After riding from New York, to Sturgis, and on down to Louisiana; having been pulled over for dragging her cell phone, dodging tire treads and armadillos thrown at her, she was disgusted by the “bar hoppers” who would look at her bike and sneer, “It’s only a 450!” Off came all the 450 decals, “Let them wonder!” The truth is, her 6 speed 450 has the same top end of 95 mph as my five speed Sportster with nearly double the displacement!
When I called in November 2013, asking if she’d like to ride with me to the Keys, her now 27 year old Rebel carried her 800 miles from Louisiana to meet me at her Grandmother’s near Ocala, to begin the 1000 mile loop, down the east coast of Florida, to Key West, and back to Wildwood up the west coast. Her partner, Dusty, rode over from Louisiana on his newly acquired FXD SuperGlide, to join us for Thanksgiving dinner at Grani’s. They had a cold ride home!
Taking the opportunity to purchase a second 1986 Rebel 450 (while they could still be found!) Skye spent the past few weeks with her uncle in the Newburgh NY going over the 30 year old bike, finding more than a few unexpected problems to correct. Finally confident in its reliability, she spent the past two days riding solo to Knoxville TN. Visiting with family and meeting Dusty there, they'll continue back to Louisiana together.