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 year the event is being held in the US and from 2013 on it will be held in Germany.
Harley-Davidson has delayed the release of the 2013 models so for the first time there are no new model year bikes to view or test ride and no doubt the motor company has their reasons for this but it has both surprised and disappointed a number of rally goers with whom I have spoken.
Cycle Source held their 15th Anniversary celebration on Sunday evening and the even was jam-packed with many of the who’s who of the industry. Chris Callen thanked his staff, supporters and contributors and presented quite a number of awards. A slimmed down Chris said his weight loss came about not for health reasons, no sirree, but because some months back he found he could not fit on in a roller coaster seat no matter how hard he held his gut in. Now that’s motivation!
More on the Rally tomorrow.
