As I stepped out of the airport into the sparkling warmth of Daytona Beach, heat thawed my Connecticut-chilled bones and the sun baked my pasty skin. Adios, winter. I picked up my rental car, dropped my bags at the hotel, and hurried over to the OEM displays at Daytona International Speedway. No time to waste, I needed a motorcycle.

Granted, there’s not a lot of great riding around Daytona. And those of you who weren’t holed up in colder climes all winter may not quite appreciate what I’m talking about. So take my word for it: When you haven’t ridden in months, it feels terrific just to be on two wheels again.

Arriving at the event on Monday afternoon, my first stop was the Honda compound at the Speedway. Before signing out a press bike, I headed to the Honda Rider’s Club hospitality tent to say hello. As a member of the club, I was given a hefty goodie bag stuffed with motorcycle magazines, product info, stickers, special discounts, a kickstand plate, Band Aids, lip balm, and more. While there, I checked out a beautiful Shadow Aero customized by Cobra’s Denny Berg, got bit by a jealous parrot (our June Caption Contest pic), and then borrowed a small cruiser and hit the road.

Daytona seemed empty early in the week, more so than last year. In addition, the Beach Street vendor scene was pretty diminished, as many of the companies had moved their main setups to Destination Daytona in Ormond Beach. However, the Speedway vendor expo was bigger than ever, with displays filling up both the main parking lot and the spacious grounds along Midway Avenue. And the metric OEMs had all kinds of cool bikes on display in addition to this year’s models, including customs, race bikes, and vintage machines.

More riders arrived later in the week, and by Thursday night, Main Street was the usual mad scene with freaks, geeks, and burnouts. And Friday saw the best turnout we’ve ever had at a RoadBike metric custom show (see page 22 July 2006 RB). After that, I can’t tell you much about what went on in town — for me, Friday night and Saturday at Daytona are all about racing. In general, unless you’re talking about Supercross, Superbike, or the Daytona 200, you won’t get my attention until the last checkered flag falls on Saturday. I did make an exception late Saturday afternoon, however, for the Rat’s Hole Custom Show, held at the Peabody Auditorium (see sidebar).

Overall, Daytona never seemed as packed as it’s been in the past few years. It’s possible that this was simply because the event is more spread out than ever. Whether you’re looking for swap meets, bike shows, or vendors, you’ll find an increasing number of things to do outside of Daytona Beach. However Bike Week evolves, though, there’s still one all-important reason to go: It officially kicks off another season of two-wheeled bliss. RB

Raiding Rat’s Hole

If you thought the Rat’s Hole Custom show was only for American V-twins, then it’s been a long time since you’ve set foot at the event. Rat’s Hole hosts everything from metric bobbers and choppers to sportbikes, and the judges take it as seriously as we do at our own metric-only show. RoadBike sponsors a range of metric classes at the Rat’s Hole shows, and I’m proud to report that the quality and the turnout of metric bikes at Daytona was fantastic. A number of prominent metric builders were there, in addition to small shops and individual owners. And I guarantee they blew unsuspecting American-bike owners away.

Not one to miss an opportunity to make a fool out of myself, at the end of the show I hopped on stage, donned the “Miss RoadBike” sash, and helped the giant rat hand out trophies to metric winners. I can only speak for myself, but I think the excitement was palpable. In a scene that’s long been dominated by American V-twins, metric bikes are finally getting some well-deserved recognition.