Sturgis

[DIGGER]

Me and my wife and our best friend travel buddies left last Tuesday from Houston in a dually pulling a 30' trailer  to Aurora Co to Mile High Harley Davidson where my son and his two buddies flew in and got their bikes and headed for Sturgis.  My son bought a brand new  full dresser about a month ago and is real excited about this trip.   We hauled the trailer over to Cody Wyoming where we have a vrbo rented for 5 days while the younger guys ride and then we are to pick up the bikes and they fly home and we trailer the bikes home.   They rode 2 days then yesterday my son and his group were in Deadwood and pulled into their hotel and while the other guys were waiting my son went in to check in.  While in there a Boss Hoss pulled into the parking lot and had a throttle malfunction and went wide open broadside into my sons brand new Harley and ran it over.  Parts everywhere.  The guy in the three wheeler was thrown out and had to be ambulanced away.  Soooooooo...... me and my buddy left Cody tWyoming at 2:30 am this morning and we are headed to Deadwood about 350 miles away to get my sons bike.  We are carrying a
4 th Harley they brought as a spare so he will continue with his trip.

And yes....they have verified the throttle was stuck wide open on the Boss Hoss

[Rams]

OH MY!!!  Fate?   That really sucks.

Rams   

[f6john]

Well at least the guy ran over a parked bike. I watched a similar episode unfold at Daytona years ago (minus the stuck throttle) where a Boss Hoss trike took out a long row of parked Harley’s like they were domino’s. I can’t imagine the headache involved in this one but perfect your son didn’t get hurt!

[Jess from VA]

I hope there's insurance and a good police report.   

Sorry for your troubles.

I can't imagine having my brand new motorcycle smashed up in any manner, including this one.    

[fudgie]

A spare? 

[Jersey mike]

Feel bad for your son, what a rotten turn of events for what should have been a great theme and experience with the new bike. Thankfully nobody was hurt, unless the Boss rider had some injuries.

[HayHauler]

Had the same thing happen to my Valk, Ole Blue.  Older HD rider was leaving the crawfish boil fund raiser, started his HD in gear, on the kick-stand.  It took off across the parking lot and rear ended my Valk, knocking it off of the kick-stand.  About $3k damage, but was still ridable.    

Glad your son was not on the bike when this happened.  Bikes can be replaced, sons cannot.

Hay 
Jimmyt

[DIGGER]

Feel bad for your son, what a rotten turn of events for what should have been a great theme and experience with the new bike. Thankfully nobody was hurt, unless the Boss rider had some injuries.

The Boss Hoss rider was ejected and rolled across the parking lot cutting his head and has a big knott on his head.  He was ambulanced to hospital and treated and was released.   Glad he wasnt bad hurt.  Story is he was a serious buyer and vender allowed him to take a day ride.  He developed a throttle cable problem.  He called vender who came out and temporary fixed the cable and told him to bring it back to venders booth at Sturgis for repair.  He didnt and kept riding then caused the accident.  Now this is third hand info and how accurate I dont know.   Glad he wasnt bad hurt.   

[HayHauler]

Wow!  Glad neither of them was hurt too bad.

Hay 
Jimmyt

[DIGGER]

Yesterday morning me and my buddy left the wives at the Cody rental and left at 2:30 am headed to Deadwood.  We met our group in Deadwood and delivered the spare Harley and loaded the wrecked bike and headed back to Cody.  We drove just under 700 miles round trip arriving back in Cody 15 hrs later.  
My son and his group are headed to Canada Banff National Park this morning I think.  We gonna hang out in Cody and wait for the next phone call.  We came on this trip with 4 Harleys and 3 riders.  All 3 of the Harleys being ridden have had to spend time in the Harley Davidson shops at various places.  So we are 3 for 3 on Harley breakdowns this trip.

[DIGGER]

A spare? 

One of the guys with us has 2 harleys so he brought it as a spare for the group

[John Schmidt]

Had the same thing happen to my Valk, Ole Blue.  Older HD rider was leaving the crawfish boil fund raiser, started his HD in gear, on the kick-stand.  It took off across the parking lot and rear ended my Valk, knocking it off of the kick-stand.  About $3k damage, but was still ridable.    

Glad your son was not on the bike when this happened.  Bikes can be replaced, sons cannot.

Hay 
Jimmyt

Jimmy, that's the reason I never start any bike in gear. I'm sure I have a time or two over the many years I've ridden but it's not my practice to do so. Early in my granddaughter's riding experience, I got on her bike...a smaller Honda, kicked it into neutral and hit the starter without squeezing the clutch. She about stroked out, she never knew about starting without using the clutch and had always left it in gear. When she told her husband, he didn't believe it was possible without using the clutch until she showed him. Guess he wasn't very experienced either. 

[Jess from VA]

My occasional riding buddy with an Interstate with only 40K, just emailed me pictures of his bike and campsite in Sturgis.  He said riding across the West at 90 to 110mph was fun. 

He also just put a Virginia Antique tag on it a while back (and VA limits riding antique tags to 250 miles from home, among other things).  17-1800 miles later he's had no ticket.   

Course' he can only get one from Virginia cops. 

[DIGGER]

Just got home from our tour of the NW United States.  We hauled my sons harley and two of his friends harleys to Aurrora Colorado where they flew in and went to Sturgis and then to Banff nationsl Park in canada and back down through Yellowstone park.   They were 7 days on their bikes and hooked back up with us in Idaho Falls Idaho where we loaded bikes back in trailer and they flew home.  Took us 2 1/2 days to drive back to Houston area including 2 days over 700 miles.  We pulled that 30' trailer 5,410 miles.  All went well for us.  15 days on the road.

2 more of my sons friends drove their harleys from Houston all the way to Banff and back.  One posted he rode a little over 5,000 miles

[HayHauler]

Just got home from our tour of the NW United States.  We hauled my sons harley and two of his friends harleys to Aurrora Colorado where they flew in and went to Sturgis and then to Banff nationsl Park in canada and back down through Yellowstone park.   They were 7 days on their bikes and hooked back up with us in Idaho Falls Idaho where we loaded bikes back in trailer and they flew home.  Took us 2 1/2 days to drive back to Houston area including 2 days over 700 miles.  We pulled that 30' trailer 5,410 miles.  All went well for us.  15 days on the road.

2 more of my sons friends drove their harleys from Houston all the way to Banff and back.  One posted he rode a little over 5,000 miles

I read about your travels.  Great memories!!!

Hay 
Jimmyt

[3fan4life]

My occasional riding buddy with an Interstate with only 40K, just emailed me pictures of his bike and campsite in Sturgis.  He said riding across the West at 90 to 110mph was fun. 

Riding at 90+ MPH with no worries about getting a ticket is FUN!

The gas mileage on the Valks goes to complete crap at those speeds though.

My Interstate was hitting reserve in 120-130 miles at those speeds.

He also just put a Virginia Antique tag on it a while back (and VA limits riding antique tags to 250 miles from home, among other things).  17-1800 miles later he's had no ticket.   

Course' he can only get one from Virginia cops. 

The 250 mile thing is a DMV regulation that most cops either don't know or don't care about.

I was running one on my 1983 CB750 Nighthawk and went through a road check on the BRP.

The only grief I got was that one of the officers didn't believe it was old enough for antique tags.

He insisted on looking at the date sticker before he believed it.

I'm considering antique tags for my most recent motorcycle purchase, I plan to ride it as much and anywhere that I choose.

[GiG]

Last time I looked at MI antique laws, I think it said: ok for Sundays, parades, or traveling to a club event. So, there is always an event somewhere  

[Rams]

A few years ago, I passed through Sturgis (during bike week) while transporting a Very Slick Sports Car on one of my gooseneck trailers to the northern border.  Traffic was a nightmare (especially so in the town of Sturgis), there wasn't really a clear path through all the bikes.  Weaving in and out between the bikes took additional effort and attention to what I was doing.   While doing so, I got flashed at least three times by ladies who apparently liked the car on my trailer.   Can't tell you how many bikes I almost ran over passing through Sturgis.   I didn't need the distraction.  I doubt I'll ever go back.  

Rams    

[GiG]

It’s ok to go back, Ron, public flashing is mostly eliminated  in Sturgis
You can go to any of the private campgrounds & be distracted   
You should be safe now… 

[Jess from VA]

The 250 mile thing is a DMV regulation that most cops either don't know or don't care about.

I was running one on my 1983 CB750 Nighthawk and went through a road check on the BRP.

The only grief I got was that one of the officers didn't believe it was old enough for antique tags.

He insisted on looking at the date sticker before he believed it.

I'm considering antique tags for my most recent motorcycle purchase, I plan to ride it as much and anywhere that I choose.

Mark, I really think going beyond 250mi from home is entirely risk free, as long as you don't do something stupid to get pulled over and piss the policeman off enough for him to start looking for things.

Pulling someone over with an antique tag just to see if they are under 250 mi from home seems very unlikely, and entirely lacks probable cause (and a judge would see it that way too).  

In my older age I am working at being Mr Law Abiding rider most of the time, though I can't help letting the dragon out from time to time when I'm all by myself.  And I will pour on the steam to get out of piles of traffic, but slow back down as soon as I do.

Enforcement really dropped off up here during and after Covid (which was really great) but it's back now and you better pay attention.   I even made a point of walking over to a cop in my neighborhood and thanking him because the morons had taken to doing 50 (in a 25) all over our neighborhood with all the old people, children, dog walkers out on the streets and walks.

[Rams]

It’s ok to go back, Ron, public flashing is mostly eliminated  in Sturgis
You can go to any of the private campgrounds & be distracted   
You should be safe now… 

 

[F6Dave]

At the last minute I decided to ride to Sturgis. I mainly wanted to enjoy a trip away from the crowded and crumbling roads here in Colorado. It turned out to be a great ride, with temps mainly in the 60s and 70s. SD and NE Wyoming have had good rain and everything was very green for August.

I didn't even stay in Sturgis. I rode to Gillette and got a nice hotel for a fraction of Sturgis prices, then rode over last Saturday to spend a few hours checking out bikes and vendors. Most of the 110 mile ride on I-90 is very scenic and posted at 80 MPH, making my 'commute' a real pleasure.

Here's my standard Sturgis street photo: