Perewitz Team Leaves for Sturgis

The 66th Annual Black Hills Motorcycle Rally, best known simply as "Sturgis" will kick off August 7 and run through August 13. This week attendees will start packing up and hitting the road on their way to the biggest rally of the year.

However, if you are Dave Perewitz and his team you are packing up and hitting the road a little early this year. Dave was chosen to build a custom motorcycle for Discovery Channel's Biker Build Off Series again this year. As part of the show he will meet up with the Discovery film crew and the competing builder in Iowa and then ride the rest of the way to Sturgis. Filming all the while. Each builder will have 5-10 people riding with him, followed by the caravan of trucks, trailers and film crew. What a sight it will be rolling down the highways.

So, while the Discovery bike has been kept under wraps for the last few weeks since it has been completed, it will be unveiled to some lucky folks along the way next week starting in Iowa.

But, what goes into getting the bike out there? I stopped by today and saw some of what goes on to load 23 motorcyles into trucks and trailers. It's more of a process than you'd think, especially when there is a new trailer involved. There is plating (for lack of the proper word) to install so the tie-downs have somewhere to attach to. And there are tie-downs all over the place there today. When you are transporting these motorcycles you don't want one little scratch on them so there is a lot of care and effort that goes into the loading and securing of the bikes.

Then there fitting all of the motorcycles they need to take into the trucks and trailers. One motorcycle might be slated for the back of a truck, but be too long and need to go to a trailer. Maybe it is too wide to fit next to the bike it was slated to go next to and need to be moved. Like any event, it is more time consuming than you'd think. And then there is all of the extra things that need to go - like t-shirts, hats etc and, oh yea, the people and their gear for 2 weeks on the road! Some expert packing is going on right now, that's for sure.

The new trailer is sweet! Dave had it wrapped with some cool graphics. So...I took a look around it hoping to see the Discovery bike....

Here's the front of the trailer. What great advertising, huh? Master Builder is Dave's series done for iTunes about how to build your own custom bike. I'm not sure if it is available on iTunes yet, but I hear that the series will be released on DVD in mid-August. I've seen the first couple of episodes and they are very good. I'll keep you posted as to when it hits stores.

But that doesn't show me the Discovery bike....so around to the back I went....

Wow! I really like the rear door of the trailer! Dave, larger than life with a very cool product. Ok, I'm a little biased, but it is a great door and, like the front, a great promotional spot! Think of how many people are going to see this going down the highway in the next couple of years.

Well, this still didn't give me a glimpse of the Discovery bike....so I asked Dave's son, Jesse, to open the door for me. And he did...

Where is the Discovery Bike?! Still under wraps until it's time to load it. I couldn't hang around for that so I'll have to settle for the tease on Dave's site. I have no doubt that it is a really cool bike with a fantastic paint job worthy of the win.

Voting will take place on Monday, August 7 and we'll know that night who wins when Dave's daughter, Jody, gives me a ring. I'll make sure to post the results here for those of you who can't make it out there (myself included...bummer!). If you are going get to the voting on the 7th!

The caravan of trucks and trailers will be leaving Perewitz' tomorrow morning, headed for Iowa. If you live between Massachusetts and there you never know...you might just see them rolling down the highway. Would be fun to know if you do.

Just a little tidbit for today. Thanks for stopping by.