Headed to the Laughlin River run tomorrow. It is not a large rally but my son lives in Vegas. I get there Friday afternoon and we go there on Saturday which is their big day.

Not many from west of the Mississippi go but a lot are from California. It will be my 12th year.

My chosen ride this year is a just broke in Street Rod. Did the 1K and put on a set of throw over bags. Just got my registration and insurance card so I am ready.

The Firebrand slip on came today so it will sound like a H-D instead of a sewing machine.

 

Laughlin used to be one of the "Majors."
It's not well attended anymore? (I went in 1996 only.) Pretty big then, I thought.
I guess that was before the bullets flew.
Rode to Oatman that year. Great time!

Hint~ Get your fuel late on Saturday night as 3000 bikes will be trying to get fuel at 9am on "get away day."

 

Come again? It's the largest gathering of bikes and bikers in the western US.

 

*Cough* Hollister..... Love Ride....

 

DNF - Yesterday at about 200 miles into the ride the Street Rod lost its ignition and died in Hannibal, Mo.

I checked all the fuses and they were okay. Battery would spin the engine like mad. All lights and other electrical were working. Pulled the main fuse and put it back to see if anything with the EMC would reset. The bike fired right up but would only run for 20 seconds until whatever parameter was checked that caused the bike to shut down.

It was 50 miles to the closest HD shop. I realized that even if they would come and get the bike it may take some time to get it going again. Since I needed at least 700 miles each day a lose of even a half day would put Vegas out of reach by Friday evening.

I decided to abort. Called my wife to bring my recovery vehicle and pick us up with Big Red.

This is Big Red in the background. It is a 16 Transit mid length and roof set up with an electric winch, wheel chock and ramps. One man operation to load a bike.


Got the bike to the dealer today and will check tomorrow on what's up with it. They are called HD tech center as HD has requested to be contacted with any Street Rod issue immediately.

Until the bike quit I was pleased with how comfortable I was at 70 on the rough Illinois roads. There was brutal cross winds and it was tracking like it was a slot car. The seat was great.

It was raining and I would have been in rain for the entire first days ride. I was wondering if rain was the problem.

I will do the trip after I get the bike back. The main reason is to visit my son in Vegas and there is a souvenir store in Laughlin with great baseball caps for $4.98 with a big assortment of logos.

Side note: This was to be my 12th year to Laughlin River Run and it is in no way a large event. There has been smaller attendance and vendors every year for many years now. I see more bikes in Deadwood during Sturgis than I see at River Run on Saturday which is their big day. And it is only a three day event. Folks don't go there weeks ahead and weeks after like they do at Sturgis. It is a wild guess but I would estimate it at 50K attendees. Last year on Saturday it was almost a ghost town as it was cold and raining.

 

Yep, Laughlin used to be a lot of fun.

It's now the west coast premier Baby Stroller and LV Metro Police Rally.

 

Sorry to hear about your "cancelled" trip on the Street Rod. Please keep us advised as to the problem that caused the issue.

I demo'd a Street Rod a couple of weeks ago and found it to be fast revving and smooth, but lacking in features compared to it's competitors.

 

One of my favorite events when I lived in CA. Hope to do it again some day.

 

That sucks about your trip, please let us know what they find.

And when I lived in California that was a favorite run for my group, although as mentioned it just kept getting smaller.

And yes, LV Metro was everywhere with a zero tolerance policy. Four of us in our group, including a CHP Captain. We got pulled over for no apparent reason and our CHP was the first bike. He told us to hang back while he talked to the officer, but within minutes the cop was yelling at our guy. At which point we went to see what's up and heard the cop screaming at our guy "you're not going to badge your way out of this *******." Well that pissed off our guy who lectured the cop about respecting rank, etc. and it ended up with a watch commander apologizing to us for the cops behavior. Strange day. That was the last year we went to Laughlin.