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Fourth Annual St. Pete BikeFest

By General Posts

OCC Road House and Bert’s Barracuda Harley-Davidson to Host
Fourth Annual St. Pete BikeFest – November 18-21

WHO: OCC Road House & Museum, massive new restaurant, entertainment venue and museum, and official Orange Country Choppers headquarters, and Bert’s Barracuda and Bert’s Black Widow Harley-Davidson, one of the top-performing Harley-Davidson dealerships in the nation

WHAT: OCC Road House and Bert’s Barracuda will host the fourth annual St. Pete BikeFest, a rumbling, rolling four-day celebration of motorcycles and live music. More than 14 national and regional acts will perform on two stages throughout the weekend, with nightly headline acts that include Saving Abel & Saliva (Thursday), chart-topping country act Lo Cash (Friday), and rockers Night Ranger (Saturday). Also performing throughout the weekend will be favorites Tobacco Rd Band and Autograph. There will be live music on two alternating stages all day Thursday through Sunday until 6 p.m. The afternoon concerts are complimentary, while the evening headliner concerts are ticketed.

Paul Teutul Sr. of Orange County Choppers fame will rev things up Saturday, Nov. 20, along with a bike show featuring more than 200 cycles presented by Full Throttle magazine. Vendors Row (Thursday-Sunday) will feature the latest bike gear, clothing and accessories. Food and drink specials will be offered throughout the event.

St. Pete BikeFest has partnered with RumFish Beach Resort, a TradeWinds resort, to offer festival goers a special three-night package for two with rates as low as $720 per package. Packages include various extras such as discounted accommodations, VIP concert tickets nightly, guaranteed motorcycle parking at OCC Road House during the nightly national acts, and beach bar crawl entries. To book the RumFish Beach Resort package, please CLICK HERE To Visit TradeWinds BikeFest packages.

WHEN: Nov. 18-21, 2021

WHERE: OCC Road House & Museum
10575 49th Street North
Clearwater, Florida 33762

COST: The St. Pete BikeFest is free and open to the public, but nightly headliner concerts are ticketed. Pricing options include the following
• General Admission: $10 one-day ticket or $50 three-day ticket; includes ticket to concert(s)
• VIP: $50 one-day ticket or $125 three-day ticket; includes ticket to concert(s) with roped off VIP area and closer view
• Super VIP: $100 one-day ticket or $250 three-day ticket; includes ticket to concert(s) with exclusive roped off front of stage view area for headlining acts

INFO: For additional information, go to St. Pete BikeFest website at www.stpetebeachbikefest.com
or call 727-231-1510.

OCC Road House & Museum Roaring into St. Petersburg

By General Posts

Local Businessman Keith Overton Partners with Celebrity Paul Teutul Sr. on New Orange County Choppers-Themed Restaurant and Attraction

St. Petersburg, Fla. (Nov. 17, 2020) – Paul Teutul Sr. of Orange County Choppers fame and area hospitality executive Keith Overton today announced plans to open the OCC Road House & Museum, a new restaurant and attraction based on Teutul’s wildly popular OCC brand. Located adjacent to the 9.5 acre complex that is home to Bert’s Barracuda Harley-Davidson, the one-of-a-kind destination restaurant will be decked out with a fleet of Paul Sr.’s custom choppers featured on the hit Discovery Network series “American Chopper,” along with hundreds of rare items from his vast collection of biker memorabilia, many never before seen by the public. With more than 11,000 square feet of indoor space, the family-friendly OCC Road House will be one of the area’s largest full-service restaurants, with indoor and outdoor seating for more than 325 guests to enjoy a full menu of classic American fare. The restaurant will also feature a massive 25,000-square-foot pavilion for concerts, outdoor dining, a billiards hall, floor games and other entertainment, and a retail store loaded with merchandise and collectibles for bikers, friends, and fans. The new OCC Road House & Museum is expected to break ground by the end of the year, with an anticipated opening in May 2021.

“As a long-time biker and St. Pete resident, I’m fired up to partner with Paul Teutul Sr. and bring something new and exciting to the dining and entertainment scene that will appeal to locals looking for great food, fun and live entertainment, and to motorcycle enthusiasts and OCC fans from all over the world,” said Keith Overton, owner and developer of the OCC Road House & Museum. “We expect this unique, destination experience to be an instant success, and a concept we will plan to immediately license to other interested restaurant owners throughout the U.S. and Europe.”

Overton, a 35-year veteran of Florida’s hospitality industry, served as President at TradeWinds Island Resorts for the past 25 years. During that time, he and his team worked with Bert King of Bert’s Barracuda Harley-Davidson and Paul Sr. to create the overwhelmingly successful St. Pete Beach BikeFest, which attracted 75,000 visitors to the area annually. “That experience got me thinking about other opportunities to build on the synergies from St. Pete Beach BikeFest and Bert’s brand-new destination dealership, and to further collaborate with Paul Sr. on something bigger and badder,” said Overton.

Partnering with entrepreneur, TV celebrity, motorcycle builder and founder of Orange County Choppers Paul Teutul Sr. was an easy decision for Overton, as the two have become friends over the past decade. According to Overton, Paul Sr. has long-standing ties to Florida and the local community, and a huge following in the Sunshine State. The OCC Road House & Museum will be an extension of the OCC brand, showcasing Teutul’s one-of-a-kind creations in an upscale, industrial environment that will make guests and fans “feel like they’re hanging out with Paul in his workshop.”

The restaurant and museum will be packed with motorcycle memorabilia Paul Sr. has personally collected over the past three decades, including an enormous “patch wall” with tens of thousands of patches he has been gifted by members of the military and first responders over the years. Overton and Paul Sr. welcome military personnel and first responders, past and present, to help continue to fill the patch wall, leaving their mark for others to see. An Orange County Choppers Wall of History will feature custom choppers in a “chronology of chrome” detailing the brand’s more than 20-year evolution.

Building the OCC Road House & Museum adjacent to Bert’s Barracuda Harley-Davidson dealership was a natural choice for Overton as well. One of the top performing Harley-Davidson dealerships in the country, Bert’s Barracuda has a loyal following and attracts a steady stream of bikers and brand enthusiasts from far and wide. In addition to this built-in customer base and the region’s enduring tourism appeal, the restaurant’s central location in Pinellas County will make it a convenient option for lunch, Happy Hour, dinner, and late-night entertainment for the many nearby businesses and residents of the greater Tampa Bay area. A full year-round calendar of live nightly entertainment, major concerts featuring regional and national acts, and other charity and special events at the campus pavilion is also expected to generate additional traffic to the restaurant and museum.

At a cost of more than $6.5 million to build, Overton expects the OCC Road House & Museum to provide a significant economic benefit to the City of Pinellas Park and the entire area by creating more than 50 construction jobs, and roughly 90 full-time and 20 part-time restaurant positions. “The timing of this announcement and the project is intended to bring some very positive news to residents and businesses in this community who are dealing with the negative effects of the pandemic. Paul, Bert and I are very confident about Florida’s recovery and the success of this newly created concept,” added Overton.

For more information on the OCC Road House & Museum, visit OCCRoadHouse.com or call Keith Overton, President & CEO, at (727) 432-3428. For media inquiries, contact Kelly Prieto, Vice President of Hayworth PR, at (386) 677-7000 ext. 2.

2020 Zero Motorcycles Zero S review: A naked electric bike

By General Posts

by Bruce Brown from https://www.digitaltrends.com

Pros
A mature e-motorcycle design
Excellent driving per charge range
No gears, no clutch, no shifting
Powerful brakes and suspension
Inexpensive to fuel and maintain

Cons
Forward-leaning rider posture
Rider and passenger pegs high
Expensive for an entry-level bike

MSRP $10,995.00

Zero Motorcycles‘ 2020 Zero S is the most highly-evolved version of a vehicle with the longest production history in a product class that most people don’t know exists. Most people would be surprised to learn electric motorcycles are on the street today. They’re even more surprised to hear the first arrived over 12 years ago.

Founded in 2006 by a former NASA engineer, Zero Motorcycles’ first production model was the 2009 Zero S, making 2020 its 12th model year. Depending on the buyer’s choice of installed power pack, the Zero S price varies from $10,995 to $18,390. The most powerful (and expensive) Zero S has a 223-mile maximum city driving range.

Design and performance

I asked Zero Motorcycles to suggest which model in its nine-model 2020 lineup would be the best choice for an e-bicycle rider who wanted to pick the Zero as their first motorcycle. After discussing the lighter, taller, more off-road-bike-looking Zero FXS, I decided on the Zero S with the lowest power battery pack. I tested the base 7.2 kWh Zero S, priced at $10,995, which the company describes as “ideal for the first time rider looking for an entry-level street motorcycle.”

The 2020 Zero S base model ticks the boxes for e-motos. Acceleration is immediate with the S’s full torque on tap from a standing stop. Other than tire noise and a slight whirring sound from the carbon fiber drive belt, the bike is quiet. There’s no clutch and no shifting because there’s only one gear. So, as with most electric motorcycles, you don’t need to know how to use a manual transmission to ride it.

To ride the Zero, just turn the key and wait a few seconds for the indicators on the display panel to settle down. Zero includes two throttle intercepts to protect riders from unintentional acceleration from a standing stop. A motor stop switch on the right-hand grip cuts out power to the motor, and the bike won’t move if the kickstand is down.

The Zero remains silent when it’s on and ready to move. If you’re only familiar with vehicles that have gas or diesel engines, the lack of noise may lead you to think it’s not on. Oh, but it is. It definitely is.

I was cautious with the throttle at first. Electric motors can deliver full torque from a standing stop, so it’s a good idea to approach with caution. However, I’m happy to report you can ride comfortably at slow speeds on the Zero S. The throttle isn’t overly sensitive, with excellent “feel” and granularity.

The Zero S’s regenerative braking slightly recharges the battery when you roll off the throttle. If you’re familiar with engine braking in a car with a manual transmission, regenerative braking feels roughly the same, just quieter.

If you need to stop quickly, the Zero S’ brakes have more stopping power than you may ever need. I found the learning curve for modulating the potent brake system steeper than getting used to the throttle. The Zero S has Bosch ABS disc brakes, with dual 320mm calipers in front, and a single 240mm caliper in the rear.

This nearly-naked sportbike has no fairing and little bodywork covering the functional components. The rider geometry (the relative positions of the handlebar, seat, and rider footpegs) requires a moderately forward-leaning posture. Forward-leaning is excellent for going fast and carving turns and canyons. Entry-level riders with previous experience on a more upright bike will need to adjust, but not as dramatically as with more aggressive bikes.

Speed and range

Motorcycle companies are typically cautious with quoting acceleration numbers. I didn’t time my runs, but I have heard from others Zero riders that 60 mph comes in under 4 seconds. My butt says that’s about right and, speaking as someone who’s not a veteran rider, it was exhilarating.

My test bike, with the basic 7.2 kWh power pack, has a 98 miles per hour (mph) maximum top speed with a sustained top speed of 80 mph. The rated driving ranges for the Zero S with the base power pack are 89 miles in city driving, 45 miles at 70 mph on the highway, and 60 miles combined.

If you are willing to pay for more range, the Zero SR, which is essentially the same bike, has a 14.4 kWh battery pack. The SR starts at $15,495 and boosts the range to 179 miles for city driving, 90 miles on the highway, or 120 miles combined. For the maximum possible driving distance with Zero S models, you can also add the 3.3 kWh Power Tank for $2,895. The Zero SR with the Power Tank is rated for a maximum of 223 miles in the city, 112 miles on the highway, or 150 miles combined.

Note that larger power packs don’t just drive up the price. They weigh more. The 7.2 kWh Zero S weighs 313 pounds. The Zero SR with the 14.4 kWh power pack weighs 408 pounds, and if you add the 3.3 kWh Power Tank for a total of 18 kWh, the weight climbs to 452 pounds.

Your choice will balance cost, range, and weight. You can’t switch power packs or add the Power Tank later, so it’s essential to buy the right power combination from the start.

Charging the battery

The Zero S has a 1.3 kW integrated battery charger and a thick power cable that plugs into a standard 110/220 power plug. Charging the Zero S requires 4.7 hours for a 95% charge, or 5.2 hours to charge 100%. With a $600 optional quick charger, it takes 3.1 hours for a 100% charge, or 2.6 hours for 95%.

A third option is to buy an optional Charge Tank ($2,495). With the Charge Tank, you can plug into a standard Level 2 charge station for a 95% charge in one hour, or 100% in 1.5 hours. Note that you can’t order a Zero S or SR with both the Power Tank and Charge Tank options.

Riding modes and app

The Zero S has two preset performance profiles, Eco and Sport. The profiles control maximum speed, torque, and regeneration levels.

As set by the factory, Eco mode cuts the top speed to 70 mph, limits the torque, and dials up the regen-style engine braking effect. Sport mode unlocks the top speed of 98 miles per hour, full torque, and little or no regenerative braking. You can customize both profiles with Zero’s mobile app.

I rode the Zero S most of the time in Eco mode through suburban neighborhoods, in small towns, and on country roads and highways. The Zero S is well-balanced, so riding slowly is easy. I quickly became used to its smooth throttle operation to roll on speed as desired. The dialed-up regeneration setting in Eco mode meant I rarely needed to use the brakes until I came to a full stop.

It’s quiet. Too quiet?

Electric motorcycles’ are silent, and that can be a mixed blessing. Motorcyclists are used to noise alerting pedestrians and other drivers, but you don’t get that with an electric powertrain. It’s a good idea to locate the horn button on the left grip, so you can alert anyone who needs it.

The upside of running silent is there’s less chance you’re going to disturb your neighbors with the Zero S, and certainly not with the noise. On one of my first rides checking out the bike’s operation, a neighbor used to seeing me on e-bikes came over to check out the Zero S.

“That’s an actual motorcycle?” he asked. I was able to answer without raising my voice over the Zero S’ motor because, of course, it was silent. On a regular motorcycle, I wouldn’t have even heard him unless I stopped and turned off the engine.

Our Take

I thoroughly enjoyed riding the Zero S, and was particularly impressed by its balanced, quiet ride. Seasoned sports bike riders would likely switch right over to Sport mode and fly with it. The power, brakes, and handling are certainly there.

Ease of operation makes the Zero S accessible for beginning riders. My only hesitation is that new riders will need to get used to the forward-leaning riding position.

Is there a better alternative?

In a few years, there will be many more choices for people shopping for electric motorcycles, but Zero already has a 12-year lead. No other company has Zero’s experience and range of current electric models.

The Harley-Davidson Livewire makes fans of most who ride it, and Harley has been showing other concept electric bikes, but the Livewire’s $30,000 price tag limits its appeal. The Lightning Motorcycles LS-218 is the fastest production motorcycle, but starts at $38.888. Both bikes target experienced riders with money to spend.

Several companies make much smaller e-motorcycles, like the Ubco 2×2 and the Cake Kalk OR. They’re more affordable, but often focused on off-road or multi-surface riding, with a lower top speed and less range.

How long will it last?

Zero Motorcycles include a two-year general warranty and a five-year warranty on the power pack. Zero is an established company with dealers throughout the United States, so parts and service shouldn’t be concerns.

Should you buy one?

Yes. If you want an electric motorcycle for recreational riding or commuting, the Zero S is a great choice.

The Home Of Orange County Choppers Is Up For Grabs

By General Posts

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Orange County Choppers’ home is coming up for auction. The 61,305 square feet building was ordered by OCC back in 2008 and cost $12 million. It was a time of plenty, at the height of the expensive chopper rage and when OCC’s reality television program was enjoying a great deal of interest. Time has passed since then, and OCC fell on hard times, as many hard-working people and companies in the U.S. and over the world have. OCC lost control of the property in 2011 after failing to pay the mortgage. They are now tenants and recently signed a 10-year lease renting out about 60 percent of the building.

The property at 14 Crossroads Court in Newburgh, New York, is slated for auction on March 7 and bidding will starts at $900,000.

More details on this auction can be found here.