Bryan's Blog

Well, we did it. We survived another year. Which is more than I can say for a growing list of motorcycle rallys and events. Much to Waheed's chagrin, we won't be Honda Hooting this year. Adam loved the down-home feel and the friendliness of the people who traveled to Knoxville for the annual Honda rally. Where will all those Gold Winger's go now? They're a resourceful lot, so maybe they can organize something at the grass-roots level.

Seems like Hollister wants to pull the plug on their yearly event too. It was reported that the Hollister City Council shot down sanctioning the event in 2009 by a 4-0 vote. Which means that now that it isn't 'official', more bikers than ever will probably converge on this small central Californian town. 

Myrtle Beach isn't exactly opening up its arms this year. The City of Myrtle Beach raised taxes last year with the money earmarked to study and promote ways to discourage the ralllies. And while over 60% of people said the community should work with the bikers, what about the other 40%? In these difficult financial times, I wouldn't be so fast to bite the hands that put dollars in my coffers. I hear that the rally is still going to be held, but I think it has already blackened its own eye.

I also learned that the Legend of the Motorcycle International Concours d'Elegance won't be held this year. Sure, this might be a smaller, more-specialized gathering tailored toward collectors, but it's still sad to see so many events having to pull the plug.

Which makes me even more ecstatic that the 9th Annual Cincinnati V-Twin Expo will be here next month. It offers the first chance to see the latest and greatest products in store for the V-Twin industry in 2009. There's no better place to get ideas for what we'd like to put on our 2009 project bike, an area I'm excited about ramping up this year. Besides seeing old friends, it provides opportunities to make new ones. Not to mention there's always plenty of custom builders and smaller custom-production houses on hand, so it's the perfect place to see some great work and meet custom builders we'd like to feature.

Of course, Bike Week 2009 in Daytona will get the rally season cranked up soon after that. Then it will be no rest for the weary. One of our resolutions for the new year is to give our readers even more event and rally coverage, so Climb On with Motorcycle USA as we ramp it up this year. Because I like to think of the motorcycle industry as the Hydra - cut off one of its heads and two more spring up in its place. For every event that is cancelled, hopefully two more sprout in its place.
Bring it on, 2009!!