Gonzo
06-26-2006, 12:56 AM
Wow! What a marathon weekend! Called in sick Friday and hauled butt to Knoxville (left Thursday night about 10.) Didn't get to do any riding around Friday since we were exhausted from the drive and it was pouring rain when we got settled in.....
We stored the bike in my painters shop on Clinton Hwy there in Knoxville, during the rain Friday night so we didn't have as much cleaning Saturday morning before the show, and didn't have to leave the bike out in the Hotel lot. Erin detailed Vicious out in the shop before we headed back to the hotel. Donny gave me a key to the shop to retrieve my bike the next morning. WHat a champ! Hauled the bike down to the hoot Saturday morning and got her in the show after a major fubar on my part. Backing down off of the trailer this time, the front fender caught the hinge on the tailgate and buckled it under!!! Holy CRAP!!! I was pissed but didn't udder a word, just grabbed that sucker and pulled it back into shape as best I could. There were black paint flakes hanging from it and bare spots of steel. I trailered it because it was such a rush near the end of the week that I didn't get a chance to tune in the bike and I wasn't sure if it would haul two up without rubbing. From the parking to the show I found out it doesnt. I am going to have to lower the upper GW mono-shock mount to raise the bike up some to keep it off the tire for two up riding, but we won't be riding this over any distances with the Valk in the stable.
When setting up for the show, I left the bars pointed straight forward to try to hide the damage. I think only a couple people may have noticed it but noone ever said anything to me. The bad part was the fender was so tweaked that the point on the fender tip in the center was about 3/4" off the tire center. Any builder would have seen that.
It was a hot day...not hot by Dallas temp standards, but at 87% humidity I would have just preferred to be standing in the rain doing the event as opposed to standing in that humidity! In the shade it wasn't too bad as long as that intermittent breeze kept up. The new shirt I was saving for this event, black button up with skulls and purple flames to match my bike, didn't help with the sweating....nor did the long black jeans and riders boots. I probably lost a couple pounds that day!! We had Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch that I hadn't had in years, but couldn't finish it as the day was killing my appetite for warm food.
THE BIKES
There weren't as many bikes in the show as we had expected. From the Honda Hoot website 2002, it stated that there were 100s of bikes...we expected something time consuming and drawn out and crowded. There were probably 20 bikes in the show. There were probably over 1000 in the parking lot!!
There were bikes entered from all ranges from an old Goldwing, a 2000 model Royal Enfield that I didn't even know they were still making overseas! Apparently so! There was a Rune with some custom paint, a gold VTX with $30,000 tied up into it (guy didn't do any of the work himself and came across as very arrogant to many people there, they told me so so no offense if you read this! Lol) Jason from Coyote customs parked his wicked black chopper next to Vicious so I got to meet him and chat and went and looked over his bikes later in his booth. Real down to earth nice guy.
I had so many people pouring over my bike. I met two gentlemen that drove 1959 Cadillacs when they came out and were instantly drawn by those taillights on Vicious, as were most of the people that came up for a closer look. There was one guy, big guy, seemed very important, I think he may have been a builder, a very initimidating figure and a man of few words, he went over my bike very closely, pulled out his cell phone and made a call while talking about my bike, and looked it over some more. He went around the show with a counterpart with the same logo'd shirt on, and came back to my bike. I was describing what all I did to it to a few other folks and he came up to me and said....
Where you from?"......
Plano Texas I said back...
he paused..... looking off to his left with an ear towards me as if to be saying something he didn't ant others to hear, he says, ... "I really like everything you've done." as he stuck his hand out to be shaken. I shook his hand and said thanks man, I really appreciate that.
The last time I would see him he same up with a ballot and looked at Vicious' number 12 and headed back to the voting booth. Wish we would have gotten a picture of him so if I saw him again, I would know who he was.
Lots of people really enjoyed the bike. It was fun to tell the story of the build up many times. Next time I will have cards made up referring them to my website and have the painters and seat makers sites on it too.
Donny, my painter, and his wife Teri hung out with us most of the day and handed out some fliers and I think I drumed up some local business for him too. They really enjoyed watching people pour over the bike and look closely at the detail in the paint and other details. He was as proud as I was watching it all unfold in front of us.
Many people thought the taillights were 1956 Caddy, some 50's Pontiacs, or Buicks. Some thought the bike was a VTX because of the headlight, but noone knew it was an 1100 Shadow.
It was a peoples choice show so ballots were handed out to people walking through. Erin and I refrained from voting for our own bike and just watched everyone else. People watching is fun!! The holsters were a hit on the bike too!! Everyone thought that was so clever! The voting ended at 12:30 and the announcements came at 1. They called five numbers out and asked those owners to bring their bikes up to the podium. Erin and I were ecstatic to have number 12 announced!!
They introduced some builders and editors of some magazines that were given VTXs to customize from Honda directly. One has a rear fender that lifted up and covered the leather saddle bags and rear tires. I liked it for the enginnering of it but everyone I talked to thought it was butt ugly. The other one was nice. They said that they had 30-40 grand into those bikes. Donny was snickering in the crowd. I figure I have about 10 grand in mine including the $6000 purchase price!
They announced winner number five, a bike called "Lipstick" owned and ridden by a lady rider. The next bike (number 4) was another lady rider . It was white with floorboards and fringed leather accents all over it. Nice clean looking bike. The number three bike was called and it was Vicious. I got third place in a sea of two, 30 grand bikes. I can live with that. I had to give a run down of what I did to the bike and when they are shoving a microphone down your throat and your already sweating your butt of, in front of a large crowd, it is hard to remmebr everything. I did manage to get out Donny and Carmans names and websites but never even mentions the mod that really draws everyone in..the Caddy taillights.
The next bike was the gold VTX. The guy takes the mike and thanks so and so builder, so and so parts places galore, mentions some parts he wanted to put on it but couldn't afford, never mentions once how anything was done on the bike. Again turned more peoples heads....these are Honda guys...we do not want to hear how much to paid so and so to build you this and that...
And the number one peoples choice was the Honda Ruin....I mean Rune. (Sorry, the Valkyrie rider in me). It was a stock bike with some custom paint.
After the sow we walked the concourse and saw all teh vendors stuff. I saw a tire changer I think I am going to have to have. No more wrestling with a $5 tire tool!! No scratching rims, takes minutes to mount!! I mounted and dismounted a front tire on a carbon fiber wheel and an ATV tire. In minutes.
We left and went back to my painters shop and pulled the front fender off. I left it with him and loaded Vicious and the Valk back up and we headed home. Stopped just west of Nashville for the night and got home about 10 Sunday. With bikes in the garage, bags in the bedroom, report about finished up, I will look at my Third place plaque again and go to bed and start thinking about what all I have to accomplish to make it to the Honda Homecoming next month!
STay tuned on my website for pictures in the next couple of days...
Gonz
We stored the bike in my painters shop on Clinton Hwy there in Knoxville, during the rain Friday night so we didn't have as much cleaning Saturday morning before the show, and didn't have to leave the bike out in the Hotel lot. Erin detailed Vicious out in the shop before we headed back to the hotel. Donny gave me a key to the shop to retrieve my bike the next morning. WHat a champ! Hauled the bike down to the hoot Saturday morning and got her in the show after a major fubar on my part. Backing down off of the trailer this time, the front fender caught the hinge on the tailgate and buckled it under!!! Holy CRAP!!! I was pissed but didn't udder a word, just grabbed that sucker and pulled it back into shape as best I could. There were black paint flakes hanging from it and bare spots of steel. I trailered it because it was such a rush near the end of the week that I didn't get a chance to tune in the bike and I wasn't sure if it would haul two up without rubbing. From the parking to the show I found out it doesnt. I am going to have to lower the upper GW mono-shock mount to raise the bike up some to keep it off the tire for two up riding, but we won't be riding this over any distances with the Valk in the stable.
When setting up for the show, I left the bars pointed straight forward to try to hide the damage. I think only a couple people may have noticed it but noone ever said anything to me. The bad part was the fender was so tweaked that the point on the fender tip in the center was about 3/4" off the tire center. Any builder would have seen that.
It was a hot day...not hot by Dallas temp standards, but at 87% humidity I would have just preferred to be standing in the rain doing the event as opposed to standing in that humidity! In the shade it wasn't too bad as long as that intermittent breeze kept up. The new shirt I was saving for this event, black button up with skulls and purple flames to match my bike, didn't help with the sweating....nor did the long black jeans and riders boots. I probably lost a couple pounds that day!! We had Philly Cheesesteaks for lunch that I hadn't had in years, but couldn't finish it as the day was killing my appetite for warm food.
THE BIKES
There weren't as many bikes in the show as we had expected. From the Honda Hoot website 2002, it stated that there were 100s of bikes...we expected something time consuming and drawn out and crowded. There were probably 20 bikes in the show. There were probably over 1000 in the parking lot!!
There were bikes entered from all ranges from an old Goldwing, a 2000 model Royal Enfield that I didn't even know they were still making overseas! Apparently so! There was a Rune with some custom paint, a gold VTX with $30,000 tied up into it (guy didn't do any of the work himself and came across as very arrogant to many people there, they told me so so no offense if you read this! Lol) Jason from Coyote customs parked his wicked black chopper next to Vicious so I got to meet him and chat and went and looked over his bikes later in his booth. Real down to earth nice guy.
I had so many people pouring over my bike. I met two gentlemen that drove 1959 Cadillacs when they came out and were instantly drawn by those taillights on Vicious, as were most of the people that came up for a closer look. There was one guy, big guy, seemed very important, I think he may have been a builder, a very initimidating figure and a man of few words, he went over my bike very closely, pulled out his cell phone and made a call while talking about my bike, and looked it over some more. He went around the show with a counterpart with the same logo'd shirt on, and came back to my bike. I was describing what all I did to it to a few other folks and he came up to me and said....
Where you from?"......
Plano Texas I said back...
he paused..... looking off to his left with an ear towards me as if to be saying something he didn't ant others to hear, he says, ... "I really like everything you've done." as he stuck his hand out to be shaken. I shook his hand and said thanks man, I really appreciate that.
The last time I would see him he same up with a ballot and looked at Vicious' number 12 and headed back to the voting booth. Wish we would have gotten a picture of him so if I saw him again, I would know who he was.
Lots of people really enjoyed the bike. It was fun to tell the story of the build up many times. Next time I will have cards made up referring them to my website and have the painters and seat makers sites on it too.
Donny, my painter, and his wife Teri hung out with us most of the day and handed out some fliers and I think I drumed up some local business for him too. They really enjoyed watching people pour over the bike and look closely at the detail in the paint and other details. He was as proud as I was watching it all unfold in front of us.
Many people thought the taillights were 1956 Caddy, some 50's Pontiacs, or Buicks. Some thought the bike was a VTX because of the headlight, but noone knew it was an 1100 Shadow.
It was a peoples choice show so ballots were handed out to people walking through. Erin and I refrained from voting for our own bike and just watched everyone else. People watching is fun!! The holsters were a hit on the bike too!! Everyone thought that was so clever! The voting ended at 12:30 and the announcements came at 1. They called five numbers out and asked those owners to bring their bikes up to the podium. Erin and I were ecstatic to have number 12 announced!!
They introduced some builders and editors of some magazines that were given VTXs to customize from Honda directly. One has a rear fender that lifted up and covered the leather saddle bags and rear tires. I liked it for the enginnering of it but everyone I talked to thought it was butt ugly. The other one was nice. They said that they had 30-40 grand into those bikes. Donny was snickering in the crowd. I figure I have about 10 grand in mine including the $6000 purchase price!
They announced winner number five, a bike called "Lipstick" owned and ridden by a lady rider. The next bike (number 4) was another lady rider . It was white with floorboards and fringed leather accents all over it. Nice clean looking bike. The number three bike was called and it was Vicious. I got third place in a sea of two, 30 grand bikes. I can live with that. I had to give a run down of what I did to the bike and when they are shoving a microphone down your throat and your already sweating your butt of, in front of a large crowd, it is hard to remmebr everything. I did manage to get out Donny and Carmans names and websites but never even mentions the mod that really draws everyone in..the Caddy taillights.
The next bike was the gold VTX. The guy takes the mike and thanks so and so builder, so and so parts places galore, mentions some parts he wanted to put on it but couldn't afford, never mentions once how anything was done on the bike. Again turned more peoples heads....these are Honda guys...we do not want to hear how much to paid so and so to build you this and that...
And the number one peoples choice was the Honda Ruin....I mean Rune. (Sorry, the Valkyrie rider in me). It was a stock bike with some custom paint.
After the sow we walked the concourse and saw all teh vendors stuff. I saw a tire changer I think I am going to have to have. No more wrestling with a $5 tire tool!! No scratching rims, takes minutes to mount!! I mounted and dismounted a front tire on a carbon fiber wheel and an ATV tire. In minutes.
We left and went back to my painters shop and pulled the front fender off. I left it with him and loaded Vicious and the Valk back up and we headed home. Stopped just west of Nashville for the night and got home about 10 Sunday. With bikes in the garage, bags in the bedroom, report about finished up, I will look at my Third place plaque again and go to bed and start thinking about what all I have to accomplish to make it to the Honda Homecoming next month!
STay tuned on my website for pictures in the next couple of days...
Gonz