Author Topic: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality  (Read 5270 times)

Online Turin

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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #30 on: March 18, 2019, 10:59:01 PM »
Quote

And it's fine not to like something, but one doesn't have to be a dick about it, that's all.




Perfectly stated!
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Offline blu guzz

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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #31 on: March 19, 2019, 06:16:05 AM »
I had my last Harley from Labor Day 2005 until June 2008.  I never got away for either Sturgis or Bike Week but followed them on the HD chat forums.  Those were also the peak years for bike sale in the US, up to about a million.  I think it was the last hurrah for the boomers on bikes.  Yes, some of them have stuck around, but I think it ran its course for many.  I have not followed these events since then, but am a little sad to read that last post about how it all seems to be fading.  I don't think this post adds any real insight, just a late boomer (60) with regrets.
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Offline ohiorider

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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #32 on: March 19, 2019, 06:21:33 AM »
There is a place in The World for them, all.

They have their counterparts in the automotive world...


I love '58 Impalas!  Don't recall if the Continental kits were OEM or aftermarket by '58.

My generation!

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Offline twowheeladdict

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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #33 on: March 19, 2019, 07:20:37 AM »
I've been going to bike week off and on for 30 years now.  It aint' what it used to be.  The Harley display at the Convention Center...gone.  The big HOG concert on Friday night (saw ZZ Top one year) gone. The HD parade to the races...gone. BMW demos...gone. Once, many years ago, even Moto Guzzi had a small demo tent set up.  I rode a V11 LeMans.  Millers...and all the surrounding vendors...gone.  Beach Street vendors...gone.  MMI horsepower dyno contest...gone, along with MMI.  Hell, even the Shark lounge is gone! Is nothing sacred?

When I lived in Daytona Beach there were no gates keeping people off the beach.  No charge to get on the beach.  The drag races during bike week were held on 11th street west of town.  The cabbage patch was an empty field.  Main Street had year round businesses and The Boothill Saloon was reserved for 1 percenters.  Times change.
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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #33 on: March 19, 2019, 07:20:37 AM »

Offline bodine99

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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #34 on: March 19, 2019, 01:09:31 PM »
I've been going to bike week off and on for 30 years now.  It aint' what it used to be.  The Harley display at the Convention Center...gone.  The big HOG concert on Friday night (saw ZZ Top one year) gone. The HD parade to the races...gone. BMW demos...gone. Once, many years ago, even Moto Guzzi had a small demo tent set up.  I rode a V11 LeMans.  Millers...and all the surrounding vendors...gone.  Beach Street vendors...gone.  MMI horsepower dyno contest...gone, along with MMI.  Hell, even the Shark lounge is gone! Is nothing sacred?
It's going to get worse. The France's and realtor giant Hyatt Brown are joining forces to transform the main & beach streets and city park. high rise offices and condo's coming

Online Motormike

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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #35 on: March 19, 2019, 07:46:52 PM »
I can remember during the early nineties (when was the fiftieth anniversary....1991 or 92?) the crowds were so big the police would CLOSE the island bridges to all inbound traffic!  No one could get in because of the grid-lock until people left. Of course, back then all the bikes were carbureted, and often jetted too rich so you would here lots of Harleys popping, backfiring, over-heating, and basically running like shit.  I commented to my buddy this year how with fuel injection you don't hear much of that bad running any more.  I know change is the only constant, but it's still hard not to feel sad and nostolgic for the old days.   

Offline bodine99

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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #36 on: March 20, 2019, 09:08:18 AM »
Big fun at the vintage stuff at the armory with Despain videos playing, Birch's Triumph, Robisons HD Rats Hole show when it wasn't twin cams and big wheel baggers!!!

Online Motormike

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Re: Bike Week... an alternate universe devoid of reality
« Reply #37 on: March 20, 2019, 07:39:25 PM »
Robisons.  The first year I went to bike week, Robisons was still the Harley dealer in Daytona.  Bikes all over the place, you could barely find a spot to park.  Now it's just another empty building with a for sale/lease sign in the window. 

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