cg, but I like the high seat on mine it makes up for me being 6'2".. cant have it all I guess. point is, next be will be for commuting. save the cruiser for highway hauls and weekend rides.

I was turning up the road to my house and the intersection was full of gravel, I came up to the turn and a car blows the stop sign as I'm turning in front of him, I flip the throttle to scoot since I am commited (forgot about the gravel), hit the gravel and the bike starts to go over. I without thinking slam my foot down and kick the bike back up while tearing something in my foot... had to wear a brace for 2 months. great way to end last years riding season.

If anyone wants to run down to Portsmouth, Ohio area, its for a good cause and a good time. I'm not the guy setting it up just re-posting to get the word out. www.cfriders.org - donations will help families and indviduals in their battle against Cystic Fibrosis.

Articles like this show why I don't watch the evening news or read the papers anymore. Every story has so much slant you don't even get enough truth to make a call. If I am going to have to suspend reality to watch the news or read a paper i'd rather watch a movie or read a book. They need to not protect the media in slander cases at all so they wait for facts before dumping emo bs on the web.. I can get on facebook for teen attention whoring.. end rant.

another vulcan, probably a newer 1600 and turn it into a bagger, bigger tank and extra gears with more range. never hurts. probably going to turn this one into a bagger and a add a tour tank. not looking in the next 3 years though, not till kid #2 can go to public school and we get out from under day care.

the only reason they keep this stuff under wraps is to protect big oil profits, if they can keep us in the dark they can buy the oil at 1/2 or 1/3 of the price as it becomes available and keep prices up.

not being contrary but its not a Harley! mines a '97 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 classic. I bought it from someone who laid it down and the right side badge was ground to crap, popped the fender back and puled the dents from the tank as best I could/dared and shaved the badges to save $$, replaced the handlebars are switched to Harley style risers cuz I'm cheap and new handlebars and grips because I'm lazy. I had the air filter pods on both sides and took off the cross pipe and went to a single 9" K&N air filter on the right. it does look like a Harley somewhat but its still got the give-away of being a shaft drive, all in all I like my bike alot, its dependable and imo the only drawback is the weight + high CG can be a little unforgiving at times, but whats the fun in easy?