Born Free Ocho

Last weekend bike builders, fanatics, chopper enthusiasts and vendors alike converged on a little slice of Southern California heaven  for Born Free 8.

I rode the SR250 down to Silverado Canyon to take it all in for myself (and be the smallest bike there)
It was another exercise in lane splitting and small cc slabbing.
   
It’s just about the closest thing I can think of that compares to Sturgis, but on a way smaller scale. It’s also more about custom bikes and, for the past couple of years at least, has focused a bit more on choppers and retro-Harley culture.

That isn’t to  say that no other bikes are welcome. In fact, the Invited Builder award this year went to Kito’s Garage for their dual-engined CB750, but the majority of the bikes inside the gates were choppers and Harley-Davidsons.

The Best in Show accolades were presented to Jeff Leighton for his 1942 Harley-Davidson UL entry. Many other builders were present from all over the world. Even some racing celebs had bikes on the show grounds and won some pretty notable awards.

I spent the day wandering around and found a small production crew from the Motorcycles & Misfits podcast to hang out with. They had ridden down from Santa Cruz to get some interviews and have a good time in the SoCal sun.

The weather was much nicer than forecasted earlier in the week, and it was a nice day to watch the burn out booths, Wall of Death, or just check out the live music and thousands of bikes on hand.

The Parking lot was a bike show in and of itself. I saw a ew tip overs, some really sweet non-choppers, and even Motolady’s bike Pandora was out there in the field of thousands.  I parked by lilt POS far enough away from a Road King to miss being crushed when it’s pilot tipped over in the dirt. I’m guessing most Harley riders don’t take their babies into dirt that often. Especially when it’s a hill.

If you get a chance you should cruise down to see it sometime.
Reserve your campsite early and for sure buy a Grass Pass right away as they sell out fast and allow you to park on the show grounds along side a few thousand of your best friends.

Looking forward to Born Free 9
-Cheers
(Gallery Below)