Custer sits on the southern flank of the Black Hills of South Dakota, a small town in a big forest, and it makes a fine base for some of the best motorcycle roads in the Midwest. It was named for Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, whose 1874 expedition confirmed gold in the hills, and the rush that followed was one of the sparks of the war with the Lakota, for whom these hills, the Paha Sapa, are sacred. That history is not far below the surface anywhere around here, and it is worth keeping in mind.
The roads are the reason riders come. Needles Highway climbs through granite spires and passes through narrow tunnels cut in the rock, one of them so tight that it is called the Needle's Eye. Iron Mountain Road, part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, loops through pigtail bridges built of timber so that you spiral down while looking through a frame of pines at Mount Rushmore in the distance. Norbeck, the senator and governor who planned the byway in the 1920s, wanted drivers to feel they were finding the hills at a slow pace. Speed limits are low, the curves are tight, and the surface is good but sometimes gravelly after storms.
Wildlife is a major attraction, and a risk. Custer State Park, just east, holds a herd of about a thousand bison that wander across the roads, along with pronghorn, mountain goats, and the famous begging burros. Give animals plenty of room, and never push past a bison on the road. The Crazy Horse Memorial, an unfinished mountain carving, lies a short ride north of town.
Custer has fuel, food and plenty of motels, and the tourist season runs from May to October, with the Sturgis rally in August crowding every road. Nearest large towns are Hot Springs and Rapid City, both a good distance away, so top up the tank. Summer thunderstorms boil up quickly in the afternoon, and a lightning show over the granite is something to watch from a covered porch with a cold drink.