November 2013 Backroads Magazine

Motorcycle TourM

agazine

Motorcycles, Travel & Adventure

NOVEMBER 2013Volume 19 No. 11

Crank to Crate TourFollowing a Victory fromAssembly Line to Asphalt

November 2013 - Covers_2011 Cover Template 10/1/13 10:34 AM

November 2013 - Covers_2011 Cover Template 10/1/13 10:34 AM

http://www.olympiamotosports.com

November 2013 - Pages_2011 Page Layout-New 10/1/13 10:36 AM Page 1

W H A T ’ S I N S I D EMONTHLY COLUMNS

FREE WHEELIN’.................................................................................4

WHATCHATHINKIN’..........................................................................5

POSTCARDS FROM THE HEDGE .................................................6

ON THE MARK ..................................................................................7

THROTTLE BLIP.................................................................................8

BACKLASH .......................................................................................10

THOUGHTS FROM THE ROAD....................................................12

INDUSTRY INFOBITES...................................................................14

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA...............................................................16

BIG CITY GETAWAY........................................................................18

WE’RE OUTTA HERE .....................................................................20

GREAT ALL AMERICAN DINER RUN ........................................22

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE .......................................................33

UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR ..............................................35

FEATURESCRANK TO CRATE - FOLLOWING A VICTORY........................25

BORED, STROKED & PORTED ....................................................42

DOING THE BACKROADS THING ..............................................43

MOTORCYCLE REVIEWSKAWASAKI 2014 ............................................................................40

INDIAN NATION - INDIAN CHIEF CLASSIC.............................45

PRODUCT REVIEWSARAI DEFIANT HELMET .................................................................9

R&G ALUMINUM RADIATOR GUARD.......................................13

AEROSTICH ROADCRAFTER FOR WOMEN ...........................32

MOTORCYCLE MARKETPLACE...................................................42

Brian Rathjen • Shira Kamil ~ PublishersContributors: Jeff Bahr, Mark Byers, Dave Erfer, Bill Heald,

Mark Moran, Mike Stackhouse, Dr. Seymour O’Life

BACKROADS • POB 317, Branchville NJ 07826Phone 973.948.4176• email [email protected] • web www.backroadsusa.com

For Advertising Sales Information: 973-948-4176

BACKROADS (ISSN 1087-2088) is published monthly by BACKROADS™, Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. BACKROADS™ may not be reproduced in any manner without specific writtenconsent from the publisher. BACKROADS™ welcomes and encourages submissions (text and photos) and suggestions. Include phone number with submissions. BACKROADS™ willonly return material with enclosed sufficient postage. The written articles and opinions printed in BACKROADS™ are not necessarily those of the publisher and should not be con-sidered an endorsement. The Rip & Rides® published are ridden on the sole responsibilty of the rider. BACKROADS™ is not responsible for the conditions of the public roadwaystraversed. Please respect the environment, read your owner’s manual and wear proper protective gear and helmet. Ride within your limits, not over them.

Motorcycles, Travel & Adventure


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BACKROADS • NOVEMBER 2013 Page 3


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Thuggery

Today is a Monday and the last day of Septem-ber. Yesterday was Sunday and, as the famousBruce Brown movie was titled, ‘On Any Sunday’there are thousands of motorcyclists enjoying theday out on the road.

This movie showed what a great sport and lifestyle motorcycling shouldbe. It portrayed our chosen recreation for what it really is - a happy, fun, fam-ily-like endeavor that we can all be proud of.

Yet, this afternoon I got the first of a dozen e-mails with an embeddedvideo from Manhattan’s West Side Highway filmed the day before.

By the time you read this you might have seen it yourself.The helmet-cam video shows a large group of riders, part of a gathering

of street stunters, heading north on the highway.As the video continues you see this erratic group getting caught up with a

black Range Rover SUV that has no place to go and, if I am not mistaken, adriver who is extremely nervous of all the motorcycles running to his left,right, rear and directly in front of him.

It quickly goes down hill from there.One rider actually stops within feet in front of the Range Rover, driven by

33 year old Alexian Lien, along with his wife and small child out for a Sun-day ride celebrating their wedding anniversary. A second later the SUV slamsinto the bike knocking the rider and machine to the pavement.

The entire group, as I said LARGE group, stops on the highway and sur-round the SUV and begin to pound at the family, attempt to slash the tiresand, finally open the door to drag Lein out.

At this point, fearing for his safety and that of his family he panics andstomps on the gas running over even more riders who have sought to blockhim in.

As he speeds away he is pursued by nearly 30 angry riders up the WestSide Highway.

The insane chase continues morethan 50 blocks north, and wasrecorded on the video, which wentviral the next day and that we haveall seen.

At one point, the riders blockedthe SUV again when he got caught behind another vehicle. Then anotherrider tries to open Lien’s door once again.

Lien accelerates the Range Rover again and manages to get away afterknocking another rider and machine to the ground.

Finally, traffic forces the SUV to stop on West 178th between Wadsworthand St. Nicholas Avenues.

One rider then rips off his helmet and uses it to bash in the driver’s sidewindow as the video ends. The crew then beat Lien in front of his wife andchild, police sources said.

The event that these riders were coming from saw the NYPD arrest 15 ofthe riders and seize over 50 motorcycles. No one has been arrested in con-nection with this mayhem and subsequent beating in upper Manhattan.

These riders, and I say that with my eyes rolling, are nothing but thugs.They instigated this entire fiasco.

Even if the driver had no intent on hitting the first rider any contact be-tween a motorcycle and a Range Rover, and I don’t think that was this driverintention, is going to have the same outcome.

What we had here was a bunch of young riders who let a lynch-mob men-tality control their group.

Our posting on the Backroads FaceBook page, asking opinions on this in-cident, drew thousands of hits and dozens of comments, 98% blaming themotorcyclists for the entire debacle. Great that we had a consensus.

We here at Backroads have had nothing but scorn for stunt-riders who usethe public streets and highways as their personal arena from the first timethey rode onto the scene. They are nothing but a nuisance and a drain on theriding community.

We have seen too many bad things happen when machines are ridden withtotal disregard for civilians around us - Flash back to the mother and childkilled in a strip-mall parking lot a few years back.

(Continued on Page 7)

F R E E W H E E L I N ’

BRIAN RATHJEN

Page 4 NOVEMBER 2013 • BACKROADS

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Come and go

This is a tale of things lost and found. Someonce, some repeatedly.

At last Americade, up in Warrensburg, I purchased one of those magicmagnetic bracelets. I don’t really hold any hopes that the magnetics will workto heal my aches and woes, but I really did like the design and colors. I’mnot a jewelry person (lucky Brian) so this was somewhat of a big deal forme. I snapped on the extra heavy duty magnetic clasp and away I went.

This bracelet lived on my wrist for the rest of the summer. I really wasamazed at how strong that magnet was. It would catch hold of any silverwarein the vicinity, clink onto the metal railing in our office and grab hold of anyloose nut or bolt within eyeshot. This was a permanent fixture on my body.

I suppose that it may have alleviated the nagging kink in my neck or mycarpal tunnel syndrome of my right arm, but I never gave it much thought.Until……

Last month I mentioned the gravity storm I rode into. A day or so later, Irealized that this little bauble on my wrist was no longer there. I was sad-dened, as I had grown accustomed to its attractive powers, and thought I musthave lost it on that gravel road. I made a mental note to look up the vendorand replace it when we returned home from our sojourn in Maine.

I didn’t mention this to Brian, as it didn’t really warrant mentioning. Dur-ing our week’s travel in the Downeast portion of Maine, I hitched a ride ortwo on Brian’s bike, usually at night when we went in search of dinner. Noth-ing unusual.

We were home for a couple of days when Brian came into the office hold-ing something. He said he had found my magnetic bracelet while cleaningsomething out of his Jesse bags on the GS. It had been stuck to the insidebracket and he wondered when and for how long it might have been there.

My eyes got wide and my face held a big grin. I told him about my losing

it on the first day of our trip to Maine and couldn’t believe that it had beenstuck on his Jesse bag for all that time, over 1,000 miles. It was none theworse for wear, still as shiny as the first day I snapped it on my wrist.

Fast forward to our next little outing for crabs in Maryland. We would behopping a ferry to Tangier Island in Virginia for a night, returning the nextday on the 4pm boat. Once there, we realized that we could see EVERY-THING that we need to in one afternoon and queried about an earlier oceanvoyage. We were told we could hitch a ride on the mail boat at 8am – done.

Upon docking in Crisfield, all the men started jumping off the boat ontothe dock. I thought it strange that no gangplank was pulled up, but I couldjump as well as the next guy – almost. It was not a pretty sight, but I made itand was walking down the dock when one of the ferryman yelled out, askingif someone lost a bracelet. Sure enough, my wandering wrist ornament hadtaken hold of the ferry railing. I thanked him and snapped it back in place.

Somewhere between that trip and yesterday, this little magnetic trinkettook another walkabout. I had no idea where or when, but I just looked oneday and it was gone. I figured the third time was the anti-charm and I foundthe vendor and sent off an email, asking about a replacement. This time Iwould buy several, as I thought the charm couldn’t possibly be found in everyone of these.

Just yesterday, while pulling my Honda 919 out for the shots for the Aeros-tich Roadcrafter suit, Brian looked down in our gravel driveway and saw ashiny ‘something’. He handed it back to me. ‘No way!’, I exclaimed. Howthe hell can this thing keep finding its way back to my wrist. Must be meantto be.

This has nothing to do with motorcycles or riding. Or does it? For all theyears that you’ve been riding, have you ever felt that you’ve ‘lost’ something?The connection with your bike, the skills to follow just the right lines in aturn, confidence that you are an experienced and well-trained rider. Thesethings may come and go for no apparent reason. But there is a way to keepthem snapped firmly to your brain, and that’s with constant riding and prac-tice. When your concentration becomes unhinged, shake it off and focus onwhat is giving you trouble. That little magnetic bangle will click back intoplace and you’ll be ready to go.

W H ATC H AT H I N K I N ’

SHIRA KAMIL



http://www.mortonsbmw.com

Poof!

There are many times in life when we pause forreflection, and although this varies dramaticallyamong individuals I think it’s safe to say some experiences function as uni-versal catalysts that spur contemplation on how we’ve arrived at where weare. A few weeks ago I journeyed out West via large, jet-powered con-veyances to do two things: one was attend a press launch in San Francisco,but far more important was to stop and see my father and other family mem-bers in celebration of his 90th birthday. That’s quite a landmark event, obvi-ously, and as he moved to Denver from Texas acouple of years ago to be close to his beloved moun-tains (and my older brother who has been lookingafter him), it seemed like the perfect time for a visit.

While the age of 90 might conjure images of a per-son incapacitated by the ravages of age, my padrewas in amazingly fine fettle. He had been throughsome nasty medical complications in the last year orso including a collapsed vertebra, but the miraclesof modern medicine got him up and around and in asurprisingly short span of time he was taking hisdaily walks around the facility where he had anapartment. When I arrived, he looked impressivelywell considering the mileage. While we had talkedon the phone semi-regularly the last few years, thiswas the first time we had seen each other face-to-face in quite some time. Ithappens. We have both had many things going on in our lives, and due to amyriad of circumstances in mine I haven’t been able to get out to see him inway too long a period.

But there we were just outside of Denver, and while we had both aged con-siderably the last few years we were enjoying each other’s company as al-

ways. I was also visiting with my brother and sister-in-law, who were andare the ultimate hosts and had been doing an exemplary job looking after notonly my dad’s health but his affairs as well. Ultimately my niece and step-niece arrived for this merry meeting, and on dad’s birthday we had a long-overdue (in my case) reunion. Before the girls turned up, though, we wenton a special trip up to the Georgetown Loop Railroad, where (with thunder-storms in the area-this was just before all the nasty flooding) we rode an im-maculately restored train through the mountains that was pulled by a Shay’ssteam engine that was manufactured the same year as my father: 1923.There’s nothing like a train, especially one of the steam variety that employssuch elegant yet effective technology (which in this case was pulling around330 tons including the weight of the steam engine itself). Such hauling wasan amazing feat, considering the 4% grade and the altitude. It was great being

with my family on this short but satisfying journey,and pondering all the things both my fatherand this stout locomotive had seen in their 90years on this planet.

While my father was never an avid motor-cyclist, he did take me on my first ride when Iwas quite young. I think the bike was a Honda305, and it was a new purchase of our neigh-bor’s and my dad took me on a brief, slow ex-pedition around the block where I rode in frontof him on the tank (I was a very wee lad at thetime). I can still remember the clocks on thebike in front of me, and it clearly made an im-pression on my young brain for years later Istarted having dreams of riding a bike, with

those instruments in front of me and a wide,empty stretch of serpentine road ahead. I guess the die was cast because Ikept having that dream at regular intervals until I finally started riding andgot my own bike. My father was always supportive about my riding (andpretty much any other interests I had, which where numerous) and it’s wildto think about that first ride now after decades of it not crossing my mentaltransom. (Continued on Page 11)

P O S T C A R D SF R O M T H E H E D G E

BILL HEALD



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oPBs

OPBs - Other People’s Bikes. Some call them “used,” or by the ignorantappellation favored by the industry, “pre-owned.” Whatever the name, OPBscan be a real challenge. You never know how they’ve been modified, so thefirst time I tear into an OPB, it’s with the anticipation of Ralphie on Christmasmorning, coupled with the fear of getting Aunt Clara’s handmade fuzzybunny suit. Forrest Gump might have been talking about OPBs when he said“You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Take my CB750. It is what it is: a forty-two-year-old bike. One of themodifications the previous owner made was a Kerker four-into-one mega-phone exhaust. That’s not so bad, and had I made a café racer, it would havebeen an asset. Unfortunately, the genius attached the megaphone to theswingarm, meaning that every time the suspension traveled, it banged themegaphone on the lower part of the rear footpeg. Now the Kerker has a kinkin it. It’s a kinky Kerker.

On the front of the 750’s engine, a previous owner’s failed attempt at in-stalling crash bars left a cooling fin near the engine mount broken. Fortu-nately, a teardown of the engine revealed the OPB idiocy was confined tothe external parts and not the internals (although a better storage fogging ofthe cylinders and tank would have been appreciated).Overall, it will restore nicely, but it has OPB scars thatwill require some metallic surgery.

Usually, the most egregious OPB shenanigans arefound in electrical systems. Most owners make a vari-ety of electrical modifications to their machines. Re-grettably, most don’t have very high standards when itcomes to the materials or workmanship of electrical al-terations. A motorcycle is a lot like an airplane: it issubject to extremes of temperature, moisture, and vibra-tion, so when I wire accessories to a bike, I use aplethora of shrink tubing, electrical ties, and anti-chaf-ing tape. It is overkill, but it keeps electrical gremlinsat bay.

That’s not always the case with OPBs. A friendbought a used bike wired with accessory lights andpower sockets. When a power socket failed to run theaudio system, I was asked to investigate and found theconnectors used to wire the socket would just fall offunder moderate vibration. I pulled the seat and foundthe proverbial Aunt Clara’s bunny suit, because the ac-cessory lights were wired with speaker wire and largelyunsecured and weatherproofed. That OPB is an electri-cal gremlin’s playground.

I have the same issue with the OPB dual-sport Ibought. It started as a stock 2006 Honda CRF-250, buta previous owner wanted to title it, so he had a dual-sport, street-legal light and accessory kit installed. Al-legedly. Right now, the headlight doesn’t work andthere are two mysterious spade connectors hanging outin the breeze by the headlight bucket that may be for afuse, or that may be for the horn, which is missing. Oneof the rear turn signals is broken, but so far as I can see,no provision was made to replace it without cutting intothe wiring harness. Brilliant.

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve had great experiences withsome of the OPBs I’ve owned. Some owners are metic-ulous about their hardware and you relish getting oneof their machines. My R65 is one example. I bought itfrom a friend whose idea of relaxation is tearing oldbikes down to parade rest, cleaning and lubricatingevery single part, and putting them back together again.That bike remains, to this day, one of my most reliableand visually appealing machines.

I try to take that into consideration when I sell a ma-chine. Given my checkered history with OPBs, I don’twant to be “that guy” who sells an electrical or mechan-

ical nightmare to some hapless neophyte who will be unprepared to put themagic smoke back in the black boxes. If you buy a bike from me, therefore,it will be in running order and any modifications will be well executed. Iam particularly adept at electrical modifications (to the point of obsessivenes,because of my hatred of electrical gremlins).

The latest OPB I bought is blissfully free of first-owner mods, despitebeing 40 years old. I think the sole foray into accessorization is a well-in-stalled rear rack. The whole machine is just as Soichiro Honda intended itto be and therefore, should be a very straightforward restoration rather thana profanity-laced tirade as I trace electrical shorts deep into the night. I thinkit’s a Red Ryder BB gun, but with OPBs, I’m always wary of looking like aderanged Easter Bunny.

O N T H E M A R K

MARK BYERS


free Wheelin’ (Continued from Page 4)

We have said this before, but the events of September 29 make us repeatthe obvious. These thugs are not us. And, when riders act like this, that iswhat they are – thugs.

This continuing inner-city riding mentality is crushing any good feelingsthat have been fostered between responsible riders and the non-riding com-munity in New York City and elsewhere.

In this knee-jerk society I am sure by the time you read this the iron fistwill have already dropped.

To view the video log onto www.liveleak.com/view?i=319_1380522846


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iT’s noT aBouT The Bike

Being the creative type I rarely use a title that’s beenused before, but in this case I’d be hard-pressed to findanything more appropriate. Do forgive me.

If you aren’t familiar, bicyclist Lance Armstrong (yes, that Lance Arm-strong) released a book entitled “It’s not about the bike” in the year 2000. Itcatalogued the bicycle racer’s “journey back to life” after being diagnosedwith brain, lung, and testicular cancer.

Armstrong’s message in the book was poignant. Bicycle racing meant verylittle to the man during this most challenging stage of his life. Friends andloved ones took center stage above all else, and rightly so.

To hear Armstrong tell it, it was their love, support and reassurance thatenabled him to stay on point; to help him to summon the strength to squareoff with this beast called cancer and to ultimately emerge victorious.

My story is a bit different than Armstrong’s even if there are some simi-larities.

In my case the “bike” is not a bicycle but a motorcycle. As an inanimateobject, it too is of little overall importance at this particular stage in my life.But the friendships developed while riding this hunk of steel, well, that’s afar different story.

I recently received some grim health news. I really don’t want to bog thiscolumn down by going into details, but it isn’t a stretch for me to tell youthat this is the most significant health challenge that I’ve ever faced.

Anyone who has been through something like this will tell you that it gen-erally plays havoc with your emotions – at least at first. Initially you are shellshocked and in complete disbelief. Then, many turn angry and ask “whyme?” before moving on to a greater level of acceptance.

If you’re lucky, family members and friends will rush to your aid with wellwishes and an outpouring of love. If you’re really lucky, many of thesefriends will be fellow motorcyclists; a super loving band of brothers and sis-ters who, you now realize, have become as much a part of your family as

anyone; blood relatives included.That’s precisely the way that it went down for me. To say that I was over-

whelmed by the love and support that came from my riding friends wouldbe a vast understatement. Blown away is more like it.

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my rather checkered existence it’sto expect the unexpected. Murphy’s Law generally acts as the steering forcein my life (Damn it!) but there have been a few blessings along the way. Myfiancée’ Maria leads the charge on this front. But my motorcycle friends areright behind her!

From phone calls when I’m feeling really down, to get-togethers that liftmy spirits more than anything that a doctor carries in his bag of tricks, thesepeople are the real deal.

Just yesterday I spoke with a certain charismatic bald guy (you all knowand love him) who is also facing a health challenge. As always, he selflesslyignored his own problems to talk to me about mine.

His wife is currently going through a huge rough patch that involves hissickness, of course, and the recent passing of her dad. Nevertheless, she stillmanages to give me regular pep talks.

If that’s not love, folks, I don’t know what is.This morning I received a super sweet greeting card (Meow!) from a pal

and his wife who just so happen to be riders, too. They’ve been there fromday one, and I love them for it.

How about a concerned father figure? Yep I have one of those as well.Whenever this retired dentist rolls his Beemer out for a ride we always havea great time. Lately, his philosophical words of encouragement have reallykept me on track. What a guy!

So, then, make no mistake. This is a tale of love and hope, not one of de-spair and defeat. No matter how this thing plays out (for the record I’m fight-ing back with no holds barred) my life has been profoundly effected by thegreatest friends I’ve ever known; those who prefer life on two wheels.

We may not come from the same socio-economic background; in factwe’re often as different as night and day. But, damn it, we all love riding andbeing together. Bottom line: When the chips are down, this gang runs - righttowards me as it turns out.

I love you guys with all of my heart. Ride on.

T H R O T T L E B L I P S

JEFF BAHR



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In the helmet world, the Arai name certainly holds some weight. They havealways been held in the highest regard for safety and impact energy manage-ment. Such is the case with their Defiant helmet, which takes aim at the urbanrider, specifically the Ducati Streetfighter 848. Not that Arai would targetone special market, they just saw the need for a new look and wanted to giveurban, naked-bike riders the same great protection found in the rest of theirline, with a design that fit their lifestyle.

Arai’s new Defiant full-face helmet will be best suited for those with amid-oval head shape and incorporates many of the fine features found inother Arai helmets: SAI MAX-Vision Brow Vent face shield with clear Pin-lock anti-fog insert, Hyper-Ridge reinforcing band around the base whichstrengthens the shell and lowers the center of gravity, thus causing less fa-tigue, FCS (Facial Countour Suppoer) cheek pad design which hugs the faceand reduces noise while making it easier for access to and egress of the hel-met, 5mm peel-away temple and cheek pads provide a custom fit and remov-able/replaceable/washable comfort liner for cleanliness.

After these, things are updated and new.The most noticeable is the front spoileredge trim and pull-down chin spoiler.Working with the flared bottom edge trim,these features improve the Defiant’s aero-dynamics while reducing wind noise andminimizing turbulence. The ‘air dam’kicks turbulent air outward and away fromthat pocket between the rider’s shouldersand the bottom of the helmet where mostwind noise is created.

To keep the rider from sitting in a sweat-soaked helmet, Arai uses a water-repellentDry-Max material on the cheek pads andneck roll. This material is hydrophobic andwill not absorb water in a rainstorm. Tokeep the rider’s head cool, the rest of the

comfort liner uses a Dry-Cool material.Perhaps the most effective feature is the

Defiant’s ventilation system. The four-opening, three-postion IR chin vent andlarge, slide-gate-closure IC-4 upper intakevents bring in more air than any full-facehelmet I’ve ever worn. Fresh air is chan-neled past the temples and ears to fully cir-culate and refresh. On a hot day, this is thehelmet I’d want to be wearing.

I tested the Defiant while doing some er-rands around town on the BMW C600 withthe fairing in the low position. The fit andcomfort are impeccable, with a nice snugfeel in the cheeks as a helmet should be.Although I prefer riding with myfaceshield up, I kept it closed and, with thesuperior ventilation system, I felt as if Iwas wearing an open helmet. The air liter-ally wooshed around my head, especiallystrong coming through the chin IR chinvent. While I usually wear custom earplugs, this day I did not. The Defiant wasnot the quietest of helmets, but it certainlywas much quieter than any other full-facehelmets I’ve worn in the past. And ear pro-tection, which should be worn anyway,would make this negligible.

The Defiant, of course, is DOT and Snellcompliant and is available in XXS through XXXL with five solid colors andsix graphics options, as well as a Ducati-exclusive paint scheme. MSRPranges from $619.95 (solids) to $749.95 (graphics). For more information,see your dealer or visit araiamericas.com ~ Shira Kamil


PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT ARAI DEFIANT HELMET


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Spring Break 2014

Hey Backroads,Another Backroads rally behind me now. I hate when that happens. You

know the feeling; it’s Sunday morning, you’re finishing up breakfast, savor-ing those last moments with semi-annual friends you look forward to beingwith at these rallies. You retell, and embellish, tales of motorcycling daringdo that allegedly took place the last few days. You and your friends laughabout some joke, comment, or incident that can only be appreciated by otherswho share the same love of motorcycling, travel and adventure. Before youmount up for your ride back home you check with your friends, asking “willyou be at the spring rally? Is it just me, or have Backroads rallies become athing of great anticipation. Something that enhances all that is good aboutmotorcycling. Good friends, good food, great roads, natural beauty, won-derful stories, comfortable hotels and historic locations. I think it was Brianwho once said “we’re not bikers, we’re motorcyclists”. I understand exactlywhat he meant. We have all been to Poker Runs, local rallies, club outingsand motorcycle events like Americade, Sturgis, and Laconia. Often timesonce, maybe twice, is enough. They just don’t provide the camaraderie, tal-ent and excitement of a Backroads rally. I have made so many good friendsfrom these rallies, some will be lifelong friends. I have learned so muchfrom these rallies; riding skills, maintenance tips, GPS routing (OK Ed I’mstill learning). I have had so much fun on these rallies, listening to jokes andtall tales, sometimes laughing till the beer shoots out of my nose. I can onlyimagine how much time, effort and planning goes into each rally. Brian andShira, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Peter Miller

Brian & Shira,Friends, good food and drink, and some of the best roads PA has to

offer. Nicely done again!!Best Regards,Glenn Hoffmann

Hello Shira and Brian, Want to thank you for a great time in Williamsport. Loved the rides and

plan on returning for more of those roads. Please take care of yourselves andadd us to your email list if anything should come up. We look forward tomeeting you again when there are any more Backroads trips or just on theroad.

All our best,Alma and David

Hey Brian,Karen and I had a great time in Williamsport. We look forward to this

Backroads rally so much. It is truly the highlight of our year, not to mentionit’s the only time we get to see all our friends. In my opinion you and Shirado a first class job designing and organizing the event. If anyone tells youdifferently they are clearly out of their league. It was so nice to ride with youand Shira on the way home. We haven’t ridden together in a long time. I missthat.

All the best,Ken Hilley

Backroads,As I lay in bed here in Milwaukee. finally getting to read my favorite (and

need I say BEST) motorcycle magazine, imagine my humble SHOCK at see-ing my name mentioned by you in the same sentence, no less, as a ‘GoodRider.’ Why thank you! And right back at you!!!!

Helene Darvick

Dear Backroads,I have worked rotating shifts for the last 25+ years. My present incantation

gives me one weekend off a month so after I get my to-do list started, mytime on the road is slightly limited. However, my vacation time is mostlyused up cruising up and down the East coast, and the Western deserts withmy wonderful, patient wife. The Pacific coast and Alaska are next on the list,but closer to home we use our mind’s eye to travel with you to help keep our


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BACKLASH Letters to the Editor


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sanity. Needless to say, I was working the weekend of the 250+, but readingthe story and recognizing some of the roads on the article’s map made us feellike we had been with you and your troops. Being the kind and benevolentriders that you are, I would ask for a text copy of the journey if possible. MyGPS does not allow me to enter external data. Thanks for all your time andefforts and know that there are people out here with you even if we’re notout there with you, and appreciate the tough miles that you share with us.Hopefully, next year!

Doug & Pat Brown

Dear Editor,This is in response to reader Roger Parliman’s query about affordable tour-

ing bikes. We have had Ducati Monsters, and Diane still has her Honda VFR.As someone who is somewhat brand insensitive, I got Diane a 650 V Strom5 years ago for her b’day. I rode it occasionally and liked it so much that Igot a used one for myself with 24,000 mile on eBay in Augusta, GA. Ouronly maintenance has been oil changes, front forks, and replacing brake andclutch hydraulic fluids. We have gone through a pair of batteries and I justreplaced my front and rear tires.

We trailered them down to Nashville from Chicago for a 1 week ridethrough the backroads of Tennessee, Georgia & South Carolina. The follow-ing year we towed them out to Denver for a two-week ride through Coloradoand New Mexico. About a month ago, we had them shipped to Tacoma and

did a round trip ride east across the Cascade Mountains of WA, into Idahoand over to Glacier National Park in Montana. Bottom line is that they arestone reliable, and nimble and agile. They love the twisities.

We have added Givi side bags & a small top box to lock up out Nolan hel-mets, they have modest ‘farkles’ including hand guards, crash bars to protectthe gas tank & center stands. As a short 5’-6” inseam challenged rider, I low-ered the bike using Koba Links (Boise, ID). Even at 5’-10”, Diane asked meto lower hers as well. Hopefully Roger can use some of this to make his de-cision on his next long term machine.

Burt RichmondVintage Motorcycle Festival – Tacoma


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PosTCards from The hedge

(Continued from Page 6)

I left Colorado after telling my father I’d be backagain much sooner than I have been managing, went offto the press launch in California and then returned to theEast Coast. I was amazed at how well my dad wasdoing, but I could see it wasn’t the easiest thing in theworld for him to adapt that all the changes his advancedyears had hit him with. Despite his age, both my brotherand I were thinking 95 was a very real possibility, andmaybe more beyond that. And as much as I’ve been pre-pared for the inevitable, I was a bit shocked when I gotthe news of his passing exactly two weeks after his birth-day. He died of natural causes in his sleep.

My favorite Harry Potter movie is the Half-BloodPrince, and in my favorite scene Professor Slughorn tellsthe story of the disappearance of his dear friend, his petfish Francis, that had left him rather suddenly. He dis-covered this tragedy when he encountered an emptyfishbowl:

“One afternoon I came downstairs,” he tells Hagridand Harry, “and it had vanished. Poof! But, that’s life, Isuppose. You go along, and then suddenly, Poof!”

That’s kind of how this hit me, for no matter howmentally ready I thought I was it seemed so brutally sud-den, and you feel so utterly powerless to do anythingabout it. He seemed so alive, and very much still my fa-ther after over 50 years that I couldn’t even imagine himnot being around; for the bowl to not be occupied. As Iwrite this I still can’t believe it.

But here we are. Now when I stare at the instrumentcluster of any motorcycle, I’ll remember that first ridewith my father. This last year or two has been a toughone for those of us fortunate enough to be a part of theBackroads family, as there have been losses of dear onesand medical nightmares galore. But the strength we getfrom those we’ve shared our lives with is present whenthey are not, and the bowl is full even though we can’talways see the occupants. Poof! is a difficult thing todeal with, but it is a sign of things proceeding albeit witha major change. However, it’s not the end of anythingwe truly care about for it’s just a change of state fromthe corporal to the spiritual. Keep enjoying the journey,and when you stop for the night never forget how yougot there.

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Three five oh’s Please

OK, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, KTM, BMW, Ducati, Triumph,whoever is listening, here’s an idea. As much as the CBR250 looks sweetand however cute the mini Ninja is, I have a bit of a problem with them. Ithink; no, I KNOW, they’d be much better and, more importantly, moresaleable if they were 350s instead of 250s. This isn’t a new thought for meso don’t think it’s because I’m a larger mammal than I once was.

Even when I was younger, and dain-tier, I always thought the 250s were justa wee bit underpowered. I realize, inEurope, 250s are a mandatory stepping-stone to larger motorcycles. And, to befair, probably on the backroads of Italythey work fine. (The roads being verynarrow, tight and crowded) In the stateshowever, they always left me wanting.

Think back to the early days. Itwasn’t the CB175 that we lusted for. Itwas the CB350. A for-real motorcyclethat a young man could saddle up andride cross-country should he so wish. Itwasn’t the RD 250 that was the giantkiller (although they went darned good)it was the RD 350 that we all wanted toown. The 350s always seemed to haveenough extra power that you couldcruise the highways and byways with-out feeling like you were on a nuclearmassager. Even in later years, therewere bikes that could have been some-thing special had they been 350s in-stead of 250s.

The SRX250 Yamahacomes to mind right offthe bat. This was the PER-FECT beginner’s bike. Itwas extremely light, nar-row, sweet handling, sim-ple and (wait for it)slow…. Yep, watch outfor those diesel VW Rab-bits, they’d run you down

if you weren’t on the ball. This was very disappointing becauseYamaha, at the same time, had the stellar XT350 in the line up.Same basic engine only with snap! To give you an idea howmuch I liked the XT350 engine, I preferred it to the XT550. Itwas lighter, smoother and seemed to pick up the revs quicker.This made for a lot of fun. Had this engine been placed in theSRX, I think it would have made for an exceptional beginnerbike and would have had more than a year or two run.

The 350 motorcycle engine, historically, always seemed to bethe perfect size beginner engine. They don’t have an over-whelming amount of power, but enough that, as your skillsgrew, you didn’t outgrow the bike in three weeks. In many cases,the 350s seemed to perform almost as good as if not better thantheir big brothers the 450s.

The Ducati 350 Mark III Desmo was quicker than its bigbrother and it was smoother to boot. They were always fasterthan the 250s though. 350s just seemed to have the right com-bination of ingredients, whether it was a bore/stroke ratio thingor whatever.

Now, I have owned 250s in my life. A certain little KLR250comes to mind right off. However, that bike is a good exampleof what I mean. It was ALMOST the most fun I could have on

(Continued on next page)


Kawasaki Metuchen911 Middlesex Ave, Metuchen, NJ (732) 491-2900

Find Us on Facebook • KawasakiMetuchen.com

Visit our showroom located in Central New JerseyJust 10 minutes from Staten Island, 30 minutes from NYC and 1 hour from Pennsylvania

KAWASAKI CARES: Always wear a helmet, eye protection and proper apparel. Neveroperate under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Adhere to the maintenance schedule inyour owner’s manual. ©2012 Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. • Pictured is the Isle of Man:a closed track on otherwise public roads. PROFESSIONAL RIDER ON A CLOSED COURSE.

KawasakiGoes Biggerwith the 2013Ninja® 300

and Ninja® 650

Honda has Five ExcitingNew Models for 2013

powersports.honda.com ALWAYS WEAR A HELMET, EYE PROTECTION AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING. NEVER RIDE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DRUGS OR ALCOHOL,AND NEVER USE THE STREET AS A RACETRACK. OBEY THE LAW AND READ THE OWNER’S MANUAL THOROUGHLY. For rider training information or to locate a rider training course near you,call the Motorcycle Safety Foundation at 800-446-9227. CB®, CBR® and Gold Wing® are registered trademarks of Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (01/13)

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CBR500R, CB500F and CB500X

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MORE PROTECTION FROM TWISTED THROTTLE

R&G has released a new range of super-tough, stainless steel radiatorguards designed for today’s range of adventure bikes.

These tough radiator guards protect your bike’s fragile radiator againstrocks, sticks and all sorts of everyday debris.

Damaged radiators are a significant concern for the increasing number ofriders keen to explore the adventure side of their dual-purpose machines. Asingle stray stone can easily punch a hole in an unprotected radiator, poten-tially leaving a bike immobile and its rider stranded. Recognizing this riskR&G, the world leader in motorcycle damage protection, has complementedits existing lightweight pressed Aluminum Radiator Guards with a morerugged range of Stainless Steel Radiator Guards.

Stainless steel is several times stronger than aluminum, providing maxi-mum protection.

Manufactured from 1mm-thick stainless steel sheet, each guard is laser-cut and CNC finished. The smart, precise design maximizes airflow into theradiator, ensuring the guard has no detrimental effect on cooling. In addition,the stainless steel construction is completely resistant to rust – another hugeconcern for adventure riders tackling mixed terrain.

No modification to the bike is required. All radiator guards can be installedquickly and easily. The R&G Stainless Steel Radiator Guard is available withfitments to suit an extensive range of popular European adventure bikes, in-

cluding BMW’s new water-cooled R1200GS.For yours, contact Twisted Throttle at 855-255-5550 info@twistedthrot-

tle.com, www.twistedthrottle.com or visit their showroom at 570 NooseneckHill Rd, Exeter, RI


ThoughTs from The road

a bike. Almost. Mine was a whisker slower than myfriend Driller’s. Driller’s KLR was a better runner thanmine by about 5% and it was noticeable. Even with thatlittle extra, I needed about 10% more oomph for it to begreat fun. A KLR350 would have been the best. Notonly would it have handled the highway drone better,wheelies and slides would have been much easier to do.And do at a sane speed. That’s the charm of a 350. Ason a 250, you can almost stay out of trouble, while hav-ing a LOT more fun.

So, what do you think? I think the new Ninja 300 goesa long way to prove my point. What about these 250 su-permotards that Kawasaki and Yamaha have? Do youthink they might live up to their clothing a bit better as350s? Do you think that just maybe, a CBR350 singlemight be more fun than the new 250? I do.

Look, a while back, KTM came out with what? A 350enduro? The testers like it more than the big bore bikesas it almost has the power of the 450s but with lighterweight and better handling. Can you imagine a high-tech350 Ducati Desmo belt-drive single mini Monster?How about a mini 350 Super Duke KTM? Triumphcould do a 350 Cub (?) Classically styled like a miniBonneville. I think, whoever takes the first step into 350-land is going to have a home-run on their hands. MaybeI’m just being silly as its only 100cc’s. Somehow, I don’tthink so. Come on big manufacturers, 350s please. Pricethem right and start counting the money. As they said inField of Dreams, “Build it and they will come.”

P R O D U C T S P O T L I G H T S

Now it’s our timeto support them

To volunteer or donate please call or visit:

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HELPFUL HINTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS

In another move intended to help make the Motorcycle Safety Founda-tion’s safety tips and practical strategies even more accessible to riders, theMSF has released its first official educational app on iTunes for use withiPhones and iPads. Titled ‘Dr. Jim’s Riding Tips’, the app uses existing MSFself-paced safety lessons to help current motorcycle owners improve theirriding skills, and is priced at $1.99 on iTunes.

The app features Dr.James Heideman - MSF’sdirector of licensing pro-grams - and incorporatesHeideman’s 10-video se-ries, which is based on theMSF long-standing publi-cation, “You and YourMotorcycle: Riding Tips”It also allows motorcy-clists to use their own mo-torcycles to practice basicmaneuvering and braking

techniques at low speeds in a practice riding area of their choosing. Addi-tionally, the app shows the user how to properly prepare the practice area,set up the various paths of travel and conduct the drills.

“MSF’s goal with ‘Dr. Jim’s Riding Tips’ is two-fold: to make accessingand understanding these basic motorcycling practice drills as easy as possi-ble, and to help riders prepare for their state’s licensing test,” said Heideman.“The only prerequisite skill necessary is the basic ability to ride a motorcycle.Naturally, this includes experience using the brakes, throttle, clutch and trans-mission. But the mobile app is designed so that anyone with real riding ex-perience, and an iPhone or an iPad, can implement these MSF safety lessonsat their own pace.”

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation promotes safety through rider trainingand education, operator licensing tests and public information programs. TheMSF works with the federal government, state agencies, the military and oth-ers to offer training for all skill levels so riders can enjoy a lifetime of safe,responsible motorcycling. Standards established by the MSF have been rec-ognized worldwide since 1973.

RIDERS TRIUMPH IN D.C.A few dozen demonstrators attending a rally on the National Mall, once

billed as the “Million Muslim March”, were vastly outnumbered by hundredsof thousands of motorcycle riders from across America participating in the“2 Million Bikers to DC” ride to honor September 11 victims and to counterthe pro-Muslim rally that many said was inappropriate for such a solemn dayin U.S. history.

The American MuslimPolitical Action Commit-tee scheduled the rally todraw attention to what itsaid is an unfair and ongo-ing fear of Muslims afterthe Sept. 11 terrorist at-tacks. Among the bikers,however, the provoca-tively scheduled rally wasconsidered an insult to thenearly 3,000 people who died on Sept. 11, 2001, when Islamic terrorists hi-jacked three commercial jets and crashed them into the World Trade Centerbuildings in New York and the Pentagon in Arlington. Another hijacked planeheaded for Washington, D.C. crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Though the biker gathering fell short of 2 million strong, some estimatesran as high as 880,000 riders, and “What began as an idea on Facebookquickly turned into a national movement thanks to social media and dedicated


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bikers from around the nation,” wrote the Examiner.com; and as bikers fromas far away as the west coast began their journey to D.C., Twitter lit up withphotos and videos showing thousands of bikes overflowing out of rest stopsand parking lots as the hastily organized ride gained momentum.

So many turned out that plans to have them ride through the streets of theCapital had to be changed, particularly in light of the fact that local authoritiesdenied a permit that would have provided the riders a police escort throughtraffic — a sore spot with organizers who believe the denial was for politicalpurposes.

“We didn’t need a permit in the first place,” National Event Organizer Be-linda Bee told a local Fox News station, citing D.C. law; “it shall not be anoffense to assemble or parade on a District street, sidewalk, or other publicway, or in a District park, without having provided notice or obtained an ap-proved assembly plan.” So the event went on — legally — without the per-mit, although the group apologized to the public that “What could have beena one or two hour ride through” tied up Beltway traffic from early morninginto the afternoon.

REASONS TO CHECK YOUR TIRES EACH WEEK

A New York rider who set out for a Friday the 13thmotorcycle trip to Port Dover, Ontario told local CTVNews that he was unfairly ticketed and pulled off theroads by Waterloo Regional Police in Canada. JeffSelby of Elmira, NY claims the officers were excessivein their punishment after a routine roadside check foundthe tread on his motorcycle tires was .5 millimetersunder code.

Selby says he offered to drive his bike straight to arepair shop to have the tire replaced but the officers saidno. “He goes it doesn’t matter. Your bike will be off theroad as of today. We’re gonna take your plate, we’regonna charge you and you’re gonna have to get a towtruck.”

Selby told the news station that he understands thesafety concerns but says he has a clean driving recordand deserves a warning first, and that the five hundredor more dollars he’s now facing in fines, relicensing feesand towing cost is exorbitant. Police there say the lawis the law and you can’t put a price on safety, addingthat when it comes to safety there’s no room for warn-ings or second chances and it’s their responsibility that’son the line.

The legal regulation for tires on any motorized vehi-cle is that they have to have at least 1.5 millimeters oftread on the majority of the tires circumference.

ACCIDENTS POSSIBLY LINKED TO

BRAIN MISCALCULATIONS

Do yoU think?Incidences of cars pulling out in front of motorcy-

clists run regularly in headlines — locally, statewideand throughout the nation — and there could be a sci-entific reason. Recent research by a Texas Tech Univer-sity psychologist suggests that the regularity of thisproblem isn’t necessarily a case of poor driving or care-lessness, but may be related to a basic human judgmenterror.

Pat DeLucia, the coordinator of the Human FactorsPsychology Program, said her results show that small,near objects can appear farther away than larger, fartherobjects. The study is published in the peer-reviewed sci-entific psychology journal “Current Directions in Psy-chological Science.”

An interest in softball prompted DeLucia to studyhow the human brain perceives objects, their size andmotion and an object’s time to impact. Her finding - that

an object’s size affects distance perception - may be the basis explaining whycar drivers miscalculate motorcyclists’ distance and speed.

Many times, the brain interprets objects with a larger retinal image ascloser. Since motorcycles are smaller than cars, DeLucia said the brain mayuse this shortcut to judge a smaller motorcycle farther away than it actuallyis.

This size-arrival effect can lead drivers to misjudge when a vehicle wouldarrive at an intersection and could be considered a contributing factor in mo-torcycle/vehicle accidents

DeLucia hopes to find funding from the Texas Department of Transporta-tion to create an educational program to inform drivers of her findings andreduce the incidents of these types of accidents.

MORE CRASHES, FEWER FATALITIES DURING STURGIS RALLY

Those visiting the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Aug. 5-11 were involved inmore crashes than the year before, but fewer fatalities were reported as a re-sult.

During the weeklong event, 69 injury accidents occurred, an increase of19 from 2012, the South Dakota State Patrol reported to the Rapid City Jour-nal. Six people died as a result of those crashes, a decrease of three from theyear before


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Mark Moran

rohman’s inn:

over the river, Through the Woods

and Backwards in Time We go!

If you ever find yourself across the Delaware River fromNY and NJ, on the Pennsylvania side, and you’d like tosee what bars looked like a long, long time before youwere born, there’s a very unexpected place you may stum-ble into to grab a beer and a bite to eat. Winding down theshady wooded lanes in hilly northern Pennsylvania oneday in early August, I found myself in the tiny town ofShohola on the banks of the Delaware, when I spied aplace called Rohman’s Inn. Rohman’s looks just like anold time 1800’s hotel, and that’s because it used to be justthat. These days though, you won’t see horses tied up tohitching posts outside, but you are likely to find a line ofgleaming iron horses and stable of pick-up trucks.

To set foot inside this place is to step backward in time.Pressed tin, rusted through in spots, covers the ceiling andwalls. The wood floor is worn down from over a centuryof scuffs from shoes and boots. There is even an old timeyupright piano that stands next to a coal burning iron stove.The instrument is missing ivory on many of its keys andis hopelessly out of tune, though the bartender assured methat there is at least one elderly customer who comes inthat can play it and make it sound great. I played a fewchords on it myself and much tomy surprise and delight itsounded exactly like the pianosyou hear in the saloon scenes ofold Hollywood westerns! I kidyou not. I had always assumedyou had to put thumbtacks on thehammers of a piano to achievethat bright bangy, clanging tone,but the bartender swore the instru-ment had not be altered in any-way––it just sounded that waynaturally from age.

The wooden bar, which is original to the place, features lavish hand carveddecorations around the mirrors. When a customer places a food order it iswritten up on a piece of paper which is then placed in a dark wooden dumb-waiter at the end of the bar and then hoisted up to the kitchen on the secondstory. Go through the doors at the other end of the bar, up the old hotel stair-case, and you will find a real surprise on the second floor––a full-length fourlane bowling alley. Without a doubt though, the most unique feature of thebar are the barstools––circular wooden seats which sit atop curved iron postand fold beneath the bar itself when not in use.

Rohman’s is tucked away down by the river far off the main drag––if infact you could call any road in Shohola a “main drag.” If you’re wonderingwhy this old hotel would be located in such an out of the way spot, the reasonis that things weren’t always the way they are today. You see, the train usedto run right by the front door of the inn and a station was located directlyacross the tracks. Back in the heyday of the hotel throngs of people wouldcome by rail to spend time in the area, many of them among the rich and fa-mous of their day.

The building that Rohman’sInn now occupies was built in1849 and was originally knownas the Shohola Hotel. It operatedin that capacity until it was pur-chased by Art Rohman in 1909.

He ran the place until he died in 1973, then the current owners tookit over. We spoke with the daughter of the current owners, KathleenFarrell, who has worked the bar for the past 15 years, and asked somequestions about her family’s wonderful old saloon.

The barstools are as odd as anything I’d ever seen. It seems thereoriginally weren’t any stools. Then sometime around the 1930’s thecontrol board said that the place was required to seat a certain amountof people to serve liquor. But the stools were going to take up space,so Art Rohman met their regulations by putting the stools in, but no-

body actually has to sit on them––they can fold them in. They were conduc-tor’s seats from a train or a trolley.

Seems it got so busy that every inch of space was needed to pack in thepatrons. It’s just common courtesy to push the stools forward under the barwhen you leave. They used to just snap back on their own…they were springloaded. There is still one down at the very end of the bar the does, if you getup quick enough it will snap forward.

Many of the stools have an uneasy feeling pitch backward to them, whichgive you the feeling that you might just slide right off backwards. There is atrick to remedy this though. Kathleen showed me a handful of various rustyscrews and nails with which patrons can level their seat to their own likingby wedging one in the joint at the base of the stand the seat rests on.

Kathleen told me that the bowling alley upstairs was installed in 1940 andthat it is one of only four in the entire country like it that is still in operation.If you’d like to bowl a few games be sure to bring your own pin monkeythough, these lanes have no automated pin setting machines and must beracked manually. However, there is a unique device that aids in the process–

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–a foot peddle causes pegs to come up frombeneath the lane. After the hollow pins are setatop the rods, they are retracted back into thefloor. Still, the process must be a little labo-rious to repeat after every frame. Fortunatelythough, if you call ahead, Rohman’s might be able to fix you up with a localkid who will reset your pins for you for just $5 an hour.

Kathleen pulled a thick spiral bound notebook from behind to show me. Itwas stuffed full of old photos, press clippings and pages from the old hotelregister book. I asked her who some of the more noteworthy guests werewho stayed at the hotel over the years who may have signed the book. Shesaid that some former guest included: Greta Garbo, Gertrude Ederle (the firstwoman to swim the English Channel), Gloria Swanson, and Charles Lind-bergh. Indeed, if you look in the scrapbook you will find Colonel Lindbergh’ssignature. He filled out his address as “Entire World.”

So why did so many celebrities visit the hotel back then, we wondered.“The area was a lot more populated,” Kathleen told us, “there was an

amusement area in Shohola Glen, they had outdoor dances, clambakes, therewas a gravity rail that took people from here and into the glen.”

So do the rich and famous still pay visits to Rohman’s these days?“Robert De Niro stopped in one time, and Mario Andretti, the racecar

driver, and Mary Stuart Masterson was here.”While Mary Stuart Masterson may not be Lucky Lindy, that still ain’t

bad company for such an out of the way watering hole as Rohman’s.But for the most part the clientele is comprised mostly of local regularsduring the week and lots of riders on the weekends, who’ll stop in duringtheir runs.

When the riding season ends, Rohman’s finds other enticements tobring customers in, like their annual Winter Olympics. Men 21 and overare eligible to participate, women can only spectate. Events include beerpong, horseshoes, turkey shoots, and golf chipping. There’s a triathlonthat incorporates archery, BB gun marksmanship, and chugging a 32-ounce beer. There are cooking contests and a keg toss (using the samekeg for the past 27 years), a two-man saw competition, a bed race, andmost popular of all, something known as “Polish skiing,” in which fourmen are all strapped into the same pair of skis. We asked Kathleen ifthe term “Polish skiing” has ever offended anyone.

“Not yet. We have a Polish gentleman that comes and he’s well awareof it and he’s never said anything.”

Today Rohman’s looks very much like it did over a century ago, and that’sjust how the owners like it. They are proud that they are keeping the place asit has always been. Unfortunately the old train station that once stood acrossthe street is long gone now, and while the trains do still occasionally travelthe tracks, they are only freight lines that pass in the dead of the night withoutstopping.

“Every year the industry around here gets less and the bar crowd falls offa bit.” Kathleen lamented. “But we like the fact that this is still the sameplace it always was.”

I like it too, Kathleen. I encourage everyone to get on there bike and gosee this rare, rustic and hidden gem of a saloon for themselves while youcan––for though time may seem to stand still inside Rohman’s, it just keepsmarching on everywhere else and there just aren’t many places likeRohman’s around these days anymore.

rohman’s inn is located at 100 rohman road, shohola, Pa

18458 (570) 559-7479




words: Jeff Bahr • images: Dave Erfer

Jerry’s ClassiC Cars and ColleCTiBles museum

394 s CenTer sT, PoTTsville, Pa

570-628-2266 8 WWW.Jerrysmuseum.Com

If there’s one thing I appreciate it’s a surprise. Not of the stagedvariety (Happy Birthday, dude!), I have little use for that kind ofmalarkey. I’m talking about discovering something worthwhile (usu-ally while riding) that I never knew existed.

Jerry’s Classic Cars and Collectibles Museum in the hilly Pennsyl-vania town of Pottsville is just such a place. Actually, strike that.Pottsville is a city in every sense of the word except for one. It’s aplace that motorcyclists flock to rather than avoid.

There are many reasons for this. First and foremost is the city’s vi-sual appeal. With much of its commerce perched precariously on asteep hillside, and many of its buildings wonderfully preserved ex-amples from the nineteenth century, it certainly has the look. But italso carries history of the more popular variety in the form of themuch celebrated Yuengling Brewery.

If you like to down a frosty one now and again (O’Life, listen up!)and have never visited this red brick home to hops, barley and fizz,you might wish to reconsider that decision. As America’s oldest brew-ery, operating since 1829, Yuengling Beer has become sacrosanct todevoted elbow-benders worldwide. Regular tours get visitors up closeand personal with the suds.

On the northern end of town, also set high above the valley below, anotherdraw can be found in an equally unlikely form. The Schuykill County Prisonis a fortress-like den of enforced solitude that was clearly built to intimidate.Accordingly, it lays claim to some macabre history.

On June 21, 1877, six Molly Maguires (a super-secret group of Irish mineworkers/labor activists who stood up to mine-owning bigwigs) were hangedhere for various offences in-cluding murder. The execu-tions, which many stillbelieve unjust, helped fuelsentiment for the emergingAmerican labor movement.The event stands as thelargest mass execution inPennsylvania history.

While these are captivat-ing places with interestingtales to tell, we’re talking oldcars here. In this region,there’s no better place to cot-ton up to immense tailfinsand shiny chrome bumpersthan Jerry’s.

Some quick history:Owner Gerald L. “Jerry” En-ders has had a love affairwith the automobile for aslong as he can remember. Inthe 1960s, while still a teen,he worked at an Atlanticservice station mostly to getcloser to his four-wheeledobjects of affection. The manhad been bitten by the carbug, and bitten good, buteven he couldn’t know thenhow deep his passion ran.

Today, a fitting testamentto Enders unending fascina-tion with autos comes in twoprominent forms; his mu-

seum and the Pottsville Cruise, a superpopular annual car event that he foundedsome 20 years ago.

The museum, located in a two-storybrick building just beyond Pottsville’smain business district, has a little some-thing for everybody. And I do meaneverybody.

Let’s start with the cars themselves. On my last trip I spotted a 1952 Chevy

pickup with a “three on the tree” shifter;a 1966 Ford Mustang with a super sweet aqua/white interior; a 1966 DodgeCharger muscle car that still looks like it would rule at stop-light showdowns;a 1958 Chevy Bel Air not dissimilar from the model that my father used todrive (Daddy, are we there yet?), and a funky looking 1951 Studebaker Com-mander “Land Cruiser” known to aficionados as a “bullet nose” because itfeatures; yep, you guessed it.

These vehicles and the many others that grace Jerry’s halls are surroundedby artifacts from every conceivable genre.


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An Atlantic gas station mural snares the eye upon entering. Given Enders warm memories of his gas-pumping days; the brand choice is hardly a surprise.

There’s also an old style soda fountain; a mock drive-in theater; a 1950s bandstand, and a millinery, li-brary, kitchen and appliance store “for the ladies” as Jerry explains on his website.

Old time signage is so profuse you’ll need to scan and re-scan the walls and ceilings to take it all in. Iquit trying only after my eyes bugged out from the strain. It was well worth the effort, however.

Sadly, Jerry has only one motorcycle on display but what a bike it is! Despite its recent pedigree, the 1970 Harley Davidson Super Sprint 350 is a model not often found in

museums, or anywhere else for that matter. My pal Tony owned one of these babies. At 15, he was tooyoung to ride it on the street, so it became his de facto trail bike until he got his license. For those that think

of Harleys as boulevard bashers only, think again. Thisthing kicked some serious butt on back lots and foresttrails.

That’s the thing about Jerry’s place. With over 20,000items on display, you never know just what you’ll find. Butyou do know that you’ll find something. So give it a whirl.But please avoid the suds at Yuengling Brewery if youchoose to include it on your tour. Remember, drinking andriding don’t mix and the Schuykill County Prison alwayshas room for one more. Cheers!


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The Chapman inn2 Church st., Bethel, maine 04217

207-824-2657 • www.chapmaninn.com

When you ride up into the state of Maine you’llnever know exactly what you will find. The statehas more than its share of oddities and history, butit is also one of the most scenic parts of these UnitedStates.

Some little hamlets will appear and disappear inthe time it takes to shift gears, others stand outabove the rest.

Bethel, Maine is one such town. In fact, it iscalled the “Most Beautiful Mountain Village inMaine.”

A few months back we spent some time here andit is quite a pleasant stopping point.

Did you know where the largest snowman andwoman have been created. Yep, Bethel, Maineholds that claim to fame. They even have the recordin the Guinness Book of World Records – some 122feet tall.

Not far from there you will also find the World’sLargest Telephone.

But, when you do visit Maine’s Most Beautiful Mountain Village you willneed a place to stay and for us the Chapman Inn fit the bill perfectly.

We are sure they didn’t know Backroads was coming so we were pleasedto see a special rate offered to motorcyclists as we rolled up to The ChapmanInn. We appreciate it when innkeepers appreciate us.

Located across from the Village Commons and across from the old operahouse the building itself has a fascinating history.

It is one of the oldest structures in Bethel, having been built in 1865 by aretired sea captain and, to this day, keeps hold of a warm and comfortableMaine feel.

The place has 9 rooms and a dorm, and is nicely appointed with period an-tiques and the owners Fred and Sandra have added curios and mementos oftheir trips around the planet; something we found fascinating.

One thing that we thought odd, and we are notsure about the other rooms, but entering ours on thesecond floor we had to pass through the bathroomto get to the actual bedroom.

Odd, but it added to the character of the inn.Oh, there is something else a bit odd.The Chapman Inn is the only officially “Certified

Haunted” inn in western Maine. After many yearsof strange happenings here at the inn, a certifiedparanormal investigator was called upon to do an indepth study of the Chapman Inn. Some of the manyunexplained events include doors that open andclose by themselves, footsteps where no one isthere, and cold drafts in closed rooms, even duringthe summer. Female voices, one very young, havebeen heard emanating from empty rooms. Therehave been two reported sightings of a black cat thatexited the room quickly when the room was en-tered. Normally this would not be an issue, exceptthe cat left the room through a solid wall.

The owners had a paranormal investigator spendseveral days on this investigation, utilizing all of themodern and accepted techniques, including elec-tronic detection and monitoring. His summation

indicated that the inn is definitely haunted, and almost certainly by at leasttwo entities. He feels certain that one of the spirits is very likely that of Abi-gail Chapman, who was the invalid daughter of William Rogers Chapman,an early and long time owner of the home.

We were left unmolested that night.The Chapman does not serve dinner, but we simply strolled down the street

to S.S. Milton for some serious offerings that did not disappoint.There are also a number of bars and other restaurants within walking dis-

tance. If you are looking for a little local nightlife, we’d recommend Sud’sPub a little further down the road from S.S. Milton.

On the comfort end of The Chapman Inn, the beds were some of the bestwe have slept in… very comfortable and the odd placement of the shower


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did not deter from it being excellent at the end of a long riding day.Breakfast! Where can we begin?Fred and Sandra whip up a most serious first meal of the day.Eggs, anyway you want them, pancakes, cereals, fruit and much more. Fred’s

potatoes, created with an old family recipe, were simply the best. Seriously, the best anywhere and are worth the visit for these alone. As we

mentioned The Chapman Inn is very rider-friendly and is now a member of theBackroads Moto-Inn Program. When we were there they had a half dozen Cana-dian riders as well, who had come south to enjoy what The Chapman, Bethel andthis part of Maine has to offer.

As usual we will give you a great ride to get to The Chapman, but we will startit in Lincoln, New Hampshire, which is a great first night’s destination from theNew York metropolitan region and throw in a stop at Whitehorse Press a placeall riders must visit. Think of it as a motorcycle department store!


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The CooPersToWn diner

136 1/2 main sTreeT, CooPersToWn, ny 13326

607-547-9201 • WWW.CooPersToWndiner.Com

“It’s more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but

rather short, easy words like, ‘What about lunch?’” Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh had it so right and thus each month we continue on ourquest on the Great All American Diner Run.

This month we will happily bring you a little place, and this time we domean little, but with a lot of heart and some seriously big burgers.

And, if there was ever a town located in some of the most beautiful sceneryin the United States it just might be Otsego Lake and Cooperstown – to usriding up there was like riding through the 100 Acre Woods.

Located right down the street from the Baseball Hall of Fame you will findthe Cooperstown Diner. Look closely, as you might just miss the place.

It is one of the tiniest diners we have ever written about, but they servedup a big bunch of food.

The diner sits just 26 people along the counter and the spattering of tables.You’ll find the bathroom in the back through the kitchen.

As you would think this place has served up delicious eats to so many overthe years, including some of the greatest baseball players that have everthrown a ball or swung a bat.

At this year’s Backroads’ SpringBreak a number of us took the walkover to the Cooperstown Dinersimply because it was so hard to re-sist such a marvelous looking diner.

The Cooperstown Diner servesbreakfast all day and that being thecase you can order up all sorts ofomelettes – broccoli & cheddar,veggie or your choice of meat andcheese.

Sausage & gravy with biscuit andhomefries looked yummy as did‘homemade’ corned beef hash witheggs and toast.

Their side orders were fun as wecan’t remember when we last sawCream of Wheat on a menu – whatwe think of as ‘northern grits’. Reg-ular southern grits and sides of that‘homemade’ hash are good choicesas well.

We got there for lunch, scoffing up the last table, andwent about looking at what they had.

Shira went for one of their awesome maple milkshakes that are so good it is almost decadent. Shiracouldn’t finish hers and asked for a ‘to go’ cup.

Keeping it light we did a turkey club, chicken saladsandwich and a side order of their super onion rings.

The Cooperstown does a number of grilled cheeses,tuna melt on rye and a fish sandwich that went by ourtable that almost caused me to change my order. Theyalso serve up some good looking wraps – turkey &bacon, chicken cordon bleu and buffalo chicken withlettuce, tomato and blue cheese dressing.

What the Cooperstown Diner is really known for aretheir burgers.

A full 1/2 pound of prime ground meat they come inall the popular editions, bacon & cheese, mushroom &Swiss or just good ol’ plain. These are worth the ride toCooperstown all by themselves.

We did mention that the Cooperstown Diner is one ofthe tiniest eateries we have ever written about, so if you


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get there at prime timeyou might have a wait, butit is certainly worth that.But, this is Cooperstownand if you are a lover ofbaseball then you shouldfeel right at home juststrolling around the townand taking in all that isthis Mecca of the game.

We will give you thesame great ride we used toget to Cooperstown forour Spring Break with thisRip & Ride that will startfrom Dingmans Bridge innorthwestern NJ.

Enjoy and as they say…“play ball!”


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ew could argue that Victory Motorcycles have ridden a great distance over the last decade or so since theannouncement that Polaris was getting into the two-wheel cruiser business. I remember the Bar & Shieldfolks smirking at the idea that this would ever work, much less become profitable.

But, here we are in 2013 and Victory has more than proven that there can be more than one Americancruiser riding the highways and backroads of this nation.

Early this year Shira and I spent a few thousand miles traversing the Lone Star state of Texas on a VictoryCross Country and had an absolute blast – two up on a machine that could easily handle the haul and gear.


Crank to Crate TourFollowing the Life of a Victory

Brian Rathjen

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Can-Am Metuchen911 Middlesex Ave, Metuchen, NJ (732) 491-2900

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In mid-August I was invited byVictory to spend a few days ridingtheir bikes and touring the engineplant in Wisconsin and then ridingdown to the assembly plant in SpiritLake, Iowa. Taking advantage of afree week with no tours or produc-tion planned I jumped on the offer.

A few hours on a tiny Delta E175jet and I found myself in the TwinCities and shuttling over to the hotelto meet our group and begin our in-troduction into all things Victory.

Our group was a smallone, led by Victory PRMaven Kyle Clack, and Iwas joined by AmericanBagger associate editorTony Frey and MinnesotaMonthly editor GuidoEbert for three days on theroad visiting the Polaris /Victory plant in Osceola,Wisconsin (the crank partof the story) and then afew days jaunt along the

Great River Road, along the mightyMississippi to Spirit Lake, Iowawhere Victory, and now Indian, ma-chines are assemble and shipped(the crate part of the tale).

We got an early start out of thevery busy downtown Minneapolisand made quick time heading north-east over the river into Wisconsin.

Kyle had suppliedfour machines that allhad the same blood line,but were different inmany ways. The CrossTour, which Shira and Ihad ridden in Texascomes in a less touringversion. The Black Ballis the basic machine andwe had one in black, theslightly more upscaleand pricey Cross Coun-

try of which we had two – one in suede silver with bright green flames anda stunner in two-tone blue and black – and the high end Ness version.

A little something for everybody.Our morning route brought us quickly through

little towns that you would miss in a blink andthe larger Scandia before we crossed the St.Croix River and rolled into Osceola and the Vic-tory engine assembly plant.

The plant manager Dave Muckenhirn, trulywent out of his way and spent a good few hoursshowing us the way both Victory and the new In-dian powerplants are built. The attention to de-tails, quality and roadworthiness was veryimpressive and the workers there were smilingand cordial to us as well. Polaris, the MotherCompany of both Victory and Indian, also as-sembles their 4X4 and snowmobile engines here.

The plant is thoroughly modern with state ofthe art diagnostic machines to track each engine for the life of the machine,a number of Dyno rooms for deep testing and an assembly line that runs likea well-crafted Swiss watch.

Victory certainly has something to be proud of in Osceola.We took lunch at a local place and by early afternoon we were back on the


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road, following tiny farm backroadswith letter names. The I to the E tothe A would bring us down to Route35 – The Great River Road.

Along the way we stopped in oneof the many Visitor Centers youwill find on this historic route, tak-ing in a bit of the river his-tory and stocking up onguide books and maps.

Heading south on theWisconsin side of the riverwe took in vista after vistaand, heading down to-wards the river, we endedup running along one ofthe many freight trainsthat call this part of theMississippi River home.

Victory truly has one of

the sweetest engines for this type of machine on the planet. The 106 engineis smooth and powerful. The transmission shifts like butter and I have yet tomiss a shift of any of these machines.

Ergonomically I fit well on this big bagger, a machine I might add I do notcommonly ride.

By mid-afternoon we crossed the river,once again, to the town of Red Wing, Min-nesota.

Red Wing sound familiar? Maybe youare wearing a pair of their famous boots,created in this town since 1857.

Kyle had outdone himself with tonight’shotel, the historic St. James. Built back in1875 and now owned by Red Wing Shoes,this hotel harkens back to rich and inter-esting history.

Red Wing was the world’s largest pri-mary market for wheat in the early 1870s,with a warehouse capacity of over1,000,000 US bushels in 1873. As a resultof the city’s wealth, and with a need to

house businesspeople andtourists visiting the city, elevenprominent businessmen investedin the construction of the hotel.It opened with a grand ball onThanksgiving Day, 1875. It wasone of the most elaborate hotelsalong the Mississippi River andserved the city during its heydayas a commercial center and asteamboat stop. Today when wethink Red Wing we think moreboots than wheat.



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The hotel’s old lobby is very opulent andeven has a pipe organ in wonderful condi-tion.

Each room is named after a historicRiver Boat and the place has a number ofvery classy bars and restaurants.

The hotel is also haunted. I do not sayreputed to be as to do that infuriates ghosts.Much like taking lava from Pele’ you arebest to show some respect when staying atthe St. James. Let us not irk Clara.

But, while there I discovered somethingthat our good friend Dr. Seymour O’Lifewould love – the World’s Largest Boot,found in the Red Wing Shoe store’s lobby.Twenty feet long, sixteen feet tall and

weighing in at 2,300lbs – it is big enough for a man 12 stories tall! In Feb-ruary of 2005 it was inductedinto the Guinness Book ofWorld Records and is quitethe sight.

With the rest of the after-noon to kill I went of a littlephoto shoot crossing backover the Mississippi intoWisconsin and then back toRed Wing where I found therest of the group enjoying apeaceful park along the river.

Nice way to end the day.We met later for dinner

within walking distance ofthe St. James and I made itan early night for the nextday we had more of the GreatRiver Road to explore and

another factory tour in Spirit Lake andto check in on American Victory Days.

We continued our ride south along theGreat River Road the next morning, get-ting an early start and riding down theWisconsin side of the Mississippi.

This part of the river looks more likea lake and, in fact it is, as Lake Pepin isformed by a natural delta from siltpoured out from the Chippewa as it runsinto the bigger river. This has created amagnificent body of water some 2 mileswide and 22 miles long.

We paused for a while to take it all in and spotted some eagles flying highabove looking for a late breakfast.

Eagles rule here and taking note of that we rode down along the river to-wards the town of Wabasha.

Along the way we needed to cross over to Minnesota and did so along theUpper Mississippi Wildlife Refuge, a pristine part of the river totally pro-tected from development and commerce. This is what the region looked likefor hundreds of years and all sorts of wildlife and critters can be found alongthis way.



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Upon entering Wabasha you will seea sign reading “Welcome to Wabasha,Home of Grumpy Old Men”. This is atribute to the movie Grumpy Old Men and its sequel Grumpier Old Men,written by Mark Steven Johnson about his grandfather, Wabasha nativeCharles Gilbert.

Wabasha itself was named in honor of anIndian Chief of the Sioux Nation, Chief Wa-pa-shaw and there is an impressive statuealong the river park ofhim, located acrossfrom the Eagle Center.

The Center, estab-lished in 1989 initiallyto focus on environ-mental stewardshipthrough conservation,research, and educa-tion in the Upper Mis-sissippi River region.They worked to ad-vance the bald eagle

as a symbol of cultural heritage and celebrate eagles asa symbol of the success of federal and state endangeredspecies recovery efforts.

Over its 15-year history, it eventually became TheNational Eagle Center, is a 14,000-square-foot interpre-tive center overlooking the Mississippi River.

We were there a bit early but the curator took pity onus, and opened the doors for a private little tour, includ-ing a close look at a number of Bald and Golden Eaglesthat have been hurt and are taken care of by the staff ofthe center. The museum has a number of exhibits andis a great place to bring little ones or the little one inyou. The displays were both informative and fun andthey also had a number of scopes to spy on eagles in thewild along the river.

The National Eagle Center is a fantastic place andwell worth the visit if you are touring the area.

We had some miles to make if we were to get to SpiritLake in Iowa so we hopped on I-90 and got to do a hun-

dred miles or so of In-terstate that the CrossCountrys simply gobbleup. The engine simplyshines at high speed –smooth, powerful andquiet we cruised at ahandy 80+ for about anhour, the suspensionscalmly settled on the

pavement and the bikes chewing upthese miles with ease. These Victorys areequally at home on the backroads or thehighways. The region here, part of theeastern Prairie, is flat with just a hint ofthe occasional hill. Corn and wheatstretched on and on.

If we kept going west this would lastfor hundreds of miles before we ran intothe Rockies and more fun roads wouldreturn.

We stopped for fuel and a quick lunchbefore we rolled into Iowa.

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dealer in New Jersey. We are a performance-ori-ented shop that specializes in all Victory motorcy-

cles and Polaris side x sides and ATVs. We are thebest-stocked dealer in the tri-state area. Whether you are look-

ing for a Victory or Polaris vehicle, parts, or accessories we have it. We offer all dealer programsincluding financing, extended warranties, and vehicle insurance. Our knowledge of Victorymotorcycles and Polaris vehicles far exceeds our competitors. We stock just about every Victoryand Polaris accessory in the catalog plus many more aftermarket accessories for Victory.

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Victory and Victory Motorcycles® are registered trademarks of Polaris Industries Inc. Always wear a helmet, eye protection, and protective clothing and obey the speed limit. Neverride under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Warning: The Polaris RANGER® and RZR® are not intended for on-road use. Driver must be at least 16 years old with a valid driver’slicense to operate. Passengers must be at least 12 years old and tall enough to grasp the hand holds and plant feet fi rmly on the fl oor. All SxS drivers should take a safety trainingcourse. Contact ROHVA at www.rohva.org or (949) 255-2560 for additional information. Drivers and passengers should always wear helmets, eye protection, protective clothing, andseat belts. Always use cab nets or doors (as equipped). Be particularly careful on difficult terrain. Never drive on public roads or paved surfaces. Never engage in stunt driving, andavoid excessive speeds and sharp turns. Riding and alcohol/drugs don’t mix. Check local laws before riding on trails. ATVs can be hazardous to operate. Polaris adult models arefor riders 16 and older. For your safety, always wear a helmet, eye protection and protective clothing, and be sure to take a safety training course. For safety and training informationin the U.S., call the SVIA at (800) 887-2887. You may also contact your Polaris dealer or call Polaris at (800) 342-3764. ©2013 Polaris Industries Inc.



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Iowa was a bit special for me as I had only this stateand two others, Nebraska and North Dakota, to bag be-fore being able to say I have ridden in all 50 states. NowI have two to go.

The Polaris factory at Spirit Lake is a mammoth fa-cility and the lot was full of Victorys and other bikes asthis weekend was the American Victory Rally, an annualevent that has been going on for 10 years and offers planttours, concerts, vendors and a weekend of fun.

We met up with the plant manager and were given aprivate tour of the facility that builds both Victory andIndian motorcycles on two separate and distinct assem-bly lines.

Polaris has just reintroduced the Indian line and, un-like the poor attempt that has been done in the past, Po-laris is offering the real deal. During this tour I saw thenew Indian engines being built and now I have seen themachines themselves being assembled and I do believethat Polaris got this right. The new Indians are very im-pressive and I was looking forward to getting a ride onthis new/old American icon.

The plant tour was very impressive and even more sowhen we learned that the engines being installed were

the very same we had seen built the previous day. With the tour complete we set off for our hotel

that night, the Inn on Lake Okoboji.This lake is vacation central for the region and

Kyle had arranged for an evening boat cruise (thinkTiki, Buffett & many adult beverages) and Kyleeven convinced the Captain of the boat to shuttle usaround the lake that night for dinner on his privatepowerboat.

Life was good on Lake Okoboji.



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That evening the American Victory Rally held a concertat Palmer Park, home of the oldest wooden roller coaster

west of the Mississippi.Captain Tim, as he was known,

brought us up close to the old amuse-ment park, lights from the carousel androller coaster causing a rainbow of col-ors to dance across the darkened lake.

It was quite the sight.A short time later we sailed back

across Okoboji to our rooms at the inn.We had a final ride the next day back

in Minneapolis and I was happy to gethold to a key fob belonging to the newIndian Chief, which I got to ride thefirst half of the day.

It was a kick to make a quick stop by the factory with a machine that wasborn there.

Parking the Indian drew an immediate crowd and just getting people tomove away for a quick picture was a feat in itself.

The Indian is a fine machine with a distinctive and iconic feel to the entirebike, which seemed like a piece of moving art. I felt like a rolling Scott Ja-cobs painting. The 111 cubic inch engine is sweet and although it felt com-pletely different than its Polaris sibling, it moved and handled just as well.

By early afternoon I had switched to the Ness versionof the Cross Country and we went in search of somemore twisty roads in a land that seemed infatuated withstraight lines and 90-degree intersections.

We took lunch in Manotokin, the home of the Uni-versity of Minnesota, and then followed north along theMinnesota River.

This region is steeped in Prairie history and we tookin the Treaty museum where settlers signed the famedtreaty with the Sioux nation.

Treaties like this never went well for the locals andthey lost their way of life and we built the Mall of Amer-ica.

It was a treat to see it from the saddles of a few greatAmerican motorcycles.

By late afternoon we had dropped the Cross Countrysoff at a local dealer and stopped in for a last meal of theregional favorite - Walleye.

They serve a gazillion pounds of this fish everywhereyou go here and one cannot leave Minnesota withouthaving your share.

I had an early flight backto New Jersey the nextmorning so an easy goingnight was had with anotherAmerican classic - baseball.

The Twins were playingthe White Sox, so I moseyedover to Target Stadium,scalped a field level seat, andwatched the Twins gettrounced by Chicago.

Being a Mets fan I amused to the occasionaltrouncing so I could relate tothe sad faces leaving the stadium that night.

At dawn another Delta E175 jet lifted off heading east winging me, andthis story, back to New Jersey.

Riding along this part of the nation – the Mississippi River, the smalltowns, the wide-open prairies and some 10,000 lakes makes this region ashining part of the American experience.

The Great River Road is not all that far west from the Backroads regionand makes an excellent destination for some long range touring.

Heading this way makes for a wonderful riding destination and doing iton a bike like the Cross Country was truly a victory for me.



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Shira Kamil

When I first started riding, I wanted the best, mostprotective gear available. At that time there wasn’t alot, if any, gear designed specifically for women so Ijust went for the best, period. That was a one-pieceRoadcrafter suit. Tough as nails, waterproof (for themost part) and I was able to wear my ‘civies’ under it.Sure, I looked like something from outer space, but Ifelt invulnerable.

Fast forward some 20 years and many things havechanged. More and more manufacturers have realizedthat women are becoming a larger portion of day-to-day riders. More motorcycles are being developed for‘shorter stature’ riders, as well as the weights comingdown a bit. Clothing developers are designing forwomen’s figures – narrower waists, shorter inseams,fuller chests – which makes us females happy. We nolonger need to make do with gear, we can actually behappy about wearing it.

Andy Goldfine, who has been clothing riders since1982, also heeded the change in demographics onbikes. The company recently had an overhaul to theirproduction system which included an automation oftheir cutting department. While making these changes, they included roboticcutting of women’s sizes so the patterns are now stored in the machine’smemory and can be cut, one at a time. Instead of trying to make a men’s size36 fit, they can now sell you a perfect size 8 through 20.

While I was happy with my various textile riding options, I thought it wastime to give a Roadcrafter another shot. Yes, during those 20 years I wentthrough some changes as well, and I figured it would now be a perfect fit.Let the fun begin.

Heading to Aerostich.com, I found the link to theWomen’s Two-Piece and clicked away. Here I wasasked for both jacket and pant size, separately, as wellas length and colors. I knew that I wanted a colorscheme that would stand out and scream to thoseoblivious car drivers ‘CAN YOU SEE ME KNOW!’

I was almost set on red with hi-viz yellow ballisticwhen Brian mentioned that looked very much likesomething Tony Stark might don in cases of terrorismand alien attack. I did not feel that I had the right stuffto wear such a suit and headed back to the drawingboard. I settled on cobalt blue with hi-viz yellowbal-listics (yes, I was a riding Norwegian flag). The orderwas placed and in about a month or so my suit arrived.

You’ll notice, when scrolling to the bottom of theorder page, that Aerostich is nice enough to offer a has-sle-free sizing exchange. This was very convenient, asI overestimated my size and needed to exchange thepants for one size smaller (yea, me). Again, they ar-rived quickly and I was ready for my first test ride.

Technical stuff: the Roadcrafter is constructed on theoutside of 500 Denier Cordura® GORE-TEX® outerfabric, making it both abrasion protective and all-weather capable. The lining is a free-floating nylon

taffeta for easy access. TF3, a costly high performance viscoelastic materialfirst developed for use in aerospace applications, is used in their oversize im-pact pads. Soft and molding to your body, it becomes firmer upon impact,absorbing and distributing energy. All zippers are heavy duty (do use the spe-cial lubricant they send before use, it will make it easier), and there are agreat amount of well-placed pockets that are sized for adult human hands,

(Continued on Page 47)


PRODUCT REVIEW WOMEN’S ROADCRAFTER TWO PIECE SUIT BY AEROSTICH


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Giving your ride new legs

HyperPro Suspension

As we get older we all start to feel it. Aches, pains and twitchesthat we don’t seem to remember in our youth seem to pop up atthe most inopportune times. With humans the best we can do is tostay active, exercise, stretch and take Advil.

Our motorcycles go through the same sort of thing – especiallythe suspension parts. After 30 thousand miles, or so, most stocksuspension begins to degrade and some units begin to fail outright.

Riders that use theirmachines on a constantbasis might not even beaware of this until theycorrect the situation.

Shira’s F650GS was beginningto sag a bit and we knew that if shewas going to continue touring onthis machine she would have tolook for a suspension upgrade ofsome sort.

With her BMW we did not haveto look far for the answer. In fact wedidn’t even have to leave the stateas EPM Performance Imports hadthe answer for her right on hand.

The driving force behind EPM isKlaus Huenecke. Klaus isrenowned for his expertise in alltypes of suspension technology.When you buy your suspensionfrom EPM, you get the benefit of

this tremendous experience.And when you order a Hyperproshock, it will arrived already setup based on Klaus’ experience.Which means most customerswill barely need to make any ad-justments to get the best suspen-sion performance.

Being just a few hours southin Manalapan, New Jersey wearranged to receive the new sus-pension - rear shock and frontfork springs - down at EPM andhave them do the installation.

We have installed a numberof shocks and springs in thepast, but when you have the op-portunity for the real experts inthe field to install them, youshould jump at that chance.

We knew this would take abit, so we arrived in the morningand left the bike in Klaus’ capa-ble hands.

We were going to install bothfront and rear and bowed toEPM’s knowledge of whatwould be the best set-up forShira’s GS. In the rear theywould install a HyperPro #460shock with full preload anddampening adjustment. Up front


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Klaus would install new HyperPro Rising Rate Fork Springs and change the oldoil for new high-performance fluid.

Klaus is not a man to be rushed and if you arrange for EPM to do your installa-tion, then it might be best to schedule a day to leave your machine and then pick itp a few days later.

We were lucky as he said he could get it done in one day.We returned in the mid afternoon to find the rear shock installed, but Klaus was

just getting to the front end.This turned out just fine as I could assist a bit and watch a true tradesman do his

thing.In German fashion everything Klaus does is systematic and with reason.Brakes and wheel removed, items tied safely out of the way. Fork tubes removed

and each disassembled, inspected and cleaned. He even took a soft scotch-britecloth to each slider to polish off any burrs or imperfections.

With the old (and very stinky) oil dumped new fluid was added to a preciseamount and, now reassembled, the forks were put back onto the F650GS with eachnut and bolt torque to a precise specified tightness.

After everything was back to spec he had Shira sit on the bike and final sag andother adjustments were made, zeroing in on what would work best for the F650.

Over the next few days Shira noticed a few things. The bike was a tad taller forher, but nothing she couldn’t handle. It did make the lean on the sidestand greater,but again this could be managed. On the road she reported a far better feedbackfrom the front end and the rear floated over the pavement with a much smootherand controlled feel.

Basically, she said it felt like a new machine.

And, that is our point.Like anything the suspension on your machine will

begin to fade and fail as the miles pile on. Suspensionupgrades are not cheap, with the 460 rear shock costing$888 and the front spring another $160, plus EPM’stime installing them.

We felt it this way - Shira had just paid off the GS andfor the same amount as a couple additional months pay-ments she had a bike that was far better handling than ithad been when it rolled out of the dealership.

We thought it was surely worth it.Ask yourself if a suspension upgrade should be in

your future. It is pricey, but except for tires, new sus-pension is the single best thing you can do for your ma-chine and your ride.

EPM has applications for just about any modern ma-chine; call them at 732- 786-9777 or visit them on theweb at www.wilbersusa.com.

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NOVEMBER 20133 • BMW Bikers of Metropolitan Washington Tech Day at Morton's BMW Motorcycles.We're opening up our service department on Sunday for members of BMWBMW andguests from 8:30 am - 2:00 pm. Bring in your BMW, pick up the parts and accessoriesyou need at special savings, and work on your machine on a professional lift in a firstclass facility. Morton's BMW staff will be on hand to help guide you and also do a littleteaching at the same time. Morton's BMW Motorcycles, 5099A Jefferson Davis Highway,Fredericksburg, VA 22408 • 540-891-9844 • www.mortonsbmw.com

16 • Rain Date: Nov. 23 • Jersey Shore HOG/Harley-Davidson of Long Branch 5th AnnualToy Run. Sign in: Atlantic Highlands Gaebo, 2 Simon Lake Dr, Atlantic Highlands, NJ 8:30-10:15am • Ride leaves 10:30am to Jersey Shore Medical Center. Free Lunch after atdealership. $20/pp or unwrapped toy - no stuffed animals • 732-229-8515

23 • Bob's BMW Preparation for Winter Riding Tech Session/Tutorial • 11am-1pm •Enjoy a hot cup of coffee and a donut while learning what you can do to prepare youand your bike for winter riding. Tech Session in Service will include important remindersand interesting tips to consider when riding in colder weather and potentially more haz-ardous conditions. Meet the National Sales Rep from Gerbings Heated Gear for a com-plete product tutorial and much more! Complete details at www.bobsbmw.com. • 10720Guilford Rd, Jessup, MD • 301-497-8949

29 • Montgomeryville Cycle Center Black Friday Sale. 2901 Bethlehem Pike, Hatfield, PA• 215-712-7433 • www.montgomeryvillecc.com

29 & 30 • Black Friday (and Saturday) Sale, Morton's BMW Motorcycles. Look for specialsales and events on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving at Morton's BMW Mo-torcycles, 5099A Jefferson Davis Highway, Fredericksburg, VA 22408 • 540-891-9844• www.mortonsbmw.com

DECEMBER 20137 • Customer Appreciation Day and Holiday Party at Morton's BMW Motorcycles. Join usfor food, amazing holiday sales, and much more from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm. Morton's BMWMotorcycles, 5099A Jefferson Davis Highway, Fredericksburg, VA 22408 • 540-891-9844 • www.mortonsbmw.com

13-15 • New York City @ Jacob Javits Center • Progressive International MotorcycleShows offers an all access pass to view all the new 2014 models and hundreds of thehottest street bikes, dirt bikes, cruisers, UTVs and ATVs for both new and experiencedriders. From the latest gear and aftermarket accessories to informative seminars and in-teractive entertainment, this event is the place to experience the latest in the world ofmotorcycling. This motorcycle extravaganza will also feature live music; the UltimateBuilder Custom Bike Show featuring hundreds of the hottest custom motorcycles drippingin eye-popping chrome, wild paint jobs and dazzling rims; the return of The Podium thatwill host motorcycle racers, celebrities, DIY seminars; and much, much more. For moreinformation visit www.motorcycleshows.com. Use code TBACKROADS for discount tix.

14 • Bob’s BMW Free Bike Wash •Are you a true year around rider? If so, ride to Bob’sService Department on this frigid December day and let us rinse the salt off your bike,scrub your bike’s wheels, and make it spotless…all for FREE! All you need to do is arrivebetween 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., check in at service and then relax with a hot cup of coffee(or hot cocoa) and a fresh donut! Complete details at www.bobsbmw.com. • 10720 Guil-ford Rd, Jessup, MD • 301-497-8949

14 • Bus Ride to New York’s International Motorcycle Show from Bob’s BMW, Jessup,MD. Conveniently travel to the East coast’s biggest motorcycle show on a chartered busamong dozens of fellow enthusiasts! Tickets include round-trip transportation, a baggedlunch, admission to the show, and snacks to enjoy on the ride home. Tickets sell outevery year so don’t delay. Complete details at www.bobsbmw.com

14 • Bus Ride to New York’s International Motorcycle Show from Bergen County H-D/BMW. $35/pp incl. ride, continental breakfast with Bloody Mary or Mimosa and showticket. No driving, gas or parking on your part, just enjoying the sights. Seats are limitedto get yours today. 201-843-6930 • 124 Essex St, Rochelle park, NJ

17 • Liberty Harley-Davidson HOG Chapter 14th Annual Toy Run. Sign in: 10am-Noon -ride to Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hosp., N. Brunswick, NJ. $15 w/toy or $20/wotoy • $10/passenger • 12 W. Milton Ave, Rahway, NJ • 732-381-2400 • www.liberty-harley.com

21 • Bob's BMW annual customer appreciated day! Get into the holiday spirit at Bob'swhile we say THANKS to our amazing customers for what we know is going to be anothergreat year. Food, great company, door prizes and special holiday savings • 10720 GuilfordRd, Jessup, MD • 301-497-8949 • www.bobsbmw.com

30 • Cross Country BMW/Ducati Open House. 911 Middlesex Ave, Metuchen, NJ • 732-635-0094 • www.ccbmw.com • www.ccducati.com

30 • Liberty Harley-Davidson Orange Saturday Party. Great savings and specials all dayPLUS deep-fried turkey and all the trimmings. 12 W. Milton Ave, Rahway, NJ • 732-381-2400 • www.libertyharley.com

29-Jan. 12 • Pit Langner Wall of Death Rider is BACK. Check website or social mediapages for times/dates of performances. Motorcyclpedia Museum, 250 Lake St, New-burgh, NY • 845-560-9065 • www.motorcyclepediamuseum.org

JANUARY 201410-112 • Motorcyclepedia Museum Swap Meet. Clean out your garage and closets andmake some money. Check website or social media pages for times/dates of perform-ances. Motorcyclpedia Museum, 250 Lake St, Newburgh, NY • 845-560-9065 •www.motorcyclepediamuseum.org

May 2014 • Backroads Spring Break • Marion, Virginia. Info on page 47


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words: Fred Rau • images: Kawasaki Motor Corp.

On September 6 of this year, Kawasaki opened its Dealer Convention andNew Model Preview in San Diego, California. Thatmay not seem like a big deal to most people, butto those of us who have been around the industryfor a few decades, the very fact that a major OEMfelt confident enough to once again invest in ashow of this type was very encouraging. Therewas a time, back in the Eighties and Nineties,when such shows were not only commonplace, buteach manufacturer tried to outdo the others withflashy extravaganzas showcasing their products.But that all died out more than 10 years ago whenthe motorcycle industry as a whole, propelled by thegeneral worldwide financial implosion, rolled over acliff. Though we’ve seen a few signs of slow recovery of late, the fact remainsthat motorcycle sales in the US are down about 55% from what they were inthe early Nineties, and in that same period more than2,000 US motorcycle dealerships closedtheir doors for good. Not a pretty picture.

But here we were in sunny SanDiego, once again being treated to giantbuffets and open bars, rock bands anddancers, green laser logos flashingacross the ceiling and artists wildly carving15-foot-high ice sculptures of Ninjas pullingwheelies. The circus was back in town, and itsure felt good. If it was meant to instill the gen-eral attitude that the motorcycle industry in gen-eral, and Kawasaki in particular, was ready tocome roaring back, I know it worked on me.

The only unfortunate part, from a personal stand-point, was that I am almost strictly a streetbikekind of guy, and even more narrowly, a touring

kind of guy. From my standpoint, the 2014Kawasaki lineup had only one bike to offer: The newNinja 1000.

Technically, Kawasaki classifies the Ninja 1000as “sport-touring” and not “supersport-touring,” amoniker they reserve for their Concours 1400, but

personally I’d have to say it blurs the line betweenthe two, if not erasing it completely. The newNinja 1000, which also comes as an ABS-equipped model, features the KTRC traction-control system, adjustable to three modes

which are basically “off,” with no intrusion onthe power curve, “low,” which is a sort of “safety-

net” setting to kick in if a sudden patch of loosegravel or spilled coolant should surprise you comingaround a curve, and “max,” for riding in the rain or on

any kind of loose surface. In addition, there is a selectablepower mode for the engine as well, with “low power” and“full power” modes. “Full power” is pretty much self-explanatory—all the guts, all the time—and “low power”reduces output to about 70% of normal for riding in ad-

verse conditions like rain or even heavy traffic. In ad-dition, the “low power” mode can be used to increasefuel economy.

The Ninja 1000 also featured improvements tothe intake and exhaust, transmission and suspen-sion, but to me the real news was in the acces-

sories—namely, luggage. As far as I am concerned,a good sportbike isn’t much use to me if it can’t carry

the basic luggage needed for a week on the road. And I


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really don’t mean soft luggage orthrow-over bags, either. I want hardcase, waterproof, detachable bags—andnow the Ninja 1000 has them. Thecomplete 29-liter saddlebag kit costs$1269.75 (Really? They couldn’t havejust made it $1270?), which seemsrather pricey, but I have to admit I wasimpressed with the setup. Not only are thebags color-matched, quick-release, and designed with a key sys-tem to match up with the bike’s ignition, but the mounting sys-tem is so clean that when you take the bags off, there is noevidence left behind that this is anything but a straight-up Ninja sportbike.

There is also an optional 39-liter trunk, but due tospace constraints you can’t have the trunk and the sad-dlebags at the same time. But if you have either thetrunk or the saddlebags and still need some packingspace, there is a really sharp tankbag designed specif-ically for the Ninja 1000. Unlike all those genericbags, this one follows the lines of the tank per-fectly, attaches with both magnets andstraps, is easily expandable and has thisgreat little compartment on top with aflip-up, hard plastic window. Perfect fortoll transponders or a Garmin Zumo GPS.

As I said, the Ninja 1000 was the onlynew street bike in the show, but it wasstill interesting to look at the returningVulcan Vaqueros in all their gaudy flashiness,and the small yet wicked Ninja 300, dressedout in a “Kawi Girl” embroidered seat. And ofcourse there were the inevitable new side-by-side ATVs, in this case the Teryx series, whichhave to be keeping the designers at Jeep up atnight wondering how they are going to com-

pete. And let’s not forget that Kawasaki virtually invented the PWC(personal watercraft) genre with the Jet Ski, a name so synonymouswith the breed that other manufacturers flinch when their customersrefer to all PWCs as “Jet Skis.” Well, Kawasaki isn’t about to letthe world forget, and in San Diego unveiled their new Ultra 310LXmodel, unabashedly touted as “the most powerful personal water-

craft in the world.” Yes friends, a 4-cylinder, 4-valves percylinder, supercharged, intercooled, 1498cc Jet Ski with

310 horsepower and 1890 pounds of thrust. Put that inyour pipe and smoke it, if you dare.

All in all, I said before it was great just to see amajor OEM waving the corporate flag again.Rather than hiding in their offices, the Kawasakiexecutives, even the big guns from Japan, came out

in the light to face their dealers, answer their ques-tions, lay out a coherent plan for the future, and pre-pare to march ahead.

I’m encouraged.

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Gary Renna

I always look forward to this vintage show because you’ll find just aboutevery make and model represented here. This is a very laidback event witha closed city block starting at Works Engineering’s shop to Genuine Motor-works Shop on north 14th street in Brooklyn and organized by Vin MotoNYC and NYCVMS.ORG.

It was a perfect fall day at the end of August. I was coming in from theJersey Shore and I never thought I would be riding over the Verrazano Bridgeon a 1978 Yamaha XS650. This section through Staten Island can be treach-erous for modern motorcyclists let alone on a 35 year old bike. Followingmy friend with a Zumo 665 strapped to his 73 Z1 900 and we were all set.

Arriving on north 14th street lining up the bikes in rows you can smell theleaking oil and gas from some of the vintage bikes, it made me feel right athome. This year there were a lot of scooters represented. Like the toughstreets of Brooklyn most of these bikes reflected the same attitude. Therewere tough looking street bikes not for looks but built for pure function.Bikes 25 years or older can be entered in the vintage bike show for free,judged by the public and awards given.

When I arrived at Works Engineering they were assembling a full woodenbar on the sidewalk next to there shop to serve bottled water. A brick oven

was on hand and delicious pizzas were being made to order. Works Engi-neering’s shop was serving fresh shucked oysters while being chilled froman ice filled vintage claw foot tub. Brooklyn Ale was being served and it wasfitting since the brewery was located a block away. Street vendors were alsoat hand with freshly made Italian ice and fresh brewed ice tea. Noon somereally nice restaurant/bars opened located on the same block, one withrooftop dining and a view of the city. You wouldn’t think these turn of thecentury warehouses throughout this area would make such nice bike shopsand restaurants a 100 years later.

The entire day was filled with some very high octane original music fromlocal bands. Half the crowd rode in and the other half were people who lived

in the area. The event was familyfriendly with many young chil-dren interestingly staring at allthe different bikes.

Works Engineering had thereshop open to the public. Belowground was amazing with hun-dreds of bikes of all kinds eitherin for storage, service or cus-tomization work. Wandering pastthe sales desk into the shop areais a small doorway that leads into

a large room. The room is filled with artwork that is completed and works inprogress. I met a real character and his name was “Ray” he was the artist.Ray told me about his work and I found it fascinating. I asked him for a cardand he told me he does not have one. He does not have a name for his busi-ness or a business plan… or any of that. He said he displays his work all overthe city with no name. People take years to find him… and he just laughed.It reminds me of Liberty Vintage in Philly with their art studio attached tothe shop. I found Works Engineering a very cool place to hang out in.

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For 18+ years now we have been puttingout this magazine and the hundreds of desti-nations and rides to help spur you kids outonto the backroads on your motorcycles.

Every so often we even follow our own ad-vice. Case in point a beautifully perfectweekend this year that just beckoned to beridden.

Saturday found us just finishing up withthe current issue and it wasn’t till late in themorning that we got out of the office andonto the road.

It’s funny when we go out for rides likethis. Either we have a pre-planned route allset up for the day, or we just do the Bronsonthing and make up the ride as we go along.This day we had no idea where we would goso we just simply went.

My general idea for these rides is to kindof stitch together points on the map in mymind and then see how it all comes together.

This day brought Shira and me along theKittatiny Ridge and then down towards theWalpack Valley and Worthington State Park.

Hanging a left at Millbrook Villagewe meandered down Old Mine Roadand past the heavily signed TurtleBeach – which the Feds have dumpeda ton of money into, replacing the oldand flooded-out Depew Beach. We’llexplore and write about this anotherday so they can feel they spent ourmoney in a worthy fashion.

At this time of the year solar energyis critical and running on the shadyside of the eastern shore of theDelaware River saw the temperaturesdrop nearly 15 degrees from the sunny60’s we enjoyed riding down into thevalley.

Still the plethora of small and somenot so small waterfalls cascading tothe river made for a visual treat.

Looping around the Delaware Water Gapwe crossed over into Pennsylvania and thenexited to the Welcoming Center where wewould pick up River Road.

Here on the sunny side of the river the ridewas very comfortable and this was the firstchance we would ride along some of theseroads that were destroyed a few years backby the same floods that crushed the oldbeach on the Jersey side. Well paved and justas twisty as I remembered it, this road reallyrocks but we had a few others that wewanted to toss into the mix this day.

Following Broadhead Road towards Mil-ford is a far better idea than the boringlystraight Route 209 and allows for easy ex-ploration of the Upper Delaware and its sur-rounding roads.

Stitching together a westerly route alongRaymondskill Road and then along TwinLakes Road (also completely re-opened) wemeandered to 434 and then right up the hillon Lackawaxen.

I would be wary on this piece of pavementas very slow turns come up rather fast.

Our goal this day was to stop byand visit Mom and family in Nar-rowsburg, so we took 539 to Wel-come Lake Road and then scooteddown the cliffy Peggy’s Runway to652 which brought us over Bridge #4back into New York.

From there we were workingagainst the clock as the sun would begone in an hour or so - so we took theroads paralleling Route 97 and thenpopped back out somewhere west ofthe Hawks Nest, near Barryville.

All said and done we put on a goodamount of happy miles and returninghome chains were lubed, oils checkedand fuel served as we still had ourSunday Bruch Run the next day.


Doing that Backroads Thing • Grabbing the rides when you have the chance


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A carbon copy of Saturday, Sunday foundus joining a few friends at the Chatterbox,in Augusta, New Jersey around 10am’ishfor a ride we promised would be the bomb!(I love young people speak)

Actually the route was taken exactly froma previous Great All American Diner Runwhere Shira devised the largest and most in-tricate Rip & Ride in Backroads’ history.

We live to give you riding pleasure.Consisting of nearly 50 directions and

routing changes - and almost the sameamount on the way back – we simply didwhat we tell you guys to do and down-loaded it to our Garmins – and let moderntechnology take some of the guess work outof the day’s tricky ride.

The 60 mile or so ride down to GourmetExpressions was full of elevation changes,tiny forest roads, broad farm roads, moun-tainous trail-like roads and all sorts of crit-ters including crazed squirrels, dogs andone lost black bear that ran out in front ofShira’s bike.

Yep, the ride had it all and Shira wasgiven a hearty round of applause more thanonce this day for her navigational prowess.

Brunch at Gourmet Expression was deli-cious, different and filling and I felt like anap afterwards if not for the Sprint - the Ital-ian Harley, built in the late 60’s by Aerma-cchi - for sale next door.

As intrigued as some of us were, at$2,500 or best offer, we had no takers. Werethose the original tires?

As I said our route back differed in roads, but not fun, andby the time we returned to Backroads Central I think every-body was glad they made the effort to join us for the ride –especially Roy and Bridget who rode in that morning fromBrooklyn just to ride with friends.

Sometimes you have to grab the rides whenever you getthe chance!


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Brian Rathjen

Most of us had the same reaction years ago when we heard thatthe Indian logo would, yet again, be making a return.

But, for us, once we heard it was Polaris that had now taken thereigns of this Native American ride, we had a gut feeling that thistime the new Indian uprising would be a victory for the Mid-Westcompany.

A few months back I got a chance to visit both the engine plantin Wisconsin and the assembly facility in Iowa. Here Polaris cre-ates both their Victory lines and the new Indian machines.

From the very beginning the uniformed began to make blanketstatement such as the new Indian was simply a re-badged Victory and that

the new Indian would be just like allthe other reincarnations.

Well, after spending some time inboth plants and seeing these bikes inperson, I can unequivocally state thatthis it not true.

The new Indians are machines ontothemselves. Distinctively styled, com-fortable, well-engineered and sexy.

I was fortunate enough to take a firstride on the new Indian Chief Classicriding it from the plant in Spirit Lake,Iowa into Minnesota and north to Min-neapolis.

Along the way I got to pilot the newClassic along the backroads, towns andhighways of the plains – giving me agood taste of what this reborn Indian isall about.

I was more than impressed.

The machine is powered by, whatPolaris is calling, the ThunderStroke 111.

In the metric world this would bean 1811cc air-cooled OHV V-Twinthat delivers an impressive and no-ticeable 119 ft-lbs of torque. Thepowerplant is a big powerful giant ofan engine. Whether tooling around

town or making miles on the interstate the Thunder Stroke 111 engine con-stantly showed its strength. Where the machine’s cousin, the Victory’s engine,is almost sporty in its approach, the 111 is much like a Olympic powerlifter– simple brute pulling power. It may not feel the quickest, but it sure feelspowerful.

Although the Chief Classic does have the retro-look, with their designerscapturing the look, feel and spirit of Indian’s iconic past, the machine is verymuch with today’s technology.

The Classic and all the Indians arekey-less. Just keep the fob on your per-son and get on the bike and push thestart button and ride.

I am still not a big fan of this, as myDodge Durango has this feature too. Ihave a love / hate relationship with thisnew technology. Call me a luddite, butI like keys.

If you lose the fob you can still oper-ate the bike by entering the individual security code that you pre-programmedinto the ignition. Okay, you can’t do that if you misplace your keys – giveone for modern technology.


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All the new Indians also come with ABS, cruise control and both digital and analog information.Look-wise the Indian Chief Classic could not be finer. It truly is one of the best looking stock motorcycles on

the planet.From the iconic valance fenders

and gobs of chrome to the lit “WarBonnet” Indian Chief on thefender and the huge center consoleand headlight - the 2014 IndianChief Classic is a stunning lookingmotorcycle!

Add onto all this power and looka 5-Year coverage with roadsideassistance. Indian Motorcyclebacks every new Indian ChiefClassic with 5-years of coveragethat includes both a 1-year limitedwarranty and an extended servicecontract.

On the road I found the ChiefClassic to be a very easy machineto ride, despite its large appear-

ance. Acceleration was crisp and strong and the machine handlesfar more impressively than I thought when I saw it for the firsttime. Although it looks like the machine is fueled with dual caps,one is for looks and the other for actual fueling.

Underneath all of the body-work and charm is an all aluminumframe that weighs just over 60 lbs and with a seat height of just26 inches riders of any height can easily handle this machine, evenwith a claimed weight of 778 lbs.

When called upon the brakes – dual 300mm discs up front withthe same in the rear - really do the job, stopping the Chief Classicwith power and control.

Ergonomically I found myself to be very comfortable for thecouple of hundred miles I was riding the Classic. The tone of theexhaust, the stunning looks and that historic name brought smallcrowds of other riders gathering around at each fuel station orrestaurant we stopped at.

These new Indians seem to have that affect on riders in theknow.

I look forward to doing a full touring review of the Chief Vintage or the Chieftain Bagger in the near future.Two machines that look to be excellent long-range rides and perfect for the pages of Backroads. Somehow I seea few weeks in the Rockies or the desert southwest coming our way.

The people at Polaris have a lot to be proud of. They took their time, did their homework and brought togethera crew of dedicated workers to bring back a machine that has taken on legendary status.

They have, in fact, brought back the Indian Nation!Retail Price – starting at $18,999 • www.indianmotorcycle.com



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aerostich roadcrafter (Continued from Page 32)

not waify children. The two-piece suit’s jacket overlaps the pants byabout six inches and is attached with a securely sewn zipper to standup to stress and hard use. The pants have a drawstring with cordlocks,as well as belt loops. There are pockets sewn into the lining accessiblebehind the flaps covering the side zippers. High-visibility Scotchlite™reflective tape helps with conspicuity on the back vent, front pocketflap and ankle adjustment tabs and there are nine strategically placed,external pockets, all water-resistant, for storing of almost anythingyou can think of. The large breast pocket is perfect for even a largepassport-sized wallet and very easily accessible at border stops orbridge crossings. There are under arm vents as well as a large ventacross the back. The only suggestion I would make for these wouldbe to add mesh to keep out the flying creatures that always seem tomake their way into the underarm slots. The airflow is great, but thestinging can get a bit tiresome. The women’s cut is adapted with asmaller neck and narrower shoulders. The neck also has a snap-downfeature for warmer weather riding along with its ultrasuede collar lin-ing, making it very comfortable. There are many adjustable tabs andzippers to allow for a more custom fit.

The suit, both zipped to-gether and worn separately, fit perfectly from the get go. Riding posi-tion had the sleeves at the right length to fit either under or over mygauntlet gloves, and the pant legs were not dragging on the floor whenI walked. It was comfortable in all temperatures, although I did notwear it in those steamy hot days of July in Jersey. I wore it for two daysin June on Virginia International Raceway and was not uncomfortableat any time. As a matter of fact, it had great airflow at speed and keptme very well protected. I do like being able to wear my street clothesunderneath, having the freedom of riding gear while walking around.It’s waterproofness was tested on a return trip from Maryland, ridingin an hour or more of pretty heavy wetness. Upon removal, my clothingand body inside the Aerostich was dry. Nice to know.

The Women’s Roadcrafter Two Piece suit is available in any combi-nations of black, blue, grey, red, tan and hi-viz lime yellow and willcost you $984. Just head over to aerostich.com to place your order. Youmay be on their site for a while – they have lots of very cool stuff.

PS – Since the original penning of the review, I had the opportunityto do an abrasion test on the suit and it came through with flying colors.While it did not slide down the road, it did hit the ground pretty hard,and the body inside, save for a large and colorful bruise, was intact. Not even a mark on the pant leg.



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November 2013 Backroads Magazine

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