Revving Up for Las Vegas Bike Fest 2016

Planning for the Las Vegas Bike Fest 2016 is underway and it’s already shaping up to be an exciting year. The event will return to Fremont East on October 1-4 and will draw over 30,000 people who have one thing in common: love for all things motorcycle. This rally hosts an amazing showcase of all kinds of bikes, but that’s only the beginning of the fun. It’s been going on for over 15 years, and the organizers know how to pack four days full of serious entertainment.

Artistry and Iron

Each year, about 10 months before the show, 20- 25 of the most skilled bike smiths from all over the world are invited to participate in the Master Builder’s Championship. This is the largest biker build-off in the country, boasting $10,000 as the grand prize, in addition to a beautifully crafted Championship Bracelet created by Master Artisan Steve Soffa.

Custom Bike Show

A less exclusive competition usually entices about 75 attendees to build and show off their custom bikes and compete in several different categories. These classes include:

Radical Class
Custom Class
Semi-custom Class
Best Bagger
Best Metric
Best Sport Bike
Best Paint
Best Bobber

Bike lovers are encouraged to enter these competitions, although many prefer to peruse the innovations of others and use them to inspire their crafting and alterations of the two-wheeled beauties at home.

Miss Las Vegas Bike Fest

Speaking of beauties, another highlight of the rally is a pageant of the most beautiful biker babes in the industry. Just like Miss America, the beauty pageant features different categories, like biker wear, bikini wear, and best on-bike pose.

Poker Runs and Walks

No motorcycle rally is complete without a poker run. The Las Vegas Bike Fest has two. It’s also got two on-foot poker walks. For the walks, contestants collect cards from either vendor areas around the event or the local businesses on Fremont Street. The poker runs go a lot further, stretching all over the Vegas Valley and providing an amazing site seeing opportunity for visitors to the town, as well as lots of opportunity to win first rate prizes.

Other Games

There are always lots of games and activities going on throughout the rally that generate a lot of fun on a smaller scale. There are things like burnout contests (which consistently draw a sizeable crowd), obstacle courses, bingo, and several other on-bike games. There is even an activity tent set up specifically for those who need a break from walking around but don’t want a stop in the action.

Live Music

This year’s event will see at least 15 live bands. This includes headliners like Paul Rodgers; Slaughter, Vixen and SteelHeart; and Jared Blade. About a dozen regional bands will also be rocking out bringing the local flavor. There’s no better set up for live music than Fremont Street, and the Las Vegas Bike Fest is sure to make good use of the venue. The outing has seen a few venues since its start in 2001. A couple motorcycle enthusiasts, who were thrilled by other large scale bike rallies, felt a need for a similar type of event out west. Since they are originally from Vegas, they initially held the first rally at Main Street Station in Las Vegas. After a couple years, it migrated to the Cashman Center, but participants and vendors felt like the indoor venue took away from the rally feel. Moving the festival back to the street has met with a universally positive reaction, and there is no better street to host it than Fremont.