April 22-24, 2016 marked the 21st running of the annual Corsa Motoclassica, a 3-day event held at the “Fastest Road in the West,” a.k.a. Willow Springs International Raceway. The popular West Coast event was launched in 1995 by Yoshi Kosaka of the Garage Company (Inglewood, CA), and the unique 3-day race/bike show/swapmeet draws an international crowd.

Ever see someone do something super cool, and think you’d really like to try doing it yourself? Free climbing El Capitan, bull riding, and body suspension never made my list, but gymkhana sure did. I’ve had a burning desire to ride a small motorcycle through a forest of multi-colored cones littered about a huge parking lot for years. Recently, SoCal’s own M Gymkhana and KTM gave me and fellow gymkhana-curious editor, Troy Siahaan, the opportunity. Like our ice racing expedition a few years ago, the gymkhana experience was a fun and challenging task.

Snortin’ Nortons, Trumpeting Tritons, Beastly BSAs, Invincible Vincents … they all rallied to the 36th running of the iconic Hansen Dam Motorcycle Rally. For 2015, the rally broke all its previous records by the sheer number of bikes and people in attendance, spilling into virtual overflow capacity at the popular recreational area. Major gearhead himself, Jay Leno, rumbled in to enjoy the event aboard a major piece of motorcycling history; a well-ridden Brough Superior SS100.

In 2007, a group of SoCal vintage bike enthusiasts were looking for a good party complete with cool bikes, tasty grub, cold brew and hot music. Not finding what they wanted and energized with backgrounds in a variety of professions – graphic artists, engineers, musicians, film makers, bike builders, computer geeks – they decided to build the party themselves.

The seventh-annual Quail Motorcycle Gathering is in the books, with another record turnout. Although the Carmel Valley temps were cool and skies overcast, a couple thousand of the faithful eyeballed more than 350 machines on the golf course. The featured marques this year were Military Vehicles, Formula 750 roadracers and a variety of Choppers, believe it or don’t.

The decision to get creative with rules and regulations is in keeping with the all-bike-brands-welcome spirit experienced at all Deus get-togethers. Another big plus was not only the variety of bike flavors – from small-displacement chittychittybangers to rorty Laguna Seca-ready hyperbikes – but also the wide spectrum of people who helped rev up the energy level. So, for this coverage, we do a little adapting as well, with a focus on five of the machines entered into the competition and then some handing out of my own non-official citations of excellence. Strangely enough, most of my early pix also scored with the judges. Yeah, great minds thunk alike.

On an abnormally beautiful Valentine’s Day weekend in Portland, Oregon, love was truly in the air as motorcycle enthusiasts of all types, shapes, and sizes turned out to see the sixth year of The One Motorcycle Show. The event was hosted in the lower Eastside industrial area of Portland in an old historical manufacturing warehouse with more than 20,000 sq.-ft. of floor space.  Additionally, the building had a massive fenced in parking lot that was perfectly set up for mini-bike races, beer and merchant booths.

Michael “Woolie” Woolaway, Deus ex Machina’s in-house bike builder, was launching his new “Dreamliner” Ducati hypo-custom, so what better reason than that to throw an Italian Day at Deus, the party complete with opera virtuoso singing Pagliacci. In any case, the bevy of well-tuned classic, vintage and race bred Italian bikes literally filled the parking lot and the adjacent sidewalks to overflow capacity. The event? Deus called it Raduno Ducati.

We all know the real meaning of that coy slogan about what happens in Vegas. It really means that what stays in Vegas is your money. It should read: “To play in Vegas, you gotta pay in Vegas.”

During the early morning hours of Sunday, December 14, while traveling north from L.A. on the 101 Freeway, you might’ve found yourself in the company of a flurry of bikes, primarily of the Harley chopper family, burbling and growling their way through the slower car traffic. What’s the buzz all about? Well, that would be the pilgrimage to the 11th Annual Chopperfest Motorcycle Art and Culture event, now held at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

The Dirtbag Challenge – there’s nothing like it: nichts, nada, Ничего. To my knowledge (a modest caveat) this moto-happening in the San Francisco Bay area has no counterpart, anywhere. Also known as the “Low Rent Chopper Build Off,” it’s a high-octane blast.

The Hansen Dam Rally, officially known as the All British Hansen Dam Ride, is a SoCal tradition decades in the making and hosted the first week of every November by the Southern California Norton Owners Club (SCNOC). The  day-long event includes a 95-mile loop through the canyons of the western San Gabriel Mountains and culminates in a bike show at the Hansen Dam Recreational area located in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, some 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

Talk about your mixed media. The seventh-annual Venice Vintage Motorcycle Rally welcomed bikes and riders of all stripes, and polka dots, ribbons, bows, tattoos, skinny jeans, Esther Williams bathing suits, porkpie hats, retro, techno, punk, funk, goth and every fashion statement in between.

While it’s difficult to say which is the top rally in the popular consciousness of American motorcycling, both Daytona Bike Week and Sturgis feature prominently in biker mythology. If you break down both events into their most basic components, they look something like this: Bikers arrive from all over the country and other parts of the world, take over the main venues of several local cities/towns, make lots of noise, consume tons of food and drink, go for rides around the local area, consume more and make more noise, spend tons of money, and go home happy, already talking about next year. Daytona has a little more racing (to this crowd) and Sturgis has a lot more riding. Both are considered must-do motorcycle events.

We all love a little trackday fun, but the truth is they can be expensive. It’s at least a C-note to get you in, plus the early wake-up call and long drive to the track. There’s gotta be a better way. Supermotard (Superbikers if you’re really old-school) is the answer. Essentially dirtbikes with street tires, they’re virtually bulletproof, and tires last way longer. Additionally, kart tracks – where their torque-happy engines are better suited – are closer to civilization and much cheaper to enter than full-size racetracks. It was the perfect solution for Tropical Fishtank editor, Tom Roderick, and myself to spend a day outta the office.

Billed as “The Ultimate Bucket List Motorcycle Ride,” the 20th-annual Kyle Petty Charity Ride Across America covered 2,800 miles in a coast-to-coast trip across America. Indeed, this year’s Ride from Carlsbad, Calif. to Daytona Beach, Fla. was about as “across America” as any ride could be.

Now in it’s sixth year, the Quail Motorcycle Gathering just gets bigger and better. But not too much bigger. More than 250 machines were assembled on the green grass carpet at the Lodge, and between participants and spectators, there were some 2500 attendees. While not quite at capacity, there was still sufficient space to move about, and just enough time to fully enjoy the panorama of motorcycles and people. And both in such variety! Think Renaissance Faire for motorheads.

Before you roll your eyes and skip over reading this article, I ask that you give it a second thought on behalf of your mother, sister, wife, daughter, or lady friend in your life that shares the same passion for motorcycling that you do.

The annual Bud Ekins Memorial Ride (formerly Steve Wright’s Pre-16 Ride) rolled into Atascadero, Calif. last weekend. Sadly, Steve had died a few weeks earlier, but his pals thought it fitting to carry on in his memory.

As we previously noted, Kawasaki organized a “Bike Nite in the Daylite” on Friday, March 14th at the Daytona Int’l Speedway. With around 40 bikes assembled for the four prize category, all those involved with the show felt like it was a success.

The 73rd Daytona Bike Week is now part of motorcycling history, and by all accounts it was a success, with both vendors and attendees leaving happy with the week. After a slow start, most likely due to cold weather on the first two days, the crowds picked up mid-week and reached the usual epic proportions by the time Friday night rolled around. In the latter half of Bike Week, although breezy enough to blow riders around on the interstate, the exceptionally warm high temperatures made for perfect weather to enjoy riding both in and outside of Daytona proper.

A rainy day seems like a good time to wash the stinky socks that have been collecting around the hotel room and update the MO faithful on what’s been going on here at Daytona Bike Week. As MO readers, you’re probably already aware I’ve been testing new motorcycles during the first half of Bike Week. Just in case you’ve been slacking for the past few days, here’s the executive summary with a little local flavor thrown in.

You can’t get much more of an American icon than Harley-Davidson. Ranked among the most recognizable brands in the world, along with the likes of Coca-Cola and Apple, the manufacturer has overcome its fair share of ups and downs over the years but is still here to tell the tale. Needless to say it has certainly earned the right to celebrate a century and a decade of building two-wheeled freedom machines exclusively in the U S of A.

With season five of Sons of Anarchy cranking up, there’s advance word of some radical shakeups in the storyline and famous characters meeting their fates.

A possible 530 miles, 99 riders started, 76 finished, two didn’t finish because of a not-so-small deer problem, and one ended up in a ditch. It wasn’t about speed, but how mad you were, and yes, there’s a fine line between mad and stupid.

Harley-Davidson sure knows how to throw a party. For its 110th anniversary, the Motor Company has spread its celebration through the year and around the world, with events in 11 countries and six continents. Each event drew hordes of Harley faithful and countless V-Twin motorcycles together to celebrate their shared passion.

As you might expect, the story is full of booze, boobs and bikes, and it’ll really take being there to understand the scene completely, but I’ll try to bring you the scene right here. Grab a beer and click on through the gallery to relive it with me… or to experience it for the first time.

First was a dinner at the storied Kenny Roberts Ranch, open to the public for the first time, followed the next day by a ride around the Modesto area of Central California. Lending a hand with supporting King Kenny’s cause were Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and Kenny Roberts Jr., whose accomplishments add up to an amazing 11 500cc World Championships from 1978 through 2000.

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But enough about the numbers, “Laughlin is all about the bikes, beer and boobs, man!” as one showgoer told me while guzzling a cold one. And he’s right. The city is overrun by motorcyclists from all over the world one weekend a year in celebration of one common bond: a love for riding. Every parking lot of the town’s nine hotels and casinos were filled with cruisers. Predominantly V-Twins, mostly Harley-Davidsons, some mild and some absolutely wild.

Meanwhile, throughout the week, the usual plethora of biker games and entertainment was happening, as it does twice a year.

That's where Balz Renggli and Paul Lima come in. The two friends are also owners of their own San Diego County-based motorcycle dealerships: Moto Forza and GP Motorcycles, respectively. Dealing exclusively with European motorcycles, the pair have earned a reputation in the Southern California area as one of the "go-to" dealerships if you're looking for a Ducati, KTM, Husqvarna, MV Agusta, Moto Guzzi, Aprilia, and, starting later this year, Norton. From the moment you walk in to their dealerships, their passion and enthusiasm for motorcycles and the products they sell is readily apparent.

Take some extraordinary riding, gathering of old friends, meeting new friends and seeing Yamahas of all shape and sizes, combine with a little bit of tradition and you have all the reasons the R1-Forum.com / R6-Forum.com / Yamaha Deals Gap Convention is still going strong after 10 years!

Builders from all around the world brought their best builds to compete in this year’s Calendar Bike Building Championship sponsored by Iron Works Magazine, Russ Brown Attorneys, Blanco Basura Beverage, Mikuni Carburetors, Meguiars Bike Care Products, and of course FastDates.com Calendars.

On Oct. 6, 2007 Ekins passed on to the wide open racetrack in the sky, but his stuff remained where he’d left it. Cool stuff. Stuff that a couple hundred people showed up to bid on at the recent Bonhams and Butterfields auction held Nov. 13 at the famous Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

The Cleveland Four

The iconic rally was first held in 1938 when organized by the Jackpine Gypsies Motorcycle Club, booming in popularity in the 1990s and 2000s when attendance was estimated to exceed 500,000 and more. The small town of Sturgis is the epicenter of events, but activities stretch well into the neighboring towns of Deadwood, Lead and Rapid City. Nearby riding destinations include Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Devil’s Tower and Spearfish Canyon.

The July 17-18 show – which we are unable at press time to verify was endorsed by the National Organization of Women – was otherwise a purely egalitarian affair where all forms of beauty were accepted, and nearly everything was on display.

The week of June 7 to 13 marked nearly a decade since 2001, when forum member Ned Stribling and a handful of online friends informally agreed to get together for several days in the region along the Tennessee/North Carolina border surrounding Deals Gap.

As the traditional opening to the spring riding season, this year’s event was staged from Feb. 26 to Mar. 7, and again lived up to its billing as a freewheeling street party, a virtual circus and a place to pose and/or gawk all rolled up in one. The moto-culture spectacle went forth pretty much full-steam-ahead, despite temperatures ranging much of the time from the high-30s to mid-50s with a few brief afternoon periods up to the low-70s.

Several legendary rockers joined together for a night of music, selected because of their affinity for Ducati motorcycles. Billed as “Ducati All Stars,” the eight-piece ensemble cranked out a set of classic rock cover songs in front of Ducati supporters and the general public at the famous rock venue.

How would you celebrate the 50th birthday of a transportation icon like Vespa? First you could publish a three book trilogy about the legendary scooters, second you could baptize two new, ground-breaking models and finally you invite 700 motojournalists from around the globe to tell the world about it while treating them to gourmet dinners and wild parties.

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Motorcycle events large and small have not been immune from the ravages of the recession. Attendance nationwide has reportedly been down as leisure dollars continue to dwindle despite some stock market gains. The industry was shocked by the sudden cancellation of one of motorcycling’s most popular rallies, the Love Ride.

Before I knew it, I was hauling down Interstate 90 out of Illinois on Saturday August 1st to get to the rally. It would take two days and about 1000 miles to get there. The trip out was mostly uneventful, beautiful and relaxing all at the same time. The procession of bikes built the closer the Black Hills came until it looked like a motorcycle parade (and a trailer parade) heading into the area on Sunday.

The LA Calendar Show is presented by Performance Machine and FastDates.com, and this year marks the 20th anniversary of its namesake Fast Dates “Mikuni Calendar.” The calendar, which premiered in 1989 with then-Playmate Pamela Anderson aboard Miguel Duhamel’s Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750, has grown into an annual SoCal party of model searches, rock concerts and world-class custom bikes.

One reason long-time Forum member Mike Coakely proposed to Lana Luppinetti must be her congenial temperament. Any woman who can stand at the altar and laugh each time the minister addresses her by the wrong name has to possess an easy-going disposition. That she agreed to be married during the 2009 Yamaha R1/R6 East Coast Convention in front of a congregation of bikers in varying degrees of dress—including one-piece racing leathers—further proves her mettle.

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“It was a good match to team up and promote Allstate, promote safety and do the Allstate Garage Tour and here we are,” Perewitz told Motorcycle.com. “We just built Allstate a little bobber which will be on display down at the racetrack. That bike will be raffled off at the end of the year.”

In 1981 Harley-Davidson Motor Company officially lent its support to the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA), and encouraged its dealers to hold rallies, rides and the like in fund raising efforts to benefit the MDA. Shokouh got on the wagon, and he, shop employees and friends created Glendale H-D’s first Biker Carnival. Though their hearts were in the right place, not much came from their efforts. Employing cliché carnival-type activities, like a dunk tank, the first Carnival collected about $1,500. Determined to try again, a second Carnival was held the following year, and though donations were doubled, Shokouh felt it wasn’t enough, and so took a break.

I've never understood the term "riding season" when it is applied to motorcycles. In the mid-Atlantic, where I live and do most of my riding, there are less than 10 days per winter when the local DOT crews don't have the roads clear enough for the operation of a two-wheelers by mid-morning. I feel that if I lived further north I would invest in tire spikes, heated grips, a powered sidecar or whatever else it would take to not have to leave my motorcycle sitting in the garage from October to March (go to YouTube and search "motorcycle" and "snow" and you'll see what I'm talking about). If you're looking for an excuse to park for a few months, winter provides it, but if you're serious about riding, cold weather is a challenge and not a road block.

Riders who stay at one of the many Best Westerns in North America will be welcomed with open arms and given a number of perks. Dorothy Dowling, Best Western’s Senior VP of Marketing and Sales stated, "We want to reward Harley-Davidson riders who stay at Best Western hotels" before adding, "By earning extra points they can hit the open road more often and take advantage of the unique offerings of our rider-friendly properties." Rider friendly is a term they have coined that not only refers to wash stations and preferred parking spots for motorcycles, but also bonus reward points that can be redeemed even during blackout periods.