The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is an American motorcycle rally held annually in Sturgis, South Dakota, usually during the first full week of August. It began in the mid-20th century and was originally held for stunts and races, but has evolved into being a meeting for motorcycle enthusiasts from around the country. It brings a lot of income to the citizens of Sturgis. Today, it is one of the largest motorcycle rallies in the world. The City of Sturgis has calculated that the Rally brings over $800 million to South Dakota annually. Rally-goers are a mix of white-collar and blue-collar workers and are generally welcomed as an important source of income for Sturgis and surrounding areas. It is estimated some 500,000 people attend this rally and they all have a motorcycle, except Rose and I.
As Sturgis is normally a small town of some 6,600 people you can imagine what a sudden influx 500,000 bikers does to it. A number of satellite camp grounds open up each year around the area to accommodate all the bikers - places like the Full Throttle Saloon, Buffalo Chip and Shade Valley (where we stayed ) are open for just two weeks a year.
Buffalo Chip Camp Ground
Shade Valley is about 10 miles from the town of Sturgis and like all parks it's not as cheap as you would expect - a mere tent site is $130 and up to $600 plus for an RV site for a week. Shade Valley has been in operation for a few years and they add a new attraction each year - this year it was a zip line ride. The more established Buffalo Chip is huge, ZZ Top was one of the many headline artists they had performing there and the Full Throttle Saloon had Bret Michaels from Poison playing - for $10 a head we couldn't resist going to see him.
To get to Shade Valley we had to go through the town of Sturgis - as expected it was Harley Davidson motorcycles everywhere - this was going to be fun. A trip down the main street that would normally take just minutes took us 30 minutes. During rally week the main street is closed to cars.
Our First View of Sturgis taken 5 Days Before the Rally
During the Rally
The RV sites at Shade Valley are huge at 50 foot wide as they anticipate that most campers will be hauling an extra trailer carrying their bikes. So sharing a site with Shaun and Sheree was not an issue.
Our Camp Site.
Now the story on how we ended up in Sturgis South Dakota during Rally week. One night when we were staying in Vegas we were sitting outside our 5th wheeler having a drink and a young bloke with tattoos stopped to admire our Bundaberg Rum sign. Shaun and his wife Sheree are from Australia with Shaun growing up in the town of Bunderberg in Queensland. Shaun's business is building custom motorbikes and he and Sheree have been in Vegas doing this for 5 years. His company is called Chop De Ville and they are currently filming a show called Chopdeville Unchained for a TV network. They tour the country attending bike shows in their 53 foot long prime mover (hauler) which is their mobile work shop - he is one smart guy. After parting ways in Vegas we kept in touch with them and as luck would have it our paths would cross again at Sturgis. He needed a "fill in" camera guy for the weekend and I was it - a quick demo of the camera and I was "crew".
In addition to building motor bikes Chop De Ville also have a selection of merchandise they sell ranging from T-shirts and caps through to Sheree's handmade jewellery and dog collars.
Setting Up The Hauler - Rose Doing Her Bit
Rose and Sheree all Set Up
One Big Setup
A True Mobile Workshop
Even at Night it Was Impressive
Chop De Ville were sponsoring a number of events at the Shade Valley Eye Candy Saloon - things like bull riding contests, best body paint and the obligatory wet T-shirt competition plus a number of other random raffles. As a number of these were being held over the weekend, and as the stand in camera man, I was required to film some of these events - the things a man has to do! Having said that it is all done in good taste and humour. Body painting is very popular in Sturgis - ladies of all ages get into it - some probably shouldn't but obviously 'what happens in Sturgis stays in Sturgis' must be their motto!
Body Painting at the Eye Candy Saloon.
There were two winners for the body painting, best female and male.
As Shade Valley Campground is a few miles out of Sturgis they provide a free bus service into town, stopping at the Buffalo Chip and the Full Throttle Saloon. Sunday night we took "Da Bus" to go to the Bret Michaels concert at the Full Throttle Saloon (FTS). This is no ordinary bus. It is an old yellow school bus with one very loud sound system cranking out rock music. Marker pens are given out so you can legitimately leave your mark on the roof. They also sell beer at $3 a can and shooters at $4! We arrived at FTS and after a series of seat changes got a great vantage point for the concert. Where else can you drive your bike through a concert revving the engine - a truly unique experience. In addition there is a burn out cage where some bikers go to "smoke" their tyres covering the crowd in burning rubber - all while Bret Michaels was pumping it out! What a great night!
"Da Bus"
Full Throttle Saloon No Cars Allowed
Full Throttle Saloon Here We Come
Where Else But Sturgis, Just Ride Your Bike into the Crowd
Anything Goes at Sturgis
Bike or Car?
A Great Concert
Shaun not only builds custom motor bikes, he also competes in a number of motor bike competitions throughout the country. There were a couple of competitions in Sturgis during the bike rally weekend and Shaun had entered his latest custom built bike in them. The bike Shaun has built is fully hand made - he machined and created just about every part on the whole bike. He entered this bike in the 'freestyle' category which means the bike is judged on his creativeness. A point to note is that this bike does run, it has been ridden and is tagged (registered) in Nevada. Unlike a normal motor bike it runs on racing fuel! The ability for a bike to be ridden is a pre requisite in some shows.
There were two categories in this competition - the first being the "Ultimate Build" which is judged by the other entrants in the competition. This is a hard one -being judged by your peers. The second category was the "people"s choice.
Unloading the Bike.
Once unloaded the first job was to detail the bike. Shaun and I both armed ourselves with polishing cloths, tyre black etc - presentation is an all important part of the show! I cleaned every tread on the bike tyre - I wanted this beautiful bike to win!
Detailing Before the Show
There were a number of different television channel crews conducting interviews throughout the day - in our opinion they seemed to be asking our Chop De Ville hero an awful lot of questions! We felt like we were hanging out with a real rock star! After a long hot day in the sun judging time came to an end - we waited for the announcements to be made.
The people's choice award went to Shaun Ruddy of Chopedeville - whoo hoo - wow! The last award was the Ultimate builder award, and the announcement was made - Shaun Ruddy of Chopedeville!!! Within seconds of leaving the stage he was being interviewed by the waiting television crews. How fantastic to see an Aussie bloke from Bunderburg doing good in the USA! It was an honour to be there.
This bloke is and will be Famous, being interviewed by Travel Channel
Rose and I With the Ultimate Builder Bike Winner
Most nights we were busy in one way or another at the Eye Candy Saloon - late nights or early mornings were the norm - the earliest night was midnight and on several occasions it was past 2am, we will need a holiday after this week!
The next big event for Chopedeville was the Rats Hole Custom Bike show which is held at the Buffalo Chip. This is the signature event for the Sturgis bike rally. People liken the Sturgis Rats Hole Show to the Grammys, as it only comes around once a year and it recognizes the best of the best. It rounds up the countries best bike builders and to win the rat trophy is the ultimate prize for a bike builder. Another long day as we detailed the bike and presented it for judging. Finally the time came for the announcements so we all gathered at the stage with the many other hopefuls.
First category - extreme bobber - winner - Shaun Ruddy from Chopdeville! Wow he is on a roll! Next came the "Best of the Show" which is the Rat Hole Trophy. The winner was Shaun Ruddy of Chopdeville - can you believe this bloke?
That's One Big Trophy!
Simply The Best
We are no bikers but as we watched and listened to people talking about Shaun's bike throughout the competition we gathered that he was a winner but we never expected him to clean sweep all the major awards. Well done and congratulations to Shaun and Chopedville!
As the overall winner of the Sturgis bike show, Chopedeville, or Shaun, gets one of 12 invites to compete in the national bike show in Milwaukee. in fact, as he won another bike competition in Las Vegas earlier in the year he has 2 entries into this competition. The winner at Milwaukee goes to Germany - good luck Shaun.
While in Sturgis we shopped, people watched, visited a couple (?) of bars and just looked in awe at the thousands of bikes that lined the streets. This was truly an amazing experience - bikers or not - one we would recommend to anyone. The majority of people seemed to middle aged and just having a good time.
It was a huge week, one we would do again in a heart beat! Our final night at Shade Valley was spent with the caretaker and remaining staff to celebrate a very successful 2013 Sturgis Motor Bike Rally. Dinner consisted of deep fried walleye fish, homemade potato salad and the best 'peaches and cream' corn of the cob we have ever tasted.
Our Final Night
As always its a sad time to leave friends and this was no exception. However we have agreed to meet Shaun and Sheree in Milwaukee for the National bike show in two weeks time, we are hoping this will result in another trophy for this great bike builder and proud Aussie.
- Posted by RnR on their IPad
Location:Sturgis SD
