It's part of our job as moto-journalists to try what's out there in the American market and report back. The ultimate test is to take a bike, customize it and ride it to Sturgis. What could give you a truer test of a bike's ability to look cool and endure a long run? I've been fortunate enough to customize and ride everything from nearly bone stock bikes to ground-up customs. Each trip is an adventure. Each run has varying characteristics, and with each journey there's a new woman, but that's my problem.

This year we needed to make a choice. I had a Kenny Boyce Pro Street frame that I planned to load a Twin Cam engine into and ride to the Badlands. I also had a 2000 Buell M-2 and I had recently installed dual Mikuni carb heads on my '48 Panhead. Since I'm also working on a Pro Street custom for Dr. Ladd Terry, the Bikernet morale officer, I decided to hold onto my Pro Street project for next year. Another doctor, Dr. Hamster, had been working on his 34 VL and was excited about riding it to Sturgis. We both knew that the antique ride would be a long shot.

On top of the time/money consideration, I enjoy riding the M-2. It's the hotrod of Harleys, light, agile, brakes like a madman and hauls ass. The guys at Harley like to refer to Buells as their street fighters. I have to agree. So I decided that I needed to put some miles on it and experience its ability for distance. Like last year when I told folks that I was going to ride a rigid to Sturgis, I got the same reaction to the Buell. I rode it to Laughlin with a passenger and soft saddlebags. The bike handled like a dream. At 100 mph, it was more stable than most Big Twins, and acceleration was always at hand. There's no hesitation from zip to 100 mph, and that's my riding range. I was advised at one point to put a smaller pulley on the rear for lower rpms while cruising. Later I found that the modification had its glitches. I found that the bike was glass smooth at 100 and still zippy and that was good enough for me. We began a series of mild mods with a cam change to the Screamin' Eagle race version and added the stainless race header. My partner to Laughlin had a blast and was so comfortable she passed on several rest stops. We kept going and ran out of gas in the desert. So you can understand why there's a new woman each year. She's still out there somewhere. In the final analysis the decision was made to ride the Buell to the Black Hills Rally.

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