I recently took a five day trip from NC to Ohio for the AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. Six adults and one teen went with five bikes and one car (with trailer). We met for a hearty breakfast and got on the road about 9:30.
Here's the Nighthawk all loaded up. I had all of my gear on the bike including a tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, cooking gear etc. All of my camping gear worked great, but there were definitely things I could have left behind. Fortunately, I was able to take the baseball/duffle bag off the bike for all but 20 of the 1065 total miles of the trip because we had a car with a trailer going.
About an hour from home the car started smoking. We stopped to check it out and determined that it was transmission fluid. We stopped at a Quick Lube and they determined that it was overfull. They fixed it for nothing. Nice guys! The manager was a Nighthawk owner.
Our next stop was in West Virginia. One of the guys had to sell some wheels from a 1964 Chrysler 300 to the owner of this junkyard. This is one reason we brought the trailer. The other was if somebody found a great deal on a bike or parts at the swap meet, or if somebody’s bike broke down. We stayed a while and checked out the acres of old cars.
Here's our campsite. It was right next to a river and about twelve miles from the Mid Ohio racetrack. We had a large tarp shelter which really came in handy because we got quite a bit of rain. Unfortunately we didn't get there in time to set up in the daylight.
On the way to Mid Ohio on the first day, the clutch cable on one of the guys' 1976 Honda Goldwing broke. We had to trailer it the rest of the way there. We found a new one at the swap meet and installed it. We didn't arrive until 1 pm.
Here's a Nighthawk that was converted to a trike.
Here's a guy doing all kinds of hooligan tricks.
Old bikers die hard...
Lots of vintage bike races were going on.
A 1972 Harley Davidson 350 Sprint (that’s me). It's made by an Italian company (Aermacchi). The owner rode it up all the way from Louisiana over 1200 miles. I had one similar many years ago. Mine was the enduro version. It's a single cylinder thumper and was a fun little bike.
Here I am going around the track. I forgot to tell my friend how to use the zoom. I guess that's why I look like an ant. He took the picture from the tower.
Here's the Kawasaki Ninja 1000 that I demoed - what a great bike! I’d love to get one of these.
Here are a couple other bikes I demoed. They reminded me why I hate cruisers.
A few more cool bikes - a beautifully restored 1953 BMW, a Norton, a Vincent, a Schwinn and a Rudge.
On the way home. I thought it would be a nice picture because of the bridge in the background. It's hard to make out because it blends in with the trees.
Overall, it was a great trip though we had our ups and downs. Spending two days of the five on the superslab fighting with 18 wheelers is not my idea of a fun ride. I would prefer taking more back roads and limiting it to around 300 miles per day but we didn't have time for that. We also had quite a bit of rain and I think my tent was the only one that didn’t get flooded out. The rain and all goes with the territory and will surely be fondly remembered in the future. I averaged over 47 mpg for the trip. The Nighthawk performed flawlessly and kept up with the larger bikes with no problem. I was cruising at 75 - 80 miles per hour all day effortlessly. The only times I thought the bike could use more power was on the track, and right after I rode the Ninja 1000.
