MrFurious

I've basically come to the same conclusion in the last couple years. My last two bikes have been behemoths (Yamaha Road Star 1600 and Kawasaki Concours 14), and while each has had it's benefits I never found either to be anywhere near as fun to ride as my old Kawasaki EX500 or Vulcan 800A due to their size and weight. In fact, even before I bought the Concours 14 I really wanted a sub-liter class bike - something in the 750-1000cc range. Unfortunately at the time (and still to this day actually) there was no such thing as a proper middle-weight sport touring bike with standard hard luggage, a comfortable/neutral riding position, and adequate protection from the elements. The old Honda VTR750/800 Interceptor was about as close as it got, but the ergo's on the VTR were too sport-oriented for my liking and I really didn't care for Honda's optional hard bags. While I still don't see my ideal solution being offered by any manufacturer there are some good options out there that can be made to suit my needs... The Triumph Bonneville's and Tiger 800's are appealing, as are the BMW F800's. The Suzuki DL650 and the Kawasaki Versys 650 are proven performers. The new Honda CTX700 is another possibility Ideally what I would really like is a Goldwing Lite, or a full fledged middle weight touring bike that offers most of the bells and whistles of the bigger bikes but in a more streamlined and lightweight package. In fact, if Honda were to take the old 800cc VFR Interceptor V4 engine (or even the old Flat-4 Wing engine) and build a modern aluminum chassis around it with the hard luggage, full fairing, Lazyboy seat, cruise control, good suspension, etc and offer it for around $15k I'd be the first one in line to buy one. But no, these days anything even remotely resembling that has a lathargic v-twin engine in it and handles about as well as a canoe in Class 4 rapids. The old adage still holds true... It's always more fun to ride a slow bike fast than it is to ride a fast bike slow.

I'll second the BRP, but since you're coming from the NE I'd head down to Wheeling, WV to catch US-250 and take it to Elkins, WV where you'll run into US-33 and SR-55. The two split at Seneca rocks; SR-55 will take you to Front Royal, VA and the north end of Skyline Drive, and as Meef noted US-33 will dump you out at the north end of the BRP near Elkton, VA.

I went up with some friends in 2010 and it wasn't too horrible, but it was the first weekend not the busier second weekend. We camped at East Harbor SP which kept us away from the craziness in town as well (well, except for having to evacuate the campground at 1am fleeing tornado's Sat. night...that was just a little crazy). I can assure you though, OBW is no Chilli....not even remotely close! Chilli is closed off (quarantined?) and pretty much anything goes even though they "supposedly" have stricter nudity rules now. They run a much tighter ship at OBW and the fairgrounds camping area is a lot smaller and easier to keep a handle on. Also, once everything moves downtown on the second weekend the worst thing you have to worry about is the drunks. Do I plan to go back sometime? Don't see it happening anytime soon as I just wasn't all that impressed. I was also pretty put off by the town of Port Clinton and their Chamber of Commerce when they wouldn't let me enter their bike show because my bike wasn't a Harley. Talked to several Goldwing and Victory owners who were extremely pissed about that as well.

I decided on tangerine candy flames with lots of metal flake over basic black with silver striping. Still waiting for my fairing to get here so the spray can fly, but here's a PhotoShopped example.

Looking for an earlier (1993-2000) clean, well cared for Honda XR650L. Willing to pay up to $2000 depending on condition and mileage. You can contact me via PM here on this forum or email me directly at webmaster@baker-media.com Please include details about the bike, photo's and your asking price when contacting.