Here are a few photo's from my USA trip in late January 2014.
There were Harley Davidson stores (no bikes) in most Vegas Casinos, including this one in the basement of the MGM where I stayed. Even the Vegas convention centre has a permanent HD dealership (with bikes) for bored sales reps at conventions. I thought the Aussie stores had a reasonable amount of HD branded merchandise but its nothing compared to these places. Even pink HD branded cat toys. I will admit to buying a HD branded dog lead.
I hired a Heritage Softail in Vegas for a day. Aussie drivers licence with motorcycle endorsement is all that is required, and the US$160 daily rental fee. Most bikes have standard exhausts and sound like Jap bikes, so it wasn't as appealing as I first expected. But the riding and the scenery were superb. Rode out to Hoover Dam one afternoon, sunny 28 degrees Celsius. I thought the bridge over the canyon next to Hoover Dam was more awe inspiring than the dam itself. The photo just doesn't do justice to the scale of the engineering required.
6am the next morning i headed out of Vegas to Red Rock Canyon on a 2 hour loop. It was still dark when i left the hotel and rode down the strip. Awesome desert colours as the sun rose. Although it was quite warm during the day the temp was around 0 degrees as the sun came up, so I ended up putting paper bags over my open weave gloves to cut out a bit of the wind chill.
In hindsight I should have rented a HD trike for a few dollars more, since I'll probably never get to ride one of them in Australia. Eagle Rider rentals was the company i used but there are heaps of choices and most HD dealers offer rentals as well. The respect between riders is amazing, EVERY other rider I saw acknowledged me, most included a full on wave not just a nod of the head.
Continued from previous post.
Although it was a work trip I did visit about 6 dealerships across Colorado, Nevada, Mississippi and Tennessee. Each of these probably sell more bikes per year than all the Australian HD dealers combined. Even a dealership, High Country HD, in the middle of nowhere on the I25 in Colorado had 14 new Streetglides in stock in the middle of winter while it was -10 degrees outside. Mile High HD in Colorado had 500 new bikes in stock at one branch. The photo below is Thunder Mountain HD in Mississippi. I could only fit about 3/4 of the building in the photo. They had sold 2 CVO HD's to Australians the week prior that were going to be shipped to Australia. They had every Breakout and CVO Breakout colour options available in stock for immediate delivery.
Graceland HD (Memphis Tennessee) is just an accessory outlet across the road from Graceland (Elvis' house). But they did have this one bike on display. It is one of 32 cusom made (by HD) panheads as an Elvis prototype tribute, manufactured in 2007. There are apparently 2 in Australia, one in Perth and one in Adelaide.
I beleive they were based on a current model (2007) Heritage Softail frame with a new panhead engine. I'm just regurgitating what the store clerk told me.
Continued from previous post....
Checked out some live blues music in Beale St, Memphis (Tennessee). It is officially recognised by law as the home of blues. I dont normally drink Jack Daniels but it certainly tasted better in Tennessee while listening to an adhoc live blues performance in a small smoky bar. Give the bartender a decent tip with payment for the first drink and every other drink that follows has just a dash of coke for colouring so you dont appear to be an alcoholic drinking it neat.
I ate BBQ ribs for lunch and dinner. It's worth a trip to the Southern USA just for BBQ ribs. My recommendation is an old school place called Vergos' Rendezvous in the basement of a non-descript back alley buidling in Memphis downtown. www.hogsfly.com. They do dry rub ribs to die for. In fact, in 2007 they used Fedex to ship enough ribs to feed 1500 people at a 4th July function at the USA embassy in Canberra. The photo below is of Beale St with a different BBQ ribs restaurant.
Good photos
Good pics DP, did you get any work done?
Great photos, I'll be in Califonia and Vegas next month, can't wait
Last time I was in USA we went to the Hoover Dam the bridge which you had a photo of it was still being under constructing, it was great to see how they managed to build that bridge. Great piece of engineering
Nice pics! There is lots to see and do in and around the city that never sleeps!
The riding season is longer than most parts in North America but July and August are not favorable months to ride in that area due to the heat.
probably a good idea you didnt hire a tri glide.. its a big change from a 2 wheeler. it takes a few days to get to know what the trike does and to get confident at riding it.
your right about the stock in the dealerships.. stopped at 4 rivers HD in tennessee and despite it being out of town on a highway service road, they had signs up saying always over 300 new harleys in stock. i didnt bother with the count, but 300 is a lot of new bikes
