• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

The Pie Family comes to FW for the IMS! (LOTS of pics)

wczimmerman

The ORIGINAL Pie Man
Forum Supporter
Joined
Apr 1, 2004
Messages
1,246
Reaction score
95
Location
Corinth, MS
We had been making plans for some time to come to the International Motorcycle Show in Ft. Worth and Friday saw the planning become reality. Here's our story, FWIW:

The original plan was to ride up to the show-this being the first time for Jen and Cassie to ride since the accident in August. Well, that fell through as the final part was not shipped out in time by Honda (their words: "we forgot to ship it"). This was a small blow to our plans, but we decided to just cage it up, spend time at the show, have dinner with the fellow TWT, then drive back late.

We picked the girls up from school at 13:00 (hey, they were only going to miss gym class anyway!) and hit I-35. We're cruising along with traffic behind a Stanley Steemer truck and we come onto one of those typical long trains of cars. You know the ones: someone up ahead was going slower than the flow of traffic and so was holding up and stacking up the traffic behind them. Well, as we're now slowed a bit in this, a Chevy Aveo comes blazing around us and inserts itself in between us and the Steemer guys. I naturally back off to make room and that's when it happens: the Steemer guys have to brake suddenly for something ahead that we couldn't see, and the Aveo locks up the brakes but cannot stop in time. It makes contact with the van, spins sideways and ends up sitting across both lanes of traffic that are desperately trying to stop (including us). The Steemer guys pull off the highway quickly while some Pontiac behind us swerves to avoid becoming part of our rear bumper (he/she was tailgating us). I have all of 1-2 seconds to react to avoid hitting anyone, as so I see a small gap between the front of the Aveo and the concrete guard rail on the left so I weave the Mazda 3 in between and WE MADE IT! :clap: All of my ladies in the car are :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: . We pull off the highway and stay with both parties as the witness to the accident. Jen snapped this picture as we were getting ready to leave:
dsc00392cx8.jpg


That little excursion set us back 30 minutes, but we still made it to our meeting point by 15:45. A few minutes later the TWT crew started to show up. Once most of the crew arrived, we headed for the show:
dsc00393aq6.jpg


Everyone was in the car lamenting the fact that we weren't on our bikes...:giveup:

After FINALLY finding a parking spot for the cage (and yet again lamenting the EASY parking for the bikes), we come into the show and hit our first giveaway:
dsc00395ky4.jpg

They were giving away a Suzuki GS500F. I'd take it!

Honda was the first area we hit, and after giving a ho-hum reaction to the Honda rep over the CBR1000RR, I walked over to the ST1300 and decided to try it out with the kiddos:

dsc00396mc2.jpg

dsc00397vq5.jpg


My girls quickly found the Yamaha dirt bikes:
dsc00398cd1.jpg

dsc00399wz7.jpg


One of the bikes I REALLY wanted to see and try out was the Buell 1125R:
dsc00400ft3.jpg

I gotta say that bike really impressed me. It was comfortable and I liked the styling. Would I trade my SV1K for it? Nope. But it was interesting technology.

The Buell display also had a couple of bikes in a pre-leaned state, so we had to get the required squidly pics:
dsc00401sq6.jpg

dsc00402kp9.jpg

dsc00403zf0.jpg


My girls got to be Harley riders, too (at least, virtually)!
dsc00412sb7.jpg


My girls also fell for the quads:
dsc00424nc8.jpg


I know, I know-they have 4 wheels, but you gotta admit they look cute!

By FAR, the bikes that made the biggest impression were the URALS!
dsc00426jd9.jpg

dsc00428tn7.jpg

dsc00432jg2.jpg

dsc00433za2.jpg


After just 5 minutes, Jen was asking the Ural reps for the pricing on these things. She walked away saying, "if we had an extra 11K, we'd have one of those!" :trust: I was impressed by the comfort of the bikes and the potential utility, too.

We also found some upgrades to the kids gear as one of the vendors had children's sizes! Jen bought me a 2 year subscription to MCN (never had it before) and she bought some jewelry and glass cleaner :doh: .

I took many drool shots of many bikes that I'll post later.

Everyone said that they had a GREAT time at the show. You've got to love a family that can share a common passion.

After the show, and after we FINALLY found our way out of downtown FW, we met with the rest of the group at the Purple Cow. We had a great time visiting with everyone and we can't wait to do this again!
 
We had been making plans for some time to come to the International Motorcycle Show in Ft. Worth and Friday saw the planning become reality. Here's our story, FWIW:

The original plan was to ride up to the show-this being the first time for Jen and Cassie to ride since the accident in August. Well, that fell through as the final part was not shipped out in time by Honda (their words: "we forgot to ship it"). This was a small blow to our plans, but we decided to just cage it up, spend time at the show, have dinner with the fellow TWT, then drive back late.

We picked the girls up from school at 13:00 (hey, they were only going to miss gym class anyway!) and hit I-35. We're cruising along with traffic behind a Stanley Steemer truck and we come onto one of those typical long trains of cars. You know the ones: someone up ahead was going slower than the flow of traffic and so was holding up and stacking up the traffic behind them. Well, as we're now slowed a bit in this, a Chevy Aveo comes blazing around us and inserts itself in between us and the Steemer guys. I naturally back off to make room and that's when it happens: the Steemer guys have to brake suddenly for something ahead that we couldn't see, and the Aveo locks up the brakes but cannot stop in time. It makes contact with the van, spins sideways and ends up sitting across both lanes of traffic that are desperately trying to stop (including us). The Steemer guys pull off the highway quickly while some Pontiac behind us swerves to avoid becoming part of our rear bumper (he/she was tailgating us). I have all of 1-2 seconds to react to avoid hitting anyone, as so I see a small gap between the front of the Aveo and the concrete guard rail on the left so I weave the Mazda 3 in between and WE MADE IT!

That little excursion set us back 30 minutes, but we still made it to our meeting point by 15:45.

Everyone was in the car lamenting the fact that we weren't on our bikes...:giveup:

Howdy,

What a harrowing experience! I always cringe at IH 35...especially on the route towards the Dallas metroplex.

Perhaps there is some divine intervention at work here? Had you taken your motorcycles, would you have gone on the same route etc? Just a hunch but sometimes, discernment can be quite lucid.

SEYA

RB
 
Looks like a fun time for all
 
Here are the eye candy shots:

The BMW 800 ST (nice seat-very comfy!)
dsc00404ga1.jpg


dsc00405oz8.jpg

dsc00406qi6.jpg


Unobtanium:
dsc00408rx2.jpg


dsc00409ub3.jpg


Savannah asked me to take a pic of this one because it was "different":
dsc00410ol5.jpg


dsc00414sh1.jpg

dsc00415jj3.jpg


I couldn't believe how heavy this bike was:
dsc00416zi1.jpg


dsc00417xa2.jpg

dsc00418zg2.jpg

dsc00419zo8.jpg


The B-King. It was...........interesting.......(not my cup of tea, but then I liked the 1125R and others didn't)
dsc00420zn9.jpg

dsc00421ma0.jpg


Bandit 1250S (ABS) with the optional Suzuki branded luggage:
dsc00422ni5.jpg


PM me if you'd like a pic emailed to you in the original size.
 
I could handle the V-Strom 650 in matt-black:
black_dl650_3734q.jpg


Heather (our daughter-in-law) on one of the small dirt bikes (I made her get on it)
heather_dirtbike_3732q.jpg


She did think the Blast was a bit heavy, though
heather_buell_3741q.jpg
 
:tab The weekend I drove up I-35 from Temple to Dallas to drop off the new TWT server, I got to see this...

IMG_2169.JPG


IMG_2170.JPG


IMG_2171.JPG


:tab From what I could tell, the front of the concrete beam disconnected from the cab pulling it. The red truck in the first pick rear ended the trailer. Ahead, all **** broke loose and vehicles went everywhere. The little white Toyota truck got the worst of it. Fortunately for me, the traffic had just started coming to a halt and there was an exit right before this. They had the freeway closed down. I was only set back about 20 minutes. I doubt the driver of that little truck was so lucky... :-|

:tab Traffic was horrible the whole way from the moment I left Temple. The DPS presence was HEAVY the whole way. I too got stuck in one of those situations where ONE car was causing a massive traffic jam because it was going so slow. It was a DPS trooper!! :argh: :doh: All in the name of safety of course... :whatever:
 
Is that unobtanium Agusta the 120K one?

That Duc 848 looks kind of sweet, too, and the Bandit with the bags looks fantastic in terms of looks and value.... :thumb:

Thanks for posting the pics.
 
Is that unobtanium Agusta the 120K one?

That Duc 848 looks kind of sweet, too, and the Bandit with the bags looks fantastic in terms of looks and value.... :thumb:

Thanks for posting the pics.

I'm not sure on the MV. I snapped a pic of it in passing. I must be getting older or something: I was drawn to the sport touring models much more than the sport bikes. I even drooled over the Urals. The Honda rep just couldn't understand why I wasn't excited over the CBR1000RR as I kept pointing to the VFR and ST models sitting next to it.
 
Is that unobtanium Agusta the 120K one?

That Duc 848 looks kind of sweet, too, and the Bandit with the bags looks fantastic in terms of looks and value.... :thumb:

Thanks for posting the pics.

Yup, that's the $120k MV Agusta F4CC
 
I dont understand why its 120K :ponder: I somehow doubt all that is from the exchange rate.;)
 
I dont understand why its 120K :ponder: I somehow doubt all that is from the exchange rate.;)

100% handmade from exotic materials and sold in very limited numbers.....and it comes with a matching watch.:rofl:
The sad part is that's all 100% true.
 
I took I35 and luck would have it I did not get into any wolf packs, rarely had someone on my 6, did not over take that many either. I did leave at 6:30ish and arrived at the show about 9:45. If you have to do I-35 do t early. We came back by all the outlaying roads. It was getting dark 30 so about Temple we turned back to 35 and boggied, about Jarrell where they have managed to close all the old exits and you get one shot at the gas stations, I missed my chance. Looked down and my fuel gauge was below E :eek2:
I did make it to the next Shell. I put 5.2 gallons in a 5 gallon tank :doh:
 
Back
Top