Archived: Demito Time Villa Park 10/28

Our last Wednesday Night Ride of the year was held on October 28, 2009. We were blessed once again with great weather, and about 60 Harleys rode with us from the store in Berwyn to Demito Time in Villa Park Illinois. We gave Deb Demito a heads-up early in the day that we’d be coming, but had to revise our earlier estimate upward when we saw the number of bikes that showed up.

Since Villa Park is just about 11 miles west of Berwyn, we chose to take the long route to Demito Time. We headed west on Cermak Ave., then south a bit to 31st Street. 31st Street is always nice and clear from Wolf Road to Highland, with very few stoplights and light traffic. When 31st dead-ends into Highland, we head north, then west again on Butterfield, through Lombard all the way to Route 53. Route 53 runs through the forest preserves, which are beautiful this time of year, even in the dark.

Route 53 turns into Columbine Avenue, then crosses under I-355, and before you know it, you’re at St. Charles Road. We headed east on St. Charles toward Villa Park, turned right on Villa Ave. and ended up right in front of Demito Time.

Debbie Demito did a great job, setting us up with both inside and outside seating, and a fine assortment of appetizers and snacks.

Demito Time
335 East Kenilworth Avenue
Villa Park, IL 60181-2615
(630) 530-1700

Even though our Wednesday Night Rides are done for the year, we hope you’ll join us at our next Wednesday Night Event. This month, it’s a movie night on November 18 at 7PM. See you here!

Archived: Korner House Elk Grove 9/23

As the 2009 Chicago riding season winds down, we’re faced with shorter days and earlier nightfall. With that in mind, we decided to start this month’s Wednesday Night Ride at 7:00PM instead of 7:30, and also decided we’d ride a route that was more city streets than woods.

With the start time set and the desire to ride through well-lit urban streets, all we needed was a destination. We wanted to try a place we’d never been before and saleman Kenn Hartmann stepped up with a great suggestion: Korner House Bar & Grill in Elk Grove Village Illinois.

I decided to stop there for lunch to check the place out before our ride and met the owner, Basil, and the manager, Chrissy, who’s been working there over 30 years. Korner House is a comfortable, biker-friendly place with great food and great atmosphere. After lunch, I rode back along our proposed route, in reverse, to check for road closures and dangerous conditions (and found just a couple.)

That evening, at the shop, we were delighted to have 75 riders show up for our ride! We left the shop in three groups and zig-zagged our way north through the western suburbs of Forest Park, River Forest and Schiller Park all the way to Irving Park Road.

One of the highlights of our ride was the ‘ghost town’ just south of O’Hare: blocks of commercial and residential buildings left vacant due to the airport expansion. Over the past few years, the City of Chicago has purchased nearly 500 homes & businesses in Bensenville for the O’Hare Modernization Program. Right now, the majority of the buildings are still standing, but abandoned, making for a very spooky scene.

When we arrived at the Korner House, we were greeted by Basil who set us up with a couple hundred tenderloin sliders and more hot wings than I care to count. The great service and friendly people made Korner House an outstanding destination for us and we’ll be sure to visit again in the future.

Korner House Bar & Grill
2736 East Higgins Rd
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
(847) 296-4165‎

See you on October 28th for our last ride of the season.


If you’d like to follow the route we took to the Korner House, you can download the route sheet.

Archived: Uncle Richie’s Place Lockport 9/2

Since our August Wednesday Night Ride got rained out, we figured we would just reschedule it for the following week. So, we hastily got the word out on Tuesday that the ride was ON for Wednesday September 2nd, and we were amazed when 40 bikes showed up!

We did not use our FastPass newsletter to announce our rescheduled ride, so if you didn’t hear about this one in time, be sure to send and email to Tim Farrell and mention that you want to be added to our V-Sept mailing list as well. Or, you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter. We post announcements there too.

We left in two groups as usual, with Bob Maxant leading the first group and Marc Maxant leading the second. I rode with Marc’s group and it was a really smooth ride, at least until 131st Street. We were supposed to take 131st to Parker Road then make a left. Unfortunately Marc was somewhat unprepared for the lead and didn’t have a real good handle on the route. So, while riding west on 131st Street, glancing at the route sheet in his left hand, his right hand on the throttle, Marc blew right past Parker Road. He somehow realized the error and we made a quick u-turn at Derby Road, back east to Parker and back on route.
The rest of the ride was uneventful for the most part, cruising quietly through Lockport on Illinois Route 171 (Archer Road.) We snuck in the back way to Uncle Richie’s (avoiding the stoplight) and parked our bikes on 9th street. Stella, our receptionist, did a great job of ordering the pizzas so they were ready and waiting when we arrived, and Bob and Marc started us off with a round of beverages. Uncle Richie’s has world famous Bloody Marys, but 9:00 in the evening is not really a traditional Bloody Mary hour, so we stuck with the soda and beer.

Uncle Richie’s Place
112 E 9th St
Lockport, IL 60441
(815) 834-1287

Pizza was provided by Papa Joe’s.

If you’d like to follow the route we took, you can download the route sheet here.

Archived: Mama Vesuvio’s Palos Heights 7/22

On Wednesday July 22 Illinois Harley led a group of around 80 motorcyclists on a ride to Mama Vesuvio’s in Palos Heights. This was a repeat of our May ride which was nearly canceled due to the threat of bad weather. (We still rode, but there were only about 15 bikes.)

When creating a route from the shop to our destination, we’re conscious of a few things: construction, road hazards and scenery. For this ride, we chose to head south out of the shop, down Harlem Avenue, into Riverside. We turned right on Longcommon Road to enter Riverside and proceeded at a very mellow 25 MPH pace through the historic village. We crossed the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks and rode along the Des Plaines river, then crossed the river and rode right past the Hoffman Dam and Hoffman Tower in Lyons. Proceeding through Lyons on Joliet Avenue, we turned right at Joliet Road, and took that all the way through McCook and Hodgkins into Countryside and LaGrange.

On LaGrange Road, we were able to open up the throttle a little bit, all the way to Illinois 171, Archer Road. We took Archer Road for just over one mile, until we hit Flavin Road. Many motorcyclists in the Chicago area know Flavin Road as “The Twisties.” It’s also known as 104th Avenue and Willow Springs Road. Recently repaved, Flavin Road is one of the few places in the Chicagoland area where you can actually get on the throttle a little bit and lean your bike into the curves. There might only be three curves there, but it’s a beautiful piece of road, and it’s all we’ve got!

After stopping at 95th street, we get on the gas again hard, and sprint past The Little Red Schoolhouse toward 107th street. A quick right and we’re on another clear stretch of road , surrounded by Cook County forest preserves, all the way to Route 83. Once we hit Route 83, we cruise all the way to Mama Vesuvio’s in Palos Heights.

Mama Vesuvio’s East
6361 West College Drive
Palos Heights, IL 60463
(708) 371-2500

Mama Vesuvio’s has plenty of parking and a great beer garden with bocce ball courts and bean bag games. They had a tent all set up for us with dozens of piping hot, delicious, thin crust pizzas. And just when I thought we were going to run out of pizza, they’d bring three more. The pizzas just kept coming and coming and coming…

If you’d like to follow the route we took, you can download the route sheet here.

Please join us for our next Wednesday Night Ride on August 26, 2009.

Archived: Leo’s Bar and Grill Romeoville 6/24

June 24th was a hot day, in the 90s, with a couple afternoon showers, but that didn’t prevent 45 riders from showing up for our Wednesday Night Ride to Leo’s Bar and Grill. It was a beautiful warm night as I led one group out at 7:40PM, with Tim leading another shortly after. We took our normal route south on Harlem Avenue, entering Riverside just over the Canadian National Railway tracks. We took it easy going through Riverside, past the historic water tower, over the Burlington Northern tracks, and along the Des Plaines river. Once we crossed the river and passed the Hofmann Tower, we cruised down Joliet Road through Lyons to old Route 66 (aka Joliet Road.)

Riding in the Chicago area means minimizing the amount of time spent on boring and congested urban streets (in Lyons, McCook and Hodgkins) and trying as quickly as possible to get onto the scenic roads (in Willow Springs, Orland Park and Lemont.) So we made our way from Joliet Road to 55th Street to LaGrange Road and then across the Mile Long Bridge to Archer Avenue (Illinois 171) to see what was new in Willow Springs. We took Archer Avenue to Flavin Road (also known as Willow Springs Road or 104th Avenue) and made a quick left. Up the hill and through the twisties, surrounded by the cool air of the Cook County Forest Preserves.

After a quick stop at 95th street, we took off with a short drag race, sprinting toward McCarthy Road (123rd Street.) But before that, we were able to slow down and do an “eyes right” to enjoy the reflection of the setting sun on Saganashkee Slough.

At McCarthy Road we headed west and made a quick detour onto the cool Wolf Road / Ford Road / Will Cook Road bypass. (If you’ve never done it, you should make a point to next time you’re in the area.) After the detour, we headed south on Will Cook Road, past some recently constructed mansions, through some whoops and a couple more twisty roads. We headed all the way south to 159th Street, past Uncle Richie’s in Lockport, over the Lockport Bridge and back onto Illinois Route 53 where we rejoined Historic Route 66 once again. Then, a quick jog on Romeo Road and we arrived at Leo’s Bar and Grill.

Unbeknownst to me, Tim decided he didn’t want to take the scenic route (ignoring the route sheet which I had so painstakingly prepared earlier in the day), and instead took his group west on 107th Street directly to our destination. So, instead of being the first group to arrive from Illinois Harley, we were welcomed by Tim and his group! Luckily, Tim had already ordered the pizzas and got the beverages rolling. Leo opened the seldom-seen East Room, exclusively for us, which was a good thing due to the Karaoke going on next door.

Leo’s Bar & Grill
201 East Romeo Road
Romeoville, IL 60446
(815) 886-5600

This was one of our best rides yet and I want to thank everyone who came out and rode with us. We’ll see you on the 4th Wednesday of the month for the next  Wednesday Night Ride.

Download a copy of our route sheet.