4½ Essential Things You Will Definitely Need for the Ride to Sturgis
Are you ready for Sturgis? Hell yeah! Summer road trips are awesome but are you really prepared for making the long haul out to South Dakota? Here’s a list of a few of the most important things you will need for the big, Sturgis motorcycle rally.
A Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Yep. Road Glide, Ultra Limited, Electra Glide, CVO Limited or any hog with saddlebags and a decent wind screen. Anything else is for amateurs.
Sure you can ride your goofy looking Honda Gold Wing or a silly, retro looking Indian there too, but don’t expect to hang out with the cool folks outside of One-Eyed Jacks on Main Street.
Get a tune-up. Get an oil change, new tires and/or a tune-up. Seriously. I met a guy from San Diego, California last year who didn’t check the oil on his Road King and killed his engine outside of Barstow.
He talked a buddy with an F-150 into hauling it to South Dakota for the rally and the motorcycle sat in the back of his pickup outside of City Hall. Good times? Hell no.
Sure, there are plenty of Harley-Davidson dealerships along the way in case you need them, but do you really want to start your trip waiting for your bike to get fixed? Don’t be that guy or gal.
Rain gear. Waterproof boots, gloves, pants and a jacket. Trust me, it will rain somewhere along the way if not in Sturgis at least once or twice while you are riding through the beautiful and sometimes stormy, Black Hills of South Dakota in August.
And if you think you can just buy them in Sturgis, think again. Nothing but t-shirts, cool biker patches, cold beer and plenty of greasy food. If someone set up a rain gear tent this year, I bet they’d make a fortune.
Leather boots look cool and all but good luck with them once they get wet. I had a decent pair of Icon boots that lasted me a number of years before finally cracking.
If your hotel has a hair dryer, it’ll get them pretty dry if you use it like I did in the photo above, under the right supervision, of course. Otherwise, you might not get your hotel deposit back.
Also, rubber dish washing gloves come in handy if you find your self in extended rainy weather and don’t mind the bright colors.
A camping tent. A tepee might be a bit too much to haul, but get a super lightweight one that will fit in your saddlebags. I bought one that weighs less than three pounds and fits in most Harley-Davidson hard bags. Having one along for the ride is great if you want to stop and rest.
Also, if you want to save big bucks in and around Sturgis, bring a tent. There’s plenty of campsites and some locals will even let you camp on their lawns (with bathroom and shower access) for next to nothing.
And all the rest. Don’t forget bug spray, suntan lotion, matches, camera and a flashlight. A real map too, in case your phone and/or GPS dies on you – and it will. Also, leave your laptop at home – WiFi SUCKS in and around Sturgis. If you are lucky you might find a weak signal outside of the public library and that’s about it.
And finally, bring an extra credit card with a good line of credit for any incidentals along the way.
Have a fun, safe and awesome ride!
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Photos by Ed Tahaney