Photos by Christa Hull
A new location with great thrills
CINCINNATI, OHIO, JAN. 4—The ride to Cincinnati from our farm in Morgan County, Kentucky, is a wonderful thing in itself: three full hours of scenic riding on well paved, sparsely traveled roads (mostly two-lane blacktop) that run past beautiful farms and woodlands. The only towns in Kentucky that we have to go through when taking this trip are West Liberty—barely large enough to be called a town—and Morehead. There is a business district that we encounter near Maysville, Kentucky, home of Earywine Racing, the nation’s largest permanent indoor motocross facility, but the rest of the route is free riding, with not a stop sign or traffic light in sight. On top of all that, the weather was more akin to a pleasant early summer day than the heart of the winter season.
Once in Cincinnati, the Duke Energy Convention Center was fairly easy to find. Conveniently enough, free parking (for motorcycles only) was available near the main entrance. Upon entering the spacious facility, the attendees of the bike show were warmly greeted by the Remnant Sons MC. Like they used to do at the Columbus show, which the Cincinnati venue has now replaced, Remnant Sons ran a much-appreciated coat checkroom. We’ve had the privilege of getting to know several of this club’s members over the years, and we have yet to meet a Remnant Son that we didn’t like.
Nashville’s Jasmine Cain provided musical entertainment for the show. She’s a rock and roller who performs some of her own original music. I’m not really into doing music reviews, but Jasmine seemed to give it her all and sang her heart out.
The NTC Drift Trikes have become a staple at many bike events over the last few years. It’s a blast watching the NTC riders drifting those crazy little three-wheelers over a slick floor. The Cincinnati show, however, had some added excitement thrown into the mix. The Donald Trump tribute trike suddenly began blowing flames out of its exhaust, causing the rider to shut down the machine and opt for another. A stunt show was scheduled after the trike demonstration, but for some unknown reason it was canceled.
Vendors were of the usual nature: parts guys, patch people, beer stands, grub counters, a tattoo booth, and insurance peddlers. Bike builder and artist Ron Finch, along with his son and daughter, were also present and accounted for on vendors row. The Finch tribe brought two sweet bikes with them, as well as many pieces of his fantastic iron and steel artwork. Ron and his family are good people and it is always great to spend some time with them.
Lisa Ligon, matron saint of Purrfect Angelz, was also in attendance. The girls danced, hula-hooped, dangled from the hoops, ate fire and even roller-skated while wearing just a stitch or two of clothing.
There were so many terrific two-wheeled machines on the floor that I just don’t know where to start. However, since Lonnie Warren of Zanesville, Ohio, paid me $20 to mention his 1936 Indian “upside-down” Four, I’ll start there. Just kidding about the bribe, but Lonnie’s bike is worth mentioning because it has really cleaned up on the Easyriders circuit, winning every time Lonnie entered the bike since he started last year. This time around it took the top prize in the antique class. It’s a very clean and stock piece of American iron that always draws lots of attention—and support—from the crowd.
It’s no secret that I’m partial to older steel steeds, and the show had plenty of them. Flatties and Pans were definitely in abundance. Also, there was at least one Harley JD there, owned by Brent Mayfield. For those of you not familiar with the Harley JD, it’s a sweet little number Harley made from 1925 to 1936. These badass bikes have exterior pushrods. Cool as hell, but they can saturate a pair of jeans with oil in a very short time if you aren’t wearing knee-high boots while riding one.
Mayfield ran his 1925 JD in the 2018 Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Run. It made it the entire distance—from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon—minus an 88-mile stretch on day nine, due to a broken contact breaker point assembly.
To sum it all up, the Easyriders show in Cincinnati was primo. If you weren’t there you should have been. You should definitely put it on your list for next year.
