Articles by Ken Bingenheimer
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Strangers When We Meet
by Ken Bingenheimer on September 01, 2010 at 02:44AMIt’s a typical first-timer's scenario. You’re on your motorcycle headed for a town where you’ve made arrangements to spend the night with some total strangers. The nearer you get, the more you have second thoughts. Will these people be weird? Will ...
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The Down Side of Being Out There
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 29, 2010 at 03:16AMOne of the sweetest joys of riding a motorcycle is being out there in the world you’re passing through. That’s as opposed to being enclosed in a steel cage, peering out through a windshield that limits your view, shut off from the smells and other ...
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Going the Distance
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 25, 2010 at 03:58AM“The appeal is the distance and the destination. It’s a great excuse to come to Alaska.” In case you’ve ever wondered why someone would want to ride a motorcycle on 5,000 miles of bad road, there’s at least part of your answer, straight ...
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Sturgis in the Rear View Mirror
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 22, 2010 at 03:08AMThe Sturgis Bike Rally is over and it’s time to sort through the memories. This was my second trip to the rally and it was a vastly different experience than my first time. How do they compare?
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Two Great Roads for the Price of One
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 18, 2010 at 04:24AMThere's a reason the Sturgis Bike Rally is such a big event, and it's not because Sturgis is such a cool, unique place to go. What has made the rally so big is that the Black Hills are home to some of the best motorcycle roads in the country. Rally goers ...
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A Crowded Cruise Down Spearfish Canyon
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 15, 2010 at 03:10AMSpearfish Canyon is one of the three best motorcycle roads in the Black Hills, and therefore is a favorite of the bikers who come to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which is just coming to a close. U.S. 14A runs up the canyon from the town of Spearfish to ...
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The Big Boys Play in Sturgis
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 11, 2010 at 07:53AMIt happens every August, and it has for the last 70 years. Sturgis, SD, is now inundated with motorcycles and those who love them as the 70th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is in full swing.
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Just a Little Further
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 08, 2010 at 03:08AMForty miles out of town and there’s some green fluid dripping. Oh, no! There’s no mistaking coolant, and on a day with temperatures in the 90s this could be seriously bad.
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Life in Sturgis
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 04, 2010 at 03:23AMAs Sturgis, SD, Mayor Maury LaRue describes them, the Black Hills are “60 miles by 90 miles of good roads, three national monuments, and two state parks. It doesn’t get any better than that.” Little wonder then that every August hundreds of ...
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Pits and Pinnacles: Bike Trip Accommodations
by Ken Bingenheimer on August 01, 2010 at 02:24AMWe ran the gamut in terms of lodging on the just-ended OFMC summer motorcycle trip this year. Considering that we spent about $340 per person for nine nights, what is actually surprising is how nice some of these places were. What is not surprising is ...
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Baggers
by Ken Bingenheimer on July 25, 2010 at 03:37AMThis luggage thing on motorcycles just grows and grows. When John and Bill and I started taking our summer OFMC bike trips, like this one we’re on right now, we used to strap things on our small bikes with bungee straps. Even now, none of the three of ...
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Cross the Continental Divide on Trail Ridge Road
by Ken Bingenheimer on July 19, 2010 at 07:32AMYou climb through the Big Thompson Canyon heading west out of Loveland, CO, with the river crashing down through this jagged granite gorge. Worthy of the ride all by itself, the canyon is just the appetizer as U.S. 34 continues through Estes Park and then ...
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On the Road Again
by Ken Bingenheimer on July 18, 2010 at 03:21AMExcitement is building, emails are flying, and the countdown is nearing zero. The OFMC is about to hit the road for our annual summer trip. How can two days take so long to pass?
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The Biker Brotherhood: Paying It Forward
by Ken Bingenheimer on July 11, 2010 at 03:51AMYou start to learn about the brotherhood of motorcyclists right away, as soon as you start riding. You’re out on the road on your new bike and some guy you don’t even know waves at you. Then another, and then another. Welcome to the club.
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Come Hell or Hoka Hey
by Ken Bingenheimer on July 07, 2010 at 02:21AMTry this on for a great motorcycle ride: Start at Key West, FL, and ride across the U.S. and Canada all the way up to Homer, Alaska. Depending on your route, that’s a good 7,000 or 8,000 miles, the kind of trip that would be a good extended summer ...
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Pilgrimage to Sturgis
by Ken Bingenheimer on July 04, 2010 at 02:37AMIt’s not too far a reach to say that Sturgis is like Mecca. Every one of the faithful ought to get there at least once in their life. And the guys in the OFMC are nothing if not faithful, so in 2006 we made our pilgrimage.
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Race to the Top (of the Mountain)
by Ken Bingenheimer on June 30, 2010 at 02:09AMWhen Zebulon Pike first laid eyes on the Colorado mountain that now bears his name, he declared that no one would ever be able to climb it. He'd be astonished to see the fields of racers scream to the top of the mountain last Sunday during the Pikes Peak ...
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To Fair or Not to Fair
by Ken Bingenheimer on June 27, 2010 at 02:13AMI was pretty ignorant when I bought my first motorcycle but there was one things I was sure of: I didn’t like getting pounded by the wind. So one of the very first things I did was go to a parts shop for wind protection. I asked to see fairings and ...
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The Best of Both Worlds
by Ken Bingenheimer on June 23, 2010 at 01:30AMTravel this country on a touring motorcycle and you’ll see fabulous views, ride some incredible places, and create memories you’ll cherish for a lifetime. You’ll also miss out on about one-third of the really good stuff.
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Sometimes, It's Good to be a Cager
by Ken Bingenheimer on June 20, 2010 at 01:14AMThe opportunity to see 1,000 Cushman scooters engulfing downtown Sturgis, SD, was too good an image to miss, so the rally is now underway and I’m writing from a motel room in Deadwood, about 8 miles from Sturgis. And I have to confess, I did not come ...
