My Bagster had a couple of weeks vacation sitting in Daytona waiting for Southwest Airlines to deliver me to Bike Week. As I’ve mentioned before, as I get older I ride much less, averaging around 10K a year (more or less) for the past few years.

I’ve been flying a lot on Southwest (never crashed) Airlines, my carrier of choice, and I never listen to the flight attendants’ spiel about “in case of a water landing . . .” as 99% of my flights are over land except for the El Paso to Orlando flight which flies over the Gulf of Mexico for over an hour. And, since the plane was thirty minutes early on a-little-over-a-four-hour flight, instead of getting a heart attack running and pushing people outta the way as I have to do with another unnamed airline, I just took my sweet time and ambled on over to the shuttle

In my opinion, last year Sturgis was overrun with too many bike shows and Daytona, the “world’s largest motorcycle event,” had to upstage its smaller South Dakota competitor. New for this year were shows at a roller-skate park, Daytona International Speedway, Carl’s Speed Shop, Orlando, Deland, and a bunch I accidentally missed on purpose (hey, just doing my job). On Friday there were three or four shows, so people had to clone their “concept bikes” to make all the shows. Plus the biggest show of them all, the free ones at the curb, hotel parking lots, pay-to-park lots, venues in Ormond Beach, Orlando, and on Main Street and between each and every venue, it looked to me like the cops were lurking to get their piece of your Dead Presidents.

What used to be biker beer-only bar, the Boot Hill Saloon, is now a full-liquor bar. The first time I was in Daytona there was only one full-liquor bar on Main Street and now they take up most of the fingers on both of my hands. Too many venues advertise “Some of the profits are going to support our troops”, without giving a percentage of the profits or the charities’ names. All I can say is, think before you spend. Give directly if you want, don’t depend on the word of some  promoter. Better yet, give blood as it can’t be siphoned off into someone’s pocket.

It’s sad to report that attendance was way down and I think it was due to the gouging by the oil companies and by the lodging venues with extremely high prices and minimum-stay requirements. But the bright side of less is that riding from venue to venue was much less congested and it was much easier to  park. It seemed to me that, except for Willie’s Tropical Tattoo, the venues weren’t crowded making service for both gas and food less of a hassle. So, lower numbers made it better for the enthusiasts and worse for the vendors. Since this is a consumer publication and not a trade publication, all I can say is, oh well, s**t occurs.

Willie’s Ol’ Skool

Barnett’s Magazine was the title sponsor of the Willie’s Tropical Tattoo Ol’
Skool Motorcycle Show at this year’s Daytona Bike Week.  We decided to throw our support behind Willie’s Ol’ Skool Show at Tropical Tattoo as it’s truly a ride-in show (trailer queens stay home) with bikes built and ridden by their owner/builders. Spending bucks doesn’t guarantee an award, judging is done by bikers who are experts in Old School because they’re Old School themselves. In fact, Marty and Marcus check in the contestants and turned away garbage wagons, billet barges, and others that they, the judges, didn’t consider worthy bikes for the show. Little did the wannabe entrants know they were pre-judged by a judge himself. As usual, Sucker Punch Sallys and Chandler Originals were the only builders who made the cut to show their creations on the property. 

It’s an old-time biker party with sex (scantily-dressed women), drugs (beer), and rock and roll (music), the way it should be. And it is free admission, thank you Willie and Jean. This show is mostly on Willie’s dime and it has lost money since its inception. Willie ain’t in it for the buck, obviously. He gets his kicks knowing that he’s contributed to the real biker scene that he’s been a member of since before Harleys had electric starters and had to be nudged into life by a swift downward kick of the pedal. I asked Willie how many years it’s been going on and he was at a loss, but then he said, “Twice a year for a long time.” Ram-rodded by Willie, assisted by Marcus, and judged by Roadside Marty, they know what is deserving of recognition. There were first-place awards given in 14 classes. No second place as second is the first loser.

This year’s show was the best attended both in entries (138) and spectators (thousands) in the history of Tropical Tattoo’s Ol’ Skool Show despite the downturn in the overall number of people at Bike Week. Willie’s show outdrew Harley Davidson’s Ride-In Show at the convention center in the heart of the tourist area of Daytona Beach. Plus, the god of outdoor events must approve of the show as it has never rained on Willie’s parade (i.e. show).

Willie offered the NRA (National Rifle Association) a free spot for a membership booth and they didn’t have the courtesy to even reply to Willie who is a Life Member. So much for the NRA protecting our 2^nd Amendment.

Willie has been talking about discontinuing the twice-yearly tradition of shows at Biketoberfest and Bike Week. If you want the show to continue. beg, cajole, and implore Willie by emailing tropicaltattoo@aol.com with your concerns. The show was such a success that two other magazines and a bike manufacturer are fighting to sponsor the next (if there is one) Willie’s Tropical Tattoo Ol’ Skool Bike Show.

For those who care, bikes were classified as follows, OLD SCHOOL EVO, OLD SCHOOL PAN, OLD SCHOOL SHOVEL, OLD SCHOOL FLATHEAD, OLD SCHOOL KNUCKELHEAD, OLD SCHOOL BRITISH, OLD SCHOOL JAPANESE, ROADSIDE MARTY’S CHOICE, BAD ASS, WILLIE’S CHOICE, 1^ST PLACE BOBBER, BAD TO THE BONE BOBBER, MOST CREATIVE CUSTOM, and TRAILER TRASH CUSTOM. WHY AM I YELLING THIS?

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Sucker 197

I gotta thank the guys at Sucker Punch Sallys for putting my Bagster in their large new transporter and dropping it off in El Paso for me so I could fly and save 1,699 miles of a boring ride. In exchange, I told them I would give them a plug. If you-all remember, we were the first magazine to put a Sucker Punch Sallys’ ride on the cover of a magazine back when they first started (a little blue bobber). Now they are a recognized manufacturer with new production facilities in Phoenix,Arizona, and an R&D center in Ohio. So really, we’re even. We plugged them when nobody had ever heard of Sucker Punch Sallys (“What the hell is a Sucker Punch Sally?” I was asked back in them old days.) and years later, they paid for the cover with the free trucking.

   So that being said, I still think they make pretty neat-looking bikes and now they are making a swing arm Sucker Punch Sally, but more on that later. I plan to stop by their Phoenix facilities on my ride to Laughlin and take a couple of pictures and write a few words about their rear-suspension bike called the Swinger.

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Other shows 208

These three shows were all held within spitting distance of each other and were the only shows held in the beachside Main Street area.

Rat’s Hole times three

Looks like the Rat’s Hole Show has a more or less permanent home at the water park next to the convention center. Ted Smith, son of show-founder Karl “Big Daddy Rat” Smith, is continuing the Daytona tradition his dad started and I enjoy it like I always do. This year he had three shows on consecutive days. Thursday’s show was Metric, Friday’s was Old School, and Saturday’s was the regular show.

H-D Ride-In

Harley’s Ride-In Show is always the Wednesday of Bike Week at the Ocean Center, opposite the Hilton (where all the Harley people stay so they just have to crawl across A1A to get to the show and their inside show). Limited to genuine Harley-Davidsons that range from stock to highly modified and then judged by the guys from Milwaukee who build them. It’s a chance to see real Harley derivatives.

Boardwalk

The downturn in the real estate market saved the Boardwalk Show from extinction for the time being. Located between the former Main Street beach access and the sprawling beachfront Hilton, this is a free deal that draws a lot of beach goers.

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Dog House

A new Bike Week venue from Myrtle Beach called the Dog House hosted the Hard Rock Casino Bike Tour in the shadow of the Ocean Center where The Motor Company had their usual activities.  Billy Lane, Russell Mitchell, and Paul Cox (recently divorced from Indian Larry Legacy) were on the block-long property that was next to Dirty Harry’s Saloon. Nir Gist of Biker Design is the push behind this venue that is managed by an operator from Myrtle Beach as Nir is a clothing merchandiser, not a bar person. The Dog House had everything, a little food, a little souvenir, and a large bar with girls dancing on it plus a stage with a huge sound system for live bands. In the upstairs bar, people could hang out on the balcony and watch the zoo of people wandering aimlessly up and down Main Street. I watched the cops watching what their chief wants them to watch for.

blurb

. The class winners were brought through the crowd to the front of Tropical Tattoo for the gaggle of paparazzi to photograph them with girls and the Barnett’s Magazine plaques were presented to them.