By Lulu

Whether it is Wednesday night bike night, Bike Week, or OB’s 76th birthday, there is always a party at OB’s! Live music, stunt riders and the friendliest staff in town made OB’s a destination ride from Daytona. OB allowed himself to be crowned King for the day as friends and family gathered to celebrate! Kristie still has her daddy wrapped around her finger and you can tell by all the improvements being made to OB’s. A much needed new outside bar replaced the little cage the girls had to work in, and they can serve the large bike night crowds much more efficiently now, so belly up to the bar for a cold one and check out their new digs. A special thank you to the artist Cindy who painted our Thunder Roads logo and OB’s logo on the fence…a perfect spot for photo ops!

Mark your calendar for June 23rd! Americana Bike Show with $1000 to the Best in Show winner and a full-page article in Thunder Roads Florida Magazine. Shine up your bike and enter or just ride out to catch the show and great music!

By Lulu

What a great week we are having traveling Florida on T. J.’s Ultra. We have hit some cool bars, beaches, dealerships and events. The best part of this adventure by far is the people we meet! Collette and Julian at Treasure Coast H-D host a bike night with an open bar, free food and great music. We had an awesome time. The photos from that night will be in the June issue as May’s is always Bike Week coverage which fills the issue to the brim. While in Ft. Myers we checked out Cape Coral’s Bike Night which is huge, thousands of peeps. It only happens 4 times a year and this was the last one until after the heat of summer is over. I hope to return for one next year as it was a cool way to spend a night. Those pics are on Facebook. We made the trip over to the west coast to visit our ad client’s Customer Appreciation Day at Biker Life in Port Charlotte. William has a real love of the motorcycle lifestyle and opened his retail place to serve the needs of those who ride, and he knows how to throw a great party! While there we had a chance to visit with Doug and Michellee are area reps in Port Charlotte/Ft. Myers.

I was going to try to stay off political rants, but I have one thing to ask you to do if you are computer savvy. If you don’t know Candace Owens, you should check out her speech to the people we elect to represent us. She is by far one of the bravest and smartest women in America! Google Candace Owens speech to Congress. Of course, the left puts their spin on it but listen to her words not theirs!

At Cape Coral’s Bike Night, a man was getting petitions signed to keep the voting age 18 and to keep citizenship a requirement for voting in Florida. He was wearing a MAGA hat and he claimed to have been punched for wearing it in Daytona at the Flea Market. It made me buy one the next day at Biker Life’s party. Time to stand up for our country and for our beliefs. Republicans are too busy working to stage protests it seems, although they sure show up for Trump rallies. I have been wearing my hat for 2 days now and haven’t been punched yet…good news!

Take a ride on two wheels to an unknown spot (find it on our Motorcycle Directory List), buy a stranger a beer and don’t forget your sunscreen!

By Lulu

Well anyone who knows me knows I love Willie’s day of Bike Week or Biketoberfest the most! I love the bikes, the friends I see, the crowd, the charity and I love Willie! This event started as a bunch of bike builders meeting to ride together back in the day, their bikes started gathering a crowd and now it is THE best attended event of Bike Week! Too many photos of the winners to post here so go to Thunder Roads Florida Facebook page to view your winning bikes and lots of photos of the event. Roadside Marty of course kept things rolling.

Live music by Big Rick & the Troublemakers in the backyard was rocking the crowd who huddled under the shade of the giant oaks. Twisted Tea, Rue & Ziffra, P. A., Rock of Daytona, Cycle Source Magazine, JP Cycles, Hard Drive, Iron Horse Saloon, Grandview Live, Blings Cycle, Smoke Out, S&S, Pocket Guide, Renegade Magazine, Hardcore Cycles, Inc., Dave Perewitz, Speedkingracing, A-1 Cycles, B & D Customs, Biker’s Choice, Self Made Customs, Custom Chrome, Boomer’s Bike Shop, Led Sled, Billet Proof, Bare Bone’s, Mo’s Image Customs, Lowbrow Customs, Anvil Customs, Bikernet, and Rider Now Magazine all help bring this event to the masses so thank you guys and gals.

The charity is to assist veterans through Veterans Support Fund and there is no one on the planet who loves our vets more than Willie and the guys at Tropical Tattoo! This event is always the Thursday of Bike Week and Biketoberfest if you haven’t been, put it on your list of not to miss events! And in the meantime, if you need ink, the experts at Tropical would love to put their art on your canvas!

Show winners:

Perewitz Paint-Jesse Srpan, Willie’s Choice-Jay, Hardcore-Randall Noldge, Tropical Tattoo Choice-Bobby C, Roadside’s Choice-Zach Gostelli, Cycle Source Choice-Big Joe Lingley, Speedking-Matt Waln, Bling- Johnny 99 Customs, Ladies’ Choice, Gigi, Big Rick’s Choice-Pepi Barone, Sr., Roadside Old School-Gilly, Crowd Favorite-Tai Swank, Rev. Al Award-John Chadwell,  Roadside & Willie-Sweet Pete, BD Customs-Sean Teehan, Cochise Chops-Jasoc Rollier, Performance-Magnum “Bob” Merrill, Antique-Christina Mialky, Flathead-Clay Cooper, Knuckle-Rod “Grimey” Davis, Pan-Xaviet Muriel, Shovel-Rob Jones/Brock Bridges, Evo/Paint-Jess Srpan, Twin Cam-Craig Childers, Sportster-Brenda DeGazio, Creative Custom-Eric Allard, British Custom-Ron Zuk, Metric-Alex Honig, Jap Custom-Troy Banks, Rat Bike-Phil Martin, Bobber-Luis Mellado, Chopper/Mo’s Image-Jerry Merrola

By Lulu

Some news sources say the attendance numbers for Bike Week 2019 were down. The hotels supposedly, were not filled to capacity, and motorcycle fatalities were way down which is an amazing fact that they use to judge attendance. But you would never know it by the grounds of Destination Daytona. The showroom was bustling with shoppers of all things from T- shirts to bikes. My friends Barry and Kay from the west coast adopted a brand-new custom trike to ride home on and before they even emptied the stuff out of their old trike it was sold!

Bike shows, The Wall of Death, celebrity bikers including Billy Lane who has brought back dirt racing with his Sons of Speed event, the Budweiser Clydesdale’s parade, an International Bikini Contest, bands and vendors all gave visitors to Bruce’s mega-Harley complex too much to see and do. This was the 25th Bike Week for the Rossmeyers and to celebrate, they kicked off the event with free beer and food Thursday that they personally served, I even caught a photo of Will using the tap like a pro. This family hasn’t forgotten that part of the allure of buying a Harley is becoming part of the family of motorcycling.

As the offspring of Bruce were greeting the lines of customers, I realized that they were just kids 25 years ago, their father would be proud of how hard they have worked to carry on his motorcycle legacy. Join Shelley and Mandy on one of the monthly rides to a destination for dinner or better yet one of their overnight adventures. The next one is coming up in June to Cedar Key!

By Lulu

Whether you are in the mood to shop, buy a bike, listen to great music or enjoy one of the many events that Tim Bishop at Space Coast Harley-Davidson or Alexis at Miracle City Harley organize, there is always something going on at these east coast dealerships. Miracle City Harley-Davidson is the newest dealership which opened its doors in March just before Bike Week. We rode down for the AC/DC tribute band at Space Coast and to investigate the new Miracle City. Put this on your bike ride plans. Both dealerships have a large supply of bikes and great accessories.

By Lulu

Volusia Top Gun, with a reputation for great burgers, stiff drinks and a bevy of guns with a place to practice shooting them decided to fill their parking lot with cool cars, trucks and a bike show. T. J.’s son A. J. gave his dad a pistol from Top Gun for Father’s Day awhile back, so we have been there for food and fun with the gun! They have a huge selection of pistols, rifles, safes, ammo all the things needed for hunting or protection…or just sport! The bike show had some radical rides including the biggest back wheel I have ever seen, and a beer bike covered from bars to pipes with beer tops, etc. If you haven’t ridden out to Volusia Top Gun to at least grab a burger and watch some expert marksmen do, it is a good date night!

By Lulu

The Broken Spoke was slammed with people and events. Too many bike shows and events to list. Too many bands to hear them all! Too many hot bartenders to try to get a drink from each hot girl or the one hot guy! One of my favorites that we had to see, was of course Hairball, I could watch them every night. I really enjoyed the garage build bike show too! Some of my friends were entered in that one! To see more photos from Broken Spoke Bike Week visit our Facebook page at Thunder Roads Florida.

By Lulu

Hard Rock is known for parties and music! And nothing rocks Bike Week better than a freaking awesome bike show! Cory Souza from over in Sarasota puts on one hell of an event! Inside the ballroom and outside on one of the tiered beachfront decks were beautifully crafted “No Class” entries for his show. Well I realize the “No Class” is a bike show entry term, but I am telling you these were some of the classiest looking rides ever built! Some, of the sweetest paint jobs I have seen anywhere…and all the participants couldn’t have been nicer. Next time you visit Daytona Beach make sure you visit Hard Rock. The hotel is gorgeous and there is always great music planned.

By Lulu

The folks at S. R. Perrott and Yuengling sponsored a tattoo contest for best male and female tattoo. Willie and the boys from Tropical Tattoo emceed and judged the event with the help of the crowd. Just prior to the contest David Allan Coe was onstage and the crowd was packed in like sardines. Yuengling has been doing tattoo contests during Bike Week and Biketoberfest so get your ink on and show up to walk away with the grand prize! Tropical Tattoo would be happy to etch one on ya’!

By Lulu

Well once again Heavy and Christine pulled off a huge event to celebrate motorcycling, bikers and another great year in business. The Beaver Bar was filled to capacity. The weather god blessed the event with a gorgeous day and while we were on premise the air was filled with tunes from Hayfire and the roar of pipes! Couldn’t have been a better event. This is always mid-February so come join the fun next year. Bring your bike to enter the show or just ride in for food, fun and friends.

By Tony & T-Rex

Suns up and we’re running the ‘cement mixer’ over the causeway in Ft. Pierce. We are heading to the Treasure Coast Motorcycle Show and Swap Meet. We wheel over the causeway and there it is, the Causeway Cove Marina and that’s where it’s going to happen for 2 days. The southbound run went smoothly. We are early, so the first thing we do is find Larry, the guy who set this all up. He gives us a run down on what’s going on and he’s back to work. So, we are off to the swap meet to scavenge up some parts as the vendors are still unpacking. From there we go to the beer garden for a cold one and a sausage sandwich, then a walk over to the bikes for sale area. As we look around, the bikes are rolling in, the parking areas are filling up, the vendors are doing business and the bikes are being put into place for the bike show.

This is a 2-day event with 4 bands and T-Rex is heading to the band stand to check out the first band today which is “Sol Party” and they are playing some classic rock for the crowd. Then we check out the vendors who had everything from riding boots to wall plaques. We stop back at the beer garden then off to check out the bike show entrants. They have them all…antiques, customs, even a Boss Hoss. One more trip to, you guessed it…the beer garden to see Larry and say our good-byes, we jump on the cement mixer and we’re in the wind. Larry, a great show. We will see you at your next one.

Ride Safe…T-Rex and Tony

By Phoenix and Metric-HD

No matter what you call it, the stress of combat takes its toll. As a retired Veteran of two branches of the military that spans decades of service to this county, I can tell you that joining the military changes your life forever. First, it takes a special kind of person to join the military, not everyone is cut out for it. You must be willing to sacrifice up to and including your life for your God, Country and the Brothers that stand next to you. Boot Camp alone makes you ask the question “What in the HELL did I get myself into?”. For most veterans, serving in the military is the most rewarding experience they will ever have. You carry the memories of your adventures with you for a lifetime and most of the memories are fantastic. However, for that elite group of men and women who serve on the front lines those memories can haunt you FOREVER! We send young Americans out to foreign lands to see and do things that no human should have to endure. We expect them to return home to “suck up and drive on” and for most of them they do, and do it well. However, everyday they risk the chance that a smell, or the backfiring of an old Harley could send them back to a place they wish they could forget.

Shell Shock, Battle Fatigue and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are real. On average, twenty-two Veterans commit suicide each day. That is where PROJECT 22 comes in to play. Project 22 helps the Veterans that struggle the most with PTSD. Ironically, in a lot of cases it is the Veterans that have been there, done that and got the t-shirt that are the ones reaching out to the Veterans that are struggling. Thanks to the Wretched Few VMC for letting our Brothers know that they are not in this fight alone. The Wretched Few VMC put on a Poker Run in Polk County to bring awareness to the Project 22 agenda. They began the day in Lakeland at MJC Classic Cars, stopped at Breland’s Bar & Billiards in Lakeland then off to the American Legion Post 72 in Mulberry, down to the Fun Bar in Bartow, over to the YA’LL Come Back Saloon just outside Lake Wales then back to the Eagle Ridge Mall where the ride ended at the Area 71 American Legion. All the money raised will go to help local Veterans. For more information on PROJECT 22 check it out on the web or contact the Wretched Few VMC at www.wretchedfew.org.

By Horny Dave

Located in the heart of downtown Palatka, surrounded by quaint little shops and historic brick streets, lies a hidden jewel called the 3-D Saloon. Every February the owners, life-long resident Donny and his wife Amy, throw a birthday party for their friends and customers at their bar. This is the most unique birthday party ever. They host the party for themselves, born only two days apart, however the patrons are the one who get the gifts! Tickets were given out to the customers and Amy drew numbers all day for a table full of sweet bar prizes.

Donny spent his birthday cooking kettles of delicious low country boil on the back porch. Speaking of back porches in Putnam county, this must be one of the finest. Sitting around with friends, both old and new, makes you feel like you’re relaxing in a lush garden.

Next time you head out for a ride, take a trip along the beautiful St. John’s River and enjoy the picturesque view from high atop Veterans Memorial Bridge. As you ride into the county seat of Putnam, check out the 3-D Saloon, say hello to Donny and Amy, shoot some pool, and enjoy an incredible time with some great people.

By Ron Cox

The Naples Chapter of LAMA (Latin American Motorcycle Association) hosted its 5th Anniversary party on February 16th at Rockstar Harley-Davidson. More than 260 LAMAS’ plus their friends and guests rocked out on the patio. Riders came in from Alabama and Ohio too! And since LAMA’s International Convention was the following week in Orlando, LAMA’s had their bikes shipped from Mexico, Cuba and Columbia. Several local clubs also had representation.

Under tent-like canopies, everyone had the opportunity to enjoy a meal of pulled pork, chicken, baked beans, salsa and chips. Plenty of ice-cold soft drinks and water accompanied the meal. Adult beverages were available.

A trophy table was set up with plenty of hardware to be given out. Chapters took 1st and 2nd place for having the most members, longest distance and the most female members present.

Entertainment was provided by 3RG Miami and needless to say they kept everyone up and moving!!!!!

LAMA was founded in 1977 in Chicago. Since its inception, LAMA was intended to be a Moto-Touring Club with truly democratic ideas. In 1995 a Chapter was formed in Miami and in 1996 LAMA became a National Association when the first national president was elected. In 1999 LAMA became an International Association when Chapters were formed in Puerto Rico, Mexico and Cuba. Today the number of Chapters has grown to more than 160 worldwide spanning the Americas, Asia, Europe and Australia. Florida boasts more than 20 Chapters.