I can hear it now. All of the guys and gals who saw Ernie Lopez and Eric Ellis carting around the plastic Bob's Big Boy coin bank and never asked what we were doing with it. They could have been the subject of one of the literally hundreds of photos in a folder on my computer simply called "Bob." But instead of being inquisitive and asking what the deal with Bob was, they just walked past and missed their opportunity to be a part of our little photography project. But that's just the way it goes, I guess; if you don't speak up, you don't get your photo in the magazine.
But photos of Bob and a host of the interesting people aren't the only thing we brought home from Sturgis. We also brought back our cover bike, the green and white Bare Knuckle Choppers Shovelhead, the Brasshole, and the wicked-looking rigid-frame Sporty from Led Sled Choppers. We brought back exclusive photos of the CFL2 chassis from West Coast Choppers, as well as photos of the first complete bike they have built using the groundbreaking new chassis. We brought back photos of The Reverend Horton Heat onstage, photos of some of the baddest bikes on the planet from the AMD show, the Top 50 Show, Michael Licther's art exhibit, the Harley-Davidson Ride-In Show and all over Sturgis to be honest. Photos from the Builder's Breakfast, the HOT BIKE Charity Ride, and even HOT BIKE/STREET CHOPPER night at Sturgis County Line.
The things we brought home that we didn't include in the magazine other then the mention here: Five cases of terminal monkey butt (Ernie, Uncle Vic, Eric, James, and myself); one case of Montezuma's Revenge (Ernie); one bee to the eyeball (Me); one scary-to-watch speed wobble (Eric); one bad primary bearing (Uncle Vic) that led to us meeting the guy with the tightest pants we have ever seen, and a polygamist (not the same person); the lesson that the one surefire way to get it to stop raining is to pull over and put on your rain suit (everybody); don't stop for the baby moose (Billy, Brad, and Chuck); don't put a 160/60/18 on a 4.25-inch wide wheel (James). I am sure there are 100 more little flashes of memory I could include here, but I am running out of space and you probably want to get on to the good stuff inside this issue anyway. So until next month, keep the rubber-side down. Courtney