i rolled up about 10:30 or so, and there wasn't another motorized bike there but mine.
the guys from Mode Bikes and Amazing Grace Wines were really cool. they were set up out in the parking lot, like they were the black sheep of the event. check out Jay's bikes at
Mode Bicycles. he makes some really cool stuff.
the rest of the show was pretty useless. i mean, it was a bunch of chinese bikes and generic electrics, some high-dollar road bikes and some dudes wrestling, extreme stretching, and pretend stick-fighting.
there was some BMX stunt guys in the parking lot with some 1/4 pipes, but no one really seemed to care.
the show advertised custom bike contests and all kinds of other stuff, but it didn't deliver.
sadly, it was just a bunch of people with crappy, stock bikes trying to make a buck, claiming to be "green" while they unload all those bikes out of their trucks and vans.
even more sad, it was supposed to be a benefit for homeless children, but unless you dug deep, you never woulda known it. i'm sure the thousands of beach-goers walking through there had no idea that there was some kind of charity event going on. the only announcements i heard all day was for a raffled off backpack. other than that, it was a mini-swapmeet for storebrand bikes.
then there was us.
i pretty much got the stink-eye from everyone involved with the show, but i also got 10 times the attention from the tourists then the show did. and i was mostly just smoking and watching the semi-pro women's volleyball team practicing on the beach.
when everyone else showed up, seems like most of the tourists could care less about some crappy, short range electric bikes, and were all over us with questions, and shooting photos.
if we truly were "invited," the organizers did a lousy job of making us feel welcomed, and if anything, are probably cursing us for "ruining" their show.
another odd thing, is there was no advertising other than word-of-mouth and some flyers handed out at bike shops. not even local craigslist ads or any of the bike forums new about it.
beside those of us who read about it here, everyone else i talked to, was just riding by, saw the bikes, and stopped to check it out.
somehow, this turned into a review and a critique about some event that no one here really cares about, and i guess the reason why, is, it was in my neighborhood, more or less, and it coulda been so much more.
i'm sure it ain't cheap to rent out the base of huntington pier and 3-4 prime parking lots, and it was promoted and executed so poorly, that there's no way it coulda made any positive impact to help homeless children.
and the homeless hippy tweaker girls with bleeding, picked at acne scars doing awful chalk drawings were obviously not the "poster children" for the event, even though they were the ones it was supposed to be all about. i didn't see anyone try to recue them, or even talk to them.
i didn't take any pics, 'cause i've seen all of our bikes before, and besides Mode's bikes, there was nothing else to take pics of.
except for those volleyball girls. i shoulda got some pics of them, but that woulda been kinda pervy...
