Sturgis!

[Rusty Jug]

Well, my wife and I have been watching Full Throttle this afternoon and she says, "I'd like to go to Sturgis to get that off my bucket list".
Has anybody ever went?
Is it that wild?

[Rick]

Just a dozen or so times. It's as wild as you want it to be. We usually seek out quieter campgrounds. I've told a lot of people, If you like motorcylcles, you'll love Sturgis. Much to see and do. A people watcher's paradise.
Rick

[Rusty Jug]

my wife and I would like to go, but felt it was to wild ! Can you make it a non wild time? like day time only?

[Rusty Jug]

You have pumped me!

[stimmer6253472]

I've been to Sturgis and to be honest I was a little underwhelmed with the actual activities downtown Sturgis. It reminded me of a Harley themed Fall Fun Fest or Santa-Cali-Gon days. Lots of t-shirt vendors and beer gardens. That being said the campgrounds were kind of crazy. Camped at the airport once. It was nice. Dad and I basically had the place to ourselves and could hear ZZ Top from one of the campgrounds perfectly.

Cool to go to for no other reason than to say you did it. Great riding in the area of course.

[Harvey Mushman]

My brother and I went in '90, took my family up in '91. Sturgis is quite commercialized now and that's not neccesarily a bad thing. Main street is lot's of vendors, beer gardens, pretty much party time but it's all laid back, everyone just having a good time.

We stayed in the Glencoe campground, and it was pretty quiet. They had really good food there. There are a number of other campgounds that bring in big name entertainment and party non-stop but there are options that are much more mellow. There are some motel options in the area but they get booked a year ahead of time so move fast if that's what you want.

There is alot of motorcycle racing that goes on during the week, and that's primarily why we went. You can go to the dragstrip, see flat-track racing over at the fairgrounds, and they also have a hill climb competition as well. There are a number of organized day rides where you pay a fee and are escorted to a number of site seeing attractions, and they provide lunch as well. Many of the roads around Sturgis are twisty and fun to ride but you need to be careful because of the number of bikes and traffic in general on the road. Some of the scenery up there is really beautiful. I suggest you also go up to Deadwood. They have casinos there and the town is rich in history and a lot of fun to visit. We also went on some helicopter rides which was cool. The chopper pilot was a grizzly lookin' old guy and smelled a bit like booze when my daughter and I climbed in for our ride. I figured he was up late the night before.

If you like bikes, (and people) of all kinds, enjoy good roads, site-seeing, and lots of bike racing action to go see, you will have a good time. Not to mention, the ride up and back is part of the adventure too.

[troy]

All I know is what I see on TV, but it sounds horrible to me. Then again, I'm about as anti-crowd as a person gets. I'd love to ride the area, but it definitely won't be during Sturgis.

[Rusty Jug]

Well, it's a bucket list thing, I just want to say I've been! Yes, I'm not a wild guy, but I love to people watch!

[Rick]

All I know is what I see on TV, but it sounds horrible to me. Then again, I'm about as anti-crowd as a person gets. I'd love to ride the area, but it definitely won't be during Sturgis.

Holy crap Troy. You live and commute in Kansas frickin City and you're concerned about the crowds at Sturgis? I just don't understand you. LOL

Rick

[Drz Charlie]

The best times are at the Buffalo Chip. 6 years ago I watched a drunk naked skinny guy drive his Hardley Stiff tail up a ramp and through a burning outhouse. A thing of beauty and perversion. After crashing through the outhouse he got up, and ran to the sidelines and took somebodies beer and walked away. I am getting way too old for that stuff.

[kendall_smith]

Well, my wife and I have been watching Full Throttle this afternoon and she says, "I'd like to go to Sturgis to get that off my bucket list".
Has anybody ever went?
Is it that wild?

That's funny- I catch the commercials for that show and it makes me say "I want to avoid that like the plague."

In all seriousness, if you get the chance to go to that area I say do it. My personal recommendation would be to do it some other time than when Sturgis is going on, but if you want to check it out, go for it. My wife and I took a week's vacation in Custer, SD last July and had a good time. It was our first time in the area, so we did all the tourist stuff (Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, cave tours, etc.) but we also got in some good motorcycle riding too.

I posted on the South Dakota dual sport riding forum (kinda like Rideforum, but for SD and not as cool ) and met up with a guy that ended up showing us around on some dual sport routes one day. He and I also ended up doing some single track a couple of days later and I definitely want to go back because according to him we barely scratched the surface of the good dirt riding in the area.

I will warn anyone that the street riding in the area is a bit frustrating. On one hand, looking at the road maps makes it look like a killer place to ride with all the twisty roads. The reality is that the area is so tourist-y that it would be extremely ill-advised to run any kind of sporty pace on the roads. Not to mention that everywhere within the parks (almost everywhere in the Black Hills) has posted speed limits of 35 mph. After a day or so of street riding I suddenly understood the allure of riding a big cruiser in the area- since a sport bike is about useless given the situation.

Have fun if you end up going! I know we had a good time and we'll probably go back again someday.

[ajayhawkfan]

A few years ago I had a wonderful dual sport ride to the area.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGG7SE3LLF8[/youtube]

[kendall_smith]

A few years ago I had a wonderful dual sport ride to the area.

Looks like you had an awesome trip! I recognized most of the photos that you took in the Black Hills- Needles Highway, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse. I might have to do a big ride like that one of these days on the new bike.