Bike Week 2020 - Opening Scene
 

From the sounds surrounding us here in Meredith, you could have fooled me that Bike Week was postponed to August. Lots of growling engines tell me that many bikers already had reservations and couldn't or chose not to get out of them. Of course, they are lacking entertainment options but that should be a boon for the restaurants with outside dining during these beautiful nights. if dining establishments can be at 50% capacity indoors, perhaps they can make up the shortfall with their patio dining.

Yet, I doubt a lot of the bikers here this week will be back in August. That week might therefore be lower key than usual.

Nice to hear


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I knew a bunch of people who said well we have rented the same house every year this week so it would be hard to cancel and get the same house in August instead. So we are going anyways!

Saw a lot of that last week. Nowhere near a regular bike week, but a lot of folks (especially NH residents) seem to have kept their reservations and came out anyway. And the Wiers had the normal week long engine rumble background noise at about 20%.

Broken Spoke on the 13th (would have been the first Sat of bike week) was packed, bikes, vendors, bbq, etc,. Big as normal? No. Big still very surprising turn out.

Reduced August Bike Week
 

Motorcycle week usually happens in mid-June but was postponed back in the spring and pushed back until the last week of August

No vendors, no beer tents. You can plan on a much smaller crowd.

From WMUR:

https://www.wmur.com/article/laconia...-week/33304062

The City Council effectively cancelled Bike Week without cancelling Bike Week! How very PC of the City!

Woodsy

So, what will it be? A bunch of bros with bikes sittin' around lookin' at all the bros with bikes? AWESOME.

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For $35/person bike-weekers can take a 2 1/2 hour luncheon cruise on the Mount Washington www.cruisenh.com from 12:30-3:00. Or, take a two hour railroad train ride www.hoborr.com/winnijune.html along the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee in Laconia and Meredith.

Riding the Mount is a good way to spend three hours in the middle of the day with a good lunch and the lake views all around, all aboard! Is a lot better than hanging around Weirs Beach.

The City of Laconia should open a stand-up paddle board rental at the Weirs, for people to do ........ go paddle-boarding out beyond the beach swim line ..... and over toward the town docks ...... ??? A rack for rental paddle boards and rental kayaks located on the left side of the sandy beach, to the left of the rest rooms and get some paddle sports happening at the Weirs.

A volleyball net and court, set up on the sand there, could be a good addition, too.

I wish bike week was more about bikes! In recent years it has turned mainly into a T-shirt fest! Take a look at how many T-shirt vendors are there each year...I would guess 70% of all vendors are selling T-shirts and it's ridiculous!

Bike week should be about bikes, bikers and their lifestyle! Bring back the hill climb, more performance parts and accessories, custom bikes, races, music, cold beer and good food!

Bike week is about letting your hair down for a week and enjoying life...not about T-shirts!

Dan

Understood and agreed, but there needs to be something there—like the events you listed, and food, etc. It seems all that is shut down.

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How about some girls?

It makes no sense that they are still having Bike Week. Everything else seemingly has canceled accept this. Well there is an Aaron Lewis concert (social distancing style) taking place July 25th, at the Drive-In in Swanzey, NH.

The current restaurants and vendors are still around and will stock accordingly. What will be missing are all the beer tents and sidewalk carnival vendors. Curious if anyone discussed costs. No vendors no vendors paying fee to the city.


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NH has done an excellent job of threading the Covid-19 needle so far. Now is not the time to encourage mass gatherings of people from outside the area. I think this plan strikes a reasonable balance. We don't need to turn this into Florida after being careful for 4 months.

Good way to put it! I'm sure local businesses and chamber were not to keen on this BS. If they are worried about the 'family atmosphere' at the Weirs, they should ask Al Mitchell if they could rent his hill for all the vendors and a beer tent! After all, they turned him down when he wanted to put in storage buildings!

Laconia decision should not discourage other towns in the area from holding events. HD is planning something. Twin Barn across the way will be fun. What of the race track? Many other locations are available for vendors. Will be interesting


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Plans in place for a smaller crowd Bike Week.

The City Council on July 13 approved having the city work with the Motorcycle Week Association to hold the event from Aug. 22 to 30

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...ntent=headline

Hmmm...so we're having a party and hoping that nobody comes? Seems like multiple opportunities for failure.

Laconia HD scaling back Bike Week activities
 

“After extensive conversations with the Town of Meredith, we made the mutual decision to postpone on-site activity,” Anne Deli, the owner of the business, said in a news release"

Jennifer Anderson, deputy director of the Laconia Motorcycle Week Association, said the look and feel of this year’s 97th Laconia Motorcycle Week has changed.

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...2b776bdad.html

Harley guys are often a lot more thoughtful than the stereotype :)

250k people, no masks - what could possibly happen?
 

...and they will be coming here next....hmmm

https://www.yahoo.com/news/screw-cov...083423022.html

jetskier:cool:

I love where it says “just call it a big protest and it will be A-OK”!

How true!

Dan

Antiques at Spoke
 

There will be an antique bike show at the Broken Spoke on Tuesday. I’ll probably have a bike or 2 there.

Is that yours John? What a beauty!

Dan

I have a “Modest Proposal”. Perhaps Bike Week could be delayed until 3 weeks after the Sturgis social experiment.

My buddy and I went on a cross country, month-long vacation in 1973 on a pair of ‘70 Electraglides!
That looks a “tad” earlier?

Yes Dan, thank you. 77 FLH I bought from the original owner in Maine a few years back and have cleaned up. Original paint and most everything else! Love working on and riding old iron! Let me know if you ever want to take one for a ride.

I just got my “too old to ride 2 wheels” bike running and on road but it may be too busy to take that, barely does 45. 73 Servicar, 45” Flathead. Fun ride, trying to convince my wife to start riding it! The 1200 badge is incorrect.

77 but virtually the same As the 1970 model. That’s an awesome road trip Hill!

Virus Protection Bike Week
 

It will be a lot different this year. It looks like we will see heavier motorcycle traffic than a regular summer week but much less traffic than a June Bike Week.

With not much going on in the Weirs the Broken Spoke may be the hot spot for the week, although the Dive should see a lot of activity too.

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...ntent=headline

...... Sturgis, South Dakota live cams
 

August 8, 2020, it's live from Sturgis, South Dakota, the City of Sturgis has three different live cams; Sturgis Liquor Cam, Main St Cam and Hotel Sturgis Cam ..... all outdoor cam views of the road, motor traffic and pedestrians.

www.sturgis-sd.gov/webcams-in-and-around-sturgis ..... what's the latest in Sturgis!

Check it out and no face masks needed when viewed from the safety of the lakes region in New Hampshire! ..... :rolleye2:

I am watching the live feed and see someone with a mask!! Oh, sorry, it is just an old guy with a white beard. My bad.:):)

Is this opening weekend at Sturgis? Damn...I had some good times out there back in the day!:D

Sturgis expects about half
 

Sturgis organizers expected the overall crowd to be smaller, perhaps half the size of a normal year, when about a half-million people from across the country visit a town whose population is around 7,000.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/08...s-of-pandemic/

Masks a concern
 

Laconia Mayor Andrew Hosmer said New Hampshire has been proactive in taking pandemic precautions compared to South Dakota. He hopes those who come here will wear a mask.

Normal event vendors will be missing this year from The Weirs and the Harley-Davidson dealer in Meredith, two places where visitors tend to congregate. Also, center-line parking will not be allowed at The Weirs to limit crowding.

https://www.laconiadailysun.com/news...f390d437f.html

The surrounding states of Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont all have motorcycle helmet laws and mandatory mask wearing rules, now, during the pandemic, unlike New Hampshire that has neither a helmet or a pandemic mask rule.

New Hampshire requires motorcyclists to wear eye protection unless your bike has a windshield.

If I were a Laconia police officer assigned to bike week, I would definitely take the week off from police work and go hide out, up to Eustis, Maine, for the week! :emb::rolleye2: ........ and get useless in Eustis! ....... someplace way back out in the boonies with both mandatory mask and helmet rules ..... and go fishing with a bright red, LL Bean 17' paddle canoe.

Le Province Quebec has a helmet law and since July 20, a pandemic face mask rule. The Canada-U.S. border is closed so's there won't be any Canadien/Canadian bikers coming to bike week, here ...... parlez vous quebeqois en Laconia?

Interesting post--I also would not want to be working Bike Week (I would have cancelled it), and I agree that everyone should be wearing masks.

The no helmet thing does not bother me though. On this I agree with our Live Free or Die pen pals. I guess because helmet-less bikers are risking only their own health and not others.

Helmet-less bikers are actually a good source of organ donation. Hence the term “donor-cycle”. I have no problem with motorcycles and even like the idea of them if there were no other vehicles on the streets. But after providing care to many victims of horrific motorcycle crashes, I could not get on one myself and I wouldn’t even think about it without a helmet. Some of these folks were doing stupid things, others were mere victims of inattentive car or truck drivers. No matter whose fault it is, the outcome for the biker was often the same. Please don’t say, “At least they died doing something they loved.” Death was not always quick nor painless. Be well!

Sturgis
 

I'm sure it will be the same at the Weirs along with the crowd of Trump boat parade participants on Saturday.
I know my biker friends will be at my house that weekend but we won't be leaving the Lake house except to go grocery shopping.

....... Masks Required for NH, 100 attendees or more
 

August 11, about 3:15-pm; Gov Sununu just announced a new rule for wearing masks in New Hampshire.

"DON'T GO VIRAL

MASKS REQUIRED FOR GATHERINGS WITH 100+ PEOPLE"

Which the Governor says will be enforced, as in enforced by the police, and certainly seems like it was done with Bike Week in mind, although Bike Week was not specifically mentioned by him ....... just my thought, here.

So, wearing a mask will most likely be required and the rule enforced at the areas of Bike Week where the crowds tend to collect by the police.

Wait and see how this gets reported by the news media, and how the local police interpret this new state pandemic control rule?

This seems like a very smart new rule, so everyone at Laconia Bike Week will know in advance to be wearing a face mask.

Walmart has well made, sturdy, comfy Hanes, 3-ply cotton face masks in black or white ....... 5-masks for $7.00 or $7.50 ..... made in Vietnam.