Ashville BikeFest 2010
By: Wally W Click on images to enlarge 
Last Thursday, Cindy and I went out for a nice breakfast then we did our weekly grocery shopping. Afterwards, I decided to head out to the Asheville BikeFest at the Asheville Agricultural Center in Fletcher, NC – about 20 miles south of Asheville. I left heading west on Rt 74 at 10:00AM. It was a beautiful morning with the promise to be a pretty warm afternoon. I followed Rt 74 as it merged with I26 and followed it all the way to the Agricultural Center and followed the signs. As I got to the gate, I was waved in without paying. I thought that there was another place to pay after I parked – but there was not. For some reason, I got in for free. I started walking around and the first thing I noticed was there were many “Boss Hoss” motorcycles and trikes available for a demo ride. The “Boss Hoss” is the motorcycle that has a Chevy 350 V8 (or larger V8) mounted in a motorcycle frame. It is a very massive and heavy motorcycle. I remember when it was first introduced as the “Boss Hog” and Harley sued them for using the name “Hog”. That’s why it is now called the “Boss Hoss”. This was the first time I had seen the “Boss Hoss” trike (three wheeled motorcycle). It looked more like a street rod than a motorcycle especially when it had ’57 Chevy fins or a Corvette rear end. They also sounded like street rods as they rode by going on their demo rides. As you might imagine, the “Boss Hoss” is a very powerful motorcycle with all that V8 horsepower. I remember seeing another V8 powered motorcycle at a bike show a couple years ago. It was called the “Sabertooth” and was powered by a Ford 5.0 V8. It looked much sleeker than the “Boss Hoss” because the Ford 5.0 is a much narrower engine and the distributor is in front of the engine not in the back where the rider sits. I have not seen any since that show and would like to take one for a demo ride some day. I walked over to the “Star” pavilion to see about taking one of their bikes for a demo ride. After filling out the proper paperwork, I got on the “Roadliner S”. I really didn’t know how big it was until I straddled it. It was V-Twin Motorcycle Magazine’s “Metric Cruiser of the Year”. Rick escorted me on a 17 mile ride on some nice back roads and a short ride on the interstate. The Roadliner handles flawlessly and was surprisingly easy to get used to riding. It was comfortable and very powerful with its 113 cubic inch V-Twin engine. Although the Roadliner is a little more than I would need, it sure was fun to ride. When I got back, I asked if I could take a demo ride on another bike and set up a ride at about 1:15PM. This way I could walk around and see some of the displays and vendors before the ride. They were stopping for lunch anyway. As I walked through the vendors, I enjoyed the smells of the leather as I passed the walls of leather jackets, vests and chaps. When I got close to the food vendor, the smells of cooking hamburgers and other fried foods filled the air. It also made me hungry so I stopped by the Sportster and ate a granola bar. I walked back to the Star pavilion about 1:00PM and met Stan who was waiting for the next demo ride too. He used to visit my old plant (Reliance) in Kings Mountain to maintain a piece of equipment in the engineering area. Stan was from Asheville and was waiting to ride the Star Scooter. We had a very nice talk while we waited for the demo ride to begin. When it finally began, I was on the “V-Star 950” which was much smaller than the Roadliner I had ridden earlier. It was like my Sportster in size but had quite a few differences. As we took off, I noticed one right away. The shifter was a heel-toe shifter where to up shift, I had to use my heel instead of lifting my toe. It wasn’t hard to get used to but it was different. It also scraped the floorboards when cornering because it sat very low to the ground. One thing that I did notice about riding the Star motorcycles is that they are very similar to my Sportster. When I test rode the Triumphs with their low center of gravity and got back on my Sportster to go home, my Sportster felt like I was driving a tractor because it has a much higher center of gravity. This time when I got back onto my Sportster, it didn’t feel any different than the Star bikes. I left about 2:00PM and was glad that I had come on Thursday instead of waiting until the weekend. There were very few spectators on Thursday so I didn’t have to wait for the demo rides. I might have missed some of the scheduled festivities but I thoroughly enjoyed myself and will go again next year. After I got home and ate some supper, I headed out again to the Bike Night at the local Sonic in Shelby. It is hosted by a local biker ministry “Bikers for Christ” and is a great place to get some good food and hang out talking bikes. As I was talking with Lee (one of the ministry), I noticed an old friend (Larry) in the background whom I hadn’t seen for over 18 years. We reminisced about old times and he told me about his new family with two young sons. They looked like a handful. Larry was the one who told me about seeing a GTO in a used car lot in Candler, NC. I eventually bought the GTO and have had it for almost 19 years. We talked for some time until it started to get dark. It was good to see old friends again. I will go again this Thursday to see who will be there. It was a great way to spend a day of retirement. I wish all my days could be as filled as this one was. More Info:
Published: May 20, 2010 Leave Comments |
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