u/dlister70

Planning my first (maybe only?) Black Hills motorcycle trip (late July) on a V-Strom 650 motorcycle (Shinko 705s). Coming from east-central Illinois. Looking for feedback from people who know the area well.

I’m intentionally skipping Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Wind Cave, etc. I’d rather spend my time riding scenic roads and seeing natural beauty. I’m sure that I’ll see Rushmore and Crazy Horse from a distance anyway. The caves seem cool, but I don’t think I’ll have time to squeeze in guided tours.

Looking to add any cool overlooks, waterfalls, river roads, easy forest roads with a view (I’m not skilled enough to be doing single track or jeep trails on a loaded adventure bike).

Current list of planned stops (roughly in order over 4 riding days):

Badlands (Interior Entrance)
Big Badlands Overlook
Yellow Mounds
Pinnacles Overlook
Boondock camping overlook/drone location
Custer State Park
Wildlife Loop Road
Mount Coolidge
Needles Highway
Sylvan Lake
South Playhouse Road
Iron Mountain Road
Sheridan Lake
Pactola Reservoir
Pactola Visitor Center
Norris Peak Road
Nemo Road
Nemo Country Store
Dalton Lake
Silver City Road
Old Hill City Road
Vanocker Canyon
Deadwood
Lead
Spearfish
Spearfish Canyon
Bridal Veil Falls
Spearfish Falls
Roughlock Falls
Cement Ridge Lookout (if road condition seems fine)
Cheyenne Crossing
Devils Tower

(Headed east back home)

Sheep Mountain Table Overlook
Sage Creek Road
Badlands loop in reverse from arrival
Falls Park (Sioux Falls)

Questions:
Anything you’d skip?
Any must-see roads or overlooks I’m missing?
Any hidden gems that fit this route?
Anything on this list that’s overrated?

Appreciate any advice from people who have ridden the Black Hills a bunch.

Looking at getting my first modular helmet, and leaning towards the C5 with my other choice being the Shoei Neotec 3. Nearest cycle gear is a couple hours away, but I’ll head there to try them on in the next few days. The integrated audio gets a lot of bad reviews because the remote has a watch battery that people say dies quickly and some say the speakers suck at highway speeds. I’m traveling solo and really just need to hear Google maps directions, and sometimes music. I’ve been using a cardo spirit and it’s mostly fine. I would like the ability to hands free just say hey siri, and the cheaper spirit makes you press a button on the unit, but I guess that’s a minor inconvenience. I read that the nicer ones let you just say hey cardio or hey siri. Not sure if it’s worth the price. Also not wild about plugging in the whole helmet to charge the integrated units when I’m motocamping. Detaching the small spirit to charge is nice.

Cycle gear is giving a free spirit with helmet purchase and I was thinking of just clip mounting that to one of these helmets. Or using the SC edge integrated cardo unit on the C5 and just leaving the remote uninstalled and strictly using voice commands.

Any coms suggestions are welcome. Or C5 vs Neo 3 feedback as well.

This will be my first dispersed camping trip, with only one other camping trip being my test run at a first come first serve camp ground.

I’ll be rolling into National Forest land tomorrow morning, and my plan was to find a spot and set up tent, then take my bike and do some site seeing for the day and return at night.

Now I’m second guessing that plan as I’m worried about someone stealing my tent/sleeping pad/whatever else I leave unattended all day.

Is it common to set up camp and then leave all day? I’ve read that it can be a busy area on the weekend, so I wanted to get the spot early but not at the expense of losing the camp gear I just bought!