Orlando - The Justin Hughes Review

"Justin Hughes" (justinhughes54) 01/29/2015 at 17:00 • Filed to: lanesplitter

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(I originally wrote this for my motorcycle blog, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , last year just after this trip took place. I haven't written much lately, and after !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! I figured I'd share my own.)

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I didn't pack the bike and ride off. Instead I put my backpack and suitcase in the car, then drove to Providence, RI. This was not the typical beginning of one of my motorcycle trips. Nor was checking my suitcase and boarding an Airbus E320. But the trip to Orlando, FL was very easy, with no waiting at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! counter and no trouble getting through security. (I always breathe a little sigh of relief every time they let me through, which means I'm not on some Do Not Fly list. Thanks to a shortwave radio reception report I once sent, I was on Radio Moscow's mailing list for a few years before the fall of the Soviet Union, so I figure there must be an FBI file on me somewhere.) The flight was rather empty. I had an entire row to myself, and there was ample room for my long legs between my seat and the one in front of me, so it was very comfortable. We landed half an hour early, and my suitcase was one of the first ones down the conveyor. I got a cab, which cost twice as much as the online estimate, and checked into the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which I chose based on my 20% !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! discount.

When I went for a walk – in pleasant 70 degree temperatures – to find dinner, I was pleasantly surprised to see " !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! " staring at me in bright red letters directly across the street. I walked across the street and enjoyed dinner and more than one beer from the extensive selection, since I wasn't driving or riding anywhere. I ended up having dinner here each night of my stay.

I had trouble sleeping that night. This was no fault of Red Roof – I was too excited to begin my motorcycle adventure, and to see what this Harley thing was all about. I'd never ridden a Harley Davidson before. Of course I've met many diehard fans of them, as well as many diehard critics. Either you love them or you hate them, it seems. Since the least expensive rentals from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! 's Orlando location with any cargo space whatsoever were Harleys, I figured why not give it a try. I also got a 15% AMA discount on the rental, as long as it wasn't more than two days. I would've preferred a little longer, but the cost of doing so went way up once the discount no longer applied. Still, with the discounts I got on this trip, my AMA membership has already more than paid for itself this year.

Tuesday morning I got a cab over to EagleRider. When we pulled in, I saw a bright yellow Street Glide parked out front – my bike for the next two days. Though all of the pictures I'd seen were of black bikes, I was actually happy to see the screaming yellow zonker, or as one friend called it, the motorcycle version of Bumblebee. What a beast!

The folks at EagleRider were great to deal with. The required paperwork was kept to a minimum. They went over the entire bike with me, particularly because I'd never ridden a Harley before. This was good, or I wouldn't have known about the turn signal controls on both handlebars instead of just the left like every other bike I've ever ridden. My only disappointment was in the type of loaner helmets available – all half shell "brain buckets." I certainly didn't expect anything as nice as my Nolan modular helmet, but since it would've been a carry-on bag all by itself, I opted to take EagleRider up on their helmet that's included with the rental. So be aware of this if you should choose to rent a bike through them.

This was not quite a brand new Street Glide, likely a 2013 version, so it didn't have a USB port to integrate with my iPhone like the newest model does. But I was happy to see a cigarette lighter, and soon had my TomTom plugged in and RAM mounts set up. My backpack and camera bag fit perfectly into the saddlebags, and before long I was riding a Harley in warm weather in January. Oh yeah!

Southern Loop

It was raining when I got up that morning, which didn't bode well. I checked the weather radar on my phone, and saw a line of precipitation stretching from the southwest to northeast. I had two loops planned, south and north of Orlando, and it looked like if I took the southern route as I'd planned to, I'd ride out of the scattered rain showers. So I packed my rain gear and went.

My first experience on the Street Glide was fighting my way through traffic to escape Orlando – not exactly the best circumstances to learn a big, heavy bike with a different riding position than I'm used to. But I managed, and despite selecting the "avoid highways" feature of my GPS, I found myself on a series of state highways ranging from one to three lanes, and with 55-60mph speed limits. In this case, I don't think it was a failing of my GPS. Florida is so open and flat, and the roads so straight, all of their major roads seem to be set up this way. But I wasn't here to enjoy twisties – I was here to cruise around on a motorcycle in warm weather in January, and the Harley was well suited for that. I even got to use cruise control, since once outside the city traffic was virtually non-existent.

I spent the morning on an inland route, basically getting a feel for the Harley. I'm lucky I wear glasses, because between the brain bucket and the minimal windshield on the Street Glide, they were my only eye protection. At higher speeds I found myself slouching a little, just to get my face out of the direct wind blast. The most horrible moment was a Florida downpour I rode into, with huge drops on my glasses that partially obscured my vision. I knew that storms like this are localized and short lived, so with absolutely no shelter like bridges to wait under, the best thing to do was reduce my speed for safety, but press on regardless, hoping I'd get through the storm as quickly as possible. In about ten minutes, I came out the other side, and it was over.

As I'd hoped, I rode out of the line of rain as I headed south, and eventually the sun came out. The thermometer on the dashboard touched 80 at its peak. I'd brought my textile jacket, not the mesh one, in case of cooler temperatures, but I took out the liner, opened the vents, and put on my mesh gloves to maximize cooling. In January. Unreal. But this is why I came to Florida.

I got to the insanely named Yeehaw Junction at around noon, and stopped for lunch since I was hungry. I'd planned to ride all the way to Lake Okeechobee, head east to Jupiter, and then ride A1A up the coast, but I hadn't gotten as far as I thought I would. I really had no must-see destinations further south, so I decided to cut the loop short and head east now, to Vero Beach. Cruising up A1A was one of my major goals anyway, so I didn't mind chopping some distance. I was having fun, I was warm, and I was riding a motorcycle. That was what mattered.

So I took Route 60 due east (bearing of 90 according to my GPS), and I stayed on it until I literally hit the coast and Route A1A. I turned left, headed north, and settled into cruise mode. For this, the Harley was perfect. I didn't get as many beach views as I'd hoped to. There were many resorts and apartment complexes right along the coast, between A1A and the beach. But I still caught glimpses, and there were places to park with public beach access. I stopped at a few of these, just to take a look, breathe the warm ocean air, and snap a few pictures. This one looks like a typical beach day. I should point out that I took it on January 14, yet there they were in swimsuits – and it was warm enough for that. I didn't slack off on the beach myself. I'm not much of a swimmer, and I didn't come here to spend the day being lazy on the beach. I came here to ride. I rode on, up the coast, all the way to Satellite Beach, Cocoa Beach, and Cape Canaveral.

I've been a major space geek since I was a kid, and I knew that these places were where the astronauts played. I enjoyed passing through these places, and felt like I was riding through a bit of American space history. My next destination, in fact, was Kennedy Space Center. I'd had to make a difficult choice this trip. I went to KSC as a kid, but I'd love to visit there again, since so much has changed. But I didn't spend the money to rent a motorcycle for two days to have it sit in the parking lot, and KSC would take all day to tour properly. So I'd decided against doing the full tour, which, at $50, is not inexpensive either. Some other time, on a non-motorcycle trip, I'd like to return and check it out properly. But this time, I wanted to at least cruise by and see what I could see.

After entering Merritt Island, the first thing I saw in the distance was the distinctive orange color of a Space Shuttle external tank, flanked by a pair of white solid rocket boosters. I figured I was getting close. Before long, there I was – the tank and SRBs, the building that Atlantis now lives inside, and the rest of the space center. I'd hoped to get some photo opportunities from outside, but there was nowhere to park, so I made a slow pass, turned around, and set course back to Orlando.

Much to my surprise, my route took me right past the Astronaut Hall of Fame. I'd never seen it, so I stopped in, and ended up taking a little time to look around inside. They have many interesting artifacts there – Gus Grissom's Mercury spacesuit, Alan Shepard's Apollo spacesuit, the actual Sigma 7 Mercury capsule, and lots of other artifacts, big and small. Of particular interest to me was a little corner with QSL cards and the actual 2 meter radio used by Owen Garriott, W5LFL, who operated ham radio from space for the first time on STS-9 in 1983. Ham radio has since become commonplace on the Space Shuttle and space stations, including the International Space Station. I, personally, once contacted U5MIR on the Russian Mir space station.

After geeking out on space stuff for a while (and utterly failing to land the Space Shuttle in a simulator), I continued on course and let the GPS guide me back into Orlando. As I crossed the bridge leaving Merritt Island, I looked back, and saw not only the Vehicle Assembly Building, but at least one of the launch pads that the Apollo and Shuttle flights launched from. As with much of Florida, there was nowhere to pull over, take pictures, and generally geek out, so I pressed on, and before long found myself back in Orlando. Traffic was kind of nasty, but I was a lot more confident on the Harley, and eventually made my way back to the hotel and parked it. I walked across the street for dinner and a beer, watched a little TV back at the hotel, and my eyes shut themselves around 10:30 – quite early for me. The excitement of the day must've been too much.

Northern Loop

Wednesday was a little bit cooler, but sunny, and there was no rain in the forecast. I put the liner back in my jacket, put on an extra layer under it, and switched to my leather gloves. I was on no schedule at all today, since I didn't have to worry about picking up or returning the bike. But I did have a couple of specific destinations I wanted to see. So after once again fighting traffic out of Orlando (Florida has the longest stop lights I've ever seen), I headed northeast – back to the coast, and toward Daytona.

I was a couple of months early for Daytona Bike Week, but that wasn't the point. The point was to head back to the coast, and to see a couple of sights in and around the Daytona area. My first stop was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . There's a lot of racing history here, and not just in NASCAR. As a motorsport nut and amateur racer myself, I wanted to at least stop in and see the place.

The track was impossible to miss as I rode down International Speedway Boulevard. They're doing a great deal of construction there at the moment – !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , they're calling it – so it was a little tricky to find the correct entrance, but I found it and made my way to the visitor's center – where I parked next to another Harley Street Glide. I had just missed a track tour, and the next one wasn't going to be for well over an hour. Had I arrived a little sooner I would've taken it, but since I've been to (and driven) a few race tracks in my life, a track is already a familiar place to me, so I settled for checking out the visitor's center and gift shop. I ended up buying myself a new hat.

From there, it was only a few minutes up the road to Holly Hill and the offices of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I've been a GRM subscriber for years (like I said, I'm a motorsport nut). Ten years ago, in fact, some friends and I entered GRM 's $2004 Challenge to buy, build, and race a car for less than $2004. There's a picture of me driving that Saturn SL2 in the autocross in the August 2004 issue.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the lobby was their Factory Five 818 project car, with the hood removed and a battery charger hooked up. On the other side was a beautiful classic two-door Mercedes. (I don't know the classics well enough to remember the exact year or model.) Gary introduced himself to me, showed me around a little bit, and of course we car geeked some. He apologized for not having more project cars in the lobby. I wasn't worried about it. On a tip and a well drawn map from Gary, I took a short detour to have lunch at Teri's Place, a small mom and pop restaurant – the kind I like. It was very affordable and the food was yummy.

Then it was time to ride. I rode back the way I came, picked up A1A again, and headed north. The GPS told me I had a good 50 mile ride straight up the coast to St. Augustine ahead of me, so that's exactly what I did. There was less development along here, with quite a bit of beach and ocean visible from the road, and many places to pull off and park. I stopped a couple of times to check out the scenery, and to run the camera for a little while as I rode up the coast. It wasn't an exciting ride, being a 50 mile straight line, but it was enjoyable, and once again the Harley was a good tool for this job. I caught up to a couple of other Harleys at one point and rode with them for a while until realizing I needed gas. I lost them when I pulled off to refuel.

Once at St. Augustine Beach, I plotted a non-highway, non-toll road route back to Orlando on the GPS. (There are a lot of toll roads in Florida.) It figured one out that would get me there around 4:00. I didn't mind taking a longer way, so I arbitrarily threw in the small town of Satsuma as a waypoint that would take me by St. Johns River and Crescent Lake. The trip back to the hotel seemed long, and mental fatigue set in about an hour outside of Orlando. I suppose that's what I get for not riding for a few months, then riding over 500 miles in two days. I was feeling it mostly in the brain, though, and not in the body. The Street Glide was perfectly comfortable.

I hit Orlando rush hour traffic, and fought my way back to the hotel. Actually, I fought my way to a strip mall shortly before the hotel. When I found myself stuck there, I spotted a pull-through from the mall parking lot into the gas station next to the hotel. I had to return the bike with a full tank of gas anyway, so I took care of that, and then found yet another pull-through right into the Red Roof parking lot. I parked and unloaded the bike, then called it a day for riding. I had dinner at the Ale House again – a chicken parmesian that I should've gotten one of the previous nights. There was so much food that I could've eaten half of it, put the other half in the refrigerator in my room, and heated it up for dinner the next night. But it was no big deal – I was hungry, and ate nearly all of it.

Back in the room, I allowed myself some time to relax, then packed as much as I could for the trip home. I'm not a morning person, so I got everything prepared the night before that I was able to, while I still had brainpower. I also test fit my suitcase on the back of the Harley to make sure it would fit, and to figure out how to tie it down with a couple of bungee cords I brought all the way from home for that exact purpose. After working that all out, I settled in, watched some TV, then went to sleep.

I was up before the alarm, which gave me plenty of time to have some coffee, finish packing, and load the bike. I had to return it to EagleRider by 9:00, and managed to do so without difficulty. The temperature was in the 40s that morning, but my speed was low, and I've ridden in 40s many times before. It was fine. I parked the Street Glide where I'd found it, by another Harley waiting for pickup, removed all of my luggage and equipment from it, went inside, and checked in. The return process was even easier than the pickup. They informed me that I'd put 513 miles on the Street Glide over the past two days. The rental included unlimited mileage, so I took advantage of that. They found no problems with the bike, so after a little more paperwork I was good to go. I did tell them about a problem I'd run into with the sensor that detected that the bike was in 6th gear not working reliably, and that it prevented the cruise control from working as well. It wasn't a big deal to me – though I would've appreciated cruise control on some of the more open, boring sections of highway, I'd never ridden a bike with cruise control before, so I didn't really miss it. They were rather baffled by this issue, and appreciated me telling them about it. Then, rather than calling a cab to take me to the airport, they drove me themselves in their shuttle van.

It was about 9:30 when I got to the airport, and my flight didn't leave until 12:47, but I really had nowhere else to be and nothing else to do without my own wheels. I got my boarding pass, then spotted a Krispy Kreme in one of the food court areas, and treated myself to coffee and a donut. We don't have Krispy Kreme where I live. We did briefly, but they were unable to unseat the dominance of Dunkin Donuts in Massachusetts, so they pulled out.

After giving myself a massive sugar rush, I did a little souvenir shopping at the airport stores, then got in the security line. Orlando is a much bigger and busier airport than Providence, probably because Orlando has Disney and Providence doesn't. But they were fairly quick and efficient and soon I was through – again, without any trouble from my previous accidental association with communist propaganda. I found the gate, which was full of people waiting for their flight to San Juan, but I found a seat and hung out for a while.

By late morning I found myself some lunch, then came back to wait for my flight. It was just slightly late boarding. Unlike the flight down this one was pretty full, and a young couple was seated next to me. The flight was delayed getting out due to an air conditioner problem, then delayed again on the taxiway when it recurred. They bypassed it and finally we took off.

We flew up the coast over land, and since I was on the right side of the plane I could see everywhere I had ridden the previous day. Daytona International Speedway was clearly visible next to the airport, and then I just followed the beach all the way north until we flew out over the water. It was a bumpy flight, and by the time we landed I had a headache thanks to multiple screaming children on the plane. But we did land, my suitcase came through just fine, and my car started with no problem – a relief after starting trouble last week that a new battery seems to have solved. Traffic only slowed down a little bit through the middle of Providence, less than expected, and then it was heavy traffic but full speed all the way home.

As I type this, we've been hit with a surprise snowstorm. I got caught out by it on my way home today from my girlfriend's, where it was raining. Route 2 turned into an untreated sheet of glare ice, with many accidents. Fortunately I was not among them. Getting home was a struggle though the thick heavy snow that piled up quickly on the roads, but I managed to power through it and get home. Yet I'm still quite relaxed, sitting here at home, not having to be anywhere, and having just spent two days riding a motorcycle up the Florida coast. I've had far worse Januaries.

(Reposted from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with the permission of the author, who just happens to be me.)

HammerheadFistpunch > Justin Hughes 01/29/2015 at 17:02

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Slightly more thorough than mine.

Justin Hughes > HammerheadFistpunch 01/29/2015 at 17:12

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Yes, but very little of mine actually took place in Orlando! I'd actually split this into three separate posts over on my bike blog.

Leon711 > Justin Hughes 01/29/2015 at 17:19

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I did Orlando back in November, I didn't do a write up though because I didn't have a car or bike out there I stuck my limey ass on a bus and in a cab.

Nisman > Justin Hughes 01/29/2015 at 23:07

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I love this write up! I had similar experiences earlier this month on the west coast (Sarasota area). Nothing like riding a Harley in January seeing beautiful country and coastline!

McMike > Justin Hughes 01/30/2015 at 09:07

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So, what was your impression of one of their touring models? I'm always curious to hear what people have to say when they finally get on one of these things. .

There is no wrong answer to this question.

Disclaimer, I have one of their touring models, but am also fully aware that there are faults with these things .

Justin Hughes > McMike 01/30/2015 at 09:35

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I'm totally NOT a Harley dude. I think they're overpriced, all about the image instead of the ride, and appear to use outdated technology.

With that out of the way... I thought the Street Glide was the perfect bike for the type of riding I was doing. It was very comfortable, other than the wind hitting my face, but a taller windscreen would fix that easily. It had enough cargo space. While it looks like any other Harley made since the 1950s, this one was fuel injected - hardly outdated technology. I appreciated that on the 40 degree morning I returned it. My Honda PC800 could run circles around it, but Harleys aren't made to tear up the twisties. If I said I didn't enjoy the torque and the noise it made under hard acceleration, I'd be the biggest liar on the planet (and considering some of our politicians that's saying a lot).

After 500 miles, I get the Harley thing. I understand the appeal. I think a lot of people still buy them for the wrong reasons (image vs. the ride), but some people buy them for the right ones.

After barely getting to ride my PC800 last year due to mechanical issues and hard to find parts, I'm switching to a metric cruiser in the spring - a friend's Suzuki Marauder. It's not a Harley, but part of the reason why I'm switching to it is my experience on the Harley. I'm not really a corner carver myself, and a cruiser matches my more relaxed riding style a bit better. The other reason is I'm getting a good deal on it.

McMike > Justin Hughes 01/30/2015 at 09:56

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I've had nothing but cruisers, and switched from Honda to HD about three years ago.

I wanted a cruiser that was bigger, with bigger bags, strong aftermarket, and was similar to the 1100 I currently had.

No naturally, I started looking at used VTX1800s, and started thinking about what it would take to end up with a bigger version of my Shadow.

By the time I started pricing an exhaust system low enough to accommodate the bigger bags I hadn't located yet, light bar, touring saddle, windscreen, etc, I realized that I was actually trying to build a Road King Classic... So I changed my search criteria on CL, and picked one up.

I'm sure you noticed how much of a fucking truck it is. Heavy, lazy, hard to shift, set the cruise and just eat up the miles.

Do I like it? Yeah. Do I OMG love it? Not really. Parts are expensive, but I knew that getting into it. I just don't get that attached to a particular brand.

First rule I put into effect after bringing it home was to tell Mrs McMike that no one was allowed to buy me anything from the HD store. Her father is a die-hard HD guy, and the thought of the kind of shit he would start sending me scared me a little.

Justin Hughes > McMike 01/30/2015 at 10:00

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Nice! Yes, everything you said about it. I'd never had cruise control on a bike before, other than the throttle locker my PC800 came with. Actually, I didn't usually have cruise on the Street Glide either. It only works in 6th gear, which you know you're in when the light on the dashboard turns on. Soon after I got the bike, the sensor that detects 6th stopped working, taking out cruise control with it. It wasn't a big deal for me since I'm used to not having it, but I did mention it when I returned the bike so they'd be aware of it. They were very apologetic.

McMike > Justin Hughes 01/30/2015 at 10:30

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I have never had cruise control either BUT I FUCKING LOVE IT.

I also tried a bunch of those aftermarket locks and they just never did the trick. Being able to take your right hand off for minutes at a time (or hours, depending on traffic) is a great thing. I use it all the time.

That's odd about the 6th gear cruise control limitation. Mine ('07) only requires that I be between 35-85 mph for it to activate. There are plenty of times you would want to set the cruise at 50mph, when 6th may be too tall. Then again, yours had a DBW throttle, so it's anyone's guess what they did. Just seems silly to me.

Not being able to snick the shifter to check if you are in 1st or top gear is one thing I hate about the transmissions on these things. After a few years, I still miss that "feature" of the Japanese transmission.

The Compromiser > Justin Hughes 01/30/2015 at 21:30

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My bike is an almost identical shade of yellow. A little metallic, but Yellow retinal burn just the same. I love it.

MadisonSuicide > Justin Hughes 01/31/2015 at 14:59

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Stop reading at cruise control. ....some things on bikes I'll never quite understand. And I regularly trip 400+ mile days, hell my daily commute is around 80ish, so I ain't just jumping down the street to the bar.