Bill Gikling (right) was my personal “tour guide” for this year’s Sturgis Rally. Thanks Bill. Here, we’re out at Badlands National Park east of Rapid City and Sturgis. It’s a great destination point for a one-day ride.

hew! August was sure a busy month. I kicked it off with a trip to the Sturgis Rally. My host for the rally was Bill Gikling, who owns Black Hills Powersports, and he formerly was the owner of Black Hills Harley-Davidson, both in Rapid City. Bill is a lifelong resident of the area and he has been telling me for years that I needed to come up and be his guest for the week and he’d show me how to do the Sturgis Rally right. So this year I took him up on his offer and had a great time, logging about 600 miles in five days. Check out my report starting on page 28.
     Speaking of the Black Hills, Drag Specialties got the roads in shape about a month prior to the rally with their first Black Hills Dealer Ride. We’ve got a pictorial on that ride as well starting on page 76. In both cases you’ll see that what sets Sturgis apart from most other rally locations is the great riding.
     One thing I noticed when I was in Sturgis this year was the huge number of riders on Dressers. Sure, the high-end customs are great to look at, and we appreciate the amount of innovation that goes into them, but when it comes to riding, you can’t beat a Dresser. So for our Drag FatBook project bike in this issue, it was fitting that we featured a project just completed by Tim Pfisterer that blends the innovation of a custom bike with the conveniences of a Dresser. Check it out.
     While me and hundreds of thousands of other riders were cruising leisurely around at events this summer, a few people we know were getting their rides in at breath taking speeds. That, of course, was happening on drag strips around the country. With so many companies in the motorcycle industry getting involved in drag racing, including Drag Specialties, we felt it was time to provide a thorough overview of the whole sport.
Check it out in this issue.
      At the end of August, our Editor Jen and I were off to Wisconsin for the annual LeMans National Vendor Presentations (known as “NVP”) and the Dealer Showcase that is connected to it. The mood was very upbeat the whole week and we were really impressed by the amount of new products coming your way for 2007.
     We’ve got a little pictorial in this issue on what we saw there, but be sure to ask your Drag Specialties sales rep for their personal report. They’ve got a lot to show you.

Ride safe,