Every year, we sponsor a charity ride called "Rally for a Reason" during the Black Hills rally in Sturgis, South Dakota. The ride starts at the "Top 50" Park, winds through the picturesque Black Hills, stops in a bunch of little towns along the way and ends up back at the park. The ride brings out hundreds of people who all make a donation to the Kids & Chrome charity that goes to benefit the Children's Home Society of South Dakota and the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame.
The Children's Home Society of South Dakota provides a home, school and therapy for children, primarily ages 4 to 13 with emotional or behavioral problems. Most are victims of severe abuse and/or neglect. CHS also provides emergency shelter services for children who are victims of domestic violence. In past years, Kids & Chrome has given as much as $70,000 to the Children's Home Society of South Dakota and nearly $30,000 to the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum & Hall of Fame for their continuing mission of preserving the great history of motorcycling.
This year, they are planning on hosting a Kids & Chrome Benefit Auction on Wednesday, August 6, 2008, at the Spearfish Holiday Inn, Spearfish, South Dakota. They will auction off items donated by their corporate sponsors, and the auction will conclude with this bike being offered up for bidding.
The bike was assembled by Tom Binyon of BaggerWorks in conjunction with Jim Burgess who started Kids & Chrome and who's also one of the partners in Black Hills Harley-Davidson. The kind folks from Black Hills H-D were responsible for supplying the 110ci Twin Cam "B" motor, the wiring harness, Badlands mirrors, ThunderMax ignition module, Pingel electric shifter and the Wild 1 handlebar. The powerplant is backed by a Baker DD6 transmission, and a Ness inner and outer primary connect the two. The chassis is a Rolling Thunder right-side drive with a 240/40-18 Metzeler wrapped in a PM wheel out back and a 120/70-21 Metzeler wrapped in a matching PM wheel up front with matching PM brakes. Suspension is provided by a Legend Air Suspension out back and a set of hydraulic forks from Perse Performance. The bodywork on the bike is actually a pretty slick combination of a Corbin rear fender and saddlebags, a Ness front fender, Matt Risley Innovations fuel tank, a detachable fairing by Kevin Evans and a custom seat from Danny Gray. The crew from BaggerWorks wrapped everything up with the installation of a headlight, spotlights and turn signals from Headwinds, hand and foot controls from PM and an exhaust system from Martin Brothers. Tom and the BaggerWorks crew got the last of the bolts tightened up and the fluids topped off just in time for the bike to make its debut at the V-twin Expo in Cincinnati, Ohio, in February 2008, and it has been on tour ever since. In fact, we had to track the bike down at the Performance Machine booth in Daytona Beach during Bike Week to shoot these photos. We hope you will agree once you look at the photos that it was well worth all the trouble.
If you would like more information about Kids & Chrome to attend one of their functions or to simply make a tax-deductible donation, check them out on the web at www.kidsandchrome.com.