I said it in previous posts and thought the 2011 Invitational was the best show yet... (Roller mag coverage, Greasy Kulture Magazine feature!) (part 1) (part 2). But this year I think was one for the record books. The chaos out in streets and inside the show is unlike any motorcycle event you could attend. Every year without fail, the Brooklyn Invitational shows some amazing motorcycles. However, it's always the journey to the show that does it for me. This year what made this trip so memorable was the group of people I rode with and accommodations we had for the weekend.
The adventures and mis-adventures are now stories I'll never forget. Busted headlights over the Manhattan bridge, snapped throttle cables, dead batteries, squeezing past sanitation trucks that no bagger could fit through (sorry Ben!) Accidentally walking right through a free-for-all bar fight at Black Bear, NYPD blasting Aretha Franklin from their PA system at us at 4:30 in the morning, "Pond Scum" and Fireball on the sidewalks of N.14th, photos of our group snapped by Ken Nagahara for Roller, camping in the rain on a Brooklyn rooftop, and the list goes on!
I don't have many photos of the show itself, if you were there, you know the bikes that were in the show, and if you weren't, well, there are a lot better photos online elsewhere than I could take. The crappy cell photos are mine, the really GOOD ones are credited to Jay Cagney, and other Instagram images I stole from Virginia, Samantha, and Rachael.
Friday night! I packed up the tent, sleeping bag, and some tools and headed to NYC! I decided to take the Yamahopper because it was the only bike that I haven't ridden to NYC yet.
Toll stop on 78 just before hitting the Holland Tunnel.
Coffee, Redbull, new spark plugs, aired up some tires, and we were ready to ride into that tube that runs under the Hudson.
Huge thanks to Rachael for letting us take over her place for the weekend.
And then there was our campsite...
I'm surprised we held as still as we did for the exposure...
Good morning NYC!
Nice line up!
Pond Scum....
It blew my mind to see this Tom Fugle bike in person.
Really sweet cafe'd Honda with some awesome details.
This shovelhead was an unexpected surprise to see on the streets of Brooklyn. Last I knew it was owned by Rene in California. If any of you have seen The Requiem Ride, you would recognize this bike. I spent countless hours modeling this bike just from photos for the animation. To actually see it in person gave me goosebumps.
Jeff's "Dirty Nine" in the background.
Ben getting a permanent souvenir from the show.
Carb talk and Ben taking a long swig of "pond scum".
Miss Milly!
Heading home...
We split off from Jay and Virginia and not long after Jay ran into some issues. That's a hell of a spot to pull over on the BQE! But we all know Jay is an "awarded expert" on roadside repairs!
It poured Saturday night and my tent is no longer as water proof as it once was. Most of my stuff was soaked...
Jay, Virginia, Samantha, Chris, Ben, Aaron, Mannie, Scott, Nick, it was a killer weekend! Thanks again to Rachael for the place to crash. Huge thanks to Zach for saving my ass with a new throttle cable! It was great to see some folks I haven't seen in quite some time. All I can say is I'm still smiling ear to ear from the weekend even though it was over 2 weeks ago.
See ya on the next one!
