Cyclerides.com Weekly Update
4/12/06 

Greetings Riders,
 
Well, Arizona Bike Week 2006 is now behind us. If I were writing a headline for a newspaper it would probably go something like this: "Arizona Bike Week Makes Good First Step In Rebuilding Event". The move back to Westworld was a no-brainer. After 2 years in the dust bowl known as Rawhide, a move to any place that had asphalt and grass would have been a welcome improvement. The retro bands seem to have been received well as crowds built every night filling the tent on Saturday for Steppenwolf. I personally heard "The Guess Who" and Steppenwolf. The Guess Who was great, but John Kay and Steppenwolf was not worth the effort for me.
 
It was obvious by the lack of turnout by the higher profile hardware type vendors that they were taking a wait and see attitude before they returned. It may take a year or two, but maybe this year's rebound will help pave the road to bring them back. The event was generally well laid out and enjoyable as was the motorcycle parking in the big tent. But aside from the evening concerts, the event still lacked energy during the rest of the time. The daytime was left to the vendors and a handful of people in the Handlebar watching a band. There needs to be planned activities going on throughout the day. If ABW is going to continue to run Cyclefest for 5 entire days, (which majority opinion says is too long) I think there needs to be some other activities besides evening bands to hold the interest of the riders. I believe critical mass creates excitement, so if you packed more activities into a shorter amount of time it would create a greater sense of urgency, more people and more energy. Just my opinion. All in all, I believe it was a good rebound from the last couple of years and a decent foundation on which to build from. Hopefully in a few years this event can attain some National status. But probably not until there are things other than retro bands to keep us busy.
 
Click Here for some random pictures from Arizona Bike Week. 
 

"OCC In America "Live" 2006 Tour Starts on Mill Ave. in Tempe!"

 
Speaking of critical mass, a lot of people in one spot in a short amount of time, and a high energy event, this is going to be one of those!! I am excited to announce the return of the entire cast of Orange County Choppers to Tempe, May 26th-29th on the first stop of their new 4 city OCC In America 2006 Live Tour. This is going to be an event like we have never seen here before. The complete cast of OCC will be rolling on to Mill Ave. in Tempe with  18 of their theme bikes for an all new Live interactive show that will include fabricating and building a chopper on stage similar to their popular television show. At the end of the event, some lucky person will win the bike. And it will be another one of their famous television bikes as Discovery Channel will be here for the entire time filming the build and the event. The entire cast will be doing 2 live shows per day on Saturday and Sunday.
 
But that is not it, in between the shows, cast members will break out into the OCC Garage for live interactive sessions on their specialties in the shop. For example, Paul Jr. and Jason will do a series on bike design on the computer displayed on big screens around the venue. Rick might do a series on gas tank design and Vinny could do a series on fabricating exhaust pipes. Whatever they decide to do, it will be fully interactive with the crowd. OCC will also have on display some of their popular theme bikes from the past and some of their latest creations including 2 of the 4 bikes from the "Fan Bike" episodes including the one that you might have seen around town known as "Corporal Punishment" built for Jeff here in Phoenix.
 
But that is not it! Tempe will also be the premiere performance of the "OCC Band". The cast of OCC Band has been practicing in the garage for the last several months and will debut their talents here in Arizona for the first time. You might even catch Mikey singing a little Sinatra. I know what you are thinking, that must be it. Nope, for your musical entertainment, we will have "The Outlaws" in concert on Sunday night that will appeal to the baby boomers in the crowd singing "Green Grass and High Tides" and "Ghost Riders In The Sky". Saturday will feature a soon to be announced hugely popular musical act that will appeal to the younger crowd on Saturday night.
 
That is still not it! This will all be wrapped around vendors, food, drink and live music all day that will stretch from Rio Salado to 3rd Street on Mill Ave. in Tempe and from the Palms Hotel to the U.S. Air building with motorcycle parking down Mill Ave. South of 3rd St. You won't miss a bit of the action as their will be diamond vision screens located throughout the venue so that you will always be able to see and hear what is going on at the live stages.
 
And finally this is it! We will also have a Custom Bike Show that will feature 25 hand picked one-off custom bikes from some of the up and coming builders in the Southwest. If you would like to submit your bike for consideration, or know someone that should enter their one-off custom, email a picture of the bike and a brief description to Barry at info@cyclerides.com .
 
The second stop on the OCC In America tour is Spokane, Washington on July 28-30, a soon to be named Midwest city in September and Austin, Texas October 27-29. With the amount of press that this event will get, it will be a very exciting high energy time. Watch for the guys to be talking about this tour on upcoming episodes of American Chopper. Go to www.occinamerica.com for more information and Click Here to buy your tickets for this event. Click Here for the press release. Or go to www.orangecountychoppers.com .
 
If you are interested in being a Vendor at the OCC In America Tempe, or any of the other locations, email Barry at info@cyclerides.com for a vendor package. There is limited space for the Tempe show, so email your request for a vendor package as soon as possible.
 

Extras

Ever get sick of the traffic in Phoenix? Who doesn't? This is the best of all worlds. It is the Super Sky Cycle. When traffic gets a little too much to handle. Just fly over it. This is so cool. I want one of these. Click Here to view the video.
 
There is nothing like a little flatulence humor to put a smile on your face. Here are a couple of funny videos. Click Here for Toot Tone and Click Here for a video called Bad Timing. Once you get past the first minute of this one it is pretty funny.