A weekend of fun on my Stallion

[Mattel]

I had a great weekend on my Stallion.

On Friday afternoon, I left work early and headed from Charlotte to Roaring Gap. After dropping off my gear I linked up with my wife. She had to take the car because we cannot fit Piper on the trike (like Big Dog can!).

We hit the Parkway and the temperature was about 65 degrees, and the sun was sitting a little low. The Parkway was clear of all traffic, and we could see far on all sides. The leaves were past peek, and most were down at the higher elevations, but you could see some nice color off in the distance at the lower elevations.

We rode for about 40 minutes and stopped of at a nice overlook to have a snack and some refreshments. We then rode up to Laurel Springs and picked up HWY 18 into Sparta. The sun was setting and the temp was dropping quick. The glare off the sun was not too bad on the Stallion's windshield because I cleaned it really good before we left. I had on the right gear and I was not a bit cold. The temps hit the 60's before we hit downtown Sparta.

On Saturday, I waited until lunch before driving down the mountain to Elkin to drop off my wife at the Yarn Shop. The weather was in the upper 60's and crisp. See my picture in downtown Elkin. I am sporting my new Shoie RF 1000 helmet I found on EBay that I am using for the winter. It does a great job with the cold weather and it cuts the sound better than any other helmet I have had. I put in the breath guard and that cuts down on fogging, and the chin curtain seems to help reduce the sound of the wind.

I shot up the back roads looking for HWY 18 so I could pick up the Blue Ridge Parkway again. I found some great twisties! I decided to give my Stallion a chance to prove it's metal. I pushed through the small towns and found a road called Grassy Bottom Rd. It was quite a find. It was dotted with grazing pastures which held a generous share of Jersey Cows, other assorted farm animals, small old time stores, farm houses, and other simple structures which seemed to dot this scenic road. All the while the peak leaf colors were a pleasure to look at as they also rained down on me. I darted around a few road kills, and the mandatory dead skunk!

I found a nice stretch of curves to push the Stallion to see how much it could take, and I was not disappointed. I found my Stallion to be responsive as I assaulted the curves. I was able to use that small lip on the rear of my seat for the first time as I leaned into each turn and braced my legs on the center column. I found myself catching the wind with my helmet as I leaned to the side outside the windshield in the sharp curves. Although they say you should not lean into turns on a trike, it felt more natural to do on my Stallion to counter the centrifugal force from taking the curves at higher speeds.

Once I passed Stone Mountain State Park, Grassy Bottom road turned from pastures to reflect it's name as the mountains rose from each side of the road to kiss the Blue Ridge. I was riding up the fingers that formed the edge of the Parkway's Ridge. As I pushed faster into the turns, the Stallion responded as one unit. I kept the rear air suspension at 23lbs. I hit areas of loose gravel with no effect on my grip of this mountain road. Even when I hit several pieces in the turns, my Stallion did not break free.

The feel of control in the turns increased as I headed up HWY 18. The banked turns seemed to cradle me as I wound up the mountain. The oversized disk breaks grabbed a hold of my bike as I braked into the turns, and the engine growled and echoed off the shear rock walls that formed around me as I wound further up the mountain. I experienced a sense of true freedom that day. The Stallion proved it could run hard and respond like a sports bike with the stability of a trike and the grip of oversized tires when you need them.

At the top of HWY 18 I hit Laurel Springs and picked up on the Parkway where I left off the day before. The weather was warmer and the sun was higher as heading towards Glendale Springs. After a scenic 30 minutes I stopped at the North West Trading post for a snack. As I sat at the picnic bench I had the usual bikers and onlookers. I met a nice guy named Gail riding a BMW, and we talked for a few minutes. Lucky for him, we spoke long enough for someone to ask us if one of us had left our wallet at shop. He went inside to retrieve it. Lucky for him he had taken so much time to talk to me about my Stallion, or he would have been on his way towards Hidenite NC before he realized he was light his wallet!

After finishing my snack and a drink I headed back the way I came. I knew the roads well enough to push the turns again. I was not disappointed. I had only one turn on Grassy Bottom Road that I took too sharp and too fast, which resulted in some over steer across the center line. At no time did my Stallion tip or feel like it was tipping, as the center of gravity seemed perfectly placed. At one point in an upward slope on a left hand turn my right wheel chirped. Over all, everything seemed to be working very well. I hit very little traffic on my way back to Elkin.

I picked up my wife and we headed back up the mountain. I let her drive, and she was happy. I don't know if she knew how happy I was to sit in the back and stretch out my feet, put my arms on the outside (above the arm rests) and close my eyes as I felt the crisp autumn air tickle my face all the way home.

The next morning I hit the road early. It was 9am and the temperature was in the low 50's. I hit the heater a little on my ride down the mountain. I had a thick fleece on under my riding jacket, my gauntlet gloves, and a thick flannel lined pair of Carhart pants on. It was a comfortable ride down the highway to Huntersville. My Stallion seemed to glide down the highway at 75mph.

I arrived at Eddie's Speed Shop at about 10:15, to a parking lot full of Harleys. After a few "That’s a cute bike", and the standard "I never seen anything like it in my life" I headed into the bar to see how they were doing inside, and when they would be heading off on the group ride.

I had already logged 1 1/2 hours of riding on Friday, and over 4 hours on Saturday. I would not get home until I 6pm that night.

It was a great group ride across the state to Lake Lure (just south of Ashville on the SC / Tnn. side of the state). Lake Lure is a beautiful place to ride. It is a great looking lake surrounded by shear rock faced mountains that seem to rise up out of the lake. On the other side is the Rocky River that has huge rocks rounded by the force of the water.

As we rode to Lake lure, the Harley guys were a little difficult to ride with, as they wanted to slow down too much in the curves and decelerate coming out of the curves. At the speeds they were taking the turns I found I was forced to slow down to avoid hitting them, rather then the limits imposed by my Stallion. They were scraping their foot pegs taking turns that I had no problems with. I enjoyed the ride up the Lake Lure, and the company of the bikers. We stopped at a biker bar along the river’s edge for lunch. Up to that point I was not aware how cold it was. The other bikers (or mostly the passengers) were complaining how cold the ride was, but I did not feel a thing on my Stallion. I only turned on the heat for a short period in the shaded area of the forest. After lunch I headed out on my own back home. I picked up Hwy 9 to Hwy 74 to Hwy 85 to Hwy 485. It was a smooth 2 ½ hours of road riding all the way home.

I put a lot of time in on my Stallion last weekend. I broke the 5K mark, and I am going to change to oil for the first time. I was very satisfied with how my Stallion worked in the varying conditions and temptures. After reflecting back on nearly 12 hours of riding in two and ½ days, I felt my Stallion proved it could be a comfortable long distance road rider, or an aggressive twisty tamer without skipping a beat!

[Mattel]

Sorry - Here is my picture in Elkin N.C.

[Nana]

What a great weekend, Mattel! Nice write-up and Grassy Bottom Rd. sounds wonderful.

[newtriker]

What a great description of your ride. I almost felt like I was there and could see and feel it all through your words!

[Big Dog]

Eddie, how I envy :oyou. I'm out here truckin' and your having a great time. Well I guess I'll have to just suck it up till I get to enjoy the Keys in January, while your up in the cabin sitting around the wood stove.