Sturgis and Beyond

[823JIM]

On the rod to Sturgis

down town

Cowboy Bar Jackson WY.

Beartooth Pass summit 10,966'

Just completed trip to Sturgis and beyond. Traveled 4,600 miles round trip with my 2002 Voyager. Went with my brother, on a Goldwing trike, and good friend and his wife, on a Harley Tri-Glide. We all three pulled trailers and no mechanical problems with any of the bikes or trailers.
On road to Sturgis.--Downtown Sturgis.(A bike or two.)--While at Sturgis made side trip to Devil's Tower.--After leaving Sturgis traveled to Red Lodge MT to ride the Bear Tooth Highway..

Had great time with great friends. Hope to make many more trips like this one in the future.

[cushman eagle]

Congratulations on a good looong trip

[wsm 1]

Looks like a great trip,congrats.

[alabama498]

The wife and I also went but only put on about 1200 miles. I was pretty disappointed that I only saw 2 other voyagers, a 1700 and a 1200. We need the voyager owners to step up.



Brad

[voyager55]

No mechanical problems-- You were lucky

[823JIM]

Yea we were quite lucky to not have any mechanical trouble, after all there was a Harley in our group.

[Neal]

That's what you bought that beautiful Voyager for. Now just relax and set up for the next ride.

[krasmu]

Congrats on a great trip. those will be days remembered for the rest of your life.

[Mr Jensee]

That Voyager had to look out of place with the endless parade of Harley Davidsons there. I hope you weren't intimidated by the rough looking bikers there. Somehow seeing a Voyager XII rider there with no offending tattoos is just wrong.

[823JIM]

Mr. Jensee,

Yes, there was a sea of Harley's and many, many tattoos, but was not intimidated by it at all. Everyone I met was polite and congenial. Just a bunch of like minded bike riders. Stayed at camp grounds at Spearfish, and it was full of bikers. Had a lot of interest in my Voyager, many people stopped at my campsite to talk about it. Several said they had owned one in the past or had a friend who had. Got along quit well with everyone I met. Fun Trip!!!

Oh, did see one other Voyager XII in Sturgis, talked to owner and ask how far he had rode to get there. He said about 30 miles, lived just down the road.

[scottolds]

Glad to hear you had a great trip and that the Voyager was trouble free (which I assume you expected anyway)

My brother keeps telling me I should go to Sturgis one of these years. He has an Ultra Classic, but thinks he doesn't want to ride that far

My main reservation about making a trip like that is I absolutely don't like riding into extremely crowded areas. That is why even though I am less than an hour from Daytona Beach, I was only at Bike Week once.

Before I do another long trip, I still have to finish my list of repairs that I knew I would eventually need when I bought my Voyager off Craigslist a week before I rode it 6500 miles from Florida to Vegas and back. It has just been too enjoyable to put it up for a couple weeks while I go through all the stuff.

What kind of MPG were you getting while pulling your trailer? And how heavy was the trailer?

I might have an opportunity to ride to Wisconsin in October for a wedding and would like to take my bicycle with me. If I do, I will have to put together some type of bicycle trailer. Just waiting to see if the people who are on the fence about flying or driving commit to one way or another.

[823JIM]

While in Sturgis took advantage of the free demo rides. Rode several brands of bikes. By far the most impressive ride was on a Ducati XDiavel, 156 horse power to rear wheel.
Would that thing go, don't think I have ever been on anything that fast, and I use to run drag bikes in the past (80's).

Old man on a hot rod.

[823JIM]

Mr. Scottolds,

The trailer I pulled is a base Harbor Freight trailer with 8" tires. It has 2 TSC aluminum pickup toolboxes on it, and a little alum. on front to hold cooler and streamline some. Loaded with camping gear, a few tools, and my clothing it weighs approx. 300 to 330 lbs. As far as fuel mileage while towing it varied quite a bit. As you probably know a lot of the fuel out west contains varying amounts of ethanol, up to 10%, which does not help mileage(used additives when it was necessary to run that stuff). Lots of wind , elevation and grades. I got the worse of 33 mpg ( just 1 tank full) and the best of 49 (3 tanks ) . For most of the trip the average was around 41 to 42 mpg.

Trailer pulled real good after figuring out how to load to get tongue weight right to avoid the tail wag. Trailer gave me no trouble, my concern was wheel bearings with those small tires, but was fine. You just have to remember its back there to not jump curbs and such with it, and not get into the down hill curves to hot (it will push you a little).

[NebraskaDave]

Jim how were the crowds this year. I used to go to Sturgis in the 70's before it became party central. I was out in Deadwood and Sturgis a couple of weeks before the rally at the BTW international rally for trikes. You are right about the wind and the gas seems like both were a pain.

[823JIM]

Dave this was my first time at Sturgis, but everybody was saying the crowd was way down from years past, especially from last years 75th anniversary.

[kjsett]

I used to have problems with my built trailer (originally for a Goldwing back in '85). It has the small tires also, so i watch my speed. I put the hub buddies on with covers and just add grease before every trip. As to the wag, used to have to be "very" careful with loading (still have the fish scale i used) so tongue weight was around 50#s.
I finally took it in to a trailer fabrication and repair shop (they fixed my utility trailer a few years ago) a year ago last spring and they added the cooler rack and about a foot of length. I haven't noticed a wag since. It is a bit longer now for storage and maneuvering, but that is a fair trade-off for the cooler and no wag.
Thanks for noticing,
Ken