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1st Ride to Sturgis

9K views 68 replies 24 participants last post by  Sergbutton 
#1 ·
Going for 1st ride to Sturgis this year and would like some advice on what your favorite rides that have been. Want to do Spearfish Canyon to Deadwood, and see Mt. Rushmore. Anyone done the ride to Devil's Tower?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Do not pass up doing the Needles and Iron Mountain Highways. You can inter-connect them. Deadwood can be the final destination of that run. Devils Tower? Certainly. I hope you like crowds, no parking spaces, high prices and H-D road blocks everywhere you want to go. Knock yourself out. Me, I like that area, but go before or after the event.
 
#4 ·
and H-D road blocks

Deleted stuff .
???? Sorry ???? Would like to hear more about this subject.. please ??



Andre
@
TaPaTaLk
 
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#3 ·
You couldn't pay me to go to Sturgis during the rally. I was out there a couple of years ago but in early summer. Beautiful place and I second Ricz, the Needles is probably one of my most favorite places I have ever been besides the Bear Tooth Pass coming out of Yellowstone.
 
#8 ·
Beautiful country...great people..no way in H E double hockey sticks would I go to Sturgis during the Rally.

I did Sturgis way back in the day when it was about the RIDE, not how many TaTa's you can see or how much beer you can drink. Now it's a Biker Costume party with the trailers lined up like guys in a free blowjob line. Go on...they love your money. Few locals stay around for the rally, can't blame them. Bunch of immature drunks throwing up on my lawn....no way in hell I'd stand for that.

Last time I went through there stopped for the night, no Rally of course, a local in the Cafe told me he rents his house for 10,000$ for the week. Nice down payment on his new truck he told me :grin.

Don't get me started on the riding skills of those people, wobbling through corners at 25 MPH on a 60 MPH sweeper....last year 13 dead and a 152 injury accidents from motorcycles(just looked).

Go have fun, take pics and report back but above all else...be careful!
 
#9 ·
The last time we were there (not during the event, of course) we were following a couple on a Harley touring bike that was going around curves slowly and VERTICALLY! He was all over the road, making it impossible to pass. If I was a H-D factory rep and saw that, I'd give that guy a ton of money to buy another brand.
 
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#10 ·
The only way to go to devils tower is go up to Belle Fourche and then take the road west.
There so many places and great roads don't sleep in and don't go down to Sturgis till night time. Cold at night hot during the daytime.
Roadside rest areas and gas station have this map there free get one or two and study it. Don't plan going fast anywhere because there is only 75 thousand others going to same place.

https://www.facebook.com/SturgisRallyDaily/?fref=ts

Deadwood Webcam | rapidcityjournal.com

Live Stream | Indian Motorcycle Sturgis South Dakota
 

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#12 ·
The action on those live cams ain't gonna be looking like that during the event. Hey VJ...got a link to the live ta-ta cam?
 
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#14 ·
The warning wasn't about Devils Tower exclusively, but everywhere you want to go. What with a half million attendees, they're gonna be all over the place and a lot of them are not especially good riders. Oh, and don't trip over the trailers. :)
 
#15 ·
Been there 4 times, 4 is enough for me. Great scenery, lots of posers.
Seriously, watch out for the other riders. Group I was with had several close encounters with idiots riding the opposite we were, crossing the center lines in curves. seems a lot of others think they have something to prove by going as fast as they can on roads they have never been on before.

At one Mobil gas station along 385, South of Deadwood we'd often see 4-5 bikes pull in, open their trunks, riders consume 3 or 4 beers, close trunks and ride off.

Don't forget Badlands,
 
#16 ·
Yes, definitely see the Badlands and watch the video at the visitor center. Graphics demonstrate how climate changes(!) formed the Badlands. Yes, changes, as in plural!
 
#17 ·
Number 1 thing to do in stop and go traffic is get the bike in neutral and hand off the lever. With all the heat and stopping you can lose your clutch and you'll have to sit on the side of the road for a couple hours.
If you camp you might not get a lot of sleep. Some campsites do get quite after 11 but not many..
Smart thing to do is fill up with gas before calling it a day. Cause in morning there will be 20 guys getting gas at one time.
Wish you would say where you're staying.
Cops are nice as long as you're not breaking the law.
At night walk or take a shuttle bus better ten a ticket or hitting a deer



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzH4D5Yncv8
 
#21 ·
A few of us will be staying at Elkview and doing all the major touring around. This will be my first ride out also so looking forward to it. One of the guys with us went out a couple of years ago so he'll be our tour guide. Plan on hitting all the favorite scenic routes and places along the way. Safe travels to you.
 
#22 ·
My brother, me, and my uncle are going for the first time this year. We will be sraying at custer state park. Looking forward to taking in the event and riding all the scenic byways
 
#24 ·
keep in mind you can ship stuff back home. You can find plenty of place to wash your clothes. If you're using public showers bring flip flops.
Watch out riding at night in cannon roads and backcountry. They have big animals out there.
Start searching the net now for place to see and if you can see them at night ride during the day.

Crazy Horse monument is a rip off
 
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#26 ·
I generally go thru Montana both down and back - no real way around it for where we live. What's the problem with Montana? It's flat , it's boring , it's hot! There is quite a bit to see but you gotta ride a ways to each different site! :grin
 
#27 ·
What's the problem with Montana? It's flat , it's boring , it's hot! There is quite a bit to see but you gotta ride a ways to each different site!
That's eastern Montana--western Montana is hilly to mountainous and definitely not boring.
 
#32 ·
Montana is hardly boring... If you get on the secondary highways it's awesome. East or west doesn't matter... Highway 3 south of Great Falls has lots of cool roads that run adjacent to it for long stretches... If you go through the farthest east part of MT there is lots of cool old towns. Roads are not flat or straight... Not twisty either but better than most of the roads in Alberta...
 
#33 ·
Got top agree with you. Just that the interstate was a lot of fun too when you could go as fast as you wanted on it in the more remote areas.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Travelling at high speeds on the Montana interstate was fun once in awhile but mostly just to be able to say you did it. Nothing really that special about bald-assed prairie straight-line travelling after half of hour of it. The primary reason we did was to get to the real Coors sooner. As strictly a speed test I've done the same thing on a couple of Alberta roads as well.

I've spent lots of time down there over the years. I think Highway To The Sun, 93 and sections of 2 are much better driving experiences and more interesting parts of the country to see.
 
#36 ·
One of the problems with the no speed limit thing was out-of-staters were going there to "open 'er up" there and would go way too fast for conditions.
Prior to the "55" Oregon had no speed limits, just reasonable and prudent. Those were good times, but our cars were so crappy then, it was scary to go real fast with them. That's why I was doing the sport car thing. Smoked many a muscle car in the twisties with only 1600 cc's.
 
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