Guinness Rides - lil' History
This October a LOT of us will be headed to Hot Springs, Arkansas for an awesome weekend of riding. I've posted about this several times. I'll be up there as will many, for 3- 4 days of riding and good times. On that Saturday, we'll have hundreds of bikes line up for a shot at the Guinness Record for "Most Indian Motorcycles in a Parade." I've stated many times I'd prefer if we did a nice long ride instead of a parade for the record, but I can easily come up with a dozen reasons why you wouldn't/shouldn't do that. So, we line 'em up for a short jaunt ( less than 5 miles ) , knock out the record and then go celebrate .. and ... more riding in the Hot Springs National Park!
Interestingly, there was no record until about 3 years ago. I guess nobody thought to do it. I mean the Iron Indians had some BIG turnouts over the last 17 years; nobody thought to have someone out with a clicker and run 'em in a circle for a few miles? Hundreds of folks have shown up for events over decades on Indians and .. nobody thought to do a record. So, who came up with the idea for this? It's not who many may think. A good friend of mine, Holly Dittel came up with it. She used to have a bad ass Mopar and the club she was in (Midwest Mopars) put together a go at it with hundreds of Dodge Challengers showing up. Now, THAT must have been bad ass to see? Their first one was Dodge Challenger Guinness World Record Attempt . Midwest Mopars " Mopars in the Park " 2011 They did a second attempt the following year. Back around 2015, Holly and her husband Rick had recently bought an Indian and were active members of the IARG in MN, with Rick holding the VP position at one point. Holly brought up the idea and it took off. The IARG did an awesome job as road guards for it as well as other volunteers. Wait, say what? Holly came up with the idea, not some guy that has been ranting for several years it is 'his' record? It's all because of him. Nope. It was Holly's and if she hadn't brought it up ... who knows if there would have been an attempt up until now?
As it turns out, I was one of the people participating in that attempt. I've wrote about this in the past and in retrospect some of it is hilarious to me. The promoter of the event took full credit for it, though it wasn't' his idea at all. Still does! Secondly, he spent the better part of a year badgering people to attend. Now here is where it gets interesting to me. There was no record in existence. There was no record to beat. So, basically, if the 25 road guards had been the only ones to show, up we'd have set the record at 25! Ta'da! But, after a year of hounding people, something like less than 270 bikes rolled in. It was supposed to be FIVE HUNDRED .. but ... not quite. After the ride, there was this big dramatic scene where everyone wondered " would we have enough!?!?" .. When they announced the bikes and the plaque was handed over ( already made ) tears were flowing. Promoter leading the ordeal. Flowing for.......what?? ANY amount of bikes would have set the record!!!! Don't believe me? Look at the examples below. Some had less than 200 bikes. Me, I was glad it was all behind us have a year of that BS. At the same time, I've been in numerous rides with thousands of bikes, literally. I didn't get it. The following year, another year of promoting and badgering folks and by all accounts they should have failed but at the last second witness accounts say they had bikes from the dealership being used and folks jumping on to ride them. Really? SMH If anyone was actually paying attention, the new record would have been negated by not following the rules.
Well, we've got another shot at the record coming up. Except what's different is a dealership with Integrity is putting it on. Transparency for the funds, is in place. Folk are not getting inundated with requests to register. And, it's being supported by various riding groups ( example IOA, IIRA, IMRG). The 274 will be a breeze to crush; no brainer. Question just becomes : How many will show? Well, we'll find out come 5 October 2019; The Gregory 500+ . I've been to Hot Springs a half dozen times; the place is beautiful the roads are awesome and the weather is consistently great for riding!
Now some folks would say "how hard could it be?" Well, it's more difficult than one would expect. First the average rider isn't going to travel across the country for a 10 minute ride. Not going to happen. Secondly, it's difficult to get the word out to the average rider. Unless they are active on FB or Forums, they may never know. Still, it doesn't seem like a difficult number to achieve; but it is. Proof. The record for HDs is 2,404 motorcycles. There are MILLIONs of HDs in the USA. But the record was set in Greece and they've attempted unsuccessfully the last few years to break it here. How can that be, one must ask? Only 2,404??? Example: ... I'll be on a ride this Wednesday that will stretch for miles, and 90% of those bikes will be HDs. Yet, it's not for a record. They won't show up for a record ride. Why, one must ask? What brings people in ? My answer is, it's NOT the Guinness Ride. You need to have an awesome destination to bring folks in. Then as I say, the Guinness ride in Hot Springs, will be the icing on the cake. Especially when we have 500+ bikes there for the weekend.
Now you know .. the rest of the story
The largest parade of quadbikes (ATVs) is 1,870 and was organised by the Rocky Mountain ATV Jamboree in Richfield, Utah, USA, on 16 September 2009. 1,947 ATV's were at the start of the parade, however, only 1,870 finished it. The largest parade of Honda motorcycles is 1,180 motorcycles and was achieved by Naysha Racing (Peru) in Pucallpa, Peru, on 15 July 2012. The event was an open invitation to members of the public who own Honda motorcycles and the majority of the participants were from the city of Pucallpa although fans came from all over the Amazonian region and even the capital, Lima, to participate. The route went from the Plaza de Armas in the centre and ended over 5 km later at the "Aliardo Soria" Football Stadium.
he largest parade of motorcycles with sidecars is 681 and was achieved by residents of the city of Cauayan, at an event organised Ropali Motorcycles, History, Honda and city officials in the province of Isabela (all Phillippines), in Cauayan, Isabela, Philippines, on 8 April 2015. 685 motorcycles participated, but four riders were forced to withdraw from the parade, citing engine and tyre problems.
The record for the largest Suzuki motorcycle parade is 915 and was organised by Bikeparts in Hamme-Zogge, Belgium, on 1 October 2006.
The largest parade of classic motorcycles consisted of 170 motorcycles in a parade organized by the Heimatverein Eibach in Eibach, Germany, on 27 July 2008. On the same day they broke the record for the largest parade of classic tractors.
The largest parade of BMW motorcycles consisted of 241 motorcycles and was organized by Grass Roots BMW Motorcycles (all USA) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA, on 26 September 2009. The motorcycles were all different types of BMW motorcycles.
The largest parade of Bajaj motorcycles is 324, achieved at an event organised by Manigandan Manjunathan, Riderspedia and Baalamithra Ashram (all India) in Mumbai, India, on 26 January 2017. Participants completed a parade route of 19km
he record for the largest parade of BSA motorcycles is 218 and was achieved by the BSA Owners Club UK in Laxey Village, Isle of Man, UK, on 18 August 2008. The record was achieved during the 50th BSA Owners Rally.
The largest parade of Ducati Motorcycles consisted of 405 Ducati Monsters and was organized by the Monster Owners Belgium Club (Belgium). The parade took place in Hamme, Belgium, on 21 September 2008. All bikes were Ducati Monsters, however the category is open to any type of Ducati bike.
The largest parade of military motorcycles consisted of 187 motorcycles that were all manufactured during the Second World War. The parade was organized by Ron Pier (UK) and took place on route D613, near Bayeux, France, on 6 June 2014. Mr Pier chose Normandy, France, as a suitably poignant location for this record attempt. "The comradery from people of all nations was incredible," he says, "and it was fun."
he largest parade of Triumph motorcycles consisted of 539 motorcycles and was organised by Staffordshire Triumph (UK) in Mansfield, UK, on 4 September 2016.
"Most were post-1990 products of Triumph Motorcycles in Hinckley, but there were a number of machines made at Triumph Engineering's factory at Meriden near Coventry prior to 1984. There was also a 1937 machine, which would have been produced at Triumph Engineering's pre-war plant in Coventry. One Triumph had a sidecar attached and three had been converted to tricycle format," said witness Mick Duckworth.
The largest parade of off-road motorcycles consisted of 3,312 motorcycles and was achieved at the Bananalama event held in Corupá, Santa Catarina, Brazil, on 7 July 2013. The distance covered was 2.74 miles (4.41 km). Overall, 4,281 motorcycles and ATVs registered for the event, but ATVs were discounted and had a separate 30 min head start.
The largest parade of mopeds consisted of 1,237 mopeds and was achieved on an event organised by De Bromvliegers (Netherlands) between Veghel and Zijtaart in The Netherlands, on 23 August 2009. De Bromvliegers also organized the previous record attempt.
The Largest Parade of Harley Davidson Motorcycles consisted of 2,404 motorcycles and was achieved by Roberto Macdonald, The RRiders, and the Harley Davidson Club Hellas (Greece), in Patras, Greece, on 22 May 2010. The distance covered by the parade was 4.5 km (2.8 miles)
The largest parade of electric scooters is 1,303 vehicles and was achieved by Gogoro Taiwan Limited (Chinese Taipei) with all the riders on Gogoro scooters on a route between Taipei Bridge and Taipei City Hall in Taipei, Chinese Taipei, on 7 October 2018. The total length of route which counted towards this record attempt was 4.2 km. The route itself was made up of main traffic roads in Taipei city. The parade commenced at around 5.15 am and was completed just before 5.40 am. The parade formation was made up of four rows of scooters. Gogoro has been selling electric scooters in Taiwan since 2015. Taiwan has the third highest per capita ownership of motorcycles in the world. The Taiwan government offers financial incentives for the use of electric scooters in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions. Gogoro has to date sold around 90,000 electric scooters in Taiwan.
The largest parade of Royal Enfield motorcycles is 857 and was achieved by Manigandan Manjunathan and Royal Enfield Owners (both India) in Mumbai, India on 26 January 2016. All riders remained in formation for the entire parade route.
Thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts descended upon the SM Mall of Asia Concert Ground in Pasay, Philippines last week to mark the fourth annual gathering of the region’s Yamaha owners club in record-breaking style. The Yamaha Club Day event saw the launch of the company’s latest slogan, ‘Revs Your Heart’ which was celebrated with the powerful sound of 1,446 engines revving together. This combined roar set a new Guinness World Record™ title for most engines started simultaneously, one of three world record claimed by the club during the day’s festivities. An impressive 1,425 horns sounding in unison signaled what was to be another world record, this time for most motorcycle horns sounded simultaneously. The day’s most visually impressive record attempt by Yamaha Motor Philippines club came in the form of a moving cavalcade, with a bid for the largest parade of Yamaha motorcycles title. Official Guinness World Records guidelines for the record specify that all vehicles must be moving, with a minimum parade distance of 3.2km required. With a target of 206 participating bikes to beat – a benchmark set in Italy at Yamaha Fest in 2003, a stunning display saw 1,208 Yamaha bikes created a stir amongst spectators along with a new piece of record-breaking history..
Interestingly, there was no record until about 3 years ago. I guess nobody thought to do it. I mean the Iron Indians had some BIG turnouts over the last 17 years; nobody thought to have someone out with a clicker and run 'em in a circle for a few miles? Hundreds of folks have shown up for events over decades on Indians and .. nobody thought to do a record. So, who came up with the idea for this? It's not who many may think. A good friend of mine, Holly Dittel came up with it. She used to have a bad ass Mopar and the club she was in (Midwest Mopars) put together a go at it with hundreds of Dodge Challengers showing up. Now, THAT must have been bad ass to see? Their first one was Dodge Challenger Guinness World Record Attempt . Midwest Mopars " Mopars in the Park " 2011 They did a second attempt the following year. Back around 2015, Holly and her husband Rick had recently bought an Indian and were active members of the IARG in MN, with Rick holding the VP position at one point. Holly brought up the idea and it took off. The IARG did an awesome job as road guards for it as well as other volunteers. Wait, say what? Holly came up with the idea, not some guy that has been ranting for several years it is 'his' record? It's all because of him. Nope. It was Holly's and if she hadn't brought it up ... who knows if there would have been an attempt up until now?
As it turns out, I was one of the people participating in that attempt. I've wrote about this in the past and in retrospect some of it is hilarious to me. The promoter of the event took full credit for it, though it wasn't' his idea at all. Still does! Secondly, he spent the better part of a year badgering people to attend. Now here is where it gets interesting to me. There was no record in existence. There was no record to beat. So, basically, if the 25 road guards had been the only ones to show, up we'd have set the record at 25! Ta'da! But, after a year of hounding people, something like less than 270 bikes rolled in. It was supposed to be FIVE HUNDRED .. but ... not quite. After the ride, there was this big dramatic scene where everyone wondered " would we have enough!?!?" .. When they announced the bikes and the plaque was handed over ( already made ) tears were flowing. Promoter leading the ordeal. Flowing for.......what?? ANY amount of bikes would have set the record!!!! Don't believe me? Look at the examples below. Some had less than 200 bikes. Me, I was glad it was all behind us have a year of that BS. At the same time, I've been in numerous rides with thousands of bikes, literally. I didn't get it. The following year, another year of promoting and badgering folks and by all accounts they should have failed but at the last second witness accounts say they had bikes from the dealership being used and folks jumping on to ride them. Really? SMH If anyone was actually paying attention, the new record would have been negated by not following the rules.
Well, we've got another shot at the record coming up. Except what's different is a dealership with Integrity is putting it on. Transparency for the funds, is in place. Folk are not getting inundated with requests to register. And, it's being supported by various riding groups ( example IOA, IIRA, IMRG). The 274 will be a breeze to crush; no brainer. Question just becomes : How many will show? Well, we'll find out come 5 October 2019; The Gregory 500+ . I've been to Hot Springs a half dozen times; the place is beautiful the roads are awesome and the weather is consistently great for riding!
Now some folks would say "how hard could it be?" Well, it's more difficult than one would expect. First the average rider isn't going to travel across the country for a 10 minute ride. Not going to happen. Secondly, it's difficult to get the word out to the average rider. Unless they are active on FB or Forums, they may never know. Still, it doesn't seem like a difficult number to achieve; but it is. Proof. The record for HDs is 2,404 motorcycles. There are MILLIONs of HDs in the USA. But the record was set in Greece and they've attempted unsuccessfully the last few years to break it here. How can that be, one must ask? Only 2,404??? Example: ... I'll be on a ride this Wednesday that will stretch for miles, and 90% of those bikes will be HDs. Yet, it's not for a record. They won't show up for a record ride. Why, one must ask? What brings people in ? My answer is, it's NOT the Guinness Ride. You need to have an awesome destination to bring folks in. Then as I say, the Guinness ride in Hot Springs, will be the icing on the cake. Especially when we have 500+ bikes there for the weekend.
Now you know .. the rest of the story
_____________________________________
Examples
The largest parade of quadbikes (ATVs) is 1,870 and was organised by the Rocky Mountain ATV Jamboree in Richfield, Utah, USA, on 16 September 2009. 1,947 ATV's were at the start of the parade, however, only 1,870 finished it. The largest parade of Honda motorcycles is 1,180 motorcycles and was achieved by Naysha Racing (Peru) in Pucallpa, Peru, on 15 July 2012. The event was an open invitation to members of the public who own Honda motorcycles and the majority of the participants were from the city of Pucallpa although fans came from all over the Amazonian region and even the capital, Lima, to participate. The route went from the Plaza de Armas in the centre and ended over 5 km later at the "Aliardo Soria" Football Stadium.
he largest parade of motorcycles with sidecars is 681 and was achieved by residents of the city of Cauayan, at an event organised Ropali Motorcycles, History, Honda and city officials in the province of Isabela (all Phillippines), in Cauayan, Isabela, Philippines, on 8 April 2015. 685 motorcycles participated, but four riders were forced to withdraw from the parade, citing engine and tyre problems.
The record for the largest Suzuki motorcycle parade is 915 and was organised by Bikeparts in Hamme-Zogge, Belgium, on 1 October 2006.
The largest parade of classic motorcycles consisted of 170 motorcycles in a parade organized by the Heimatverein Eibach in Eibach, Germany, on 27 July 2008. On the same day they broke the record for the largest parade of classic tractors.
The largest parade of BMW motorcycles consisted of 241 motorcycles and was organized by Grass Roots BMW Motorcycles (all USA) in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, USA, on 26 September 2009. The motorcycles were all different types of BMW motorcycles.
The largest parade of Bajaj motorcycles is 324, achieved at an event organised by Manigandan Manjunathan, Riderspedia and Baalamithra Ashram (all India) in Mumbai, India, on 26 January 2017. Participants completed a parade route of 19km
he record for the largest parade of BSA motorcycles is 218 and was achieved by the BSA Owners Club UK in Laxey Village, Isle of Man, UK, on 18 August 2008. The record was achieved during the 50th BSA Owners Rally.
The largest parade of Ducati Motorcycles consisted of 405 Ducati Monsters and was organized by the Monster Owners Belgium Club (Belgium). The parade took place in Hamme, Belgium, on 21 September 2008. All bikes were Ducati Monsters, however the category is open to any type of Ducati bike.
The largest parade of military motorcycles consisted of 187 motorcycles that were all manufactured during the Second World War. The parade was organized by Ron Pier (UK) and took place on route D613, near Bayeux, France, on 6 June 2014. Mr Pier chose Normandy, France, as a suitably poignant location for this record attempt. "The comradery from people of all nations was incredible," he says, "and it was fun."
he largest parade of Triumph motorcycles consisted of 539 motorcycles and was organised by Staffordshire Triumph (UK) in Mansfield, UK, on 4 September 2016.
"Most were post-1990 products of Triumph Motorcycles in Hinckley, but there were a number of machines made at Triumph Engineering's factory at Meriden near Coventry prior to 1984. There was also a 1937 machine, which would have been produced at Triumph Engineering's pre-war plant in Coventry. One Triumph had a sidecar attached and three had been converted to tricycle format," said witness Mick Duckworth.
The largest parade of off-road motorcycles consisted of 3,312 motorcycles and was achieved at the Bananalama event held in Corupá, Santa Catarina, Brazil, on 7 July 2013. The distance covered was 2.74 miles (4.41 km). Overall, 4,281 motorcycles and ATVs registered for the event, but ATVs were discounted and had a separate 30 min head start.
The largest parade of mopeds consisted of 1,237 mopeds and was achieved on an event organised by De Bromvliegers (Netherlands) between Veghel and Zijtaart in The Netherlands, on 23 August 2009. De Bromvliegers also organized the previous record attempt.
The Largest Parade of Harley Davidson Motorcycles consisted of 2,404 motorcycles and was achieved by Roberto Macdonald, The RRiders, and the Harley Davidson Club Hellas (Greece), in Patras, Greece, on 22 May 2010. The distance covered by the parade was 4.5 km (2.8 miles)
The largest parade of electric scooters is 1,303 vehicles and was achieved by Gogoro Taiwan Limited (Chinese Taipei) with all the riders on Gogoro scooters on a route between Taipei Bridge and Taipei City Hall in Taipei, Chinese Taipei, on 7 October 2018. The total length of route which counted towards this record attempt was 4.2 km. The route itself was made up of main traffic roads in Taipei city. The parade commenced at around 5.15 am and was completed just before 5.40 am. The parade formation was made up of four rows of scooters. Gogoro has been selling electric scooters in Taiwan since 2015. Taiwan has the third highest per capita ownership of motorcycles in the world. The Taiwan government offers financial incentives for the use of electric scooters in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions. Gogoro has to date sold around 90,000 electric scooters in Taiwan.
The largest parade of Royal Enfield motorcycles is 857 and was achieved by Manigandan Manjunathan and Royal Enfield Owners (both India) in Mumbai, India on 26 January 2016. All riders remained in formation for the entire parade route.
Thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts descended upon the SM Mall of Asia Concert Ground in Pasay, Philippines last week to mark the fourth annual gathering of the region’s Yamaha owners club in record-breaking style. The Yamaha Club Day event saw the launch of the company’s latest slogan, ‘Revs Your Heart’ which was celebrated with the powerful sound of 1,446 engines revving together. This combined roar set a new Guinness World Record™ title for most engines started simultaneously, one of three world record claimed by the club during the day’s festivities. An impressive 1,425 horns sounding in unison signaled what was to be another world record, this time for most motorcycle horns sounded simultaneously. The day’s most visually impressive record attempt by Yamaha Motor Philippines club came in the form of a moving cavalcade, with a bid for the largest parade of Yamaha motorcycles title. Official Guinness World Records guidelines for the record specify that all vehicles must be moving, with a minimum parade distance of 3.2km required. With a target of 206 participating bikes to beat – a benchmark set in Italy at Yamaha Fest in 2003, a stunning display saw 1,208 Yamaha bikes created a stir amongst spectators along with a new piece of record-breaking history..
Comments
Records are meant to be broken! Good luck Gregory 500. CRUSH it!
As far a CRUSH, let's hope it is not "a crowd of people pressed closely together, especially in an enclosed space."
If anyone can break this record, the team at Gregory Polaris can get it done with the help they are getting. I think one of the reasons the one in WI was not more successful was their first posted FB video about their attempt. They raised lots of cackles and questions by just saying the name. They tried too hard to make it like the MN event. Hell, even did videos from a Gazebo, trying to bring that group together to attend.