Harley-Davidson Women's Day Ride
by Steve
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Harley-Davidson announced yesterday that all "female enthusiasts" are encouraged to enter for a chance to win a spot on the company's corporate-sponsored "Women's Day Ride", held on March 4, 2008, with Karen Davidson, great-granddaughter of one of the Company's founders.
You'll get to ride into Daytona Beach Bike Week with her.
So there is it gals, now's the time to fight for the right and priviledge to share space with the great Karen Davidson. Maybe some of the MoCo Mojo will rub off on ya.
You only have until January 23 to get in on it.
To enter, visit...
http://www.harley-davidson.com/womensride/
Labels: Daytona Beach Bike Week, Harley Davidson
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Harley Davidson Contest for Women
by Steve
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Harley-Davidson announced today a new contest for women riders called, "Get Down to Daytona", in which women can submit videos about their greatest motorcycle mentor story for a chance to win an expense paid road trip from Atlanta to Daytona Bike Week with Karen Davidson, great-granddaughter of William A. Davidson, one of the Company's founders.
To enter the contest, a female rider needs to create a 90 second or less video highlighting their greatest motorcycle mentor story. The video is a chance for a woman to thank her mentor for helping her start her motorcycle journey, improve her riding skills or try new challenges on a motorcycle.
Videos should be submitted to www.harley-davidson.com/womensride and will be accepted until 6 p.m. CST November 15, 2007. To be eligible, women must have received their motorcycle license after November 14, 2005 and must own a Harley-Davidson or Buell motorcycle.
Six finalists will be chosen and posted to www.harley-davidson.com/womensride on November 26, 2007. Online viewer voting will begin at this time and the last day to vote will be December 10.
Once the voting period has ended, three "Get Down to Daytona" winners will be announced December 14, 2007. These lucky ladies as well as one guest each will receive an expense paid road trip from Atlanta to Daytona in March 2008 as well as three nights stay in Daytona, just in time for Bike Week.
Here's how to enter:
Log on to www.harley-davidson.com/womensride and click on the "Get Down to Daytona '08" link. Submit a 90-second or less video describing how your mentor helped you improve your confidence and riding skills. Also describe what riding means to you.
Labels: Biggs Harley Davidson, Daytona Beach Bike Week, Women Riders
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Daytona Beach Asks Bikers to Tone it Down
by Steve
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
As the Daytona Beach Bike Week is about to get underway, the city is placing signs around town asking bikers to respect the folks who live there and try to keep things quiet. According to a report published in the Sun Sentinel:
As thousands of Fat Boys, choppers and other growling motorcycles rumble into Daytona Beach for Bike Week, city workers are posting subtle pleas for quiet disguised as greetings for the 500,000 riders expected here.
The blue signs, shaped like houses, feature the slogan: NO "WAKE" ZONE.
The "O" in "ZONE" is a caricature of a face slumbering happily, which, some residents say, can't be done during the 10-day event if you live in a beachside neighborhood.
But the same signs also bear the message, "You're Back, We're Glad," as a way to beg forgiveness from the motorcycle gods.
The Sun Sentinel goes on to report that a 2001 study by the University of Central Florida showed Bike Week and Biketoberfest, the city's weeklong, autumn motorcycle party, pour $744 million into the region's economy. In 2004, the city collected $360,000.00 from rentals, permits, and other fees during Bike Week.
Clearly, the residents of Daytona Beach are benefitting from Bike Week in the form of tax revenues and fees. Without this, residents could be paying more taxes from their own pockets. It's like the old saying, "You can't have your cake and eat it too".
On the other hand, I imagine many residents feel they would prefer to see Bike Week go away and never come back. But then again, you never know just how good things are until you lose it.
Labels: Daytona Beach Bike Week, Loud Pipes
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Daytona Beach Bike Week
by Steve
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
Daytona Beach Bike Week, one of the largest recurring motorcycle events, starts this Friday (March 4) and continues on through March 13.
The Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce has published a mini-website about the event, including a history of how it all got started, and how it came to be what it is today. It started as a motorcycle race on the beach, back in 1937. Riders would race along a 3.2 mile course along the sand:
The first race took place on a 3.2 mile beach and road course, located south of Daytona Beach. Ed Kretz of Monterey Park, CA was its first winner, riding an American made Indian motorcycle and averaging 73.34 mph. Kretz also won the inaugural City of Daytona Beach trophy.
The 1937, race course ran approximately one and a half miles north on the beach; through a 1/4 mile turn where the sand was banked, and then onto the paved, public roadway portion for the trip south. Coming back on the final turn, another high sand bank awaited riders as they raced on the hard sands of the beach. Interestingly enough, starting times for these events were dictated by the local tide tables. The races continued from 1937 to 1941. In the early years the Daytona 200 was also called the "Handlebar Derby" by local racing scribes.
The American Motorcycle Association, which had been sanctioning the event, cancelled the races during World War II out of respect for fuel rationing. But after the war, the races continued, although things were not quite the same as they were before:
Some time after the war, the event began to take on a rugged edge. While the motorcycle races on the beach were organized, events surrounding the race were not. As time passed, locals became afraid of the visitors and law enforcement officers and city officials were less than enthusiastic about what some termed an "invasion". Relations between the Bikers and law enforcement officials continued to worsen. When things appeared to be at their worst (after the 1986 event), a special task force was organized by the city in cooperation with the local chamber of commerce to improve relations and change the magnitude and scope of the event.
In 1961, they stopped racing on the beach, and moved the competition to the Daytona International Speedway. Today, the Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce now organizes the event, which has grown to one of the biggest biker events of the year.
Labels: Daytona Beach Bike Week
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Destination Daytona
by Steve
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
An article published in the Orlando Business Journal says that a local Harley Davidson dealer is spending $50 million to create a Harley-themed attraction located near his dealership.
The dealer, Bruce Rossmeyer, says the attraction will be spread out over 150 acres, and will be named, "Destination Daytona":
"I'm not building this for Bike Week," says Rossmeyer, referring to the biker-crowd festivities held 10 days each year in early March. "I'm building it for 12 months a year."
Destination Daytona will include a combination hotel-and-condominium project, retail shops, seven restaurants, two bars and a new 109,000-square-foot Harley dealership. There will also be a Coca-Cola-sponsored outdoor amphitheater, a 15-acre motorcycle repair school, 80,000 square feet of motorcycle-related businesses and Rossmeyer's own Boss Custom Motorcycles.
And there's more:
"We're building a helipad, and I'm going to get it painted to match my plane," he says. "We'll be doing fly-and-drive packages with motorcycle rentals. I want to do one big event here a month -- boat shows, antique shows, recreational vehicle shows -- things that will draw people from Orlando and Jacksonville to visit us."
Good luck to him!
Labels: Bruce Rossmeyer, Daytona Beach Bike Week, Destination Daytona, Florida Harley Davidson Dealerships
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Custom Choppers - The Art of the American Motorcycles
by Steve
Sunday, January 09, 2005
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A new documentary on DVD entitled, "
