After a bevvy at One-Eyed Jacks Saloon, we rode to another spectacle- Black Hills Harley Davidson for Bike Week demo rides. Now, I have been on more than a few of these in the Greater Toronto Area, and it usually involves registering for a ride and sometimes waiting for a significant period of time before your ride selection becomes available from the fleet of perhaps a dozen or so bikes. Registration at the Black Hills dealer is electronic- they stick your license into a reader, it displays and stores your info, you agree that any death, injury or dismemberment however tragic for you and yours won't be ruinous to the dealer and manufacturer and boom- yer on a bike. Waiting time was zero, and choices abundant. "What would you like to ride, sir?" Well, I said, dreaming just a bit, how about a CVO Screamin' Eagle 110 ElctraGlide Ultra Classic (ya can't make these names up!)? No problems. The gorgeous $37,600 (pre-tax US; $42,700 in Canada) chromed out tourer became mine for the next 20 minutes. Although the parking lot and the road into and out of the dealership was engorged with motorcycles, the dozen or more staff dedicated to directing and managing traffic were doing a first-class job of keeping things moving, and in a few minutes I was touring the beast along a two-lane country road. The tour is without a Road Captain or Shotgun, you simply follow the signs. The return route takes you along I-90 where the strengths of the 900+ pound behemoth are truly revealed. Like a fat man dancing, the Ultra is lithe and agile in spite of its bulk, and its six-speed gearbox ensures that the revs are never imposing.
Immediately upon our return from the first demo ride, we were offered another ride. Evil rode the big Ultra CVO I had just dismounted and I chose a beautiful red CVO Road King, also with the 110 cubic inch monster. Was it fast? So fast that when I twisted the throttle, the bike shot forward, turning my wrist further than intended, launching me toward Evil's Ultra in front of me at an alarming pace. It seemed to take a very long time (in reality, less than a second or two) for my synapses to organize themselves to avoid a collision. Did I mention that I was also trying to fit my sunglasses on my head as we started to pull away? Even with that introduction to the 110 Roadie, it still startled me when I twisted the throttle for some giddyup cruising the two-lane blacktop. This puppy has got some spunk!
For a third and final demo, I tested a Softtail with a 103" engine. The skies in Sturgis are never complacent, and despite some significant rain clouds having moved in, off I went. About two miles after I left the lot, the skies opened up and drenched me. Then it turned to hail. This version of the Softtail, with no fairing or windshield, left me exposed to the sting of hail. In short order I found myself navigating an unfamiliar bike through a river of rain. I kept as lively a pace as I could to shorten my discomfort, and was heartened to see the exit for I-90 that would get me back to the dealership. The hail intensified to the point that to minimize the stings, I was riding with my left hand over my mouth and chin while holding the throttle with my right. Then it turned to heavy rain. I was soaked. I stopped under the first overpass I encountered, and wasn't short of company. These squalls are common to the region and are best waited out. I waited. The rain seemed to let up, so off I went again, eastbound on the I-90. The rain returned. So did the hail. There was no overpass in sight. A transport passed me with a spray surfers dream about. The rain intensified. My vision was limited to the point that Exit 55 - my exit and the pathway to redemption from the elements- was but a hazy blur. After another stint under a bridge and re-tracing my path to Black Hills Harley, I parked the bike and had a great laugh with Murph and Evil.
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