Bob Ledford
03-20-2013, 09:08 AM
Bike Week (BW) 2013 Daytona Beach FL and Surrounding Area
It all started to come together a week ahead of time. The rumble of Harley-Davidson (HD) and the high pitched scream of “Rice Power (RP)” could be heard from as far away as a mile or more from our back porch.
When you combine the rumble of the HD and the scream of RP you get a rumble and a roar sound that was a very familiar sound to these old ears. Bike Week 2013 was here.
I went out on the Can-Am Thursday afternoon before the official start of BW and took a pass through town that included the Speedway, Beach Street, and Main Street and it was crowded with riders and bikes to the point of congestion.
The local Chamber of Commerce came out with a news blurb early in the week probably in the Sunday paper. But I don’t recall the exact date at this point about HD sponsoring a bike parade the following Saturday. Anne and I made it date for us. I started talking about it to every Can-Am driver that I came in contact with and put it on all the forums that I belong to. What a fizzle that was only two of us showed up, us and a friend from Deltona, were gutsy enough to brave the 45 degree morning and ride.
Early on in the week, Anne and I, made a deal since it was so cool out and we both had “physical therapy (PT)” sessions scheduled that we would do one major outing a day. So we started our days with PT then since we were taking the Spyder to PT we went right into the riding and fun part. Besides that it was warmer by a couple of degrees.
All in all I would say from my non-scientific observations that BW 2013 was a big success for a majority of the vendors. Most of the vendors that we chatted with were having good sales days but nothing that was breaking records. We attributed part of this to the excellent riding weather. Cooler then usual mornings, warm afternons and cool evenings with little tono rain.
The cool to cold wind was the biggest detriment weather wise that was encountered.
We were virtually camped out daily at the BRP Demonstration Ride area every day. We had some really good times there for sure. Many of the Can-Am home business innovators were missing this year for whatever reasons. But they were missed by many of us that were counting on being able to see thier products and order them. I was shopping for floor boards and mt friend was wanting a luggage rack. The LED lighting vendors were doing a good business.
“Lamonster” and Harvey from “SPYDERPOPS” were at times overwhelmed by the Hoards of information humgry Spyder Ryders. It was great fun to chat with both of them during lulls in people traffic.
All in all there was a good turn out of Spyder’s despite the cold weather. There was a noticeable storage of Spyder associated riding organizations absent this year. BRP “demo riding crew” had their hands full of people clambering to ride the 2013 line up of machines daily. Friday had them with a full day on Sat too. The BRP Owners gathering was well attended but not a record setting day I don’t think.
It all started to come together a week ahead of time. The rumble of Harley-Davidson (HD) and the high pitched scream of “Rice Power (RP)” could be heard from as far away as a mile or more from our back porch.
When you combine the rumble of the HD and the scream of RP you get a rumble and a roar sound that was a very familiar sound to these old ears. Bike Week 2013 was here.
I went out on the Can-Am Thursday afternoon before the official start of BW and took a pass through town that included the Speedway, Beach Street, and Main Street and it was crowded with riders and bikes to the point of congestion.
The local Chamber of Commerce came out with a news blurb early in the week probably in the Sunday paper. But I don’t recall the exact date at this point about HD sponsoring a bike parade the following Saturday. Anne and I made it date for us. I started talking about it to every Can-Am driver that I came in contact with and put it on all the forums that I belong to. What a fizzle that was only two of us showed up, us and a friend from Deltona, were gutsy enough to brave the 45 degree morning and ride.
Early on in the week, Anne and I, made a deal since it was so cool out and we both had “physical therapy (PT)” sessions scheduled that we would do one major outing a day. So we started our days with PT then since we were taking the Spyder to PT we went right into the riding and fun part. Besides that it was warmer by a couple of degrees.
All in all I would say from my non-scientific observations that BW 2013 was a big success for a majority of the vendors. Most of the vendors that we chatted with were having good sales days but nothing that was breaking records. We attributed part of this to the excellent riding weather. Cooler then usual mornings, warm afternons and cool evenings with little tono rain.
The cool to cold wind was the biggest detriment weather wise that was encountered.
We were virtually camped out daily at the BRP Demonstration Ride area every day. We had some really good times there for sure. Many of the Can-Am home business innovators were missing this year for whatever reasons. But they were missed by many of us that were counting on being able to see thier products and order them. I was shopping for floor boards and mt friend was wanting a luggage rack. The LED lighting vendors were doing a good business.
“Lamonster” and Harvey from “SPYDERPOPS” were at times overwhelmed by the Hoards of information humgry Spyder Ryders. It was great fun to chat with both of them during lulls in people traffic.
All in all there was a good turn out of Spyder’s despite the cold weather. There was a noticeable storage of Spyder associated riding organizations absent this year. BRP “demo riding crew” had their hands full of people clambering to ride the 2013 line up of machines daily. Friday had them with a full day on Sat too. The BRP Owners gathering was well attended but not a record setting day I don’t think.