Myrtle Beach Bike Weeks 2001 at the Suck Bang Blow, Part 1
These pics were taken at the Myrtle Beach Bike Weeks in 2001. The primary focus of this set will be the happenings at the 'Suck Bang Blow' bar South of Myrtle Beach.
About the pics: The pics are a combination of 35mm film scans and digital pics taken with a first generation Sony Mavica that recorded on floppy disc. Since I've always processed my own film since the 60's, I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread when I got my first digital camera. It was going to save me a bundle in cost for processing chemicals and film, plus I'd no longer have to scan the pictures. I can't remember the year I bought it, sometime in the mid to late 90's, but I remember the price. I talked the dealer down from $899 to $879. But it had it's down sides. It had three recording sizes with the maximum of 1024x768. At the largest, you'd only get a few pictures(3-5) to a disk, then you'd have to change disk. And there was never a warning. I'd set up for another shot, click the button, and get a message 'Disk Full'. Since I didn't carry a laptop on my bike I had to wait until I returned home to download the pictures to my computer. So when I went to rallies lasting more than a day I'd sometimes carry hundreds of disk. Each day I'd leave the campground with 30 disk and 8 rolls of film. When I got back home I'd have to download the pics to my computer and then format the disks for my next trip. But at the time I thought it was worth it. But you have to consider, at the time I had an old computer monitor with a resolution of 72dpi. When I got a newer computer and monitor I realized that the quality wasn't that good. You'll find that some of the digital pics are good and some only okay. But none as good as film scans. I think this was the last event that I used the Mavica before I started using an Olympus E10 digital.
About the event: For decades I went to Daytona Bike Week. Even though it was still cold, I was anxious to ride and meet up with old friends. But the Daytona event grew out of control and became more of a hassle than a pleasure. When Myrtle Beach started holding it's 'Bike Weeks' it was a big relief. MB wasn't as pristine as it used to be in the 50's thru 80's. But it still had some of the nicest beaches, was still laid back, and not as congested as Daytona. But as MB developed, land cost went up. When the MB Harley dealership decided to expand, it built a new place several miles South of MB on the right side of HWY #17 on probably 10 acres of land. Each Bike Weeks they'd have 20-30 vendors set up as part of the event. Very few bike weeks participants ever ventured farther South than the dealership. But some of us liked to really ride and would often ride on down #17, across the big arching bridge to Charleston. One day on our way back we spotted a small bar on the right, a few miles South of the dealership, at one of entrances to Surfside beach in a commercial/industrial area. We noticed a few bikes and decided to stop for a drink. It was on about 2 acres of land but most of that was occupied by steel buildings at the rear. The beer was cold and they had some great chili-cheese fries. Word spread about the place and it became more popular and became the 'Suck Bang Blow'. By 2000 they had started adding a deck and enlarging. The 'Full Throttle Magazine of the Carolinas' included a daily schedule of events. Patronage grew. In the month of the 2001 event, the Myrtle Beach Better Business rag featured an article about the SBB, noting the improvements and mentioning that it was a safe biker bar, meaning that no club colors were allowed. That year people came in droves. Maybe I should mention, IMO, there are 3 types of people that get on bikes. #1 is the 1%'ers, those that wear their colors, members of clubs. They've got their hang-outs and mostly keep to themselves. I know some of them and go to some of their events. But unless you're invited, or know someone that's there and will vouch for you and keep you out of trouble, it's best to avoid those places. Believe me, just because there's a few bikes outside and you're riding a bike, that doesn't mean you're welcome. I've had to fight my way out of more than a few of them and most of the time on the losing end. #2 is what I am. I consider myself a biker. I like to ride. I started riding in the early 60's on a bicycle assisted by a motor and in '65 had my first real motorcycle, a '62 BSA. I've now got 3 Harleys, the newest is a 2000 Fatboy with over 80,000 miles. I average over 10,000 miles each year. Every Wednesday we, myself and six friends, ride 300-400 miles. But my preference is to ride alone and at night in the summer. It enhances life so much. You can tell when you cross a creek because the temperature will momentarily drop as much as 15 degrees. You can tell when someone cut their grass that day from the smell of green onions. And you don't mind leaning in to the inside of a curve because you'd be warned by oncoming headlights. My friends and I work on our own bikes and those belonging to others. The #3 group is what we call 'yuppies' or 'posers'. They buy themselves a $50,000-$100,000 bike and think it makes them a biker. They trailer it to an event, unload it, ride it a few miles to a show or bar, and wait for people to tell them how nice their bike is. There's an old biker saying, 'chrome don't get you home'. I don't have anything against chrome, I've got a lot of it on my bikes. But it's the make up of the bike, how it's built that matters. I know one person that rides a $62,000 custom. If he gets it over 70 mph it picks up front wheel wobble. The 'track' & 'trail' is way off. My friends and I offered to fix the problem but he doesn't want to mess up the paint job around the neck. Anyway, the article in the MB BBB rag brought them in by the droves as well as a hoard of gawkers in their cars that just wanted to see what a biker event was like. By Friday of the first week, all the adjacent businesses had closed and were charging for cars to park. An upside was the women gawkers that showed up. I'd tell them, "you're at a biker event, you're expected to flash." I think this was the last year I went to the original SBB. We found another place to hangout. Sometimes we just want to be among our own. Here's the pics.
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