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TPW-JAN16

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40 nJanuary 2016n www.thunderpress.net by "Rambler" Steve Austin SACRAMENTO, CALIF., NOV. 6–8—By the time you read this the Progressive International Motorcycle Show will be on the East Coast. If you haven't been, this is probably the best venue to see what's new in the motorcycle world. It appears in 10 major American cities every year and is a Friday evening through Sunday afternoon event. It covers changes in bikes, motorcycle products, local bike competition by some of the fi nest bike builders in the business, bands and motorcycle demo rides. Progressive Insurance, the largest motorcycle insurer in America, sponsors this event. You can get a three-day pass or just go one day and motorcycle park- ing is always free. It runs between October and February, opening in Portland, Oregon, working its way east and down the coast and fi nally closing in Phoenix, Arizona. In California, it appears in Long Beach and Northern California. Historically it appears in San Mateo, but this year it opened at Cal Expo in Sacramento. Friday evening is a great day to come if you just want to look at the bikes. There are no crowds so it's easy to see the hundreds of bikes on display up real close and get pictures without someone blocking your view. The craftsmanship on the custom bikes is absolutely fl awless and it's a great time to appreciate it. You can pick up all your catalogs and talk to the vendors and you might even fi nd a few builders to talk to. Many of the competitors are there for the fi rst time and I have seen builders like Kirk Taylor and Dalton Walker become well known after their fi rst appear- ances here. After purchasing your ticket, the Christian Motorcyclists Association had a free gear-check station where you could store your helmet and rid- ing gear until you were ready to leave, knowing that your gear would still be there at the end of the day. There were two main buildings set up. One, the Pavilion, housed the bikes and the main stage. The other building, called The Market Place in the Expo Center, was devoted to the majority of the accessory vendors and a few other bikes including the Japanese Motorcycle Heritage Foundation, Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club, Northern CA Norton Motorcycle Club and CSC Bikes, which manufacture adventure bikes. Friday night I found a beautiful purple-with- magenta fl ames-2004 Fat Boy called "The Purple Pony" on the Pavilion display fl oor, marked entry #100, and owned by Heidi Tijsseling and her husband Robert. They spent two and a half years building the bike and it was fl awlessly gorgeous. Heidi said they weren't looking to win any- thing but they were proud to have it in the show. It looked as good as any- thing there and in my opinion, a lot better than most of the others but alas, I was not one of the judges. I did put a vote in for it under People's Choice, though. There was a new addition to the show this year, which was Flo's Chop Shop. Here you could get your shoes shined, beard or mustache trimmed and your haircut, all for free. Tips were appreciated, though. It was pret- ty popular as even on Friday night you had to make an appointment. Classic rock rolled off the Progressive stage from a band with no visible evidence that anyone in the band had gone past the 10th grade, but their talent was years beyond that. As usual, the music was supplied by the School of Rock and this time out of Seattle, Washington. Just like the Jack Black movie of the same name, the School of Rock now has locations in Asia Pacifi c, Africa, South America and North America in 31 states, coast to coast. They learn the basics in Rock 101 and rock their way to full-on performances in front of live audi- ences in the Performance Program. The school provides the instruments, equipment, venues and guest profes- sors like Steve Howe from Yes, Earl Slick who has lent his talents to acts like David Bowie and John Lennon and drummer Josh Freese from groups like Mötley Crüe, Paramore and Nine Inch Nails. The kids bring the talent. The lead singer in this group, Owen Selwyn, was taking cues from Robert Plant and Eddie Van Halen, leaping from the upper to the lower part of the stage and rolling around on the fl oor while singing. During a break Doug Danger, who broke Evel Knievel's record by jumping 22 cars in Sturgis last August on Evel's XR750 Sportster, was on hand to talk about his career. He plans to not only achieve all of Evel's feats but exceed them, includ- ing the Snake River jump. He said the scariest stunt he's ever done was the jump in Sturgis. He said, "I was riding Evel Knievel's irreplaceable Sportster valued at $350,000. The last thing I wanted to do was break it." On Saturday and Sunday, there were VIP tours in the morning. We got early entrance to the show half an hour ahead of everyone else, an uncrowded guided tour of all the great features at the show, a commemo- rative T-shirt valued at $15, and a See "IMS Sacramento," page 42, column 1 PROGRESSIVE INTERNATIONAL MOTORCYCLE SHOW SACRAMENTO Vendors aplenty Two-wheel appeal for kids big and small Eagle's Nest employee Venus Thomas shows Shelby Rebolledo the ropes on Harley's Jumpstart Riding Simulator

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