Ok, the craft beer festival was crazy! 57 vendor tents with 3-7 samples EACH! 3000 people crowded into a half acre fenced in area! Every time I turned around to go to the next tent, I almost spilled my sample bumping into some random hottie. Oh, the inconvenience.
The bike show was FREAKING AWESOME! They advertised 200 bikes…it was more like 350 just in the show, and over 1000 in the parking lot! I've never seen so many harleys, jap bikes, and british bikes sharing a space so amicably before, but then, big shows are a rarity down here, so people behave. (they were not parked in a segregated manner, the bikes were all mixed up!)
The derby girls were very enthusiastic, and I got on their good side right away because I have derby in my family. My cousin in South Bend wanted to play, and so did her friends, but there was no team and no derby presence at all there…so they started one!
The bikes were so cool, I even saw two custom CB's. I saw a chopped with a CB engine. I saw a vintage board tracker. I saw a $100K old brit bike. I saw two CB750 frames, one with engine, and a separate CB650 SOHC engine, all for too much money, so I passed. I paid $1650 for a running bike, I'm not paying $1000 for a frame with two tires and an engine with nothing else but the headlight bucket! The bare frame?, empty, for $500?, non-negotiable?, no title, pass. ALL the parts in the swap meet that were in decent condition were for harleys, all the rest looked like the rusty junk swept off the floor of a shop that had it's first cleaning in 50 years. Unlabeled, don't know what it fits, half the time, didn't know what it was!
So i'm standing there getting some good pics of a Ducati 750 cafe, when who comes up looking at it and the 1920's harley with side car next to it, than mr Billy Joel. Yes, that one. Started talking bikes, and shop (he's got a big shop in Oyster Bay now), and found he's a good guy. Got a pic of him talking to two other guys, forgot to get one of him and me talking. But hey, that's what the show was about, the bikes! Very surreal and cool experience. It's got to be one of the best shows in Florida. I talked to several people from all over the state who said so, and travel to this one every year. This event is going on the must do every year calendar for sure!
There will be pics, I've got to go through them and do some edits, then upload them and post the link. I took over 400 pics in the two hours I was there. I should've stayed longer, but the beer was calling. lol
Mark Davis
Palm Beach Gardens, FL
amateur photographer, hot rodder, motorcyclist, adventurer
"Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul."
Locked
Just when I had thought there was nothing interesting in Indiana.
Who is Billy Joel? Is that the guy running for office this year?
Sounds like it was a good time.Looking forward to the pics.I hope you used a decent camera
