This was the first time I had gone to Myrtle Beach Bike week since the mayor decided he wanted to do away with it. We just went down for a few days during the last weekend of the event. Arrived on Thursday, the wife and I rode our bikes down. Its only around 4 1/2 hours from home and we have always enjoyed the ride down there. Since the mayor don't want us in MB we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Murrells Inlet, super nice hotel and very biker friendly. They seemed to be happy to have us.

Traffic Thursday was very light unlike before. We met up with some friends and headed over the MB HD. Wow! Nowhere near the number of vendors that use to be set up there, I would say maybe a 1/4 of the count. We then went down to Suck, Bang and Blow. Big crowd there and everybody had a great time. Friday morning we headed up to North MB to check out the vendors and do some riding. Again the vendor count was dismal and there was a decent amount of bikes but it was like an old really slow fall rally. One vendor I really missed was Boss Hoss, I really enjoyed taking one of those beast out for a test ride.

We headed back home Saturday afternoon because rain was in the forecast for Sunday and we did ride the last hour in the rain but it was light so not too bad, just got the bikes a little extra dirty.

Overall we had a good time, not sure we'll go back though. It just didn't seem to have the spark it use to have. I just wonder how the businesses doing. Places that used to be packed with people spending money were completely empty so I feel sure they have to be hurting.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Bikes packed and ready to roll out.


At North MB HD


Bones and Spokes(old broken spoke)the bike show

 

Nice Pictures. I have to agree, bikers and venders numbers down. Still we had a nice time, good weather, riding and food.

 

Same here, was a first time for both of us and the 'spark' just wasn't there like it was at other rally's we've been to.

The local businesses we went into seemed very pleased to have us, and we had a good time but it felt more like a regular vacation and not a rally to us.

 

It was my first MB bike rally. We had a good time. Went to SBB Thurs night, MB Harley, the Speedway, and Broadway on Friday. It's about a 400 mile ride 1 way for me so that was nice. Saturday we road down to Charleston and took a tour of the retired Aircraft Carrier, Submarine, and the Destroyer then road over to some Park in old Charleston. The ride home in the rain wasn't even to bad, cleaning the bike sucks though.

 

Yeah noticed the same thing last yr but oddly enough the fall rally seemed larger than the spring I thought. We stay in surfside and hang mainly in murrells inlet unless rolling thru mb to hit barefoot landing.

Nice last picture - That white/purple custom bagger done by Joey @ Backyard Baggers which is down the road from me. Great guy, if you want custom work done!

 

Ah that sucks. It used to be on the annual must do list, we enjoyed it more than Daytona back in the early 2000's. I guess thats when Eddie Trotta did the camel bike.

http://www.cyclerides.com/photos/rid.../21trotter.jpg

 

Honestly, I think MB is great change from the typical bike rally..
Sturgis, Laconia, even Americade for an all-brand rally...you've got three choices..ride the roads around it , visit the vendors, or drink at the bars...

Since MB is already a vacation destination, there's plenty of other things to do.
And not having to broil in traffic with a hot bike and hot pavement isn't so bad either.

 

I think the numbers were way up from the last few years. Nowhere close to the mid 2000s,but a lot more since the MB city helmet debacle.

 

Agree. But it looks like it's starting to take life again. We had a great time. Whole place seemed to welcome the crowd...even law enforcement.

 

We had a good time. Enjoyed the ride down on Friday morning, riding the coast, and grilled out some steaks that night. Got in some fun cruising and checking out some nice bikes at MBHD and the bars in Murrells Inlet on Saturday. Had some good pizza at California Pizza in Surfside on Saturday with several of the HP troopers. Everybody seemed to be pretty welcoming to us the whole weekend. There were a lot of troopers pulling cars over, but didn't see bikes being pulled.

Where was all the stuff going on at Broadway? I circled that whole mall but never really found anything happening there. What did I miss?

The whole vendor thing is a little lost on me, I guess. It all seemed like the same cheap Pakistan leather, patches, and t-shirt kind of stuff was everywhere. I was hoping to see some vendors like Fuel Moto, the Ohlin suspension guy, or the Fox Creek folks there. Maybe I just missed them.

The ride home on Sunday was pretty miserable in the storms. I was hoping to thread that needle between them, but basically was soaked the whole way home.

'fooz