Sturgis - Ever Been?

[renchinrider]

I was perusing Twitter, reading about Sturgis 2018, which begins in just 10 days.  The tweet had a link to this vintage pic from Sturgis 1996, and I noted two things:

1.  It instantly started me reflecting on my own trip to Sturgis back in 2014...A really great time, and the stuff of another ride report someday ;).

2.  Look at all those baggers...Looks like riders have been touring on baggers since way before baggers became cool.. :D

So:  Have YOU ever been to Sturgis?  If so, when and what stands out most in your memories of being there?

[kdtrull]

I think it was '89 when I went.  It was an anniversary year.  I remember reports of 140k bikes in the area.  I'll try to find a pic when I get home.  I also remember a Goldwing club meeting in Keystone that weekend... More wings than I could accurately put a number to.  In Sturgis, I remember mostly heavily modified Harleys, incredible tattoos, and butt cheeks... The likes of which I've never seen and cannot be unseen.

[kdtrull]

Also remember the local news reporting on the number of rider deaths that weekend.

[renchinrider]

 :( 

I'm eager to see any pics you have from your visit there all those years ago.  I did see a bike down while we were up there, but I don't think anyone was seriously hurt...Thank God!

I do recall a story from an old friend who lives in Wichita:  He owns a specialized motorcycle recovery truck, and travels to Sturgis every year.  One time, he was called to recover a bike for a rider who had crashed, and was taken by ambulance for treatment.  My friend took the bike to a storage facility where it sat until he heard from the rider, who had been briefly hospitalized, then flown home.  The rider hired my friend to go back to Sturgis, load the bike, and transport it all the way to central TEXAS so the rider could have it rebuilt!

I bet there are more such stories than we can count!

[klaviator]

Never been to Sturgis.  I haven't even been to South Dakota.  North and South Dakota are the only two states I have never been to so I'll have to make it up there someday.  I have zero interest in going to Sturgis during the big rally but I would like to ride the Black Hills area. 

[Bama_Rider]

I am not a fan of large crowds of anything.  Much less a fan of large crowds of drunken revelers pretending to be outlaw bikers.   

[norton73]

Almost always, the first two questions I get asked when I tell someone I ride motorcycles are,
"Do you have a Harley?"

and,

"Have you been to Sturgis?"

Why do most non riders think the motorcycle world revolves around these two things?

[springer]

  I have been. It was a long, long time ago when I went to that land far, far away.  :D (Sorry, always wanted to say that)
I even went with some semi-outlaw and outlaw friends of mine. How did I get such friends? Well, they sort of hid me from the cops I was running from on my very first motorcycle. I was 13 at the time with no helmet on my head, Converse sneakers on my feet, and no license in my wallet.  :D On my very first motorcycle that I "bought" from a friend who's mom and told him to "Get rid of that damn thing".  :D :D
I was "keeping it" at his house because my Father told me, Son, you will never own a motorcycle while you are under my roof! (He also knew the 4 cops that where chasing me. A fact I wasn't aware of at the time)
Well anyways, I had semi lost the police and was coming back up the street where they where living. 1 was out in the street and when he saw me, he pointed to the house and wave his other arm directing me to the house. They had put a ramp on the steps going into the house. I could hear the police sirens still so I took his advice and direction, rode up the ramp and into the rental home they had.
  We all had a pretty good laugh and when things calmed down, I rode to where I was "keeping" my motorcycle.
All that /\ happened in the 70's.

In the early 90's, when the "gotta have a Harley" craze was new, 4 of those guys and I rode up to Sturgis for the rally. Only 1 of that original 4 still belonged to a "club", the other 3 had moved on from that life.

It was crowded (Sturgis) but we had fun. No one gave me any real crap about my "Jap Sportbike". (that really wasn't a sportbike at all) Yep, there was drunkenness, nudity, hell raising, lewdness, and even a fist fight or 2...or 3. But, over all, I have been to worst ones than that. (Faunsdale, the first few, were wildness in a cage)
If you do want to ride the area, I would skip the rally (and the jacked up prices on everything) and go at another time.

BTW, those four friends I talked about/\? They have all passed on. Of course they where older than me by 14-32 years.

[renchinrider]

Springer, that's an awesome story!  Thanks for sharing it.  I have to say that, all-in-all, Sturgis was pretty tame when I was there in 2014.  Of course, I and my wife were there together, and were staying about 50 miles south, so we left each afternoon about 4.  So I'm sure we missed a lot of the action I'm too old to deal with anyway! :D

BREAK

Klaviator:  FYI:  I'm going to Sturgis in September (15-17 to be exact) to watch the Motorcycle Cannonball roll thru town.  Maybe you want to go along?

[klaviator]

Springer, that's an awesome story!  Thanks for sharing it.  I have to say that, all-in-all, Sturgis was pretty tame when I was there in 2014.  Of course, I and my wife were there together, and were staying about 50 miles south, so we left each afternoon about 4.  So I'm sure we missed a lot of the action I'm too old to deal with anyway! :D

BREAK

Klaviator:  FYI:  I'm going to Sturgis in September (15-17 to be exact) to watch the Motorcycle Cannonball roll thru town.  Maybe you want to go along?

Marc, I'd love to come along......but there's this nasty think called WORK that will get in the way.  I can't wait to retire so I can do stuff like this.  By this time next year I expect to be retired or at least semi retired. 

[renchinrider]

I hear you! :D  Can't wait for you to retire as well--then you can lead us on even more of your awesome rides! ;)

[kylepeterson]

Almost always, the first two questions I get asked when I tell someone I ride motorcycles are,
"Do you have a Harley?"

and,

"Have you been to Sturgis?"

Why do most non riders think the motorcycle world revolves around these two things?

the two statements most likely to identify a non rider.

riding for days on end to -insert any city name here- to creep through the slowest, loosest, SAMESAMESAMEst traffic on Earth....

has about as much appeal as a self-root canal using technology from the 1700's.

I'll get my kicks from South Dakota one registration at a time ;-)

[renchinrider]

riding for days on end to -insert any city name here- to creep through the slowest, loosest, SAMESAMESAMEst traffic on Earth....

has about as much appeal as a self-root canal using technology from the 1700's.

I'll get my kicks from South Dakota one registration at a time ;-)
[/quote]

Agreed:  I'll never understand why anyone would want to (try to) ride in endless circles through a traffic jam to go nowhere--that has always mystified me.

And I rank most expos in the "root canal" activity category.  Rarely does anything there inspire me, though perhaps it should! ::)

But I can't help my addiction to gawking at motorcycles, no matter their make, size or vintage, or the venue at which they're on display  (though I haven't yet been anywhere more exciting than Barber Vintage Fest!  :) :))  Well, to clarify:  I don't get much of a thrill out of looking at new, showroom motorcycles--they're all the same, and after the first one, there's nothing new or interesting to see.  I like to see bikes that are owned and loved by their owners, and to which their owners have dedicated creative originality.  I'm not a crotch rocket guy per se, but I still can't help dawdling as I stroll from bike to bike at a Cycle Gear bike night just listening to crotch rocket owners talking (with glowing pride) about their latest innovation to either make their bike faster, or make it handle better.  I once spent almost an hour with a guy as he told me about bringing his 1960 Vespa back to life.  And that was in the midst of meeting a bunch of awesome guys who adapted four mid-60s Honda Dreams (the "Critter Bikes, from Corinth, MS) and rode them across the TAT from Memphis to San Fransisco!!!  I could have spent the rest of the day with all of them--probably a week if I'd had nowhere else to be!

I guess our trip to Sturgis was a bit of a hybrid because were were at the actual rally for just a few hours at a time, and we didn't do any of the crazy stuff at the Buffalo Chip, Full Throttle, etc.  We just enjoyed the bikes, met some really nice people from all over the world, and toured around that portion of South Dakota.  It made for some great memories for us! I would gladly go again, but my next goal is to finally make it to Laconia, NH--been trying to get there for 4 years now!  Laconia is even older than Sturgis.

And believe me:  When my wife says she enjoyed a motorcycle event  ??? ??? ???  That's a VERY significant achievement! :D

[bblass]

Going to Sturgis is on my motorcycle bucket list. You can't get 100K+ bikes in a town and not have a good time

[polarissalesman]

Rallies have never appealed to me. Most, not all, buys a bike hauls it to ____________, gets drunk and then tries to ride. 100,000+ bikes in a small town just don't seem like fun to me. Oh all the 1/2 naked girls, well, if you are into that go to a strip club. I"d rather be ridin, but that's just me.