When we first heard about California Bike Week, we were skeptical. There are already too many "bike weeks" across the country-there are 50 states and 52 weeks in a year, and that really doesn't leave time for much else. But when we found out that all the organizers were trying to do was add events to the Love Ride to make it more of a destination event, they had our attention.

13th Annual March of Dimes Bikers for Babies RIDE
presented by Farmers InsuranceJoin thousands of motorcycle riders at Kansas Speedway to support the March of Dimes mission to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. At this AMA-sanctioned event, you will receive a commemorative pin and patch; applause from spectators along the 88-mile all-Kansas route; complimentary lunch by Hooters; admission to a Dealers' Expo and bike show; and live music. Avoid the event-day crowd and pre-register at one of seven area locations.

Look at five magazines' coverage of a single event, and sometimes you wonder if they were even at the same rally to begin with. Other than some really noteworthy show bikes, beer girls, and a few geographical features, there really is not much to distinguish one destination from another.

"Where? How much? Are you nuts?" These are just some of the questions we damn near shouted at our friend Al when he suggested we roll northward to Half Moon Bay, California, from our zip code in Los Angeles for the second Legend of the Motorcycle Concours.

The history of America's Southwest was all about boom-or-bust. Gold Rush towns came and went, whether it was Tombstone in the 1870s or Oatman in the early 1900s. It's a cycle that continues to this day, as evidenced by this year's Laughlin River Run in April.

The change is upon us. At this year's Daytona Bike Week we witnessed a most profound change in the assemblage of bike riders cruising up and down the streets and across the bridges of the home of the world's most famous beach. What for years Harley-Davidson and custom bikes dominated has now given way to an ever-growing bunch of sportbike and metric cruiser-mounted riders. It's not like these riders just dropped out of the sky onto the sun-kissed asphalt of Daytona Beach, Florida. They have been here in numbers for many years, but now they are way more visible. Another trend is the number of vacancy signs in the many hotels and motels lining the main drag on the beach side, more than in previous years. Also in evidence along the same stretch of Atlantic Boulevard are empty lots where the somewhat affordable motels of the past have been razed to make way for the high-rise condos, designed to eliminate any view of the Atlantic Ocean from more than 10 yards inland. But what the hell, we didn't go there for the water; we went for the bikes, and there were plenty of them in all shapes and sizes.

It all started out as a simple phone call. "Hey, do you want to take a road trip?"

Custom Performance Motorcycle Show
The 16th annual Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show Weekend presented by Performance Machine and produced by Jim Gianatsis of Gianatsis Design Associates, roars into the Queen Mary Event Park in Long Beach/Los Angeles, returns this year on July 14-15th, 2007.

The show that became famous as "The Oakland Roadster Show" is finally starting to settle into its new home at Fairplex in Pomona, California. This is the third year that the Grand National Roadster Show has called sunny Southern California home, and the show was nothing short of spectacular. Not only was there an entire building dedicated to 75 of the most historically significant 1932 Fords to celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the world's most recognizable hot rod platform, there were badass motorcycles in attendance as well. But we wouldn't expect anything less with an award like "America's Most Beautiful Motorcycle" up for grabs.

Every year all of the companies in the V-Twin aftermarket get together in Cincinnati, Ohio for three very cold days for the V-Twin Expo and a giant Super Bowl party. Initially, everyone gathered in Cincinnati for a show called the Dealer Expo, and it had everything related to the entire powersports industry-dirtbikes, sportbikes, snowmobiles, personal watercraft, etc...and that show actually outgrew the facilities in Cincinnati and moved to Indianapolis. Within a couple of years, the V-Twin industry had grown so much that the folks from the V-Twin Expo decided that we deserved a trade show where we didn't have to wade through all of the dirtbike and personal watercraft manufacturers to find the people building parts we actually care about.

Every year all of the companies in the V-Twin aftermarket get together in Cincinnati, Ohio for three very cold days for the V-Twin Expo and a giant Super Bowl party. Initially, everyone gathered in Cincinnati for a show called the Dealer Expo, and it had everything related to the entire powersports industry-dirtbikes, sportbikes, snowmobiles, personal watercraft, etc...and that show actually outgrew the facilities in Cincinnati and moved to Indianapolis. Within a couple of years, the V-Twin industry had grown so much that the folks from the V-Twin Expo decided that we deserved a trade show where we didn't have to wade through all of the dirtbike and personal watercraft manufacturers to find the people building parts we actually care about.

The Third Annual Dave Mann Chopper Fest is in the books. The seaside fairgrounds in Ventura, California were the site for this event, where we enjoyed sunny skies and mild temps. While other events with a longer history are trying to recapture their strong attendance numbers from past years to no avail, the Mann Chopper Fest is increasing in rider attendance and in the number of vendors set up along the parking lanes and in the fairgrounds buildings.

It was through a completely random occurrence that I found myself in the Greater Seattle area on the first Wednesday of the month. But having rolled into town after a killer ride through the Cascades on a borrowed bagger, local wrench Steve Huff dragged me off to the VME's monthly meet at Planet Georgetown.

A Demo Event At The Racetrack

Perfect riding weather, women in bikinis-in October, nonetheless-short beer lines, and an awesome display of bikes and public partying: Welcome to Biketoberfest 2006. Celebrating its 14th birthday, Biketoberfest rocked Daytona Beach, Florida, October 19-22, with mostly sunny skies (at least no hurricane threats), which in turn meant happy crowds.

Normally crowded out of the picture by fat-tired rails with 400-inch mills, quarter-mile cycle enthusiasts had a competition explosion when Lions Strip restricted their facility to two wheels only for the All-Western Motorcycle Championship.

Every summer, the Queen Mary takes a break from its daily grind of being a floating hotel to play host to the Los Angeles Calendar Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, California. It's a great chance for builders, both of American and metric bikes, to show off their work. Last year marked its 15-year anniversary.

The year 2006 will mark the 9th anniversary for the City of Santa Ana's Ride the Coast & Chili Cook-Off. From its humble beginnings in 1997, with Santa Ana Police Lieutenant Mike Foote spearheading the effort, the regional event has grown into a yearly tradition for over 950 members of Orange County's motorcycling public. Underwritten by the City of Santa Ana, California, and benefitting the Boys & Girls Club of Santa Ana, the 2005 event raised approximately $100,000 in cash and in-kind support to help more than 8,200 at-risk children.

The El Camino College Antique Motorcycle Show & Swap Meet is the continuation of the La Mirada Swap Meet that was held years ago in the parking lot of a shopping center. Today, the El Camino Swap Meet is held at its new home at El Camino College in Torrance, California. Traditionally, the El Camino Swap Meet came the week before the famed Del Mar Races outside of San Diego, California. The races at Del Mar have faded into history, but the swap meet at El Camino College survives and does quite well under the promotion of Bator International.

Perfect riding weather, women in bikinis--in October, nonetheless--short beer lines, and an awesome display of bikes and public partying: Welcome to Biketoberfest 2006. Celebrating its 14th birthday, Biketoberfest rocked Daytona Beach, Florida, October 19-22, with mostly sunny skies (at least no hurricane threats), which in turn meant happy crowds.

Motorcycle racers are a breed all their own - a rare mixture of "gung ho" and "que sera sera." Their recent inauguration of NHRA's unprecedented run-what-ya-brung bike rules for 1970 at Southern California's Irwindale Raceway reflected their devotion to the sport time and again. Despite the trials of breaking in a new set of rules and bike-savvy crew, 4,397 spectators got their share of smoky kicks. And NHRA's record book, open to national motorcycle records for the first time, was swelled by 11 tough ones. Despite the inevitable shortcomings that are part and parcel of a first-time event, the meet must be termed a success, due to the elasticity of the racers and the determination of Irwindale's one-in-a-million manager, Mel Reck.

We wish we had a travel budget that allowed us to cover shows around the world because if we did, we'd be hitting up the Custom Bike Show in Norrtlje, Sweden. The show has been organized by one of Sweden and Scandinavia's oldest bike clubs, known as the Twin Club, for almost 30 years so you know they've got all the details of running an event covered, no sweat. This past year's event held in early June attracted some 5000 bikers and 300 exhibitors, making it a well-known show throughout Europe. The Custom Bike Show has gained a reputation for contributing to the development of the "Swedish-style chopper," a chopper with a rebuilt frame, wide rear wheel, narrow front wheel, H-D engine, and a long front fork that is 6 to 20 inches longer than standard. This is obviously an international show that is going to appeal to many of you V-twin lovers out there.

I rode across the South Dakota state line smiling ear to ear. Nobody saw that big grin behind my full-face helmet. But when the other two riders from our staff looked over at me, it was as if they knew I was having my moment of personal glory. I'm not sure what I was grinning more about-the fact that I had done it or the fact that I had hung in with all the guys.

We survived another rally in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota. We were caught in the rain three times and a hailstorm once. We didn't run out of gas, although we were close on two occasions. We also didn't fall down. All in all, this year's rally went very well. Aside from the weather notwithstanding, the crowds were close to the amount from last year. But it seemed on a couple of nights the crowd was thinner at one end of town. Then again, it may have had something to do with the new venues outside of town. A few of these were the new Broken Spoke out by Bear Butte, the Full Throttle Saloon, and the Thunder Road facility covering the Glencoe CampResort. During the day, there were plenty of things to occupy your time, such as the hill climb that was going on behind the Jack Pine Gypsies racetrack. Down in Rapid City, H-D filled the convention center with new '07 models, while outside in the parking lot, there was the demo fleet, bike wash, and food vendors. Between Rapid City and Sturgis, we found a brand new vendor area called Top 50. It was founded and developed by Jesse Jurrens from Legend Air Suspension, based in Rapid City. The Top 50 lot hosted the Top 50 show. This show brought out the best bikes in town. On the other side of Sturgis, heading out past Fort Meade, the Thunder Road area hosted the AMD custom bike-building championship, the Metzeler show, the Michael Lichter art show, as well as the Rat's Hole show and the Biker/Penthouse show. There was a bike show every day of the week somewhere in the area. But probably the best show was out on the streets. Motorcycles standing static look good and are easy to study. But the bikes certainly look best when there is someone sitting on the seat, going down the road. And, that's where we're heading. There is a much better story to be seen by looking at the photos from Sturgis, than reading just the words.

Due to the wonder of modern technology, I'm writing this column during the first week of January of 2006. After the torrential rain we endured during the tourist season, the weather has returned to what people move to SoCal for; bright sunny warm days. The subject of this column is a blatant plug for Vintage Racing at this year's Bike Week in Daytona Beach. It is sponsored by the American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (AHRMA) and held at Daytona International Speedway on Route 92 in the town that hosts the worlds most famous beach the first two days of Bike Week. How does this connect with sunny days in California? Well, Florida can be sunny also. After all, Bike Week is the "start" of the new riding year for people on the East Coast and Midwest. Bike Week is usually the first warm sun some riders have seen since the previous October, and in turn, soak up as much warmth to help them through the final vestiges of winter. Back to the Vintage Racing, motorcycle racing is all good, whether it's the smell of nitro in the air after a pass down the quarter mile, or the errant dirt clog that just thumped you upside your head from sitting so close to turn one at a local dirt track event. You won't have to worry about any of that at the Vintage Racing. Although you will have a hard time discerning between the different levels of growling engines from the assembled racing machines representing nearly every continent on the face of the earth. Nowhere else in the country will you be able to view at your leisure the cream of the past motorcycle racing world than at Daytona. I'll be there walking the pits and taking in the aroma of high octane racing gas, Castrol oil, clutch material and rubber. It makes me hungry just thinking about it now.