Yesterday, while advertising bike night, I came across an article in the Portland Motorcycle Travel Examiner about our bike night written by Christopher Brotherton. I thought the kind words and short article were interesting as I have never met Chris nor seen him at any of our gatherings...
Until last night when Trobairitz recognized a young man from his article photo and asked me if that was Chris. I turned to look just missing him as he walked out to the parking lot to snap some more photos.
I didn't think much more of it until we finished up and I headed outside for some fresh air and to check out the bikes in the parking lot. I ran into Chris checking out the bikes, introduced myself, thanked him for joining us and told him how I found his article online. Chris told me he was attending school to become a journalist and flattered he was recognized for his writing, then asked for an "interview".
This morning I received an email of his article:
October 8, 8:13 AM Portland Motorcycle Travel Examiner Christopher Brotherton
Corvallis bike night: New friends and good bikes
There are no games or show and shines. There are no booths to buy a pin or get a patch sewn onto your jacket. However, what there is at the Corvallis Bike Night is camaraderie, as motorcyclists gather at American Dream Pizza for pizza and conversation.
The organizer, known on the forum as Bravura, decided that he would like to throw together a meeting of motorcyclists. He has been arranging these for two years now and not all of them have been overly successful. He says that there are a few times that he has been sitting there all by himself, but the turnout of 20 to 30 people that they had was the norm. The bike night has not always been at American Dream. For a while, Brad had the meeting at Squirrel’s Tavern. He has found that having it at a pizza place makes it a little more family friendly.
Dan and P.J. were both there for the get together, but had never met before. P.J. is a Network Tech for Qwest who rode his Suzuki B King up from Eugene, Ore. for his first ever Bike Night. He was happy that the weather turned out to be as warm and clear as it had for an early Oct. night.
Dan rode his Ducati 750 Supersport to the gathering. Dan is the owner of raresportbikesforsale.com so he was happy to share stories about some of the rare and wonderful bikes that he has had to list on his site lately.
All brands of bikes were on hand as no brand was discriminated against. Hondas, Yamahas, Ducatis, Beemers and even a Norvin (a Norton frame with a Vincent motor shoe-horned into it) were making their presence known in the parking lot.
With this being a non-brand specific gathering, there was no worrying about whether your bike was going to be good enough. This is where a beat up old Yamaha Seca could garner just as much attention as the new Beemer sport bike sitting next to it. Everybody is always welcome, whether you walk, ride or drive there. If you like bikes, this is the group of people that you need to hang out with.
Thanks Chris, and welcome.
