PhilM already posted a lot about our trip> https://www.hdforums.com/m_3449616/tm.htm
I left NE Ohio to meet up with PhilM, Buttman, pirateeye, DaleK, Edgar and Billy. Yep, they picked Strokers in Dallas as the meeting point, 1250 miles for me just to get to the starting point! I have some pics below, but I thought I would post what I learned from this great ride.
[ul][*]Bart at Cateye Customs is one hell of a guy. I had the sleeve on my inner primary bearing "walk" on the trans input shaft causing a leak.(this is a known occaisional problemand is a factory snafu)Fortunately it happened on my way through Arkansas and within shouting distance of his shop. He sent Ron out to get me, back at the shop Charlie fixed me up and I was on my way in no time. I cannot say enough about the guys at Cateye Customs![*]Riding leaned over at a 30 degree angle through Texas is normal- the crosswinds both going and coming back were in the 25 to 35 mph range and steady.[*]Yes, you can go without seeing anything for 120 miles plus, plan your gas stops carefully when off the beaten path![*]Do not ride through tunnels with Phil - he can't resist acting up! That bike is freaking LOUD ![*]If there is snow on the mountains, and you are staying at the base of the mountain, expect frost overnight - 29 degrees and we are out riding.[*]Pirateye is tops when it comes to organizing a trip such as this, there was a lot of though in planning fuel, rooms and food. Not to mention he picked stops that guys would like, my wife would not have been impressed with missiles, rockets, and holes in the ground(White Sands Missile Base, Titan Museum, Bisbee Copper Mine)[*]It is still tornado season - pay attention to the weather. We stopped just outside of Albuquerqe, and tornados went throught he town we were trying to get to for the night. I stopped just outside of Indianapolis Fri and multiple tornados went through just 10 miles to the north of me with softball size hail.[*]HQ builds are reliable and fuel efficient, no one averaged less than 43.5 and most of us exceeded 50 mpg at least once during the trip. Only fuel available for at least half of the trip was 89-90 octane.[*]A non-compensated sprocket on a stroker motor will eventually drive you crazy. (crank impulses)I pulled it and changed back to the stock HD unit in a HD parking lot.[/ul]
The crew at the Grand Canyon
L-R Edgar, DaleK, Billy, Pirateye, PhilM, Buttman, me in front


Cruising through Sedona


Tombstone Cemetary


Yep, still snow on the mountain, and the cold rolled downhill overnight


Shakespeare Ghost Town


Hmmmm-I wonder why Phil thought he needed a raincoat-was the hardhat in case of hail????

 

Awesome!

Ridin it by proxy with ya!

You guys are sure living the ezlife!!!!!!!!!

 

Sounds like a great ride can't wait for the end of July 2 weeks East to SD !!!

 

Thanks Dalton. You guys had a great trip. I think we're all envious.

 

I sure am!

 

Thanks for the summary and pics, Guy.

I don't know who did the other HQ builds, but you, PhilM, and Kevin sure know how to put a HQ motor together--I doubt there are many big motors out there that have done 3K-5K in 7-13 days and been proven reliable and fuel efficient with the extreme temp and elevation changes you guys had along the way.

 

So did you bring the bikes into the hotel room with you during the tornados and hail storms?

 

Ive read both PhilM's and your post Dalton. I found both informative and worthy of envy from many readers here.
Thank you both for the Great pics and sharing of from what ive read was a sucessfull and a lifelong bonding trip. Just goes to show, we all share a Passion, and the opportunity to share that Passion together with fellow riders is priceless.

 

Well, we got as close to that as we could get....for some reason the Hotels seem to be a little touchy about that.....the best we could do was to park them under the entry overhang, of course that was after we made sure we didn't violate any of the fire codes. You'd be surprised at how creative a bunch of bikers can be when it comes to packing the bikes into a small space....

 

Looks like a nice trip there. Good to hear how well the stroker engines ran. I'd love to be in the 40's mpg with my new build.