The local Hells Angels chapter invited my HOG group to the grand opening of their new clubhouse/bar. I have been to a couple of HAMC sponsored events when I lived in California. Quite a party. It's going to be interesting to see how these foreign chapters party!
I'm going to go ahead and share this now. It is just in the planning stages but is looking like it might be happening. I recently moved to and became a resident of Cyprus. I will be retiring in a few years and will spend my retirement years there. I am not the retiring kind and have been thinking of what to do to fill my time. My wife is adamant that the oilfield has had me long enough. Probably the quintessential roughneck dream is to own your own bar. So I had an idea to open one on the island. I have been discussing it with some people and they are getting all fired up about it and wanting to get started. I had planned on doing it slowly over the next few years but if everything keeps coming together like it has so far I may be opening it up next summer. A foreign resident has to have a Cypriot partner to open a business here and I have my best friend and biking brother that couldn't be a better choice. He is a regional manger for an international corporation that opens and runs hotels, casinos and betting parlours all over this part of the world. He is a top notch business man and has the resources to get this project off the ground and to make it a success. When I told him of my idea he took the ball and is running with it. I have several people who are excited about the project and wanting to invest in it to get it going. The island is a mecca for tourists and for bikers. With an average of 300 days a year of sunshine and average temperatures around 75-80 degrees it is perfect riding conditions. And the scenery can't be beat. Miles of coastal roads and then you have the thickly forested mountains. Most of the tourists are European and there is a large expat community of mostly British and a few other Europeans mixed in. They are absolutely nuts about anything Americana. Especially the biking community. You wouldn't believe the number of Route 66 pins and American themed paint jobs you see. My idea is to open a club that has a Route 66, classic bike and car theme. I have a ton of Route 66 memorabilia and I have Harley shirts from dealerships all over the world. They will be framed and hung up all over the bar. All the bar stools will be motorcycle seats. There will be a flat screen TV on the wall playing a continuous loop of old "B' movie, biker flicks. Old gas pumps flanking the entrance. A couple of pool tables. And several guys with classic bikes want to display them in the bar. We are negotiating for a building that I want. It is unfinished as the developers ran out of money when the economy tanked. It is about 2000 sq. ft. and sits on a small peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean. There is a huge back patio that looks out over the water with an amazing view. It sits just off the main coastal road that is the favored route for many rides all year long. I am thinking of calling it the Easy Riders Saloon. And with that theme in mind I am negotiating with a well known custom bike shop to build me a replica of the "Captain America" bike from the movie Easy Rider. I will display it in the bar and the tourists can take pictures with it and on it. I will ride it as a promotion for the club to all the rallys, runs and parties that they have on the island every weekend. I have been wanting to get a new bike and the deal on the "Black Widow" bike I mentioned above fell through. I love the old school bikes and can't think of a more iconic representation of the "old school" than that classic 70's chopper. On the island you can ride from one end to the other in half a day so the old hardtail frame shouldn't be too much of a strain on my 53 year old kidneys. And I will feel right at home with the old style kick start. A little history on the "Captain America" bike for those interested. Peter Fonda bought 4 bikes at a police auction for $500 a piece. A '49, a '50 and two '52 Harley Davidson Hydra-Glides. He turned them over to a guy named Chris Vaughs to do the build on them. His only requirement was that they have the American flag painted on the gas tank to resemble the comic book bike that Captain America rode, hence the name. Vaughs in turn turned it over to a small custom bike shop in South Central Los Angeles run by a guy named Ben Hardy. Hardy was free to do whatever he wanted. This was in '68 and it is that bike that many credit with starting the classic 70's chopper fad. He came up with the wicked raked out front and the only original thing off of the old police bikes was the highly modified frame and the 74Cu.In pan head engine. The bike was a chopped down, bare bones, no frills ride. No speedometer, no shocks, and not even a front brake. The flowing "King and Queen" seat and towering sissy bar became standard on many choppers after that. It's a shame that the man who designed and built probably the most recognizable and iconic bike in history is relatively unknown. Ben Hardy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Vintagent: BEN HARDY - BUILDER OF 'CAPTAIN AMERICA' The Easy Rider Bikes – Built by Ben Hardy and Cliff Vaughs | Of course if I get the bike I will have to get the jacket and the helmet to go with it. I have seen both on Ebay. And of course a lot of movie memorabilia, posters etc. I am one of only 5 Americans that live full time on the island so myself, the club and the bike will be representing the USA in this part of the world. I just got off the phone with the builder and it looks like the bike build is going to happen. They can't get to it until early next year but that is fine as the club won't be ready to open until hopefully, next summer. Even if the club deal falls through I plan to go ahead with the bike build. It would be a great run around bike on the island and a real head turner. So wish me luck in this endeavor and of course there will be a "Monkey" discount for any monkeys who might get a chance to show up!!
Sincere best wishes. One thing, tho', 2000 sq ft isn't even close for your plans. 12000 might make it. (You might have dropped a "0" --)
I'm just guestimating but it has two levels of about that each, maybe 3000 but no more than that. The upper level was going to be a second floor but I will convert it into an outdoor deck to take advantage of the views. It would be one of the biggest bars (they call em pubs here) on the island. Most are little hole-in-the-wall places with a small outdoor area. I've seen some that weren't much bigger than an average living room in the states. This place is behind an unfinished little strip mall with about 5 small storefronts. I think it was meant to be a storage warehouse for those. My partner has one of his guys doing a market research thingy bob. Yeah, I'm not a business man type. A study that tells you which area is best for a certain type of business. We have to get a good report on that before we can move ahead with serious negotiations on the building. I'm going down there next week with an inspector to look it over and I will step it off and get some pics.
I never noticed that smiley has the Captain America Bike! Cool. I see a new avatar coming. If I get that bike my partner is going to have to get a replica of the "Billy Bike". factoid: Fonda was an experienced rider but Dennis Hopper wasn't and they were afraid he couldn't handle a bike similar to the CA bike so they went with a much easier to ride, less radical style. It is very similar to a modern HD Fatboy design and is a very easy to handle machine.
That's pretty awesome MM! Hope it works out for you. Cyprus is on my list of must visits in the Med. Malta too. I hope to spend my retirement sailing the Caribbean, the South Pacific & the Mediterranean. The Alaskan coast too!
Congrats and good luck! A bar here has old Indian bikes hanging from the ceiling. I get pics and post them for you to see.
Good luck to your Bar. I've always liked the way some countries and for that fact some areas up north have a Club House. I sent my HD to serve with the Norwegians in 2000 due to a pending heart surgery. I talked for some time with the Guy who bought it on how their club ran and the fact that most of their Bikes spent the winters in the club house garage and they spent the snowy times in up keep and mods to the bikes. He was here as a Rep for one of the cell phone companies and my Bike fit the bill for what he could best afford and how the import taxes worked at that time for him. So someplace there sets a 79 Sportster in the cold north with the TEXAS Tags nailed to the wall.
Beer is on the house if you ever get to Cyprus. The Med is awesome. I fell in love with it years ago when I was working in Egypt. To get to retire to an island where I get to see it everyday is a dream come true. Awesome, I'd love to see that. That's one thing we are looking at is having the space to display some old bikes. My partner has a classic bike collection. About 10 bikes and a couple of old cars. He is the president of a group that is petitioning the govt to allow classic bikes and cars to be imported. Right now you can't import anything over 5 years old. That's why I have to have the bike built from scratch so we can register it as new.
If I recall correctly, the bar where we shoot pool after hunting , has 3-4 old bikes displayed in the pool room. I think they are sitting on 1/4" plate steel base plates, with the kickstands welded to the plates. They can not be knocked over. But are available for posed pictures. The walls are covered with scantily clad women posed on those bikes.
I know now that there is a reason to travel to Cyprus I have dreamed many a time of owning a bar like you are envisioning. I pray for great success in this adventure .
Thanks guys. I am definitely going to open a bar but like I said it was something I was planning on doing in the next few years. I envisioned a small little place that I could spend my time running, and if it made enough money to keep the lights on I would be happy. But since I brought my partner in it is taking on a life of it's own. It's amazing the amount of interest and enthusiasm people are showing for it. Like I said most of the expats and tourists are European and they are nuts about anything Americana, then there are the local classic car and bike enthusiasts that are excited to have a place to show off their collections. The young crowd, the 20-40's have no where to go on the weekends so they are getting excited about it. Most of the pubs are geared towards the older British retirees. And they are very standoffish. I come in and am making friends with the locals, riding with them, hanging out with them, and they think it's great. I don't know where this is going to go but it's going to be an interesting ride! I'm open to ideas for a name. I'm looking for something that says , classic America, open roads, etc. Here are a few that I have been kicking around; Easy Riders Saloon (I like saloon as it evokes that old west idea but not everyone would get the Easy Rider reference) Harley's Route 66 Club (not everyone knows what Route 66 is tho, and it's not going to be strictly Harley related) Cruisers Any thoughts?
The Road Less Traveled. Biker's Bend. Harley Heaven. The Rule of the Road. Freedom's Ride. Sturgis 2.0 The Brotherhood. The Gang's All Here. (Just a few off the top of my head.)
I've heard of riding zebras or ostriches but monkeys? I don't think they would like that much. Trunk monkeys can be down right brutal....
Ripping off from Sturgis: The Buffalo Saloon... have a mural with a big buffalo chasing a bike..... Full Throttle Saloon... or Full Throttle Roadhouse.
