Dierks Bentley's Miles and Music 5

Dierks Bentley's Miles and Music 5 Well, it's that time of the year again, for the 5th year in a row, where Dierks Bentley gets together with several of his Country Music friends and several THOUSAND of his biker friends to raise money for Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Dierks is hosting his fifth annual “Miles & Music for Kids” celebrity motorcycle ride and benefit concert on October 17th in Nashville and will be joined with Miranda Lambert, Luke Bryan, Laura Bell Bundy, Heidi Newfield, the Del McCoury Band and Jerrod Niemann (and some other last minute add ins). In only five years, the event has attracted over 30,000 fans and raised an impressive $1.2 million for children’s hospitals in Nashville, Phoenix, Dallas-Fort Worth and Atlanta. “Miles and Music is one of the greatest things we do all year,” says Bentley. “The Nashville community has been coming out year after year to support us…crazy to think we’ve been doing it for five years now. So many people contribute their time and money to make this a success…looking forward to making year #5 bigger and better than ever.” This year, the hour-long motorcycle ride will kick off at the New Harley-Davidson of Columbia and end at Riverfront Park in downtown Nashville with a concert featuring Bentley and special guests including Miranda Lambert and Jerrod Niemann. Tickets for the family-friendly event, the ride, and concert event will benefit the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. This event is NOT TO BE MISSED!!! Dierks is a great guy and really does a fantastic job with this event for his fans. He's so committed to this event that last year, on the day of this event, his wife Cassidy gave birth to their daughter in the pre-ride early hours and he was still there..............riding and performing for the kids at Vandy! That's the kind of guy Dierks is. Another group of people that I have to acknowledge are the police officers that make this event happen. For years we have worked with the Metro Nashville Police Department, Williamson County Sheriffs Office, Brentwood PD, Frankin PD, and Maury County Sheriff's Department. I want everyone to know that it takes over 100 officers to transition these 1000+ riders (and their passengers) from the start of this ride to the end. Without these fantastic officers and their respective departments there would be no ride, no safety and mo Million Dollars + for Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. Please make sure that if you attend this event to say "THANK YOU" to any/every officer that you see. It's going to be a beautiful day to ride, and like I always say, "Bikers Support Charity". Thanks folks for all that you do.

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Times Change, or do they?

I'm tyring to figure it out. I know that in the mid-90's I always bought Harley's and owned them, even before I was a dealer. I put up a deposit, waited for months, then took the model/color etc. that the dealer offered me. Whenever the dealer got around to it he would offer me a bike and invariably I bought it. I used to pay $18,995 for a Softail Custom back in the early 90's. Good Times.

Kind of crazy but life goes on and times change. When I became a H-D dealer in 1998 there was a significant wait to buy a motorcycle, and people put up their deposits, waited for months, then took the color of the model they were offered (usually black) whenever the bike came in. Good Times.

Fast forward to late 20th Century, and there are motorcycles everywhere. H-D was building and shipping, building and shipping, building and shipping. Banks and financial services businesses would finance a H-D in a heartbeat due to the value of the asset. They eventually built more than they could sale and lenders tightened up credit. Good Times.

Recession.

Now H-D is working on a system called "Supply and Demand". Apparently this is a process whereby they build motorcycles based on what people want and when they want that motorcycle. Rather novel concept (if you never read a grade school economics book) but Harley-Davidson Motor Company seemingly believes it is a economic phenomen they can adapt.

It's the start of the 2011 Model year. Harley-Davidson can't meet the current dealer and/or customer demand for their new product. I'm not officially calling the recession over, but how would I know since I don't have enough product to sell. C'mon Harley, times are trying to improve, but you've got to do your part.