Renegade Issue 35

I finally made it all the way to California for the

Born-Free show! Being a first timer, I wasn’t sure

what to expect? Being California, I was kind of

expecting a sea of hipsters wearing skinny jeans,

and delicately manicured beards...but to my sur-

prise, it was mostly gearheads, cycle freaks and a

few hippies and hipsters here and there. Everyone

there was sure to have a good time! You could feel

the energy in the air and the laughter of tall tales

in the wind.

My first impression was this is awesome! I had

never seen so many old school bikes in one place

before! Flatheads, Knuckleheads, Panheads,

Shovelheads, Ironheads and every other vintage

British, Japanese and other classic makes and

models on hand for the event. In every form and

condition, from rusted relics, kept running with

skill, experience and a prayer, to full custom builds

of every flavor.

Some were there for the bike show and others just

the bikes of the attendees, and you could not real-

ly tell which were in the show and which were the

attendee’s bikes? The bikes that were in the show

were amazing, the talent and imagination was in-

credible. One of the crowd’s favorites was this

crazy pink 70’s style chopper built by one of my

fellow Florida boys, Eric of F-N-A Customs. There

was always a crowd standing around that bike,

pointing the many cool features and the quality

craftsmanship.

I can’t wait for next years show! Hopefully I’ll be

able to get there sooner and stay at the camp-

ground just down the road for the full Born-Free

experience.

One more thing, if you make it to the show next

year, you need to visit Cook’s Corner Bar, just a

few miles up the road from the show. The Friday

before the event the place is packed with practi-

cally everyone who’s going to Born-free!