BEEN AWHILE..........

Yes, I know it's been awhile since my last post. Lots of stuff going on this biz lately. Shops closing their doors, one we're especially sorry to see go is my friend Randy Simpson at Milwaukee Iron. Randy is a great guy and we wish him well. He was one of the very first builders I got to say yes to going on the USO tour we tried to get off the ground a few years back. He's a class act and this industry won't be the same without him and his great products.
BMC is looking for investors, now that's a shock. I don't know how they managed to stay afloat this long. Short on imagination and quality parts used while long on cookie cutter. Hasn't had an original idea, ever. Maybe he can try ripping off someone else's ideas in another industry and see how far he goes. Not a fan, guess you can tell.
Hollister was canceled this year. I guess the city took it in the shorts last year, are we shocked about that? I mean why in the world would you push the rally back to the weekend AFTER the 4th of July? Dumb and dumber. I can't believe these rocket scientists allowed this to happen. Last year the 4th was on a friday so it was a perfect 3 days weekend for the rally but NO, let's move it to the next weekend. I guess that's why they don't run businesses, they run a city. Dumbasses.
In Hollister's place we the Salute to America run in Tullelake, CA. I was invited to go at one point, then I looked at the map. Nope, sorry. Wasn't going to pull the trailer all the way to east bumfuck on a new event. It wasn't like this event was being held anywhere close to civilization. Guess we're still of the mindset that bikers must be off in the woods, the deeper, the better. I've seen shots of the event, looked a little quiet to me. They did have some decent music lined up for the event so that was cool.
In May we were at the Santa Maria event, Motorcycle Madness. It was a decent event. Great weather, good location. Not as many patrons as the year prior but it was also dwon to a 2 day event from the 3 days it used to be. Chica, Todd's Cycles, Cole Foster and us pretty much made up the bike builder's area. I like this event. I'd like to see more people come through the gates next year though. It's a great area for riding and pretty much less than a day's ride from both the Bay Area and SoCal.
Our next event will be the Dave Mann Chopperfest in Ventura. The date is set for Decmber 13.
Here in my shop I'm busy building a very cool project. It's somewhat of a surprise but let's just say it has a ton of one off parts and a motor that has to be seen to be believed. I may post some in progress pictures soon. Right now we're doing the pipes for the bike and then we're back to finishing up all of the mounts on the frame. This will be a feature for some magazine out there.
I was saddened to hear of the passing of Florida bike builder Brad "The Wrench" Ruel. I never got to meet Brad in person but always appreciated his work. He was much too young to leave this world. My condolescences to his friends and family.
Sturgis is around the corner. We won't be there. The cost to do these events has gotten out of hand in the past several years. The return on most events in this economy is miniscule at best so it really doesn't make sense to keep doing a huge number of them. The t-shirt and water guys make a killing while the builders spend their time answering questions about their bikes so others can "borrow" their ideas for their own bikes. Nothing like spending a ton of money to rent the space, spend days or weeks getting to the event, spending even more money to be at the event and then getting nothing out of the time and money spent. The people don't understand this, they think we're there for free somehow. Being at an event for a business costs a LOT of money people. Then think about how many times we're out for these events. I decided a few years ago that I was done doing the big huge events and now focus on the more regional events. Those people tend to have better deals on space plus they're in our home area for the most part.

Summer is here, get out and ride people.
Ride Free
FTF