Rallies.....
“A motorcycle rally is a gathering of motorcycle
enthusiasts. Rallies can be large or small, and one-time or recurring.
Some rallies are ride-in events, whereas some like the Iron Butt Rally
involve days of riding and an actual gathering only at the end of the ride.”
For me, I think of them as open events, open
to all, to promote a brand or cause, or maybe just an event established for
the sole purpose of bringing folks on bikes together. Some remain small, some have grown
huge. Bikes Blues and BBQ is probably a
good example of the latter. In just over
a decade, it’s grown into one of the largest in the country, family oriented (no
crazy adult antics), and awesome riding.
Others, have remained small such as IRIP in the Branson area.
I have to admit, I like to attend them once
in a while, for different reasons. IRIP (Indian
Rally at Indian Point) sucked me in back around 2011, and I attended a few more
times after that and enjoyed it immensely.
Its core attendees have changed up over the years, but it remains a
small rally and those that attend have a good time, the vast majority rolling
in on Indian Motorcycles. It appears to
have peaked in size and stays around 150 folks, give or take 50? BBBQ in Fayetteville sucked me in back in 2009
and we attended that one for five years. Enjoyed the rides out there, riding with
friends, making new friends, but eventually the high costs of lodging and
massive crowds pushed us away. As with many rallies, it's brand agnostic ( but mostly HDs). It continues to grow and grow every year; they are obviously doing something right! There is
a small event that occurs in the Texas Hill Country every April for Indian
Riders ( there are NUMEROUS events for all bikes , throughout the year here )
that has been going on for about 4 years; it’s leveled off at about 50-75 bikes
annually. Every year, they get new riders
and seem to lose some of the old ones. I’ve
got my suspicions on why; hell, chime in if you have the facts as to why? I do remember one incident that happened a
few years back that had me shaking my head.
The promoter of the event had a personal issue with a single individual and
went out of his way to ‘uninvite’ that person to the event. My take on it was, the City of Fredericksburg
is ‘public domain’ and there is more than one motel in that city, so press
on. And that, is what the ‘uninvited’
did. Hell, I did the same thing this
past April. Showed up during the same time
to visit with friends that ‘registered’, stayed at a motel literally next door
and had a great time and had some great riding. No drama, no BS. I didn't register , just rolled in! I’ve attended another
event up north the last five years. It’s
grown from an ‘event’ that consisted of a ride on Saturday and Sunday, to a
publicized “bike week”. Now, me
personally when I think of “Bike Week”... I think of Daytona Beach in
March. I mean, that is one the largest
in the country. Even Sturgis is a week
long, and unofficially, more like TWO WEEKS long! But this event up north, is basically a
dealer oriented event that folks meet at the dealer, and do most (all?) rides
originating from the dealer and most have the dealer as a final
destination. There are costs associated
with each ride, that many including myself have felt were extremely high compared
with most events elsewhere in the country.
So I’m scratching my head.. Shouldn’t this just be advertised as a multi-day
dealer event? (Just a thought). Anyways, I made the decision a few months
back as well as many other folks I know, to distance myself from the
event. I've had a lot of folks reach out to me with concerns about the costs and couldn't justify them. After awhile, I couldn't justify it for myself. I mean, the HD Dealer during the Sturgis Rally
in Rapid City is more of a full blown ‘rally’
with hundreds of Vendors on location , the dealership setup to service a
LOT of bikes simultaneously, with music and drinks available onsite (cost to ride in? Zero). All depends on why one ‘goes’ to the rally
is what makes it what it is I guess. Back to the northern event, funny part to the whole thing is, along the way I received an email uninviting
me to an event that I had no intention of attending. I
guess that’s what can happen when personal issues come into play on events that
aren’t actually "public" but centered on a dealership’s property and their
personal property over a period of days.
What drew me to these rallies, and many
others over the years? IRIP, was the
first time I’d ever heard or seen, of that many Indian brand motorcycles in one
location (zero cost to ride in). Hill Country / TX has the same
draw for many (zero cost to ride in). And this is what drew me
initially to the event up north (actually, the only reason). Back in 2009, I’d just bought my first Indian
and there were no events Indian related that I was aware of. Well, IRIP was in full swing, the unofficial
IIRA Reunion annually, but I hadn’t become aware of it yet (IIRA has since
moved its event to Durango). When one
initially becomes aware of a large event based around Indians, no doubt it’s
what draws many in. But today, you can
find these ‘everywhere.’ The IMRG foremost
is growing and chapters have proliferated, allowing many folks to go out and ride
with a dozen or two others on Indians. There is an annual JD / Tennessee
ride that brings in 200+ bikes every year. You can get your fix on that one no doubt! Hell,
I’m a lifetime IMRG member, and hope to do this one in the near future. Then
there are several Indian related riding groups not affiliated with corporate, that
one can join. If you haven’t guessed it
from my previous posts, I’m biased towards the Iron Indian Riders Association
(IIRA). The IIRA currently has their
second annual Durango reunion coming up, and an event in the Ozarks come late
August (“The Gathering”) (zero cost to ride in for both). And separate chapters
have rides throughout the year. Besides the IIRA, there are at least two other
groups out there as well, that I’ll leave nameless for now. I’ve been a member of both, but not a fan of
either for personal reasons. Throw into the mix other numerous events not
related to specific ‘groups’ such as “Indian – Victory – Slingshot,
Rally in the Smokies” and “Durango Rendezvous” and one realizes they can get
their fix throughout the country, and more events than they can possibly attend.
Why is this ‘important?” Well, I
guess it isn’t? Just kidding. The point is, one can pick and choose among
a plethora of events out there, if they are looking for a ‘brand only’ event
for Indian Motorcycles. And that event
should meet some type of criteria. Affordability. Great Riding.
Distance to travel to/from. If
charity related, overhead of the charity and accountability of funds. But no matter how one looks at it, there
are more events than one can shake a stick at.
If you ride an Indian and get your kicks out of riding with many others
on the same bike, you can pick and choose!
That all being said, I’ve done the brand only events. Been there done it. I have to admit the first or second time, it
does have a cool factor. Now a days, I tend to attend ‘rally’s based on other
factors. Have I been in the area before? How good is the riding? Are there other
friends attending? What ‘group’ is running the event? I mean, I’m a sucker for IIRA events (its about the people!). Like I said; I’m biased (and for good
reason). But give me a good location and
good group of folks, and I’m in. And I’m
not talking brand specific. Even though
I’ve gotten to dislike the really big events or large rides (you know…100 -500
of your new best friends on a ride and 10% shouldn’t be on a bike to start with),
seems every year I find myself in the mix?
Well, Summer 2017 is here. The Durango
Reunion 2017 is about ten days or so away!
The Gathering in the Ozarks is in less than 3 months. And for those up north in the middle of the
August, I’ll also be up there riding with the Northwinds IIRA Chapter, in search of
two lane roads with some great folks leading the rides. The IIRA folks have been welcomed by Bison Thunder Motorcycle on the Northwest
corner of the Twin Cities, so I plan on checking it out. If you’re
like me, I HATE ‘concrete’ . You know,
Interstates, 4+ lanes of traffic. And Bison
Thunder Motorcycle is outside the metro area, which I’m looking forward to (as
well as hearing Great things about them).
This will be during the same time frame as a couple of folks are
traveling up there to ride in the dealer event, so I’m looking forward to doing
some riding with them, and throwing back a few in the
evenings as well. Just need to find a …
Gazebo?
Bison Thunder Motorcycle Dealer
Let the “Rally’s”
Begin!
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