Article By: Chris Callen
Photos By: Sara Liberte
Originally Published In The June 2012 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine
So what could have been so different about Daytona you might ask? For me, this was a very special year. You see, for the past five years I’ve been so wrapped up in running the Limpnickie Lot, that I found myself running out of time and could hardly enjoy the week in the sun which was how we typically kicked off the year. This time, I had removed myself from those responsibilities and left the week open for its intended purpose. It started when I heard that Lemme and Darren were coming for their first trip to Daytona. They had a monster plan that included a ten city tour across the country, and God I would have given anything to have been part of that debauchery. Instead, I was keenly at work tuning the ‘49 for her first real run. By the time we got to Daytona, I had her running like a Singer and starting on the first kick. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to adjust the clutch and the brake was almost unable to be referred to as a brake at all. The first night, we spent time outside of Willie’s Tropical dialing those last few details in. In record time we had the clutch fixed up and I tore ass out of the parking lot. This was when I noticed that I had in fact, no brake. Back to the lot for some time on the caliper and we got it dialed in -again. I had spent too much time getting the bike dressed up and missed Bert Baker’s birthday roast, but the Rally TV crew made it and man, it was a hoot. I spent the rest of that night tooling around on the ‘49, even went through the bullshit of taking it down Main Street. Oh yeah, I got to rip the strip!
Now I was diggin’ this man; no hassles, no assholes, good times just riding and hanging out with my buddies. Don’t get me wrong, all around me there were plenty of scheduled activities. The Dog House had a killer event for Soldiers’ Angels that was attended by many of the big names in our industry. Also on hand was the world famous Gunny Ermey from Full Metal Jacket. He was there to support Victory Motorcycles. Robinson’s was celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Jeremy Johnson hosted a ride for the Cathy’s Help Charity Foundation, and as usual, the folks at Rossmeyer’s had a lot going on. There were bike shows all over town, a couple different lots setup like the Limpnickie Lot, the Chop Lot across the street, and the Chopin’ Block up at the Broken Spoke that featured collections of builders and their wares. All the bars were full, as full as it matters for me because I was indifferent to how much the attendance was either up or down. In short, it was business as usual in Daytona. As bad as it might have been for business, I didn’t even once wear a Cycle Source T-shirt for the week. I was conducting my own sociology experiments. Could I find my way back to a better time at bike week? The answer came quickly, almost as soon as I got there. We spread the news by word of mouth that we were doing a little ride, nothing organized, just a ride around the loop. My brother Bobby from Indian Larry was in town and I wanted to do some riding with him. Bobby had left his plate at home in NY, so a little cardboard cut-out was affixed to his bike. We ran all over town like idiots on choppers and never once got hassled by the man. Back to the ride…. Like most things the magazine does, it was a little disorganized. But, we had a blast, at least I did, and man the Wildlife Loop in Daytona is so beautiful that I rode it a second time the next day with Mala from Kopteri.
Thursday is Willie’s day, always has been, so I don’t bother trying to do anything but be at his show. It was bigger than ever again this year and now Willie has invited Dave Perewitz and others from the industry to give their own awards at his event. It’s just another example of how cool this cat is. The Chopin’ Block up at the Broken Spoke was killin’ it with a great bike show that Gary Mauer of Kustoms and Ron Harris of Chop Docs were running like a watch. They gave away a ton of prizes while we stole Gary’s new tricycle for a ride. I got to visit Marcus’s Trailer Trash shop and see firsthand where all these great bikes are built. (You can see more on that in an upcoming issue.) Most of all, I got to spend time with my brothers. By the end of the week, I had barely attended anything. I shot a couple of bikes, but as far as the business of the magazine went, I was almost not there. Man, I had the best Daytona I’ve had in years. The bike ran like a dream, Rogue gave me an award at Willie’s and I got to ride. I know that I’ll have to go back to being the magazine guy for these shows again, but it was so good, if for just a minute, to be a simple, dirty, old biker at Daytona Bike Week. Thanks to my crew for picking up the slack, while I let go of the wheel.
