Great AZ Bike Fest April 5-6
- Thread starter GTV
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pray we dont have the weather we had last year. The valley of the sun here is not being so nice to us this year. Im trying to get my phat chopper built into a trike before the show...should be a fun day.
to all of the 5 people out here in Arizona that are really into bikes..hope to see at least 3 others show up for the event next weekend. Should be a real special swap meet. One good thing about it..you can ride where ever you want without having anyone around you.
Aaahhhh..hello...Arizona are we still a bike ghost town.
Hey negative nancy! I'll be there!
I think AZ has more of a road and mountain bike following. But it does appear that they are putting a lot of effort into this years event, hopefully it takes off. And the weather looks good! My gal and I will each have our bikes in the show, looking forward to meeting you.
I think AZ has more of a road and mountain bike following. But it does appear that they are putting a lot of effort into this years event, hopefully it takes off. And the weather looks good! My gal and I will each have our bikes in the show, looking forward to meeting you.
We will be there after the boys football game cruisen around on my lowrider trike or stretched frisco cruiser and the kid on his nirve clutch or low rider schwinn. Also there is a swap next sunday in tucson they say 4 blocks we will have to see.
GTV said:
Last years even was very cool..but NO ONE showed. The weather was cold for our standards but it was actually nice not to have it 100 degrees. I hate being so negative but Arizona should have the most shows..swaps and events. We have 10 months of decent weather.
Either way Im there. Trying to get my trike finished..but looks like i will have the American flag bike with my trailer. Hope to see you there
Last year was a dud. The year before it was in Phoenix and much better attended. Prior to that it was held in Tempe and was quite active. I don't know what happened last year... I am not sure that it was ever publicized. I'll be there regardless 
Don't forget there is one in Tucson the week after! :shock:
Don't forget there is one in Tucson the week after! :shock:
i think the weather had somwe to do with attendance last year. too bad. I took my family and we had a great time.The swap meet part was orrible as always. HAve to be negative again..but sawp meets around here are a joke. Not sure if the other cities have the same problem..but here guys still believe schwinn stingrays that are rusty old heaps still go for $650 and old seats are worth $150. Maybe in another world..but it's a swap meet..NOT AN ANTIQUE shop in Beverly hills. ANyway..no matter what we have fun and hopefully people will show up this year with some cool bikes and some sense abotu selling stuff at the swap.dougfisk said:Last year was a dud. The year before it was in Phoenix and much better attended. Prior to that it was held in Tempe and was quite active. I don't know what happened last year... I am not sure that it was ever publicized. I'll be there regardless
No replies on this event?
Well, over all I think it was pretty good. The weather was fantastic this year. The swap seemed good (I elected to sleep in, totally uncharacteristic of me) I missed any deals that may have been there. Lots of other things to keep people entertained. It was a quantum leap better than the show last year. On a personal note, our Monark won best vintage bike and $150
The bad... It was held over 2 days. One day is plenty, IMO. It was difficult for most people to get there at 4:30pm on Friday. The show guidelines were clearly emailed to pre registered participants, but were changing constantly as the powers that be saw fit. What was going to be a two day show with a combined total of votes in 4 seperate classes plus best of show, became a people's choice Friday night with the winner receiving $150. I wouldn't even had bothered showing up Friday night if I would have known this was the case, it was far from home, I wasn't allowed to leave until late that night, and I had to be back at the event the following morning.
On Saturday they shot from the hip again and decided how to split up the show categories once bikes arrived. I can understand why this was necessary, but at the same time it was irritating to me because with the previously designated classes my gals and my bike would be in separate classes, and I felt like we had a great shot at winning them both. Now we were in the same class, competing against each other. It was relatively low participation, so I can understand. I just was expecting things to go as the email had stated.
My biggest gripe though is along those same lines... It was clearly written in the show guidelines that there was no advertisements or bribing allowed, the bikes must be unique and they must not be brought in straight from the store floor. The winner Friday night brought 3 of his bikes, (all similar, therfore not unique, IMO) entered one in the show, and was clearly using the other two bikes (parked in the show area) as advertisement for his bike building business by offering free demo rides. So of course people voted for him! The next day he had one of the demo bikes in the show and won best of show (and $500). So if you want to win next year, write him a check and you can roll a show winner right off his floor... I talked with other participants and they agreed. Someone like that should be a sponsor and have a booth set up, not competing against average Joe's. It's a good thing that they dropped the previous $25 entry fee and made it free, if I paid $25 and all of this went down I would have been really ticked off.
BUT... It was all in fun. And it was fun. It looked like a successful event from my point of view, and I really hope it gets bigger (and more vintage bikes show up!) next year.
Sorry for the rant!
Well, over all I think it was pretty good. The weather was fantastic this year. The swap seemed good (I elected to sleep in, totally uncharacteristic of me) I missed any deals that may have been there. Lots of other things to keep people entertained. It was a quantum leap better than the show last year. On a personal note, our Monark won best vintage bike and $150
The bad... It was held over 2 days. One day is plenty, IMO. It was difficult for most people to get there at 4:30pm on Friday. The show guidelines were clearly emailed to pre registered participants, but were changing constantly as the powers that be saw fit. What was going to be a two day show with a combined total of votes in 4 seperate classes plus best of show, became a people's choice Friday night with the winner receiving $150. I wouldn't even had bothered showing up Friday night if I would have known this was the case, it was far from home, I wasn't allowed to leave until late that night, and I had to be back at the event the following morning.
On Saturday they shot from the hip again and decided how to split up the show categories once bikes arrived. I can understand why this was necessary, but at the same time it was irritating to me because with the previously designated classes my gals and my bike would be in separate classes, and I felt like we had a great shot at winning them both. Now we were in the same class, competing against each other. It was relatively low participation, so I can understand. I just was expecting things to go as the email had stated.
My biggest gripe though is along those same lines... It was clearly written in the show guidelines that there was no advertisements or bribing allowed, the bikes must be unique and they must not be brought in straight from the store floor. The winner Friday night brought 3 of his bikes, (all similar, therfore not unique, IMO) entered one in the show, and was clearly using the other two bikes (parked in the show area) as advertisement for his bike building business by offering free demo rides. So of course people voted for him! The next day he had one of the demo bikes in the show and won best of show (and $500). So if you want to win next year, write him a check and you can roll a show winner right off his floor... I talked with other participants and they agreed. Someone like that should be a sponsor and have a booth set up, not competing against average Joe's. It's a good thing that they dropped the previous $25 entry fee and made it free, if I paid $25 and all of this went down I would have been really ticked off.
BUT... It was all in fun. And it was fun. It looked like a successful event from my point of view, and I really hope it gets bigger (and more vintage bikes show up!) next year.
Sorry for the rant!
i agree..this year the festival was pretty good overall. here is always a lot to do for the kids which makes it nice when you have a 6 year old. I didnt see much worth buying at the swap..but then again im a pretty tough sell when it comes to rusty junk at high prices. There were some nice bikes..but $650 for anything is WAY to high..not to mention it was JUNK.
As far a the bike show..i think the bike company you speak of that had bikes outside the show were NOT all that great. I wouldnt ride one if you gave it to me. And having a booth right outside the show was a little wrong. But then again anytime you have a contest that is won on JUDGING..that pretty much just means RIGGED. A JUDGED contest goes right along the lines of BOXING. Always corrupt and ALWAYS bad. Not to mention it's usually an opinion that is way off anyway. There were some nice bikes in the contest though.
We had a great time..just wish there was MORE of a cruiser following there
As far a the bike show..i think the bike company you speak of that had bikes outside the show were NOT all that great. I wouldnt ride one if you gave it to me. And having a booth right outside the show was a little wrong. But then again anytime you have a contest that is won on JUDGING..that pretty much just means RIGGED. A JUDGED contest goes right along the lines of BOXING. Always corrupt and ALWAYS bad. Not to mention it's usually an opinion that is way off anyway. There were some nice bikes in the contest though.
We had a great time..just wish there was MORE of a cruiser following there
I don't want to name names, I'll just say it was the wooden bike company. It's like entering your custom 69 Camaro in a spectator judged show, then Pagani enters their Zonda in the same show. Not at all comparable, not at all CUSTOM since it is a manufactured piece (even though the work that went into it is impressive, I can appreciate that bit). Of course the average civilian who doesn't know any better will vote for the Pagani... Manufactures should either be a sponsor, or pay to have a booth set up inside the event. It's not hard to understand, but the people that were running/working the show definitely didn't know bikes like we (on this site) know bikes.
It can only get better next year
It can only get better next year
GTV said:I don't want to name names, I'll just say it was the wooden bike company. It's like entering your custom 69 Camaro in a spectator judged show, then Pagani enters their Zonda in the same show. Not at all comparable, not at all CUSTOM since it is a manufactured piece (even though the work that went into it is impressive, I can appreciate that bit). Of course the average civilian who doesn't know any better will vote for the Pagani... Manufactures should either be a sponsor, or pay to have a booth set up inside the event. It's not hard to understand, but the people that were running/working the show definitely didn't know bikes like we (on this site) know bikes.
It can only get better next year
My bad opinion of this is the Wooden bikes..the Driftwood bikes..all those are horrible. Not to mention what fool is going to spend 5 grand on a bike?? Oops..i guess there are some that havent realized it has two wheels and a chain. I will say it for the millionth time...THESE ARE BIKES PEOPLE..get real. BIKES..not GOLD. Why so much for some of these bikes?? I know..cause people will pay the price for something that someone else doesnt have.. Well if thats the case..i will sell my bikes for 5 grand a piece..people dont have mine..cause they are mine..ha ha
ANyway..i lik the normal bikes..simple and fun.
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