LIKEing the North Georgia Mountains

[klaviator]

I decided it was time to time to break out of the lockdown and escape to the land of open restaurants.  This whole trip started when my buddy Steve went out and stole a Vespa. It was an 09 GTV with 12,000+ miles on it that he stole for 1100 bucks. It was overdue for a belt change so I told him I'd come over and help him change the belt. Steve is a much better mechanic than I am but scooters are new to him and I have changed several scooter belts. Besides, N. GA has some great riding.

On Wednesday I loaded my Like in my truck and headed over. I was glad I had decided on that instead of riding over on the majesty because the weather sucked. Rain, wind and cold! So no pics for Thursday. The only thing noteworthy on that day was that we went to a restaurant and actually ate dinner there! What a concept. I almost forgot what that was like. Alabama still didn't allow dining in Restaurants, Georgia did.

Thursday had some beeeuutiful weather and we took advantage of it. First I got a hold of a guy on the Maxiscoots forum and we arranged to meet in the town of Blue Ridge. Why Blue Ridge? Well first it's the nearest town and second there is a motorcycle dealer there with a bike I wanted to check out. Since one of the bikes I am considering buying is a KLX250 I rode there on Steve's older KLX250. It's not fuel injected like the newer ones but is otherwise pretty much identical.



And Steve was on his new Vespa.



We rode into Blue Ridge.



It's an 18 WR250 with less than 300 miles on it. They let me ride it around the parking lot but not on a real test ride. No doubt it's a more capable bike than either the KLX250 or 230 and they had a good price on it but I'm still leaning towards a KLX.

Steve (not another Steve :D) showed up on an unusual contraption and we rode to get some lunch.



What is it?



A Yamaha Waverunner with wheels :D

[klaviator]

We ate lunch IN the restaurant. They did have every other table not available but there was still plenty of seating. It seems that most people are still doing take out. Then we headed back to Steve's place to swap out bikes.

Steve leading the way on his Vespa.




We headed out. This time both Steve and I were on our Like150i's.

We stopped and had a chat with Darryl ;D



And then got some pics at the nearby bridge.



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The Toccoa River.

[klaviator]

After the bridge we headed off to one of my favorite places, Two Wheels of Suches. Not only is it a great place, you can't get there except on some really great roads. We swapped scooters so we could compare. They were very similar as expected but we both agreed that the Pirelli Angels on my scooter were better then the OEM tires on Steve's So we rode some scenic curvy roads until we stopped so Steve could get some gas for his Like.



A view of the two Likes.



Mine is a 2018 and Steve has a 2020 and he also added some stickers to the front.



The other Steve on his Morphous.



More great roads and we arrived at our destination.



We hung out a while until another scooter rider from ADV joined us.



It's not often that you see four scooters together up here in these mountains.



Although this place is closed during the week it still attracts a fair number of riders. It's a great place to hang out and they leave the rest rooms open.

[lazeebum]

As always, great write up and pictures.

[Guidedawg]

Always love your trip reports.  Thanks for contributing and inspiring us to get out there.

[klaviator]

Eventually we headed off and rode down Wolf Pen Gap rd. This is one of the twistiest roads in Georgia and a blast to ride. We were scooting along quite nicely but eventually came up behind a couple of wings. They weren't throwing off any sparks but looked like they were using all of their ground clearance in the curves. There were no straights to pass so we just slowed down and followed them.



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Then we rode some more nice roads, not as twisty as Wold Pen Gap but still nice.



Another stop.



Steve offered Steve a chance to ride the "waverunner".



Steve sat on it for about 30 seconds and decided the riding position didn't agree with him and got off. We headed off stopping for a photo spot.



Did I mention it was about a perfect day to ride. Around 65 degrees, blue skies with a few puffy clouds.



I swapped out with Steve and rode the Morphous a bit. It's definitely different. I'm glad I had the chance to ride it.

I swapped back. at this point Steve was leading on his Like.




He led us down to a scenic spot on Lake Blue Ridge.

Got a glamour shot of the Like.



We all took a bunch of pics.



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[Guidedawg]

It looks like it was a beautiful day to be out!

[Nice Goat]

Great photos as always, Win!

[klaviator]

It looks like it was a beautiful day to be out!

It was a beautiful day and the temperature was perfect.  A couple more pics from that day.



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The next day on the other hand sucked weather wise.  It rained pretty much all day. 

No problem, we had a plan.  We changed the belt on Steve's Vespa.

[klaviator]

Saturday was forecast to be a sunny but chilly day. It started with frost warnings for early in the morning with a predicted high of mid 50s by late afternoon. Needless to say I didn't rush out first thing in the morning. I would be riding solo because Steve had his son and DIL coming to visit. I finally got on the road around 11 with temps in the 40s.  It was a beautiful morning.



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[klaviator]

My destination:



My Like was not the only scooter there.



There is a story behind this scooter. It is a 2009 Piaggio BV250. It is owned by the brother of the TWoS owner. He picked it up with very low miles in immaculate condition for a very reasonable price. A couple of weeks ago Steve was here and talked to the owner of this scooter. The guy asked Steve if he wanted to ride it so he did. He was very impressed. Then the guy told him about a Vespa for sale locally. This Piaggio, the Vespa 250 GTS and my old Sport City 250 all use the same motor.

Anyway, Steve decided to go check out the Vespa. He went hoping he wouldn't like it because he already had 4 bikes. Well, he loved it and ended up buying it for $1100. Just the accessories that came with the scooter cost that much and the Vespa was easily worth twice that.

Since it was cold the crowd at TWoS was much smaller than it would have been on a warm day.



They were serving lunch but no inside dining. No problem there were plenty of picnic tables outside, properly spaced of course.

The view from the porch.

[Hammerdown77]

Hey, a new Guzzi V85 TT!

[klaviator]

Hey, a new Guzzi V85 TT!

There were two of them a little before I took that pic.

[klaviator]

After hanging out a while and talking to various people it was time to ride some more. I rode a short distance and took a pic of Woody Lake.



Then I came back and took several pics of the waterfalls right across the street from TWoS.



Then I was off to ride the "cooler run". This is a 36 mile loop that goes south on 60, left on 19, left on 129 over Blood Mountain and left on 180 back to TWoS. This is about as good of 36 miles of twisties as you will find anywhere. 60 had been repaved in the last year or two as was 19. Then it was 129 up Blood mountain. This is the same US129 that runs through Deal's Gap and is known as the dragon. As 129 twists and turns its way up Blood mountain it has two lanes going up much of the time. This makes for an awesome ride and allows for easy passing of slower traffic. Even though I was on a 150cc scooter and going uphill the whole way, I took advantage of that extra lane as the car traffic was all going slower than I was.  I was having too much fun to take a lot of pics and only got one.



I stopped at the store on top and talked a bit with an ST1300 rider. I tried real hard to infect him with the scooter virus:lol3

I rode down the mountain and stopped to get a pic of the lake at Vogel State Park



Then I rode up 180. There wasn't much traffic and I only had to pass one car. I was also passed by one GS rider.

I stopped to take some pics and happened to catch some cars coming by. This area, like the area around Deal's Gap had become a playground for fast cars.



The reason I stopped.



Just across the road, Lake Winfield Scott.

[klaviator]

I stopped again at TWoS. There weren't very many people there. I got a pic of Suches Creek.



The picnic tables with social distancing signs.

Then I headed North on 60. This road has been one of my favorites since I first rode in in 1990. The combination of almost non stop curves, some tight and some easy sweepers, combined with peaceful scenery make this road a joy to ride.



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Everything is such a bright green this time of year.



Eventually I turned off of 60. I was nearing Steve's place when I saw him riding the other way on his Vespa. He was doing a test ride to make sure the belt change was successful. He said it made a big difference in accelleration and was smoother. We rode a few miles and then swapped bikes. This was my first time riding a Vespa. The riding position of the Vespa was much roomier than the Like. I think the typical NBA player could probably fit on a Vespa. The seat was comfortable. Being a 250 it was of course much faster than the Like. The ride was much smoother. What surprised me was that the steering was also much lighter. It felt twitchy although the scooter handled fine. I think it's something that would feel normal once I got used to it.

We stopped for dinner.



Country Fried Steak, Mashed taters and veggies

After dinner we headed for Steve's place stopping by the Toccoa river for a few last pics.



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The next morning I loaded up and drove home. I'm glad I got away for a bit. I was starting to go stir crazy from the Covid shutdown. It was good to see life starting to turn towards normal.  I can't wait to get back to the mountains for some more riding.