I have said it before. In fact this is the 11th Born Free Motorcycle Show we have been to. All at Oak Canyon Park in Silverado, California. The thing is, this show is a MUST for anyone interested in vintage bikes, choppers, bobbers, baggers and yes even Dyna’s. Each year Grant and Mike put on such an extravaganza, hundreds of vendors and dozens of sponsors. This year they brought in the Ives Brothers’ Wall of Death and the Van’s vert ramp.
Thousands. I mean THOUSANDS of bikes roll in to the park and even more didn’t get their shit together and had to park in the dirt lot outside. All kinds of bikes bobbed out japanese models, slick custom show bikes and daily riders. They come to check out the scene, be a part of the scene and enjoy a cell-phone free (no reception in the valley) good time. There were over two dozen “Invited Builders” that had center stage between the live bands and the Wall of Death. I am super grateful that the show hasn’t turned into big car shows like GNRS where the builders keep one-upping themselves with bigger budget builds. These bikes don’t cost a million dollars to build and you can tell by looking at many of them, THEY RIDE THESE BIKES TOO!
I was at this years show helping out my client at Burns Stainless. This was their second year as a sponsor of the show. It was fun to talk to the visitors to our booth asking about the cool stainless steel performance exhaust they sell. Many asked about the pipes for their vintage bikes, but at Burns they are all about performance and if your bike is less than 120ci, their isn’t a system for you, but you can pick up some tubing and a reverse cone megaphone muffler to build your own. Burns does have slip-on mufflers for the Harley-Davidson Panamerica and full systems for Hi-Po Twin Cams and both Touring and Softail M-8’s. This was the first year that Burns Stainless awarded a trophy for the “Inspired By Performance” bike. The winner was Toshiyuki “Cheetah” Osawa with his custom Harley-Davidson WL pictured here. The cool thing we learned later was on Monday after the show, he took it to El Mirage Dry Lake Bed for some runs on the flat dirt. Cool.
Historically this show is a two-day full weekend show and a good time to just chill under a tree among the iron and watch. Last year they organized their first Born Free Show in Texas and it was such a huge hit that it has grown to 4 days in October! Get more info at BornFreeShow.com.
