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I'm fairly new here, and have been primarily on theGSresources.com for technical info pertaining to my bike, and the wealth knowledge of older fellas on there. I thought I'd check to see if anyone here is near me in Columbus, OH, or rides SouthEast Ohio very often. I try and do several rides to the hills and twisties in SouthEast Ohio, at least 6 times a year, not to mention West Virginia and surrounding areas at least once a year.
In all my time riding in the beautiful hills and twisties in SE OH, the only other sporty vintage bikes I have seen there have been a few old GS's and KZ's ridden by my friends with me. Most bikes are Harleys and a few other Japanese or BMW cruisers, and a few modern sport bikes. I see Cafe Racers and Vintage Japanese sport/touring bikes in the city often, but never in the twisties and hills. I was hoping to meet up with a few other riders who enjoy modding out vintage bikes and riding them in the hills.
If you want to get together for a ride, or even if you just want some route suggestions for the Hocking Hills State Forest area, Lake Hope and Zaleski State Forest, Wayne National Forest, etc, I've ridden TONS in the Hocking area, and know a lot of other awesome state routes full of sweepers and twisties south and southeast of Hocking, as well as some side roads and county roads that are off the beaten path and must-rides, so don't hesitate to hit me up via email. I hope to get out and do a little more backroads exploring in the regions that have the best sections of state routes as well.
some other fun routes below, the one with several loops and backtracking hits some of the most curve-filled roads in all of SouthEast Ohio. PM or email me if you want directions for these routes. I highly recommend these routes as opposed to any random cruising in these areas, although there are a lot of great side roads to explore east of I-77 and south of OH-78
Me and a few riding buddy's from up here in Akron head that way from time to time . RT 93 is a nice ride all the way down And a few areas around the river . Look up RT 26 I believe its a outstanding road and Rt 2 just on the other side of the river in WV . Next time we head down that way will see if we can meet up !
Ride safe and enjoy the Ohio sun while it lasts LOL
Hoping to ride some of these routes very soon, possibly this coming weekend if I can get the jetting done on my new engine build. Anyone around Columbus care to join?
Just rode down there on a whim last week! It was a blast and would totally be down to do it again. I will mention around the weekends these roads are more crowded due to hikers, family's, picnics etc. that attracts people to go there on days off.
374 was a blast. Snapped a pic of the bridge on 33 near Tarklin road.
Notice the trip meter. I stopped to take the picture since it marked my first 2,000 miles on a bike, ever. Second time flipping the trip meter. All those 2,000 miles have been accumulated in about 4 1/2 weeks !
Oh wow, lotsa miles this summer! Last year I was like 3000 may-july, this year more like 300...New engine's almost tuned&jetted now with the help of a wideband o2 air/fuel ratio gauge. need to swap my tweaked lower triple (deer collision last fall), but may just ride it as is just to get out this weekend.
I'm pretty sure that bridge in the photo is South Broad St, and leads west to the prison over there where the really fun roads start. You gotta take that route into Hocking if coming from the north.
33E to right on US22,
L on Delmont
then veer left at stoney ridge rd,
make left at end (hamburg rd?)
and right on christmas rock rd. Right before the prison it gets awesome before s broad.
Make a right as soon as you are at the prison (forward takes you to that bridge then Lancaster), that's revenge rd.
L on clear creek to 33E. R on opossum hollow
R on 374 into Hocking.
On the way back home catch Jack Run Rd north off of 374/180 and then Snortin Ridge Rd, takes you back to Clear Creek just east of Revenge Rd. Makes a real nice after work loop, just watch for deer even more carefully within 1 hour of dusk, dont speed & cover your brake lever at all times just in case...
I'm going to ride for sure at some point this weekend, waiting to hear what my buddy's bmx racing & kid schedule is. Might go out twice even. Let me know if interested.
Nice man, thanks for directions! I was referencing being near Tarklin, not specifically on that bridge. I work till 5 Saturday and am off after that, and the same on Sunday. I'm in Reynoldsburg so not far from the hills at all.
Me and a few riding buddy's from up here in Akron head that way from time to time . RT 93 is a nice ride all the way down And a few areas around the river . Look up RT 26 I believe its a outstanding road and Rt 2 just on the other side of the river in WV . Next time we head down that way will see if we can meet up !
Ride safe and enjoy the Ohio sun while it lasts LOL
93 is a pretty casual easy ride. OH-26 the "Covered Bridge Scenic Byway" ( 3 covered bridges on this route on roads just off of 26) is a very long very nice meandering road that follows the muskingham river as it follows the lowest path between the hills to Marietta, hence the nonstop sweepers and twisties and the serpent like appearance on the maps. I would say most of this road is enjoyable for any skill level, but it is nonstop curves similar to OH-78 Scenic Byway aka "the Rim of the World." if you go exploring around 26, there are a whole lot of very twisty roads in that area that have much tighter turns. 536 (be very careful - several blind decreasing radius turns that will make you wreck if you go too fast) ,556,537to565, 260(right around 26 it's very twisty), Dalzell Rd, Germantown Rd, Rinard Mills Rd,530...ALL GREAT GREAT twisty roads deep into remote SE Ohio...
I plan on riding that revenge rd/clear creek/374 loop one evening soon, maybe Thursday or Sunday, but really hope for some time Saturday/Sunday to do a 5-6 hour ride through Hocking to OH-78's the "Rim of the World" ~13 miles of curvey ridgetop riding to OH-555 aka "The Triple Nickel," & maybe 555 down to 550. If time & rider fatigue/weather allows, the southernmost route past lake hope at the edge of Zaleski Forest is a good one to make an extra 40 minute detour for vs 278. 685/78 are a much bigger priority to get to however.
what I am really really hoping for is to figure out how I can fit a weekend riding in West Virginia into the next 7 weeks. I want to book it down to Gauley Bridge or Fayetteville near the New River Gorge and camp out on a Friday evening, leaving work maybe slightly early. It's only a 3.25 -4 hour ride from Columbus on 33/77/60/16, & the 60/16 to 16 section from Gauley Bridge to Fayetteville is an INCREDIBLE road (so is 60 on to Hawk's Nest!). less than 5 hours if you take the scenic route through Parkersburg West Virginia on 47 to 16S.
Saturday would be going from Gauley Bridge on to 39 (NICE!) to 219N (GREAT section near 150) and maybe a detour through Snowshoe Mountain & Back Mountain Rd, or running 250 into virginia (some EPIC twisty mountain passes&climbs, particularly the furthest to the east crossing Shenandoah Mountain!)and then 40 minutes north on valley roads to 33W, where you make one of the best twisty mountain passes on this continent on Shenandoah Mountain on the WV/VA border on US-33... Greatest stretch of road Ive ever ridden. Set up camp in between the big mountains (Shenandoah & North Fork Mtn's behind Seneca Rocks) in a beautiful remote canyon between the steep but smaller Cave Mtn & North Fork Mtn. The road out of the little canyon north is VERY TECHNICAL, & south takes you to 33W for another killer mountain crossing & then into the hills. 7 hrs+ riding Saturday.
Long Scenic route home Sunday...
Anyone else interested in this 2.5 day riding adventure?
Dang Drey, there's something up with you... photo with 999 miles on tripodometer, and now July 29th at 844pm, your user info under your avatar says 666 posts!
Not sure how I can cram West Virginia into the last 1/3 of summer, but I need to figure it out. The holiday weekend at the end of Aug/beginning of Sept is out for me probably. Too many people on the roads on holiday weekends anyways. That limits me to a quickie weekender 2.5 day trip with 7+ hours of riding a day, maybe more on Sunday just taking the long way home.
Still waiting to hear from my buddy on his kid watching and father and son BMX racing scheduling this weekend, but some other friends all want to do a decent length ride on Sunday (maybe me and 3+ people), and I was hoping to hit Clear Creek/Hocking/Burr Oak (OH78/rim of the world) then, maybe with a jaunt on 555, if they really want some miles, hit those southern Zaleski roads beyond Lake Hope en route. Sounds like you work weekends, Drey? Can you trade with someone for a week day shift!?
Haha those numbers are a bit weird. Don't be superstitious!
I can work trades if it's last minute or just look for broke people. I've been doing side work getting others bikes running, brake jobs, and I just replaced someones alternator. I always find a way to make money regardless of scheduled hours so I think this trip is doable.
All vintage bike people, but two of them have modern sport bikes as their running non-project bikes at the moment (ninja & zrx). Zrx guy has a kz750 with gpz750 big bore engine. I have a '77 Suzuki GS750, other guy rides an '82 kz650csr. '82 Suzuki GS450 bud might come as well.
Many places have pretty tight turns, so there are lots of opportunities for smaller lightweight agile twins to surpass liter sized bikes. As in the zrx rider not being able to keep up with a Suzuki GT185 2 stroke in an area of tight 90 degree 15mph turns...
I'm actually really wanting to get a '79 Suzuki GS425 & install GS750 big bore pistons to make it a 449cc 10.25:1, strip it down, upgrage to ninja/cbr1100 single front brake, sticky tires, gs1100e alloy swingarm, etc... Ultimate corner carver & very fun & agile bike. My 750 went from 540+lbs down to 480-ish, & I am loving the difference after the big diet, but it's no 375lb twin...
I'm riding the 750 daily now (one I posted the the milage pic of).
Just dropped off my twins engine parts and carbs to be soda blasted so I can finish that engine rebuild, ride the bike for a bit and then let her go after next season is over. Really looking for a 78 Goldie in the future.
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