Sturgis North has been on everyone’s lips this week, with many people asking questions and offering their opinions.
There’s some really interesting reading on our on-line commenting feature, which allows anyone to add their own thoughts on the event to the on-line discourse. To encourage open exchange of ideas, we ask that you follow our guidelines and respect standards. Personal attacks, offensive language and unsubstantiated allegations are not allowed. Keep comments: civil, smart, on-topic and free from profanity or personal attacks.
Of course, a big question on everyone’s mind is just how many people did this event attract to our town?
While there are many guesses, they remain that. Officials from Sturgis North themselves are still trying to get a handle on their numbers, based on their sales. This also doesn’t account for people who may have visited and only taken in the free portions of the events, like the stunt shows downtown or the rides to places like Sicamous.
But I have other questions too, some that I could find answers to, others which I can only ponder.
What do you think the value of all the bikes here would be? I was personally stunned to find out that a single custom bike was priced at $125,000. Here’s my next question: do people get 25-year mortgages on these things? Although I was also informed that one could get outfitted with a new Harley for $30,000, if you wanted to do it “on the cheap.”
As we all know, there was a lot of rain during Sturgis. After witnessing a number of women who spent time topless at the site after getting special body paint jobs, I wondered what would a rainstorm do to your special artwork?
The kind people at Model Mayhem helped me out: “A heavy downpour will definitely ruin your art work. Advice for that is to stay inside. A slight trickle of rain might not do all that much harm as long as you don’t rub it off. Some little splashes will dry up again as soon you are inside.”
Keep that in mind for next year.
Many of the bikes are truly works of art: sleek, streamlined, trimmed with chrome and painted by artists. There were bikes with handlebars so high, the rider was holding his arms above his head to steer. Are these actually comfortable to drive?
The answer was, it depends – but in general, no.
Many riders confessed that they didn’t actually ride their bikes to Sturgis North, instead putting them in a trailer for a more comfortable car ride. The reason was two-fold. Many of the bikes are uncomfortable to ride long distances (your arms can fall asleep if you use those high handlebars) and the bikers don’t want to damage them with too much riding.
No doubt there will be more questions and hopefully answers in the days to come. Certainly the next big question people in town will want to know is, will Sturgis North be back again next year? We’ll keep you posted.