By Michael Mihalevich

Ralph Roades, founder and publisher of Wide Open Motorcycle Magazine, and his Wide Open team did it again! After overseeing the building of the Wide Open Chopper, the production of the first Wide Open calendar, and getting the 2006 Bike Show edition of Wide Open magazine out on the newsstands, the Wide Open team hosted the premier of the Wide Open Motorcycle Magazine Bike Show in Kansas City, January 20-22! Roades capped off the weekend by donating $7,050.00 to the March of Dimes and giving away a new 2006 Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide to a lucky subscriber.

The show was held in the two-story, 90,000 square foot, 3-Trails Expo Center on the south side of Kansas City. More than one hundred twenty-five cycles from fourteen states converged in Kansas City to compete for the Best of Show First Place $1,000.00 cash prize.

Dealers and builders brought in another hundred, or so, two- and three-wheel creations to showcase during the weekend. Legendary custom cycle builder Donnie Smith, from Minnesota, was in attendance with examples of his craftsmanship, which included his custom Gibson Guitar Chopper. Kim and Cheryl Suter of K. C. Creations were here live and in person, all the way from Overland Park, Kansas, with their crew and a wide variety of their one-of-a-kind creations. They had their Kansas City Chiefs Chopper on display.

Naturally, Roades was on site displaying his current collection of bikes. This was the premier showing of the new Wide Open Chopper built by K. C. Creations. This chopper was featured in the previous (2006 Bike Show) issue of Wide Open. The Wide Open Screamin' Eagle Fat Boy was also part of the display. Wide Open T-Shirt Techs were doing double duty. In addition to modeling and selling t-shirts, they were also available to autograph your 2006 Wide Open calendar for you.

Delectable Debbi Davids, "Miss Sturgis 2005" was at the Wide Open Bike Show in Kansas City the entire weekend. She was easy to spot once you could make your way through the crowd that was constantly encircling her. She was the blonde with the terrific smile that was cheerfully signing posters for the admiring throngs that were admiring how well she looked in a thong.

Vendors of every variety were available on both levels of the expo center. You could buy bikes, trikes, trailers, toy haulers, RVs, lifts, insurance, leather, t-shirts, boots, jewelry, patches, shades, lights, tools, lubricants, cleaning products, beer, and barbeque. You could even have your stress level tested, or buy yourself a slot machine. Oh yeah, you could ride a mechanical bull and have your picture taken. And if the bull threw you, you could check in to getting a joint brace or an artificial limb.

Vendors reported brisk sales on Saturday despite the fact that the weather had warmed up outside to a pleasant, sunny, mid 40s day. I don't know how many artificial limbs were purchased over the weekend, but I do know one customer purchased a pair of $30,000.00 trikes.

There were a number of motorcycle clubs and volunteer organizations included in the mix of vendors. Galloping Goose, El Forastero, Brothers Word, Tribe of Judah, March of Dimes, Janey's Over the Next Hill Ride, ABATE, BACA, Aid to Injured Motorcyclists, and American Bikers Relief Fund (ABRF) were a few of the participants. ABRF volunteers were offering souvenir photos with model Jenna Cruz, or a ride on a mechanical bull for a minimal donation. Local radio stations 99.7 KY and 98.9 The Rock were doing interviews and live remote broadcasts on site. The bands, including Sugar Bush, Local Stranger, Choozy Mothers, and Big Ugly Guys, continued to provide live musical entertainment throughout the entire weekend.

The bikes being displayed in the bike show competition were spectacular. It was not at all like some bike shows that you attend and feel like you saw all the same ones at a previous show. There were many entries that stopped you in your tracks and drew you in for a closer look.

One of the entries that definitely commanded you attention was upstairs and all the way to the back wall. It was the sweetest, cleanest, lowest, cobalt candy blue custom cycle you could ever imagine. Owner Kevin Post commissioned Mark Siddle of Cutting Edge Cycles, in St. Charles, Missouri, to build " a simple, clean, bike that sets on the ground and looks like it doesn't work." And, he wanted it "Blue"! About six months later Kevin took delivery of a stunning, show winning blue bike. The "Blue" bike is built with amazing attention to detail. It has incredible flow of design from front to back, and appears to be one flowing metal sculpture. Post and Siddle won the Builder Chopper class and Best of Show. During the show, Kevin had to fend off numerous offers to buy his "Blue" bike. (You can check out this bike in the Best of Show feature article in the Spring issue.)

Boyd McPherson's "Screamin' Legal", a '97 Road King that was highly modified by Wayne Kemp of Kemp Kustoms in Wichita, Kansas, won Best of Show Second Place. It's finished off in candy tangerine and harvest gray colors. Powered by a 111" S&S with a 6-speed, this radical bagger has been photographed doing wheelies.

Mark Monroe and his immaculate blue and white 2001 Harley-Davidson Heritage Springer snagged Best of Show Third Place. Mark, from Wichita, Kansas, is no stranger to the bike show circuit, since this is about his fiftieth win. Monroe took many parts of his Springer and had them chromed inside and out.

Another custom creation that stopped you in your tracks was "Excaliber", built by Custom Mystical Creations out of Butler, Missouri. Brad Brooks and Shawn Evans built the 10' 1" mystical custom with more than two hundred one-off machined billet pieces. They powered it with a 120" Ultima motor connected to a 6-speed tranny that was connected with two 1.5" drive belts to the monstrous 360mm rear tire. "Excaliber", Brad, and Shawn won the Open Radical class.

Larry James won First Place in the Race Bike class with his 1400cc turbo nitrous Kawasaki that cranks out over 400 horsepower. Larry has piloted this rocket through the quarter mile in 7.18 seconds at 186 mph. He is one of the finest motorcycle mechanics in the KC area. I may be slightly prejudice since he takes care of one of my rides for me.

A trio of winning entries came from Frank Pedersen of Motorcycle Works in Olathe, Kansas. He built a really menacing looking "trike" that won 2nd in the Trike class. It's more like a custom yellow with gold pearl bike with truck tire 'duallies' on the back. He's got a pair of 13" tires on the back end with only 5" of space between them, which makes it look like he's got a yard of rubber across the rear. Another one of Frank's winning creations is his "Good Times" chopper. "Good Times" is a yellow and black with red pin striping chopper that has a stock 103" Harley Screamin' Eagle motor, mated to a stock Dyna 5-speed transmission, setting in his 1.5" diameter tubing Motorcycle Works frame, that ends with a massive 360 rear tire. "Good Times" won first in the Pro Builder class. The other winning entry from the Pedersen family was 17 year-old Alex, showing his '05 special construction. Sitting in the Sportster frame is a 317cc, 11 hp Tecumseh motor, complete with pull start. You tended to do a double take when you passed by this bike.

The grand finale awards presentations, held Sunday afternoon, included plaques for the top three spots in each of thirty-two categories. Mike Steward of El Dorado Springs, Missouri was the big winner that afternoon. Steward's name was drawn for the 2006 Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide given away by Wide Open Motorcycle Magazine in their annual subscription sweepstakes drawing. Mike was back home in El Dorado, so Roades called him to tell him of his good fortune. Of course Steward thought this was a practical joke. Ralph held his cell phone toward the assembled crowd and asked if this was a joke. The resounding "NO", shouted out by the crowd, vibrated throughout the building and convinced Mike that he needed to make a trip to Kansas City next week to pick up his new Harley.

Adventure Sports Products had a drawing to give away one of their technologically advanced motorcycle hauling trailers to a lucky Wide Open show attendee. Loy Holman from Sedalia turned out to be the lucky entry that was drawn from the box of names. Robert Goin of Independence went away from the show with a $1,000.00 shopping spree courtesy of Gail's Harley-Davidson.

The Kansas City Chapter of the March of Dimes was another winner this weekend. They provided volunteers to assist with various show logistics, and Sunday afternoon Roades presented a check to March of Dimes for $7,050.00. Volunteers Steve Yates and Penny Sharp, co-chairs of the annual Bikers for Babies Ride, gladly accepted the check on behalf of the March of Dimes. Thanks go out to all of the volunteers, vendors, and Wide Open staff for making this show a success.

Be sure to grab a copy of the next issue of Wide Open Motorcycle Magazine to find out what Ralph and the Wide Open team has in store for the next round of excitement for the "Midwest Coast"!