Triumphrat

jjmeadowlark · 10-18-2009, 04:17 PM

I don't know what really to say about it. There were times I found myself really enjoying myself, and times I thought it was totally lame.

Things I noticed:

Sunscreen is my friend. I need to pay better attention to my friends

I don't understand how there weren't a thousand fatalities... The drinking was out of control, and I don't understand how you can drink all day, then hop on your bike and ride. Baffling. I took cabs in the evening for saftey, and hit all the spots: Broken Spoke, Froggy's, Iron Horse, Dirty Harry's, etc... Just makes sense!

Harley-Davidson saturation was met within 20 minutes of arrival.

There is a massive (no pun intended) obesity problem in the USA.

There have got to be a TON of guys who are below average in the pants. I've never subscribed to the 'compesation' idea until this weekend. I firmly believe the louder the pipes, the smaller the package, it was annoying and stupid, but those guys were soooooo proud of it, and you could see the shame, disgrace and anger on their faces when a guy with louder pipes rode by, as if their masculinity took a hit or something. Retarded.

5% weathered, hard core bikers, 15% motorcycle enthusiasts, 40% Harley riders, 40% hangers on. The 80% ruined it for the rest of us, and is the part I thought was lame.

The place was like a fashion show. People styled their hair, matched their t-shirt, jacket and pants- and I just know looked in the mirror to ensure proper bandana-placement on their heads. At times I thought it was nothing more than an excuse to show off your latest aquisition from the HD collection fall line. Harley hat, jacket, t-shirt, jeans, socks, boots, gloves, etc. Sorry, you look like a tool. I just wore a regular shirt and people looked at me like I was a poseur, ridiculous.

It wasn't halloween, was it? I guess I got confused by the demure bank-teller by day / thong-bikini and assless chaps at Biketoberfest thing some of the women had going on. IMO, it's difficult to find something sexier or more attractive than a woman seriously riding a real motorcycle. Give me a full-face helmet and legit leathers over clinging to your man's back in lingerie any day- but maybe I'm weird.

Douchebags (Chavs for our UK readers) riding $80k choppers with gelled-hair and designer sneakers, and of course shirtless, so you can check out the bad-azz barbed-wire tattoo! You suck.

What's with all the jingoism? "Try buring this flag, azzhole" and other shirts with patriotic messages abounded. I love america and everything, but I never thought of motorcycle riding having a political agenda... I had a "did I accidentally drop acid" moment when (I'm NOT lying) an emcee got the crowd to join in giving thanks to the troops for fighting for our right to see the upcoming wet t-shirt contest. That's right.

Only the euro-bikers seemed to wear anything resembling proper gear. Tennis shoes (or $300 HD boots), T-shirts, jeans. A minority wore helmets, I had one of the few leather jackets out there during the day (fashion show in the eveing brought them out, but not for riding).

Didn't see a lot of Triumphs, but the ones I did were pretty cool. Went to the BMW dealership Saturday morning, and talked to a few folks that were there. Couple of Bonnies, a Thruxton, Thunderbird and others. Talked mods with the other Bonnie owners, that was fun.

A couple of people came up and said they were glad to see my Triumph and insinuated that they too had reached HD saturation and thought I had a much cooler ride that the 6 thousand folks all trying to be just alike. A couple of folks shouted "Wooo! Triumph!" as I did a few loops down Main street. Theirs were probably parked.

The riding was awesome. After I arrived, I logged nearly 200 miles before I left! I can say I've never felt safer on a motorcycle, it was as if the cars were the ones driving like they were invisible for a change! Wherever you went there were always a half dozen bikes around you. After the BMW meet up, I met a couple of guys going to St. Augustine, so I rode A1A up the coast and back, beach-side ride that was awesome.

I guess what I came away with was that while I really love riding motorcycles, I'm not so sure I like "bikers" that much...

I took a lot of pics, here are just a couple.. Cheers everone!

BigAl8295 · 10-18-2009, 05:55 PM

Sounds like what I would have expected it to be!

BluprintZ · 10-18-2009, 06:22 PM

Brilliant write-up Meadowlark.
Chavs, ha that made me smile,although not many of them are to be found riding motorcycles here, blinged-up Saxo's or Clio's maybe. LOL.
There are a few Harley riders in the area where i live, i've known most of them for well over 20 years or so and i must admit, i find it quite amusing that they are still bolting the same crap to their bikes, rather than gettin' their hands dirty and fabricating their own parts.
The result is that their bikes look pretty similar to each others, pretty much the same "off the shelf" parts can be found on various bikes.
They still growl and wear shades though.

G : )

ga_guy1 · 10-18-2009, 06:44 PM

Yeah I was there as well and usually go every March and October. I never expect it to be anything more than all the stuff you mentioned and just learn to ignore all the "junk" (bikes, people, etc.) and have a great time with the guys I'm with. We usually spend a lot of time demo riding and just watching the crazy sights. Was disappointed this year that the Triumph/Ducati showroom at Rossmeyer's was closed. I asked about it and was told they were moving the showroom to another building but that it would be open again soon. Also disappointed at the weak manufacturer turnout. Although I didn't spend a lot of time at the track where the factory demo tents are this time I didn't see Triumph, Suzuki or Honda along the main area and Kawasaki and Yamaha had very very small areas compared to spring. I think October is becoming more of a party and less of a true biker-enthusiasts's event. It is amazing that ALL those party-goers all show up on bikes each night and seem to all leave on them somehow. It was fun, but you could definitely tell a difference between the stronger economic years and this one. It really did feel like "Recession Biketoberfest" hopefully things will get back to normal soon because I do like going but it's hardly worth it if there is literally nothing to do but compare t-shirt prices in tents and drink. And WHY do the NASTY, flabby, cottage-cheese waisted women ALWAYS seem to show up in a fish net body stocking and nothing else? And does every loud-pipes-save-lives disciple on a chromed out noise-maker HAVE to leave the engine warbling for 20 min while they back it into a parking space at the hotel at 4am? We need to organize a Triumph meet-up down there sometime so we can just create our own fun if Triumph isn't going to do it for us. Anyone got a tent?

Catenaccio · 10-24-2009, 04:22 PM

Thanks for the write up and pics. Sounds like a heck of an adventure. Just the sheer number of people would put me off. Guess that's why I live in Nowhereville and ride solo.

hypervista · 10-24-2009, 06:55 PM

Thanks for the report jjm! Nice pics too. I don't think I'd like going to such an event, but I do like reading about it and gawking at pictures. I've heard some bikes get stolen at these things. Did you hear anything about bikes going missing while there?

jjmeadowlark · 10-25-2009, 08:16 AM

Didn't hear anything about stolen bikes, and I never even engaged my steering lock or secured my Bonnie in any way. Felt safe, there were tons of people wherever I parked. I did park in paid and staffed "motorcycle only" lots, so it would be hard to get a truck in to load a bike.

I did see lots of cops with "Motorcycle Task Force" shirts on walking up and down Main street checking motorcycle VINs. I'd like to think they were looking for stolen bikes- but more likely they were doing title research on choppers, looking for scrivener's errors or other paperwork problems so they could issue big $$ tickets.

Have some more pics, but haven't really looked at them or uploaded any. Been working too much since I got back.

plowboyzzt · 11-06-2009, 01:27 PM

Love the way you described all that. I've had all those thoughts but never described it half so well as you did.....think Sturgis '07 for me. So many Harley's...all having spent their cash to 'make it mine'....and all the big 3 Japanese trying for a piece of the same pie. It has worked for them, much to the detriment of enjoying variety.

Skye · 11-06-2009, 09:21 PM

I call it the 1 million Santa ride. All the fat guys with white beards is staggering.

Next year, my triumph will be done, and I will be taking pictures of every santa and put up a website dedicated to Santa Harley sightings throughout the world.

I'm local, so we run and hide when they're all around. We're 30 minute ride to mayhem. Next year, come over, and we'll ride to Cabbage Wrastling.

danielk · 01-09-2010, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hypervista

Thanks for the report jjm! Nice pics too. I don't think I'd like going to such an event, but I do like reading about it and gawking at pictures. I've heard some bikes get stolen at these things. Did you hear anything about bikes going missing while there?

I'd have to agree with HV - may be one of those things you have to see once for yourself - then, there's no need to subject yourself to the craziness again