 lassy. That one word describes this year’s Donnie Smith Bike Show & Parts Expo held at the River Centre in St. Paul, Minnesota. With 18 years of history behind it, the event keeps getting bigger and better, this year featuring a 42-category bike show from mild to wild. It was first class all the way.
At the hub of the show was the main man of the event himself, Donnie Smith, with his 2003 guitar-focused Gibson Chopper of the “Three Kings of Customs.” Donnie explained, “Arlen Ness, Dave Perewitz and I each built a bike with a guitar theme; we also designed a guitar and because a copy-cat guitar would have scratches on the back of it, just like scratches from guitarist, Gary Rossington’s belt buckle, we added them...I designed it, Gibson made it and we painted it.”
Next door to Donnie was Dave Perewitz with his team and a bevy of customs including a brilliant blue Special K. A Perewitz custom was one of the first to grace the cover of the Drag Specialties FatBook catalog. He said, “I was one of the first guys to build a project bike for the catalog and just two years ago I built another one, it’s a win/win situation.” Dave stressed the importance of a reliable up-to-date source, “Drag Specialties is on top of the heap when it comes to the parts industry and is my primary source because they always have what we need and it arrives the next day...so how can you beat that?” Watch for Dave in an iTunes Master Builder series and an upcoming Discovery Channel Biker Build-off vs. Paul Yaffe.
Another prominent show exhibitor with some recent FatBook front cover success, was Brian Klock of Klock Werks surrounded by his modern to nostalgic custom showstoppers, like the candy-colored “Root Buell” and cool Sportster called the “Bare Minimum.” “Let the diversity continue,” said Brian, which was evident in some of the latest items they were displaying such as the smooth FLHX filler panel that co-exists with detachable Harley hardware and their cool new Dakota Digital Gauge Triple Tree.
Check out some of these other highlights of the event…
Donnie Smith and his colorful Gibson Guitar bike and guitar.
Brian Klock of Klock Werks. This is not your dad’s Bagger.
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A Klock Werks custom red and black beauty. |
Klock Werks rolled out their “Root Buell” custom.
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Klock Werks Sportster bike show entry. |
Logan Ryan (left) and Tom Erickson from Minnesota’s Kennedy High School “Chopper Class Team” with the school’s custom bike entry. The project was a tribute to the late “Indian Larry.” Most of the work was a reflection of and tribute to the mentoring given by Indian Larry in the early days of the program. The Kennedy team received the Technical Award of the show, sponsored and presented by Iron Works Magazine.
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Dave Perewitz and his daughter, Jody with the latest Perewitz Bobber custom. |
Drag Specialties’ Purchasing Manager Dan Haak (left) talks with Keith Terry of Terry Components about the Terminal Velocity II “Alpha-N” Closed-Loop system.
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A polished bike show entry with atypical transparent engine and transmission covers. |
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