Gophers and Cheese

At the 2013 Donnie Smith Bike Show you could see bikes from newer, local builders as well as the legends whose bikes are known all over the world. From the local front, I love this clean panhead from Pearson Customs .  So cool.  The gas cap adds a touch of class.  This is one of those bikes I'd love to own and ride the hell out of. On the legend front, there were a few bikes from the late, great Indian Larry on display.  I have never seen any of his bikes in person.  The bike with the welded chain frame and combo pan/shovel engine called "Chain of Mystery" that he built for the Biker Build Off was the standout for me.  Wow.  Just... wow.  Sadly, it was the last bike that Larry ever built before his untimely death. I figure I'm somewhere around the halfway point for pics from the show so keep coming back all week to see the rest.

Here is a pair of bikes from the 2013 Donnie Smith Bike Show that are totally different styles but are both built by some extraordinary local builders. The first bike's name is Lumpy Space Princess, a shovelhead trike.  This bike was built by Brian over at Speed Club .  He gives his bikes great names.  I don't typically like trikes but I think this bike is pretty cool.  The rear tires are an obvious standout but I really appreciate some of the details such as the seat and the taillight assembly.  I would love to know how the thing handles. The other bike is also a shovelhead, this time built by Dave Polgreen.  Dave builds some beautiful bikes and this is no exception.  Love the air cleaner. Lots more bikes to share.  Come on back!

There were so many awesome bikes at the 2013 Donnie Smith Bike Show that it's going to take quite a few posts to get through them all. I'll kick it off with two old favorites.  The first is Swamp Witch, a mind-blowing hardtailed shovel with amazing hand-painted tank art. The second is a panhead that I only know as the Dreamsickle from when it was featured in a recent issue of Show Class .  I've seen it at a few shows and never gets old. If you like these two bikes, I have links to more pics that I've taken of them in this post that I wrote about Show Class Magazine's St. Paul Issue: Show Class Issue 9 Bikes So many more bikes to share!  This is gonna take a while...

The 26th Annual Donnie Smith Bike Show and Parts Extravaganza was held at the St. Paul RiverCentre March 23-24, 2013. I went Saturday morning and it was my sixth consecutive year attending the show.  I was glad I got there early as I was able to run around and take a bunch of photos before it got too packed (which didn't take long). Parking and traffic got crazy due to all the events going on that day around the Xcel.  For example, there was a big Mary Kay cosmetics convention going on at the same time but it was pretty easy to tell who was going to which show. If you don't know, Donnie Smith is a custom bike builder who has a shop in Blaine and it's not unusual to see him at local events around the Twin Cities.  I think this is one of his bikes: You can see him talking to some guys in the background: There were a bunch of cool motorcycles at the show but I'm just going to get the most over-the-top bikes out of the way first including a whole bunch of b...