Text and photography by Frank Kaisler

he River Run in Laughlin, Nevada, has come and gone with little fanfare from the national news media. This is a good thing. Despite televised reruns from a couple of years back (headline stories of an altercation in one of the casinos along the main drag through town) this year the event went off without any problems—other than the usual traffic snarls and crowded sidewalks jammed to the curbs with party-goers enjoying the evening air and the rolling (slowly) bike show. Vendor areas located in each of the casino’s parking lots were coping well with the large buying crowd and smiling all the way to the bank. The weather was warm the entire weekend, which made for some pleasurable side trips to nearby Oatman and Lake Havasu—the home of the London Bridge.
     The hot topic at the event was the sheer number of camera crews running around towing camera dollies laden with equipment. Rumor had it that there were no fewer than seven different camera crews filming the event for one program or another. The Discovery Channel was there in full force and shooting on both sides of the Colorado River. On the Laughlin side there were camera crews documenting the action on the street and in the vendor areas, while across the river another camera crew was filming a separate event in an undisclosed private shop in Fort Mojave, Arizona.
     In Fort Mojave, Arizona, the 10 guys who participated in this year’s Bike Build Off television series combined their considerable talents to construct one custom motorcycle in 72 hours while under the scrutiny of the camera’s eye…no problem. Everyone involved in the project has some history with the film crews. The Discovery Channel successfully located a shop (which the name and actual address will remain a secret) in a nice quiet area of the desert. The new location was broken-in with this project—a three-day thrashing. The ten builders are: Arlen Ness, Cory Ness, Matt Hotch, Russell Mitchell, Mitch Bergeron, Chica, Eddie Trotta, Hank Young, Kendall Johnson and Joe Martin. Johnny Chop from Chica’s Shop also lent a hand during the build-off and Danny Gray was called in to cover the seat pan. The build-up started on Wednesday and they finished on Friday with the public unveiling held on stage at 9:00 p.m. the following evening, directly across from the Discovery Channel booth located in the Golden Nugget’s lot.
     We missed the fabrication part of the build, but we watched as the bike was assembled, or at least most of it. The guys fired it up Friday evening and Arlen twisted the clutch for the first time. The bike was constructed from different sources; many of the parts came from Drag Specialties. The show is to air in late June—look for the Drag Specialties’ banner hanging over the fabrication table.


There’s nothing like the desert in the morning. The Riverside Hotel and Casino sparkle in the morning sun looking across the Colorado River from Arizona.

Easily one of the one of the most identifiable hotels on the strip is the Colorado Bell, constructed to resemble a Mississippi river boat. It boasted an overflowing parking area and a large vendor area.

The Edgewater Hotel and Casino towers high above the Colorado River and the packed, free parking lots.


Casino Drive in Laughlin was jam-packed all day with riders coming and going between the various vendor areas and other destinations such as Oatman and Lake Havesu.


Parking at any of the hotel lots was a hit or miss proposition. This view of the front drive of the Flamingo Hilton’s parking area was jammed up all weekend. Add a remote camera and crew to the mix and traffic really slowed down.


At the Drag Specialties booth in the Riverside Casino vendor lot, the green Drag chopper still commands the attention of anyone within viewing range. We watched this couple walk across the lot to check out the tasty rigid.


Here is just one of the many outstanding bikes in the bike show; we imagine the show judges had a hard time with this year’s field of bikes—each one looked like a winner.


One of the many camera crews that plied the aisles and streets of the Laughlin River Run. You would be amazed at some of the areas these crews maneuvered their camera booms—even threading them through a three-foot-wide gate in one of the chain link fences.


Across Casino Drive from the Gold Nugget Casino was the site of the custom bike show. The bikes were separated into individual classes with most of the entries in the custom radical and chopper classes.


Another view of the Hilton parking area doesn’t give a rider much hope of finding a spot to park their bike. At times there were so many bikes packed into the lot you couldn’t ride through some of the aisles to even look for a space.


The S&S truck display was located in the Riverside Hotel vendor area and was a welcome area to visit thanks to its misters, which made for a cool, refreshing respite to the day’s heat.


One of the great benefits of events such as Laughlin is witnessing the vast difference of custom motorcycles on the street. One of these two customized Road Kings, for example, features custom paint, fishtail exhaust and ape hanger handlebars. In the background is the Drag Specialties rig, just inside the fence of the Riverside vendor area.


This clean chopper is representative of the thousands of choppers that swarmed the streets of Laughlin. The carrying of the bike’s paint scheme to the handlebars and headlight enhance the bike’s unique look.


The police ride Harleys, and were quite visible on Casino Drive. Their overwhelming presence was a reminder of the zero-tolerance policy on troublemakers. Most of the riders we saw pulled over were those riders who came across the bridge from Arizona and forgot to don their helmets.


Inside The Discovery Channel shop, the freshly powder-coated frame is mounted on the build stand and the builders and camera crew move in for a close up inspection.


The frame looked good, so it was time to get to work putting the bike together; after all, the deadline was that evening. Kendall Johnson begins prepping the frame for the engine installation by cleaning errant powder coat from the engine mounts while Cory Ness and Mitch Bergeron look on.


It wasn’t long before the engine and transmission were installed. Looking from left to right, Mitch Bergeron is assembling the front billet “X” member that forms the front of the frame. Just to Mitch’s left, hiding behind the frame neck is Matt Hotch starting on the wiring, which he ran through the frame. In the foreground is Kendall Johnson working on the Rivera/Primo belt drive. Back on the other side of the bike is Hank Young and next to him is Arlen Ness, who, by the way, was the ramrod of the bike build.


Matt Hotch is working the wiring toward the rear of the bike, while Cory Ness fits the rear master cylinder and foot peg mount. Eddie Trotta starts assembling the front end by fitting the triple trees.


Hank Young scrutinizes the Baker right-hand drive transmission while waiting for the rear wheel. Mitch Bergeron is on the other side of the bike. Cory Ness is securing the rear brake line, while Matt Hotch pulls the last wires forward. In the background is Johnny Chop, from Chica’s shop.


Saturday morning found the Discovery Channel Bike Build Off crew rolling together down Casino Drive while being filmed from every conceivable angle, including overhead by a helicopter, which followed them all the way from the shop in Fort Mojave, Arizona.


Arlen Ness leads the parade of Discovery Bike Builders from the shop to the Gold Nugget vendor area where each of the builders displayed their bikes to the public.


Promptly at 9 p.m. at the Golden Nugget vendor area, the Discovery Channel bike was unveiled to a rousing applause. All of the builders were on stage when Hugh King removed the cover. After the unveiling, the ballots were counted and Matt Hotch won the people’s choice for the nicest Discovery Bike of the ten built for this season’s shows.


Drag Specialties Magazine
Volume 11 #7