Another crazy day in that crazy city of Sturgis, South Dakota where it is all happening. Shows, shows and more shows. The Big Bagger Show featured some awesome baggers cut, shut and slammed to the max! Then there was the inimitable Rat’s Hole Show, the Hamsters Bike Show judged by the City Mayor and a stack of other events. Big hearted Hamsters Yaffe gets new heart. And - as befits a bike builder - it is a chrome one. Yes, prominent builder and Hamster Paul Yaffe received the Chrome Heart Award this week, presented by Childrens Care to honor individuals in the motorcycle world whose philanthropic support and civic duty represents everything positive in the industry and sport of ...

  Don't miss the Thursday News every week on Bikernet. This week the heated action includes the Michael Lichter Born Free Exhibit, motorcycle accidents and vision, Ethanol dispute, dual Timken bearing lower ends, AMD Sturgis winners, new movies, Hoka Hey reports, and a bad joke or two.   http://www.bikernet.com/pages/STURGIS_GROWTH_THURSDAY_NEWS_FOR_AUGUST_9_2012.aspx

Las Vegas is gambler’s paradise to tourists worldwide but Vegas also serves up winning rides for us motorcyclists; showing its hand with crimson hues of Red Rock and snow covered mountains of Mt. Charleston to the vibrancy of the Valley of Fire.  Rolling into sin city on a Harley Davidson Ultra Classic Champion conversion, this Triking Viking dominates the strip. READ MORE

Another day of fine clear weather and a tad cooler than the previous two days. Sturgis was in full swing with bike shows, rides around the fabulous Black Hills and lots of beer being drunk. Once again vendor reports are universally positive and there are many smiles at the booths. The Hall of Fame induction took place today with the following inductees: Rodney Roberts, Dave Barr, Buzz Kanter, Ed Kretz Jr., Steve Piehl, Ron Stratman, and Brian and Laura Klock, who are being inducted as one unit. Each of then is being honored for their contributions to the sport of motorcycling. The 2012 Sturgis AMD World Championship Of Bike Building results were announced today. Who would have thought an Ironhead ...

Gary Maurer, from Kustom Inc. is at the TIG welder again. He scrambled so he could vacation in the Badlands with our bike at the Broken Spoken. Check it out, if you have a chance. You could win this bike...   http://www.bikernet.com/pages/BikernetCycle_Source_Sweeps_Build_Part_6_Sponsored_by_Xpress.aspx

 Three-Time Land Speed Record Holder Hopes to Set New Records at the Salt Flats Valerie Thompson, 3-Time Land Speed Record Holder and owner/driver of the Valerie Thompson Racing Team, is set to compete at Speed Week (August 11-17) and the BUB Speed Trials (August 25-30) at the Bonneville Salt Flats.  The team also plans to compete in the September 8-11 World of Speed event, pending additional sponsorship funding. This will be Thompson’s first time competing at Speed Week and World of Speed; the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) sanctions both events.  Thompson’s first visit to the Salt Flats was in 2005 when she ran in the ‘Run-Whatcha-Brung’ class, reaching a top speed of 153.561. Like many first timers at Bonneville, ...

According to a city official numbers are definitely up on the past few years of the Rally though at this stage he could not quote actual figures. However, long time vendors along Lazelle report the same thing; crowds are up though not near the figures of the peak years. The judging for the AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building took place today and as a judge over the past few years I can report that the standard of some of the entries is absolutely amazing. Style-wise, the long, fat-tired choppers of yesteryear have almost vanished except of a couple of over the top examples and the current trend is toward both bobbers and rideable, canyon-carving bikes. Victory Motorcycles have ...

I’ve found the traffic on Junction when riding into Sturgis is always a good guide to rally attendance numbers, and on Sunday afternoon, it was jam-packed for what seemed like forever. And on Monday, walking around Sturgis and talking with vendors confirmed it: the 2012 Rally looks like being a biggie. Several long term vendors told me that they had already enjoyed the best business for several years and the signs were very encouraging indeed. The weather has stayed hot for the past several days with no sign of thunderstorms just yet. The AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building is down somewhat in the number of entries this year, but the standard seems exceptionally high. This is the last ...

  These photos are part of a gallery exhibit at the University of Rochester, in Rochester, NY. All of the photos are of abandoned places around Western New York. There are many abandoned buildings in this area due to rapid economic/infrastructure changes in the last century. The replacement of the Eerie Canal with the New York Thruway, the collapse of film photography, and over-development before the recent recession left the area with lots of empty buildings and no reason to replace them with something new. I'm told the motorcycles used to be at a place called Cole's on the north side of the Erie Canal but got moved to this site when urban renewal started along the canal. The owner ...

  The Sheriff delivers hot, old-school action from Sweden. This is a classic, built on the hot rod history, and the biker beginnings.   http://www.bikernet.com/pages/OLD_ROLLED_DENIM_STYLED_SWEDISH_WEEKEND_EVENT_.aspx