SKOGDOG
One of the old ones.
Well, Blacktopper and I are in Omaha tonight---returning from a great week in Sturgis. My cousins were born and raised in Sturgis, so besides having a place to stay, I really enjoy the family connections. We mostly traveled there (about 800-850 miles) on US Routes trying to dodge rainstorms. That worked out pretty well. We went on different rides every day, including Spearfish Canyon, Vanocker Canyon, the Big Dog Lunch Ride on Tuesday, The Badlands, and a couple of runs to Rapid City to look over the vendors at the Harley dealership.
Roger's bike was pretty much in tip-top shape, but I spent some days (and a few dollars) because I wanted to ride my K9 (right at 70K miles). I somehow bent the front rotor and the rear one had a habit of wearing out rotor buttons. So I bought new wheel bearings fore and aft, new Avons, and put on two rotors I had squirreled away. Threw in a couple of replacement brake pads to boot. And spent most of a day repairing the little LED light in the license plate bracket. It was finally tip-top and ready to go anywhere.
The bikes couldn't have performed any better--no issues, no problems.
Planning to go home, we again looked at the rain patterns and decided to take I-90 east to I-29 south. It has been some years since I've traveled I-90, and it has been improved. It was smooth and traffic wasn't bad at all.
And of course there were a million Harleys on eastbound I-90. You all know the speed limit is now 80 mph on most of the Interstate system, and with a nice tailwind, Roger and I spiked it up to 88-89, and those K9's ran like scalded cats all day long. We passed scores of bikes that were really working pretty hard to run steady at 80. Seemed like most of them didn't have the heart for sustained speeds north of 85. Roger's 2016 330 K9 With the 124 S&S runs 3000 rpm at 90 mph, and of course my 117 is around 3K at 80---hard to tell with the Dakota Digital. Both have good 'harmonics' and were running smoothly at that speed.
Over dinner tonight Blacktopper pointed out that these bikes are made to run like that. Big Dog bikes are designed and engineered for that kind of sustained performance. They have the power and torque, they have the wheelbase and weight too, and of course they have a low center of gravity and excellent balance. They are road beasts.
Roger has a V-8 Chopper T-shirt that has a phrase that applies just as well to our Dogs:
To catch us, you gotta be good--
To run with us, you gotta be fast--
To pass us, you gotta be kidding!!
Roger's bike was pretty much in tip-top shape, but I spent some days (and a few dollars) because I wanted to ride my K9 (right at 70K miles). I somehow bent the front rotor and the rear one had a habit of wearing out rotor buttons. So I bought new wheel bearings fore and aft, new Avons, and put on two rotors I had squirreled away. Threw in a couple of replacement brake pads to boot. And spent most of a day repairing the little LED light in the license plate bracket. It was finally tip-top and ready to go anywhere.
The bikes couldn't have performed any better--no issues, no problems.
Planning to go home, we again looked at the rain patterns and decided to take I-90 east to I-29 south. It has been some years since I've traveled I-90, and it has been improved. It was smooth and traffic wasn't bad at all.
And of course there were a million Harleys on eastbound I-90. You all know the speed limit is now 80 mph on most of the Interstate system, and with a nice tailwind, Roger and I spiked it up to 88-89, and those K9's ran like scalded cats all day long. We passed scores of bikes that were really working pretty hard to run steady at 80. Seemed like most of them didn't have the heart for sustained speeds north of 85. Roger's 2016 330 K9 With the 124 S&S runs 3000 rpm at 90 mph, and of course my 117 is around 3K at 80---hard to tell with the Dakota Digital. Both have good 'harmonics' and were running smoothly at that speed.
Over dinner tonight Blacktopper pointed out that these bikes are made to run like that. Big Dog bikes are designed and engineered for that kind of sustained performance. They have the power and torque, they have the wheelbase and weight too, and of course they have a low center of gravity and excellent balance. They are road beasts.
Roger has a V-8 Chopper T-shirt that has a phrase that applies just as well to our Dogs:
To catch us, you gotta be good--
To run with us, you gotta be fast--
To pass us, you gotta be kidding!!
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