Bike shows
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From: Ontario
Bike shows
Hello my name is Michael, I have ahome in Canada, One in Chicago and I work in LA California, if thats not confusing enough. I just joined here. I was looking at some post, about bike shows and thought I would spread my knowlege. 1st let me say if I have typos or spelling errors please excuse them. Its late here, and I dont wat to spend 2 hours on the post spell checking it for grammer, I'm sure people dont want to read a 2 hour post. Next, by no means am I an "EXPERT", their are no EXPERTS when it come to bike shows, except the judges. But I do know alot. Someone asked what does it take to win a show. Pending what show, but MONEY is the answer. I own a 2005 fatboy, and I've been to over 300+ motorcycle shows from the biggest shows in the North America to neighbor hood ride in show and shines. I have close friends that are professional bike builders, so I've learned alot in 10 years. These guys have won the best of the best. AMD, Ratshole, LA Calendar show, Sturgis, Toronto, Las Vegas. You name it. 1st thing I will say, if you plan on making a living at showing your bike and making prize money you might as well just skip this post and I wish you luck. You cant make a living showing your bike. Their are people that try, trust me. Back to business. I've been riding since I was 16, old enough to get my MC license. But it wasn't till I bought my first Harley, that I wanted to get into doing shows. Now Ive been to about 10 shows since I bought the bike, the excitment of winning that trophy, some prize money and everyone talking pictures of your bike just got to me. Not to mention girls taking pictures on all the show bikes. I have one fault.
I'm very very competitive, I dont like losing. Well you either get use to it, or start dumpping alot of money into your bike to stay par with your competition. The first thing I did, was go to shows, just to check them out. See the competition. Learning who won, why they won, how they won. That was about 300 shows ago. Next I researched on line, every show, from show and shines, to major shows, Rats Hole, Toronto, AMD, LV ect ect. Looking at the winning bikes. This gave me an idea of what I was dealing with. Now Im not saying you ahve to do that. But anyone who really into this that wants to win BIG money, its not a bad idea. I learned from the winners, the judges, and most important the Pro Builders. All were helpfull. One thing I'll say, never go into abike show thinking your Bike is the Sht. Excuse the French. Everyone in a bike show thinks their bike is the best thing in the world. Its a known fact. But remember theirs always better, and just because you have a cool paint job doesn't mean your bike is good. I get to that later. Never disrespect another Bike. Most people who show bikes are very very respectable of others. No matter how steep the compition. Now on to the Classes. Someone brought this up on another post. Most shows NOT ALL have at least 6 classes, inless its an open show. I define later. Classes include Stock, Bagger, 3 Wheel, Radical, Sportster, Metric, Vintage...Now some shows have Rat...Rat is when your tired of dumpping $1000 of dollars in your bike and just let it go to Hell. LOL thats how I define Rat. LOL And Bobber.
Most shows do not have Rat class, except the one and only Rats Hole maybe few others. Now I went over stock in another post. But Stock does NOT mean stock. LOL I knwo thats stupid. But look at it this way, if everyone bought a bike from HD, and showed it, how can you judge that?
Inles ajudge loves yellow and your stock bought bike is yellow. So they do allow chrome add ons, MUST BE BOLT ON, no welding. Stock is refered to as the frame, engine, swing arm, forks, although you can change forks as long as the rake is stock. meaning if your bike is raked 36 degrees stock it has to stay 36 degrees. Paint doesn't matter. Rims can be different, however if the wheel size changes it will change your class. If you ahve 18" rims, and switch it to 28" which you have to fabercate that anyway, you switch class. Now a days very very few shows have stock, because of this very debatable reason. So its Mod Custom, or full custom, stock has been dropped in most shows. Its important to knwo your class, you should learn that. Because most will ask what class you want in. If you are stock stock, then see if they have astock class otherwise your going to be put into mod custom class, or next one up from stock. Without proper stuff you wont win. Normal store bought stock HD just dont have enough to win inless its store bought vs store bought. Understand that?
Shows: Their are alot of them. I suggest if your new you go to a local show, a show and shine or bike night show. To get the feal of what its like. The shows above are what we call your neighborhood shows. They are not judged by judges. Theirs no money usually, and no points. Yep you get points at the BIG shows. Most of the Big shows are judged by "CERTIFIED JUDGES" these guys go to school, many years just for that. Its a bonus to have a cert judge your bike, but its also tough. No favoritism, no bias there. But you have to have your ducks in order. I explain later. After you get a few shows under your belt, you'll be hooked. Now you think your ready for the BIG SHOWS LOL. So you done your research, won that first place trophy at Big Als bike night at the AW parking lot. Its time to move on to bigger and better things. So you decide to take on the Toronto International Supershow, see if you can win that 6 foot Trophy, the Golden Canadian Cup and $12,000 cash money.
No you realize, thier no stock class. Theirs no mod class. So wheres the classes? Theirs Level 4 Pro Builder, and Level 3 Builder. Better start small. Level 3 builder. Now pay your $100 fee, set your bike up, and see this $150,000 radical chopper next to you, with a $25,000 paint job on it.
You think, WTF. Then after the show, not only did you not win, you didn't even place 20th. So you say F that nosie. I try the Rats Hole. Pick one, their are 4. Well 5, Twice in Daytona, March/Oct...Now you have some classes. Alot Semi custom, Custom, 3 Wheeler, Rad, Rat all kinds. You have a real real cool, lets say red, white and blue paint job with a flaming Eagle, flying over NY City LOL. Thats pretty cool. Bought about 3 grand in Chrome at HD store. Your ready. Then you see those HIGHLY HIGHLY sought after one of kind BIG DADDY RAT throphys that everyone in the word wants to own. Not only do you not place but you come in 6th. You get the Big Daddy Tee Shirt. LOL. Now your pissed. Yousee the winner has a blue metal flake regular paint job. NO way, your ready to kill the judges. How can this be look at my paint, look at my chrome. That Bike a piece of Sht. This is why? 95% of people, esp new people have the urban legend that paint is what makes the bike win. ITS NOT. A guy here posted he was surprised his bile won because their were killer paint jobs. Whats a killer paint job? Skulls, Flames. Most new people have no idea how paint is judged by a professional judge. First off know the artist whos doing paint work. A cool skull, doesn't mean its agood paint job. I can show you some paint jobs that will blow your mind. I mean blow your mind. You can reach into the paint. The detail on work is so detailed, its almost 3d, in 4d. Paint is measured and judged not by design as much as reflection. A judge will take his hand and start to move it back, if he can see this finger prints in the reflection its scored a 10. Point scoring is done 1 to 10. The biggest judged on bikes is engineering. Super chargers will score extra points, compression engins score more they been bored. Diamon cut heads which is very very expensive, rarely seen on the average motorcycle. Most radical have thier heads diamond cut. Seat are judged. Custom seats are pushed in to see the push back. If their is a gel seat its scores 2 extra points. Exsotic and custom cut leather seats always score hight. Seats are looked at to see if they fit right and sewn right. I bet 99% of the people here who clean their bike dont clean under the fendar. I didn't till i learned that from ajudge. Its checked. They swipe their finger under the front and rare fendar for tape or dirt. No one cleans that. Its always the Chrome, Gas Tank, wheels with armour all or wheel cleaner, some chrome polish. Its -5 points with a dirty fendar rear or front UNDERNEATH. Everyhting has to match. Bolts all have to be the same. You cant cap some not others. If you braid your cables everythign has to be braided. Everything has to flow on abike, and be uniform. This why epople with wild paint jobs lose. Paint wont win you a show. It helps but its only worth 20 points. Engine is worth 30, Seat 10, few other things.
If you display abike, your display is worth points. Sign, display ect. Some people use turn tables, thats worth points, their not cheap. Wheels are worth points. Anything fabricated will beat anything store bought. You buy some RR wheels or Wicked Image cool flame wheels, a pair of regular power coated fabricated wheels will beat those no matter how cool they look. Most guys that do the big shows nothign is store bought, its all custom fabricated, down to handle bars and wheels. Most people bikes have wires clamped or showing, in the BIG shows Like Toronto, AMD, and Ratshole and LA show 99% of people the wires are hidden. Thiers no wires showing. Something I will do with my bike this year. Bottom line is it takes alot to win shows. Esp major ones. Raide in and weekday night shows are different, but anything with Major money your going against people who ahve dummped 80 to 250 grand into that bike. Its hard. If you serious want to win. But everyone who does shows shoudl go into it as a fun thing to do, if you win, or win or come in 2nd or 3rd, its all about meeting people, and having fun. But if you wanta make aliving at it or travel around the globe and try to win, then you ahve to follow the above suggestion. Even the Big boys with $200,000 bikes dont always win.
If you lose, talk to the judges and people, they will talk to you, dont be rude or nmad but ask them what you lost points on, or what you can do to bring it up to par. they will tell you.
Best of Shows are tough, because its everyone. If you won a best of show be proud. Its hard and rare wo having a Radical, or Vintage.
Anyway think Ive posted enough, maybe too long sorry guys.
You can see my bike in my photos. Any questions my email is always open although again Im not expert lamike049@hotmail I will say something.
My first Bike show, there was a bagger in my class, how that happened I have no idea, he had his choice, took bags off. IT was the Ugliest thing I ever saw. I mean UGLY It was black. All black. Paint, pipes, tanl, seat, dials, gages, screws, rims, bolts, seat everythingone color black. He beat me, by a hafe a point. Why, One I was missing a clip on the clutch side which I couldn't have put on their anyway. His engineering was perfect. My paint killed him, it usually does anyone, but his engineering was fantastic. Hidden nitros in afalse pipe, inside air suspention. Anyway, I took 2nd that year, but I learned, when you lose by a hafe point, you make sure it doesn't happen again. So Learn have fun and enjoy.
Again Sorry for Long Post!
I'm very very competitive, I dont like losing. Well you either get use to it, or start dumpping alot of money into your bike to stay par with your competition. The first thing I did, was go to shows, just to check them out. See the competition. Learning who won, why they won, how they won. That was about 300 shows ago. Next I researched on line, every show, from show and shines, to major shows, Rats Hole, Toronto, AMD, LV ect ect. Looking at the winning bikes. This gave me an idea of what I was dealing with. Now Im not saying you ahve to do that. But anyone who really into this that wants to win BIG money, its not a bad idea. I learned from the winners, the judges, and most important the Pro Builders. All were helpfull. One thing I'll say, never go into abike show thinking your Bike is the Sht. Excuse the French. Everyone in a bike show thinks their bike is the best thing in the world. Its a known fact. But remember theirs always better, and just because you have a cool paint job doesn't mean your bike is good. I get to that later. Never disrespect another Bike. Most people who show bikes are very very respectable of others. No matter how steep the compition. Now on to the Classes. Someone brought this up on another post. Most shows NOT ALL have at least 6 classes, inless its an open show. I define later. Classes include Stock, Bagger, 3 Wheel, Radical, Sportster, Metric, Vintage...Now some shows have Rat...Rat is when your tired of dumpping $1000 of dollars in your bike and just let it go to Hell. LOL thats how I define Rat. LOL And Bobber.
Most shows do not have Rat class, except the one and only Rats Hole maybe few others. Now I went over stock in another post. But Stock does NOT mean stock. LOL I knwo thats stupid. But look at it this way, if everyone bought a bike from HD, and showed it, how can you judge that?
Inles ajudge loves yellow and your stock bought bike is yellow. So they do allow chrome add ons, MUST BE BOLT ON, no welding. Stock is refered to as the frame, engine, swing arm, forks, although you can change forks as long as the rake is stock. meaning if your bike is raked 36 degrees stock it has to stay 36 degrees. Paint doesn't matter. Rims can be different, however if the wheel size changes it will change your class. If you ahve 18" rims, and switch it to 28" which you have to fabercate that anyway, you switch class. Now a days very very few shows have stock, because of this very debatable reason. So its Mod Custom, or full custom, stock has been dropped in most shows. Its important to knwo your class, you should learn that. Because most will ask what class you want in. If you are stock stock, then see if they have astock class otherwise your going to be put into mod custom class, or next one up from stock. Without proper stuff you wont win. Normal store bought stock HD just dont have enough to win inless its store bought vs store bought. Understand that?
Shows: Their are alot of them. I suggest if your new you go to a local show, a show and shine or bike night show. To get the feal of what its like. The shows above are what we call your neighborhood shows. They are not judged by judges. Theirs no money usually, and no points. Yep you get points at the BIG shows. Most of the Big shows are judged by "CERTIFIED JUDGES" these guys go to school, many years just for that. Its a bonus to have a cert judge your bike, but its also tough. No favoritism, no bias there. But you have to have your ducks in order. I explain later. After you get a few shows under your belt, you'll be hooked. Now you think your ready for the BIG SHOWS LOL. So you done your research, won that first place trophy at Big Als bike night at the AW parking lot. Its time to move on to bigger and better things. So you decide to take on the Toronto International Supershow, see if you can win that 6 foot Trophy, the Golden Canadian Cup and $12,000 cash money.
No you realize, thier no stock class. Theirs no mod class. So wheres the classes? Theirs Level 4 Pro Builder, and Level 3 Builder. Better start small. Level 3 builder. Now pay your $100 fee, set your bike up, and see this $150,000 radical chopper next to you, with a $25,000 paint job on it.
You think, WTF. Then after the show, not only did you not win, you didn't even place 20th. So you say F that nosie. I try the Rats Hole. Pick one, their are 4. Well 5, Twice in Daytona, March/Oct...Now you have some classes. Alot Semi custom, Custom, 3 Wheeler, Rad, Rat all kinds. You have a real real cool, lets say red, white and blue paint job with a flaming Eagle, flying over NY City LOL. Thats pretty cool. Bought about 3 grand in Chrome at HD store. Your ready. Then you see those HIGHLY HIGHLY sought after one of kind BIG DADDY RAT throphys that everyone in the word wants to own. Not only do you not place but you come in 6th. You get the Big Daddy Tee Shirt. LOL. Now your pissed. Yousee the winner has a blue metal flake regular paint job. NO way, your ready to kill the judges. How can this be look at my paint, look at my chrome. That Bike a piece of Sht. This is why? 95% of people, esp new people have the urban legend that paint is what makes the bike win. ITS NOT. A guy here posted he was surprised his bile won because their were killer paint jobs. Whats a killer paint job? Skulls, Flames. Most new people have no idea how paint is judged by a professional judge. First off know the artist whos doing paint work. A cool skull, doesn't mean its agood paint job. I can show you some paint jobs that will blow your mind. I mean blow your mind. You can reach into the paint. The detail on work is so detailed, its almost 3d, in 4d. Paint is measured and judged not by design as much as reflection. A judge will take his hand and start to move it back, if he can see this finger prints in the reflection its scored a 10. Point scoring is done 1 to 10. The biggest judged on bikes is engineering. Super chargers will score extra points, compression engins score more they been bored. Diamon cut heads which is very very expensive, rarely seen on the average motorcycle. Most radical have thier heads diamond cut. Seat are judged. Custom seats are pushed in to see the push back. If their is a gel seat its scores 2 extra points. Exsotic and custom cut leather seats always score hight. Seats are looked at to see if they fit right and sewn right. I bet 99% of the people here who clean their bike dont clean under the fendar. I didn't till i learned that from ajudge. Its checked. They swipe their finger under the front and rare fendar for tape or dirt. No one cleans that. Its always the Chrome, Gas Tank, wheels with armour all or wheel cleaner, some chrome polish. Its -5 points with a dirty fendar rear or front UNDERNEATH. Everyhting has to match. Bolts all have to be the same. You cant cap some not others. If you braid your cables everythign has to be braided. Everything has to flow on abike, and be uniform. This why epople with wild paint jobs lose. Paint wont win you a show. It helps but its only worth 20 points. Engine is worth 30, Seat 10, few other things.
If you display abike, your display is worth points. Sign, display ect. Some people use turn tables, thats worth points, their not cheap. Wheels are worth points. Anything fabricated will beat anything store bought. You buy some RR wheels or Wicked Image cool flame wheels, a pair of regular power coated fabricated wheels will beat those no matter how cool they look. Most guys that do the big shows nothign is store bought, its all custom fabricated, down to handle bars and wheels. Most people bikes have wires clamped or showing, in the BIG shows Like Toronto, AMD, and Ratshole and LA show 99% of people the wires are hidden. Thiers no wires showing. Something I will do with my bike this year. Bottom line is it takes alot to win shows. Esp major ones. Raide in and weekday night shows are different, but anything with Major money your going against people who ahve dummped 80 to 250 grand into that bike. Its hard. If you serious want to win. But everyone who does shows shoudl go into it as a fun thing to do, if you win, or win or come in 2nd or 3rd, its all about meeting people, and having fun. But if you wanta make aliving at it or travel around the globe and try to win, then you ahve to follow the above suggestion. Even the Big boys with $200,000 bikes dont always win.
If you lose, talk to the judges and people, they will talk to you, dont be rude or nmad but ask them what you lost points on, or what you can do to bring it up to par. they will tell you.
Best of Shows are tough, because its everyone. If you won a best of show be proud. Its hard and rare wo having a Radical, or Vintage.
Anyway think Ive posted enough, maybe too long sorry guys.
You can see my bike in my photos. Any questions my email is always open although again Im not expert lamike049@hotmail I will say something.
My first Bike show, there was a bagger in my class, how that happened I have no idea, he had his choice, took bags off. IT was the Ugliest thing I ever saw. I mean UGLY It was black. All black. Paint, pipes, tanl, seat, dials, gages, screws, rims, bolts, seat everythingone color black. He beat me, by a hafe a point. Why, One I was missing a clip on the clutch side which I couldn't have put on their anyway. His engineering was perfect. My paint killed him, it usually does anyone, but his engineering was fantastic. Hidden nitros in afalse pipe, inside air suspention. Anyway, I took 2nd that year, but I learned, when you lose by a hafe point, you make sure it doesn't happen again. So Learn have fun and enjoy.
Again Sorry for Long Post!
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