New shop in London is great, owned by the same people that have Smokey Mountain in Maryville, Tn. Don't know much about the western areas, but when I talked with the Bowling Green dealership on the phone, they were very nice and helpful. Can't say so much about the dealers in Louisville. Lexington is O.K. The farther east you go, the better the riding gets. You might want to check out the bourbon trail - basically pick a route along 2-lanes between the distilleries between Elizabethtown and Versailles. Cumberland Falls is great. If you venture east of I-75, goto Natural Bridge State Park.

 

Thanks for help! These are some great ideas!!!

 

Here is a link to the dealer in London, be sure to watch the video. Its the only dealership in the country like this.
www.wildcatharley.com

 

Oh, the dealer listed before in Ashland is just motorclothes in a mall. The actual dealership is across the river in Huntington, WV. Both are called Charlie's.

BTW, interesting thing about the Lexington dealer is that the shop area is in the basement and bikes go down and elevator to be worked on. Just odd compared to every other place I've seen.

The statement on the Wildcat vid and mentioned above "Its the only dealership in the country like this." is funny and cheesy. But what is good about it is that they have an area for riders to sit and rest up front in the store, free coffee and some vending machines. They have a fire going too when it's cold outside. The video is over the top a little, but I've been there twice and every one was nice. Sometimes they have groups set up outside selling food (hot dogs, pies, candy) for fundraisers that you can also get to snack on, which can be nice if you are hungry and don't want a bag of chips from a machine.

 

All good suggestions above. One stop not mentioned yet is that there is a very cool oooold jail in Bardstown that you can go through. It used to have a gallows in the yard and they have old pictures of it in action.

Be prepared for some scary roads in central KY. They have very narrow curvy hilly two laners with no shoulders that have a 55 speed limit, which is nuts! The locals want to drive at least the limit too.

Mammoth cave and Makers Mark are waay cool too if you have time.

 

Here's a good day long ride from Elizabethtown. Take KY61 to Columba Ky, then pick up KY55 to US127. Then go south. This takes you to Lake Cumberland acroos the dam, continue to KY90, go west to Cave City KY. Then pick up US31 back to Hodgesville and back to KY61 to Elizabthtown. One big circle. But be careville these roads are very curving, and demand concestration. But very scenic. Have fun in Ky.

 

Obviously you are a flatlander. Personally I think the roads in Central Ky are to flat and straight. If you are scared of those, don't come east of I-75 in Ky, cause only then do you start to hit the mountains and the curvy and narrow roads. Oh, and we don't drive/ride slow down here either. But most locals know 5 over is no points against your license on a 2 lane, and 10 over is no points on a limited access 4-lane or bigger.

 

Remember on two lane roads in East Kentucky the coal trucks use one lane, right down the middle of the road.

 

From Etown take 31 w south and 31 E back up. nice ride with plenty to see. if you come into TN. bring your Brain Bucket. I think your best rides will be to the South and Southeast. Have fun. Kentucky has GREAT BBQ.as well.

 

Not now. No coal trucks hardly on the roads. Coal is now evil, so eastern Ky, WV, south west VA and western PA are evil and everyone is losing their jobs. Coal mines shutting down, coal trucks just sitting idle. Our only industry is going away.