Well I thought I would try and attempt a small recap of our trip to Sturgis. I want to say first off that this will be nothing like “Jock’s Great Recaps” but just want to give back a few memories of our trip.
This was our 5th trip to Sturgis and I can say without a doubt by far the busiest I have ever seen! Not even close. I never had the chance to park on main street and never saw a spot to get in. Simply because I couldn’t find a parking spot doesn’t mean that attendance was up but everywhere we were you had people looking for rooms almost in a panic.
The weather was nice and cool. We departed what has been a wet, cool summer in Tennessee with only 6 days recorded in the 90s? Guess global warming
We had the bike all serviced and we were all ready. We departed on Saturday from TN at 5am. The best picture I didn’t take would have been me deciding to roll the bike about 60 yards down the street then getting on the bike and coasting down the hill to start the bike to not wake all the neighbors as we left. Hope it worked but it was kinda funny. We have trailered 3 times and this was our 2nd trip out on the bike. We have really enjoyed riding out and it seems we have made more memories from that alone but trailering is not so bad as you will see later. We plan each year to ride from 5am arrive in Kansas City, MO which is exactly the half way point at 752 miles then we leave at 5am from KC and arrive in Spearfish at 6pm. Gaining hours each day but lose hours coming back.
Weather on the trip was mainly cool. I stayed in long sleeves and light weight jackets the whole trip. When we stopped some days we would trade for t shirts but mainly cool. Very nice. We had some rain but more great Wx than bad. We had friends trailering up from Texas and they had nice Wx as well.
Things I noticed from the week:
Again attendance was very good. Rapid City news said it was the 2nd highest attendance behind 2002?
We saw alot of CVOs this year. Even Jill said “I have noticed alot of CVO’s this year” that must mean there was alot. LOL!!! We did have 7 alone at our hotel and handed each of them a CVO card hope they are on the site by now.
LED Headlights are "IN" and it is simple to see the trend.
Being in the marketing business I try and notice trends and kudos have to go to Victory and Indian. I saw a “LOT” more Victory motorcycles this year and the Indian relaunch must have been a success since 2 guys in our group bought 1 each?? Not sure if it was the western theme or what but they did the test drive and the reps found them a dealer in Little Rock, AR and they paid for 2 over the phone?? Some folks had some nice custom themed Victory bikes as well. The Hamsters stayed at our hotel and thats where I saw a dozen or so but that could be from the Arlen Ness connection?
More restaurants and hotels have opened in the area since last year which is good for more choices.
Not HD bashing at all but Harley’s exhibit was not very exciting? I wonder if its because of the release of new product is after Sturgis? Lets face it by this time of year the product is a year old? Not much excitement on year old product? A few years back I went to the convention center saw the 2009 Road Glide CVO called my dealer and ordered it?
Overall another great trip. Very Thankful for a safe trip and now we can bank some more good memories. Now on to the pictures!!
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Topic: Sturgis 2013 (Read 10175 times)