I excitedly rolled into Sturgis on Tuesday night and immediately checked out the parade down Main Street. I didn’t bat an eye, but headed to the Buffalo Chip to hang out with thousands of bikers making their way to the nightly campground concerts. My mission was to meet up with Dar Holdsworth of Brass Balls Bobbers to find out his great secret. Once there, I found a few others hanging with Dar including Chris Maida of American Iron, Cyril Huze, Chris Callen of Cycle Source, Penny Osiecki, Bean’re “The Mayor of Fun” and Marilyn Stemp of IronWorks to name a few. Where the hell was Bandit, from Bikernet, drunk again…
It turns out that Mr. Brass Balls had something to say and after a couple of rounds, Toby Keith came in and announced that he had invested into the Dar’s motorcycle business. Toby broke out a bottle Wild Shot Mezcal and toasted to the success of the business. (Note to self… Wild Shot Mezcal is damn good.) A longtime motorcycling enthusiast, Keith met Holdsworth through the Pros 4 Vets organization when he built a custom bike that was raffled to support the Toby Keith Foundation’s OK Kids Korral project.
Dar’s good fortune didn’t stop on Tuesday. On Thursday during the Rat’s Hole show on the Buffalo Chip Campground at the Crossroads venue he won CMT’s Beauty and the Beast Buffalo Chip Bike Build-Off and Body Paint Contest. He competed against Dakota V-Twin; Coastal Victory Murrells Inlet, S.C. and Shadetree Fabrications.
Dar has a number of Bobbers with photo realistic murals on the tank. Check out the tank and the tank girl. I like them both. As I was breezing by I heard Dar’s Dad giving his son hell about his vegetarian eating and latte swilling ways and calling in question his biker pedigree. Hmm, I think he passed with flying colors.
Wednesday sparked the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show. The city closed down 4th street and along with my partner, Bob Kay, we delivered a terrific event. Bikernet has the results in the Thursday News.
Thursday was a day off. So I hustled over to the Chip to see the Michael Lickter’s exhibit “Art on Two Wheels.” I was 5 hours early before the doors opened for the day, so I told them I was there to meet Michael for an interview and could I wait for him inside… they called my line bullshit, so I headed over to the Rats Hole to see their show.
Rat’s Hole has been moved from the dirt to the asphalt of Crossroads. The bikes were very cool. As a matter of fact, about 50% of the sleds from the Ultimate Builder show were in the Hole competition.
I got talking to Sam Baldi about his custom, Lost Angel. It’s a tribute bike to his granddaughter who died last year. It’s a super clean bike that is going to take a lot of trophies. It’s already won the Hollister Custom Bike Show earlier in the year. Details are in Bikernet.
Sam entered a struggling supply business, when he took over. It turned out the operators were stealing the profits, and he got the ship righted and in the black within 6 months. A part of his business was supplying fasteners, brake lines and other powersports components. Bikernet will publish the growth story soon, about what they are doing to improve, so stay tuned.
At noon I pulled the pin and headed to downtown Sturgis. I expected to see this super hip pinstripe chick, Jillian Rossi, with the Biker Pros pinstriped Bell lid. She was supposed to meet me during the day, but nary a call or text. Turns out her services were stacking up at the Broken Spoke and she couldn’t break away. In this business, you got to make the money when there is money to be made. So I’m expecting a little some’n some’n in the mail next week. If you want to see her work from the Smoke Out, there is a write up on Bikernet.
On the way to Sturgis I received a garbled call from Paul Aiken of Aeromach about lunch in Deadwood. It’s a popular gambling stop. Motorcycle parking is allowed on one side of Main Street and you feel like you are stepping out of the 1800s. So I hustled to Deadwood and parked at our home away from home, Danny Gray’s B&B. Best feature? Unlimited Kentucky bourbon.
Paul and I walked down to the corner restaurant and talked about Highway Hawk. He’s the North American representative and they sell parts and accessories for Hogs and imports. Paul is also a sponsor for Valerie Thompson’s Bonneville bike. He’s heading to the Salt Flats after Sturgis to see if she can break a record. Valerie rode the “World’s Fastest Panhead” for Bandit a few years back and knows how to keep her head down and butt up to put her ass in the history books once more.
We also talked about the time we rode with Bandit from Charlotte to Rockingham on the run to the Smoke Out. We stopped at a derelict housing subdivision for a Victory Motorcycle photo shoot. As we were leaving, Bandit ripped a dilapidated street sign down and made Aiken ship it to World HQ in Wilmington, CA.
While we were waiting for the chow, Arlen Ness rode by on one of his custom Victory Nessliners. The King of Cool is still cool. He was leading a gaggle of Victory sleds through Deadwood to, where else, the Chip.
For lunch I tried a herbal green tea with gingko. Yuk. So I grabbed a Jack-on-the-rocks to wash down all the goodness.
After the stiffener, it was off to the Tin Lizzie and Lucas Oil Products, Inc. presented Show, Shine and Win Motorcycle Giveaway. On the way over Aiken stopped a few rally enthusiasts for paid product endorsements.
Once in the Tin we found the other 50% of our builders from the Ultimate Builder Custom Bike Show. If they weren’t at Rats Hole they were at Tin Lizzie.
Danielle Hickey from Maryland Heights, MO was the winner of the custom bike giveaway. The bike was built by Jon Shipley of Hoosier Daddy Choppers. Jon recently won the Muskegeon Extreme Bike Time Custom Bike Show.
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