Triumphrat

ohiorider · 09-19-2006

I posted this note to the Yahoo W650 forum, but if you substitute Bonnie for W650, the story is much the same .... one great ride. Check out the website. These roads are as good as I've ridden, especially Rt 219 from Bartow to Lewisburg, WV.
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Which bike to take? They all have a fair amount of miles on them.
The T100 Bonnie is the youngest, with 14,200. The R100GS is time-
proven .... love them all. I pick the Kaw, because she has the newest tires, and most recent oil change. Plus, she's a sweet little ride.

My riding buddy, Roger, and I are off to the mountains of West
Virginia, a 5-6 hour ride from Cleveland, Ohio. His R1200GS
overwhelms the little Kaw from a standpoint of physical size, which
makes me question whether to take her or the old GS. We're
headed to Pocahontas County, West Virginia, a place where we've
ridden at least once a year for the past several years.

The W650 was perfect. The bike was in its element. (What's not
this bike's element ....it runs at 70 on the slab with no problem,
and roars thru the turns in 2nd and 3rd gear like a little road
racer). I love the Kawasaki low bars for this kind of traveling.
For me, not too low, not too high .... just right! I'm geared just
a touch higher than stock, with a 38 tooth rear sprocket. And with a
Marsee tank bag, FiveStar bag mounts, and Givi E21 bags, it's a mini sport-tourer.

To make time, we took the Ohio and PA Turnpikes, then I-79 south,
running at 70-75mph. Every time I do this, I think back to a BSA
trip I made 40 years ago, and think about what a wunderbike this
would have been in 1966.

300 miles over, a few less returning (better, slower route), and
approximately 500 miles in those West Virginia Hills. This'll hold
me all winter!

For any of you folks in the Eastern US, especially Ohio, Maryland,
Washington DC, etc, if you haven't ridden these roads, you owe it to yourself to do it.

Although it's getting late in the season, you might be able to
squeeze in a day or two (or more). If not, consider it for next
year.

Hope the web site (below) gives you food for thought over the upcoming
winter season.

Regards,

Bob

Link to road maps

[ This message was edited by: ohiorider on 2006-09-19 21:54 ]

1409 · 09-19-2006

I live in the DC area, ride all those roads. Love the New River area, Snowshoe area, Seneca Rocks. One bad thing is you have to keep a eye out for gravel on the roads, doesn't stop me going back tho. :-D

ohiorider · 09-19-2006

Quote:

On 2006-09-19 21:09, 04blackbonnie wrote:
I live in the DC area, ride all those roads. Love the New River area, Snowshoe area, Seneca Rocks. One bad thing is you have to keep a eye out for gravel on the roads, doesn't stop me going back tho. :-D

............ plus deer. I do my best to get to the motel before 5-6 pm, before most of the horned critters begin moving into their grazing areas.

The state could pave these roads in diesel fuel and I'd still keep going back, too.

It's almost like the Dept of Highway's engineers who designed these roads understood motorcycles and motorcyclists. Add a Bonnie to these roads, and suddenly it's 1966. For me, anyway.

Bob

mecscc · 09-20-2006

Ah, yes. Deer. We were staying at the Old Clark Inn in Marlington last year when the deer got me and totaled the Thunderbird: at 11:30 AM! Luckily it was the last day of the week trip so we had ridden most of the roads.

Sue and I went back to the Inn and stayed a night in Marlington at the end of our Blue Ridge Parkway ride in July - mostly to thank the folks who own it since they were so nice when I got slammed - sending all out stuff back to us by UPS, following up on how we were doing, etc.

Nelson and Andrea run the Inn which is motorcycle friendly and has covered parking for bikes, etc. Nelson has several bikes of his own and knows all the best local roads, including some that are not on most maps.

Next time you go down that way, look them up. The Old Clark is downtown, 1/2 block off the main drag.

Monte

retrobiker · 09-20-2006

That's a 'must ride' for me someday.
Thanks for the link.

ohiorider · 09-21-2006

Quote:

On 2006-09-20 10:44, mecscc wrote:
Ah, yes. Deer. We were staying at the Old Clark Inn in Marlington last year when the deer got me and totaled the Thunderbird: at 11:30 AM! Luckily it was the last day of the week trip so we had ridden most of the roads.

Sue and I went back to the Inn and stayed a night in Marlington at the end of our Blue Ridge Parkway ride in July - mostly to thank the folks who own it since they were so nice when I got slammed - sending all out stuff back to us by UPS, following up on how we were doing, etc.

Nelson and Andrea run the Inn which is motorcycle friendly and has covered parking for bikes, etc. Nelson has several bikes of his own and knows all the best local roads, including some that are not on most maps.

Next time you go down that way, look them up. The Old Clark is downtown, 1/2 block off the main drag.

Monte

Monte - I didn't realize you had your deer encounter in West (BG) Virginia. Thanks for the info about the Old Clark. We usually stay in Bartow, near Snowshoe, but Marlington would work just about as well. I saw one of the deer critters do a ghostdance across narrow Rt66, just outside the Cass Railroad area, and I came to a near stop just in case his brothers or sisters were following. They're amazing .... one minute nothing, then there they are. Well, you know what I mean!

Bob