Escaped Inmates Ride Battle Scooter Through North Georgia

[klaviator]

This is the story of four ADV inmates who decided to escape from the boredom and mundane of hanging around the house, doing yard work, or worse yet, going to work.

The plan: I would ride up to Canton, Ga where I would meet up with Scudder and we would then ride to Rider's Hill in Dahlonega, Ga and meet up with Beemerphile and GeeGusKahn. Then would take our mighty battle scooters and terrorize the mountains of N. Ga.



The Plan Comes together.

I had an uneventful, and boring ride to Canton (all city traffic and highway) where I met Scudder at Cycle nation. This was the first time any of us had met in person.



Scudder was on a Buddy 125 and I was on my Sport City 250

Scudder led off to start so I could get a feel for his cruising speed. I was quite surprised at the speed of the Buddy. It's a tiny scooter with 10" wheels.

Eventually we got on some nice, twisty back roads.



I snapped these pics with my left hand while riding with my right.



Again, I was surprised at the speed of the buddy. Scudder certainly knows how to ride it.



I did get a little nervous in left hand curves because it looked like his transmission case was pretty close to dragging on the ground.



We worked our way up to Dahlonega via a bunch of back roads. We didn't get too lost even though I did take some roads I had not ridden before. And since this was an ADV ride, we even got off the pavement for a few miles.

A single lane bridge.

[vht4me]

How fast can you get those suckers going? automatics?

[GeeGusKahn]

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What a great ride.
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Where is that bridge or what road??
.

[klaviator]

Originally Posted by vht4me

How fast can you get those suckers going? automatics?

I think that the Buddy 125 is good for 60+, my Sport city .........


I'll let you read the speedo



Like most scooters they have automatic CVT transmissions.

[klaviator]

Originally Posted by GeeGusKahn

.
What a great ride.
.
Where is that bridge or what road??
.

Not sure of the name of the road that bridge was on but it was an unpaved road west of Dawsonville.

It was a great ride. I'll post the next part with more pics in a bit.

[klaviator]

We got to Rider's Hill and decided to get some lunch. For those not familiar with Rider's Hill, it's a motorcycle dealer but it's not your typical motorcycle dealer. It was designed to be a destination for riders and they encourage riders to stop by and hang out. There is a cafe so you can get lunch there. There is seating inside as well as some chairs and picnic tables on the large covered porch that wraps around the building. I think their business plan is to get ridiers to stop for lunch. While they are there they will notice the selection of bikes and accessories and end up buying something. It certainly worked with me. I came for lunch about 15 months ago and ended up buying my Sport City.

A few minuted after we arrived, GeeGusKahn and Beemerphile arrived on their maxi scooters, a Burgman 650 and T-max. We all had lunch and had a chance to talk. We had not met before but when you put four riding enthusiasts together, there is no problem finding stuff to talk about.

Eventually it was time to do some riding.

It took a couple of pics before we left.



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Then we headed up 60 to stone pile gap, right on 19, and left on 129 up Blood Mountain. I started picking up the pace going up Blood Mountain when a rider coming down gave the signal for Police ahead so I backed off. I never did see any police.

129 up Blood Mountain is a nice ride.



It's very popular with riders as well as sports car drivers. There was even a photographer taking pictures like there is at Deal's Gap. The photographers name; Squidfoto I'll check it out in a few days. I'm sure they got all our pics.

We stopped at the store at the top.



There were a number of bikes up there but nowhere near what you would find at Deals Gap on a Saturday.

Deals gap has the tree of shame, here they have the tree of shoes.



Not sure what the story behind these is.

[klaviator]

We then rode down Blood Mountain and took a little side trip to see Helton Creek Falls.

It's about 2 miles off of 129 to the falls and it's mostly unpaved. As I said earlier, to make it a true ADV ride you have to get off the pavement at least once. Luckily, we were riding Battle Scooters so this was not a problem.

Beemerphile:



Scudder:



GeeGusKahn:



It's a short hike from the parking area to the falls. There were a couple of Harleys there and on of the riders was kind enough to inform us that we should get a bike like his because it has more power.



Well, I thought they were Harleys. Looking at the picture, they might have been Harley wannabees. Maybe someone more up on cruisers can enlighten me.

So we hiked down to the falls.



Scudder standing at the top of the lower falls. I think he's getting ready for a reverse double backflip


The upper falls.



It was a pretty hot day. The water probably felt good.



Scudder on the way back out.



Then it was back to 129, then left on 180 and over Wolf Pen Gap. I didn't take any pics of 180 but it was a fun twisty road and a great ride.

[klaviator]

At the end of 180 we stopped at the Suches gas station and engaged in some "Adventure Lounging"




We filled up with some ethenol free gas for our bikes and drinks for us.

Getting ready to leave:



We rode 60, another great ride, back to Rider's Hill.

Enjoying some ice cream in the cafe.



Our rides:



There is always a lot of discussion in the Battle Scooter section of this forum on what is the "best" scooter. The fact is that most scooters are capable of more than many people think. The little 125cc buddy did just fine on many miles of road riding and the big and "heavy" Burgman was not to big and heavy to ride down a bumpy dirt road.

Four riders, four very different scooters, but we all had a great time.

Then we separated and headed off in two different directions, but not before agreeing that we need to do this again some time.

Then Scudder and I rode back to Canton where we split up.

It was a great ride. It was great meeting all of you and I do plan on doing this again, hopefully sooner rather than later.

[Domromer]

Looks like fun, I've got a silver wing and I'm always impressed how well it does down sandy dirt roads. The low cg helps a lot.

[Gham]

looks like you had a great time!......I'm really starting to warm up to this scooter stuff.thx for sharing.

[scudder]

I had a great time and enjoyed meeting everyone! I have not had a chance to post up my pics from the trip, but will do so most riki-tik! It was a great ride and I am looking forward to the next one.

[beemerphile]

Yep great fun on the little scoots, at least until we can raise up enough money to buy proper high powered cruiser motorcycles (according to our friend at the waterfall). I've got over 40 years and half a million miles on motorcycles and I love it when I get sound advice like that. Nice to meet everyone and Riders Hill is a wonderful stop. I am just glad they didn't have a new Moto Guzzi Stelvio there for me to lust over.

[gnuse]

I feel so much better reading this RR.

I waved at you guys headed up to stone pile gap, realized you were on scooters, but it was OK, because they rode like they stole them.

[beemerphile]

Originally Posted by gnuse

...but it was OK, because they rode like they stole them.

Who said flying on the ground is wrong? Flying is flying.

[wannabe1]

Great report Klav, looks like a good time had by all. Great to see a group of scoots getting together. I don't think those cruiser riders were on harleys, they were wearing FF helmets. I visited Midway Sat and checked out the Kymco Downtown 300i. Just can't swing it $$ right now so I will keep on zooming on the zuma!