 he rumble over the green hills of Iowa was unmistakably created by V-Twins; some of them US-made, some of them made in Japan. They were approaching their target by the thousands: Anamosa, Iowa, home of the National Motorcycle Museum and it’s biggest supporter: J&P Cycles. Rolling in from all over the country, neither Friday’s thunderstorms nor the low hanging clouds, promising more of that, could stop the invasion. When J&P Cycles have their doors open for the public, the crowd is getting bigger every year. Not without reason!
If you fly over Iowa, you hardly take this as “motorcycle country.” The roads are straight and hardly show a turn, the land is divided in big squares, changing in variations of green, thanks to the different plants that grow here. Iowa is agriculture. But it is motorcycle county too! Anamosa itself is situated in the north-eastern part of Iowa, just west of the Mississippi River. The small 5,500+ town does not seem big on the map, but apart from J&P Cycles and the museum, it hosts one of the biggest and most interesting looking jails, sized and built like Buckingham Palace, of the entire US-prison system and – last but not least – has been the birthplace of Grant Wood, painter of the famous “American Gothic” portrait of farmer and wife.
Well, for most of the approaching bikers, J&P’s Open House is more than enough reason to saddle up, even while watching suspiciously the grey sky which – to clear the tension – remained dry all day, allowing the event to unfold without interference from above. Despite the uninviting weather, visitors were up again. Both in terms of bike riders and car drivers, the latter, of course, could buy much more than the riders, due to larger capacity. Each year, the J&P crew sets up a small swap meet with discontinued parts – and the place was literally stormed and plundered during the event! In addition to this sale, visitors saved big throughout the day on J&P Cycles’ enormous inventory of parts and accessories.
|
Drag Specialties brought its big rig and event staff to the J&P meet.
Cory Ness astride one of the great looking Arlen Ness machines.
Roland Sands with his increasingly popular RSD vintage kit.
With the appreciation by the manufacturers, many of them traveling huge distances with their show trucks, J&P Cycles’ annual Customer Appreciation day has grown over the years to become one of the largest motorcycle events in the Midwest. Visitors could talk with representatives of the industry's leading manufacturers like Arlen Ness, Drag Specialties, Kuryakyn, Memphis Shades, Performance Machine, Progressive Suspension, Samson Exhaust and S&S Cycle, to name a few of the companies that were on hand to show off their hot new products. This year something in excess of 15,000 motorcyclists joined J&P owners John and Jill Parham for their free event. John and Jill hold the event each spring to thank their customers and local community for their continued support of J&P Cycles.
Although the weather somewhat toned down the images taken by the press photographers on hand to feature the event, this one day event stands out for its superb organization and non-stop-action: Bike Show, Biker Rodeo and a “Stunt-around-the-clock-show” by the stunt-pros of the Road Hazard’s Extreme Team.
Very popular for her 10 years on the TV-screen, Michele Smith from SPEED’s American Thunder TV show was on hand signing autographs and took the new Cory Ness built J&P Cycles Custom Bagger motorcycle that premiered that weekend for a ride downtown to the Museum together with John Parham and his son Zach. Roland Sands, Performance Machine and Cory Ness himself were on hand signing autographs as well. A silent auction was once again held to benefit the National Motorcycle Museum.
If one thing can be said: This is one of the most compact and smooth running events of the continent, with a friendly staff taking care of all wishes and needs of the customers – if you never experienced a VIP treatment as a customer, get onto your bike at the last weekend of June, you won’t regret it – even if you have to put up your rain gear!
For more information on J&P Cycles, check out its website at http://www.jpcycles.com
or call 319-462-4819. For info on the museum go to www.nationalmcmuseum.org/museum or call (319) 462-3925. “Motographer” Horst Rösler resides in Frankfurt, Germany, but travels to the U.S. often to cover motorcycle events. His website is online at: motographer@t-online.de
The population of Anamosa, Iowa increases significantly one day a year.
|
“I rode 500 miles to get this event and I’m dog tired.”
|
Performance Machine’s Ted Sands brought all their cool wheels and brake parts to show.
|
Greg Reich (left) of Continental Tires shows an event attendee their custom Triumph sportbike fitted, of course, with Conti tires.
|
The S&S X-Wedge-powered Shelby is not exactly your father’s V-Twin.
|
Hector Melendez (left) and Allen Alvarez of Daytona Twin-Tec show off their popular Engine Control units.
|
The thrill of victory!
|
The J&P Open House activities include a full-on Rodeo/Field Meet.
|
When in Iowa, be sure to also stop at John Parham’s National Motorcycle Museum.
|
|
|
 onations after an August 6th fundraising event for Children's Care of Rapid City by international motorcycle group Hamsters USA brought in another $100,000, bringing the total to over $200,000 raised at the one-night dinner with silent and live auctions. The gathering was held Monday, August 6th in Spearfish, SD, as part of the Sturgis Rally.
Hamster spokesman Grady Pfeiffer says the group is known for their big hearts when it comes to children. “Hamsters have always stepped up to the plate for kids needing a hand,” he says. “This is a great cause, and every dollar we raised last night goes directly to the kids.” Funds raised will provide physical, occupational, and speech therapies, plus special educational and psychological services to children with special needs in Western South Dakota--plus parts of Wyoming and Nebraska--through Children’s Care of Rapid City.
Hamsters USA has raised and donated funds at their annual meeting for the last two years. Those funds helped construct the new Children’s Care facility off Highway 16 in Rapid City at 7110 Jordan Drive, dedicated September 26, 2006.
The award recognizes an individual in the motorcycle world whose philanthropic support and civic duty represents everything positive in the motorcycle industry. The design of the award is based on the heart-apple logo of Children’s Care Hospital & School. It was inscribed: “For your unselfish devotion to aiding in the plight of those in need, and for your decades of generous fundraising for disadvantaged children and individuals. The 2nd annual Chrome Heart Award is given in honor of David Perewitz and family. Awarded by the Children’s Care Hospital & School Foundation and Hamsters USA-2007 Sturgis Rally.” Perewitz has led the Hamster auction to raise funds for Children’s Care for the past three years, and has been a very generous donor and buyer of items for the live and silent auctions. Dave Perewitz designs and builds custom motorcycles at Perewitz Cycle Fabrications, one of America’s premier custom motorcycle shops. He lives with his wife, Susan, in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Their daughter Jody is also active in the business.
Dave’s recent autobiography, “Dave Perewitz: Chopper Master and King of Flames,” details building his craft to become one of the nation’s top bike builders and a major influence in the custom motorcycle industry. He is probably best known for his exquisite flame paint jobs.
Perewitz, a founding member of the Hamsters USA motorcycle group was stunned and touched by the award. Last year’s award went to the late-P.J. Otten of Jacksonville, Florida, for his great generosity to children and others in need. Children’s Care of Rapid City served over 1200 children in the region last year through outpatient and outreach programs. It is affiliated with Children’s Care Hospital & School, based in Sioux Falls. Children’s Care is a private, independent, non-profit organization with a mission to help children with special needs reach their full potential. The organization as a whole served over 2500 children last year.
The Wheels Through Time exhibit features some of the rarest motorcycles known to exist. Don Emde photo.
he Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, NC reached a new milestone on August 7th, hosting its 250,000th visitor in just five years.
John Mohr and son Steve entered the Wheels Through Time Museum that day to set the milestone for the museum, earning themselves complimentary lifetime memberships to the museum in the process. “Education, entertainment, and motorized American history at its best,” were the words of John Mohr. John and Steve are long time visitors to Maggie Valley and, although they had heard mention of the museum, the father and son had never taken the time to visit. “Intoxicating!” was their comment left in the guest register.
The world-class museum is on pace for record attendance this year. Recent programming on Speed TV and the Discover Channel, as well as features in publications such as Forbes, United Airlines on-board magazine, and dozens of cycle publications are the reason for such record numbers of visitors finding Wheels Through Time and Maggie Valley. Visitation to the museum is up nearly 25% from last year, with many visitors claiming “Wheels” as one of their top reasons for coming to the mountains.
Mark Demeola, Maggie Valley alderman, sites the museum successes as an economic boom for the small town. Wheels Through Time has been in Maggie Valley for five years and, since its relocation, has been an anchor for tourism in Western North Carolina. The museum houses the world’s most extensive collection of American motorized history, containing over 275 of the America’s rarest two- and four-wheeled machines.
For more information on Wheels Through Time, visit www.WheelsThroughTime.com or call the museum at (828) 926-6266.
Displays include motors and equipment that were never actually in production. The 1913 Indian V-twin motor seen here was a prototype from the Indian factory. Don Emde photo.
|
Dale Walksler gladly fires up a machine to underline a point he may have made to a guest about a machine. Don Emde photo.
|
inning Kids & Chrome raffle tickets for the NYC Chopper and Thunder Mountain Custom motorcycles were drawn on Friday evening at the Sturgis Rally on stage at the legendary Buffalo Chip. Southwestern U. S. residents Craig Byrd of Yuma, AZ and Alan Willard Rio Rancho, NM held the winning tickets for the chopper and custom motorcycles, respectively. Kids & Chrome is grateful for the support of NYC Chopper’s Nick Genender, Independent Cycle’s Jesse Jurrens, and Thunder Mountain’s Tod and Shelley Erdman in making this raffle possible. Proceeds from the Kids & Chrome raffle support the Children's Home Society and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame. The next day North Tonawanda, NY resident Jeff Wokcik became the winner of the one-of-a kind Henry 44-40 rifle. All proceeds from the rifle raffle support the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of
Fame. For further information, please contact Marcia F. Dunsmore,
 r. Gasket, Inc. and Prestolite Wire Corporation announced recently that Prestolite has agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets and business of Mr. Gasket. Mr. Gasket will become a division of Prestolite and will continue to operate the entire Mr. Gasket family of high performance and racing brands. Dennis Rogers will continue in his role as Executive Vice President of Mr. Gasket. Bob Romanelli, President of Mr. Gasket, will continue to advise the company on strategic initiatives. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
“Mr. Gasket is an excellent strategic fit and a logical step in the continued growth and development of our automotive aftermarket business,” said Greg Ulewicz, President of Prestolite. “Mr. Gasket’s well-recognized high performance and racing brands will be a tremendous asset to Prestolite’s aftermarket portfolio.”
Dennis Rogers of Mr. Gasket, Inc. added, “We are very pleased to join forces with Prestolite. The combination of the two businesses provides Mr. Gasket with the resources to expand our automotive, motorcycle and marine product portfolios to better serve our customers.”
For more information, log onto www.prestolitewire.com and www.mrgasket.com
|
Parts Magazine
Volume 14 #9
Parts Magazine Index
|
