BREAKING

Event Reports

Daytona Bike Week 2011

Article By: Chris Callen

Photos By: Jeff Cochran

Originally Published In The May 2011 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

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Early spring had little consequence on most of the northern states that were pounded by storm after storm this season. It seemed as if winter would never let its grip go on us and then all at once, Daytona was here, we were loaded up and ready to haul ass. With much anticipation, we again headed south to be greeted by warm sands and frosty beverages of our beloved season opener: Daytona Beach Bike Week. We talked long and hard about our plans to fit it all in and the map was laid out to plot our course. But what would we find in the Sunshine State? After all, this was the epicenter of the mortgage meltdown that sees many native Floridians reeling in the aftermath. As a whole, the country’s economic position isn’t in a place that would suggest much frivolous spending so would there even be a bike week to speak of? Well dear reader, we set out to get those very answers. It is with some relief that I propose to you that the soul of bike week is linked to its history more than its economics and for that reason, now just one hour outside the Daytona city limits, I can tell you it rocked! I suppose that this is what you expected me to say. I mean why would I report on a drag, right? Well, what the following article will show you are both sides of the story. Oh yes, there were a few things that weren’t in the pro column and we’ll get into that in a bit, but for the larger part, it was a huge success.

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PULLING INTO TOWN: You would think that after this many trips to bike week, the sight of the Daytona Speedway sign would have lost its magical spark with me but it still hasn’t. That sign, along with the hundred or so others that we have become familiar with over the past fourteen years means that another great riding season has just begun and we are a step closer to kicking it off. As we rounded the last corner and made our way to Stone Edge Skatepark on South Ridgewood, I was overwhelmed by a feeling of being home. For four years now this has been the rally point and head office of the gypsy family we call the Limpnickie Lot. This year would see an east meets west blend of the nation’s top young builders. When we started this thing there were seven of us in the first lot. Now the Limpnickie members list contains some 38 shops across the United States and Canada with more waiting in the wings to be invited in. Although some of the original players from the lot were missing, there were new, young builders that came along, insuring that the legacy of this next generation melting pot would forge on.

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LIMPNICKIE LOT: So what were the highlights of the lot this year? Okay, one of the baddest things ever was when we showed up to find out Jeff King, pro skateboarder of the hit show, “Built to Shred,” had pulled his motor home in and was spending the week with us. Not only did we have King but the cats from Skate Fast/Ride Faster (see article on page 46) were also down for spending the week at Stone Edge. It was like this year was finally the time when the next generation and all the cross-culture that we talk about took its place. Martin, the shop owner, has spent a lot of time and energy on helping us develop the Daytona lot into what it is today and for that, he should be commended. I sat back and watched it all come to life. I saw twenty and thirty year old kids on forty and fifty year old bikes, smiling and laughing, raising hell and forming bonds that would last a lifetime. I knew no matter what happened up the street, Daytona was in good hands.

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THE TUESDAY SWAPMEET: Well, I wish I could tell you this was a huge success but it was kinda light. We did have a handful of serious vendors and they were so into it, we let them come back the second day and bring their friends. Hell, I even scored a set of flat side five gallons, a cool vintage headlight bucket and a narrow tube frontend. In all honesty, the frontend was from my brother Roadside but what’s the difference, I’m going home with more parts than what I started with. I even had a ’48 Panhead in my possession for the ten days we were in town. It went back to the mad lab of Pops Roadside where it will be resurrected once more for a Flat Broke build. We weren’t beaten up by the swap and decided that it was a nice way to bring some people together so now we’ll be doing this at both the spring and the fall shows. Tuesday night was also our industry meet-and-greet where we put out some food and booze for all the members of the national and international motorcycle industry and media that serves it. This year Taber hooked up fat taco night from Tijuana Flats and the 12 inch tacos made my belly hurt for two days; it was killer.

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WEDNESDAY FREE SKATE: The boys and girls clubs of South Daytona were too busy for us to set up our traditional “Kids in the Park” day where we bring area kids in to see pro skaters and builders. So, we did the next best thing and just paid to open the park to all the kids to come for a free skate Wednesday evening. This worked out so well that with the help of Ricky and Martin at the park, we are going to do it again for them next year.

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THURSDAY CHOPPERTIME: For the first time in ten years, it seemed that Mutha Nature wasn’t on Tropical Willie’s side. As we all woke on the standard day of his deal, the skies were open wide and pouring a ton of bad news on the day. I milled around with one sock missing as the young guys began to crawl out of their holes. One of them asked me if we were still going. ‘Hell yes,’ was my reply. Willie’s show has become a staple at this event and coming into this year’s bike week, nobody was sure if this was to be the last time he would put it on. It turns out this show is quite an undertaking for Willie and company. The timeframe to get all the work done, as well as the money, add up to a hard task. So, after the Bikertoberfest rally he announced that the spring show would be the last. The outpouring of affection towards him and Choppertime came from all over. People called, e-mailed and wrote, begging him not to cancel his show. During the morning hours, while the wet weather ruled the skies, the look on Willie’s face seemed to confirm these early reports. Around 1 p.m. or 2 p.m. it finally cleared and the place became packed; it was on. I interviewed Willie and Roadside right before the awards and he told me that he officially decided to keep the show going for a little while longer. The bikes at Choppertime are out of this world, man and the time is good ol’ scooter tramp partying. Thursday also marked two other great happenings. One was the 4th annual Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse Biker Fusion event that Carrie Repp holds at the Doghouse on Main Street. Here was where Michael Lichter announced that his show in Sturgis this year would feature the work of Jeff Decker, including the artist himself working on a new piece right in front of the crowd. The event that night raised over $11,000 for Soldiers’ Angels. The second party for a lot of us on Thursday evening was the Limpnickie Lot night at the Broken Spoke. Now this has become a cool Daytona annual that sees some thirty or more of the Limpnickie Lot builders pile into the Spoke like rats racing for a block of cheese. Out of a cloud of chaos, we rode right up onto the stage and parked for a night of good times. This year, Jay Allen helped us set the tone by bringing in the very talented .357 String Band. These cats are unreal; a bunch of good ol’ boys from Milwaukee that throw down with a banjo, standup bass and a mandolin. If you like a crossover of punk, bluegrass, rock-a-billy and straight hill music, you can’t help but masher down when these boys are playing. Jay let us come on stage and talk about the lot; we introduced some of our new additions, and told the story of how we came to be. Other than Martin Ramos from the Skatepark who rode with us that night, Jay is probably the only other cat in the whole damn town that cares that we are there.

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FRIDAY SKATEPARK CHOPPER SHOW: It’s still hard to believe that we are in year four at this location and this show. The response from the crowd has been so good we have to step it up every year and 2011 would be no slouch. With a complete belt drive from Evil Engineering as our grand prize, a ton of stuff from the Limpnickie builders like handlebars, seats, shirts, pipe wrap kits from DEI and Spectro products, we had some killer goodie boxes for the winners. For the last year, we started setting the scene for what we do with this show by holding it right inside the park. We pull all the Limpnickie builder bikes on top of the ramps for display and then let all the public entries line up around the park. While the registration and judging went on, Roadside Marty, Tim from Papa Clutch and McGoo from Biltwell put on a live tech install of an ACME Choppers’ Springer frontend for Roadside’s “Purple Haze.” This would replace his narrow tube frontend and really complete the outlaw chopper look he had started with. You can see more of this on page 74. At the same time Roadside was dressing up “Haze,” Tim Johnson of Bacon Skateboards and Roadkill, both pro skaters from that team, got warmed up to perform a true daredevil stunt. They would pull Papa Clutch’s latest build out into the middle of the nine bowl which is a concrete swimming pool at the park with an island in the middle. Then from both sides they attempted to jump from bowl to bowl, over Papa’s choppa, without destroying the bike or themselves in the process. The true skill came not from when they finally completed the trick, which they both did, but when they came up short, they were masters of redirecting the boards away from the paint and chrome. By the end of the day we were all beat up from the feet and announced Kendal the “Best of Show” winner with his latest build. So that was the official report, but what was life like at Daytona for the chopper guys from the Limpnickie Lot? In truth there are few places other than BMR that are so comfortable for us to be. Just the interactions with the kids who come to the park make this a special place that we’ve carved into one of the nation’s largest and oldest rallies. Daytona started with some motorcycle nuts who wanted to raise hell and race on the beach and we feel that in some small way we are keeping that tradition alive by doing our own thing, man. It’s neat to watch these guys come into their own, each with their own groups like the Haints, Masters of Chaos, the Led Sled crew, (notorious for their antics as much as the bikes they build) and the Nash Boys and their Slugger motif. The whole damn thing is like a page right out of “Warriors,” but somehow we all come together and live like a family for these ten days.

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THE COPS: Oh how I wish I could say that all was good on this front but from the early reports of mandatory motorcycle-only stops in Georgia, which did go down, to the opportunistic tactics that the police use up near the Iron Horse, there were plenty of tickets to go around. It did seem that the police in our own South Daytona were very amiable and tolerant of our presence. We had almost no incidents near home base, but up the street, the lot as a collective racked up over a thousand dollars in tickets from one trip. Now the reason I have to bring light to this is the fact that there are more empty buildings and “for rent” or “for sale” signs in local business’ storefronts now than ever before. Foreclosures are running rampant and the number of the rally overall is way down. So, the question I pose is this: When will enough be enough? Yeah I know the law is the law but when will the local Police Chief realize he’s killing business for the locals and he’s killing the rally with strong-arm targeting of high bars and loud pipe regulations? Trust me, there’s a whole new crowd on Main Street baby and if you keep handing them a bad time after they’ve saved up their dough and planned out their vacations only to get a ticket for a few hundred dollars for something dumb, they will not come back. Look at how big events like Thunderbeach and Leesburg are getting as proof; they welcome the riders you are chasing off. Even I, as a member of the national media, along with Timmo from Kopteri magazine in Finland, got a shakedown over at Beach Shores for taking pictures of a bike at an abandoned hotel. Now there were no signs claiming this to be private property and not one “No Trespassing” sign. Yet, about halfway through the shoot, a police officer came along and did the whole “papers please” routine. Even after we provided him with proper ID and explained we were members of the media, he ran us for priors, wants and warrants and did the numbers on the bikes. After all this, he filled out cards with all our info to put on file, a practice they claim to be standard. I call it a violation of my civil rights since I should be innocent until proven guilty. When I mentioned this to the officer he became irritated with my questioning and called in backup. Please! By the end of the week we decided to just stay on the lot and avoid the hassles.

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RALLY TV: Another new feature to the rally this year was the launching of Rally TV. This is a multi media concept a few of us are working on to bring almost real time coverage at many of the motorcycle events this year. If you haven’t seen any of the clips we generated from Daytona, check them out at www.cyclesource.com/ral This was a ton of work just for the small amount of stuff we got done but it seemed to give a good vibe from the show and we got some killer interviews with cats like Robinsons, the Hell Riders, and Willie from Tropical, and the small clips we created were a real hoot. So, before we wrap up this report, I want to take a minute and give some mad props for some guys who gave an extra effort to make Daytona for the Limpnickie Lot. Dale from Mad Jap came 3,500 miles from Alberta to be there with us. Since no one near him is doing anything like he does, Dale made this trip to support the lot and the style of bikes he believes in. Chris Richardson of LA Speed Shop came out from the West Coast and he was a great addition for us. This is a real man, talented beyond words and his whole crew rocks. We’d also like to welcome Eric from FNA as the newest lot member who became inducted during Daytona.

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Ya know, there was more to report on in this article, but man, so much of it might not be fit to put in print. We should leave you with this: Daytona is a special thing for us lifers, so in spite of Rally TV, any of the magazines or whether your buddies are going or not, get out and do it. Don’t let another one of our culture’s great gathering points become subject to complacency. Special thanks to all the cats who threw in mad prizes for the bike show: Spitfire Motorcycles, a killer helmet liner on a Biltwell lid from Primo’s, Factory Metal Works, the Evil Eng. belt drive that went to our “Best of Show” winner, and of course, all the Limpnickie Lot builders who threw in. You can see the pics to the left of most of our winners. These great shots were provided by robertadamophotography.com. He was nice enough to set-up a booth and capture some killer images for us throughout the week.

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