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6th Annual Las Vegas Bikefest
by Steve Kalnasty

September 14-18, old Las Vegas was again the site of one of the coolest motorcycle rallies of the year. Joining throngs of other locals for a weekend of motorcycle worship, gambling, and a few cold beverages, Hawaiian Chopper reporters witnessed what could be the future of the custom motorcycle scene—metric customs…

That’s right. The Metric Revolution is upon us, and from what I saw, it’s got the potential to shake up a world dominated by Harley V-twins.

Although the featured bike show was the “Artistry in Iron”, which featured bikes by the likes of Paul Yaffe, Mitch Bergeron, Sugar Bear, Todd Silicato, Gard Hollinger, Roger Goldammer, and a host of others (congratulations go out to Greg Westbury of Westbury Custom Cycles on winning the event & $20K for his trouble), it was the filming of Metric TV’s “Metric Revolution” show that caught the eyes of my wandering journalists.

Featuring the creations of guys you probably haven’t heard of yet like Tommy Graves, Mike Stafford, Mike Dusold, Stephen Kehler, and a host of others, this event showed the value of including Euro & Japanese cycles in the custom bike scene. I believe that we saw on Freemont Street is the future, and I say we all embrace it…

And what would a motorcycle rally be without a few parties, most notably were Hogs & Heifers 1st Anniversary party and Count’s Kustoms “Motor Psycho” Open House. Hogs’ owner Michelle (Dell) and her crew pulled out all the stops, and proved that the Big Apple is alive and well in Sin City. If you haven’t been to Hogs & Heifers, what are you waiting for?

The highlight of the weekend was the block party held at 2714 Highland Drive (Dracula’s Embassy in the U.S.). Dollar beers, dollar dogs & burgers, dollar everything… The gates opened just after sunrise, where Shannon (Aikau) & the Counts minions registered over a thousand riders for the official Las Vegas Bikefest Poker Run. Forget Artistry in Iron and the Metric Revolution, this was a bike show to rival any I’ve ever seen.

Of course, when the sun went down, that’s when the real action began. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Count and his family appeared (no doubt from the comfortable confines of their coffins) to greet their guests for their highly anticipated open house. Throngs of people milled through what can only be described as a museum of classic automobiles and radically customized bikes, which is Count’s Kustoms. A free concert featuring heavy metal rockers “Crash” played for a crowd of some three thousand people. Playing covers of obscure Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, and other rock favorites, the members of Slaughter, Dark New Day & the Vince Neil Band had heads banging for hours! Hawaiian Chopper’s presence was also felt at the “Motor Psycho” event, where cover model Vickie Boonkoom joined Shannon Aikau in signing copies of Hawaii’s favorite biker rag. Sent as my emissary to the Count, the two puncture wounds on her neck are a telltale sign that she was impressed with the hospitality she was afforded.

In the end, Vegas Bikefest lived up to it’s billing as one of the year’s best motorcycle shows (of course, nothing compares to what we do in the Islands). Bikes, Babes, Booze, and Vegas… How can you go wrong?