By now we all know that there is indeed a liquid cooled touring Harley.
I ran across this You Tube video on how the new system works. It is a video of a video (with poor sound) that someone shot at some Harley Davidson Event. But it describes, with animation, quite well how the new radiator in the lower fairing system works.
Check it out!
Last weekend Debbie and I went for a motorcycle ride to Antietam Battlefield. The American Civil War battlefield is near Sharpsburg, Maryland about half way between Martinsburg, WV and Frederick, MD.
Ride to Antietam
This was the worst one day battle in American History. 23,000 soldier were killed, wounded or went missing in only 12 hours. After seeing the battlefield and understanding the tactics of the time I find it hard to understand how these men walked into the open for the cannons to…just wipe them out!
The battlefield itself is well maintained and there are monument to many of the units and men that fought and died on that day. The museum has a thirty minute movie covering the action, I suggest you see the film first as it will lay out what occurred in a broad scope so you will have some context as you move outside.
You may run across two, non-military, names that were unexpected to see in a place like this. Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross and, then Captain, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Holmes, who was left for dead at Antietam, would later become a famous member of the American Supreme Court.
We also spent part of the day just wheeling around and by the time we arrived at home we had put nearly 120 miles on the bike. And for a great change, there was never even a threat of rain.
This is another great ride (I just said that, right)! The Battlefield Run is about 110 miles long and rides through four states (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania) ending at Battlefield Harley Davidson in Gettysburg.
The name comes from, I think, the fact that it rolls through several Civil War Battlefields including Antietam, Charles Town, Shepherdstown, and Gettysburg. The name is also representative of the charity it supports, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Which provides college scholarships the surviving children of fallen Special Operations Forces.
Debbie and I only discovered this ride two years ago. It is a cause close to our hearts (I spent 10 years in the Army Special Operations Command) and is a great ride (I said that, right?). If you can attend, please do!
The “Rattle The Runway Ride”, which began in 2003, commemorates the events of September 11th. In particular it honors the memory of Flight 77 which began at Dulles International Airport and ended when it crashed into the Pentagon.
This year’s event will be held on the 8th of September, with the ride staging at the National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. If the event holds to form, the museum will open for about an hour before the run begins. To me, this is one of the best parts of this event, you get to view the museum with a, relatively, small group.
Once the opening ceremonies, which begin at 9AM, are completed the ride will pass in front of the Dulles Main Terminal, move onto VA 267 and end at the Pentagon 9-11 Memorial. There are no registrations or fees involved with this event. Any donations and money from the sales of event memorabilia goes to the Pentagon Memorial Fund.
The event draws about 1000 bikes each year. You can expect the standard accordion affects during the ride as you would with any group of this size. Debbie and I have participated in this event in the past and plan to do so again this year.
I ran across the EL DIABLO RUN on the internet. If you are a west coast rider check it out, it looks like a lot of fun and
From the website this is a throwback, old school, or whatever you want to call it, kind of ride. I am adding the El Diablo Run to my motorcycle riding bucket list. Baja is already on this list so maybe I can combine the two someday
Well, Paw Paw, West Virginia was not the intended destination, in fact, we just went out to ride.
We pulled out about ten in the morning (on the Ultra Limited) and head west on Route 7. I noticed the exit for Virginia State Route 9 and decided, what the heck let’s see where Route 9 goes. We knew it went north to Martinsburg, WV but that was about it.
Route 9 in Virginia is also known as Charles Town Pike and passes through rolling farmland and the towns of Paeonian Springs (which has a historic district) and Hillsboro. Hillsboro sets in the middle of a gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains. A short climb out of Hillsboro and you have a great view of Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
RT 9 at WV/VA boarder
At this point VA Route 9 becomes WV Route 9 and also becomes a four line highway. While we did not take the road, by the looks of the area I can image that “old 9” down the mountain would be full of twistiness! Crossing the Shenandoah River we scooted through Charles Town and Martinsburg, we did not stop to look around, today was just about riding. A little after Martinsburg the road becomes a 2 lane again.
When we reached Berkeley Springs we did stop. Right in the middle of the town is the Berkeley Springs State Park. The town (its real name is Bath) was considered the country’s first spa and resort area because of the mineral spring producing 2,000 gallons a minute. George Washington even visited the springs. Heck the town even has a castle!
Continuing on Route 9, up the mountain out of Berkeley Springs we summited to a spectacular view of the Potomac River in the valley below. We decided to have lunch across the street from the fabulous view at Panorama at the Peak restaurant. This is a farm to table, organic, restaurant and the food was awesome!
Back on the bike we rode down the mountain and into the Cacapon River Valley. This stretch of road from Berkeley Springs to Paw Paw was very lightly traveled, I doubt that we passed a dozen cars. It undulates along the Cacapon River and was just a very nice ride!
Riding in the Cacapon River valley
We reached the end of WV 9 when we hit Paw Paw. It is a very small town at the intersection of WV 9 and 29 and was the point where we began our return trip. We did not retrace our route instead we zigged and zagged through a variety of roads until we reached Route 7 at Winchester, VA. After stopping at the Winchester Sonic restaurant for ice cream (I love there coconut milkshakes) we quickly made it back home.
We put in 198 miles on this trip with only a few stops….it was a great day with the wife and the bike!
Well the 2104 Harley Davidson bikes are out! Check out the on-line commercial for Project Rushmore. While I have only the commercial and their website to comment on, all I can say is…..some nice changes! Some quick notes:
Lighting – looks like some of the bikes come standard with LED or Dual Halogen.
Slipstream Vent – looks like the batwing fairings now come with a center mounted vent.
Infotainment System – voice activated music, phone and GPS with device dock in dash.
Brakes – the front and rear ABS brakes are linked.
Engine – “Twin-Cooled High Output Twin Cam 103 Engine”. Now based in the statement in the video … (the underlining is mine)
“A select number of the Project RUSHMORE motorcycles are built around the new Twin Cooled™ High Output Twin Cam 103™ engine. Twin cooling cools the heads around the exhaust ports to deliver at or near peak performance under all operating conditions and temperatures. Higher compression ratio increases efficiency and horsepower. There’s also a 110 cubic inch version of this engine available in the CVO™ Limited. We’ve been building engines for 110 years. And we know from the smiles on the faces of our test riders, there’s never been an engine that feels quite this good.”
This tied with my earlier post seems to indicate that we might have the 1st Harley touring bike with water cooled engines (maybe?)? This feature is limited to the Tri-Glides and the Ultra Limited.
Each of the features listed above is available on select bikes check the Harley Davidson Website for detail.
As noted in the last post, I had stopped at the “Welcome to West Virginia” rest stop on Interstate 68. While there I looked at the rack of brochures of all the different things you can do in the state.
I was pleasantly surprised to see four or five motorcycle specific brochures. Each of the pamphlets outlined different rides in different sections of the state. I have ridden several of these over the years and they all are great.
I am glad to see WV start promoting the state to bikers. I have ridden the Tail of the Dragon and it was cool, but many of the roads in the southern and eastern parts of West Virginal rival or surpass the Dragon! Heck, the road outside the house I grew up in has 108 turns in eight miles.
If you have never considered riding in WV please do. You can go to WV Motorcycle Rides section of the state’s tourism website for more detail.
My daugher (Eryn) and I were on Interstate 68 stopped at the “Welcome toWest Virginia” rest area. In the parking lot as I emerged from the building was a pickup with a trailer hauling the three vintage bikes pictured.
These bikes were in great condition! I spoke with the owners for a few minutes and discovered that they were on there way to the Ohio Valley BSA Owners Club 32nd Annal Rally.
The Honda is one of the bikes I wanted when I was about 16.
Life Behind The Wall published a really nice post on a ride with the ex-pat motorcycle club Dragon Riders!
Beyond the obvious good time she had on the ride, the item that struck me the most was “ Harley is illegal to ride in Hangzhou city but they didn’t seem worried at all about it as one by one all Bikes began to arrive. “
Tie that statement with the comment from my earlier post regarding how it is illegal to ride a Harley Davidson on the highways —- not quite right!
I JUST WANT 2 RIDE!! 