Still a tad bit shaky, the ill result of the bad fall from the last time I rode her...um four or more years ago. But, after a few minuets it was just like riding a bicycle...um, wait, what?
Hope to see some of you folks there, as well, and when your done, feel free to come pay us a visit! Okay, gonna head out and when we get back, I'll have some pic's to share with you!
WOW!!! That was AWESOME!!! And what a perfect spot! On Edgewater drive just before beautiful downtown Dunedin in the auxiliary parking lot of the church, nestled beneath a beautiful canopy of trees, providing ample shade for all in attendance. Looked to be a good amount of folks in attendance, all of like minds! And MAN, were there some beautiful rides there! I was DAH-ROOOOOLIN'! One bike was up for raffle, a replica of the classic Western Flyer!
Several of the rides in attendance were straight forward classic, full of charm accented with the patina of age, some were straight up rust buckets, filled with the mystery of a long life.
Of course, there were some gorgeous restorations and others praying for the chance to shine again.
Not to mention some newer factory customs...
And home made customs full of whimsy and character!
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| "What "Tank Girl" would ride...if she didn't have a tank!" |
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| "obviously a light meant for blinding pilots!" |
Of course, as would be expected being held so close to the shop, we saw a lot of our regulars there and made many new friends. Had a good talk with the coordinators, and got the info into their bike club the Rat Riders. They invited me to tag along on their next outing, but not sure if I'll ride the Clown Bike for that! They mainly have a convoy of sharp cruisers out bar hoping, and....well, I can't imagine navigating that ride through narrow Dunedin streets after a few brews!
After seeing all those WAY cool customs...OH...I got the ITCH! Definitely going to the drawing board! I have a concept in mind, which will not be a small bike, and a full custom frame build. And, no surprise, inspired by Firefly! SO, keep an eye out for that...hopefully.
What was a REAL hoot was as we were wandering about, I began to notice something very flattering, all total, I saw about two dozen bikes there that we had rebuilt and sold! Oh, some had been taken and fully restored, while some were just being flipped. One in particular, the Pepsi bike we sold about two months ago for $80.00, the buyer had out for $350.00!! I wish him luck!
OH! And I did buy a few things! Funny though, the thing is, they had nothing to do with bikes! A gent had these buried in a box at the corner of his table, but when I saw them a FLOOD of nostalgia hit me, as I LOVED reading these things as a kid! I had to have them....
And, even though we didn't win the Classic Western Flyer in the raffle, we DID win this....
I don't know if any of the vendors made any serious cash, didn't see a lot of visitors walking away with parts stashed under their arms or wheeling out rides, but everyone there seemed to have had a good time. Of course, my ego was stroked at all the show stopping glances I got on the Clown, and parking it out front, a lot of photos were snapped of her! There was only one other tall bike there, a double decker but, nope, ours is still the tallest!
And I only fell once! Well, not fell, had to bail off when we were headed out because the kids were all higgly piggly about me. They don't follow direction very well at times. All in all though, the guys in charge ran a real awesome show, and I am quite thankful for their efforts. The more folks out there willing to do things like this to promote the lifestyle and addiction THE BETTER!
And finally, MY pick for BEST IN SHOW (but it only took third place) is this crazy concoction resulting in a SWEET little piece of STEAM PUNK!!
Now, I'm gonna take a moment and connect with the Rat Riders and find out their next run, then it's back to the grindstone! See YA!
=)
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