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West Virginia roads


jschaf

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We ran WV last weekend. Recommended roads include 16, 34, 60 (partial near Hawks Nest State Park), 39 (partial) 291 (partial), 15, & 20.

Sidenote; On the way down we hit up Dalzell road (Washington County road #15 (OH) & the pavement was suprisingly clean & the road was amazingly twisty. On the way back we took some gravel roads (the west end of OH SR 676 out of Marietta, & SR 555 North. Both of these roads were utter Crap in many places.

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  • 1 month later...
We should get a WV trip planned.

Yes. Here is an excellent reference for WV roads (OH is also on this site)

http://www.motoroads.net/wv/wv.htm

The guy who maintains this site has ridden more backroads than anyone. He has helped me with a few routes before. I have ridden most, if not all the WV roads he has listed...

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The Southern part of WV 16 is one of the best roads I've ever been on, and goes all the way down into Virginia and North Carolina. It was raining pretty hard when we were down there so we couldn't go very quick, but I still had a great time.

The Northern part that I rode with Tony earlier this year was also really good.

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We ran WV last weekend. Recommended roads include 16, 34, 60 (partial near Hawks Nest State Park), 39 (partial) 291 (partial), 15, & 20.

Sidenote; On the way down we hit up Dalzell road (Washington County road #15 (OH) & the pavement was suprisingly clean & the road was amazingly twisty. On the way back we took some gravel roads (the west end of OH SR 676 out of Marietta, & SR 555 North. Both of these roads were utter Crap in many places.

What was your round trip time? How long did it take you to get to the good stuff?

I need to hit WV at some point, but it's not going to be this year due to the shrinking window of daylight and warm weather.

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388904_493358274016929_439815931_n.jpg

I rode there this weekend... Amazing. I can't recall the name of the road off the top of my head, but the road that goes from highway 33 to the top of spruce knob was amazing. Took gravel roads up one side of the mountain, and that ridiculous stretch of paved 2 lane down the mountain. Deals gap ain't got shit on that piece of pavement. Not a single car, house, road or driveway. Epic.

I learned one thing this weekend. I fucking love gravel. (as long as its not on top of pavement)

We hit a peacock at about 60mph, I didn't know they could fly. Picked up the front end when i saw them walking across the road, and then they decided to half assed fly. They made it as high as my head. I ducked, but my girlfriend took one straight in the helmet.

Edited by mgbgt89
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What was your round trip time? How long did it take you to get to the good stuff?

I need to hit WV at some point, but it's not going to be this year due to the shrinking window of daylight and warm weather.

To get to the best roads in WV from NEO you really need to spend 3days/ (2 nights). You can still ride some fantastic roads on a 2 day trip, but you are so close to twisty awesomeness you might as well spend another night.

I did about 2,000 miles over 4 days (mostly in WV) 5 or 6 years ago. The rt 33 mountain pass between WV and VA is one of the few roads where I just had to turn around and ride it a few more times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PR2VW-qXD7w

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To get to the best roads in WV from NEO you really need to spend 3days/ (2 nights). You can still ride some fantastic roads on a 2 day trip, but you are so close to twisty awesomeness you might as well spend another night.

I did about 2,000 miles over 4 days (mostly in WV) 5 or 6 years ago. The rt 33 mountain pass between WV and VA is one of the few roads where I just had to turn around and ride it a few more times.

This is the exact reason I was asking...because I always assumed I needed to spend at least a night or 2 for maximum faptitude.

I need to get a trailer now..or another bike. No way I'm riding that round trip on the ZX10. Those days are long gone.

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To get to the best roads in WV from NEO you really need to spend 3days/ (2 nights). You can still ride some fantastic roads on a 2 day trip, but you are so close to twisty awesomeness you might as well spend another night.

I did about 2,000 miles over 4 days (mostly in WV) 5 or 6 years ago. The rt 33 mountain pass between WV and VA is one of the few roads where I just had to turn around and ride it a few more times.

That stretch of road is fucking awesome. That's where we hit the peacock actually.

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This is the exact reason I was asking...because I always assumed I needed to spend at least a night or 2 for maximum faptitude.

I need to get a trailer now..or another bike. No way I'm riding that round trip on the ZX10. Those days are long gone.

Meant to add this before....

In 2,000 or so miles the only slab was the ride from Cleveland to Bolivar and back. I might have ridden another 8-10 miles of slab in WV just to connect a route, the rest was twisty goodness. I still have my route somewhere.

A trailer wouldn't help that much, because the nights would probably be in different locations.

I did that trip on my Buell XB9S...damn good bike :bow:

picture.php?albumid=1368&pictureid=16604

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BIG difference on an XB9 vs the ZX10. Way too aggressive of a stance on the 08 ZX10 to slab it or straight line it (for me) for a trip like that. If the only slab was to Bolivar, that's not bad. The Buell was comfy and you're talking about a different set up with the bars vs the 10 so it's apples to oranges. For the record, I miss that bike. Maybe one day I'll buy another one for my kids to jump on. At least that's the excuse I'll tell myself.

The ZX10 is great for carving the corners, but any extended straight line action has become an erection killer for me as I get older. If I had to buy that bike over again....

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BIG difference on an XB9 vs the ZX10. Way too aggressive of a stance on the 08 ZX10 to slab it or straight line it (for me) for a trip like that. If the only slab was to Bolivar, that's not bad. The Buell was comfy and you're talking about a different set up with the bars vs the 10 so it's apples to oranges. For the record, I miss that bike. Maybe one day I'll buy another one for my kids to jump on. At least that's the excuse I'll tell myself.

The ZX10 is great for carving the corners, but any extended straight line action has become an erection killer for me as I get older. If I had to buy that bike over again....

Yep. It's hard to justify not having 2 bikes :)

I pretty much have the Gladius set up identically to my old XB9. It's great for long days of corner carving. Still, I have this feeling that a CBR600RR will be sitting next to it before next season.

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I would definitely be up for a multi-day WV trip. Everytime I've ridden down there it's been great. I won't promise I could keep up, but I can read a map and make it to whatever the final meet spot might be.

Inya, have you looked at a set of Helibars for the ZX-10R? They made my R1 good for pretty much all day riding.

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I would definitely be up for a multi-day WV trip. Everytime I've ridden down there it's been great. I won't promise I could keep up, but I can read a map and make it to whatever the final meet spot might be.

That type of ride needs a slightly slower pace. Unfamiliar roads...and putting a bike down in Coshocton would suck, but nearly as bad as lowsiding in Buttplug, WV.

Someone (other than me :) should organize this. I can help with the route, but not enough time for the planning. For day 1, you can make it from NEO to Harrisonburg, VA in a day (the mountain pass on WV33 ends up there). Harrisonburg is a college town, complete with college bars and restaurants that are walking distance from hotels.

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That type of ride needs a slightly slower pace. Unfamiliar roads...and putting a bike down in Coshocton would suck, but nearly as bad as lowsiding in Buttplug, WV.

Someone (other than me :) should organize this. I can help with the route, but not enough time for the planning. For day 1, you can make it from NEO to Harrisonburg, VA in a day (the mountain pass on WV33 ends up there). Harrisonburg is a college town, complete with college bars and restaurants that are walking distance from hotels.

Just checked that route out a map - looks like a winner to me.

You could easily make that a heck of a great 2-night trip (Ohio --> Harrisonburg --> Summersville or Charleston --> Home) and keep the distances to around 300 miles a day.

You'd even be close enough to get on VA/WV-311 on the way to Charleston, which I would definitely recommend while in the area.

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I would definitely be up for a multi-day WV trip. Everytime I've ridden down there it's been great. I won't promise I could keep up, but I can read a map and make it to whatever the final meet spot might be.

Inya, have you looked at a set of Helibars for the ZX-10R? They made my R1 good for pretty much all day riding.

I'd be up for a multi day trip as well, just not this season. Next season, for sure. The sooner I can get it on the calendar, the better.

I looked into the Helibars...and was really tempted at one point..but there are other factors in the riding stance on the ZX10 that would make me want to throw that $$ at a different bike. I still consider it an option though.

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2 days would be good. We took 3 because it was a family ride with a lot of waiting. The CBR doesn't do too bad in the long haul but I will probably be looking for something more comfortable that still corners well as I approach my golden years.

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