Put on your best leather chaps and rumble down to the great Southwest. It's time for the 14th annual Arizona Bike Week.
How does ten days of biker events, the promise of sun-filled skies and riding through the beauty of the desert in spring sound to you? This dreamy description will soon be reality for thousands of motorcyclists who will converge on the Phoenix area for the
14th Annual Arizona Bike Week (ABW). With ten days of fun on tap, ABW has been broken up into two sections, Pre-Rally Days from April 9-13 followed by Cyclefest at WestWorld from April 14-18.
Jackyl’s Jesse James Dupree will set the pre-rally party off on the right foot Friday, April 9 as he leads the ‘Chainsaw Run’ from Fort McDowell Casino to Chester’s
Harley-Davidson. That night, Dupree will hit the stage along with his band Jackyl for a pre-rally concert at Chester’s dealership.
The list of attending manufacturers is long, ranging from V8-powered Boss Hoss Motorcycles to 50cc Kymco scooters. You’ll also find Can-Am, Harley-Davidson, Kawasaki, and Star Motorcycles offering demo rides. There’s no better way to scout out the full line of 2010 motorcycles if you’re contemplating purchasing a new ride than by being able to check out competitors’ lines back-to-back, up close and personal.
Maricopa County is huge, and there’s no better way to explore it than by participating in a poker run or charity ride like the ‘Riding for Kids Charity Run’ scheduled for Wednesday, April 14. The 234-mile run starts at Buddy Stubbs Arizona Harley-Davidson and ends at WestWorld in Scottsdale. Proceeds raised from the benefit ride will go to local children’s charities.
Cheap Trick lit up the stage at the HandleBar Saloon last year. This year's list of performers includes Vince Neil, Ratt, Dierks Bentley and George Thorogood and the Destroyers.
Be sure not to miss the Arizona Bike Week Pageant. After a series of preliminary rounds, 12 of the hottest girls in the Southwest will compete in the finals Wednesday night for the title of Miss Arizona Bike Week. Vince Neil of Motley Crue fame heads up the panel of judges and will perform afterwards at the HandleBar Saloon.
Speaking of, The HandleBar Saloon is going to be one of the hottest venues for ABW. Thursday night, Ratt will lay down some good old-fashioned ‘80s butt-rock along with a sampling of their new releases. Ratt rocketed to fame in 1984 when its debut record Out of the Cellar sold more than three million copies.
There will also be plenty of high profile custom bike builders at the event. Jim Nasi Customs and Trask Performance will be hosting a gig early in the week at The Hideaway Grill and on Thursday, Paul Yaffe is bringing his ‘Bagger Nation’ to The Hideaway for a photo and autograph session. Afterwards, Yaffe will lead a ride over to Cyclefest to take in the Ratt concert. Yaffe will also be inducted into the International Master Bike Builders Association Hall of Fame during ABW.
Yaffe, Neil, and
Michael Ballard and Angie of Full Throttle Saloon fame are scheduled to lead the Fifth Annual T-Bar Trail Ride. The event starts with a stop at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill for some chuck wagon-style grub, followed up by an eye-pleasing ride to take in the ladies at Christie’s Cabaret and Cheetah’s Cabaret in Phoenix with a final trip to Christie’s second location in Tempe. This light-hearted ride with the catch phrase ‘Helping boobs one bar at a time’ aims to raise funds for the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center in Scottsdale.
The desert is beautiful in spring bloom.
Friday will be a good day to polish up the bike and go for a ride as several poker runs and tours of the local countryside are planned for that day. There’s the Seventh Annual Fire Fighters Poker Run, the Second Annual Puttin’ for Pooches Poker Run, and The Mandatory Hideaway Grill and Broken Spoke Gypsy Tour led by Mark and Jay Allen from The Broken Spoke Saloon to choose from. The excellent music lineup continues that night with country music star Dierks Bentley scheduled to perform at the HandleBar Saloon. And for the brave souls who don’t mind putting themselves out there, the Fourth Annual Jager Games will follow the concert at the HandleBar with a long list of risqué events that organizers won’t even list. The Saturday morning quote posted with the description of the Jager Games sums it up best: “I can’t believe I did that.”
The People’s Choice Bike Show is slated for Saturday to be held next to the HandleBar Saloon. There will be 25 categories for custom motorcycles, dirt bikes, Euros, Indians, Harley-Davidsons, metrics, Victorys, trikes/sidecars, antique/vintage bikes and even custom scooters. First place winners in each category will receive a trophy while The People’s Choice Best of Show winner gets $500 to go along with their trophy.
Crowds will cheer for their favorites in the friendly competition known as the Arizona Bike Week pageant.
Once again, the HandleBar Saloon will be ‘Bad to the Bone’ Saturday night as George Thorogood and the Destroyers take to the stage. After the show, you’ll want to stick around for ‘The World Famous Saturday Night Contest.’ They’ll be celebrating rainfall in the desert as the crowd will cheer for its favorite set in the popular Wet T-Shirt contest.
Even the Major League Baseball team the Arizona Diamondbacks is contributing to the fun. The team is offering special discounts for attendees of Arizona Bike Week for Bike Night at Chase Field. The season just kicked off this week, so if you’re looking for a break from the biker scene, a MLB game is just the ticket.
There will be plenty of other bars featuring local talent, tattoo contests, and popular sideshow attractions like the Wall of Death. In between the fun, a long list of vendors is waiting in the wings for you to come check out their wares. Motorcycle USA has a correspondent on sight, so check back in the coming weeks for a full report of the festivities.
