Lamonster
SpyderLovers Founder
Living in East TN you really don't know what to expect from winter and this year was a cold and wet one with quite a bit of snow in between. I always look forward to Daytona Bikeweek as it is the kickoff for the riding season for most of us on the East Coast. You have to understand that I moved to East TN in 2002 from San Diego and we pretty much ride year around there. When I moved here I had never seen or been restricted by the seasons before but I would trade living here for anything. The only seasons we had in San Diego was Fire Season.
From where I live in Mosheim TN to Daytona Beach FL is right at 600 miles and for me that's a perfect days ride on the Spyder. The Spyder is so comfortable to ride that even after a 600 mile day I'm still up for another ride or whatever the rest of the day might bring. The only bad part about this ride out was it was 36 degrees and a light rain, just light enough that I didn't think I needed to wear my rain gear but I really should of. I got wet and cold coming over the mountains and it took about 200 miles or so to warm back up again after gearing up. I did leave a day sooner than I had planned and I'm glad I did because it snowed at my place and I would have had to come over the mountains in the snow and that's not much fun even on three wheels.
I got there Tuesday around 4pm and the first thing I wanted to do even before checking in was to find a carwash and blast off some of that road grime. I hate a dirty bike and anyone who knows me knows that's my first stop on any trip. You only get one shot at a first impression and I want mine to be a clean one.
The next day before going to the Spyder tent I decided to hit a couple of vendor friends and see how they were doing. My first stop was to see Dave at Custom Dynamics. Dave makes some great aftermarket lighting for the Spyder and I have pretty much all he sells on my Spyder.
While was there I walked over to see my buddy Stan from V8Choppers and ran into my old friend Don and he had just bought a new trike that morning. Don and I have been friends from my old Valkyrie days and about the only time I get to see him now is at Daytona and you never know what he'll be riding. This is his new ride.
From there I headed on over to the Spyder tent and they were getting ready to load up a new batch of riders for the demo. Bill drives the truck and leads the rides and he said they had a really good turnout and the rides were pretty much all booked for the day. His rig was looking good!
One of the first guys I ran into was Chris on his 2013 RT with trailer. He had the trailer from his 2010 RT and had it painted to match. It really looked great.
I spent most of the day talking with SpyderLovers and chatting it up with folks that either had just taken a test drive or were about to. All the feedback I heard was very positive. One thing I did notice this year that was not the case in previous years was pretty much everyone I talked to knew someone who owned a Spyder and the same comment was repeated over and over "They Love It!". Before folks would say something like they've seen them going down the road or they saw a commercial for them. This year you could tell the Spyder was getting a foot hold and folks were taking notice.
Later that day I'm talking with some folks and a guy walks up to me and asked if I remembered him, I didn't but that's because my memory is shot but after we talked a bit I did remember him and his club from the Virgin Islands. Two years before we stayed at the same hotel and one of his buddies had a custom M109R that I really liked because I have the same bike. They were all on bikes expect Michael, he was on a pretty much stock red and black RS. He bought a IPS from me for his key and he was back for another one and wanted to show me what his Spyder looked like now.
I was totally blown away by the work he had put into this Spyder. The build took him six months and a ton of cash I'm sure. This had major custom glass work, air all the way around so he cold drop in on the ground, 360 rear tire with jackshaft and a custom stereo system that would blow your doors off. He had just came back from winning a trike show and I talked to him later that week and he had one three shows including a fist place at the Rats Hole. That's a big deal as the best of the best show up for that show.
After a day at the track we made our way over to my favorite steak house for some prime rib. I would up eating there three of the four nights I was there and had the same thing every night. Really only thing that changed was the company I ate with.
Friday was pretty much the same, talk to folks about the Spyder all day and then go eat. After dinner this time Harvey and I headed south while everyone else was heading north. We found a great little place to pull off and take some pics and call the wife.
From there we heading over to my next favorite thing to do and that's to hangout at the Hess gas station. You need to get there early to get a parking spot but it's like the bike show comes to you when you're there. You'll see some of the wildest bikes in Daytona and hear some unreal sound systems. I wish there was some way to post that but it would never come out as good as it sounds in person. Some of these guys have 10K just in electronics on their bikes. You'll also see some real charters along with some wild rat bikes.
This is a rat bike Goldwing
There were two crazy tall trucks too. I saw the guys slide out of them but I never saw them get in. Sorry I missed that part.
Saturday was the big day and Fred, Harvey and myself started out the day at Cracker Barrel. It looked like it was going to be a great day.
After breakfast we headed over to Ormond Beach to meet up with Mike Corbin. We were the only ones there so we had a nice little chat about the things that gearheads talk about. Fred hadn't seen Mike in like 25 years so it was good for them to do some catching up. Mike is a very interesting guy to chat with, he's about the only guy I know that's been doing this longer than Fred Rau.
We split off with Fred at Corbins and then Harvey and I headed over to see Des from Ultimate Seats but he was setup at the race track so we didn't get a chance to talk to him.
From there we headed back to the Race Track on got ready for the Owners welcome party put on by BRP. They had a tent and great food setup for us and a little music and a live broadcast of the races that we could watch. We had a good turnout and the weather was great.
Fred and I took charge of staging all the Spyders and leading them on to the race track for the ride around the track. I was leading and I had video shooting backward so I got some good shots of all the Spyders and bikes. I'll try and load that later.
It was another great trip and was great hooking up with old friends and meeting new ones. I really hoped that when I got hope this would be the start of warm weather but it looks like the forecast is calling for more snow so I guess it will be a while before the warm weather takes hold. I'm glad I got a taste of things to come and I'm glad I have another Daytona Spyder pin to add to my collection. :doorag:
From where I live in Mosheim TN to Daytona Beach FL is right at 600 miles and for me that's a perfect days ride on the Spyder. The Spyder is so comfortable to ride that even after a 600 mile day I'm still up for another ride or whatever the rest of the day might bring. The only bad part about this ride out was it was 36 degrees and a light rain, just light enough that I didn't think I needed to wear my rain gear but I really should of. I got wet and cold coming over the mountains and it took about 200 miles or so to warm back up again after gearing up. I did leave a day sooner than I had planned and I'm glad I did because it snowed at my place and I would have had to come over the mountains in the snow and that's not much fun even on three wheels.
I got there Tuesday around 4pm and the first thing I wanted to do even before checking in was to find a carwash and blast off some of that road grime. I hate a dirty bike and anyone who knows me knows that's my first stop on any trip. You only get one shot at a first impression and I want mine to be a clean one.
The next day before going to the Spyder tent I decided to hit a couple of vendor friends and see how they were doing. My first stop was to see Dave at Custom Dynamics. Dave makes some great aftermarket lighting for the Spyder and I have pretty much all he sells on my Spyder.
While was there I walked over to see my buddy Stan from V8Choppers and ran into my old friend Don and he had just bought a new trike that morning. Don and I have been friends from my old Valkyrie days and about the only time I get to see him now is at Daytona and you never know what he'll be riding. This is his new ride.
From there I headed on over to the Spyder tent and they were getting ready to load up a new batch of riders for the demo. Bill drives the truck and leads the rides and he said they had a really good turnout and the rides were pretty much all booked for the day. His rig was looking good!
One of the first guys I ran into was Chris on his 2013 RT with trailer. He had the trailer from his 2010 RT and had it painted to match. It really looked great.
I spent most of the day talking with SpyderLovers and chatting it up with folks that either had just taken a test drive or were about to. All the feedback I heard was very positive. One thing I did notice this year that was not the case in previous years was pretty much everyone I talked to knew someone who owned a Spyder and the same comment was repeated over and over "They Love It!". Before folks would say something like they've seen them going down the road or they saw a commercial for them. This year you could tell the Spyder was getting a foot hold and folks were taking notice.
Later that day I'm talking with some folks and a guy walks up to me and asked if I remembered him, I didn't but that's because my memory is shot but after we talked a bit I did remember him and his club from the Virgin Islands. Two years before we stayed at the same hotel and one of his buddies had a custom M109R that I really liked because I have the same bike. They were all on bikes expect Michael, he was on a pretty much stock red and black RS. He bought a IPS from me for his key and he was back for another one and wanted to show me what his Spyder looked like now.
I was totally blown away by the work he had put into this Spyder. The build took him six months and a ton of cash I'm sure. This had major custom glass work, air all the way around so he cold drop in on the ground, 360 rear tire with jackshaft and a custom stereo system that would blow your doors off. He had just came back from winning a trike show and I talked to him later that week and he had one three shows including a fist place at the Rats Hole. That's a big deal as the best of the best show up for that show.
After a day at the track we made our way over to my favorite steak house for some prime rib. I would up eating there three of the four nights I was there and had the same thing every night. Really only thing that changed was the company I ate with.
Friday was pretty much the same, talk to folks about the Spyder all day and then go eat. After dinner this time Harvey and I headed south while everyone else was heading north. We found a great little place to pull off and take some pics and call the wife.
From there we heading over to my next favorite thing to do and that's to hangout at the Hess gas station. You need to get there early to get a parking spot but it's like the bike show comes to you when you're there. You'll see some of the wildest bikes in Daytona and hear some unreal sound systems. I wish there was some way to post that but it would never come out as good as it sounds in person. Some of these guys have 10K just in electronics on their bikes. You'll also see some real charters along with some wild rat bikes.
This is a rat bike Goldwing
There were two crazy tall trucks too. I saw the guys slide out of them but I never saw them get in. Sorry I missed that part.
Saturday was the big day and Fred, Harvey and myself started out the day at Cracker Barrel. It looked like it was going to be a great day.
After breakfast we headed over to Ormond Beach to meet up with Mike Corbin. We were the only ones there so we had a nice little chat about the things that gearheads talk about. Fred hadn't seen Mike in like 25 years so it was good for them to do some catching up. Mike is a very interesting guy to chat with, he's about the only guy I know that's been doing this longer than Fred Rau.
We split off with Fred at Corbins and then Harvey and I headed over to see Des from Ultimate Seats but he was setup at the race track so we didn't get a chance to talk to him.
From there we headed back to the Race Track on got ready for the Owners welcome party put on by BRP. They had a tent and great food setup for us and a little music and a live broadcast of the races that we could watch. We had a good turnout and the weather was great.
Fred and I took charge of staging all the Spyders and leading them on to the race track for the ride around the track. I was leading and I had video shooting backward so I got some good shots of all the Spyders and bikes. I'll try and load that later.
It was another great trip and was great hooking up with old friends and meeting new ones. I really hoped that when I got hope this would be the start of warm weather but it looks like the forecast is calling for more snow so I guess it will be a while before the warm weather takes hold. I'm glad I got a taste of things to come and I'm glad I have another Daytona Spyder pin to add to my collection. :doorag:
