urricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne all blasted straight through Daytona Beach just weeks before the scheduled kick-off for Biketoberfest 2004. With trees blown down all over town, windows boarded up and hotels closed for repair many thought the city’s annual Fall biker party would be a bust. They couldn’t have been more wrong!
Biketoberfest 2004 went off without a hitch, and in fact it just might have been better than ever. In an effort to give local businesses a jump start on their storm recovery this year the event was expanded to a full 10 days. It started a week early. Adding more zip to the sauce,      Biketoberfest ‘04 marked the first appearance of the legendary Buffalo Chip, that all-out Sturgis party set up here inside the Daytona International Speedway. And it rocked!
     On the business side Biketoberfest 2004 was a winner, too. Vendors all reported strong attendance, and more importantly, strong sales. Riders weren’t just looking, they were buying, and they were buying big-ticket items. The motorcycle market is red hot with no signs of cooling down any time soon. Hey, even a trio of hurricanes couldn’t do it. Looking for trends? The clean and simple choppers and bobbers had everyone looking, talking and shopping. The guys at the Drag Specialties truck say it’s that way all over the country, too. Bikes like that FatBook Sportster rigid Kim Suter built, the gold one we put on the cover a couple issues back, draws crowds everywhere.
     If you were in Daytona in October you saw all this first-hand. If you weren’t, well, you skipped a great time–and a good business opportunity. Take a look at some of what you missed…

Bad to the bone.	Popular custom builder Billy Lane of Choppers Inc. was at Biketoberfest. See our profile on him on page 66.
The Drag Specialties display shows off complete custom bikes and some chassis “packages” in addition to lots of individual accessories.
Biketoberfest draws mostly Harleys, but there are always a few metric bikes hanging around.	The hardest working guy at Biketoberfest was Wayne Hanson of Speed’s Performance. His mobile dyno-tuning center ran day and night.