There is a Riders Association of Triumph (RAT) group in the Chicago area called Windy City RATs, with a Facebook presence here. This past week I went to one of their monthly meetings held at the Brick House Tavern + Tap in Downers Grove, IL.
At the meeting it was announced that there would be an informal yet organized ride the following Saturday (yesterday). Anyone who wished to join was welcome, so I showed up at Motor Cycle Center in Villa Park, IL at 9 AM. MCC is Chicagoland’s oldest Triumph dealer, and sold more Triumph’s than any other North American dealer in 2013. I should add that Motoworks Chicago (the 2nd oldest Triumph dealer in Chicago) was #2 in sales to MCC! All that indicates to me is that we have a very strong Triumph following in Chicago!
The Riders
Those who showed up were riding: Doug on a Triumph Thunderbird Storm, Rob on a Triumph Sprint ST, Dave on a Triumph Tiger 1050, me on a Triumph Bonneville and Brian on a Ducati 1198.
The Ride
Under partly sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 50’s, we headed west from MCC and snaked our way out passing through towns such as Burlington and Genoa, then we stopped in Byron for gas and travelled south to Oregon on the Rock River for lunch at Jackass BBQ.
Windy City RAT riders and bikes.
Since I had washed my Bonnie that morning before the ride, I was the one to blame for us hitting some wet roads where our bikes got a little dirty! We were fortunate to miss getting directly rained on!
My Bonnie washed and ready to RAT ride!
On our way back toward Chicago we stopped at Windy City Triumph, a newer dealer located in St. Charles, IL.
Since it was now the middle of the afternoon, we started splitting up and heading different directions toward our various homes. I headed east on North Avenue (64) and hopped on I-355 north to I-290, then east all the way to Oak Park. I put on about 200 miles for the day. A good initial RAT ride!