Featured Arizona Bike Week 2022: Let The Rallies Begin!

After a two year Covid-induced hiatus, Arizona Bike Week celebrated its 25th Anniversary in Phoenix last week. Mr. Sandi and I and three of our riding buddies rode up Saturday just for the day. "Rally Central" for AZ Bike Week is always at an event venue called West World (not to be confused with the TV series--thankfully). The last rallies we attended were in 2019--Sturgis in August and Las Vegas Bike Fest in October. It was awesome to be at a motorcycle rally again! This first photo is what the tabletops were in the tent where we had lunch.


Our group met up around 8:30am for the two-hour ride up to West World. The bulk of the ride there from Tucson is fairly straight and flat and is a route we've done scores of times. Once you enter the Phoenix metro area it's balls to the wall (so to speak) and hang on for dear life. We move into the HOV (High Occupancy Vehicles) "car pool" lane as soon as we're able and just stick together and jam. Even going 80-80mph, many other vehicles pass you like you're dawdling along. We've ridden through Phoenix on the freeways many times over the years and it takes a good hour at those speeds to get all the way across. This time it was only about half as long to get to our destination.


At the entrance to West World there was a photographer and camera station complete with a digital time stamp contraption. I noticed that we rode through right about 10:30am which came in handy later when we went to the rally photos booth where you could view your photo and purchase one if you wished. We hadn't been to a rally in nearly 2 1/2 years so I figured "what the heck?" and splurged and bought one for Mr. Sandi, our friend on the BMW GS, and myself. The other two guys had already bought theirs earlier in the day.

I actually took this photo to work this past week. I was talking with a group of kids I work with about what we'd each done over the weekend. I said that I rode my motorcycle up to Phoenix and one little guy blurted out, "Girls don't ride motorcycles!" All the other kids and I looked at him like he was crazy. I said, "Well, I ride one and I'm a girl." Then I asked him why he thought that. He responded with "Well, my mom doesn't ride a motorcycle. And my girlfriend doesn't ride a motorcycle. My auntie doesn't ride one either." You should have seen the look on his face when I showed him the photo a couple of days later. But the best thing was the look on the little girls' faces when they saw the photo. Riders of the future, perhaps?


Here's the map in the rally program showing the lay of the land at West World. There's a huge tent on the property and some of the big, famous auto auctions such as Barrett-Jackson are held there each year.


One of our buddies wanted to stop at a Phoenix Harley dealership for their pancake breakfast on the way to the rally. He asked who else might be interested but there were no takers. So our first order of business was to get him food. He gets pretty "hangry" when he hasn't eaten. And he had skipped breakfast thinking there'd be pancakes. So we pretty much got him (and ourselves) food at the first place we saw...not the best of ideas.


But the ice cream afterwards made up for it.


The weather was fairly windy and warm but the rally organizers had planned for that with several tent setups which made for good people watching and music listening.


That's Mr. Sandi and BMW buddy in the Champion and So What tee-shirts respectively.




However, once I saw this guy ride by our tent, I was off to look for the "Baddest Bagger" competition which I was certain was where he was headed.


CONTINUED........

 

AZ Bike Week 2022 continued:

And I was right. His bike was sandwiched in between two other entries when I located the show in the center of the rally grounds.


Most of the bikes seemed to be part of the "bagger" competition but there were a few others of a different style. We didn't stick around long enough to know who had won.


Not all of the "big wheel" baggers are Harleys as evidenced by this Victory.


I'm a bit surprised that the "big wheel" craze is still around. This woman's bike was really cool. I heard her say "everything on it is me". I don't know if she built it herself or if she hired a builder to customize it for her. At any rate, this bike is part of the newest bagger trend, "performance baggers". There's even bagger racing now. Check out this link.





A few of the non-bagger show bikes


This was a wild, wild west bike! It even had stirrups for highway pegs.




This bike had was marked "Arizona Bike Week Best Hardcore". I'd say it's hardcore! And hard-tailed, too!




This little guy seemed to be enjoying the show--and the sun--and the attention--very much! I overheard his owner telling someone that his goggles are called Doggles.


CONTINUED...

 

In addition to gawking at motorcycles, there were all sorts of other activities going on at Rally Central.

There were three stunt bike riders (motocross riders?) doing aerials off a board ramp onto an inflatable ramp.


There was the Wall of Death which had shows scheduled every few hours or so. I'd have loved to have seen it but it was super busy (not at the moment of this photo however) and Mr. Sandi and I had already seen a Wall of Death show when we were at the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin Texas about four years ago. It's an absolute hoot and if you haven't seen it and you get the opportunity, I highly recommend it!


Or if axe throwing is more your style, you could spend a little time and money doing that.


And follow it up with a cigar at this Airstream mobile cigar bar


Shopping for clothing is always "interesting" at motorcycle rallies!




Or you could meet--or ride sidecar with--the "celebrity" tiger from the Law Tigers Motorcycle Accident Law Firm that is always a major presence (and major sponsor) at motorcycle events.




And why not visit Hell('s Kitchen) while you're at it?


I'm sure that many rally goers topped off their day with the Lynyrd Skynyrd concert to be held this evening. It would have been fun to go but none of us wanted to pay top dollar for nearby hotels just to get up and ride two hours home in the morning. Skynyrd plays a lot of motorcycle rallies regularly including Sturgis. Mr. Sandi and I saw them at the Laughlin River Run around May 2017 or so. It was an outdoor concert and a really cool experience.


CONTINUED... (just one more post )

 

In addition to the motorcycles entered in the Bike Show, there were lots of interesting bikes that were part of or just parked by the many vendors displaying their wares--from clothing to parts to services (more lawyers!)--and even a booth advertising and signing people up for "The High Seas Rally--The World's Only Biker Rally on a Cruise Ship"! I kid you not.....




Those Law Tigers folks always have something unique on display.


I thought the paint job on this bike--and matching helmet--was stunning. I'm not sure about it's appropriateness, though.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/4/8



Another unusual paint job that caught my eye


Like I said, those Law Tigers folks always have something out of the ordinary at their booths!


And it wasn't really the bike that caught my eye at this vendor booth as much as the name of the company. Another "flag bike", though. Hmmm...


After a caffeine fix we headed out of the rally gates to find our bikes in the parking lot and head back to Tucson. Two of our buddies opted to ride to Scottsdale Harley-Davidson which is only a few miles from West World. But Mr. Sandi and our BMW buddy and I decided to go straight home. We found out later from our friends that Scottsdale H-D was so packed that they couldn't even get into the parking lot so they turned around and rode home, too.




A nice day all the way around! We left the house at 8:00am and arrived back in our garage at 4:30pm. Ellie, the Boxer now recognizes the sound of our bikes as we near the house and was there to greet us when we arrived. It felt so good to be back at a motorcycle rally surrounded by all things motorcycle including the people who love all things motorcycle! I've always loved every rally we've ever attended but now, having missed them due to the pandemic, I truly appreciate the experience all the more.

 

@Ducatitotriumph
Thanks, Simon! Glad you enjoyed the rally vicariously. Yes, it felt good to be out and about (especially outdoors...still) and to see others doing the same. Yeah, who thought up having a biker rally on a cruise ship?! I guess if the ship was one of those gargantuan ones they might be able to build a track of some sort on board so you could actually ride a bit. Might be fun--or certainly challenging--to do that in rough seas. I really should find the organization online to learn a bit more out of curiosity.

 

I was looking through my Arizona Bike Week photos again this morning and saw a few more that I thought I'd share! There are so many interesting things that catch my eye and make me smile--and often laugh!--at motorcycle rallies.



Well, this does seem a tad extreme. But I have to admit that I do feel like this sometimes!



Misspelled but instantly recognizable, especially to bikers



Why not just bring your stereo with you??



The wild, wild west at its best...or at least silliest



Motorcycle rallies certainly bring out the best painters--who really are artists in my book

 

@Dougie D
You're welcome, Dougie. Glad you enjoyed it. It was terrific fun and it felt good to be immersed in "moto-culture" again. Mr. Sandi and I are hopeful that Las Vegas Bike Fest will be back in action in the fall but so far there's no news on that. And I suspect this might be an instance where "no new is good news" doesn't hold true. We have some friends who are going to Sturgis but that's too much time away from both work and the dog for Mr. Sandi and me to do again at this point. So I'm on the hunt for more rallies in the future that are within reasonable riding distance from us--a day or two but not three or four like Sturgis.

 

Thanks, @Bikerman! I wish I was JK Rowling...or at least had her bank account.

I completely agree with you about being amazed by the quality of the bikes. It's so cool to me how people can envision a bike--build, paint, the whole picture--and then bring it to life. It is truly, as you said, remarkable. I'm happy to take the time to post and am glad that there are folks here like you who enjoy both the photos and stories that I love to share. And yes, hurray, the season has only just begun!!

 

I don't blame you for shying away from the cruise ship scene now, @Oldskool!

Your rideout to the British Superbike championship at Silverstone tomorrow sounds awesome. Please share some photos and commentary if you would. And have a great time!

 

One of my mottos in life has become “and never say never “, Markus! I’ll bet somebody you will have a chance!