Bike Week '21 Begins!
 

Wow, what a day to start Bike Week!

Tons of bikes out there, and after a hike in the Belknaps and lunch at Pop's, Maps took me around the Wolfeboro side back to camp, so The Weirs and Meredith must be hopping.

Here's to a safe, free, and lucrative week!

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Just walked through the Weirs. It was very busy and your right a beautiful day and a great start. Good luck to all the businesses.


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Have a great time all, and stay safe!

Yes, all enjoy and stay safe. Will venture that way mid week. But, 5 tees for $20 not until last day


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The kiddos and I took Jettie One over to The Weirs when I got home and were surprised to find it pretty quiet on the water. Lots of motorcycles, though!

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Could have been tragic…
 

Bike week could have ended disastrously for two idiots on motorcycles this morning. I was returning home from errands, not dawdling on 109 (going 50mph), when these two flew past me on double yellow line with 2 cars and a truck approaching from the other direction. How a disaster was averted I will never know, but they were very very lucky….in fact, we all were. There are motorcycle fatalities every year during bike week. Everyone needs to be careful, including the bikers themselves. End of rant. 🤨

I haven't ridden on the street in 30 years. I'd rather ride dirt bikes or quads through the woods. The street is just too dangerous now with all the distracted drivers but I have fond memories of the bike weekends of my youth.

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Bike Week
 

On Saturday I went to Albany, NH, just south of Conway, to pick somebody up, and Rt 16 was wall-to-wall bikes both ways. I went to Almost There (restaurant) in Albany, and it was packed with bikers, and, I will say, all very well behaved, and clearly having a good time (albeit, a little noisy).

I wish them good weather, safe riding, and a good week for vendors and local merchants.

Motorcycle Mufflers or Lack of
 

Please excuse my ignorance as I just moved to NH last year from "across the pond". While it's interesting to see all the motorcyclists enjoying NH, why are they allowed to be so loud? Any insight as to why NH has noise regulations on boats, but not motorcycles?

This doesn't answer your question but is somewhat related to consider. N.H. is the one, single state in this country that doesn't require seat belts to be worn while driving a car if you are age-18 or older. With 400-state representatives in the NH House of Representatives who get paid $50/year for their service, these car, motorcycle safety issues have devolved down to issues of liberty and freedom of choice as opposed to well thought out rules for driving that make the roads safe.

According to www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorcycle_safety, "traveling on a motorcycle carries a much greater risk of death or injury than driving the same distance in a car." It goes on to say under 'Crash rates and risks' ..... as of 2016-information ..... you are 28-times more likely to be in a fatal motorcycle crash than a fatal car crash for the same amount of miles driven.

For driving a big truck in New Hampshire, the truck driver is required to wear a seat belt correctly, by federal law. Truckers must wear seat belts, here In NH, but for car drivers age 18+, it's their choice.

We do have noise regulations for motorcycles, but hardly, if ever enforced. I imagine largely due to the difficult enforcing it. I've gone through the DB test with MP on the lake, and F&G does a good job on snowmobiles. Motorcycles not so much. Interestingly, the regs below are much more lax (i.e. higher) than boats or snowmobiles.

My pet peeve is when the radio is blasting so the rider can hear over their loud pipes :rolleye2:

I live on 107 in Gilmanton and this year it reminds me of when we lived on Weirs Blvd. Pretty solid bike traffic from about 8 am to 1 - 2 am. Seems like there is a lot of pent up demand to get out.

motorcycles can't exceed 92 decibels when idling, 100 decibels for 3- and 4-cylinder bikes at 5,000 revolutions per minute and 96 decibels for all other bikes at 2,000 RPMs.

Shoe On Other Foot, Much?
 

Ever notice the trucks with bumper stickers that read, "Watch Out for Bikers" are driving recklessly and too fast? :rolleye1:

We went to the Weirs today by boat. At 10 AM the parking was 2/3 full and completely full by 11. In the past we went by bike for about 15 years up to 2015. Today's Friday morning crowd looked to be about back to normal. There also was a good turn out of vendors.

Bike week is 95% a Harley rally. I rode one for many years and I have never heard a quiet Harley. It is only 9 days a year so get used to it.

Alan

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With Sunday comes the sound of silence
 

Every motorcycle week we see plenty of interesting people, bikes etc. one in particular caught my attention this week. There was one bike that I saw twice in Meredith this week, towing a casket. Not just some wooden box, an actual casket. Has anyone else seen this and know what the story is behind it?

Non-Enforcement = Money...
 

Downtown Portsmouth, NH tried enforcement in 2018. https://amp.seacoastonline.com/amp/5...eThumbnailsAMP

Bikers, like NH boaters, learned tricks to foil NH's quietude.

NH enforcement is lax in most ways, anyway--beginning with alcohol. DUI court cases can show serial-violations--even after drivers license revocation!

Both of Lake Winnipesaukee's infamous manslaughter (BUI-Hit-and-Run-death) boating cases resulted in legal wrist-slaps of sentencings.

Wolfeboro's several homicides remain unsolved. :eek2: "Live Free or Die".

If you've been to Switzerland, motorcycles are so much quieter than cars, it's spooky. Aircooled VWs are banned! :eek:

But Switzerland is a scenic locale with mountains and lakes, so their law enforcement can be expected to be more disciplined. :rolleye1:

Ahhh...what is that sound?
 

Oh wait, I think it's the lack of sound.

Peace and tranquility at last.

And so it ends

Anyone hear of major problems? I was out and about much more than usual, and everything seemed to be going well. It was certainly busy and an awesome weather week!

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None at all and I’m extremely close to the Weirs. Good crowd and I hope all the local vendors made out well. Noise and traffic we not bad at all. Even if it was I could live with it for a week to bring in money to the area.


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I think just some minor stuff...
 

I got mouthed-off by one Mr Tough Guy who literally crossed the double yellow line and two lanes of on-coming traffic to turn into Meredith Village Savings Bank in Meredith. As I and the car next to me slammed on our brakes to stop, (and say "what the hell?"), Mr Tough Guy stopped his bike in the road and started screaming, "You gotta F***ing stop for us...!!"

My daughter and her friend, (both 25), had lunch at Akwa Marina one day last week and then walked down to Weirs to see the sights and said that while noone did anything inappropriate, she said she didn't like the "sketchy old men staring at us.."

Hopefully the local businesses got a nice boost

Saturday night at the Weirs
 

6 of us went to the Lyons Den by boat on Saturday night. After dinner we decided to cruise through the Weirs channel expecting that there'd be a lot of activity. There were but a handful of other boats going through at 9pm. It was calm, quiet and no one was on the bridge. The Naswa was quiet too.

We turned around in front of the Naswa and headed to the Weirs public docks. Found a spot immediately, pulled right in and sat on the boat for 1/2 hour. The Weirs strip looked really pretty, post sunset, but unusually quiet for 9pm Saturday night Fathers Day weekend which is traditionally the "crazy" night.

We drove home mid-day Sunday, expecting a bunch of bikes and traffic, but there was nothing. It was like a switch was shut off—we literally only saw a dozen motorcycles from Moultonborough Neck to southern NH.

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Considering the average age of the Bike Week attendees, I think everyone was in bed by 9:00pm. Harley Davidson should seriously consider a trike model in the next 3-5 years, since its target market is rapidly aging.

They have had trikes for years now.

Ha! Exactly

Great article on Harley Davidson strategy here--my favorite bit is that the new engine was too smooth... :eek:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/b...n-america.html

Servi-Car
 

The original Harley Trike until 1973! Slow as molasses but fun to ride!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley-Davidson_Servi-Car

That's cool! I don't ride, so I had no idea they were into trikes already.

My 91 year old father in law rode it last summer! Take it for a ride. Left foot clutch, left hand throttle (this was set up as a meter maid unit so they could mark tires with their right hand), right hand tank shift

Yours?
 

That looks beautiful. Is it yours? If so details please.

Thank you! Yes it is mine. It is a 1973 Servi. They were all powered the same from 1932-1973, with a 45" flathead V-2 engine putting out a whopping 22 HP. Most had 3 speed forward with a reverse gear. Mine will run 45 tops, others are geared differently to allow for more speed- I wouldn't make it up hills around here if it were that way.

They use full size GM alternators and have a full size battery in the trunk because many were used by service stations for road calls and car returns (the mechanic could hook his servi-car to the bumper of a repaired car, deliver it back to the owner, then ride the servi-car home).

The earlier versions with the springer front ends and wooden boxes were cooler looking than mine. Like most of my rideable antiques, it impossible not to smile while riding it!

Attendance
 

Are there any attendance figures for this year’s Bike Week?

Until the locals that seem to be "self entitled" finally shut down bike week, these silly complaints will continue. Once they start paying the $ that the bikers "used to" bring in, it will be too late.

Here's the News Newbiesaukee ; https://www.unionleader.com/nh/trave...792c62167.html