wally_games
Mini Bike
A group of us had been planning on a week long trip to Deal's Gap for the last couple of months. The tropical storm that was blowing in around Labor Day had the experts forecasting lots of rain, so we made a last minute change in destinations. After seeing rain at the possible destinations in Colorado, Arizona, and Utah, we decided on NW Arkansas.
We took off on Friday, Sept. 2 from Arlington, TX and went to Eureka Springs, AR. We spent the next two days riding the areas south of there (about 250 miles each of those two days). I think my favorite road was on Hwy 123 from Hagarville to Plesor (north of Russellville on Hwy 7, another great road all the way to Harrison, but some traffic). We happened upon it by accident on our planned loop ride from Eureka Springs, down Hwy 23 to Hwy 16 to Hwy 21 back. A wrong turn on Hwy 21 at Fallsville got us there. Lots of twisties, little traffic, pretty smooth roads, and beautiful scenery.
On Monday we moved over to the Bull Shoals area and stayed at Gaston's on the White River. If you've never been there, it's amazing. Tuesday through Thursday each had rides of over 200 miles, all in search of twisty roads. We found the best road on the entire trip in this area and actually rode it several times over those three days. It's just a bit south of Mountain Home. A full 25 miles of beautiful scenery in the Ozark National Forest, great road surface, no traffic at all, almost no side roads, and tons of curves (from tight to big sweepers). Oh, which road? :-X (Drop me a line if you're going that way.)
I found that the Connie handles very well on the higher speed curves, but is a bit heavy in the really lower speed bending stuff (at least compared to my companions' bikes). I was also the slowest rider on the trip so got the opportunity to always ride in the "chase" position. Plus, everyone else was riding much more serious sporting bikes that were much lighter and very fast.
The new Corbin seat was great and the Leo Vince exhaust (with the insert removed for this trip) sounded very good tearing through the hills and valleys of Arkansas. Arkansas is a beautiful state with MANY great roads. Just grab a state map and check out the roads north and northwest of Little Rock. I'd highly suggest getting an early start and getting your riding done by 1:00 or 2:00 to avoid the tourists and the H-D's.
We took off on Friday, Sept. 2 from Arlington, TX and went to Eureka Springs, AR. We spent the next two days riding the areas south of there (about 250 miles each of those two days). I think my favorite road was on Hwy 123 from Hagarville to Plesor (north of Russellville on Hwy 7, another great road all the way to Harrison, but some traffic). We happened upon it by accident on our planned loop ride from Eureka Springs, down Hwy 23 to Hwy 16 to Hwy 21 back. A wrong turn on Hwy 21 at Fallsville got us there. Lots of twisties, little traffic, pretty smooth roads, and beautiful scenery.
On Monday we moved over to the Bull Shoals area and stayed at Gaston's on the White River. If you've never been there, it's amazing. Tuesday through Thursday each had rides of over 200 miles, all in search of twisty roads. We found the best road on the entire trip in this area and actually rode it several times over those three days. It's just a bit south of Mountain Home. A full 25 miles of beautiful scenery in the Ozark National Forest, great road surface, no traffic at all, almost no side roads, and tons of curves (from tight to big sweepers). Oh, which road? :-X (Drop me a line if you're going that way.)
I found that the Connie handles very well on the higher speed curves, but is a bit heavy in the really lower speed bending stuff (at least compared to my companions' bikes). I was also the slowest rider on the trip so got the opportunity to always ride in the "chase" position. Plus, everyone else was riding much more serious sporting bikes that were much lighter and very fast.
The new Corbin seat was great and the Leo Vince exhaust (with the insert removed for this trip) sounded very good tearing through the hills and valleys of Arkansas. Arkansas is a beautiful state with MANY great roads. Just grab a state map and check out the roads north and northwest of Little Rock. I'd highly suggest getting an early start and getting your riding done by 1:00 or 2:00 to avoid the tourists and the H-D's.
