The First Ink and Iron Show in Capetown

On Saturday morning I met Frank at the Engen One Stop at 09h30 for a ride down to Capetown to visit the first "Ink and Iron" show, Janet elected not to go as she still had lots of work to catch up on so it was just the two of us.

The Ink and Iron Show has been a regular annual part of the biking calendar in Johannesburg for several years but this was the first one in Capetown so I was looking forward to it.

The ride down was the best part of the day, it was a calm Spring day with a light wind and the big red machine was performing wonderfully. I settled into the ride and really enjoyed the smooth power that was literally at my fingertips.

I do have one complaint though and I hope that some Capetown bikers are reading this; "Wave you arseholes!" We passed eight riders going in the opposite direction and I waved every time but got no response, okay one was on a Harley and we don't expect them to wave, but the others couldn't be bothered to acknowledge the bond of brotherhood on the open road. I raise a hand in greeting to every brother I pass, even if he is only riding a Harley, I don't discriminate and I really get pissed off when they just roar past without at least a nod of the head - Come on guys, we live on the edge, we are different from the norm, it costs nothing just to lift your left hand in greeting.

After a brief visit to the Viper lounge for the first beer of the day we arrived at the show which was being held at the Potuguese Club in Milnerton, we were virtually greeted by a bit of Americana on display in the form of this really radical chopper.
When I say "Radical" I mean it, look at the size of that back tyre, must cost a fortune to replace that every year or so, probably every second year because that is a cruiser so the back tyre will last a bit longer. What beautiful work!
We spent a bit of time wandering around the trade stalls of which there were a good few, offering the usual leather gear, badges, tee shirts etc., and then we went to have a look at the concourse bikes, some of which were absolutely amazing, like for instance, this Harley;
An amazing custom paint job.
It wasn't only Harleys though, this was a very cool VW trike and I liked the pair of topcases on the back. The TV crews were there filming all and sundry so we will probably see ourselves on "Two Wheels" or "BikeSa TV" pretty soon. I tried to make sure that my stomach was sucked in whenever the camera was pointed my way.
The custom jobs were pretty far out on some of the bikes and I'm sure the Concourse D'elegance would have been quite difficult to judge, we didn't stay long enough to see that though.
From there we moved into the hall where the "Ink"part of the show was taking place and the first thing that struck me was the "coming together of the two cultures", I mean tattoos are synonimous with bikers of course but here we had the Gothic culture; the pale, skinny guys dressed in leather, spikes and face-metal with their equally skinny and pale girlfriends, with dark eye-liner and bright red lipstick mingling with the leather clad, tattooed bikers with their healthy, buxom, tanned and also leather clad girlfriends. Give me a biker chick any day!
Anything in leather was on sale, even naughty stuff!
There were many, perhaps ten, tattoo parlours represented and all were busy decorating biker hides.
Quite cute hey?! This young girl was having quite a big job done on her back.
Back outside we wandered around the custom jobs, some of which were really lovely. Even though I am not a Harley fan I could certainly appreciate the quality of the work.This one really impressed me, a Police replica complete with blue light and radio and I especially liked the gear change on the side of the tank. Another part of the show that we checked out before we left was the Classic Cars area and there were some beauties; I especially liked this limo, I will have to keep that one in mind for some special occasion later, I can imagine cruising around town with a couple of mates in the back of that one!
That's a lovely old Cadillac, they don't make cars like that anymore!

After spending a very enjoyable and interesting couple of hours at the show we hit the road, it was time to visit our old bro Dave. Regular readers will have read about my brother Dave, two years ago he was involved in a bad accident on the way back from the first Polar Bear run in Sutherland, now after six or seven operations on his left leg to try and repair the smashed knee he has had his leg amputated.

We had a very good visit and Dave is such an amazing guy, he has got his head completely around what has happened and I have no doubt he will be up and about very soon, he even jokes about what has happened saying; "I've recently lost a hell of a lot of weight!" He's a biker to the core and will be out on the road on a trike sooner than later.

The ride home was just as good as the ride down, a great day out on the bike.
Now I've got to wash it again! It's worth it though - stay on two wheels!