Old School/New School Reunion (Cont)

A record crowd of show bikes and spectators filled the spacious grounds of the Ventura County Fairgrounds this past Sunday, December 14th to celebrate the 11th Annual Chopperfest. They were able to shop for that particular bike part or Christmas gift with some 200 vendors and swap meet booths to enjoy. There was a special exhibition of biker art in homage to David Mann. Not only was the ground vibrating with the sounds of hundreds of bikes rolling into the Fairground but also thanks to the rockin’ sound track for the day long party. The music was provided this year by three bands which included the Harlis Sweetwater Band, the WOW Factor, and the Gilby Clarke Band (Gilby played with Guns and Roses).

Show founder Dave “Huggy” Hansen of the iconic American bike emporium, The Bike Shop said, “This was the largest Chopperfest so far and for me I really enjoyed the diversity of the motorcycles, something that is getting bigger year by year. From the English bikes to the metric cruisers and the different styles of the custom Harley-Davidsons.”

“Being the antique guy that I am, I liked seeing the smattering of antique bikes on display. I think this show is becoming a premiere event on the West Coast. It’s also great having my son Tory being such an integral part of the event. He’s been working for me since he was three at the ticket counter or somewhere. Now he’s also my best friend and business partner.”

I asked him if he had any idea when he started this event back in 2004 that it could grow to this level, Dave says, “No…because I had been doing events, car shows, antique shows, swap meets and vintage racing at the Fair Grounds for 35 years. The custom bike show originally was to augment the antique bike event, but eventually we decided to focus on one, the custom bikes, but never thought it would get this big.”

“We also wanted to do something different so I called Dave Mann asking him to do some artwork for the new show and we were going to fly him and his wife Jacquie out to honor him at the show, but then he passed away. I had known him for so many years and besides being a great artist he was just such a nice guy.”

One way to sum up his effect on the whole industry and the whole bike culture, was something once said by one of his club brothers, “Dave Mann built the motorcycles on canvas before anybody thought about building them in real life.”

And that’s so true, he put so many bikes on paper that they have become a blueprint for builders even today. It’s sad that it took his passing for people to recognize the fine art that it is.

The whole shindig was emceed by “The Voice of Chopperfest” Jennifer Santolucito who had this to say: “For me it started when I went to the second Chopperfest with bike builder friends, then a couple of years later I contacted Tory the show organizer when I noticed there wasn’t an emcee.”

“I had been touring with the Blood, Sweat and Ink Tour so I wanted to do more emceeing and less of the promotional modeling that I was currently doing in the chopper industry. A lot of the builders and industry people were my friends and I wanted to get up on stage and talk about them and introduce the sponsors. This is my eighth year that I have been emceeing and the best year yet. The bikes are amazing, and people really ride them, so the show was extra special. I also enjoyed the art gallery set up in the McBride building, and especially the David Mann artwork brought in by Dave’s stepdaughter, Tracy Scott.”

“For me it’s always a special treat to see the Mann family at the show. Previously we just had one band, but this year there were three bands that played all day helping to energize the event and give it a party atmosphere. Especially Gilby Clarke with an outstanding performance, he was on fire. Now Tori, his Dad and myself are already planning for Chopperfest next year, and I’m so honored to be part of it.”

As for the Bike Show competition, featured builders included Paul Cavallo of Spitfire Motorcycle, Dalton Walker of S.I.K., Duane Ballard, Russell Mitchell of Exile fame, Caleb Owens of Cro Customs, Taber Nash of Nash Motorcycle, Mike Tomas of Kiwi Indian, Kurto Morrow of Ventura Motorworks, Rick Bray of RKB Kustom Speed, Michael Barragan of Evil Performance Motorcycles, David Zemla of Burly Brand, Dan Collins of Old Gold Garage, Jim Giuffa of AFT Customs, Aki Sakamoto of Hog Killers (Japan), Paul Ponkow of Bone Legacy, Lock Baker of Eastern Fabrications, Will Ramsey of Faith Forgotten Choppers and Scott T-Bone Jones of Noise Cycle Mfg. There was also a slew of home garage builders who brought a wild and varied spectrum of bikes spanning 49cc to 5000cc’s. These were highly polished works of rolling art to “patina rich” ratsters.

Bottom line, David Mann would no doubt be smiling as he watched all of the bikes at Chopperfest inspired by his artistry in iron, his art has left indelible impressions on all levels.