At the time of publication we had scheduled the Colorado Motorcycle Expo Swap Meet set for June 19-20. We were informed that temporarily this event has been postponed until further notice.
June 19th Expo Swap Meet Postponed
Colorado Motorcycle Expo
Colorado Swap Meet in February Has Record Crowds – NEXT EVENT March 20th
Mother nature clearly loves the biker community and on February 20th the day of our 1ST modified swap meet at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse in conjunction with Scott from the Colorado Motorcycle Expo and Rider Justice and Colorado Rider News was confirmation that that in the biker world, “If you build it….THEY WILL COME”.
Swap meets at Dirty Dogs are regularly done in June and December with great vendors everywhere, Mark can be found roasting something to satisfy the overwhelming crowd. It was unclear to all of us that even if the weather were nice, how many attendees would come out to support the biker owned business.
It was about 10am, that we got our answer, the parking lot was full up top, and drivers were parking on the side of Colfax all the way up past Wrigley’s. Riders were walking around with the goods they had purchased, and you could see the guys carrying around parts to sell and parts they had bought
This modified swap meet is a testament to the pride and unity the biker community feels for each other. Our biker owned businesses are struggling in this pandemic as the events they heavily rely on to get them thru the winter are rescheduled, cancelled, or eliminated entirely. Scott Schultz from our Expo, Scott O’Sullivan from Rider Justice and myself met with Mark and Rob from Dirty Dogs Roadhouse to see if we could come up with an option to help these businesses, the modified swap meet was the option we all came up with that could help everyone.
The party continued long after the swap meet was over with riders and vendors staying around just to celebrate a day of normality and listening to great music.
After the event was concluded, we spoke with several of the vendor who said the swap meet was a god send, and would help them get thru the month. Most said they would be back again in March and were so grateful for the opportunity to sell their items and make a few dollars.
If you are biker owned business and would like to participate in our March 20th swap meet, please visit the expo’s website at www.coloradomotorcycleexpo.com. Good spots are still available
Colorado Motorcycle Expo 2020 Recap
By Stormy
Motorcycle enthusiasts get excited when the Motorcycle Expo is in town. It reminds them that spring is coming and which in turn means it will be riding season soon. A lot of biker attendees noticed that there was something different about the Expo; they felt it in the air, ambience, and attitude. Well they are correct; there is a new owner of the Expo, an actual biker, Scott Schultz! He wants to take the Expo back to its original status and run it like a biker would run it. That means allowing the motorcycle clubs back into the Expo, and more specifically even allowing the club that the rider was killed a few years ago return. Another great reason to have a biker run the Expo compared to a Joe Blow businessman is that he understands the motorcycle community and knows firsthand what they want and what they want to see. He is going to bring back the great vendors that quit exhibiting because of all the red-tape restrictions. Most importantly, Scott wants to bring back the strong and loyal following that attended each year.
I was lucky to have a chance to meet the new owner, Scott Schultz. I learned that he is 42 years young and a life-long motorcycle junkie and accomplished businessman. He said that he is a transplant from North Dakota and has called Colorado home for 26 years. He is committed to his vision of bringing together bikers from all walks, united by a common love for these amazing machines.
The motorcycle show competition was great to see! They had over 100 bikes competing in more than a dozen categories.
- Ortiz Custom Cycles of Lakewood cleaned house and won first in Custom Fat Tire Bagger, and second and third place in the Custom Bagger category. The red 2014 Street Glide that won first place was bought from Munky Mark last year and Ortiz Custom Cycles revamped it and did a ton of work to it. It was dedicated to Munky. The second place Custom Bagger winner was Manual Arellano’s 2012 CVO Road Glide also done by Ortiz Custom Cycles. This one had awesome airbrushing and a lot of custom work that took about a year to complete.
- The third-place winner is a 2019 Road Glide that was bought at Sun HD by owner Larry Ortiz. He tore it down, cut the neck, and turned it into what you see today with a 1000-watt stereo and tons of custom parts! Go visit Ortiz Custom Cycles in Lakewood and see what they can do to your bike everything from paint to custom work. Everything is done in-house, no outsourcing except the seats.
Walking the Expo was so much fun. You run into so many friends; it’s like a big family reunion! It is also fun to shop and spend money at the vendors’ booths. One of my favorites was Vatos Y Viclas Magazine. They had some cool merchandise and a cute little chunky chihuahua named Athena running around in the booth. Vatos Y Viclas works towards helping Homies Unidos, a gang intervention/prevention program here in Denver.
My other favorite was Glitter Biker Boutique owned by Aimee Leigh. She has the best blingy bandanas ever! There were so many to choose from and in different colors
I also ran into Scott O’Sullivan and Chere Martin of Rider Justice. They are both awesome people in the biker community. They stand up for us bikers. In fact, for the third straight year, they are working to make it illegal for anyone to hold an electronic device in their hands while driving. Scott said, “We support SB20-065 because we believe this law will help make Colorado roads safer for everyone.” He goes on to say that if SB20-065 passes, all drivers would be prohibited from using a wireless communication device unless used in a hands-free manner. Navigation systems would be permitted if the address information was entered prior to operating the vehicle or in an emergency situation.
It was also cool to stop by Wide Open Saloon’s booth which is opening Saturday, March 7th. Anton Barich the general manager said they have big plans for the opening and have great bands lined up.
I am looking forward to next year’s Expo and see what Scott Schultz has planned.
Best in Show 2020: 2019 Road King Custom
By: Shawn Cox
I started my Bike build project in 2015 after buying a new stock Harley that my wife didn’t want me tearing down to build a custom bike. I was working with a new builder in town from Arizona who was bringing the big wheel craze into town. After seeing a couple of 23-26 and even a 30 roll out of his shop I knew I wanted to build one. I started watching insurance auctions looking for a bike to start with since I didn’t want to tear down my road glide.
I found a road king that looks to have been wrecked and missing all the parts I was going to replace. I picked it up to find the entire frame and motor was trashed. I was now out some cash and had nothing to work with. I reached out to Chassis Design in CA. and started ordering a custom frame to start my build. They sent out the wrong frame and when I finally got around to mocking it up, I found that the neck was welded wrong and trees wouldn’t fit correctly. After finding out the company had sold and the previous company owner gave me the run around for 6 month I resolved the issue with its current owner who was a great guy to work with and finally got my frame back set up for a 32 inch wheel.
So now I have all the parts including a Competition KIllas rear end from TOL in Las Vegas NV and a 3rd child on the way. Then again, I put my project on hold again for 6-8 months.
I had recently ran across another local shop called Notorious Concepts in Parker who installed a upgraded sound system on my Fat Tire Road Glide. They had done some clean work and I watched some bikes roll out of the shop and decided to work with them on this build. As all bikes start out, I wanted a simple bike 1 color that I could twist around on and have some fun. Well that’s as simple as it got….
As we stood around the shop looking at the bike as it progressed, we started looking at other bikes coming from Dirty bird in Arizona and DA Performance in the Mid-West simple wasn’t good enough any longer. I wanted to play with the big boys and build a showstopper. We started Dimond cutting the fins on a custom S&S 124 ci motor built by Mr. Tom Shoupe a great guy with a rep of building consistent power and good motors. We clear coated the motor and started sending everything else to Lee at Pristine Powder Coating to be done in candy apple green.
When it came time to pick out floorboards and controls, I found a new player in the parts game named Vitty Designs from Italy on Facebook. Mateo was doing things a bit different and caught my eye with his style and details. He also gave an option for brass and gold plating… Once those parts arrived, I was hooked. I thought I need the motor and other parts to match. I sent all my parts out to be chrome and asked what the cost would be to gold certain parts while out for chrome. I about fell on the floor, So I went online and did some research and found a way I could do my own gold plating for way cheaper. I called all my friend to donate any stock parts they would part from to practice on until I finally got it down. So, we began gold plating parts on my bike until we had just enough to bring out the bling and stand out. About that time, we took all the paint sets to Jarod @ Motorsport Concepts to have the paint done. Working with the Mad Scientist Randy Gustafson was the best. He took some conversations with Will, Jarod and myself and took my paint to the next level. I had seen Randy around for years in the car scene but never had anything worth his talent. He took some Fb photos of bikes I liked and added his own touch and as you can see knock it out of the park with the knurling matching gold leaf and hand painted stripes and candy paint.
A lot of people like to talk about this bike. They comment on the paint, the size of the wheel or how it lays frame on the ground, YOU CAN’T RIDE THAT BIKE!!
I sit back and laugh at some of the comments and try to educate them on how lay frames work and what air ride is and how we used a swing arm as our air tank among other unique custom thing that have been done. I ride this bike down dirt country washboards to get to the highway in Elbert county and they are in disbelief.
Do I ride this bike on long trips? No, I have a Road Glide with a 180-18 fat tire that I also ride on longer runs so yes this is a head turning fun around town bike that’s made to catch your attention and have some fun at shows. The first real ride I did with my wife after getting it finally registered and insured, I was being filmed by a couple in a brand-new bright orange Lambo. That made me feel good a 250K car and he liked my bike enough to film it out his window while driving down road. I was drooling on their car while they filmed me wanna trade?
We showed the bike in a booth at the 2019 Colorado Motorcycle Expo for Notorious Concepts and Motorsport Concepts. To date since finishing the bike we have won 2 back to back best of shows with the most recent one being the 2020 Colorado Motorcycle Expo.
We look forward to a long summer of riding enjoying this 32-inch Road King #KingofDenver
Colorado Motorcycle Expo
We’re excited to announce that the Colorado Motorcycle Expo is all set for 2020! It will be held February 1st and 2nd in the National Western Complex in downtown Denver. Formerly known as the Colorado Motorcycle Show & Swap, the Expo has been held annually in Denver since 1978. After starting at the Adams County Fairgrounds, the Expo moved to the National Western Complex in the early 1980’s, and it draws people from all over the country. Among motorcycle enthusiasts it has a large and loyal following with 20,000-25,000 people attending the event each year.
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