 this year's Vintage in the Valley in Chilliwack was absolutely the highlight of our season. Wally Levy and Dale Wallis, (of Big Top Powersports and Bent Bike fame) have been building one juggernaut of a show over the last several years. This thing just keeps on growing and we love every second of it. Dale was even kind enough to stay late and let us store the Copper Bobber in his shop overnight before the event, which was greatly appreciated. These guys are one class act. Thanks again Dale! The drive there was a blast. Ms. E and I love our road trips together. We're both so stinking busy nowadays that it's a real treat to just spend some time in the Baby Dragon, shooting the shit, pumping tunes and just generally hanging out. Google led us in via Zero Avenue along the border, so of course we had to hop out of the truck to selfie the occasion on the south side of the road, just for the Hell of it. Pulling into the hotel was a treat too. First thing we saw in the parking lot was an absolutely stunning classic Lincoln. Definitely set the tone for the weekend to come.  Arriving early to the roomy Chilliwack Heritage Park on setup day gave us the treat of watching the classic iron roll through. Got to the point where I'd just think of a rare, vintage machine and it would seem to magically appear within the hour. Although I have to admit that the parade of Vincents caught me a bit off-guard. Holy Hell do those cats bring some beauty to the table! Now as a rule we don't get a whole lot of time while things are up and running to take all of the pics and video we'd like, so having Dale and Wally and their crew come traipsing in with truck after trailer of sheer two wheeled beauty had me spinning around like a top every ten minutes or so. I'd done a little rubbernecking at some of Dale's treasures the night before when we stashed our bike at his shop, but this was a whole new ballgame.  Let's do this, I'm awake I swear! As always, we'd had a few small errands to run before heading to the venue, (like finding that sweet nectar of life coffee) which led to us having the good fortune to stumble across Fraser Valley Meats, where we pre-ordered a rack of the delicious ribs they were cooking up for charity. Those bones were the bomb! Ms. E grabbed a ton of Okanagan fruit from the stand out front of the butchers when she went to grab them that afternoon, so we took a little us time and feasted like champions! It really is something special to be in on all the behind the scenes stuff at these shows, there is just a ton of dedication and passion that goes into making a top quality event like Vintage in the Valley come to life and it's pretty damn impressive to see everyone doing the dance it takes to bring it all together.  Wally was good enough, after a long hard day of setup, to remind us to get out there and do the rounds. Just to make sure we didn't miss anything. He even snapped a few pics of us on the Batman bike. Which, I'm proud to say, was a five year old Evil Overlord's dream come true. It was while chatting him up that I got an eyeball on the Show & Shine trophies, hadn't realized there was a judged event and they were so pretty that I knew I was going to have to take a kick at the can with the Copper Bobber, which meant it was time to get down on the floor with some SOS pads for a bit of whitewall scrubbing. Thanks again Wally!  Veteran motorcycle show dog! It's Great seeing old friends come in, as well as making some new ones, while everyone takes care of their final touches on show day. It was a pleasure to meet our show neighbour Fred and his super friendly pooch. The opening rush is always a thrill, and this year was even better as folks crowded around to take pics and check out our offering to the Bobber gods. It was greatly gratifying to see all the attention that little copper sweetheart got, especially after all the love we poured into it. That was one happy Honda for sure and it was a pleasure to field what turned into a raft of questions about almost every aspect of the build.  Ms. E put on her patient pants as usual, manning the castle walls as I scurried off repeatedly to snap up parts and manuals and tried to check out as many of the sweet-ass machines as I could throughout the day. At one point, after I had told her I was just going to grab a few more manuals and be done with the truffle-hunting, she laughed so hard I think she may have even peed a little, when I came staggering around the corner with two more humongous cases of books. In addition to all the pretty machines and the ton of parts on offer there was the motorcycle auction where, if I remember right, a few gems in the rough went for as low as ten bucks. I didn't snag anything myself this year, but I'll definitely be making a little room next time out for a bike or two to follow me home.  Another real thrill was getting to meet Wes Cooley, superbike god of the eighties! Now I've never been a huge racing aficionado, but I definitely wanted to meet the guy, and he and his lovely wife Melody Rose were gracious enough to swing by the booth and say hi. They were two of the most humble and friendly folks we've ever met. It was seriously a joy to get to chat them up for a bit and they were even kind enough to pose with us for some pics, with a couple of shirts that we had gifted them to try and add to the fun they were already having. Huge thanks to these two, they seriously added a ton of special to our day and we really hope to meet them again some time!  Okay, on to the Cinderella part of this year's tale. That shiny little Copper Bobber brought us home some hardware! Best Bobber or Rat was the category and we're completely thrilled to have carted that gorgeous plaque back to our humble abode. It means a lot to us to have won at an event like this, where everywhere you look is another amazeballs machine. Not gonna lie, when I saw the competition I was blown away at the quality of the work on display. I can't even tell you how many times I did a Bugs Bunny style screech to a halt and double take at this event. It was a total honour to compete with these guys and to actually get the nod had us jumping up and down like five year olds. Gave one of the judges the absolute hugging of his life, I did. Best in Show went to this total superstar of a Suzuki T250 that was one of the sweetest little scoots I've ever seen. Do yourselves a monster favour and check out Vintage in the Valley which, if it isn't already, is definitely a solid contender for the largest vintage motorcycle event in the Pacific Northwest. I don't think I can really convey just how many rare and beautiful vintage and classic machines are on offer with words. You need to see it to appreciate it. Hell of a lot of fun, too. We can not wait to get back there next year and see what wonderments they have on tap for us in 2018. Amazing job to everyone involved and thanks for having us!
1 Comment
4/9/2017 07:42:37 am
Thank you for your awesome review of Viv 2017 Killian. Seems like we have hit a milestone and ready for an even Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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