Hot diggity, it's rally time!

Woodswoman

Member
Vacation is here. I'm officially on vacation. :D

Beginning on Monday, hubby and I will be relocating to a motel in Lake George, New York, for the annual summer rally of the riding group to which we belong (the Volusia Riders).

We'll be there for nearly a week, alternately motorcycling the Adirondack Mountains and engaging in shenanigans. WOO HOOO!!!

.
 

Thumper

New member
Going to have to change your Forum name from "Woodswoman" to "Wildwoman" it sounds like! Have fun! Very nice riding up there for sure!
 

MJC

Super Moderator
ftw.jpg This is my Volusia's rear fender, my 1st grandson rode with me on that bike, when sold had 88K on it.
meand jakobonbike.jpg He just turned 13 on 6/29. Have a great time and enjoy your vacation!
 

Merlin III

New member
Vacation is here. I'm officially on vacation. :D

Beginning on Monday, hubby and I will be relocating to a motel in Lake George, New York, for the annual summer rally of the riding group to which we belong (the Volusia Riders).

We'll be there for nearly a week, alternately motorcycling the Adirondack Mountains and engaging in shenanigans. WOO HOOO!!!

.

I feel your joy! I attend on average 4 rallies per Summer that average about 75-100 riders. This year, I am going to the BMW national rally in Hamburg, NY which will have about 6500 riders. I usually go solo, camp, and make totally new friends once at the destination. I attend many of the BMW New England rallies on the CTX. I also go to the Cromag Adventure rally in VT on the CTX. Talk about a fish out of water. LOL

How large of a group is the Volusia Group? HAVE FUN!
 

MJC

Super Moderator
To be honest, I didn't know what a Volusia was until you posted this photo. That is a good looking bike.

The Volusia was a well balanced bike, 800 cc's, not fast but could hold its own on the highway, great back road, rock steady, dependable bike. The bad about it was the rear drum brake, short gears- 1st was like- make a left turn (from a stop) and by the time you got 1/2 way though the turn you had to up to 2nd. Many (including me) changed the rear drive (from a 1400) and fixed that problem. When the c-50 came out it was the same bike (has the Volusia) with fuel injection. I had mine for 3 years (A long with a Nomad and a Bandit) got it with 15K and sold it with 88K. I did add the front fairing, hard bags and trunk (removed before sale) only because parts where getting hard to find and Suzuki was no help. It looked like (at the time) that Suzuki was going to go belly up. Funny story, I was selling the Bandit (1200) and this guy comes to check out the bike, sees the Volusia and he says "I will take the Bandit if you throw in the Volusia". So I did, and asked that when the Volusia hit 100K if he would send me a photo. At the time he said it will more then likely take years has he planed on riding the Bandit and only wanted the Volusia for running to the store etc in the rain. About a year later I get a email from him with a photo of the Volusia, and a note: Have 100K miles plus on the bike, bin up and down the east coast a few times, bike week, rode the dragon, seen Disney, even went to Nova Scotia. The Bandit has not been used expect for getting me into trouble with the law. Trading both bikes in to get a new C-50. Thanks for the Free bike that changed my life and how I ride. end note.
I wonder if in a few years, if a CTX700 gets sold to someone (or given away for free) if the person who sold it would get a email like I did. I think it can happen but I am not selling mine! lol.
sorry about the long write up, raining here. lol......
 

Woodswoman

Member
How large of a group is the Volusia Group? HAVE FUN!

This year, the rally is a bit smaller -- between 40 and 50 people (including kids, non-riding spouses, etc.). In its peak years, the Yankee Rally, as it's called, brought in probably 20 more. Like most annual events, you get turnover -- we lose members, we gain members -- and folks who maybe get a little bored, and folks who can't come because they have scheduling conflicts. But it's still a strong core of people who always have a good time together.

This will be my 9th year attending. It's been a great run in Lake George, but I expect we'll vote to move it back into New England next year.

I agree with the assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the Volusia/Boulevard C50. It's a great-looking bike, and a good value for the money. But there are some things about it that are ... well, basic. I had a very happy year on mine, and Mike owned his for two years. We both moved up to larger, heavier machines (from Kawasaki) that performed better on the interstate, but we still have a great fondness for the C50 as a back-roads cruiser.

And we're both still active members (and moderators) at VolusiaRiders.com.

Most of our group who'll be going to the Yankee Rally in Lake George haven't owned a Volusia/C50 for years. But we still hang together. "It's not what you ride, it's THAT you ride" is our mantra.

There will be at least two of us at the rally on CTX700s, and one of us on a CTX1300.
 
Last edited:

Woodswoman

Member
A post script:

When I was contemplating buying a CTX700, I found myself casting my memory back to my days of owning a Suzuki C50. I was trying to recall the C50's weaknesses, because I figured that, being similar in displacement, weight, and price point, the CTX700 would have roughly the same weaknesses.

HA, HA! Not even close. Honda has out-engineered Suzuki, hands down.
 
Top