June 24, 2006
Wow! What a marathon weekend! Carman delivered my Bike Thursday about 3pm with the seat and holsters finished up. I still had to modify some brackets to mount the seat and fix some wiring issues. We loaded the bikes up and I fixed Vicious up on the trailer. I had just rejetted it two nights prior but haven't ridden it yet to determine if it was running any better at 3/4 throttle. Here are some shots of the new seat and holster bags while setting on the trailer before we left.
Look at that tool work!! Man Carman does some awesome work and is so talented. Couldn't have asked for anything better than what he delivered!!
Here's a shot from above.
We hauled butt to Knoxville starting
Thursday night about 10. We didn't get to do any riding around Friday in
Knoxville since we were exhausted from the drive and it was pouring rain when we
got settled in.....
We stored the bike in Donny's (my painter buddy in Knoxville) shop on Clinton
Hwy 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
doesn't. I am going to have to lower the upper Goldwing 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. Here is Vicious staged with a number 12 tag. My
beautiful wife Erin is standing to the left with a matching flamed shirt!
;-)
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 , 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. Here are some shots of other rides in the
show...
Jason from Coyote Customs in OKC
Vicious
A Loud Color Combo VTX
A totally tricked out VTX (and totally paid for customization)
A Classic Older Goldwing, this thing was clean!
I love silver and chrome together on the VTX
They wouldn't let Harleys or Gold Wings enter the show but this guy got to display his bike. Some Harley guys got pretty ticked that they couldn't bring any of their stuff into the show. One guy was complaining that the older Wing got to enter when other newer ones couldn't. This was a "Cruiser Show" they reiterated. This guy was apparently wrestling with good and evil spirits!
Took a lot of time on this I am certain!
"Lipstick" belonged to a female rider of course!
Another lady riders bike, a 750 Spirit
Guess the year of this Royal Enfield....I had no idea they were still making these bikes in India off of a 1958 design! Tis is a 2000 model shipped over seas.
This guys bikes weren't in the show but he was advertising his wide tire kits.
Mmmm Shiney! Can you see me?
Now that's wide!
Honda gave some VTXs to magazine Editors to have them customize them to the extremist that they could. Nodody I talked to really like this one but I thought it was cool from a modification perpective. I believe they said it was all metal, no fiberglass.
The whole rear end lifts up and uncovers the leather bags that detach and can be carried off.
This was a nice looking Shadow and was ridden by a lady.
This was another from Coyote Customs, a purple VTX.
Here is a totally raked out chopper!
Another VTX and it has one of my pipes!! That would make this an 1800C with custom paint.
A Patriotic bike that we thought would place just due to the theme and the timing.
The only Ruin (I meant to say RUNE really!) He has custom paint and a nice Corbin seat and a NOS bottle.
Click here to continue on to page two!!
Main Bike Page Vicious Home Page
Gonzo
02' Shadow Spirit "Vicious Cycle", 98 Valkyrie "Eragon"