MNO Blog - Motorcycles, News, Opinions » Bikefest

Leesburg Bikefest 2008

Mike Odom — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:35:10 +0000

Leesburg Bikefest 2008 your best bet for Florida fun in the sun. Today is the final day of the 12th annual Florida motorcycle event, but there are still big things happening today in Leesburg.

The Rats Hole Custom Bike show winds down the three day event with the “metric madness” contest held today and there are still plenty of concerts, motorcycle demos and stunt shows scheduled for this afternoon. If you did not make it out to Leesburg this year, make plans to visit next year when the Bikefest will be held April 24-26 2009. The Rat’s Hole bike show holds what is known as the largest 3 day show in the country each year in Leesburg, Florida.

We were present to see the custom motorcycle show and of course the famous ratmate contest. Ten beautiful women on stage competing for the title of miss ratmate is always a big crowd pleaser.

The motorcycle show was huge as always, but this Vietnam Veterans Tribute Bike was one of my favorites. The detail and use of actual military gear showed the great amount of planning that went into building this bike.

Guilty Customs had a booth set up that proudly displayed one of their bikes as a former Leesburg Bikefest Rats Hole winner. The downtown area remained crowded from just after 9 am until after 11 pm with music, food and fun. There is always plenty to do and see and with four stages set up, the free concerts never stop.

Even with the current gas price on the rise, it did not seem to have any effect on the amount of visitors to this annual Florida motorcycle event. Downtown and Main Street was filled with the sound of motorcycles and music, while the smell of food vendors made me want to try all the grilled sandwiches available. Leesburg allows their biker guests to walk the streets of the fest with beer and other alcoholic beverages, which adds to the welcomed atmosphere there. I had a frozen rum runner that was filled way above the rim and priced reasonably at only 6 bucks.

While walking around the area, I ran into an interesting display of custom motorcycles built by Logic Motor Company. Now, you may not recognize this brand name right off, but maybe this next picture will tell you more.

Yea, it is that Insurance company that has a reptile in their commercials, Geico Powersports custom motorcycles are built by another face you will recognize from the Geico motorcycle insurance ads.

Busy man, but I got a quick opportunity to meet Rick “Big Rick” Hoffman, motorcycle builder and company spokesman for GEICO Motorcycle Insurance. Cindi and I had a great time in Leesburg and I strongly suggest that you make it out for this event next year.

Technorati Tags: motorcycle news, events, Leesburg, Florida, Bike Shows, custom motorcycles, biker event

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Photo Gallery

Mike Odom — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 02:20:37 +0000

Adding a new photo gallery feature to the MNO Blog!

I will be adding pictures that I have taken over the years from different motorcycle events as well as some exclusive builder galleries. Check back often for updates or subscribe to get notice of updates.

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Sanford Bikefest over on to Daytona for Biketoberfest

Mike Odom — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:02:46 +0000

We hit Sanford early morning for bikefest, not sure why we left so early, but we did. We hit the local McDonalds for breakfast and I am really not sure why we did, but we did. After killing time in town with breakfast and stopping to get some super 8 tape, we rolled back into the event area close to 9:00 am.

With fall here, which we do not experience in Florida, the days are getting shorter so the early morning lighting sucks for taking pictures. The back neighborhood streets are beginning to remind me of Daytona Beach with the ride quiet signs as WESH channel 2 news reports complaints about the noise.

Local news reports an expected growth for the Sanford motorcycle event, but if there was it seemed minimal to me. There did seem to be a larger amount of biker event vendors. There were more tattoo vendors then the previous year and more parts and accessory vendors made the walk down East Seminole a little more interesting.

One truly notable vendor we came across was Redz Custom Airbrush where their motto is “boring paint should be a crime”. The custom airbrush paint work on this bike was anything but boring. The amount of work spent on the detail of this paint shows right down to the rivets.

The Can-Am Spyder demo rides were a big hit. You could see trails of these things buzzing around the area all day.

A pretty unique 3 wheel vehicle called the Spyder Roadster powered by the Rotax V990 engine. I listened as most of the comments of the demo riders were positive.

This year the Bikefest visitor’s were treated to two stunt rider shows. About every hour and a half there was a street bike stunt show followed up by motocross jumpers.

These riders were good, performing 3 at a time doing wheelies, stoppies and burnouts. They had a pretty awesome finish to the show were all 3 bikes would slide in together and the rider would dismount. The kind of stuff you do not do on the open roads.

They moved the bike show out to the main event area this year which was kind of nice, but from a photographer’s view the grass could have been cut deeper before opening day.

I needed to find a nice looking purple motorcycle to submit to the Flickr Lupus Awareness group purple photos and I found this sharp looking custom built by JZ Riders of Sanford. I looked through most of the pictures that had been submitted to help create Lupus awareness and I had not seen any motorcycles, so I think I was able to send in something unique with this motorcycle picture.

I guess these pie eating contests are going to come back into style at motorcycle events. I shot the contest this year at Leesburg and Sanford now too. If Daytona decides to have an eating contest, I am hoping they will do Krystal hamburgers. I can eat a sack load of those little guys.

Daytona Biketoberfest is coming up this weekend!

Technorati Tags: bikefest, sanford, motorcycle events, biketoberfest, daytona beach, bike shows, custom motorcycles

Sanford Bikefest this weekend

Mike Odom — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 04:53:52 +0000

Well its time for the end of the year wrap of of motorcycle events in Florida. With Biketoberfest only a week away, many locals will be heading out to Sanford Bikefest for a warm-up weekend.

Looking back on last year this time, I posted about the upcoming Bikefest, but I failed to post a followup on what happened at the weekend 2006 Florida motorcycle event.

Last year we stayed for all 3 days of the event and as we do for all motorcycle events we took along the tent to enjoy some camping. There is not a whole lot of camping areas around the Sanford area, which is surprising being there are many miles of undeveloped true Florida land.

A little search on Google netted us one of the nicest camping areas around. Lake Mills Park is a great place to pitch a tent and spend the weekend and is fairly close to Fort Mellon Park in Sanford where Bikefest is held.

This year we will only be visiting Sanford Bikefest on Saturday. The event is rather small and most of what there is to do and see can be done in one day.

We caught up with a few unusual motorcycles and modes of transportation last year. Notice anything unusual about this bike? Yep, you got it. This motorcycle has not one, but two kickstands!

This guy was demonstrating how to get to Sanford by water riding on a self propelled surfboard.

East Seminole Blvd. runs adjacent to Lake Monroe and is closed to motorcycle traffic only during Bikefest. You can catch some good motorcycle pictures along this road and a few more at the bike show early morning.

The Sanford Police motorcycle division had a little fun when JZ Riders Customs let them all take a spin around the block on the new line of Saxon motorcycles they had on display in the main Bikefest area.

Orlando radio station personality Shannon Burke rides the 104.1 “Real Bike” along with the parade of custom motorcycles.

One good thing about a smaller venue like the Sanford Bikefest is when its concert time, you can get right up close to the bands. Last year it was a treat to kick back and listen to Deep South. Check out the members of this band :

Artimus Pyle (formerly of Lynyrd Skynyrd), Robert Nix (formerly of Atlanta Rhythm Section), Jimmy Hall (formerly of Wet Willie), Hal McCormack, Dean Daughtry (formerly of Atlanta Rhythm Section), Chris Hicks (formerly of Marshall Tucker Band)

While Deep South was on stage, I got the special treat of chatting with Gene Odom who was Ronnie Van Zant’s personal bodyguard, security for the Lynyrd Skynyrd band. Gene was on hand promoting his books and selling autographed copies.

Sanford Bikefest is small, but big enough to enjoy a day or two checking out some of the local custom motorcycle builder’s new creations, meet up with friends and enjoy the free concerts.

Technorati Tags: motorcycle events, bikefest, sanford, Florida, rides, music, custom motorcycles, events

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Leesburg Bikefest 2007 – looking forward to next year.

Mike Odom — Sun, 13 May 2007 01:01:27 +0000

A pair of bikers riding into town with the words “Leesburg Rules” on the horns decorating their helmets. The 2007 edition of Leesburg Bikefest was huge with more shows and stages added this year, the entertainment was non-stop.

One of the biggest concert draws was the performance of the Real Radio 104.1 Monsters of the Morning. This concert packed a crowd of Monster fans that filled the front stage area early before the concert began. But what did the Monsters think of the crowd and appearing on the Budweiser stage at Leesburg Bikefest?

Well, Bubba Wilson, the musical director for the Monsters gives the 2007 Leesburg motorcycle event a thumbs up.

Tiffany dressed in very little pink was fired up and ready to rock on her birthday.

The Leesburg crowd loved the Monsters in concert. If you have never listened to these guys, they have a radio show on a local station you can listen live at Real Radio 104.1.

As predicted the weather for the Bikefest weekend was perfect, but it was hot. Not as hot as this rider’s pipes, but it was hot with a few cloud sun breaks. There were a few tents that had been accommodated with mist showers for event visitors to cool down.

A new event, at least I think it is, was the Bob Evan’s pie eating contest. As much as I like food I don’t think I could ever do a food eating contest. One exception would be a Krystal hamburger eating contest. I can put those things away, but then again I have never timed myself.

What is it about beads that makes a crowd go crazy?

The demonstration area at the Rat’s Hole always had something going on including bike games (this was fun to watch), Drill Teams and street bike stunt shows.

And the motorcycle traffic on main street is non-stop during Leesburg Bikefest.

And of course, the Rat’s Hole Ratmate contest winners. If you have never made the trip to this Florida motorcycle event, you need to put Leesburg Bikefest on your list of must rides for 2008!

Technorati Tags: motorcycle events, florida, leesburg, bikefest, motorcycle news

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Leesburg Bikefest – Quiet Riot and 3 day Rat’s Hole Bike Show

Mike Odom — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:20:50 +0000

Leesburg Bikefest April 27-29 in Leesburg, Florida will feature a three day Rat’s Hole custom motorcycle show and rock band Quiet Riot Saturday night on the main stage. Announced on the Rat’s Hole web site the Leesburg bike show will be open all three days of the Florida motorcycle event.

Friday April 27th the Rat’s Hole will open with the Leesburg biker showcase. Saturday the 28th will be the Leesburg Bikefest 07 custom motorcycle show and will include a Ratmate contest. Sunday is metric madness day.

The show will focus on metric bikes and get ready to witness the awesome street bike stunts performed by Teem Xtreem.

Leesburg, Florida really does welcome bikers and Main Street is for motorcycles only! Bring comfortable walking shoes though, because once you are parked you will be on foot the rest of the day and into the night as the party continues.

Quiet Riot will be on the main stage Saturday night. Other bands listed to perform during the three days of Bikefest include Confederate Railroad and the Monsters of the Morning just to list a few of the promised 40 concerts on 7 stages. All Free!

Leesburg Bikefest one Florida motorcycle event that you do not want to miss! More information can be found on the official Bikefest web site.

The amount of entertainment crammed into the 3 day motorcycle event includes concerts, 300+ vendors, Hawaiian Tropic/Ms Bikefest bikini contest, Ratmate contest. Biker games, Teem Xtreem stunt show, safety demonstrations and more.

Leesburg Bikefest Hotel Accommodations

Technorati Tags: biker events, florida, leesburg, motorcycle news, motorcycle shows, rats hole

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First blog post of 2007

Mike Odom — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 05:00:12 +0000

Welcome to the year 2007 and my first blog post for the year. I figured instead of doing a looking back at the year 2006 (that is over), better to look ahead at the new year 2007.

The first part of the new year is going to bring a lot of travel time for me with the first being a small road trip down to Ft. Lauderdale (about 170 miles) for the grand opening of Orange County Choppers of south Florida on January 6th.

Then on January 11th we are to be back up in the State of Virginia for Cindi’s probate litigation suit. We are hoping that this trip will not be wasted as was the first trip. Well, the trip was wonderful actually, it was a waste in the legal department.

Of course I am already excited and ready for Bike Week 2007 that will be in the first part of March. Daytona Bike Week is going to be from March 2 – 11 this year. It may sound like a long time away, but planning for bike week now is important. I need to begin putting together a bike week schedule and we will soon be announcing what day we will be on the Daytona Loop for our 3 hour photo shoot. We set a few hours aside during bike week 2006 and we took almost 200 pictures for the Daytona Motorcycle Rally Loop Album. This year we will be shooting with two cameras and will even do better coverage of riders on the Volusia County Loop.

Happy New Year Everyone! Here is looking ahead to a great year of rides and motorcycle events. Keep it safe.

Mike

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Deland looking to attract more bike week visitors

Mike Odom — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 05:57:42 +0000

The City of Deland, Florida is actively beginning to promote their city in a running for bikers visiting Florida during bike week. Deland Bike Rally is scheduled for the 3rd of March 2007, the second day of bike week in Daytona Beach.

While Daytona Beach has said it wants to downscale the city’s events, nearby cities and Harley dealers are reaching for the biker traffic. Orlando Harley has started holding a bike fest to the west of Daytona and Bruce Rossmeyer has opened a Harley Davidson megaplex north of Daytona in Ormond Beach. Deland is located between Orlando and Daytona Beach with easy access to Destination Daytona in Ormond.

The Deland Bike Rally plans a bike show, live bands, vendors and demonstrations. If you are planing on visiting for bike week or any other Florida motorcycle event, be sure to plan ahead on hotel accommodations. To save money and reserve your bike week hotel, visit my Bike Week Travel here. If you don’t like to make your hotel reservations online, got you covered! Call toll free 1-800-780-5733 coupon 133863 someone will be there to help you 24/7.

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Best place for steak during bike week and biketoberfest

Mike Odom — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 08:16:56 +0000

During bike week or biketoberfest and when you are in the Edgewater, Florida area if you love a good steak visit Rich’s Place. Just south of Daytona Beach about a mile down Highway 1 from the noname saloon on the west side of the road. The atmosphere is laid back in a 50′s style with rock-n-roll and Elvis memorabilia all over.

I can’t think of any other steak place that I have eaten at where the steak has been cooked to perfection every time. Rich’s Place steak hits the spot! The burgers are fantastic too. Be sure to visit Rich’s next time you make the trip to Volusia County for any of the Florida motorcycle events. You won’t leave hungry and you won’t be disappointed.

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Sanford Bikefest

Mike Odom — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 04:57:03 +0000

When I walked outside this morning, I felt something different. There was a slight feel of coolness in the air. This is not rare weather for most places in the United States this time of year, but for Florida, well its uncommon. Especially when the expected high for the day was in the 80s. It is a little frightening to feel the chill of a low 60 degree morning in Florida. Here we do not have a true four season year. We just have hot and warm with a few days that may total 3 weeks of cold dropping to the 40s at night.

With Biketoberfest only 10 days away, I don’t want to see the weather start chilling off too much. Biketoberfest is one of the last big bike events of the year. Most certainly, it is for Florida. Looking forward to this event, I found that there is great way to get warmed up and ready to go.

Digging for some of the events planned in Daytona Beach for the Biketober weekend, I came across Sanford Bike Fest that is held this coming weekend in Sanford, Florida.

Looking over the events posted for the weekend in Sanford, I found they have quite a lineup of entertainment. With most the bands that are scheduled to play leaning more towards southern rock to scattered with a few country solo artist on two separate stages, the music should be pretty steady.

The opening act, however, is neither southern nor country and by the looks of the bands bio and play list, I look forward to seeing Dreams the Band a tribute to the living legend Stevie Nicks. This band performs songs like Gypsy and duets like one Stevie did with Tom Petty called “stop draggin my heart around”, this should be a good show. Their web site does not have any demo music, but the band looks as they have keyed in the feeling for a good tribute band.

Later in the day and all throughout the weekend, Team-X-Treem will be performing their street bike stunt show. I had the pleasure of experiencing and photographing this stunt show during this year’s Leesburg Bikefest. I can tell you, if you have not seen these guys, you are in for a treat. Wheelies, stopies, burnouts and stunts that will keep your eyes glued to the three riders. Adam Chumita, Chris Nichols and Todd Colbert put on a show to see. The photo gallery of the pictures that I took during Leesburg are at American Biker Lifestyle.

Of course, what Bikefest could be complete without a custom bike show? Touted as the “Bikes In the Wind Show” the custom bike show starts off at noon with 8 divisions to be judged. The Florida sun will be reflecting off of all the chrome and custom paint. I will be there with camera in hand. This will be a training shoot for my wife Cindi to use the new camera that I bought for here, so look forward to me posting some of the shots she takes during the show.

Saturday, October 14 promises to be exciting day with more live music all day and a remote broadcast from Orlando radio station 104.1 Real Radio. Added to all the vendors, bike show and music, there is going to be a live karate demonstration by High Stepper’s Karate Studio. The precision drill team will crank up their engines at 1:30 displaying timed drill motorcycle riding in the streets of downtown Sanford.

If you like Skynard, you are going to like Deep South. This band hits the main stage at 9:30 p.m. Friday night. I have not yet heard the band perform, but if you visit their web site, they have a few demo songs for you to hear. I look forward to hearing this band play “Sweet Home Alabama”.

This is only the second year for this bike fest and I did not attend the first one. It looks like it should be a good time for anyone that lives in the area, or feels like take a ride. I will report on how the 2nd annual Sanford Bike Fest turned out next week.

Watch for the article!

Technorati Tags: bikefest, sanford, florida, motorcycle events, entertainment

MNO Blog - Motorcycles, News, Opinions » Bikefest

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