Bike Week visit

[Espo]

Were any of you here last year? The weather was beautiful all week! If you look at the average rainfall during all the big three rallies (Laconia, Daytona, Sturgis) it is just about even. When you have an event that spans 8 days, you are going to have some bad weather. The skies are going to clear, the sun will come out, have faith people!

[Belmont Resident]

I remember one year in particular when it didn’t rain. Temps were in the 85-95 range with high humidity. All the heat, the noise just made for a miserable time for many as I recall. I remember hanging out at one of the sand bars on Saturday watching the late afternoon storm clouds build thinking you couldn’t pay me enough to be walking around on paved roads and parking lots in this kind of heat, and to add insult to injury severe afternoon storms.
If I remember the storms on one Sunday of bike week turned the ground in some areas white with hall.
This Saturday was perfect weather to enjoy walking around without the sun beating down on you.
For me it’s just an inconvenience. If it’s raining it cuts down on some of the traffic and I can get to a job site in reasonable time. Last year the job was on Meredith neck and it just wasn’t worth it from Thursday on because the weather was nice so the traffic was really backed up from sun up on.

[laketrout]

Rainy cool weather for Bike week = low crowds and low sales for buisnesses.
To bad it could not be sunny anything to help out the Weirs econmy and the Lakes region in general.

[trfour]

Video from WMUR9; http://www.wmur.com/news/28274432/detail.html

The parking lots at Weirs Beach are filled too!
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/photopo...hp?photo=13135

Always nice to enjoy some of the action...

Terry
__________________________________________

[tis]

I think yesterday made up for the slow start. Downtown Wolfeboro was full of bikes yesterday. Bike week helps business on this side of the lake too! And the roar of bikes could be heard on the road all day long.

[Belmont Resident]

Spent all day there yesterday.
Every vendor we talked with said the same thing, business was really down and that even though many people were there the vast majority are not spending money. Even the food vendors are throwing out food as we found out last night.

[jetskier]

We went past the NASWA on the jetskis yesterday and it was very quiet. It was a bit rainy, but they had tents set up so getting wet was not of issue. I remember when you could not find a place to stand on the beach. I think when this is said and done it will be a very down week; it is likely due to several things:

• The economy - there is just not that much disposible income out there.
• The weather - true to form the weather has been wet; however, I can remember much worse bike weeks in the past so that is probably a minor factor
• The bike crowd is getting older - I have noticed that the majority of the riders are in their 50s and 60s. I think that age is becoming a factor.

Jetskier

[pm203]

I was around on Thurs and both the Weirs and the HD dealership were very busy. Traffic was backed up all around. Probably, due to the nice weather that day.

[Merrymeeting]

Driving around the Alton and Wolfeborough areas on Thursday and Friday, we commented several times how relatively quiet it was. We were shocked to arrive at Johnson's in New Durham on Friday night at 6:00 and find NO line.

It does seem that the crowds and business are down this year. I'm sure the poor weather of the past few years, combined with the overall economic climate, has not helped.

I hope the businesses and vendors do better than what we have seen.

[Lakesrider]

Yep. Don't move it to July sometime.....Just keep having it in June.....Let it rain, rain, rain.....

[NHBUOY]

...LR, it IS kind of a (100+years?) long held,traditional date, and it used to be a crowded, "long" weekend thing, appropriately timed for Father's day...now it's a week-long event...I think the HUGE turnouts, for a couple of years there, was partially the economy, COMBINED with a RE-discovery & resurgence of the motorcycle as a "recreational toy"...the weather is what it is...MOVING MCWeek to a "regular summer season" date, IMO, the merchants don't NEED, or can accomodate, MCWeek'ers during that time...I think the economy has "thinned" the traffic, and the weather has been way better than the forecasts have said it should be...and...wait 15mins...it'll change anyways......

[lawn psycho]

Originally Posted by NHBUOY

...LR, it IS kind of a (100+years?) long held,traditional date, and it used to be a crowded, "long" weekend thing, appropriately timed for Father's day...now it's a week-long event...I think the HUGE turnouts, for a couple of years there, was partially the economy, COMBINED with a RE-discovery & resurgence of the motorcycle as a "recreational toy"...the weather is what it is...MOVING MCWeek to a "regular summer season" date, IMO, the merchants don't NEED, or can accomodate, MCWeek'ers during that time...I think the economy has "thinned" the traffic, and the weather has been way better than the forecasts have said it should be...and...wait 15mins...it'll change anyways......

It's much more about beer tents and t-shirt sales now. It's not a motorcycle event except that it's motorcyclists who are buying the beer and t-shirts.

If it were to just go back to a single weekend I think the vendors would probably make out better. Now they are just stretching out the same sales effort over a longer period of time.

A July or August date is a non-starter for many reasons.

[dykg]

I think most people elected to go into Boston to see the Bruins parade. I usually go to bike weekend every year but being a die hard Boston Bruins, I could not miss this event. Bike week/weekend is every year, winning the Stanley Cup, it took 39 years.

I will be up there next year for bike weekend, unless maybe a repeat??

[tis]

Originally Posted by lawn psycho

It's much more about beer tents and t-shirt sales now. It's not a motorcycle event except that it's motorcyclists who are buying the beer and t-shirts.

If it were to just go back to a single weekend I think the vendors would probably make out better. Now they are just stretching out the same sales effort over a longer period of time.

A July or August date is a non-starter for many reasons.

I agree, it seemed a lot busier and exciting when it was a weekend only. I wonder if the week has brought that much more business.

[Belmont Resident]

My wife talked to a vendor who feels they lost money because although it was posted they never closed the bridge down to 4 wheel traffic at all. This apparently has a huge effect on how much pedestrian traffic crosses the bridge which we saw first hand was not much at all, and in turn affects their business.
Last year we called the Laconia PD and asked if the bridge was closed on Fathers day.
We were told it was closed down to 4 wheel traffic so we went all around town and came in Roller Coaster rd only to find the bridge was open and there was almost no traffic.
So I’d have to say that the Laconia PD is seriously lacking in the communications dept. when it comes to bike week.

[AllAbourdon]

There are a lot more events throughout the week than there used to be. People need to get outside the weirs and go around the other events which may or may not be in Laconia.

Ride up to mt. washington, hill climes, races, etc. More to do than wander around and go to the beer tents up there. I like to participate in events throughout the week and maybe go to the Weirs beach area once or twice to see the vendors and bands.

Here's a random smattering of events off the calendar....

Biker Build-Off sponsored by Spiced Jack 94 Rum and the Lobster Pound
4th Annual “Rally for Kids in Crisis”
Laconia Harley-Davidson: Local bands daily
Heritage Harley-Davidson: The Nation of Patriots Flag Tour ,
US Vintage Motorcycle Grand Prix at NHMS
Team Emma's Granite State Ride. $50.00 per bike to benefit pediatric brain cancer research
Bike Show at Patrick's Pub & Eatery
Paradise Beach Club: Arm wrestling contest
MOTORCYCLES ONLY! at the Mt. Washington Auto Road:
Best of the Bikers Pool Tournament
Hill Climb Drag Races at Gunstock
Tricycle Drag Races
Short Track Race at NHMS
88th Loudon Classic at NHMS
Motorcycle Rodeo at Kitchen Cravings
Rolling Thunder Races! New England Dirt track Series at Jolly Roger's Motor-Sports Park
1st Annual "New England Unity Run
Chicken BBQ at the Rod & Gun Club
Scenic Ride from Rally Headquarters: Weirs Beach to the Southern Coast of Maine