While the Black Hills Rally in Sturgis is ostensibly a motorcycle event, the commercial aspect is omnipresent in the downtown area. Everything is for sale from motorcycles, to any number of accessories, to paint jobs, but the main items are the relatively inexpensive things such as patches, T-shirts, and leather wear. And for most people riding to Sturgis is a big deal and they want to have souvenirs to remember if by and to show anyone else who rides that they have been to the Mecca of motorcyledom. It is in a way, similar to Muslims making the haj to Mecca and most people who ride motorcycles have a leather vest with mementos of places they have been.
Garry and I are no different from the majority of riders and we had set Wednesday aside to spend checking out various venues and doing our shopping. With the one million plus people who were expected to attend the rally this year, we figured that we might even be leaving things too late by waiting until Wednesday to do our shopping.
The ride in to Sturgis was relatively easy until we approached downtown when the numbers of motorcycles and the combination of lights and stop signs brought traffic to a crawl. Parking is always an issue but we found a lot right behind the Indian Motorcycle display and it was both free and close to the main areas for checking the motorcycle displays and doing our shopping.
Our first stop was the Indian display. They seem to have really made a big push to be more prominent than they were the last time we were here. They had a whole lot to themselves and had bikes on display from a 1920 board track racer to machines from the 1940s, with a large display of their new models. Polaris has obviously put a lot of money into developing a great motorcycle and to advertising it. However, I think that if they are going to give the Motor Company a run for their money they are going to have to develop a much more extensive dealer network. They certainly seem to have a good product. The more I see of them, the more these motorcycles seem to be growing on me.
New Indian motorcycle. Don't know the model
1940s Indian
1920 Indian boardtrack racer
Indian bicycle
1929? Indian
Indian Chief
1940s Indian
1940s Indian Chief
We moved on to the Victory display, but there is just nothing about those bikes that I like. I'm certain that technologically they are good bikes, I personally don't care for the 'Arlen Nessy' type styling.
Harley-Davidson had quite a large number of bikes and they had also rented part of the Sturgis community centre for HOG members to check in. We presented our HOG cards to the guy at the booth and he gave us our Sturgis 2015 pin. These are coveted and with the number of people there we were concerned that they would run out before we got there.
1940s H-D
Custom motorcycles. Big wheels seem to be popular now.
Indian WWII replica
Boss Hoss motorcycle with a V-8 500 hp engine
Downtown Sturgis is alive with the roar of big twin engines with loud pipes. I suspect that probably ninety-five percent of Harley owners dump the stock pipes and put after market ones on and I'm sure that there must be large bins behind every Harley dealer's business that are full of discarded mufflers. Anyway, the whole week seems to be about the big American motorcycle manufacturers. Metric bikes need not show up, although there were some Japanese bikes and some BMWs, but that was about it.
Stunt riders doing a show in downtown Sturgis
Stunt rider on an H-D
One every street there are vendors selling patches, T-shirts, banners, paraphernalia, leather items, and all sorts of other things. We bought some T-shirts and patches and had them sewed onto our vests so that we too could advertise the fact that we had ridden to Sturgis in 2015. The big score however was the 'I Rode Mine Sturgis 2015' patch. The vendors told us that the patches were all sold out but by bind luck we came upon a small stall and the woman there had some under the counter. We each bought one although I did reluctantly, because my previous two patches were red and this one was orange.
Downtown Sturgis, SD during Rally Week
Downtown Sturgis, SD
Just prior to returning to our campsite I decided to buy another T-shirt and when I stepped into the store the guy there had a whole card full of the red 'I Rode Mine Sturgis 2015' patches that I had been looking for. It was too late however, because I had already had the orange one sewn on. The irony of it all was that the orange patch was the more coveted one and I had one that I would have preferred not to on my vest.
Traffic back to the campsite moved better than in the morning and when we returned our neighbours were already relaxing, so I changed into shorts and sandals, cracked a cold Budweiser and joined them. They, however, were well ahead of me. I have to say though that the conversation was hilarious and it was all I could do not to fall out of my camp chair half of the time.
The bands on Wednesday night were Brent James and Vintage Youth, Social Distortion, and John Fogerty. We listened to most of Brent James from our campsite before heading to the ampitheatre. The Bad Boys from Vacaville covered their bikes because there was a small chance of rain but I chose not to because on Tuesday night when the chance of rain was more than fifty percent we didn't get any rain at all.
On the way to the show we found our way blocked by a truck which was being loaded with a motorcycle. The path was through a muddy hole and the approaches were blocked but I inched my way around the front to the truck so I could cross without getting muddy. As I was making my way around the truck I sarcastically remarked, "Here I am, living life on the edge." A young Marine looking guy shouted back. "If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space." That was the best line of the day.
We arrived at the ampitheatre relatively early and were able to park ourselves about ten metres from the front of the stage. Just as we were settled in the rain started to pound down. We hung in for about three or four minutes then beat our feet to shelter in the Hot Leathers shop. Then the wind started and within minutes it was howling through the shop, blowing items off their shelves and hangers so the vendors closed the doors. This cut the wind off and we were able to wait out the rest of the storm although we all were wet.
Mike Ness and Social Distortion began to play just after 9:00 o'clock and they put on an amazing show. I was surprised by how good a guitar player he was. Kevin really enjoyed the show. He said he grew up with Social D. I told him how I had introduced my daughter, Rachel to the band when she was about fourteen. It was apparent how much he loved this band. He had a big grin on his face for the whole show. I have to admit I had a helluva time as well. They are a great band.
John Fogerty was up next and I stayed for a few songs, but not being a great fan I headed back to my tent leaving the rest of the crew at the concert. The earlier rain had turned the ground into a mudhole and my feet and sandals were covered in gooey mud so when I got back to my tent I ditched the sandals and washed my feet off in the water that was left in the low area from the earlier rain.
Almost immediately after I crawled into my tent the rain began again but as on Monday night, I was nice and dry. Not so for Garry and the others. They finished listening to Fogerty then can back wearing lots of mud. I, on the other hand, had listened to the whole concert from the comfort of my tent and enjoyed it a great deal. The only drawback was that my motorcycle was wet again and I knew that I would have a wet ass when Garry and I rode Spearfish Canyon. All in all though, it was another great day.
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