I have had the great fortune of riding Harley- Davidsons since the ’70s but have never made it to Mecca or Sturgis, as it is called by many. You know that old tired story, when I had the time I never had the cash and vice versa. Finally, this year the traveling elements fell into place.
Being a month plus away from the harried departure date, I was not going to get to excited just yet and continued to plod along. As the date closed in things started to muddy up, the Lucky Devil Metal Works customer’s bike I was going to haul to the Badlands for the AMD show, and then deliver it to him, stumbled. The owner decided he was not going and would just have the bike picked up in Houston. Okay, no point in wasting the cash. That was my initial thought, however at zero hour another one of Lucky Devils customers Ron Holcomb decided it would be OK to take the newly completed Hydra-Ride and enter it in the Freestyle category under the massive white tent.
The Hydra-Ride is a diesel engine powered two-wheeler, which generally powers a hydraulic pump. Very Cool! Ron decided to build the unique piece to showcase some of the products his company Hydradyne Hydraulics sells and enlisted Lucky Devil Metal Works, or Kent Weeks, the boss, to help make his vision come true with a few changes along the way. And while it didn’t take top honors at AMD it sure got a lot of questions and when I fired it off the day of the load-out, it drew even more attention, too bad I forgot to use the air horn!
Of course my departure from Houston was the same as many with the devil, Kent. Always a cluster-fuck, plus I needed to finish the Butt Stop Bitch Bar for the Little Red Rigid. It took until 3 AM on the 4th. The BSBB was designed to either keep cute young butts from sliding off the back or to act as a mounting platform, so I could strap and carry camera equipment. It handled its designed task flawlessly the entire week. Plus, I still had to finish installing it and complete a few details on Darryl Brigg’s bike, who I picked up in Dallas along the way.
Bikes loaded, cash in hand, I made my way across the toll road to I-45 and pointed the Texas Tahoe north towards Dallas. Yes, I trailed my ride to Sturgis. I could use the excuse that I had to take the Hydra-Ride to the AMD show or that I also had Darryl’s bike, but fact of the matter is I am 50+ and still riding a rigid frame! Now, if my uncle Johnny(as in Mancuso) or if any of you folks want to buy me a 2011 Street Glide, Black, with NO Anti-lock brakes and NO RADIO feel free and I will ride with you next year…maybe? (Side Note – Radios DO NOT belong on motorcycles!)
You should either be going so fast you can’t hear it anyway or sing to yourself, if you are that bored.
Finally on the road another issue appeared one that I will not bore you with, except to say that the Texas Tahoe is close to becoming the Texas Expedition. I am tired of fighting with the Chevy people, who cannot fix a truck, so the entire journey up took about a hour and a half longer than it should have and about a tank and half more fuel as well. Upon arriving in Dallas with the temp reading 113 in the truck, I began to tell Darryl how Kent asked me to take the devil duck on location and get some pictures with it throughout the week, at which point he pulls out Mini-Kent whom would join us on the weeks adventures.
There’s another sidebar here. Kent Weeks, the master builder boss of Lucky Devil would like to be inducted into the Hamsters. In order to do so, he must attend Sturgis two years in a row and be voted on by the likes of Arlen Ness. He builds bikes constantly, including Sin Wu’s Root Beer Float, which was recently featured in American Iron. When Kent builds a bike, it is a hard running masterpiece. He’s a 24/7 shop owner, and if a bike needs work, he sticks with the task until the job’s done. Since he couldn’t make the Sturgis run, the Devil duck was designed to represent the Devil at the Rally. I’m not sure how well it worked?
Now, if you would care to see where he went and the people he met and happen to be on Facebook just check out the Lucky Devil Metal Works page.
We did cruz down the highway on the outskirts of the Badlands that morning, so I got to see a little of it, arriving in Sturgis a little after 1:00 that afternoon and unloaded the bikes and began to set up camp. We then headed downtown to pick up the media packets, however on our journey the LRR front end was making all kinds of racket and shaking on the left side WTF?
This bike just rolled off the table where she received new set of neck bearing and wheel bearing, and I even tried a Springer front end for 14 miles. They are not for me as my riding style dictates that at least one tire needs to be on the ground most of the time. Anyway, back at camp and realized I peeled out of Texas and forgot the center jack at the shop. We dug around for ways to jack the front end off the ground?
Here is a tip for those of you who might need to do this even if you don’t have a trailer. Go borrow some heavy duty ratchet straps, find two trees to secure said straps to and with them running under the neck of your frame ratchet away! Works great Darryl came up with that idea, anyway after removing the wheel and rechecking the bearing it seems that the rotor was bent just a tad, so I guess it got dropped during my 14 miles of Springer testing, or just developed a bad attitude at being taken off?
Either way, I removed the caliper, shoved a beer can between the pads and wire tired it to the lower triple tree. I had no more issues the rest of the week! Granted this did make the journey down Needles Highway in the rain a bit more fun, and I can in No Way imagine how anyone rides a bike with just a 10-inch rear brake, but thank goodness for new rear brake pads and rotor.
Saturday after unloading the bike for the AMD show we made our way out to Spearfish Canyon during our stop at Bridal Veil falls. Darryl mentioned he wanted to make frequent stops to scope out some stuff for next year, and if I wanted to ride on, he would meet me in Savoy. I took off and blazed since there was no one on the road in front of me. I road the LRR up to 70 for the first set of upcoming turns and while I have never been down this road, I have seen videos and know there are no bad turns.
As I came out of the first set of sweeping curves bordered by Jack Pine forests and rolling green fields, there was still no one on the road. I don’t know if this was just dumb luck or Devine Intervention because I was able to run all the way into Savoy and half way back at about 70 without hitting any traffic! This mystic parting of the traffic never happened again on any of the other three rides through Black Hills canyons! The rigid was not happy with the air and was topping out at 70, while I packed extra jets, I was able to get by with some minor adjustments and keep her happy for the rest of the trip.
What amazed me the most was the number of baggers and trikes. Each time I parked I witness the same mix of motorcycle, just different color schemes. And while I know there were other non-factory, custom bikes, it was sort of sad when a 12-year-old-rigid is the most custom bike in the entire row! I also do not understand this trike phenomenon, I can see where there are some folks that might need to ride a trike due to age or a medical issues, but there were bunches of younger people riding these damn things! I already have dibs on the stickers, “I Trailed My Bike To Trike Week.”
I was also doing double duty as Lucky Devil Ambassador for the AMD Show which was different, especially the judging. Some of my initial favorites changed during the load in. I had to change my mind several times, but each builder devoted many hours to their creations, and all were very proud of the bikes they entered. There were some sick rides there! Anyway, I have now been too Mecca. Will I return? Let’s put it this way I am already looking at property in Spearfish Canyon and am currently only six numbers away from signing the papers!
Till Next Time,
–Rigid Frame Richard
