I took Joann's bike today. After the requisite ribbing from the 4 guys I met and rode up with -- which is funny since MY wife has a sportbike -- we left for Lake George at about 07:00 and were at Roaring Brook by 07:30. Scott and I went right for the Triumph line and his nephew, friend and friend's brother-in-law went for the Ducati line. After about 30 minutes, the Ducati rides were filled for the day and the other guys had to find new lines to join, which sux.
I got up to the front and signed up for a 14:00 ride on a Speed Triple and then went over to stand in the Kawasaki line while Scott went to Honda. After a few minutes in the Kawi line, they made an announcement which sounded to me like "All of the good bikes that you really want are filled for today; only cruisers remain", so I switched to the Honda line and ended up getting a 15:30 ride on a Blackbird which is their 1100cc super sport tourer. A couple of years back, this was the fastest motorcycle you could buy off the shelf, topping out around 170mph. I then wandered back to the Triumph line to see if I could get through again and did, getting a 13:00 ride on some 900cc retro cruiser. My hope was that I knew they had a great ride and that we would stop and I could switch to a bike for the second leg.
Then we all headed down to the village to check out the Tour Expo tents and get some food. I wasn't really interested in the Tour Expo displays as there wasn't anything, other than food, that I wanted to buy. 90% of it is now black leather with fringe on it for the cruiser crowd or couch sized seats for the house-bikes. There has been a definite shift in attendance demographic over the past 10 years. I'd say unscientifically that it's now about 50% Goldwing types, 45% Harley and Japanese cruisers and maybe 5% sportbikes/standards. Yamaha hasn't even brought their sportbikes for demo rides for the past 5 years and they have 3 of the best.
We went back for the 13:00 rides that Tim and I were signed up. He had the Speed Triple and was up towards the front of the pack, whereas my 900 with the wheelbarrow bars was the last bike in line before the chase bike. Um, Surprise. Triumph had a great ride, going down the Northway to Exit 19 and then coming back over the mountain on some really twisty roads. Second gear corners in several places. We did stop for gas along the way and I ended up switching with the guy on a big dual purpose bike, which at least moved me 2 spots up the line, ahead of the 2 cruisers, and was more fun to play with.
We got back in time for the 14:00 ride to be called, so I just stepped back over and waited for the briefing. The ride on the Speed Triple was a lot more fun. If you go to Triumph's website you can see most of the bikes they offer, minus the newly introduced 600 TT. They have 3 bikes that share the same 955 engine and the Speed Triple is the least sporting riding position, which is a small handicap as you don't get the same level of control. The more you sit up straight from full-on sportbike going towards riding a cruiser, the more control you sacrifice.
The loop they took us on was around 30 miles and took about 45 minutes. They only took out 7 bikes at a time and the lead rider said that we should spread out some ( against the rules for most rides ) and that there were plenty of technical parts and straights to really get a feel for the bikes. Only problem that I had was the primary rule of no passing in the line. This is because you don't know how the person ahead of you will react and there could be a collision. Unfortunately, I learned on the first few corners that the guy I was following ( We'll call him Mr. Safety Sneakers ) slowed down dramatically and drifted to the center line in most corners ( the reason for no passing ).
I let this go as not everyone rides at the same speed and, oh well. Mr. SS was the one you could count on to leave his directional on for miles after the turn . . . But then on a couple of occasions, this clown was waving to people along the way, using his right hand to do it, slowing down again. I should have passed him. Anyone else would have. I decided that if he so much as flexed his fingers on his left hand I was going to take that as a wave-by and blow him off, but that didn't happen. It was still a great ride.
Honda is infamous for deadly dull group rides, as they are a bunch of reflective gear wearing, multi-rule touting, speed limit observing Safety Nazis. They get on the Northway at 21, drone north to 23, get off and right back on heading south to Exit 22 and then back on through the village. Well, somehow, we didn't all make the onramp at 21 due to oncoming traffic, so I fell seriously behind the rest of them... It was unfortunate, and I felt bad having to do it, but I was compelled to use triple digit speed to regain the group. Nothing for it really. Had to be done. The Blackbird is a nice bike.
Only 1 fatality this year, that I know of. A husband and wife were heading home post Americade to NJ down 9N from the village on Sunday, each on their own bikes, and a 77 year old woman crossed over the line and killed the woman rider. Last I heard she had been ticketed for failure to keep right. Ouch. That'll teach her. Wonder if her insurance will go up.
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