I am proud to say that I think I was the only scooter to make an appearance at Bike Week. I decided to play hookie this past Friday and take a trip up to Laconia on my scooter. Other than a few sprinkles the weather was nice, although a little gloomy. I headed out of Manchester around 8am and made my way out to Bow where I dropped in for a quick visit at the Collectable Trader to see if he had a compression tester that I could borrow. My scooter seems to be loosing power between 30-40mph and running real rich. Guess 8,000 miles is alot to ask of a 2-stroke.
From there I headed through Concord where I stopped in to a gas station and met up with a few Harley's headed for the festivities. I checked out a map belonging to one of the riders and decided to take 393 over to 106. 393 is kind of a highway and I wasn't sure if I was allowed on there, but oh well too late now. I rode on, pushing my bike to 60mph. The scooter ran O.k. as long as I didn't hit any hills, which is pretty tough to do since Laconia has mountians all around it.
After about a half-hour ride I arrived at Loudon International Speedway where I had a chance to take a 2003 Harley Davidson 883 Sportster out on the track for a test ride. What a blast. I don't know whether I would spend the money to buy a Harley, but they are nice bikes. After hitting a few tents and picking up a pin & patch, I jumped back on my bike and headed for Funspot.
Funspot had all the cool stuff. The biggest attraction was a chance to see Orange County Choppers who had a bunch of cool bikes with them. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera with me. In addition to Orange County Choppers, was Bourgette Bikes, and West Coast Choppers. Another cool thing was a portable stationary race track where people could race their bike against an opponent in a 10 second drag race. Some of the people racing got their bikes up to 160+ mph. I was going to race, but couldn't find any challengers (smirk).
Next I headed down to the Weir's Beach strip where I got a lot of head turning. What? Never seen a scooter before?
I decided to head for home around 2:00pm and enjoy the nice ride back. The only thing about a scooter, is that it isn't particularly comfortable on long rides. I really think it may be time to get a bigger scooter or motorcycle. I have really been eyeing the Honda A.C.E. lately.
Maybe next year.
Official Laconia Motorcycle Rally website
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