Biketober Fest fun

[totalmotorcycle]

Biketober Fest fun - Motorcyclist enthusiasts get revved up at bike show
Monday, October 23, 2006 - By Nick Schirripa - The Enquirer - battlecreekenquirer.com



Rubber, leather, chrome and hot paint jobs filled Kellogg Arena on Saturday and Sunday for the first Biketober Fest.

The arena was filled with a live band, clothing and accessory vendors and more than 20 custom-bike builders with three dozen bikes.

Biketober Fest's featured guest was Russell Mitchell, owner of the Los Angeles-based Exile Cycles made famous by the weekly show "Build or Bust" on the Speed Channel.

Mitchell said motorcycles have been his passion since he was 16, when he took apart his first Vespa moped and rebuilt it.

Exile opened more than a decade ago, Mitchell said, and produces custom bikes.

"We've been working on our build formula since we started, so now it's pretty much dialed in," he said. "Our bikes are really pretty functional."

Mitchell brought a few of his custom bikes to the show, and one of them was Brown Pearl, a custom chopper made new with an old look that features a distressed leather seat and a hand-chiseled "Exile" logo on the gas tank.

Sam Griffin, 48, of Coldwater, paced around Exile's Brown Pearl and his eyes looked at every detail while taking in the entire machine.

Griffin said the motorcycle's aged appearance made it his kind of bike.

"You don't have to polish it," he said. "You just ride it."

During the day, he runs CEM Supply, his industrial hardware company. But when he's not at work, Griffin said he's out riding with friends.

Brad Rockey, 50, of Coldwater, said he's one of those friends, and laughed with Griffin as they talked about how long they've ridden together and the scrapes they've managed to get in together.

So just what is it that makes motorcycles so attractive?

"I've been riding since I was 10," Rockey said. "For me, it's about the freedom. It's always been an escape."

Tom and Lorna Lockton, owners of TLL Productions, organized the two-day event, a first for the couple.

"Custom bikes are the big thing going on in the U.S. today," Tom Lockton said. "The whole bike culture has really changed and the biker community has just taken off."

Lockton said he hopes Biketober Fest will become an annual event in Battle Creek, and he already is planning to be in Kellogg Arena on Sept. 29-30 next year.

In addition to the local show, Lockton said he is planning other shows in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.

Although he had hoped for more people, Lockton said about 400 people came to the show on Saturday, and still fewer yet on Sunday.

Bill Woodman, owner of Chubby's Choppers in Lansing, had three bikes on display at Kellogg Arena. Chubby's does a fat-tire conversion, Woodman said, which involves rebuilding Harley-Davidson motorcycles with a 300-millimeter rear tire and custom-made parts.

Shows like Biketober Fest give builders a chance to show off their skills, Woodman said, but it also helps riders see what's out there and let builders know what people are looking for.

Woodman said he has built about a dozen custom Harley-Davidson motorcycles since opening his business a year ago.

"It's a lot of hard work," he said. "There's nothing easy about it, and there aren't large rewards. If you want your money, you work hard to earn it."

It can take weeks to assemble one custom bike, Woodman said, and that's after waiting for months for parts to be finished and delivered.