photos by Nick Hill

Atlantic Beach Bike Fest has a long history of tradition, annually drawing thousands of bikers who come together on Memorial Day Weekend. The event has been known by other names over the years—Myrtle Beach Bike Week and Black Bike Week among them—but one thing stays consistent from year to year: riders always go home saying, “That was the best Memorial Day Weekend ever!”

The 2011 Atlantic Beach Bike Fest gave riders plenty to do, and plenty to talk about, during three days of events that provided nearly round-the-clock entertainment.

Several beachside blocks were cordoned off to make room for the heart of Atlantic Beach Bike Fest. The area featured custom sportbike builders, vendors, ICON Limiter shows, and appearances by some of the top names in the sportbike world.

Robert Fisher of Roaring Toyz was among the custom builders on the scene. The clear Roaring Toyz trailer made its way up from Sarasota, Florida, like a motorcycle Pied Piper, leading the way to the largest gathering of sportbikes in the U.S.

In addition to a wide variety of custom sportbikes, Roaring Toyz debuted their latest creation: a custom Kawasaki Ninja 1000. Incredible new custom V-Twins were also on display, kicking off the newest arm of Fisher’s company, Roaring Twinz.

Atlantic Beach attendees were wowed by the fully customized Roaring Twinz Vulcan® 1700 Vaquero™, a ground breaking custom bagger featuring an impressive 21” front wheel, a full custom paint job, airbag suspension and full stereo system.

Bagger and V-twin enthusiasts were treated to an up close and personal experience with Robert Fisher’s latest creations, a brand new fully customized Harley Davidson Street Glide and a Harley Davidson Road King. Both the Harley Davidson Street Glide and the Road Kind feature incredible custom paint, stunning Performance Machine wheels, and subtle nuances like custom bars, custom grips, custom floorboards, and Roaring Twinz stainless steel brake lines.

By Saturday night, the Roaring Toyz crew was ready for a break from showing and selling, so Fisher and his team fired up some of their custom Ninja 1000 and Kawasaki ZX-10, along with the Vaquero, Road Kind and Street Glide and headed out to ride through Atlantic Beach.

“Atlantic Beach Bike Fest is a huge event for Roaring Toyz,” says Fisher. “This is a chance for us to see a lot of our customers face-to-face, and to gauge trends, as well as set them. The response to our new V-Twin operation, Roaring Twinz, has been incredible. Custom baggers are huge at Atlantic Beach, and the Vulcan® 1700 Vaquero™ and the Harley Davidson Street Glide and Road King were show stoppers. Everywhere we went riders stopped us for pictures. ” Enthusiasts were thrilled to learn they could visit Fisher’s new site, www.roaringtwinz.com to get even more V-Twin and Bagger information.

The Roaring Toyz customs weren’t the only show stoppers. Riding hard is a daily practice for the freestyle stars of the ICON Limiter show. Nick “Apex” Brocha, Ernie “E-Dub” Vigil and Shin Kinoshita performed to huge crowds several times each day, putting on a stunt show while models danced on stage. Giveaways, a DJ and giant video screens added to the experience. The crowd was particularly delighted when Apex fired up his Roaring Toyz built Kawasaki ZX-10 “drift” bike. Featuring Roaring Toyz components and parts, the drift bike tore up the stunt riding area and viewers couldn’t get enough of the action.

Cruising through Atlantic Beach and Myrtle Beach was on tap for everyone who wanted to be part of the “see and be seen” experience. The traffic kept up until the early morning hours, as riding won out over sleeping. For those craving a little more action, there was also drag racing, charity rides, and group rides making tours of the area. Motorcycle clubs were everywhere, and some club rides drew as many as 500 members.

The best Memorial Day Weekend ever? For many riders, that answer is a firm, “Yes!” followed quickly by the phrase, “Let’s do it again next year!” So mark your calendars for Memorial Day Weekend 2012, and don’t expect to get a lot of sleep at Atlantic Beach Bike Fest.