With Guilty Customs on their way to Sturgis for the 68th annual rally, they had the opportunity to stop in at West Virginia’s Mountainfest courtesy of Cycle Source Magazine. The organizers of the Mountainfest event have repeatedly put together one of the regions most colorful, entertaining and action packed events around. Along with other builders such as Lead Sled, Bare Knuckle Choppers, Pandemonium and Don Gray Customs, the Guilty Gang (accompanied by Robert Bailie from MotoDog Media as photographer had a great time meeting new friends and seeing one of the countries most enjoyable riding areas. Morgantown WV is just south of the Pennsylvania state line and should be on every riders “must do” list. The 4 day event brought together opportunities for attendees to enjoy their machines, friends, listening to great music by such bands as Kansas all while having beautiful weather and experiencing the friendliness of the local’s. Thanks WV.

NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer and Athena “Chickie” Ransom will be appearing together at the upcoming Harley Davidson 105th Anniversary Celebration in Milwaukee August 28-31. Bowyer, a Harley driver himself, will be at the Shell Racing Experience at Veteran’s Park signing autographs. Also, the all-women Chopper Chick Crew, led by Athena will be doing a live custom bike-build. The build will take place at the House of Harley dealership in Milwaukee, with the completed bike being donated to RAACE, an organization combating child abuse.

Here are some of the other events planned for the Celebration:
Event goers will have the opportunity to test their driving skills with the No. 07 and No. 29 NASCAR show cars and racing simulators and get a first hand feel of what it’s like to be in the pits with the Shell Tire Change Challenge. Limited Edition Harley-Davidson/Shell Gift Card giveaways that will be distributed at select times and locations by roving Shell representatives. Demos of the 2009 Harley-Davidson® models, all fueled by Shell V-Power, a high-quality premium gasoline. Participants will also receive a free Shell Gift Card during registration at this State Fair Park event.

The same annual custom chopper show that has been held in Pittsburgh for seven years, has now found a new home in Morgantown, West Virginia during their annual MountainFest Rally. This annual event that attracted 10,000 local riders for a one day show, promises to have much of the same killer bikes and great judging that it has always featured. There are 56 trophies in 20 separate classes with a Best of Show for Pro and Open divisions. The show, that is open to the public and costs nothing to enter, will be held on Saturday July 26th at Mylan Park. Registration will begin at 8am and close at 1pm sharp.
In addition to the show, professional builders and national celebrities will be on hand all weekend to exhibit their bikes. Builder such as: Bill Dodge - Bling’s Cycles, Cj Hanlon - Guilty Customs, Pat Patterson - Led Sled Customs, Paul Wideman - Bare Knuckle Choppers, Steve Peffer - Steel City Choppers, Casey - The Paint Chop, John Vyborny - Jax’s Cycles and more to be announced. Wild and Wonderful MountainFest Motorcycle Rally Sponsored by Triple S Harley-Davidson, Wild and Wonderful West Virginia & Budweiser, is scheduled for July 24-27 in Morgantown, West Virginia.

A quick look reveals that true to their motto, MountainFest 2008 promises four fun-filled days of riding, revelry, and brotherhood in the rolling hills and valleys of the Mountain State. In addition to the Chopper Show, this rally has some of the best attractions including a $20,000 FREE poker run, 20 different tourism destinations, one of the best antique and vintage displays ever assembled (HONESTLY), entertainment by the band Kansas and a vintage motorcycle race through the streets of Morgantown on Sunday.

All of this, including all parking, comes to the event attendee for the price of $10, yep, a 4-day-event, bikes shows, entertainment and all parking for ten lousy bucks! That’s one of the reasons Cycle Source Magazine voted them best new rally in 2006. See more info on the Cycle Source Custom Chopper Show by visiting their Web site at http://www.cyclesource.com.

Having consumed far too many “Red Bulls” and twinkies, and just in time for Sturgis Guilty Customs has rolled out their newest “Builders Box Kit.” This package includes a dual powder coated and (industry leading) ChopperShox seat shock system with all necessary mounting hardware, 1/8 inch thick seat pan (choice of bobber or chopper) and a heavy duty custom Battery box. Also included is a choice of a .070 gauge tear drop (shown) or traditional chopper gas tank with 2″ tunnel which holds 4.5 gallons. ALL parts are made in U.S.A and come with 100% money back guarantee. And the price? A very reasonable $463.00. For more information visit the website or call 407.453.0844.

Seems the network gods are looking for the next “superstar” builder by promoting “The Next Great American Builder” series. The series is targeted to fill the gap left by shows that are no longer on TV, and is being billed as “the ultimate motorcycle building competition”. After thousands of entries and narrowing the field to 13 contestants, those chosen will now have to build a bike of their own design, all the while being judged by a panel. A panel made up of Billy lane, Paul Cox, Russell Mitchell, Gard Hollinger to name a few. Week after week, they’ll have to out wrench, out weld and out build each other or else burn out and get booted off. The last one standing will win the ultimate prize: they’re own high profile bike shop and a large cash prize. The celeb’s and contestants will be at the Seminole Hard Rock Roadhouse at Thunder Road in Sturgis this year. The producers are still taking “walk on” auditions.

If you were a kid of the early 70’s these “chopper cards” were very popular and hard to find in certain parts of the country. And just like baseball cards, you hoarded the ones you felt were going to be “priceless“. Well the craze never really caught on, however the passion still remains for those that work, ride or enjoy motorcycles. I still can remember that depressing day when dear old mom throw out those boxes of cards that just couldn’t make the trip across country due to space restrictions in the car. Saying something along the lines of “those things won’t be worth the paper they are printed on“…. Geee!! Couldn’t i have just held onto a few of them!

Well, here is another installment of the “helmet chronicles”. We’ve had some interesting pic’s of helmets sent to us and you’ll see them over the next few weeks. Either way, they all are cool. Seems the first one was a prize for an event called “El Diablo Run” out on the left coast. Great prize and the guy who won it has got to be enjoying it.

Our friend Paul Crowe at The Kneeslider has an interesting post regarding this behemoth build by Leonhardt Manufacturing. Here are some spec’s: fuel injected, 45 degree 6728 cc/410 cubic inch V-Twin runs through a 3 speed transmission with reverse. It puts out 523 foot pounds of torque. Seat height is 31.5 inches and overall length is 136 inches and weighs 1433 pounds. This is actually going to go into limited production and a sidecar will be available as well. Now, where’s the video?

Remember when the coolest kids on the block had the “BigWheels” that they could rocket around the driveway or neighborhood streets and do spin out or 360’s? They looked soooo cooool and, they seemed to have a lot of fun! Well that same fun may be an option for those grown up kids with the introduction of the “Cosmo” from Olmax Fabrication. As they say, “the cosmo is designed to bring out the kid in all of us”. The biggest difference between our childhood toys and the Cosmo is that this one is built around a fuel injected 650cc four stroke water cooled turbo charged vertical twin routed through a 4 speed automotive tranny…with reverse gear. HP is supposed to be around 70hp, which won’t get you any bragging rights at the strip but will move you around the community and on the highways pretty easily and get quite a few head turns. Replacement parts (air and oil filters) are available through most auto parts stores, though engine parts will need to be ordered from the factory or from a dealer. Base model starts at around $17,900. We’ve heard that they are looking for dealers currently so if your interested contact them directly or wait to see them at various national events around the country.

S&S® Cycle, enjoyed an incredibly successful 50th Anniversary Celebration this past June 27-29. The city of La Crosse played host to approximately 30,000 visitors as riders came in from across the country and around the world to commemorate the occasion. The weekend, hosted by the Smith family (owners of S&S) was planned over a year ago and involved 50 world-class builders using 50 limited production anniversary engines to build 50 unique custom bikes and to compete for $50,000 in S&S product credit. “Not only was it a success for S&S because of all that support, the entire community benefited, and several local charities including the Oktoberfest Committee, Boys & Girls Club, Children’s Museum, and Riverfront, Inc. were the beneficiaries of over $100,000 in combined charitable fund raising”, said Smith. Additional photo’s will be showing up as winners start bragging about their wins and magazines start publishing the builds. Now, onto the fun part of the weekend, the winners of the show!
P-Series
Krugger Motorcycles

SH-Series
Cook Customs

SB-Series
Odyssey Motorcycles

V-Series
Nicolas Chauvin Designs

T-Series
Bennett’s Performance

X-Wedge
Fred Kodlin Murdercycles

People’s Choice
Dougz Custom Paint & Fabrication

Champion
Hot Dock (picture shown above)

We call it “Self expression”. That opportunity each of us have to express our own taste, views, gripes or even prejudices. The medium we express it “on” however varies. Some do “it” on clothing, others on metal and still others on helmets. So we figured we’d start posting some pic’s of peoples helmets we’ve seen or owned ourselves and am asking those that use their own helmets as a form of expression to send us one or two pic’s so we can show the world. We’re thinking this could turn into a cool contest where some swag could be given away if we have enough participants. So how about it?!?

Well, lets try and sum up this years SmokeOut at the Franklin Drag Strip. Partly Sunny Skies. Cops. Cool Bikes. Super Builders and Vendors. Late Night Shenanigans. Sleeping Late. Turkey Legs. Cops. BYOB. Cool Bands. Great Drags. Cops. New Friends. Old Friends. Cops. Tickets. Anvil Toss. Wet T-Shirt Contest. Cops. Great Local Food. Nice locals. Super riding. Cops. Pretty much summed up this years Horse Smoke Out. Can’t say any more. Oh, did we say Cops!